People are different from one another. Even twins as intimately close as they come are not completely identical.

Yun Shuyao had given birth to twins, but the two were not perfectly similar. They were fraternal twins. And in terms of genetics, Yun Shuyao considered herself not unintelligent.

She had gone from being a penniless orphan in the countryside to eventually buying her own house in a first-tier city.

Starting from nothing, having to rely entirely on herself for everything – besides determination, she also had some cleverness.

As the other transmitter of bloodline, Lin Ruhai was certainly no fool either.

Otherwise he wouldn’t have placed third in the triennial national examination.

After becoming an official, he also handled things with ease, steadily climbing upward.

In the original novel he wasn’t long-lived, but now, barring any accidents with his health condition, he clearly wouldn’t die early as he had in “Dream of the Red Chamber.”

At his rate of advancement, entering the Grand Secretariat before his death was not without hope.

Their genes were both quite good when you thought about it, and the two children they produced were also excellent, though there were differences.

For instance, only Luo Yu had inherited her large appetite. She ate more and her strength was greater than her younger brother’s. In the past she could suppress and beat her brother, and after they began studying martial arts this trait became even more obvious. For a time Chen Yu was quite dejected – he was a boy, he spent more time on martial arts than his sister, yet his sister was still better than him. There was no other reason besides talent.

He was deeply struck by this.

Afterward he spent even more time on his studies. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses – he needed to leverage his strengths and avoid his weaknesses.

He was somewhat more patient than his sister. Facing the tedious Four Books and Five Classics, he could still read them.

He invested more time here, and the praise he received was enough to compensate for the setbacks he suffered at his sister’s hands.

There were three Lin clan members studying with him. They actually could have tried the examination too, but their rankings would likely not be as good as his. After consideration, they didn’t take the test with him this time, but staggered their attempts.

They also wanted higher rankings. Another reason was to avoid his brilliance.

The four of them were similar in age, but if the results differed too greatly, it would be quite testing for their mindsets.

Chen Yu encountered many incidents this time, yet still performed his strengths very well and smoothly achieved the Minor Three Firsts.

Certainly there was luck involved, but it couldn’t be without ability.

Over these years he had built his foundation extremely solidly, which allowed everything to fall into place naturally. You must know that when local officials were determining rankings, many officials, for the sake of a clean reputation, would deliberately avoid suspicion when abilities were similar and not select sons of prominent families as top-ranked, to avoid being suspected of officials protecting each other and such reasons.

Only when he held an absolute advantage would that first place steadily fall into Chen Yu’s lap.

Chen Yu had also sincerely wanted to take Master Xu as his teacher, not merely because Father had selected him.

Chen Yu had read many of his works and felt admiration.

Given Master Xu’s status, if he couldn’t move him, even if he achieved good examination results, if Master Xu didn’t want to accept him, no one could force him to take on a student.

Now that the master-disciple relationship was established, the dust had settled, and having returned home, Chen Yu quickly became drowsy.

Yun Shuyao left his courtyard, letting him rest well. To rush back in time to see his two sisters before they entered the palace for the selection, he had indeed hurried frantically along the way and was tired.

After Yun Shuyao left her son’s courtyard, she didn’t return to her own but went to the old lady’s quarters.

The old lady knelt before Buddha, recited scriptures, burned incense, and after calming her worried emotions, began calculating who might have acted against the Lin family, and also planning to take stock of how many of Master Xu’s disciples were in the capital. They were now fellow disciples under the same master and should naturally associate with each other.

If her grandson didn’t understand something, it would be convenient for him to seek advice.

The old lady saw him arrive and opened her eyes: “Do you have anyone you suspect?”

She had thought of many people.

She had even suspected the clan’s side.

If her grandson had an accident, they would have reason to recommend an heir, wouldn’t they?

Yun Shuyao was silent for a moment: “Old lady, the flood they encountered was unusual. I heard that place hadn’t experienced such a thing for many years. There was no torrential rain there either, and the water level hadn’t risen. By all logic, this shouldn’t have happened. It’s too unreasonable.”

The old lady was silent for a while: “…What do you mean?”

Yun Shuyao: “I don’t know if the old lady still remembers the monk and Taoist who intruded into the Lin household before, and also the Master Zhiliao that the old lady once met. Could Chen Yu have been targeted by those evil cultivators?”

The old lady’s hand clutching the prayer beads suddenly tightened.

“I will take Chen Yu to Huguo Temple for a visit.”

Yun Shuyao silently nodded.

Furthermore, the old lady planned to hold a small banquet.

Her grandson had returned, not only achieving the Minor Three Firsts but also taking on a good master. Such great happy news certainly couldn’t be hidden away – everyone should know.

For instance, she wanted to personally take him to the Jia family to show off a bit, while also testing the waters.

To confirm whether the incidents her grandson encountered on this journey had any connection to the Jia family.

If there was no connection, that would be fine. But if there was… the two families would have to fight to the death.

Yun Shuyao shared this intention. Whether the old lady wanted to make a trip to the Jia family or have the Jia family come here, she also wanted to test the waters and see if there were any other changes.

After all, Daiyu as the female protagonist lived in the same household as them – any changes could be quickly known. But Jia Baoyu as the male protagonist lived in the Jia household, and any news she wanted about him had to pass through several hands.

The old lady didn’t ask many questions and immediately agreed, then instructed Yun Shuyao to properly nourish Chen Yu’s body during this time. He had truly worked hard.

Before long, a letter was sent out from the Lin residence.

This was addressed to Lin Ruhai.

