Chapter 116: Passing the County Examination and Opening a New Store
After Dafu finished his first exam, Kanghe spent the two days waiting for the results to come out, and refused to let anyone come to ask about his exam results. He just wanted the child to have a safe environment.
Dafu was quite patient and had been neither arrogant nor impatient in the past two days. While waiting for the results, he was also consolidating his lessons.
Early in the morning on the eighth day of the first lunar month, the family hurriedly finished their breakfast and went to the Imperial Examination Hall to wait for the results to be announced.
Some candidates were already waiting in front of the bulletin board outside the Imperial Examination Hall, but their number was not large, and it was not as lively as on the day of the exam.
Most of those who came to wait for the results so early in the morning were candidates taking the exam for the first time. They all had childish faces and were eagerly waiting for the official to announce the results.
I was so anxious that my feet were burning with anxiety.
Those who had been in that situation were not so enthusiastic. They would either wait until the people were about to leave before going slowly, or have a servant come over to take a look and bring back a message, so they would not have to go there themselves.
After the county examination, even if you make it to the list, you won't get any fame. Moreover, there are five exams in a row, and the results will be released five times. Therefore, candidates are not so keen on getting the results right away.
This was the first time for Kang and Fan Jing to show their children the rankings, and they were very excited and fresh. This kind of feeling was something they had never had before.
"Daddy, little daddy, the official announcing the results is here!"
Dafu had sharp eyes and immediately saw the official coming out of the Imperial Examination Hall holding the red list. He walked all the way to the bulletin board and posted the red list without any delay.
There were so many candidates on the first list that three red lists were posted in a row.
As soon as the list was released, people swarmed over. Kang He saw this and picked up Dafu and held him on his shoulders: "My son, you have bright eyes. Look and see if you are on the list."
Da Fu looked around, his eyes lit up and he smiled.
"Daddy, little daddy! The seventh on the first list, Fan Zhongyang, is my name!"
Hearing that he was on the list, Kang He's expression brightened. He quickly turned to look at Fan Jing beside him and asked, "Did you see my name?"
When Fan Jing heard Dafu's voice, he looked at it. He didn't know many words, but he recognized Dafu's name.
He and Kang He nodded: "Yes, it was successful."
Although his voice was light, joy was visible on his face.
Now that he was on the list, he felt relieved. Kang He squeezed in and asked people if there was any order to the names on the red list and whether they were ranked in order.
An old candidate told him that the rankings of the first four exams in the county examination were not marked on the list, but were counted from left to right and from top to bottom, and that was the ranking.
Kang He was delighted when he heard this. Dafu's name was not only on the first page, but also in the top ten. With such a good ranking, he might have a chance in the second round.
He told Dafu the news and praised the child to encourage him. Dafu felt a little satisfied, but he did not dare to be complacent, because he knew that this was just a good start and there was still a lot to come.
When he got home, he immediately went back to his room to read.
Kang He and Fan Jing told the news of being on the list to their own family members and did not spread it around.
On the other side, Master Xu said that they could also know which students from the school were on the list.
So, after calming down a bit, Dafu went to take the second exam the next day.
As the saying goes, "The first time is new, the second time is familiar." This time, he was much more familiar with going to the Imperial Examination Hall. When he entered the cell, he no longer felt the previous nervousness and felt much more relaxed.
As usual, he wrote the test questions on white paper. The first and second tests were one essay from the Four Books and one essay from the Scriptures. The external structure was the same as the previous one, and he also had to write a test poem.
This time the number of questions increased and the difficulty was obviously greater than the first time.
Dafu concentrated his mind. Although the difficulty had increased, it was not to the point where he had no idea where to start. So he thought about it carefully before he started writing.
In the first re-examination, 20% to nearly 30% of the students were eliminated.
The third round was a repeat test with new topics such as law and current affairs, which briefly examined candidates' views on local governance and events that occurred throughout the dynasties.
The fourth scene of the recapitulation was quite simple, requiring only writing of a verdict.
I heard that when Fan Xin was studying for the exam, this exam was sometimes included and sometimes not, just to test the comprehensive ability of the candidates.
