Chapter 879 - 880 Taking Care of Son-in-law_1
Yang Chuxia listened and glanced at Yang Qingtong, and seeing that he was still his naive self, she felt relieved.
She then smiled and asked Yang Dachuan, "Dad, now that my younger brother has passed the Cultivated Talent examination, shall we not celebrate this occasion? How about inviting the Baiyun Troupe to sing for a day?"
Before Yang Dachuan could reply, Yang Qingrui interjected, "Dad, let’s not make any grand arrangements, nor should we invite the Baiyun Troupe. I’ve barely achieved anything, just become a little Cultivated Talent. If those Recommended Men and Advanced Scholars hear of it, they would laugh at my presumption. Let’s wait until I’ve taken the Advanced Scholar exam just like brother-in-law, and if I pass that, then we can celebrate."
Seeing his humble composure, Land Officer Yang was pleased.
"Good lad. However, we can’t just do as you say." He turned to Yang Dachuan and said, "Dachuan, what do you think? In my opinion, since this is the first Cultivated Talent in the Yang Family, we don’t have to hold a banquet, but we should definitely celebrate this milestone properly."
"Dad, uncle, frankly, I’m of the same mind as Qingrui. I’m naturally thrilled that my son has become a Cultivated Talent, but he still has a long way to go. It won’t be too late to celebrate after he passes the examinations for Recommended Man and Advanced Scholar. To tell you the truth, in Great Zhou, there are many Cultivated Talents, but not many Recommended Men and far fewer Advanced Scholars. Waiting for Qingrui to pass either of those exams would make the celebration truly special."
In fact, there was one more thing Yang Dachuan hadn’t mentioned: by his reckoning, Brother An was almost certain to pass the Advanced Scholar examination. His daughter had mentioned hosting a banquet before, and if they hosted one now at their home, then his daughter would have to follow suit, and later on, there would be another event to celebrate a new child in the family.
This sort of situation means that even if you tell people not to bring gifts, they will do so anyway; if you keep hosting celebrations, they will keep bringing gifts, which not every family can afford.
Yang Chuxia then reminded her father, "Brother An has already held his celebration!"
At that time, taking advantage of Yang Ruoqiu’s wedding, they even kept the cook for an extra day. Yang Chuxia wanted to remind her father that he had hosted an event for his son-in-law before, and if he didn’t do the same for his own son, the son might feel slighted later.
Yang Qingrui was no fool; upon hearing his sister’s words, he understood her implication and laughingly said, "Sis, you’re underestimating me."
Caught by her younger brother, Yang Chuxia felt somewhat abashed.
However, Yang Dachuan took her words to heart, and after much thought, he finally said, "If that’s the case, let’s not set up a feast. We’ll just invite the Baiyun Troupe to perform for two days, and prepare some food on the side for those who come to enjoy the opera to eat—that will be enough."
"Good, that’s also fine," agreed Land Officer Yang and Old Yang. Land Officer Yang added, "And you’re also taking care of your nephew-in-law. Nowadays, there’s more than one opera troupe in our county, but we always invite the Baiyun Troupe."
Yang Dachuan chuckled, saying, "Why not involve our nephew-in-law’s troupe when there’s business? Otherwise, we’d be passing up our own family to benefit outsiders." That very night, he went to find Chen Sheng, who naturally was delighted to accept.
The next day, having heard about Yang Qingrui passing the Cultivated Talent exam, Chen Sheng consulted with Yang Ruoqiu about going to the town to buy some stationery to gift to him.
Yang Chuxia also gave Yang Qingrui a set of stationery, while Yang Qingtong gave him a book.
Yang Dachuan and Ms. Wang took a straightforward approach, giving him a purse directly, suggesting that if he had any good classmates he wanted to celebrate with privately, he could invite them to a feast at a restaurant.
"Little brother, you should prepare some gifts to visit and pay respects to your teachers," she said.
The next day, Yang Chuxia reminded Yang Qingrui.
"Sis, I know. I’ve already asked dad to help prepare the gifts; I’ll go with him the day after tomorrow," he replied.
"Good, as long as you’re aware," she affirmed.
Whether it was the joyful news from the previous day that evoked emotions in Yang Chuxia, or the day’s grand opera stirred her imagination, remained unclear.