boyutpedia Chapter 307 Five People Passed the County Examination
Chapter 307 Five People Passed the County Examination
It is worth mentioning that Gu Wenxuan did not distribute the fabrics only to Ning Cuizhi, Wu and Lin Shuzhen. For other students in the village who were about to take the imperial examinations, Gu Wenxuan also entrusted Bai Lizheng's wife to send enough fabrics to make three sets of scholar robes to their respective mothers or wives.
Those who were sent to school by their families undoubtedly had a high status in their own families, and Gu Wenxuan was not worried that their clothes would be taken away by someone else.
As for whether they would take the initiative to sell the fabrics or give them to other people, Gu Wenxuan said that it was not her concern.
Anyone who is not afraid of the cold, who is willing to have their original clothes taken apart and the interlayers checked, can use the fabrics as they please. Anyway, she will definitely not give them more fabrics just because they use them elsewhere.
Because she only intended to treat this as an occasional act of kindness, Gu Wenxuan quickly put the matter behind her.
She specially took time out during those few days to go to the house in the county town that was closest to the county government office and started her first career as an examinee.
The county examination was held in each county and presided over by the county magistrate. There were five consecutive examinations, so they had to stay in the county town for a few more days.
In addition to Bai Jingzhou, Bai Jingshan, Gu Wenhai, Gu Wenche, several other students from Baijia Village who were preparing for exams also lived in the house owned by Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou.
Food, accommodation, carriages, firewood and charcoal were all trivial matters, and neither Gu Wenxuan nor Bai Jingzhou intended to haggle with their fellow villagers, but Bai Lizheng's eldest grandson Bai Yaoheng and Bai Yue, the youngest son of an elder of the Bai family, insisted on paying part of the money.
In their words, Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan provided them with such good accommodation conditions, and always had hot water, firewood and meals available. They also sent carriages to pick them up and drop them off between the house and the county government office every day. This was already a great deal for them. They couldn't possibly ask Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan to pay for all the expenses they needed.
They help you solve all the trivial matters and relieve you of your worries. Not only do they work hard, but you also have to pay for it. No matter how you look at it, they are in the wrong.
The two of them sang the same tune and forced Bai Jingzhou to pay the money, otherwise they would move out and find another place to settle down.
No matter what the other students from Baijia Village who came to stay with these two people thought in their hearts, they had to agree with them verbally. After all, they were the ones who were right, and these scholars had to save face.
Bai Jingzhou couldn't persuade them, so he had to accept some symbolic money from them.
Then, at Bai Jingzhou's instruction, Gu Wenxuan used all the money to prepare meals for these students.
Whether it was the hot meals they ate at the house or the convenience foods they brought to the examination room, Gu Wenxuan upgraded the quality of their meals to ensure that not a single penny of the money they paid ended up in her and Bai Jingzhou's hands.
Those students were not fools. After calculating their expenses over the past few days and the little money they had given to Bai Jingzhou, they naturally realized that they were the ones who got the better deal in the end.
In this way, even those who were reluctant to pay before would not be embarrassed to talk about Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan behind their backs.
Thanks to Gu Wenxuan's arrangement, everything went smoothly for the county examination, but in the end, only Bai Jingzhou, Bai Jingshan, Gu Wenhai, and Bai Yaoheng and Bai Yue, who had previously offered to give money to Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan, were selected.
Unfortunately, everyone else, including Gu Wenche, failed the exam.
But even so, Baijia Village became famous in Qingshan County.
In one village, five people passed the county examination at the same time, and three of them did not even intend to study hard and obtain official titles since childhood.
What those who cast their eyes of curiosity, envy and suspicion towards Baijia Village did not know was that if Gu Wenche had not been unlucky, not only would the examination room he was assigned have leaks on all sides, but the weather had also been bad. It rained and snowed on their first day of the exam, which had a great impact on his test state. As he had been carefully taught by Lin Shuzhen since he was a child, he actually had a better chance of making the list than Gu Wenhai and Bai Jingshan.
Of course, Gu Wenche did not complain about it. After all, there were many candidates in this year and in the past who did not perform to their full potential due to factors such as the examination environment and weather. He was not the first, and he would not be the last.
The group of people either forced themselves to smile and congratulate others, or suppressed their joy so as not to offend those they were traveling with, and thus they returned to the village together with different thoughts.
Bai Lizheng and the others who had already received the message were not like Bai Jingzhou and the other five. The old men did not know what restraint was. Before the carriages that Gu Wenxuan and the others were riding in arrived at the entrance of the village, the sound of loud firecrackers could be heard from the entrance.
Bai Lizheng, with his wrinkled face, and the village elders and other villagers who had close relations with the five students who had passed the county examination were all smiling happier than during the Chinese New Year.
Lin Shuzhen was also in the crowd. She had already heard from the person who delivered the letter why Gu Wenche failed the exam. Now her mind was filled with thoughts on how she was going to comfort her son.
To her surprise, Gu Wenche seemed to be in a good mood and was even smiling when he got off the car.
Lin Shuzhen observed carefully for a moment, and then tested Gu Wenche with words, and found that he was indeed not forcing a smile. Lin Shuzhen could not help but cast a puzzled glance at Gu Yongqing.
Gu Yongqing didn't know what was going on with his son, but he was very happy that Gu Wenche didn't suffer from such emotional ups and downs because of a failure.
How can a person's life be smooth sailing? Learning to withstand setbacks is more meaningful than always achieving good results.
The group talked with the headman and others at the entrance of the village for a while, and agreed that the five families would jointly pay for a banquet for the entire village and other relatives and friends of the five families. Only then did Bai Lizheng let them go home to rest.
In fact, according to Bai Jingzhou's idea, this banquet was not necessary. After all, he had only passed the county examination, not become a scholar.
But Bai Lizheng and the village elders obviously disagreed with him. They strongly demanded that this happy event be celebrated. Bai Jingzhou couldn't persuade them and had to accept this proposal which didn't sound very reliable.
He handed over the money that he, Bai Jingshan and Gu Wenhai were going to pay to Bai Lizheng, who was taking the lead in arranging this matter, and said goodbye to the others who came back with them.
When only his family, Bai Jingshan's family, and Gu Wenxuan's family were left in the car, he ordered one of the drivers to take Bai Jingshan's family back.
Bai Jingshan's grandmother, mother, and brothers and sisters were all very happy. They surrounded Bai Jingshan and asked him questions, and did not even notice that the carriage they were riding in had arrived at the gate of his house.
It was the driver who reminded them that they had arrived at the destination, and then Mrs. Wu hurriedly stood up and helped her mother-in-law out of the car together with Bai Jingshan.