However, in the past two years, almost all provinces and regions have standardized the examinations, and private schools and colleges have also begun to pay more attention to this exam.
It is said to be simple and the test is relaxed, but it is not easy either. If students only read the Four Books and have not learned widely, they will definitely fail this exam.
The fifth round ended, and the exam started at the end of February.
As March approaches, the weather becomes warmer when it is sunny, the grass in the countryside and the city turns green, and the peach and plum blossoms are in full bloom.
When Dafu came out of the examination room, he felt the warm spring breeze. The soft sunlight sprinkled on his body, which had become stiff after sitting for half a day, and he felt quite comfortable.
"Zhongyang!"
Dafu didn't get to see Kang He and Fan Jing first, but he saw the smiling Xu Anyan running towards him, followed by Xiaofu.
"Why are you all together, and why did you both come to pick me up?"
Dafu had been away from school since the beginning of the month for the exams, and hadn't seen Shiwu for all those days. Now he ran into him every time he came out of the exam room, and he was very happy.
Xiaofu went to pick up his brother's bookcase and said, "Brother Fifteen came specially to pick you up."
"Well, my father said today that you, the candidates, must be very tired after taking your last exam, so he gave you three days off so that you can rest up. We also benefited from this and got a day off."
Fifteen said this and went to take the bookcase from Xiaofu: "Give it to my brother."
"I can lift it."
Xiaofu held the bookcase and said, "I'm very strong."
Kang He and Fan Jing slowly went over to greet them, letting the three children chat for a while. When they saw someone coming this way, they said, "Let's go home first. We can talk slowly when we get home."
.......
"How come our Dafu is so capable? He passed four exams in a row and got good rankings. I think he will be able to pass the last one as well."
"I have to go to the Monkey Temple to burn some incense and donate a bit more money."
Chen Sanfang's face was beaming. He pulled Zhang Jingui, who came to his house to play after the market, and kept praising Dafu.
Kang He and Fan Jing told her not to brag about this outside. She felt very anxious. She couldn't tell outsiders, but she could tell her family members.
"Sister-in-law, the fortune teller you consulted earlier didn't predict our Dafu's future. Think about it, the fortune teller only said that our Fan family would produce a great scholar, but he didn't say which branch or which family it would be. Our Dafu also has the surname Fan!"
Zhang Jingui pursed her lips and said sourly, "Even though we've only won four games, the most important one is the last one. If we can't win this one, then no matter how good the previous ones are, it will all be in vain.
Besides, even if you pass the county exam, there is still the prefectural exam. Only by passing the prefectural exam can you be considered a person of character and gain a degree of honor. In my opinion, the previous ones are actually useless.
"Didn't our Daxin pass the county exams several times when he was studying for the imperial examinations? He even went to the provincial capital to take the exams several times."
Chen Sanfang said, "Daxin is quite impressive. But I remember that the first time he took the test, he got all the questions wrong and answered the wrong questions, so he didn't even pass the first round. Is that true?"
"It's been a long time, I can't remember it clearly. Sister-in-law, am I wrong?"
Zhang Jingui didn't answer Chen Sanfang's question. Her face was gloomy and she said, "I'm going to Xiangxiu's house to see my eldest grandson."
"Aren't you eating here anymore? Dafu has passed his exams and is back today. Sanlang has asked the kitchen to add more food. Sister-in-law, why don't you eat here? Let's have some fun together!"
Zhang Jingui was so angry that she couldn't eat anything else. She just walked out of Fan's house with her head down.
She walked on, muttering to herself, "What a boast! There's still a long way to go. She's only just passed the exam, and she's already trying to take credit for the good fortune the master gave her. Bah! How shameless of her, Chen Sanfang, to say such a thing."
"Ouch!"
Zhang Jingui was still lost in thought and accidentally stepped into a small pit, spraining her ankle.
She grimaced in pain, gasped, and limped out of Chaoxi Lane.
"What kind of place is this? They say it's the best lane in the county, but the road isn't even as smooth as the one in our village."
