The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl - Chapter 385
Chapter 385: Chapter 381: Provincial Government Rural Examination_1
Jiang Da Bo and his wife, upon hearing the announcement from the courier, rushed out of the courtyard to see two couriers dismount their horses and salute them, “Pardon me, but is this the home of Young Master Jiang Yuanbao?”
Jiang Da Lang laughed heartily, nodding his head repeatedly, “Indeed! This is Jiang Yuanbao’s home, I am his father!”
The courier saluted him, “Congratulations, Lord Jiang Da Lang. Your son, Young Master Jiang Yuanbao, has achieved the ninth position in the Prefectural exam!”
Jiang Da Lang returned the salute, “Very happy, very happy! You’ve worked hard, please come in for a cup of tea.”
Mrs. Zhou, equally overjoyed, turned to go and prepare the tea.
Soon, their neighbors, Clan Leader Chen, and the teacher from the schoolhouse came to offer their congratulations.
All the while, old man Jiang and his eldest son were busy entertaining the guests while leading the third and second sons to arrange for the feast.
“Such joyous news indeed, your family has produced two scholars,” the Clan Leader sighed with envy.
It’s bad enough that his own son had failed, even his grandsons were unsuccessful, with none of them able to secure the title of a scholar.
The only grandchild who was somewhat intelligent, Yaoyao, had chosen to learn martial art, intending to take the Military Examination when he grew up.
Alas, it was beyond frustrating.
Old man Jiang laughed, “We aren’t there yet, we will only know after he takes the college exam.”
“He already ranked ninth in the Prefectural exam, earning the scholar title is guaranteed!,” Chen Changsheng from West Village also came to offer his congratulations, saying, “Once he passes the college exam, we will have to bother you for another celebratory drink.”
“Of course, of course!” Old man Jiang and his eldest son returned the salutes to all.
Yingbao was also quite pleased.
Yuanbao was living up to expectations as well, having passed the County and Prefectural exams on his first try, it seemed as though the college exam should be no problem for him.
All of this owed much to Master Wu.
However, Yingbao still felt a bit uneasy, as she was unsure about how long their new dynasty could last.
If there were more upheavals in the government, it’s unknown whether the scholar status of her younger brother and Yuanbao would still be valid.
“Yingbao,” Wen Shu approached her, “What medicine pills did you prepare for Jiang Jie for his exams? Can you prepare similar ones for my husband?”
Since the new dynasty was established, the Emperor had convened an extraordinary examination and had even allowed foreign students to apply for the exam.
People like Li Xu only had to reapply for citizenship at the local County Government to be allowed to participate in the local examinations.
However, during application for citizenship, they required five Class-A households to vouchsafe for them.
This was easy to obtain since he had taught for so many years in Dongchen Village, finding five Class-A households to vouch for him wasn’t difficult.
Thus, Li Xu, who reapplied for citizenship this fall, would be taking the country exams with Jiang Jie.
Yingbao nodded, “Okay.”
It was May already, Jiang Jie had applied at the County Government and was preparing for the country examination in the Provincial Capital.
This time, she would accompany her father and him, of course, Master Wu would also be present.
Master Wu has said that regardless of whether Jiang Jie passes the country examination or not, he intends to take him back to Jiankang for a visit.
A few days later, Yingbao left for the Prefecture City with her two younger brothers.
Due to a recent shortage of ships, they would be travelling via horse carriage.
Yingbao and Jiang Wu shared a carriage, driven by their father, while Jiang Jie and Master Wu were in another, driven by a servant from the Wei family.
Wei Zhan’s family was also returning to the Prefecture City, forming a grand procession with more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages.
Lady Wen did not go back, and since Wen Shu was pregnant, she could not accompany them. So, a servant from the Wen family took charge of the horse carriage to transport Li Xu to the Prefecture City.
Of course, having Yingbao and Jiang Sanlang as company would offer reassurance to Li Xu, even if he was by himself.
The old lady of the Wen family and her party had departed in March, supposedly for Beijing.
