Chapter 15 Chapter 15 The Only Two Students in the Village
Erdan said excitedly, "Thank you, Brother Xu."
Grandma told them yesterday that Brother Xu will be Brother Run’s husband from now on, so they should be polite when meeting him and not hide from him.
Erdan said thank you and was carried to the cart by Xu Yunfan. Dadan originally wanted to lift Sandan up and let Erdan hold him, and then he would go up, but Xu Yunfan was stronger and picked up both the big and small and put them next to Qin An. "Sit tight, the cart is going to go."
Xu Yunfan grabbed the handlebars and pushed the cart, which immediately started moving. Dadan and Erdan shook themselves and cried out excitedly, "Wow, it really moves!"
The little ones who had never ridden in a car and usually envied the adults for riding in ox carts were screaming and were very excited.
Hearing the chirping sounds of several little ones, the villagers in the cornfield not far away came out to take a look. They saw that the little husband that Run Ge'er picked up was pushing something, and several children were sitting on it, screaming with joy.
"What is that? An oxcart?"
"No? Have you ever seen an ox cart with only one wheel?"
"That man, is he the one from Runge'er's family? Isn't he said to be a lazy guy who never works in the fields?"
"Who knows? Those women just believe everything they hear. If they hear anything, they just listen to it. And you really believed it? That Xu kid really doesn't work in the fields. What is he doing outside now? Isn't that Qin's cornfield over there?"
"Hey, that thing can carry people, can it also carry corn?"
"It's possible."
On the Sun family's side, several men saw Xu Yunfan's cart and were a little envious. "If it could carry corn, we wouldn't have to carry it. I carried it all day yesterday and my shoulders are sore and swollen. We still have more than ten acres of crops to harvest. This time of year is really tiring."
The people of the Sun and Li clans were not on good terms with the Qin clan. However, after decades of getting along, the Sun clan gradually came to terms with it. Although the Qin clan had settled in their village, they had reclaimed the wasteland themselves, and the county government had not redistributed the land. In fact, they had not suffered any loss. Moreover, if you really think about it, because the Qin clan had reclaimed the wasteland, they had opened a road, and it was much more convenient for the two clans to go up the mountain.
Another point is, even if there is a lot of land, what is the point if you can't take care of it? So, how can it be considered an advantage for others to open up wasteland?
The officials said, "Who says every inch of land in Dali Village belongs to the Li and Sun clans? That's the land of the Great Yan Dynasty, the land of the emperor."
As subjects of the Son of Heaven, as long as the Qin family settled down, they would have the right to reclaim wasteland and cultivate the land.
The man next to him rubbed his shoulders and said, "Who said it wasn't? I wonder where the guy from Xiao Qin's family got this thing."
Of course, just because some people are open-minded doesn’t mean that every household in the Sun family is like this.
A woman snorted, "What are you envious of? It's not even certain how much corn it can carry. They're just making these fancy things. We don't even know if they're practical."
Across the road is the Li family's cornfield.
Aunt Li had already noticed Xu Yunfan and rolled her eyes. "Laugh, laugh, laugh! Why aren't you guys dying of laughter?"
"Grandma, I want to ride in the car too. I don't want to break corn anymore. I'm so tired."
Li Dahua’s eldest son, Li Dabao, was unhappy. That idiot Anger had a car, so why didn’t he have one?
"Mom, I want to take a ride too." Li Erbao threw a tantrum and yelled at Aunt Li's second daughter-in-law Fang Xiaoguo, throwing the corn in his hand far away.
Aunt Li felt sorry for her grandchildren and was even more annoyed. Her eldest grandson worked so hard that he couldn't even laugh, but they laughed the loudest. They must be trying to make people hate them!
Aunt Li was so jealous that she wanted to go up and stuff their mouths with stones. "Dabao and Erbao, if you're tired, just rest. Those carts with one wheel are unstable. They're doing it on purpose. Don't be fooled. Look at Grandpa Sun's ox cart. It has two wheels and needs an ox to pull it. Theirs only has one wheel, it's definitely not sturdy. They might even fall on their butts halfway through the journey."
As she spoke, Aunt Li saw her two granddaughters, Li Daya and Li Erya, standing still. She immediately put her hands on her hips and started scolding them, "You two little girls, eight or nine years old, are still lazy at work. Hurry up and break the fields. If you can't finish harvesting this field today, go home and eat shit. If you delay and let your uncle starve, I will punish you."
Although Li Dahua and Fang Xiaoguo felt sorry for their daughter having to work in the fields at such a young age, they did not dare to refute or accept what their mother-in-law said, and had to hold back whatever they wanted to say.
The two daughters-in-law were angry but dared not say anything about their mother-in-law's favoritism towards the younger son, because their brother-in-law was the only one in the family and one of the only two scholars in the village who passed the imperial examination.
Li Baoshan had studied for a few years in his early years and believed that he was different from other villagers who could not read a single word. Therefore, unlike others, he did not name his sons after animals.
Unfortunately, Li Baoshan was not a good student. After studying for so many years, he couldn't even pass the examination to become a student. Fortunately, his youngest son worked hard and learned to read at the age of six. He was well-behaved and smart. It was obvious at first glance that he was a good student. As expected, Li Yunfei lived up to his father's expectations and was admitted to become a student.
Riding on the clouds, flying into the sky.
