Lucky husband

Finally came to the important point of Jiang Zhiyun's trip to Jiang's house, she hurriedly said: "Father, when I went back to the village last time, I went to talk to sister Lan Yue about the children taking the imperial examination. At that time, sister Lan Yue said that candidates from other places should not rent an inn , not very safe."

Old man Jiang was puzzled: "Why?"

Old man Jiang had never passed the county exam back then, and he himself had no chance to go to other places. Jiang Yuzhi was in poor health when Jiang Yuzhi went to the prefectural city and Fucheng more than ten years ago. The scholar went out together, they just lived in the inn, nothing happened.

Jiang Zhiyun listed all kinds of problems that may arise when staying in a hotel, and then talked about the advantages of renting a small courtyard to live alone, and finally settled the bill, and very actively guided the old man Jiang's wishes to rent a small courtyard. .

Old man Jiang is now old, and he is willing to listen to his son or daughter's opinion when encountering things. After listening to Jiang Zhiyun's analysis, he found that renting a small courtyard is really better than staying in a hotel.

After bowing his head and thinking for a while, the old man Jiang asked: "Yun Niang, you know the situation at home. Your eldest brother can't leave. At least one person should be left at home to take care of Qingyan and your eldest brother. It's best for your sister-in-law to stay and go to Fucheng to take care of Qi." Is it possible that I can only go?"

"Father, do you want to go?" Jiang Zhiyun asked him.

Old man Jiang has never left Changping County in his life. He only heard from his son in Zhoucheng and Fucheng that he wanted to go when he was young, but now he has changed his mind when he is old.

After hesitating for a while, old man Jiang expressed his concern to Jiang Zhiyun: "I'm a bad old man, may I not be able to take good care of Qi Ming, but let Qi Ming take care of me instead."

"Father, why are you getting old?" Jiang Zhiyun looked at the old man Jiang's sparse white hair on his temples, feeling inexplicably sad.

Jiang Zhiyun talked to old man Jiang a few times, feeling that he had a knot in his heart, and she couldn't persuade him in the future. It happened that Jiang Yuzhi came in from the outside, and she pulled her elder brother to discuss the matter together.

When Jiang Yuzhi went to Fucheng to take the college exam, he went smoothly. He was a little surprised when he heard Jiang Zhiyun say that the food in the inn was not clean, and he might have diarrhea and miss the scientific examination.

But he couldn't help it at the beginning, the family couldn't do without people, so he could only bite the bullet and rush out with enthusiasm, and the result was good.

Now the person who is going to take the hospital examination has changed from him to his son, and Jiang Yuzhi can't help but worry. If something happens to the inn, wouldn't it be a year of hard work in vain?

If possible, Jiang Yuzhi would still like to go to accompany his son in person, but a trip to Fucheng is no better than Zhoucheng, ten days is enough.

It will take at least two months to go to the hospital for the test, the time spent on the way back and forth, plus the time for the test and waiting for the results. He can't take such a long leave.

The most suitable person in the family to accompany Jiang Qiming to Fucheng is the old man Jiang. Jiang Yuzhi is a little ashamed. His father is still tired when he is old, and he can't easily enjoy life at home.

"What kind of blessings? If I go to Fucheng, it will really help the Qiming Examination, let alone go to Fucheng, I can accompany you even at the border!" Old man Jiang listened to his son and agreed with his daughter's opinion, but the son was worried about his health. I couldn't take it anymore, and suddenly felt that I was still young, and taking care of my grandson was not a problem.

After the old man Jiang and Jiang Yuzhi were talked about, Jiang Zhiyun didn't have to worry about the rest of the matter. With her sister-in-law around for basic necessities, nothing would go wrong.

When Jiang Zhiyun got home, it was already time for lunch. Li Mingjin had already cooked the meal at home, and Jiang Zhiyun could eat after washing her hands when she came back.

Li Mingjin looked at his mother's relaxed expression, and asked, "Mother, is the matter of big brother, big cousin and big brother Bai settled?"

"Well, it should be all right." Jiang Zhiyun replied.

Li Mingjin was very curious about how to solve the problem, so he continued to ask.