As soon as Zhang Jingui left, Kang and Fan Jing came back from the Imperial Examination Hall with the children.
The three children would be so excited together, like little butterflies flying around in a vegetable patch, that they would jump out of the car and run into the house together.
"Brother Fifteen, do you want to ride a wooden horse? We have two at home, and we can each ride one."
"I'll ride! But there are only two of us, Dafu won't ride?"
"If my brother wants to ride, you can ride with me."
"good!"
Dafu was walking behind, and seeing the two running so fast, he couldn't help but shout, "Slow down."
The three of them entered the small courtyard, where the flowers and plants planted there were filled with fragrance from the sunlight.
Dafu took off the thick coat he had worn in the morning to keep warm, and called Awang to get three cups of milk tea and two stacks of cakes.
When he went out of the house again, he saw Xiaofu and Shiwu riding on the wooden horse. One of them was holding a big knife in his hand, looking very majestic, and was poking a hanging cotton doll.
The laughter filled the whole house and yard.
Dafu thought that there were toys such as touhu, cuju, and hammer balls in the back garden. Since the weather was good today and he had some free time after the exam, he could take them out and play with them to work up a sweat.
He went to the back garden and was about to get his toys when a kite suddenly came down with a rustling sound and landed right on top of his head.
"hiss--"
Da Fu covered his head which was hit and looked up. The sky was clear and he didn't know where the kite fell from.
He picked up the kite that had fallen to the ground in confusion. It looked like a swallow, and there were two lines of poetry written on the swallow's wings.
"I wish my sick body could grow wings, so I could fly freely like a sand bird."
Dafu read it softly and saw that the handwriting on the swallow's wings was beautiful and a little immature, which was definitely not written by an adult.
"That...that's mine..."
Dafu was lost in thought when he heard the voice. He looked up and saw a head popping up from the wall of the neighboring courtyard, looking at him.
He was a young man with a pale face and not much blood between his lips. However, his eyes were like peach blossoms in the spring moon, very beautiful peach blossom eyes.
Seeing that he was also looking up at him, the boy quickly shrank back, leaving only a pair of eyes on the courtyard wall.
Seeing him like this, Dafu said, "Are you the one who lives next door? I'll help you get it over here. But don't lean on the ladder, or you might fall."
"No, don't send me off!"
Dafu held the kite and hesitated, "How can I give it to you?"
The young man was silent for a moment and said, "I'll leave it with you for now. I'll take it back when I have the chance."
After that, the brother said again: "Thank you."
Seeing this, Dafu responded softly.
"Brother! Why haven't you come yet?"
When Dafu heard Xiaofu's shouting outside, he waved to his little brother, took the kite inside and flew it away, then came back to get the tossing pot to look for Shiwu and Xiaofu.
The three children played at home for most of the day. In the evening, after Dafu had dinner, he felt tired. He stopped studying for a rare time and went to bed early, having a good night's sleep.
After a long wait, the day of the results finally arrived. It was quite lively as people went to see the results.
People were so crowded that shoes could be stepped on and fall off.
Xiaofu was small in stature, so he slipped through the gap and ran to the front. Suddenly, he remembered that he was illiterate, so it was useless for him to stand in the front row.
Then she crawled back in, with her hair messed up, and pulled Dafu forward with her.
Kang He and Fan Jing were taller and naturally not as nimble as the children, so they waited outside and watched.
When the list came out, the crowd was shocked and immediately started to make noise.
"There's a name, there's a name! It's on number six!"
"Da Jing, see, it's written with our Da Fu's ranking."
Kang He was overjoyed. Afraid that Fan Jing couldn't see it, he pulled him in front of him and looked in the direction he was looking.
Fan Jing had already looked at Dafu's ranking, but he still asked Kang He to look at it again before nodding: "I see."
"I heard that the rankings were determined this time, based on the combined scores from the five exams. Our Dafu did pretty well in all of them, so the final ranking is pretty high!"
A smile appeared on Fan Jing's brows, and Jiao Kanghe's clenched hands also tightened.
