Chapter 58 She passed the exam! [Jinjiang authentic exclusive release. Who passed the exam...

When the middle-aged man named Xiao He heard the anxious words of his fellow townsman and good friend, he hurriedly lowered his head to look at the notice. When he saw the name and hometown information written prominently in the first column, he was also stunned.

This woman was none other than the second daughter of Lu Gong's family, who had just moved from Shanfu County, Dangjun, Qi to Pei County, Chu to settle down in the spring of this year.

Lu Gong was originally from a wealthy family in Shanfu County of Qi. Because his family was quite wealthy and he was also proficient in physiognomy, he was considered a small noble in the local area and had a wide network of friends.

This spring, in order to avoid disaster, Lu Gong and his family took refuge with their relatives in Pei County, and the whole family, young and old, moved to Pei County to live.

In March of the year, a housewarming party was held in the Lu Mansion because Lu Gong was on good terms with the magistrate of Pei County.

Xiao He was a very capable clerk under the county magistrate, so he was assigned by the county magistrate to help accommodate guests in Lu's mansion.

When Liu Ji, Xiao He's fellow townsman and good friend, a well-known unmarried young man in Pei County who was lazy and had children, heard the news, he also went to the banquet without hesitation.

Unexpectedly, Lu Gong fell in love with him at first sight at the banquet. Lu Gong even held his hands and refused to let go, threatening to marry his beautiful second daughter to him!

This made Liu Ji very happy!

Liu Ji was the third child in the family, with two older brothers.

Three generations ago, the Liu family was actually wealthy. Liu Ji's ancestors once served as officials of the Wei State in Daliang, the capital of Wei. Later, when troubled times arose, in order to avoid disaster, Liu Ji's grandfather Liu Rensui moved his family from Daliang to Fengyi, Pei County, and settled there. He gave birth to Liu Ji's father, Liu Yan.

Unfortunately, by the time of Liu Yan's generation, the Liu family had completely fallen from a noble family to an ordinary registered farmer.

The family wasn't as poor as the common people without surnames, but they weren't very wealthy either.

For the Liu family, who have become farmers, the most important thing in daily life is for the whole family, young and old, to work hard in the fields to carry out agricultural production.

Liu Ji's two elder brothers were both down-to-earth, hardworking and willing to endure hardships, but when it came to Liu Ji's turn, the child was lazy since he was young, and he spent the whole day begging food and drink from the children of his fellow villagers. But what surprised the adults was that the children of his fellow villagers, whether older or younger than Liu Ji, were all willing to follow Liu Ji around, and admiringly offered their few precious rations to their "Brother Liu".

In this way, year after year, Liu Ji grew up gradually, but he was still an extremely lazy person.

Even if his father chased Liu Ji with a big broom, shouting and beating him, he could not drive him to the fields to farm obediently.

When Liu Yan was about to give up on his lazy and greedy youngest son, Liu Ji somehow managed to get the position of the head of Sishui Pavilion.

He is definitely not a high-ranking official, but as the head of a pavilion, he can be considered a prominent figure in Pei County.

Seeing that his youngest son, who had been idle all day, finally had a job to make a living, Liu Yan didn't have time to breathe a sigh of relief. He thought that his youngest son would soon be able to settle down, but then he saw that his youngest son had gotten into the bed of a young widow named Cao, and the next year she gave birth to a grandson named Liu Fei!

Liu Yan was paralyzed, and the villagers in Fengyi, Pei County were also paralyzed.

Seeing that the idle Liu Laosan had not yet gotten married, he hurriedly had an illegitimate child with a young widow. How could they be a good match?

The family, who had a daughter and had never been interested in Liu Ji as their son-in-law, simply and decisively kicked Liu Ji out of the group of blind date candidates.

In a blink of an eye, Liu Ji was already 37 years old, only three years younger than the emperor who was far away in Xianyang City.

At an age when his peers were almost becoming fathers, Liu Ji was still a down-and-out, gangster-like headman of the Sishui Pavilion. When he had nothing to do, he would go to the young widow's house, touch her hand, and look at his eldest son. Or he would take a group of brothers who grew up together and sit on the ground like a winnowing basket, chatting, drinking and eating meat. Although he lived a free and easy life, he still loved beautiful women.

