Chapter 246 County Examination

Zhou Fuqing was sentenced to death with a stay of execution, and Zhou Fengyi's title of scholar was also revoked. The Zhou family's sky suddenly collapsed. In those days, if there was no official or scholar in the family, life would definitely be difficult.

Zhou Fengyi cried for a while, wiped her tears and started to try to find ways to get Zhou Fuqing out. Being sentenced to death does not mean that he will definitely die. As long as he spends enough money, there is still hope to save his life. As long as he is still alive, there is a chance.

If he is lucky and the imperial court issues a general amnesty, he may be able to be released from prison and return home to live out his remaining years in peace.

During this year, the entire Zhou family was in agony. They kept emptying out their savings and selling off their property. Money was sent to the government office like water. Occasionally, when they heard good news, they cheered. But a few days later, the good news was proved to be false, and the whole family cried together again.

In such an environment, Ah Zhang obviously matured a lot. He came to Sanwei Bookstore every day and no longer slacked off and played. Instead, he studied hard with books in his arms all day long. Mr. Shou Jingwu was very pleased to see this.

He also encouraged him with a sentence from Sima Qian's "Letter to Ren An": "King Wen was imprisoned and wrote the Book of Changes; Confucius was in distress and wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals; Qu Yuan was exiled and wrote the Li Sao; Zuo Qiuming was blind and wrote the Guoyu; Sun Tzu was crippled and wrote the Art of War; Bu Wei moved to Shu and the Lü Lan was passed down; Han Fei was imprisoned in Qin and wrote "On Difficulties" and "On Grievances"; the 300 poems in the Book of Songs were mostly written by sages out of anger."

"Your family has suffered a tragedy, but you have come to your senses and focused on your studies. This is a blessing. As for your grandfather, perhaps he will be able to turn the bad luck into good luck. Maybe you will hear good news in the near future."

Sure enough, near autumn, Zhou Fengyi received a letter from the provincial capital. His hands were shaking and he didn't dare to open it, for fear that it was bad news. After opening it, he burst into tears of joy. Zhou Fuqing's life was temporarily saved, at least he would not be beheaded this year.

The Zhou family members present were all relieved. After cheering, Zhou Fengyi burst into tears again, "This year is considered peaceful, but what will happen next year? When will this kind of life end!"

Not long after, another piece of bad news came. In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Beiyang Fleet was completely annihilated. When the news reached Shaoxing, Shou Jingwu and his son burst into tears, muttering, "China has been defeated, the Qing Dynasty is over!"

The students of Sanwei Bookstore were also wailing. Even though Zhang Xingjiu knew that China would stand up again in the future, he was still filled with sorrow. When he thought that such days would continue for a long time, he was overwhelmed with grief.

When Zhang returned home, the Zhou family was also talking about this matter. Zhou Fengyi was furious and patted his chest and said, "I have four sons. In the future, I can send one to the West and another to the East to seek knowledge and find a way to save the country!"

This was his first infection, and Zhang clenched his fists. He wondered if this incident would affect him when he travels to Japan in the future.

At Sanwei Bookstore, Shou Jingwu and his son Shou Pengfei had a rare quarrel. Shou Jingwu believed that the court was full of people who were just sitting there doing nothing, which was the reason for the loss to Japan, so he resolutely refused to allow Shou Pengfei to take the imperial examination.

Shou Pengfei, however, believed that it was precisely because of this that he had to take the imperial examination and enter the court, so that he could make some changes from top to bottom.

The father and son quarreled fiercely. Zhang Xingjiu felt quite conflicted when he heard these words, because most of the year had passed and the New Year would be coming soon. After the New Year, it would be time for the county examination. He wanted to go down and try, but he didn't know whether Mr. Shou would allow it.

After much deliberation, Zhang Xingjiu finally found Mr. Shou and told him about his plan. Mr. Shou asked with a straight face, "Why do you want to take the imperial examination? Do you want to become an official and gain wealth?"

Zhang Xingjiu answered respectfully, "I haven't thought that far. I just think my parents work too hard at home. Now that I am fourteen years old, I should do something for the family and reduce some of the burden on my parents. If I can pass the exam to become a scholar, I may be able to make a living and earn money to support my family while continuing my studies."

Shou Jingwu nodded slightly. "Respecting your parents is a noble cause. How can I stop you as your teacher? With your knowledge, it is time for you to go out and give it a try. In this case, starting tomorrow, you don't have to go to class with other students. Let Pengfei teach you the ways of the imperial examination. There are still more than four months left, which should be enough time for you."

He was very satisfied with this student. In just over a year, he had memorized the Four Books and Five Classics and Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries. The county examination was relatively simple. As long as he could memorize these fluently and write some simple poems and essays, he would basically be able to pass. Zhang Xingjiu should have a chance to pass.

After thanking Mr. Shou, Zhang Xingjiu found Shou Pengfei again. Shou Pengfei had won the first place in the county examination at the age of 18 and was very proficient in the tricks of the examination room. He started teaching him immediately, teaching him knowledge for two hours every day and explaining the common sense of the examination room for another half an hour. The rest of the time he found examination papers from the surrounding counties and asked Zhang Xingjiu to try to do them.

Zhang Xingjiu was very familiar with the tactic of doing a lot of questions. He memorized and did questions every day. Although his life was boring, it was fulfilling.

In the blink of an eye, it was Chinese New Year again. Zhang Xingjiu stayed at home for a few days, then returned to Sanwei Bookstore to concentrate on preparing for the exam. Not long after, the county government posted a notice announcing the exam date. This year's county exam will begin one month later on February 12.

Shou Pengfei immediately took him to go through various formalities and first prepared his personal resume: his name, age, place of origin, physique, and facial features, etc. He also had to fill in the life and death records of his great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents for three generations. The adopted person had to write about his biological parents for three generations.

Find four more candidates who are also preparing to take part in this year's county exam, and have them write a mutual guarantee agreement among the five children. If anyone cheats, the five will be held responsible together. This is called mutual guarantee.

Sanwei Book House had taught many students, and Shou Pengfei was a famous talent in the city, so it didn't take much effort to get the enough students.

The next step is to ask the county's students to give a guarantee, which is called "guarantee", to guarantee that they are not impersonating others, hiding their death, using another person or using a false name, and to guarantee that their family is clean, that they are not the descendants of prostitutes, actors, or officials, and that they themselves have not committed any crime or engaged in any other profession.

Shou Pengfei himself was a student on government academy, so he directly acted as a guarantor for Zhang Xingjiu and did not take his money. Acting as a guarantor was one of the biggest ways for students on government academy to make money, so this favor was not small, and Zhang Xingjiu kept it in mind.

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After all the preparations were done, they went to the county government's gift room to register. Shou Pengfei took Zhang Xingjiu with him and paid for the personnel to be in his place, so he successfully obtained the qualification to take the exam.

It is so lucky to meet such a teacher, otherwise the personnel fee alone would be enough to give Zhang Xingjiu a headache.

On February 12, Zhang Xingjiu carried his exam basket and entered the examination room with other candidates, ready to take the exam that would change his destiny.

(End of this chapter)