Chapter 846: The Scholar Without Yaozu's Aura

“Our dog knocked someone over. Look at how thinly dressed that person is, it’s pitiful. Su Qing, take a few buns to him and see if he’s injured. If he’s hurt, take him to the medical hall.”

Tong Huaqiong glanced outside and saw the beggar fall to the ground, so she asked Su Qing to help.

Su Qing took some buns and got off the carriage.

She handed the buns to the beggar on the ground, and the beggar’s eyes lit up at the sight of them.

This person seemed so familiar.

“Scholar Fan?” Su Qing asked tentatively.

Fan Tong nodded, tears streaming down his face, and said, “I am Scholar Fan, you’re the maid by the sister-in-law’s side, I know you, I know you. I didn’t expect to run into you here, what a coincidence.”

Fan Tong looked at Su Qing’s pretty face and couldn’t help but wonder if Fan Tian had taken a liking to him?

However, it’s normal for a maid to fancy a scholar.

If this maid was willing to provide him with food and lodging, he could consider making her his concubine, and then she would no longer be a servant of the Gu Family.

Su Qing had no idea that her gesture of offering buns had triggered so many thoughts in Fan Tong’s mind.

Just as Fan Tong reached out to take the buns, Su Qing suddenly withdrew them.

Ungrateful creature, these buns couldn’t even be given to dogs.

This scoundrel had now been kicked out of the Deng Mansion, and if he managed to latch onto Prince Ning, who knows how he would take revenge on the master.

Fan Tong urgently said, “Su Qing, quickly give me the buns, I’m about to starve to death.”

Su Qing spat.

A drowning dog deserves a good beating.

Expecting Su Qing to give him buns would have to wait until the next life.

“Do you deserve to eat the master’s buns?”

Su Qing coldly left this sentence, turned, and walked back to the carriage.

Tong Huaqiong saw Su Qing return angrily carrying the buns and asked, “What happened?”

Su Qing said, “Master, can you guess who that beggar on the ground is? It’s Fan Tong.”

Tong Huaqiong lifted the curtain, looked carefully, and said, “I never thought Fan Tong would end up like this. If you hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have recognized him.”

Tong Huaqiong clicked her tongue and sighed.

It had only been a few days, and Fan Tong had become a stray dog.

But this was all of his own doing, not worthy of sympathy at all.

Tong Huaqiong’s eyes were dark and unclear; it was easy to guess why Fan Tong got bitten by a dog. He had gone to the pig farm to bother Gu Honglian.

It seemed that Gu Honglian had completely given up on Fan Tong.

Su Qing said, “When I saw it was him, I took the buns back.”

Tong Huaqiong nodded approvingly and said, “Well done.”

If Su Qing had truly given the buns to Fan Tong out of pity, Fan Tong would have camped out at the entrance of the pig farm every day.

Tong Huaqiong and Su Qing chatted and laughed as they arrived at the pig farm.

They took a walk around.

Under Tong Pandi’s leadership, the pig farm was large and very clean.

If not for the lack of modern equipment, one would think it was a modern scientific pig farm.

The largest batch of pigs was almost ready for market.

Tong Huaqiong went to the pens where the pigs close to market were and watched the fat pigs crowding around the trough to eat. A delicate-looking young man seriously stirred the pig feed, washed his hands clean, and picked up a book.

Tong Huaqiong thought to herself, my goodness, when did our pig farm produce a scholar?

At this moment, Lu Yiner came over and snatched the book from the young man’s hands, saying, “The master is here.”

The young man looked up at Tong Huaqiong with a panicked and embarrassed expression.

“Hello, Master.” The young man respectfully bowed.

Lu Yiner said to Tong Huaqiong, “This is my brother, Lu Heng.”

During the New Year’s festive season, Lu Yiner often visited Tong Huaqiong’s house. During their chats, Tong Huaqiong got to know Lu Yiner’s parents and brother.

Apparently, Lu Yiner’s brother was quite talented in his studies. Why wasn’t he attending private school at this time? Why was he feeding pigs at the pig farm?

Tong Huaqiong thought this and asked.

Lu Yiner replied, “He has a stubborn nature and doesn’t want to spend his brother-in-law’s money to study. He insists on earning money himself for his education. We’d be worried if he apprenticed at other shops, so I asked Sister Pandi to let him raise pigs at the farm. After all, he grew up feeding pigs in the village.”

Lu Heng smiled shyly and said, “Sorry for the trouble.”

Tong Huaqiong had a good impression of Lu Heng.

In this era, ordinary scholars without the air of family pride were rare.

Most were eager for the whole family to support their studies, like Fan Tong and Gu Ruinian.

Tong Huaqiong said, “No trouble at all.”

However, the pig farm clearly wasn’t suitable for studying.

Even a genius like Gu Jingzhe had to study at an academy to guarantee success in exams.

Tong Huaqiong gently said to Lu Heng, “It’s good that you want to be self-reliant and fund your own education, but studying isn’t just about self-sufficiency. It also involves sitting in a classroom under a teacher’s tutelage to ensure you fully understand the knowledge. You also need to exchange ideas with other scholars, confronting different viewpoints and deepening your insights through debate.”

“Young people shouldn’t be too stubborn. Sometimes accepting help from others is also a virtue. Your brother-in-law wants to support your education because he respects your sister and recognizes your potential. What you should do is not refuse but accept the help, study hard, and aim to achieve results that make your sister proud.”

Tong Huaqiong gave such advice to Lu Heng because Lu Heng wasn’t ungrateful.

She also had her own motives. In the future, if Lu Heng succeeded in his studies, he would be an asset to Gu Jingzhe.

She even planned to bring Lu Heng in as Gu Jingzhe’s junior.

Lu Heng’s mind was whirling with thoughts after hearing Tong Huaqiong’s words.

After arriving at Shengjing with his parents to seek refuge with his sister and brother-in-law, he knew his sister had suffered greatly at their aunt’s house and had escaped to marry his brother-in-law. He observed during this time that his brother-in-law treated his sister very well.

He didn’t want any rift between his brother-in-law and sister because of himself.

He wanted to earn his own money to fund his studies.

Now Tong Huaqiong’s words had opened his mind.

Comparatively, proving his self-reliance wasn’t as important as focusing on his studies.

Lu Heng bowed to Tong Huaqiong again and said, “Thank you for the master’s guidance.”

Tong Huaqiong said, “My youngest son is studying at the Imperial College. You can come to my house to discuss your studies with him.”

Lu Yiner looked excited and said, “The young master is a champion. But don’t visit him now; the young master is preparing for the Spring Examination. After it’s over, you can seek his advice.”

Lu Heng’s eyes shone brightly, and he nodded, saying, “Sister, I understand.”

Lu Yiner had something to discuss with Tong Huaqiong as well. Father Lu and Mother Lu had acquired a shop and planned to open a butcher shop.

Just a few years ago, Shengjing, like Yan Guan Town, didn’t regard pork highly. Lamb and beef were the primary choices for feasts, and pork was just a treat for ordinary people.

But now, Shengjing’s lamb and beef stalls had well-established butcher shops, and people were accustomed to buying meat from familiar shops. Her parents couldn’t break into the market, and even if they did, they might incur jealousy from competitors.

Therefore, Lu Yiner decided to have her parents’ butcher shop sell pork.

Although she hadn’t tasted the pigs from the pig farm, both Tong Pandi and Gu Honglian said the pork from the farm was fragrant and didn’t have any off-flavors, even when boiled in plain water.

She trusted in Tong Huaqiong’s capability. If the farm’s pork wasn’t distinctive, the money-minded master wouldn’t have raised pigs at all.