Jiang Zhiyun explained: "Your elder brother and the two of them encountered heavy rain during the exam. Let them bring tarpaulins into the exam room and protect the test papers when it rains."

"Your cousin is more troublesome. After discussing with your grandma, I came up with the idea of ​​asking your grandfather to accompany your eldest cousin to Fucheng, and rent a small yard in Fucheng for a month, so that you don't have to worry about the inn. The fire and the same year's candidates have affected him, and the cost of rushing to the test will be less."

How did Li Mingjin know this? He listened to his mother telling him in detail the cost of living in the trial rented small courtyard of the Fucheng Examination Institute, the considerations and pros and cons of various aspects, and kept these things in his mind.

After Jiang Zhiyun finished speaking, she asked Li Mingjin: "Brother Jin, did a small number of people prepare oilcloths and other things that can keep out the rain in advance for the government test in your dream?"

"Yeah, mother, how do you think they know to bring oilcloths into the examination room?" Li Mingjin still felt a little strange when he thought of the scene he saw in his dream at that time. Usually, everyone used oilcloths very little time.

"This is called coming prepared." Jiang Zhiyun just used this incident to teach her son.

"Perhaps in our small place of Changping County, such a heavy rainstorm is rare in a hundred years, but in other places, this situation has long been seen in other exams."

"For example, the children of those big families want to study and take the imperial examination. They have the experience accumulated by their ancestors for generations, and they have already prepared everything they need to bring to the examination room."

"As for people like us who have no background and no one in the clan or even the village has taken the imperial examination before, everyone doesn't know what to bring to the imperial examination. We can only say that we should try our best to prepare as much as possible."

"Normally, it's fine. Once there is an emergency, students like us are no match for those who are well prepared. So Brother Jin, remember, no matter where you go or what you do in the future, you must think twice before acting. Let’s think it through.”

"Also, whether it's the Li family or my mother's natal Jiang family, our two families are gradually moving closer to the Gengdu family. Maybe this change was not obvious in my mother's generation, but after several generations of hard work, my mother I hope that one day our family can be like the Li family or the Deng family in the county."

"In this way, as the ancestors, we need to accumulate a lot for the younger generations. Whether it is wealth or the experience and skills of the imperial examinations, these will become resources for our children and grandchildren to stand out when they are evaluated with other people in the future."

Men work hard outside, and women have to find ways to accumulate property and expand their families. Old Jiang Wang once told Jiang Zhiyun before she got married that she didn't fully understand the meaning of these words when she was young.

It wasn't until Li Chengshi went out to join the army and returned to his hometown to work as a servant of the county government, Li Mingde went to study and passed the entrance examination for Tongsheng, Dafang's family started a small business, and their family moved to the county. After experiencing so many things, she gradually understood .

Now Li Mingjin is also confused when listening to Jiang Zhiyun's words, he understands some, but he doesn't understand more, but he has already kept the concept of family in his heart, and maybe he will have other understandings in the future.

Jiang Zhiyun stroked Li Mingjin's bun, and didn't go any further. It takes time to understand these experiences and principles, so it's useless to talk more.

***

The government examination and the hospital examination were not in the county seat. Li Mingde and Bai Zhiwen returned to Changping County after a day off after the examination, and waited for the results of the government examination in the county.

Jiang Qiming didn't plan to come back so early. He and the old man Jiang rented a small courtyard in the county, [-] Wen a day, [-] Wen a month, and paid [-] Wen, which is a month's rent, and lived for a full month. In the end, if the results of the college examination have not come out, they will continue to rent by the day.

Time passed day by day while waiting, and on May [-]th, the original Han Province's current scholar list was released for trial.

The old man Jiang, who went to the government office early every day to check, finally got the result of the government examination. He is literate, and he saw Jiang Qiming's name on the list at a glance.

After that, old man Jiang couldn't see any other words in his eyes, only the line "Native of Han Province, Hongyun Prefecture, Changping County student, Jiang Qiming" was left.

The next day, the prefectures of various places also announced the results of this government examination. The names of Bai Zhiwen and Li Mingde appeared on the list with red background and black characters outside the prefectural government of Hongyun Prefecture. .

