Chapter 501 I Passed the Exam
This set of procedures for announcing the good news had been followed as early as when Gu Yuchuan passed the examination for the title of scholar, and everyone in the school was familiar with it.
As soon as the yamen runners arrived at the school gate, they saw that the bluestone slabs in the yard had been swept clean, and three sacrificial animals and incense and candles had been placed on the ground.
He is indeed a person who knows the rules.
Captain Zhao led the way through the gate, the hem of his blue cloth uniform brushing the threshold, his chin still raised.
"Captain Zhao, your visit is a great honor to our humble academy." Gu Jiayue walked quickly towards him with just the right smile on her face, her hands slightly lowered, her posture respectful but not humble.
Captain Zhao snorted, but when he took the red envelope handed to him by Gu Jiayue, his fingertips touched the heavy weight, and his brows relaxed slightly.
When he held the red envelope in his hand, he could feel the shape of the silver ingot inside. It was thicker than most red envelopes he had received in the capital.
No wonder Chen Ada, that lackey, was so attentive. It turned out to be this Director Gu. Although she is a woman, she is also very good at dealing with people!
After the list of names was read out, and he watched Gu Jiayue directing the students to line up and personally serving tea to each yamen runner, the arrogance on Captain Zhao's face faded a lot.
He took out a stack of documents and handed them to Gu Jiayue, clearing his throat and speaking politely. "Master Gu is truly remarkable. He's able to teach these clueless, poor people to such a high standard. It's truly remarkable. If the journey weren't so far, I'd also like to send my son to your school!"
Of course, this was just a polite remark! Zhao Yang was a well-known figure in the city, so how could he possibly send his children to such a remote elementary school?
Gu Jiayue didn't take this seriously. She simply smiled and changed the subject, calling the students on the list to the front and having Captain Zhao hand them the documents with their names on them.
Zhang Chuyan stood in the front row, his small body standing straight.
When Captain Zhao read the words "Zhang Chuyan," his hands began to tremble violently. The moment he took the document, his fingertips repeatedly stroked his own name on the paper.
He bit his lower lip tightly, his nose felt sore, and tears rolled around in his eyes for several times but refused to fall.
I passed the exam. I really passed.
He remembered reciting lessons by the firelight in the cold winter, with his hands cracked from the cold; he remembered his mother tucking him in the quilt in the middle of the night, sighing and telling him not to get too tired; he remembered his sister turning around and shouting at him to take good care of their mother when she was taken away by the Sun family.
Those red eyes, worn hands, and swallowed tears all have a place to go at this moment.
"I passed! I actually passed!" A sudden cry erupted from the back row. It was a short student. He stuffed the documents into his arms and squatted on the ground, sobbing. "My mother's hard work has finally paid off. I passed the exam. She no longer has to wash clothes for other people in the cold winter..."
Several students who passed the exam nearby also had tears in their eyes. Some wiped their tears, some patted each other's backs and laughed, tears mixed with sweat streaming down their faces.
The students who were not on the list stood at the back with their shoulders slumped.
A young man in a blue cloth jacket slammed his thigh hard, his Adam's apple rolling. He wanted to say something, but in the end, it turned into a long sigh...
The village chief was squeezed in the crowd, holding a pipe in his hand, but the pipe had long been extinguished.
He looked at the names of the ten children from Taohua Village on the list, his hands shaking as he repeated to himself, "The Gu family's ancestor has appeared... he has appeared!"
Ten scholars, ten scholars are not ten big radishes!
How many scholars are there in the entire Annan County? Adding up all of them, including those old scholars who are about to be buried, there are only about twenty of them!
But their Taohua Village occupies half of it!
What an honor this is!
He slapped his thigh and shouted to the people around him, "Open the ancestral hall! Kowtow to the ancestors! Have a banquet! Hold it for ten days and ten nights!"
The villagers followed suit, and their laughter and shouts made the school window paper buzz.
After completing the process, Gu Jiayue led the yamen runners to the cafeteria.
