Chapter 431 The Pain of the Original Family

Gu Jiayue looked at her grandmother's scene, her brows slightly raised, her eyes full of confusion, and she couldn't help but ask, "Grandma, what are you going to do?"

She turned to look at Gu Yuhe, who was reading in the room, then looked at her grandmother, her tone a bit amusing and sad. "I think my little brother may have suddenly grown up and figured it out... Isn't loving to study a good thing?"

"Loving to study is a good thing," Grandma said, looking around, her voice low, as if afraid of being overheard. "But suddenly and inexplicably loving to study like this isn't a good thing; it's actually quite scary!"

As he was speaking, Li came over quickly with something in her hand.

She held a coarse porcelain bowl half-filled with water in one hand and a pair of bamboo chopsticks in the other. She walked up to her grandmother and said softly, "Mother, I have everything you asked for."

Grandma took the things, put the bowl on the stone steps beside the door, then held the chopsticks and strode into Gu Yuhe's room.

She closed her eyes, held the chopsticks in both hands, gently placed them on Gu Yuhe's head, and began to mutter something.

The voice was not loud, but it revealed a sense of seriousness.

"I don't care who you are, get off my grandson!"

"Are you the old woman from the Zhang family? You were so aloof when you were alive, never letting anyone get close to you. Even after you died, you refused to leave peacefully! Don't you have any family or relatives? You have to come and harm my grandson!"

She paused, her tone becoming more serious, "Please eat this bowl of watery rice, then leave quickly and stop pestering him!"

Grandma spoke faster and faster, and her words almost became a string. Gu Jiayue stood at the door and could only vaguely hear some fragmented words, but could no longer make out what she was saying specifically.

After a while, grandma opened her eyes, took the chopsticks off Gu Yuhe's head, and said to him, "Come on, Yuhe, blow on the chopsticks."

Gu Yuhe sat on the chair, his lips curled up, his face full of helplessness.

Can't I really want to learn?

Just because I didn’t like studying before but now I suddenly like it, does that mean I’m possessed by a ghost?

Is it not okay to suddenly grow up or suddenly become smart?

But when he looked at his grandmother's serious face and then at his family members gathered at the door, he knew that no one would listen to his opinions. He could only breathe on his chopsticks in disappointment, thinking about it over and over again in his mind, feeling both angry and amused.

Then, grandma walked to the door with the chopsticks that were stained with Gu Yuhe's scent, frowned at the bowl of water, and began to mutter to herself again.

The words he spoke sounded like a warning, but also like a persuasion.

Just then, something unexpected happened.

As grandma muttered, the chopsticks in her hand actually stood upright at the bottom of the bowl!

You know, the heads of the chopsticks at home are not flat, but are cut into round arcs. Logically, they cannot stand in water with such a shape.

Is this scientific?

Gu Jiayue stared at the chopsticks standing upright, her eyes slightly widened, her mind racing, trying to find an explanation from a scientific perspective.

Is it the water tension?

Or is it a problem with the center of gravity of the chopsticks themselves?

But she thought about it for a long time and still couldn't figure it out.

In the end, it can only be attributed to...

Bah, bah, bah, she quickly rejected the idea in her mind. There are no ghosts in the world!

There must be some reason that I haven't noticed!

Seeing the chopsticks really stand up, the seriousness on Grandma's face suddenly relaxed. She breathed a sigh of relief and waved to the family members who were watching. "Okay, okay, everyone, go away. This thing has been sent away, and he will be back to normal tomorrow!"

The whole family finally felt relieved and left one by one, continuing to work on their own things. Only Gu Yuhe was left alone in the room, his cheeks puffed up with anger, like a puffer fish that had been punctured.

"Hmph, I must show you that I, Gu Yuhe, was born to study!" He clenched his fists and muttered softly towards the empty doorway, with a strong energy in his heart.

He picked up the book again with force and read it carefully.

However, the next morning, Gu Yuhe did the same as before. He got out of bed only when the sun was shining on his buttocks, and was late for school by a full incense stick of time.

"See, I told you that thing was haunting you yesterday!" Grandma stood in the yard and said to Gu Jiayue who had just walked in, her tone full of "I knew it" certainty. "After dinner, one of you will go pour that bowl of water at the intersection, then turn the bowl upside down under the threshold. That thing will never dare to come back!"

Gu Jiayue was both angry and amused when she heard this. She pulled Gu Yuhe, who was looking dejected and depressed, and ran quickly towards the school.

On the way, Gu Yuhe kicked the pebbles at his feet and asked in a muffled voice: "Second sister, do you think I am really not suitable for studying?"

"There's no such thing as suitable or unsuitable," Gu Jiayue patted his shoulder, her tone gentle but firm, "Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. You might just not be good at studying."

She paused, looked at Gu Yuhe's lost eyes, and continued, "Life is not just about studying. After this semester, if you still feel that studying is too strenuous and don't want to persist, I will talk to Kangzi and ask him to teach you how to do business, okay?"