When Liu Ji heard that Lu Gong, whom he had just met, was going to marry his daughter to him, he was so happy that his eyes almost popped out of his head at the banquet.

A 17-year-old beautiful girl from a wealthy family is paired with a 37-year-old unmarried, child-bearing gangster youth like him. Anyone would happily agree to this on the spot!

Liu Ji was overjoyed at the great fortune of gold raining down from the sky in broad daylight, but Lu Gong's wife, Lu Ai, was furious!

During her lifetime, Lu Ai gave birth to two sons and three daughters.

The eldest son Lu Ze, the second son Lu Shizhi, and the eldest daughter Lu Changzuo are now in their twenties and have successfully started families and had children.

The second daughter, Lu Zhi, was seventeen years old. She was graceful and beautiful.

The youngest daughter, Lu Shi, was only thirteen years old and was as pretty as a flower bud.

Her beautiful daughter, who had been pampered and brought up in pampering since childhood and had never had to do housework, was not agreed by Old Lu when the magistrate of Pei County came to the mansion to propose marriage for his son. Now, Old Lu wanted to marry his beautiful daughter to a middle-aged gangster who was a whole generation older than her, behaved like a gangster all day long, and already had an illegitimate child!

Is this my biological father? He's clearly crazy!

In order to disrupt this unhappy marriage between an old man and a young wife, Lady Lu cried and made a fuss in the mansion all day long.

Lu Ze, Lu Shizhi and Lu Changzuo were also speechless as they watched their father become confused as he got older.

Faced with strong opposition from his wife and children, Lu Gong was speechless. In a rage, he was about to use his authority as the head of the family to marry his second daughter directly to Liu Ji, when the "Book Control Order" launched from Xianyang City was like a raging fire in the summer wilderness, burning directly from west to east for more than 2,000 miles.

The fire spread to Fengyi, Pei County.

Under the imperial edict, whether willingly or not, people in all counties and towns, from top to bottom and from bottom to top, launched a vigorous campaign to collect and donate books.

Due to the interruption of this important event in the court, the Lu family, which had been in turmoil for more than a month, could only calm down temporarily.

Although Liu Ji wanted to marry the beautiful bride as soon as possible, as the head of Si Shui Pavilion, he had to be busy collecting books in the villages below, leaving early and returning late.

Under the emperor's order, Lu Gong had no choice but to hand over the precious collection of books in his home with great pain.

Unexpectedly, not long after he presented the book, he heard from his good friend, the county magistrate, that after the First Emperor in Xianyang received the book, he would spend a lot of effort to sort out the classics of the Seven Heroes and compile a complete set of "The Great Qin Knowledge Collection" that encompasses a vast amount of knowledge!

This is obviously a grand "literary achievement". Limited by the number of existing doctors in the palace, His Majesty the Emperor plans to recruit elites who meet the requirements for compiling books from all counties in the world to serve as "Zhi Dian Lang" and go to Xianyang City to compile books with the doctors in the palace!

The more books donated by the public and the higher the quality of the books, the more likely a family is to be selected as a Zhidianlang.

When Lu Gong heard the news, he became busy thinking about finding a way out for his two sons so that they would not waste their precious time in this small place.

Lu Gong then gritted his teeth and donated the last of his family's collection of books. He then skipped the Li and Ting levels and registered his eldest son Lu Ze and second son Lu Shizhi to run for the position of Zhi Dian Lang with the county magistrate.

Unexpectedly, after hearing the news, the second daughter, Lu Zhi, also secretly left home and ran to find the village head to sign up.

When the head of the village saw that such a young girl actually wanted to compete for the position of Zhidianlang issued by the court, he wanted to refuse her. However, in order to avoid an unsatisfactory marriage, Lu Zhi insisted that the head of the village produce the written notice that "women are not allowed to take the examination for Zhidianlang".