This time, Bai Zhiwen surpassed Li Mingde to win the first place, and Li Mingde was No.2 behind him.

After seeing the result, the people who were waiting for the good news found a donkey cart without stopping and walked from Hongyun Prefecture to Changping County.

The results of the county exam were announced on the third day, but the county exam has nothing to do with Li Mingjin and the others, only Li Chengshi is busy because of the county exam.

Bai Zhiwen and Li Mingde passed the government examination and are one step closer to being a scholar. Both of them are very low-key, and they didn't say anything after getting the news. They plan to wait until next year when they pass the examination and become a scholar before holding a meeting to celebrate.

On the other side, the Jiang family and his wife were anxiously waiting for their Qi Ming's results. If Jiang Qiming didn't pass the exam, he would rush home after the results came out. If the wind was good, he would be able to reach Changping County in six days.

If Jiang Qiming wins the scholar exam, then he will have to stay in Fucheng for a few more days. The Xuezheng Association will organize a banquet to let the scholars of this year get to know each other. .

However, the Jiang family has a son-in-law Li Chengshi, and Li Chengshi works in the county government office. When Fucheng sends the county examination results, it will send the students from that county who passed the government examination and the college examination together.

It's just that Li Chengshi was too busy during the day when the rankings were released, and he didn't dare to let someone bring such important news to the eldest brother of the Yue family. He could only wait until he was done with his work and then went to the Jiang family first to tell the Yue family the news that Jiang Qiming had passed the examination as a scholar. big brother.

After hearing the exact news, Jiang Yuzhi was overjoyed, and took Li Chengshi to stay at Jiang's house for dinner. He hadn't received a message from his brother-in-law during the day, and he was worried that his family Qi Ming hadn't passed the exam.

Li Chengshi naturally refused, one is that the Jiang family probably didn't prepare his meals, and the other is that his wife and children must be waiting for him if he didn't go home. He also wanted to share this good news with his wife sooner.

The Li and Jiang families now live in the county town, and they have many opportunities to meet each other and are very familiar with each other. Li Chengshi insisted on leaving and Jiang Yuzhi did not insist on keeping him.

After learning about his son's situation, Jiang Yuzhi began to get busy. Their family hadn't saved much money over the years, so they didn't hold banquets. But their Jiang family is a big family in Xiahe Village and has their own ancestral hall. Such important news is waiting for everyone. After Ming comes back, he must open the ancestral hall and tell his ancestors.

Moreover, most of the people in the clan and the same village would give congratulatory gifts, and their family had to return gifts. Fortunately, Jiang Yuzhi knew what to give in return, but the time was urgent and he needed to prepare quickly.

After Jiang Zhiyun got the news, she ran to her elder brother's house early the next morning with ten taels of silver in her pocket: "Brother, you and sister-in-law don't have any silver in your hands. I have silver here, so you can use it first."

After moving to the county seat for more than a year, under Jiang Zhiyun's careful planning, the couple saved nearly 100 taels of silver. However, at the beginning of the year, Jiang Zhiyun found out that there was a small piece of land with an area of ​​about eight acres for sale outside the city. In one breath, he took out 80 taels of silver and bought the eight acres of land.

As a result, Jiang Zhiyun only had 20 taels of silver in her hand. She kept a few taels of silver for her own use, and took out [-] taels of silver and sent it to her eldest brother's house.

Jiang Yuzhi didn't accept money: "Yunniang, your eldest brother, I have six taels of silver a month after I became a teacher in the county school. After saving for so long, I have already saved enough money for Qi Ming's examination to be a scholar. Your hand You and your brother-in-law belonged to the money on the screen, do you know your brother-in-law when you take it out? Don’t do this in the future.”

Jiang Zhiyun smiled: "Don't worry, big brother, the two of us decided to give the money together. You and sister-in-law will keep it first. No matter how much money you have, you can just return it to us if it is useless."

Under Jiang Zhiyun's persuasion, knowing that my sister and the others really don't need the ten taels of silver now, Jiang Yuzhi temporarily accepted the ten taels of silver.

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