Two large tables of dishes were steaming, the oily sheen of the braised chicken reflected on the rim of the bowl, the braised pork elbows were piled up like a small mountain, and the aroma of sour soup fish drifted out through the crack in the door.
Captain Zhao and his men were still very arrogant at first, but after picking up a piece of tender pork ribs with chopsticks, they no longer cared about their appearance. They moved their chopsticks very quickly and responded to Gu Jiayue's greetings with "hmm".
When they left, each yamen runner had a bulging purse around his waist and two jars of peach blossom wine in his arms.
Captain Zhao laughed sincerely.
Director Gu is capable and will come again next time something good like this happens.
After so many years of reporting good news, this time I ate comfortably and received substantial rewards, which also made me feel at ease.
As soon as the yamen runners left, the students who passed the exam ran home with their documents in hand.
"Dad! Mom! I passed!" A young man rushed into his yard, holding a document and spinning around, scaring everyone into a panic.
"Grandpa! Look! I'm a scholar now! Our family doesn't have to pay taxes anymore!" The white-haired old man took the document, his hands trembling violently. He patted his grandson on the head and laughed until tears came out.
Zhang Chuyan didn't go home, but dragged his parents straight to the school's stable. "Let's go to Sunjiazhuang! Let's go now!"
His hand, clutching the document, turned white, his knuckles cracking. "I want to bring my sister back!"
He could not forget the scene when he went to the Sun family to redeem someone last year.
Landlord Sun stood at the doorway, his hands on his hips, spitting into his face. "A death contract! Sun Dani signed a death contract! Do you know what that means? She belongs to my Sun family in life and will be my Sun family ghost in death! I won't allow anyone to take her away!"
"It's not impossible to take the person away if you want. One hundred taels. As long as you give me one hundred taels, I will return the person to you."
When his family borrowed 100 taels of silver from Gu Jiayue and went back, the landlord Sun was unwilling to release him. He raised the price to 300 taels!
At that time, Zhang Chuyan was so angry that he was shaking all over. Zhang Chuyan's family was beaten out and they didn't even see Zhang Dani.
Zhang Chuyan was extremely angry and shouted at the Sun family's gate that he would make the Sun family regret their decision and send his sister back politely in a sedan chair!
Landlord Sun pointed at him and laughed at him. "You, you peasant? Even if you were given another hundred years, you wouldn't be able to catch up with our Sun family!"
Later, Zhang Chuyan made a bet that if he could pass the imperial examination and become a scholar within a year, the Sun family would return his sister to them!
Landlord Zhang naturally didn't believe that such a child could become a scholar in just one year, so he agreed without even thinking about it.
Now Zhang Chuyan has done it! Not only did he pass the examination to become a scholar, he also took first place in this academy examination!
So he wanted to go to the Sun family and ask the Sun family to politely invite his sister out!
"Okay, okay, let's go now!"
At the beginning, Zhang Dani took advantage of everyone's unpreparedness and sold herself to the landlord Sun's family in exchange for money to treat his mother's illness.
In order to get more silver, he signed a death contract!
Three taels of silver saved her mother's life, but also made her lose her freedom for the rest of her life.
This incident became a source of worry for the Zhang family.
The Zhang family had tried to inquire about the matter over the years, but the Sun family was very strict and they never got any information.
So the Zhang family didn't know that Sun Dani was a slave in the Sun Mansion, being tortured and beaten by everyone! She had been to the gates of hell many times.
But she still survived with strength.
Although she was confined to the backyard and couldn't go out during those times when her brother came to visit, she still heard about it afterwards.
Her heart, which had been calm, became lively again. Her brother and parents did not ignore her or give up on her. Instead, they kept thinking of ways to take her out!
She can't die, she has to live well and wait for the day when she sees her brother!
"Dani, just obey me. As long as you become my nineteenth concubine, you won't have to clean these toilets anymore. Isn't it good to follow me and enjoy the good life?"
Looking at the fat pig that was approaching step by step, Sun Dani tightened the silver hairpin in her hand, and endless despair surged in her heart.
She felt that she might not be able to wait for her brother to come and redeem her.
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