The village head touched his head and found that the imperial edicts sent down from the court layer by layer only notified the examination time for the Zhidianlang, but there was indeed no restriction on the gender and age of the applicants. Thinking that although the Lu family had moved in not long ago, they were a family with connections, and Lu Gong had also donated many precious books, the village head recorded Lu Zhi's name and hometown information in detail and reported it together.

By the time Lu Gong and Liu Ji heard the news, it was too late.

Lu Zhi and her two brothers were going to Pei County to participate in the first round of the Zhidianlang assessment.

At this time, the two middle-aged and elderly men, who already had a little "father-in-law and son-in-law relationship", could still look at each other and wait with a smile.

Take the test! A seventeen-year-old girl with long hair and little knowledge, even if she has been studying since her mother's womb, how much knowledge can she have? With such a large selection method, there are many young talents. Sooner or later, a young girl like Lu Zhi will be eliminated!

Unexpectedly——

In the late autumn afternoon, the golden sunlight shone on people's heads. Liu Ji, with his messy hair in a bun, stared blankly at the two words "Lü Zhi" clearly written on the notice in his hand, and couldn't help but raised his hand to slap himself.

Looking at his friend's regretful and collapsed look, Xiao He didn't know how to comfort him at this moment.

Not to mention his friends, he was also shocked.

Although he had heard before that Lu Gong's two sons and one daughter had returned to their hometown in Qi County last month to participate in the final round of assessment for Zhidianlang.

At that time, he only listened to it once and did not pay attention to it anymore, because he did not believe from the bottom of his heart that a woman, and a young girl at that, could be the governor of the capital. He had the same idea as Liu Ji. Sooner or later, the second daughter of the Lu family would be eliminated and would have to marry and have children according to the arrangements of the elders in the family.

Who would have thought——

Xiao He lowered his head and browsed the detailed list on the notice in his friend's hand. The second person after "Lü Zhi" was a 35-year-old man from Yingchuan County named "Zhang Huai", and the third person was a 35-year-old man from Sanchuan County named "Zhang Cang".

After the first three, most of the Zhidianlang were men in their thirties, and there were even a dozen men in their forties. Xiao He looked all the way to the end of the list but did not see the names of the two Lu brothers, nor did he see the second woman.

Lu Zhi was able to break through the siege and come out on top among a group of men. Not only was she the only woman among the one hundred doctors, but she was also the only young man under the age of twenty. It is simply immeasurable how much pressure she must have carried, how much effort she had to put in secretly, and how much brainpower she had to rack her brains during the assessment.

Xiao He couldn't help but gasp, admitting that he had been steady and intelligent for decades, but this time, he had really misjudged her! This Miss Lu must have been very opposed to marrying her best friend, so when she saw this precious opportunity, she seized it firmly and pushed herself to this point!

Looking at the name of the young woman who was ranked first, Xiao He could only raise his hand and pat Liu Ji on the shoulder and comfort him dryly:

"Ji, forget it. There are many good girls in the world. If we lose a girl from the Lu family, there are still girls from other families we can look for."

Liu Ji nodded bitterly. At the moment, he was simply attracted by the youth and beauty of the second daughter of the Lu family. He had no idea whether it was true love or not.

She was once an ordinary young lady from a wealthy family, but now she has become the governor of the imperial capital.

Over the years, Liu Ji has been a mixed-up person, but with his strong social skills, he has quickly become a well-known local tyrant in Pei County.

But even if he was a local tyrant, he was still a low-ranking official within the Qin Dynasty's official system. And although this Zhidianlang was also just a minor official, he was an official in the imperial capital. How could they be the same?!

Liu Ji took a deep breath, rolled up the stack of notices in his hand twice, and tucked it under his armpit. Then he touched his face with his other hand and said helplessly to Xiao He beside him:

"Xiao He! It seems that the wife of the Lu family that Nai Gong has chosen will now become the sister of the Lu family. After all, I have known Lu Gong for several months. Now I have to go and tell Lu Gong's family the good news."

Xiao He nodded in agreement and watched his friend hurriedly leave with the notice.

