Chapter 126 (The End)
In fact, as early as when Guo Baiwen passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, people from several surrounding villages had already begun to express their intention to send their own children to study.
But Xiuning County is, after all, a county town. Not to mention whether the child will be accepted into the academy for boarding and study, the monthly tuition fees alone are something they can't afford to worry about.
When the news of the establishment of a village private school was heard, the surrounding villages all agreed in no time.
However, more than where the private school would be built or how many students it could accommodate, the villagers were naturally more concerned about the tuition fees for attending the school.
In response, Guo Baiwen frankly stated that once the village private school is built, his Guo family will pay the school's teachers a monthly salary.
When children in the village reach school age, they no longer need to bring any money; they only need to prepare the teacher's meals and festival gifts.
For families with better financial means, sending rice, noodles, pastries, meat, or wine is fine. For families with less money, sending pickles, eggs, fruits, or vegetables is also acceptable.
After these words were spoken, the crowd, who had originally thought that the tuition fees for village private schools would be very expensive, immediately felt relieved.
With the off-season for farming approaching, they had a lot of free time and could help build the private school building.
It's not right to try and take advantage of the Guo family in everything.
But before that, Guo Juren's homecoming celebration banquet was about to begin.
On the third day after passing the imperial examination, it was a good omen of being promoted three ranks in succession.
As soon as the drum and gong team entered the village in the morning, the villagers, the Guo clan chief, and several well-known local gentry from Xiuning County were already there.
Originally, we should have invited our mentor as well, but when we wrote to Master Guo, the reply we received was written by his wife.
It was said that a few days after he returned to the prefectural city, Master Guo also packed his bags and went to the capital to take the imperial examination.
There was nothing that could be done; it wouldn't be right to ask the Master to give up his journey north to take the imperial examination just to attend his own victory celebration.
After the drum and gong team finished circling the village three times, Guo Baiwen, dressed in a blue silk robe, led the clan chief into the ancestral hall with offerings of pigs, sheep, incense, candles, and wine. After the announcement of his academic success, he knelt and paid homage to his ancestors.
Starting today, his name will be written on the updated side of the family genealogy's 'Scholarship Section'.
The whole process was actually a bit complicated, but fortunately, someone was leading the way, and Guo Baiwen followed along step by step without making any mistakes.
Once all these matters are settled, what remains is the clan banquet and village feast that everyone has been eagerly anticipating.
Village Chief Guo, Grandma Guo, and Uncle Shitou had already started planning how to prepare for these two banquets a few days ago.
Compared to the last celebration banquet for the scholar, the dishes at these two events can be said to have been upgraded to a higher level.
Fortunately, Guo Baiwen remembered what happened at the last celebration banquet. This time, before they could say anything, he secretly diluted all the prepared wine jars with water.
It gives you a slightly intoxicating feeling, but you won't get so drunk that you pass out.
Grandma Guo's mouth never closed all day, and every single silver strand of her hair was meticulously combed. No matter who came to toast her, she responded with a smile.
Fortunately, I told Xiaohua beforehand that I could only give Grandma rice porridge.
At this time, the rice wine is quite cloudy, so rice water is just right to replace it. Otherwise, he didn't even want to imagine what his grandmother would look like if she got drunk at her age.
Even with thorough preparations beforehand, there were still quite a few drunkards left after the banquet.
After the celebration banquet ended, the village private school, which had been discussed for nearly ten days, was finally ready to begin construction.
After inquiring with several surrounding villages, I learned that people's expectations for their children are still quite simple; they don't expect them to be able to participate in scientific expeditions as soon as possible, like Guo Baiwen.
I just hope to learn more characters so I won't be illiterate. If I don't plan to be a farmer anymore, I can at least do some other work.
In that case, all we need to do is find a tutor to help us with our early education.
Guo Baiwen stayed in Xiuning County for a while, and because of his success in the imperial examination, he reunited with many of his former classmates from the academy.
Some classmates planned to continue taking the exams, but others felt hopeless about pursuing a career in the civil service and prepared to find another way to make a living.