Li Yunfei, as soon as you hear the name you know how high Li Baoshan's expectations of him are.
In Li Baoshan's opinion, among all the people in the surrounding villages, his Yunfei passed the imperial examination at the age of 18, which was really amazing. Li Yunfei would take part in the college entrance examination next year, so how could he waste his time in the cornfield?
For Li Yunfei, studying is much more important than the autumn harvest. How could Li Baoshan let his youngest son work in the fields and delay his studies?
In the Dayan Dynasty, the imperial examination was similar to that in ancient times and was divided into four levels: the academy examination, the provincial examination, the metropolitan examination, and the palace examination.
Simply put, after a candidate passes the county examination and the prefectural examination to become a student, he or she must pass the academy examination to be called a scholar.
After passing the examination to become a scholar, the next step is the provincial examination held every three years. Scholars take the examination, and those who pass are called juren. They move up the examination level step by step until they become jinshi.
The examinations for Tongsheng and Xiucai were held once a year, for Xiucai it was once every three years (also known as the Autumn Examination), for Juren it was held in the spring of the following year (also known as the Spring Examination), and for Gongshi it was held a few days after the results of the Gongshi examinations were announced. Therefore, the Spring Examination, Autumn Examination and Palace Examination were close in time, and this year was called the year of the big pen.
Tongsheng is just the beginning of the road to the imperial examination. Any scholar, no matter what age, can obtain the title of Tongsheng as long as he passes the county examination and the prefectural examination. Only with this title can you continue to take the higher examinations, which is equivalent to having the most basic qualifications to take the higher examinations.
In modern terms, a Tongsheng is equivalent to a primary school diploma. With a primary school diploma, you can go to junior high school.
But not every educated person can obtain this diploma.
The year Li Yunfei took the Tongsheng exam, there were nearly six hundred people taking it, but less than sixty of them passed. This pass rate was extremely low.
From this we can see that it was a great achievement for Li Yunfei to pass the examination and become a student.
In the Li family, Li Yunfei is the pride of the Li family. Li Yunfei's main task is to study. At home, he doesn't even have to do the most basic housework. The two sisters-in-law are tired after a day, and they still have to cook and do housework when they go home.
Of course, what does this have to do with Xu Yunfan now?
The only thing Xu Yunfan wants to do now is to live a good life in this strange dynasty, with meat for every meal and money saved at home. As for other things... he doesn't even have money. Even the most basic needs of food and clothing are not yet solved. Thinking so much is nothing but wishful thinking and a pure waste of brain cells.
Xu Yunfan pushed the cart very quickly. On the cart, four little kids held tightly onto the cart frame made of wooden boards that Xu Yunfan had stapled together on both sides, and laughed excitedly.
When they arrived at the end of the field, Xu Yunfan stopped. The four little kids were reluctant to get out of the car.
When the villagers of the Qin family heard the laughter of Dadan and Erdan, they all looked over, curious about what happy things had happened to the children that made them laugh so happily.
Because of their curiosity, they saw with their own eyes Xu Yunfan pushing a wooden cart similar to an ox cart, which was something unknown and running quickly past their land.
Aunt Qin asked the question that everyone was curious about, "Xu boy, what's that thing in your hand? I think it runs pretty fast!"
Xu Yunfan took Qin An off the cart and said, "This is a cart, Auntie. I went to Uncle Qin Mu to borrow wood just to make this."
Uncle Qin walked over and asked, "Is this what you and my brother borrowed wood to make? What's the use of it? Can it run so fast with just one wheel?"
Xu Yunfan was questioned, but he wasn't upset. "Why don't you ask Dadan and the others if they want to hurry up! Dadan and Erdan, Brother Xu just pushed you guys over here, are you guys hurrying up?"
"Fast, super super fast, faster than an ox cart!" Erdan replied loudly.
Qin Er glanced at his boy and said, "Have you ever ridden in an ox cart? How do you know if it's fast?"
Erdan didn't like what he heard. "Dad, why are you so stupid? I've never ridden in an oxcart, but haven't I seen one? Fortunately, I look like mom. Otherwise, if I were like you, I would be so stupid."
Qin Er threw a handful of corn at him and scolded him with a smile, "You little brat, I haven't beaten you for a few days, and you're itching for trouble again, right?"
Xu Yunfan didn't interrupt and took Qin An to the field. Qin Run saw them coming and asked curiously, "Why are you here?"
"I will come when the cart is ready. How many bags of corn did you collect this morning? If it's a lot, I will push it back now." Xu Yunfan estimated that the cart would be ready in the morning, so he told Qin Run not to carry the corn back with a shoulder pole, and he would push it in the afternoon.
Qin Run glanced at the wheelbarrow on the side of the road and pointed at the corn pushed on the edge of the field: "There are twelve bags. Can this really be used?"
"Why not? Are you doubting me?" Xu Yunfan was unhappy. "I won't waste my time talking to you. I'll have to see if it works or not."
After Xu Yunfan finished speaking, he picked up a bag of corn and left. He was not used to carrying things on his shoulders, so it was more convenient to hold it in his arms.
Seeing this, Qin Run also picked up a bag of corn and put it on the cart.
Because of Xu Yunfan's cart, the people who were busy in the fields came out to look at the cart. They wanted to know whether the husband that Run Ge'er picked up was reliable.
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