He thought to himself that his friend's plan was a good one. Although he could not marry the girl from the Lu family, the Lu family had now taken root in Pei County and they were considered fellow villagers. While the girl from the Lu family had not yet gone to Xianyang, he should establish a good relationship with them early. Who knows, this might be a rare connection in Xianyang in the future.

…

The sun sets.

Pei County, Fengyi, within Lu Mansion.

Seventeen-year-old Lu Zhi was still a beautiful girl with a well-proportioned figure and tall stature in the spring, but after a long summer, the joints of her thin wrists were clearly protruding.

Although she is thin, her temperament is like a green bamboo standing on the white snow. Its lush roots are deeply rooted in the soil. Even if it is pressed down by the snow and slightly bent, it cannot be crushed or broken.

She knelt quietly on the seat with her eyes closed and her pretty face frosty, like a sharp sword inserted straight into the wooden floor, emitting a sense of indomitable tenacity and sharpness from the inside out.

Listening to her father's endless chatter, Lu Zhi couldn't help but sigh in her heart that the powerful force of time and the huge pressure of reality can really change a person beyond recognition.

Mingming's father, who loved her very much when she was young, became like a frightened bird after the chaotic times and the Qin Dynasty's conquest of Qi. He had completely lost the friendly look he had in his youth. Especially in the two years after she came of age, it was as if her father had suddenly become a different person, and he wanted to kick her out of the house immediately.

The eldest sister is four years older than her. Two years ago, her husband passed away, so she moved back to her parents' home with her niece.

As the second daughter in her family, she had just moved to Pei County. The county magistrate had come personally to the palace to propose marriage to his son, but her father had politely declined with a smile. Who would have thought that based on a single encounter with a middle-aged stranger at a housewarming party, he would be so crazy as to want her to marry a scoundrel, a full twenty years older than her, and with a ten-year-old illegitimate child?!

What was she after? Was it because Liu Ji was old? Because he was sloppy and didn't shower? Because he spent his days lazing around in the young widow's bed, and even fathered a bunch of illegitimate children who were only seven years younger than him?

Oh--

It's ridiculous!

Is this a matter of choosing a son-in-law for one's daughter, or a matter of giving a young man a bed-warming tool?

Lu Zhi was filled with resentment and anger about this marriage that was not suitable in any way.

She was born with a strong character, not as soft and gentle as her elder sister, who was like a ball of wheat flour. After her husband died early and her in-laws refused to take her in, she had no choice but to take her daughter back to her parents' home to live with a feeling of grievance.

If it were her, and she met a bastard who loved to cheat on his wife after marriage and would beat his wife when drunk, even though the people of the six countries outside the Great Wall had just become the new Qin people and did not have the same deep-rooted fear of Qin law as the old Qin people! She would also personally send this bastard who had two minds after marriage to jail according to Qin law!

Even if this bastard didn't die young! If she caught him cheating on her husband just once, she would have drawn her sword and killed this philandering man! After all, the Qin Dynasty was unified, and the Qin law clearly stipulated that if a man was caught cheating, his wife could kill him out of anger and shame without any guilt!

Looking at his second daughter kneeling on the table, no matter how he tried to persuade her, she was indifferent and completely unwilling to cooperate, Lu Gong clapped his hands in anger, frowned, and said with saliva flying:

"Pheasant, I am your biological father. How could I possibly harm you?"

"Even though Liu Ji doesn't seem very sensible now, he has well-defined brow bones, a high nose bridge, and beautifully grown sideburns and beard. In the summer, I even saw with my own eyes seventy-two black moles on his exposed left thigh!"

"Anyone who knows how to read faces can tell that this is an extremely noble face! Liu Ji will surely become a dragon among men in the future. After you marry him, you will definitely live a good life!"

Lu Zhi looked up at her father, whose face was red and whose mouth was dry, and sneered with disdain:

"Father, since you think so highly of Liu Ji, why don't you follow the example of Lu Wan and Fan Kuai and follow Liu Ji around all day, calling him 'Big Brother'?"

When Lu Gong heard this, he became angry and immediately scolded:

"Lü Zhi! What kind of nonsense are you talking about?! I'm older than Liu Ji, how can I be his younger brother?!"

