Chapter 3121 Household Room
As soon as the list was posted, Zhou Erlang and Zhou Sanlang squeezed in with Zhou Lizhong to take a look. Although the number of candidates taking the exam was not as many as the Mingjing and Jinshi exams in the capital, the number of candidates plus their families was still large.
Everyone squeezed in noisily, Zhou Erlang's hair was almost disheveled, and he was pushed by someone behind him and almost fell against the bulletin board.
But this also allowed him to see the announcement as soon as he looked up.
There were only twelve people, divided into two rows. How long could the line be? He looked down from the first place, and his eyes widened slightly when he saw the bottom. While Zhou Sanlang and Zhou Lizhong were still trying to squeeze in, he had already shouted, "You passed, you passed, Datou, you passed!"
"Really?" Zhou Lizhong, trapped in the crowd, wanted to squeeze forward but couldn't. He wanted to jump up to see, but he was squeezed from both sides and it was difficult to move. He could only stand on tiptoe, but all he could see was a sea of heads. He could only shout, "Second Uncle, what's my place? Am I in the front? Can I get a good seat..."
"Fifth place, fifth place!"
Zhou Lizhong widened his eyes in surprise. He stopped trying to squeeze in and started trying to squeeze out. However, it was more difficult to go against the flow. It took him a long time to squeeze out, and half of his hair was loose.
Zhou Sanlang also squeezed out, his face flushed with excitement, "Good boy, you can do it!"
Even Zhou Sanlang, who was honest as he was, couldn't help but say, "Our Zhou family's children are so smart. Who is this?"
Anyway, it’s definitely not their father, so it must be their mother. Well, it could also be their grandparents. After all, my uncle was also very smart before.
Zhou Lizhong narrowed his eyes in a smile and said to Zhou Sanlang, "My aunt said that we were smarter than others because we often had candy when we were young."
"Nonsense, that's candy, not pig or goat brains. How can eating it make you smarter?"
Zhou Lizhong: "...Uncle San, what does this have to do with pig brains and sheep brains? Could they be smarter than humans?"
Zhou Sanlang scratched his head in confusion. "Don't they say you get what you eat? Even if pigs and sheep aren't very smart, they still have brains. Eating them will definitely help you get some benefit."
Zhou Lizhong: ...
He tilted his head and thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No, although my aunt was smiling when she said that, it didn't seem like she was lying to us. We are smarter than others, of course, thanks to our parents and elders, but the fact that we can eat more must be because we always have candy to eat."
Zhou Sanlang was stunned. "Then why don't you write to your brothers and sisters and ask them to buy Wutou some candy when they have nothing to do?"
Zhou Erlang, who finally emerged, touched his loose hair and asked, "What candy?"
Zhou Lizhong was startled, "Second Uncle, why are you like this?"
"Don't worry about it," Zhou Erlang grabbed him and said, "You passed the exam. Come on, let's go back and prepare some gifts. I'll take you to give them to the county magistrate. We have to choose a good position."
Because Qili Village is some distance away from the county town, Zhou Lizhong stayed at the Guan family's house during his studies.
The Guan family has a courtyard in the county town, which was bought for Guan Yong to study in the county town and also when she got married to Zhou Lixin.
Zhou Erlang and his friends came here just to check the results today. They didn't bring any gifts, but they did bring some money, but not much.
So they went straight to Guan's house to borrow money.
The Guan family is now occupied by Guan Yong's cousin Guan Fan. The couple are now running the restaurant that came with his sister-in-law Zhou Lixin's dowry. They are both in the restaurant now.
When Zhou Erlang asked him to borrow money for a gift, he ran back home without a second thought, took out more than ten taels of silver and said, "This is what I didn't send back to the village. Is it enough? If not, I can borrow some from the owners of a few nearby shops."
"That's enough, that's enough," Zhou Erlang said with a smile, "It's not good to give too expensive gifts. People who don't know would think we bought our place."
"Yes, yes, it's not good to send something too heavy," Guan Fan said after thinking for a moment, "I heard that the county magistrate loves to drink, and the best wine in our county is Jiannanchun."
Zhou Erlang also wanted to give him some wine, so he stood up and said, "I'll go buy some now."
He also gave Zhou Sanlang and Zhou Lizhong some money and said, "Go buy some snacks and fruit boxes. It's not easy to send cloth as gifts, as good ones are too expensive. The county magistrate is also a scholar, so give him some pens, ink, paper, and inkstone."
Zhou Lizhong: "...Uncle, that thing is more expensive."
"Then I'll send one item at a time. Go pick it out. Hurry up, we need to hurry. They might have already gone there."
Guan Fan immediately said, "I'll go and help too."
Zhou Erlang was more than happy to do so. The things they needed to buy were few, but they were scattered all over the place. Having one more person to help would save them some time.
After buying everything, the uncle and nephew washed up at Guan's house, sorted out their clothes, and then went to the county government office.
Some candidates and their families had already arrived at the county government office to express their gratitude and give gifts to the county magistrate.
Unlike the candidates taking the provincial school examination, the Mingjing examination, and the Jinshi examination, they have a bright future and are also the county magistrate's political achievements, so the county magistrate usually pays for them to have dinner and drinks to celebrate, hoping that they will have a bright future and remember to give back to their hometown and to him, their former parent official.
Once these candidates passed the county examination, they would work as clerks in the county government office and serve under the county magistrate, which would not be considered a political achievement.
As future subordinates, now there is a legitimate reason to bribe and give gifts, and no one will miss it.
Of course, the gifts given by most people would not be too expensive, and the salaries of officials were not high. Although everyone was happy, the gifts they gave were limited.
Zhou Erlang's gift was the most expensive: a jar of wine, two packages of premium snacks, two strips of meat, and an inkstone...
Other people also gave two bags of snacks, two fruit boxes, two pieces of meat and a jar of wine. The only difference was the type of wine, which made the value different.
Fortunately, no one noticed. Everyone looked at the county magistrate anxiously, especially wanting to ask what positions their children could be assigned?
In order to avoid any hesitation, the county magistrate said directly: "Just go by the results."
He paused and said, "Everyone go in for the interview one by one, and I will assign them according to your strengths."
Everyone looked at each other and had no objection.
The county magistrate smiled and called them in one by one for an interview. The county magistrate, along with the county magistrate, the county lieutenant, and the chief clerk, also attended. After asking about their interests and understanding the positions they were seeking, the magistrate wrote something on a piece of paper and nodded, saying, "You go ahead. I need to ask the others."
Although they were admitted based on their grades, the county magistrate and others also had their priorities when making assignments. For example, Zhou Lizhong was good at numerology. When he said he wanted to go to the Household Affairs Office, the chief clerk and the county magistrate circled him without much hesitation. The county magistrate also circled him, so he passed.
Zhou Lizhong successfully entered the household registration office of Luojiang County, and then went to see the county magistrate to talk about the new grain seeds.
The county magistrate frowned. "New grain? Wheat? But there's still more than half a year before the next wheat season."
"No, it's grain."
(End of this chapter)
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