Guo Baiwen mainly asked around among his classmates and eventually found a suitable candidate.
It was Xu, the barber I met at the monastery. He originally said he was going to become an accountant for his family, but he was really not good at math.
When calculating the monthly expenses, there are always discrepancies at the end.
It's either too much money or too little money.
In the end, his father had no choice but to spend money to hire an accountant from outside. He said that someone as slow-witted as him should learn the barbering skills like himself and his older siblings, and then he could save money and open his own shop after he graduated.
But his hands would always tremble uncontrollably whenever he picked up a razor.
Seeing that one road was no good and another was no good, Xu Fajiang was so worried that he got up more often at night. Before he could figure out how to settle his youngest son, the news that Guo Baiwen had passed the imperial examination and become a scholar came from the county government the next day.
Thinking back to how the two of them had both received their early education at the same academy, only for different lengths of time, since Guo Baiwen was able to pass the imperial examination and become a scholar, why couldn't his own son do the same?
The main reason was that he really couldn't think of anything else he could get Xu Xiaoge to do.
So the family discussed it for a while, and with no other options, they enrolled Xu in the academy, stating that they would only pay for three years' tuition, and if he still didn't achieve anything by then—
The family barbershop is always full, not only because he has to pay back his parents and siblings for the tuition fees of the past three years with interest, but also because when that time comes, Xu Xiaoge might as well do whatever he wants!
These words, once spoken, were either provoked or Xu Feiqi truly possessed some talent for studying.
After three years of studying at the academy, he actually passed the preliminary examination and became a student.
During that time, Xu Fajiang always stood up straight when he opened his shop.
Many people, upon hearing that their youngest son had passed the imperial examination, specifically requested to come to this shop for haircuts, shaves, and beard trimmings, causing the shop's business to more than quadruple in just two months.
Xu Fajiang later considered continuing to send Xu Fei to take the imperial examinations for the title of Xiucai (a degree in the imperial examination system), but it is unclear whether his luck had run out or if he had simply encountered a time when the Xiucai examination was very difficult.
Xu Fei failed the exams several times afterward.
Seeing that he had no academic achievements and still had to rely on his elderly parents and older siblings for help every day, Xu Fei felt guilty.
So afterwards, he also helped bookstores copy books or write some sentimental stories, which allowed him to earn some money.
He persisted for several years, and this year he missed the chance to become a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examination) again. Just as he was feeling disappointed, he heard the news that Guo Baiwen had passed the Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examination).
It can only be said that it's a matter of timing and fate. He's not young anymore, and relying on copying books and writing stories for income is no longer enough to support his daily expenses.
Moreover, having gotten married last year through a matchmaker, he should at least find some legitimate work to do.
It was under these circumstances that Guo Baiwen approached him.
The village private school, located next to the ancient bridge market, is not far from the county town. It is situated in the middle of several overlapping villages at the foot of the mountain, and oxcarts from the county town pass by almost every day.
Moreover, when the private school was built, the villagers specially built a small courtyard behind the school for the incoming teacher. In addition to three small houses that people could live in, they also built a kitchen and a toilet.
If Xu Fei does not live in the county town anymore, he can also live in the courtyard with his family.
Because the village private school mainly served the surrounding villages, the school days were mostly set during the off-season for farming. Every noon, people would cook in the school's canteen.
The monthly allowance is two or three times a month. It's close to the county town, has a house, and includes a lunch.
It can be said that, apart from being slightly lower than the monthly salary, the salary of this private tutor was not much different from that of tutors in Xiuning County.
Xu Fei also readily agreed upon hearing the news.
Several months later, when the private school was fully completed, the path from Guojia Village to the school, as well as the road from the school to the official road outside Xiuning County, were also repaired.
Whether it was building houses or repairing roads, almost all the money was spent by Guo Baiwen's family.
The villagers were grateful for the support, and in addition to the stele at the entrance of the ancestral hall, villagers from several surrounding villages raised funds to rebuild a "Scholar Stele" for him at the foot of the mountain and at the village entrance.