"Heh..." Lu Zhi pulled the corner of her mouth, and her smile became more sarcastic:

"Yes, father is indeed older than Liu Ji, only by six years."

"When my father was six, Liu Ji was nursing with his eyes closed. When I was six, the twenty-six-year-old Liu Ji was happily making love with a young widow."

"You! You rebellious girl, no matter what I say, you won't listen. Are you trying to piss me off to death?"

Lu Gong was speechless after hearing the harsh words from his second daughter. He could only raise his right hand to cover his heart and gasp for breath.

Lu Zhi lowered her head, her eyes cold and her lips curled up sarcastically:

"Father wants me to marry Liu Ji, but he completely ignores my feelings and wants to sacrifice my lifelong happiness in exchange for the Lu family's deeper roots in Pei County. Father, you could just say it directly instead of spouting so much nonsense."

When Lu Gong heard this, he subconsciously pursed his lips and did not continue speaking.

He insisted on marrying his young and beautiful second daughter to Liu Ji because he saw through physiognomy that Liu Ji had unlimited potential in the future, and he also wanted to find a local tyrant in Fengyi so that his family could survive better in this place.

Even though he had been friends with the county magistrate for many years, his family had fled to Pei County to avoid disaster. Leaving their hometown was already a loss of power, while the county magistrate lived in the county government office in the county town. As the saying goes, a county magistrate is not as good as a current manager.

Although Liu Ji's family had been in decline for many years, Liu Ji's grandfather had served as the magistrate of Fengyi. After three generations of development, the Liu family still had a lot of influence in this small Fengyi.

From his perspective as a father, no matter how he looked at it, he felt that Liu Ji was indeed an extremely good match except for the three shortcomings of being old, having a bad temper, and having an illegitimate child.

Just based on that indescribable face and the seventy-two black moles on his left thigh, Liu Ji would not hesitate to marry his second daughter to him even if he was forty-seven, let alone thirty-seven!

If the court had not been delayed by the "collecting and donating books" issue; if his second daughter had not threatened to commit suicide, insisting on taking the examination for the position of Zhidianlang with her two brothers, and had to wait for the results of the final round of examinations; if his wife, who had been with him for most of his life, had not been like a shrew, scratching and clawing at him, crying and making a fuss, and even threatening to hang herself, he would have already married his second daughter to the Liu family, letting her take good care of Liu Ji, help Liu Ji have children, manage the housework, be filial to her parents-in-law, and quietly wait for Liu Ji's future success.

Lu Gong had made up his mind firmly. He was just about to say something to persuade his stubborn second daughter when a familiar middle-aged male voice suddenly sounded outside the door.

"Hahahahahaha, is Lu Gong at home? Ji has something great to tell you."

Hearing that it was Liu Ji who had arrived, Lu Gong no longer cared to blame his disobedient second daughter. He immediately straightened his robe and hurried out of the hall. He ran up to Liu Ji, who had already walked into the front yard with a smile, and said with shining eyes:

"It's Master Ji Ting who's here. Come into the hall quickly and have a cup of honey water to moisten your throat. Zhi'er is in there. You two young people should communicate more."

When Lu Zhi, who was kneeling in the hall, heard Liu Ji's voice, she couldn't help but clench her fists in anger.

If it were any other time, the shameless Liu Ji would have walked into the hall in the next moment. Unexpectedly, today she heard Liu Ji smiling at her father through the hall door, a little embarrassed:

"Oh, thank you for your hospitality, Lord Lu, but today's timing is not right."

"Ji just came back from the county seat. Look, the final results for the Xianyang City Administrative Officer exam are finally out. Look, Lu Gong is such a good father. Sister Chi is truly a talented girl who started learning at the age of three. Not only did she pass the exam for the Imperial Capital Administrative Officer, she even took first place!"

"Oh my, Lord Lu really taught his daughter well. What a blessing!"

"Who, who did you say passed the exam?"

When Lu Gong suddenly heard what Liu Ji said, his eyes widened in shock and he asked in disbelief.

Before Liu Ji could say anything, a young girl in a purple dress rushed out of the hall like a gust of wind.