Such a major incident had occurred at home. As head of the household, he naturally needed to know and be well-informed.

Chen Yu had returned. Although some people didn’t see him immediately, they still learned this good news – like Lin Xiao and Lin Zheng.

They were also happy for him.

They were also at the age for marriage arrangements in these two years. If possible, they certainly wanted to find matches right here in the capital.

The better the Lin family did, the more secure their futures would be.

The old lady now watched Chen Yu strictly, not wanting him to go out. Except for Huguo Temple, she only hoped he would stay at home, so she invited friends over to celebrate.

She issued separate invitations.

First she invited her son’s senior fellow students and classmates, old Lin family friends, and her grandnephew Xie Zimo.

She invited them to the house for a simple meal. The Yun family was also in this group.

Then she separately invited the Jia family over.

Speaking of it, they were the external grandmother’s family of the younger generation. Inviting them over separately was precisely because their status was different.

The old lady wrote an earnestly worded invitation and sent it over.

Wang Xifeng was the first person to see this invitation.

She reclined on the couch with closed eyes, listening to Ping’er read the invitation’s contents. Her eyebrows couldn’t help but rise high.

The invitation naturally didn’t mention what problems Chen Yu had encountered on his journey south – it only stated the results: his achievement of the Minor Three Firsts, and his successful acceptance as a disciple. Now he had returned, and they were inviting the whole family over for a celebratory meal.

Wang Xifeng was silent for quite a while. Ping’er didn’t know what to say either and stood behind her massaging her shoulders.

After a good while, she finally spoke dryly: “The young master has already returned.”

Wang Xifeng sighed. “Yes, he’s back.”

She felt her head aching a bit. This matter certainly couldn’t be hidden, but how should she tell everyone to keep their emotions from becoming too intense?

Wang Xifeng could almost imagine what expression the master would have when he saw this invitation. Before long he would start watching Baoyu closely. Even if Baoyu could pretend for a while, he couldn’t pretend forever. Then the master would get angry and bring out the beating rod. If they didn’t intervene in time, Baoyu would be beaten again. The old ancestress and the lady would both be anxious and distressed over this.

If Baoyu was truly injured, the household would be in chaos for a while again, and the lady would likely vent her anger on everyone.

Knowing all this was precisely why Wang Xifeng didn’t want to touch this matter. One hand touched her belly – she was pregnant. This was her first child, and she hoped to bear a son in one attempt.

Ping’er suggested: “Why don’t we pretend we don’t know about this and send the invitation to the lady?”

“This matter can’t be handled that way.” Wang Xifeng immediately refused.

She was pregnant and happy about it, but she didn’t want to relinquish the power in her hands.

Even if she spoke as tactfully as possible, those who would be unhappy upon receiving the news would still be unhappy. It wasn’t that her manner of speaking had no bearing, but the bearing wasn’t great.

So Wang Xifeng still found a time, her face showing no joy whatsoever, to tell the old ancestress and the lady about the existence of this invitation.

Seeing the old ancestress extend her hand, a quick-witted maid took the invitation and presented it to her.

Grandmother Jia opened it. Originally she had been holding Baoyu with a kind and loving smile on her face, but now her expression was blank.

Second Lady Wang’s hand in her sleeve tightly gripped her handkerchief. If not for the handkerchief’s good quality, they could have heard the sound of fabric being torn.

The atmosphere changed at once, but Grand Lady Xing couldn’t sense it. She was still smiling: “Then congratulations to the old ancestress! For an external grandson to be accomplished – this is wonderful news! At such a young age achieving the Minor Three Firsts, and if he later collects three first places to get the Six Firsts, he’ll be recorded in history! Such great happy news – we must go join in the excitement and share in the joy! Later Baoyu can also take the examinations for scholarly honors and be recorded in history.” She considered this speech very accomplished.

Yet it made even Wang Xifeng look over at her.

Was this mother-in-law of hers truly stupid or pretending to be stupid?

Were these words deliberately meant to anger the old ancestress?

But if you said she was feigning stupidity, looking at her face showing complete unawareness, it didn’t seem like it either.

She shouldn’t have such superb acting skills.

The fire in Grandmother Jia’s heart blazed upward furiously. She looked disdainfully at her eldest daughter-in-law. “Shut your mouth.”

What an absolute fool. She didn’t know how many times she’d regretted letting her marry into the family. Although she was easy to manipulate, the little substance in her head was too insufficient. No wonder the eldest son didn’t care about her, and the children only showed her surface affection. How could they respect such a muddled person?

Then Grandmother Jia looked at Lady Wang. When she first married in, she had seemed to have some spirit, but who knew she was another misjudgment.

The only one she hadn’t misjudged was Min’er, but Lin Ruhai wasn’t her choice – he was the old duke’s choice.

Thinking of this, Grandmother Jia felt even worse.

Jia Baoyu didn’t understand those words, but he understood one thing and looked happily at the old ancestress: “Are we going to visit Sister Lin’s house? That’s wonderful! I haven’t seen Sister Lin in so long. Finally I can play with her.”

Jia Baoyu’s obsession with meeting Lin Daiyu ran deep. After not seeing her for so long, he hadn’t forgotten her and would mention her from time to time.

Looking at the complete joy on his face, Second Lady Wang’s face turned green.

Baoyu had forgotten – when the master learned this news, who knew how he would explode! It must be that Lin Daiyu who had bewitched her son into being unable to forget her, which was why he had no heart for studying!

At such a young age, she had already learned the essence of being a vixen. She truly wasn’t anything good!