But the other children in the village weren't so lucky.
Especially the classmates who had held pens and studied with Lin Zhongyuan.
These people, like Lin Zhongyuan, are all half-grown boys. They eat a lot but are useless at work, and when they cause trouble, they just make me unhappy.
Now that Lin Zhongyuan is there as a contrast, when their parents come home and see their silly son looking so dull, they feel even more annoyed.
And so that night...
A series of agonizing screams echoed from every corner of the village.
These teenagers, wiping away tears and touching their swollen buttocks, gathered together to denounce the culprit, Lin Zhongyuan.
"It's all because this guy went back on his word! He said he wouldn't pass the exam, but he did! My dad beat me up several times because of him!" a boy said, looking aggrieved.
"That's right!" the others immediately chimed in. "I didn't do anything wrong today, but my mom still says I'm useless! It's all Zhongyuan's fault. If it weren't for him, why would my mom scold me?"
They were all equally useless, but now that Lin Zhongyuan, who was so promising, had emerged, they all stood out.
Someone then suggested, "Shall we go and beat up Lin Zhongyuan?"
Why did they get beaten up while Lin Zhongyuan got to enjoy himself so comfortably?
It's infuriating just thinking about it.
"No, that's not a good idea, is it?" Some people said timidly, "I heard that he's so young to have passed the imperial examination and become a scholar, that's amazing. He's like the God of Literature descended to earth. If we beat him up, wouldn't we be offending the God of Literature in heaven?"
"..." The children were silent for a moment.
They all started to back down: "My parents really like Lin Zhongyuan now. If I dare to beat him up and my dad finds out, my butt won't just be eight pieces now, it'll definitely be sixteen!"
"Then we probably won't be able to save it either..."
"Hmph!" someone muttered, clearly dissatisfied. "Are we just going to watch that kid smug like this? We just can't stand him!"
"What can we do? Spit on him? But he doesn't usually go out..." After all, they are just children around ten years old, and they couldn't think of a solution even after scratching their heads.
I don’t know if Lin Zhongyuan knew what they were thinking, but after the exams, he didn’t go out to play. He just stayed at home studying every day.
I really don't know what's so interesting about those classical Chinese phrases. They get a headache just looking at them, but this kid can actually read them every day!
The kids huddled together and fed the mosquitoes for a while. Once the wounds healed, they forgot the pain and couldn't be bothered with Lin Zhongyuan's affairs anymore, so their parents called them back home.
...
night
The Lin family's door was knocked on.
The person who came was the old village head, who was walking with a cane and looked a little shaky.
When the village headman heard that Lin Zhongyuan had passed the imperial examination at the age of eleven and become a scholar, he was overjoyed.
After dinner, he lit the lamp and directed his granddaughter to rummage through drawers and cabinets until she found an inkstone he had used when he was young.
He took the inkstone and went to the Lin family's house.
"Grandpa, what brings you here so late at night? You could have just let us know if there was anything wrong, you didn't have to come all this way." Liu Junlan quickly opened the door and welcomed him in.
It's just a few steps in the village, not a very long distance, but the old man who is the village head is quite old, and it's a bit inconvenient for him to walk over late at night.
"Hehehe." The old man from the village headman said with a smile, "I heard that your family member passed the imperial examination and became a scholar?"
"Yes, yes, yes." Liu Junlan was also overjoyed, but she just smiled and said, "I passed the exam, but that useless Weiming went to the county town to check the list and didn't see what rank I got."
"No matter what rank you get, it's good as long as you pass the exam!" The old man from the village headman handed over the inkstone in his hand: "Here, this is something I used when I was young. It's not that good, but if you think the child can use it, give it to him."
“My family members are all useless; they get sleepy as soon as they pick up a book, so this stuff is useless to them.”
The village head was being very modest and polite, so Liu Junlan couldn't refuse and accepted it with a smile.
The old man continued, "Now that Zhongyuan has passed the imperial examination and become a scholar, which academy in the county do you plan to send him to?"
"Should we send him to the academy?" Liu Junlan had never been to school and could barely read or write, so he was quite surprised to hear the village head's question.
"Yes." The old man nodded vigorously, then suddenly asked with some surprise, "What, does your family not plan to let Zhongyuan continue his studies?"
He became worried and raised his voice: "This won't do. Zhongyuan is one of the few promising students our village has produced in many years. Your family is doing well now, how can you not send your child to school?"
"..." Liu Junlan had no way to explain to the old man.
Everyone thought that Lin Zhongyuan's ability to pass the imperial examination was a stroke of good luck for the Lin family, as he could pass without a tutor or even after studying for a few years.
But Liu Junlan herself knew that Master Cui had been teaching Lin Zhongyuan all along.
If he goes to the academy, what will happen to Master Cui?
Moreover, the academies are all located in the county town. It wouldn't be right for their family to let Lin Zhongyuan, a child who is only eleven years old, study hard alone in the county town, would it?
How pitiful!
Liu Junlan really couldn't figure out how to deal with the village head's concern. Since everyone was praising her eldest grandson for being smart, she decided to quickly call Lin Zhongyuan out.
Lin Zhongyuan was playing with his younger sister when he heard his grandmother calling him, so he picked up his sister and came out together.
"What's wrong with Grandma?" Lin Zhongyuan asked.
Lin Wanyue also looked over curiously.
The village head had always been somewhat fond of Lin Wanyue. As soon as he saw her, he smiled and quickly waved to Lin Zhongyuan and her, saying, "Come here, come here, I have some questions for your older brother."
"Grandpa Village Head, what do you mean?" Lin Zhongyuan was even more puzzled.
"Grandpa is asking you, now that you've passed the imperial examination and become a scholar, do you want to go to the academy in the county town to study?" the village head asked with concern.
Lin Zhongyuan shook his head: "I don't want to go."
"Why is that?" The village head was immediately surprised: "Why don't you want to go? Don't you want to pass the imperial examination and become a scholar? Maybe you can even become an official or the top scholar!"
In truth, the village head didn't believe that their remote village could produce a top scholar like Lin Zhongyuan, but at this moment, he couldn't care less about anything else in order to motivate him.
"It's too difficult to become the top scholar in the imperial examination. I think I'm quite content being a teacher in the village right now," Lin Zhongyuan said.
Thinking of those friends who had threatened him before, he thought that if he could become their teacher in the future, he could whip their palms with a bamboo whip when they dared not study properly.
Hmph, they don't dare to resist!
Thinking this way, Lin Zhongyuanguang felt very good.
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