Chapter 68: Chapter 68

Only after sending the little one away did An Ning finally burst into laughter, collapsing backward onto the soft couch behind her. Seeing his wife laughing so hard she could barely straighten up, her usually delicate frame trembling uncontrollably, Lin Xiuyuan set aside his earlier embarrassment and hurried forward to steady her, pulling her into his embrace.

After a long while, he finally spoke with resigned helplessness, his voice laced with gentle coaxing: "Alright, my dear, laugh if you must. Just don't hurt yourself holding it in."

Lin Xiuyuan heaved a long sigh, comforting himself. After all, Ah Jing's exceptional talent was a good thing—something he had once dreamed of. But as a father, being so thoroughly outshone by his own son was admittedly hard on his pride.

"At least Ah Jing..." Lin Xiuyuan started to say that at least their son took after his mother, but the words caught in his throat as he suddenly remembered. In truth, his wife could memorize not just an article, but an entire book in far fewer than three readings.

Not wishing to dwell on the gap between them, he took a deep breath and carried his exhausted, still-chuckling wife to bed. With practiced ease, he removed her shoes and socks, tucked her in tenderly, then trudged heavily toward the front courtyard.

In the study, Master Lin reclined contentedly on the daybed, savoring freshly harvested pre-rain Longjing tea. His cheerful mood instantly deflated when he saw it was his eldest son rather than his precious grandson who entered.

Sipping his tea leisurely, Master Lin barely lifted his head. "Ah, it's you. What brings you here at this hour?" Shouldn't he be studying at this time?

But Lin Xiuyuan's next words nearly made Master Lin spit out his tea. "What? You want to fully take over the family business?"

Yet each time he witnessed his son's relentless diligence, those discouraging words stuck in his throat.

He knew his son well. As a child, being the son of a merchant meant facing constant slights whenever they visited the capital. No matter how many cartloads of lavish gifts they sent yearly, merchants remained lowly in status, forced to cling to their official relatives for protection.

Otherwise, their vast fortune—and even their lives—might one day end up in some official's pocket. And though they shared the Lin surname, what kinship could there really be with cousins seen but a few times a year? The gifts were accepted readily enough, but the subtle looks of disdain never faded.

In those years, he'd considered not bringing his son along, just as his son now never brought his wife or Ah Jing. But as the saying went, familiarity bred affection. Without meeting face-to-face, how would these relatives recognize them later when his son inherited the business? With family it was one thing, but other officials would only grow more ruthless.

A merchant who couldn't even bow low enough would never preserve such vast wealth. Remembering the past, Master Lin sighed heavily.

Only after seeing his precious grandson did he truly understand how vastly people could differ—though of course, a once-in-centuries prodigy like his daughter-in-law didn't count.

These past two years, especially since his grandson began studies, Master Lin had often assessed their family's intellectual capacities. First, his daughter-in-law—utterly peerless. Any classical text, memorized after one reading, even recited backward. Most remarkably, she comprehended everything through self-study without tutors.

That mind—tsk—Master Lin smacked his lips. Probably what gods were like!

His precious grandson, still so young, mastered ordinary essays in two readings. For more complex, incomprehensible texts, about three recitations sufficed.

As for his son... Well... The latter likely needed eight or nine attempts to retain anything.

This being so, his grandson was fortunate to take more after his mother.

Looking at his tall, scholarly son, Master Lin felt uncharacteristically guilty. Gulping tea, he sighed: "Ah, blame your old man. Not cut out for studies myself, then went lust-blind and didn't find you a clever mother."

Actually, his father had favored a xiucai's daughter back then, but he'd found her too plain-looking and married another merchant's daughter instead.

Not that he regretted it—who could've predicted intelligence? How many had minds like his daughter-in-law's? But compared to his grandson's brilliance, he couldn't help feeling he'd failed his son.

Reading his father's expression, Lin Xiuyuan's mouth twitched: "If that's your reasoning, then I've failed Ah Jing ten thousand times over."

Well... wasn't that the truth? Brilliant as his grandson was, he still fell short of his mother's standard.

Whatever their discussion entailed, when An Ning awoke that afternoon, she learned her husband had decided to abandon the imperial examinations and fully devote himself to the family business.

To this, An Ning merely nodded in acknowledgment. Her husband had studied diligently all these years, but his progress...

Simply put, the imperial exams, especially beyond the xiucai level, were a competition for the truly gifted. Estimating her husband's pace, An Ning figured he'd need at least eight or nine more years to pass the provincial exams.

By then, their son might well have surpassed him.

Father and son passing the exams together might sound like a fine tale, but the underlying awkwardness spoke for itself. No doubt her husband had considered this before making his decision.

Under An Ning's tutelage and her mother's personal guidance, Ah Jing's natural talent flourished. Before five years had passed, ten-year-old Lin Jinghuai successfully passed the county-level exams, officially becoming a young xiucai.

Among his fellow graduates was his fifteen-year-old cousin Jiang Huaizhi.

When news broke, Taohua County erupted in excitement for the first time in years. The Lin family rejoiced wildly, while the flood of invitations to An Ning became uncountable. Even the Xie family, including Xie Sanwa and his brothers, came calling with their sons in tow.

But before the celebrations could properly begin, shocking news swept through Taohua County like wildfire:

Xie Second Ya—An Ning's cousin and currently the county's hottest topic—had beaten the grievance drum and sued her own husband, Liu Wencai, before the magistrate!