The grand procession traveled rather smoothly without encountering any bandits or refugees.
During their noon breaks, Yingbao would bring out a small charcoal stove to cook dumplings for everyone.
At such times, Wei Zhan would always come over to mooch off their food, though he would bring his own jerky.
Yingbao had no choice but to cook two more bowls, one for him and also asked him to carry one to Mrs. Wang.
Wei Zhan sat next to Jiang Wu eating wonton soup, laughing and saying, “I don’t know why, but your food is really delicious. My family’s food is really hard to eat.”
Jiang Wu tilting back the wonton soup, said, “Because your family’s cook is too bad.”
“Right! They ruin good food.” After finishing his soup, Wei Zhan wiped his mouth and said, “I will bring ingredients for Yingbao to cook.”
Yingbao said, “Dream on, I’m not going to be your family’s cook!”
After the meal, Yingbao asked her little brother and Wei Zhan to wash the pots and dishes, then she took out the wheat to feed the horses, and gave Pupil Spring water to the three horses.
After a rest, the carriage continued on its way.
At night, the caravan parked on the side of the road for rest, and Yingbao brought her two younger brothers to the cave house to rest.
The cave house had bamboo beds and quilts where her brothers could have a good night’s sleep.
Yingbao then shrank into the carriage, covering herself with a blanket, and listened to the frogs outside and fell asleep.
After traveling for more than ten days, the caravan finally arrived in the prefecture city.
Yingbao has a house in the prefecture city, so she drove the carriage directly to the front of the house.
Yuanbao and Scholarship Brother Jiang Cheng had been living there for two months, and they were very happy to see Jiang Jie and Jiang Wu’s arrival.
Jiang Sanlang drove the carriage into the courtyard, unloaded the car, let the horses eat and rest in the stable, and then prepared rooms for Mr. Wu and Li Xu.
Yingbao, as usual, got a room to herself and took the reed sweeper to clean the loft.
By the time she finished cleaning, Elder Brother Jiang Cheng had already made the food and called everyone for dinner.
After dinner, Jiang Sanlang went out to buy food and grains, and also informally investigated the situation in the prefecture city.
The current governor has been replaced, even the Xiao residence was vacant, the signboard at the door had been changed.
The Zhechong Prefecture had also changed its leader, the main leader turned out to be Wen Fu, who hadn’t been seen for many years.
Of course, he is not called Wen Fu now, but Zhou Fu, the Great General Zhou.
The amount of information was quite large, and Jiang Sanlang didn’t dare to hang around outside, and hurried back to the house.
He asked Jiang Cheng, and learned that the Xiao Family had moved away before the end of the year, going back to Beijing.
Including Xiao Mo and Xiao Chengjun, the brothers were not in the prefecture city.
As for where they went, it was not clear.
Anyway, this piece of land and the city belong to the Dazhou Dynasty, and families like the Xiao family, who are relatives of the royal family in the Little Zhou Dynasty, could not stay.
Yingbao was a little surprised when she heard her father talk about it.
So it means that she finally separated from the male and female lead in the adventure?
That’s great!
Let those two troublemakers stay forever in the Little Zhou Dynasty.
It was soon August.
Jiang Jie and Li Xu went to participate in the township examination, they had to take three examinations, a total of nine days.
This was a special session with a lot of participants, there were a few hundred people.
At the end of the first examination, Jiang Jie and Li Xu came out, full of vigor and in a great state.
After the second test, the two were a little tired but still energetic.
By the end of the third exam, many students were carried out of the examination room, Jiang Jie and Li Xu also appeared shaking their bodies.
“Sister, I was nearly suffocated!” Jiang Jie frowned, “This time I was placed in a stinky place. If it wasn’t for my quick thinking and putting the medicine pellets you gave me in my nostrils, I would have been suffocated to death.”
Yingbao asked, “You stuffed both nostrils? Then how did you breathe?”
“Eh.” Jiang Jie couldn’t help retching when he thought of the smell, “It’s too much, I feel like every breath I’m taking is stinky.”
