"My son is the top scorer now?!"
After waking up from Feng Shouli's pinching at her hand's pressure point, Yin Shi was dazed for a moment, staring at Feng Father. The first thing she did was to confirm, but before she waited for Feng Shouli to respond, she heard the bearer of good news repeat it once more.
"Congratulations, Mr Feng Qingping of Feng Family…"
After hearing the congratulations one more time, Yin Shi's eyes rolled back again. Seeing this, Feng Father quickly pinched her hand again. After these two shocks, Yin Shi eventually accepted the fact her eldest son was the top scorer.
"Quick, call for help. The Old Master of Feng's Family has passed out, and the auntie is about to faint too…"
Yin Shi, who had just recovered, heard chaotic noises in the courtyard. It turned out that not only her, but her son's grandfather, her father-in-law, and a related aunt had also fainted because of this huge surprise.
Fortunately, a doctor who was watching the spectacle with the crowd outside Feng's was brought in, and the elderly people and the aunt who had fainted woke up. After all, fainting due to such joyful news is definitely not a serious illness.
"Congratulations…"
It wasn't until the congratulator said congratulations a third time that he awakened the overjoyed Feng family. Feng Father and the rest of the Feng family hastily distributed the prepared red envelopes to the people who came to congratulate them. Even Yin Shi rushed to help because there were too many congratulatory visitors.
"Take this, everyone gets some…"
Feng Qing'an who was at this moment almost transparent, watched his family busy themselves. At his age, he couldn't be of any help in his family's eyes, and could only watch in silence as his mother crammed the red envelopes containing coins into the hands of two distinguished gentlemen.
From the murmurs of those around him, Feng Qing'an had long known that these two were local and Jiangyang Prefecture noblemen. But currently, overjoyed Yin Shi didn't care about their identity at all, forcing the red envelope into their hands regardless.
These two distinguished gentlemen who common people rarely get to meet, could only laughingly accept the red envelopes because the mother has nurtured a six-time chief graduate.
"Tsk!"
Seeing this scene, Feng Qing'an clicked his tongue, with no idea what to say. Although they now live in a new house and wear brocade clothes, this had only just happened within the past year. Before his elder brother took part in the Imperial examination, their family was nothing more than ordinary people who could barely sustain themselves.
All the tremendous changes only started after his elder brother, Feng Qingping, participated in the Imperial examination.
When his elder brother passed the prefecture examination as the top scorer, he was rewarded with 20 taels of silver currency from the county. The village also divided five acres of farmland to his family because of this. Their previously tough life suddenly began to feel much better.
For the first time, Yin Shi dared to bring some pork home outside of festivals and the New Year. Feng Qing'an ate pork outside of a holiday for the first time, which brought tears to his eyes.
Normally, if he wanted to try some meat, he had to go to the wild pond in the village to catch some fish and shrimp. As for swimming, since birth, he had never dipped into water beyond his waist. He wouldn't go near any slightly deeper ponds, let alone big lakes, he would always take a detour around them.
After his elder brother passed the imperial examination and became an official, their lives changed dramatically overnight. Rebuilding their old adobe and thatch house into a new one with blue bricks and red tiles and two entrances, their residence was quite impressive even among the hundreds of families living on Shili Fengjiagang.
Because of the increasing farmland at home, the hardworking Feng Father who had farmed for half of his life even bought two oxen from the county to fulfill his long-time wish, and he cheefully left the house every day, leading a group of people to farm.
With no choice but to do so due to the sudden increase in land, even the laborious and honest Feng Father, leading two oxen, couldn't handle so many fields and had to ask for help.
Now, his elder brother had achieved the highest score six times and has become the top scholar. Feng Qing'an couldn't even imagine what their family would look like in the future. His elder brother is less than fourteen years old and there were so many opportunities ahead.
Among other things, his elder brother has not yet married nor gotten engaged. Before the imperial examination, their family was too poor to be considered by any potential suitors.
But after participating in the imperial examination, becoming a scholar, and being recognized as a prominent candidate, their threshold was almost worn down by matchmakers from all over the neighboring villages.
However, every time a matchmaker approached their house, Feng Qing'an would drive them away. If his older brother hadn't gained a reputation before settling down and agreeing to marriage, he wouldn't have said much.
Now that his older brother had a reputation and was on the eve of becoming wealthy, those wanting to marry him were akin to people who were daydreaming. Could a landlord's daughter even dream of being suitable for his elder brother? They should go as far away as possible.
Feng Qing'an not only expelled the matchmakers but even talked to his parents persuasively and emotionally. After all, in Feng Qing'an's eyes, a landlord's daughter was not worthy of his older brother. But if his parents didn't think so and agreed, Feng Qing'an's objections would be futile, regardless of his brother's achievements.
The commands of parents and matchmakers are not mere words, but fortunately, their father, Feng Shouli, although being simple and honest, was not foolish. His mother, Yin Shi, convinced by Feng Qing'an, held their ground as well.
His older brother, Feng Qingping, was remarkably handsome, and now holding the unique status of top scholar among the Six Dominant Scholars, the noble ladies of the Capital City would surely clamor for him.
Although they were common folk with mismatched households, being born poor and without any background in the eyes of some nobles might not necessarily be a disadvantage. On the contrary, it can be seen as a remarkable strength.
Thinking this way, Feng Qing'an couldn't help but break into a smile. If his older brother really brought home a noble lady, that future lifestyle... As Feng Qing'an was contemplating his future blissful life, he was interrupted by a noisy voice.
[Do you wish to unzip the file again?]
"Yes!"
Seeing the situation, it seemed like if he didn't answer, it would keep asking. Hence, a completely unexpectant Feng Qing'an randomly answered.
[System files are unzipping again... please wait!]
"Trashy stuff!"
This kind of response was already the tenth time Feng Qing'an had heard it. He was devoid of any anticipation for this so-called system because it had already been completely exhausted.
He regained his past-life memories at around one year old. At that time, his body had already entered the next stage of development. He was learning to walk unsteadily, and on this same day, he found out that he actually had a system.
Feng Qing'an had already forgotten his initial excitement. The disappointment towards the system time and again left a deeper impression.
Because the system needed decompressing which took three hundred and sixty days each time. What irked Feng Qing'an more was that such a long wait resulted in one message: File data error, do you wish to unzip again!
Feng Qing'an still remembers, at that time, he had barely grown out his baby teeth. When he heard the failure of decompression for the first time, he immediately chose to decompress again. Yet, undeniably, it was another failure.
Time after time, and now it was already the tenth time. Now, Feng Qing'an had already given up any hope on this trashy thing. Nearly a decade was enough for him to recognize the harsh reality.
Especially after witnessing the various exceptional characteristics of his own sibling, this trashy system was already thrown aside by Feng Qing'an. Clinging to his elder brother's coattails was better than putting faith in this trashy thing, right?
Starting from the age of three, his older brother was recognized as a prodigy in the ten neighboring villages. The school teacher personally came to talk to their parents, tutoring fees were exempted, and even lunch was included mainly because their family was truly poor at that time.
Under the brilliance of his older brother Feng Qingping, Feng Qing'an even didn't need to pretend to be dull. As long as he didn't say something too strange, even if he occasionally acted like an adult and demonstrated mature thinking, no one found him abnormal.
Now, no one gave him any importance. The youngest top scorer of the Six Principalities, his brother's sibling, being more intelligent than his peers, what's that to them?
Rather, if he didn't possess some traits that were different from ordinary people, it would be abnormal. They shared the same womb and were influenced by his brother's literary aura. How could he not be smarter than ordinary people!