In the centuries that followed, even though it suffered several intermittent wars, this monument to the successful candidate in the imperial examinations remained standing.
After what happened with Boss Zhao, and now with Guo Baiwen's status as a Juren (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations), the business of Songlin Embroidery Workshop, jointly owned by Guo Songwan and Lin Niangzi, is booming.
The embroidery workshop expanded again and again, and many of the embroidered products were sold to other places through the Qianzhou prefecture government.
Seeing that business was too busy, Guo Songwan not only successfully recruited skilled embroiderers of similar age in the surrounding area, but also allocated some money every year to help and support many poor women.
Later, when there were more women in the embroidery workshop, Chen Baoyue also joined in to help.
Among the women helped by Songlin Embroidery Workshop, there are always some who are strong but not good at delicate needlework. They can learn hunting, leatherworking, or self-defense skills from her, just like the hunters in the mountains.
As long as you have a skill, no matter what happens in the future, you will never have to worry about starving.
As time went by, both Guojia Village and Xiuning County flourished.
Before he knew it, Guo Baiwen had been here for twenty-seven years.
He passed the imperial examination last year, and although he only got the third-class degree, he was unexpectedly assigned to Changfeng County, which is not far from Xiuning County, as the county magistrate.
When Maiduo was six years old, she chose the name "Shuxian" for herself. Her two children born afterward also adopted the character "Shu" in their names.
Time seems to pass quickly, yet it also seems to pass very slowly.
When he went out in the morning, he didn't forget to bring Grandma Guo a bowl of tofu pudding. The old lady is now over eighty years old, and although her teeth are getting worse, she insists on drinking this bowl of tofu pudding every day for the past year.
It is said that few people live to seventy, but Guo Baiwen still hopes that Grandma Guo can live a long, long life.
After returning home with the tofu pudding, he clicked to check in as usual, but this day's check-in was unusually slow, taking almost a minute to reappear.
[Congratulations, host, on successfully reaching 10,000 consecutive days of check-ins! The reward is the ability to return to your original world!]
Just like when I first confirmed the system binding many years ago, below the gold text are two large buttons: one is a gleaming gold "Yes", and the other is a mini gray "No".
If this screen had popped up when he first arrived at Guojia Village, he would have clicked 'Yes' without hesitation.
But now, after living in this world for nearly thirty years, he has many friends and family members he can't bear to part with...
While he was still in a daze, Grandma Guo opened the kitchen door and called out to Guo Baiwen, who was standing in the doorway, "Wenzi! Come and eat!"
"Hey! Coming right now!"
The answer came almost subconsciously, but it instantly made him understand his inner choice.
I pressed that inconspicuous gray button, and watched as the screen interface that had been with me for many years rippled and slowly disappeared before my eyes.
Guo Baiwen looked up again and saw the old man calling to him from not far away. He hurried over with the tofu pudding he had brought back.
"I went out to buy it early this morning, and it's still warm!"
*The End*
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Author's Note: This concludes the main text!
Actually, there's a lot more to write about later. I also considered setting two endings at the beginning: one where the scientific expedition succeeds and the other where it fails.
However, upon rereading the entire text later, it was discovered that the imperial examination was not actually that significant for Guo Baiwen.
So in the end, this was the ending they chose.
Even without anyone paying attention or a sign-in system, everyone is still living their lives well.
Thank you to all my little angels for your support and encouragement over the past four months, which has made my daily writing routine less of a headache.
Currently being updated is the fantasy romance novel "Does the Ancient Ghost World Also Need a Landlord?", a novel about business management in the realm of demons and ghosts. Interested readers can click on the column to check it out.
There's also a similar novel called "Is Spending Money Back Really Useful in Ancient Times?", which is also an ancient time-travel story and has already started updating.
Welcome, little angels who are interested, to click and save this post! ~Heart~
Tomorrow night is Christmas Eve. Wishing everyone a peaceful and safe new year in advance!
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