Chapter 248 Jishan Academy
In feudal society, ordinary people had a very low social status. They were burdened with corvée labor, taxes, government, gentry, and clans, leaving them with almost no time to breathe. They could only barely survive after working all day.
Now that Zhang Xingjiu had passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, he had finally escaped from his status as a commoner and became an upright person. He no longer had to kneel when he met the county magistrate, and he did not have to worry about being investigated when he traveled around. He did not have to be harassed by corvee labor, and he also had many conveniences in terms of taxation.
Because he had done well in the exam, he was given a place as a student on government stipend, which meant he could receive six dou of government rice per month and four taels of government stipend silver every year.
Of course, when it comes to actually collecting the money, the amount varies from place to place. The economic conditions in Shaoxing are better, so they can get more. If you add in the income from guaranteeing candidates, Zhang Xingjiu can earn more money than Zhang Fuqing without doing anything all year round.
If he had been more creative, he could have used his connections to ask for help from people in the government, started some small business, helped people with lawsuits, etc., and it wouldn't have been difficult for him to make dozens or even hundreds of taels of silver a year.
Kong Yiji lived such a miserable life. On the one hand, he failed to pass the examination to become a scholar, did not get any fame, and had not escaped from his status as a commoner. On the other hand, he was too pedantic because of his education and his brain was not active enough.
Naturally, Zhang Xingjiu would not do the same as him. After returning from the provincial capital, he went to the county school to register first. From now on, he could come every month to collect rice. Logically, he should continue to study in the county school, but in practice, there were not many scholars who stayed in the county school.
Those who were interested in taking the imperial examinations went to academies with better education quality, or went out to study. Those who were not interested in taking the examinations were busy with their own careers, and only came to collect rice or silver or show up when something big happened.
Then he returned to Sanwei Bookstore and solemnly thanked Shou Jingwu and Shou Pengfei, father and son, for their teaching over the past two years and their help in the imperial examination process.
It was really lucky for Zhang Xingjiu to meet people like Shou Jingwu and his son. If it were any other private tutor, let alone whether they were willing to accept him, the tuition fees and the expenses of pens, ink, paper and inkstone would be enough to give him a headache, not to mention the various troubles during the county, prefectural and academy examinations.
Shou Jingwu and his son were very pleased, "Xingjiu has achieved success now, but he cannot slack off and needs to continue studying hard."
"I've remembered it. I will keep your teachings in mind and continue to study hard in the future." Zhang Xingjiu solemnly promised, but the content he would read in the future might not be in line with Shou Jingwu's ideas.
After chatting for a while, Shou Jingwu sent him away. "You passed the imperial examination, this is a great thing, you should go home and tell your parents and worship your ancestors! Take a good rest at home these days, and come to the academy to find me after a while. Pengfei and I will give you some advice on where you should go to study next."
"Oh, by the way, now that you have achieved fame, you should also have a name. I will help you choose one! Bao Zhang clan used stars and soil to distinguish the land of the Nine Provinces. Each of the sealed areas has a star to observe the auspicious signs. The twelve years are used to observe the auspicious signs of the world. The five clouds are used to distinguish good and bad luck, floods and droughts, and the signs of abundance and famine. The twelve winds are used to observe the harmony of heaven and earth and the auspicious signs of discord. All these five things are used to decree rescue and to inquire about the order of things."
"Now that Jiuzhou is in turmoil and the situation is getting tough, young people like you should respond to the will of heaven, comfort the people, and bring peace to Jiuzhou, so your name should be Zhouping."
Shou Jingwu spoke without thinking. It was obvious that this word had been in his mind for a long time. Now the time had come and he just took it out.
"Thank you for the calligraphy, sir. I will keep it in mind." Zhang Xingjiu bowed again, then left the gift he brought back from Hangzhou and said goodbye.
Shou Jingwu would definitely not accept ordinary gifts, so Zhang Xingjiu catered to his tastes and bought him a few books from Wanbi Bookstore in Hangzhou that he had longed to read but had never had the chance to read. Only then did Shou Jingwu accept the gifts.
After coming out, Zhang and other classmates came to congratulate him. Wu Shushen and other wealthy families even prepared gifts. Perhaps their families helped to prepare them. Zhang Xingjiu was only fourteen years old this year, and he passed the examination for a scholar. It was not impossible for him to pass the examination for a juren or even a jinshi in the future. It happened that their children were classmates with them, so how could they not quickly build a relationship? Otherwise, it would be too late when his family passed the examination for a juren.
Regardless of whether there were gifts or not, Zhang Xingjiu thanked them sincerely, invited them to a nearby restaurant for a meal, and then returned to Dupu Village on a black-sailed boat in the afternoon.
As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the village, villagers came out to greet him with smiles on their faces, "Xingjiu, I heard that you became a scholar?"
"I was lucky enough to win." Zhang Xingjiu greeted politely and returned home surrounded by everyone.
When Zhang Fuqing saw him, he immediately grinned and quickly asked his wife to light a fire and cook, in order to entertain these relatives and friends well. These people would not eat for free, and they brought fresh fish, rice, cloth and other gifts from their homes.
Even the landlords and gentry in the village came over with gifts to congratulate them, and they were polite enough to sit down and drink a few glasses of wine. As I said before, a fourteen-year-old scholar would be looked up to even in the capital, let alone in a poor place like Dupu Village?
Not only did they bring gifts, they also planned to find a good job for Zhang Fuqing. Some even planned to introduce a wife to Zhang Xingjiu. Zhang Xingjiu quickly refused on the grounds that he planned to study hard in the next few years. He didn't want to be like Ah Zhang and marry a wife with whom he could not communicate at all.
He did not agree to the job. On the way back, he had already made up his mind to open a shop in Shaoxing city and sell some roughly processed local specialties. He had many ways of processing them in his mind, and his reputation as a scholar could also guarantee that no one would harass the shop.
With this shop, Zhang's family will be able to live a much more affluent life, and his family members won't have to work as hard as they do now.
After staying in Dupu Village for a few days and demonstrating to Zhang Fuqing how to process local specialties, he quickly convinced them. Renting a shop was also easy, as Wu Shushen's family had a lot of real estate, so after visiting him, he rented a house with a shop in front and a yard in the back.
After hiring a few assistants who knew the business well, the shop was opened. When the scholars in the county heard the news, they came to congratulate them. Seeing the products with obviously better appearance and quality, many people could not help but buy some to give to their relatives and friends from other places.
This shop became famous immediately. As long as nothing unexpected happened, it would bring the Zhang family an income worthy of a scholar's status every year.
Any more would be inappropriate. Nowadays, there are rules about how much money people can earn. Zhang Xingjiu doesn't intend to go too far.
After finishing all these, Shou Jingwu also helped her choose her next destination, which was the famous Jishan Academy in Shaoxing.
(End of this chapter)
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