When the results of the Dafu County Examination came out, Kang He and Fan Jing did not want to publicize it. Firstly, it was just a county examination, a very basic test. Not only would it seem ignorant to brag about it everywhere, but secondly, since they had passed the county examination, they would have to go to the provincial capital to take the provincial examination in April. There was only a little over a month left, so time was very tight.
If he really passed the provincial examination and got the title of Tongsheng, then his family could prepare several tables of wine and food and have a great time.
However, Kang He and Fan Jing did not think so. If the provincial examination was so easy, Fan Xin would not have studied for so many years and not even got the title of Tongsheng. Looking at the relatives and friends around them, not many of them passed the Tongsheng examination.
If you have the thought and expectation of passing the county and prefectural examinations at one stroke too early, it will be too easy to be disappointed.
However, Dafu's teacher and Luo Chuanyi were quite concerned about his provincial examination. They both felt that Dafu had done so well in the county examination on his first try that he might be able to win the title of Tongsheng in one fell swoop.
In previous years, the top ten candidates in the county examination had a high chance of passing the prefectural examination. However, nothing is absolute. It seemed that the first place in their Luan County examination two years ago did not even make the list.
The principle is that after the county exam, the candidate was very proud and felt that he had won the exam. During the waiting period, he was very indulgent and relaxed. When he arrived at the provincial capital, he indulged in playing and finally performed poorly and failed to pass the exam.
I took the exam again last year, but for some reason, I always passed the county exam at the bottom, and there was no sign of a turnaround in the prefectural exam.
For this test for young students, there is no absolute, only possibility.
Since there is an opportunity, it must be seized. Xu's school opened separate classes for tutoring for candidates who passed the county examination. On the day after school, Dafu went to Luo Chuanyi again to receive his guidance.
During the exam preparation period in March, Dafu was much more tired than before when he was studying, but he felt very fulfilled in his heart and was happy to study.
He felt like a crispy fried egg pancake that fell into a bowl of bone soup, absorbing the broth and filling himself up.
The weather gradually warmed up in March. The tense county examination was over and I was very happy. The business at hand could no longer be delayed.
On the afternoon of the second day of March, as it was getting dark, Kang He and Fan Jing drove back to the village and directed Lian Si Ge, Yi Huan and Er Xi to pick many seasonal vegetables in the fields.
At this time of year, there are not many kinds of vegetables grown in the fields at home, such as spinach, leeks, and lettuce, which are mostly available in the county vegetable market.
Their vegetable shop will open tomorrow, and if they only have these vegetables, it would be a bit too scant.
However, in spring, it is the best time to harvest wild vegetables, so he spread the news in advance and asked his family to harvest wild vegetables, but only from today onwards.
After noon, farmers came to sell wild vegetables. I was able to harvest a lot of spring wild flavors such as shepherd's purse, water celery, wild onion seeds, toon, and spring bamboo shoots.
The wild vegetables that had been harvested had already been transported to the city and were being sorted by Xie Xiaoliu and Qiao'er from the shop.
In addition to wild vegetables and home-cooked dishes, Kanghe also calculated the date and took some soybean and mung bean water to sprout a few boxes of bean sprouts.
After collecting the melons and vegetables, they were transported to the vegetable market. With lanterns lit, five or six people gathered in the backyard, removed the insect bites and yellow leaves from the melons and vegetables, estimated the weight, and processed the small vegetables such as leeks, water celery, and wild onions, and tied them up in bunches with rice dumplings leaves.
Fresh bamboo shoots are processed in two ways. Some are sold fresh with the skin on, while others are peeled, boiled, and then soaked in water before being sold.
By the time all the vegetables were sorted and put on the shelves, the moon was already high in the sky.
Kang He and Fan Jing dismissed their people and were exhausted. They drove back to the house, washed up briefly, and rested without saying a word.
The next day, before daybreak, the two got up early, washed up and had breakfast. Qiao'er also got up, and the three of them hurried to the shop and prepared to open the door.