Gu Yuhe suddenly raised his head, his eyes instantly lit up, like a ignited flame, and his voice was filled with uncontrollable excitement. "Really? Second sister, are you really willing to let Brother Kangzi take me into business?"

Gu Jiayue asked back with a smile. "Why not? Business is also a serious skill. As long as we don't get lazy and are willing to work hard, no matter what we do, we will eventually succeed."

"Second sister, don't worry!" Gu Yuhe clenched his fists and nodded vigorously, the disappointment on his face swept away, "I will definitely study hard!"

"When I become the richest man in Dagan, I will buy you gold bracelets, gold rings, and lots of gold headpieces!"

"Well, I believe you." Gu Jiayue looked at him with a helpless smile.

She didn't dare to imagine that she would be covered in gold in the future.

Half a month had passed since the start of the school year. Gu Jiayue stood on the podium, holding a stack of freshly printed test papers in her hand. Looking at the children sitting neatly below, she felt a mixture of emotions in her heart.

Time flies so fast. In a blink of an eye, it has been almost two years since I came into this world.

"This exam is a preliminary test, and the result will directly affect whether you can take the county exam next year."

Gu Jiayue's voice reached every child's ears clearly, with a hint of seriousness, "So please take this seriously."

The children, who were originally a little unfocused, immediately sat up straight when they heard the word "county exam".

Everyone stood up straight, their faces were tense, their eyes were full of anxiety, and they secretly glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

Here it comes, this day is finally here.

After studying for so long, are they finally going to enter the official career?

I heard that the Tongsheng exam is not difficult and anyone with a knack can pass it. So will they all be Tongsheng masters from now on?

Could I, like the Master, open a school and teach people? Or, like the County Magistrate, travel in official uniform, surrounded by a large crowd?

Children have big imaginations, and some of them even laughed while thinking.

Seeing this, Gu Jiayue thought they were nervous. She slowed down her tone and added gently, "You don't have to be overly nervous. Just perform normally and show what you've learned during this period."

A little boy sitting in the front row timidly raised his hand. After Gu Jiayue signaled him to speak, he whispered, "Master, what should I do if I can't meet the requirements for the county exam?"

"If you can't achieve that, I will divide you into classes based on your actual situation. Do you remember those craftsmen I hired before? You can learn skills from them, such as carpentry, blacksmithing, and weaving."

The children’s enlightenment courses had not yet been completed, so they were not arranged to learn a craft.

But those craftsmen have been living in Taohua Village and have not been idle.

Gu Jiayue had arranged courses for them before, but there were not many, only one class a week for each class.

However, if specialized classes are divided later, the children will have to learn a skill specifically. The courses offered by those skill teachers will increase, while the cultural courses will be reduced accordingly.

"Okay, these are things for the future," Gu Jiayue patted the test paper in her hand, "Now everyone calm down and start doing the questions."

After two days of assessment, the results came out.

Among these more than 200 students, 30 students who had reached the basic level for taking the county examination were selected.

Among them are Gu Huangan, Sun Hai and other children who have always been very hardworking.

Of course, there is also Gu Yuhe, who had previously been in the imperial examination class but was demoted to the enlightenment class because he could not keep up with the learning progress.

This time, he squeezed into the imperial examination class with the last-place score.

There were another twenty students who were a little short of the standard, but all the teachers felt that as long as they worked harder, they might be able to take the county exam.

So Gu Jiayue assigned these fifty children to a separate class to form a new imperial examination class.

The students in this class have only one learning goal for the next six months!

Pass the Tongsheng examination in February next year.

As for the remaining students, Gu Jiayue asked for their opinions and comprehensively considered the characteristics of each person, and then assigned them to the craftsmen who had been invited earlier, so that they could learn the skills.

However, this does not mean that they do not need to study cultural courses at all. It is just that the course arrangement focuses on craft courses and cultural courses as a supplement.

With this arrangement, there are empty classrooms, and the new students no longer have to squeeze into classes.

As the smartest child in Taohua Village, Zhang Chuyan's learning progress far exceeds that of others, so he is not included in this arrangement, and he will continue to study individually with Gu Yuchuan.

Gu Huangan moved to the new classroom with his textbooks.

He used to come to this classroom often. It was where Jiang Shanchang's students used to study.

Their calligraphy is hung on the walls of the classroom, and every stroke shows their care.

As soon as I walked into the classroom, I was greeted by a strong learning atmosphere that was completely different from the enlightenment class.

He couldn't help but straighten his back, and a sense of nervousness rose in his heart.

I always feel that after entering this class, the days ahead will not be easy. Maybe it will be as difficult as falling into water or fire.

As it turned out, his hunch was correct.

The teaching method of this class is very different from that of the enlightenment class, and it tends to be more rigorous and knowledgeable.

The class schedule alone has four more classes than the introductory class, two of which are evening self-study classes.

The students held the newly distributed timetable with their eyes wide open.

After reading it, I slumped over the table and wailed, "Oh my god, this is too strict! According to this schedule, from the moment I open my eyes in the morning to the moment I close them at night, except for eating, all I do is study!"