Xiaofu was quite obedient. He knew that the family had a shop opening today, so he didn't bother Fan Jing and Kang He. He also promised not to disturb his brother's studies, so he stayed at home under the care of Qi Ge'er and Xue Jie'er.
Chen Sanfang did not come to the city. She and Fan Dad had to take care of the stall in the countryside together. During the spring, the land had to be cultivated, and now they had to supply vegetables to the shops in the city. It was inevitable that Fan Dad would be too busy to handle it all by himself.
It had been a long time since Kang He and Fan Jing had been so busy with business, going out early and coming back late. It was back when the pork shop was only open for two years, and there was no one to help them. It was all up to the whole family to run around, which made them very tired.
Now that they have reliable and capable associates on their hands, they have finally had some free time. Now that business is starting again, they don't feel lazy at all, but are full of energy.
At daybreak, a string of firecrackers rang out in Guixiangfang, attracting a few onlookers to watch. Kang He and Fan Jing presided over the unveiling of the signboard of Fan's Vegetable Store, marking the opening of the business.
Xie Xiaoliu picked up a gong, walked to the center of the street, and struck it, calling out, "Come and see, come and see! Fan's Vegetable Shop is open today! We have fresh vegetables and a wide variety of dishes. Come and patronize us!"
Their shop is at the end of a dead end alley, which is not an advantage. Ordinary people are not willing to come in for a stroll, so there are few walk-in customers.
Taking this into consideration, they could only spend money to erect a signpost at the entrance to the main street, and on this side, people would take turns beating gongs to attract customers.
There are many people in the city who like this. When a new shop opens, they will patronize it. Regardless of whether they buy anything or not, they will go to see the excitement.
After a while, customers came to the deserted shop following the sound.
"This shop looks very tidy. Look how nicely the leeks are bundled, stacked in bunches."
The woman picked up the leeks and smelled them; they were very fragrant.
Kang He said, "March yellow is the most fragrant. My wife, take some home to cook or make soup and they will taste delicious. We have removed the yellow leaves and mud from these vegetables in advance, so you don't need to wash or process them when you bring them home."
We eat vegetables every day and everyone has bought them. It is impossible to cheat people by selling inferior products as good ones in this business.
You can tell at a glance whether the food is fresh or not.
However, the vegetables in the morning market are generally good, and the leaves are crisp, unlike those in the afternoon and late afternoon. After a day of sundown, the ones he picked up have become wilted.
The woman then asked, "How much do you want for these fragrant chives?"
"Whatever the market price is, my place is always lower, never higher. This bundle is only three cents."
The woman weighed it and found it to be about the same quality. She opened it again to see if the leaves inside were rotten.
Seeing this, Kang He was not angry. Instead, he directly tore off the palm leaves and carefully showed them to the woman:
"Not every root is strong, but they are all clean and fresh. If I had gone to the trouble to stuff the yellow leaves in there, and deceived you today, wouldn't I have lost my credibility with you forever? I'd lose customers in the future. I can't do such a losing business."
The customers who were strolling around the shop also came over and saw that the bundled side dishes were in good condition inside and out, and they all praised them secretly.
"It saves a lot of trouble now that it's processed. You can only buy as much as you can eat, so there's no waste."
Although the side dishes don’t cost much, they are a little cheaper than other places, so people like to go to places where they can get a bargain.
Poor families would break a copper coin into two pieces and save as much as possible. Who wouldn’t like to save some money on daily food and daily necessities?
Kang He understood this principle very well. Now that his family was well-off, he didn't care about a cabbage or a handful of green onions. But he had been poor after all. If it were back then, how could he not care?
The woman was not good at talking, so seeing this, she just silently picked two handfuls of leeks and put them into the basket.
I turned around and saw four large baskets of bean sprouts under the shelf. They were crisp and tender, with strong white roots and small sprouts. They grew all together in the basket, and they looked fresh.
This is rare in other grocery stores, so she quickly ordered two kilograms.
"Oh, you guys still have soft-shelled turtles for sale here?"
The two men who came up later saw a large basin of water outside, in which there were many turtles crawling around with their short claws.
Qiao'er was also helping out in the shop today. Seeing someone curious about the turtles, she approached and started chatting with them, saying, "We have plenty, ma'am. We have a pond in our village where we raise turtles. There are two or three big restaurants in the city that buy their turtles from us. In the autumn months, we also have fat loaches and eels."
"This March may seem like spring, but there are still occasional cold snaps. It's not easy to get cold. A bowl of soft-shelled turtle soup is the most nourishing thing."
"I'd like to buy a couple of them and make some soup, but I can't kill the hard-shelled grouper."
Qiao Er smiled and said, "Why not? I can butcher it with my husband and bring it home. After cleaning it a little, I can put it in the pot."
"If that's the case, I'll take two."
Qiao'er quickly caught two turtles with the husband. After she had looked at them with satisfaction, she rolled up her sleeves and went with her to kill the turtles.
Fan Jing came over and took the turtle away: "Little girl, don't do these things."
Qiao'er said with a smile, "Brother, don't underestimate me. I can also do the job of slaughtering turtles."
Fan Jing said, "Just call someone over."
Qiao'er smiled and said, "Okay."
Fan Jing set up a table outside facing the wall and took the turtles there to slaughter them, so as to avoid taking them somewhere else where they would be out of sight and there would be complaints if there were too much or too little.
The shop is at the end of the alley. Apart from other things, it has the advantage that the location against the wall can be used.
Xie Xiaoliu shouted and banged the gong outside for an hour or so, and felt his mouth was dry and his throat was burning.
When the day broke, he saw people coming and going in the shop. With a smile on his face, he jumped in and asked Kang He, "Is it time to train the lion dance team?"
Seeing that the time was almost up, Kang He said, "Go and tell them to start the performance."
Xie Xiaoliu understood the message and ran outside. Kang He called Fan Jing and Erxi, and brought some more vegetables from the backyard to replenish the shelves. Many vegetables were sold out, and a few were left on the shelves.
Xie Xiaoliu went out to pass on the message, and a lion dance troupe began to perform on the main street outside the alley.
This is a common way for shops in the city to attract customers. There are few customers going into the small streets and alleys to do business, so in order to attract more people to come in and take a look, they will invite acrobatic and lion dance teams to perform on the main street.
When people come to watch the fun, if there are a lot of people, they will put on a wonderful performance to wish the shop a good start in business. At the same time, the newly opened shop will beat the gong and shout to invite people to go in and have a look.
The performance team will slowly move towards the shops that have opened, and the onlookers will be attracted over there.
Kang He didn't know about this method at first. It was only when the circus troupe heard that a shop like his was about to open in their alley and saw that the location of the shop was not very popular that they took the initiative to come and discuss the deal.
He thought that it was indeed a way to attract customers. Although good wine needs no bush, relying on word of mouth is not as good as attracting people directly to come. After finding out that a performance only cost 800 yuan, he invited the performer to give it a try.
Just as Kang He finished preparing the dishes, he heard the sound of gongs and drums coming from this side. The lion dance team attracted a lot of people who came to watch the fun outside.
The team entered the alley and stopped at the door of Fan's Vegetable Store to perform for a while. At the end, the lion unfolded a piece of paper wishing Fan's Vegetable Store a prosperous business, and cheers and applause were heard all around.
Seeing that the crowd was about to leave, Kang He called out, "Everyone who's passing by, come and have a look! Fan's Vegetable Shop is opening today, and we're giving you discounts!"
"It doesn't matter if you don't buy it, I'm just afraid you won't come to see it!"
Fan Jing and Erxi brought over a jar of coarse tea, and Kang He took a bowl and invited them: "You're tired of walking around, come and have some tea. It's free and I'm not asking for anything. I just want to make friends with you all today. There's another Fan Family Vegetable Shop in Xiaofang~"
Kang He’s loud shouting was not in vain. The people attracted by the lion dance troupe who didn’t come in to buy vegetables also remembered that there was a vegetable market here.
There were also people who came over to ask for food and congratulated me on my prosperous business.
Not to mention whether we can make money from the opening today, the shop has made some success.
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