Li Shoutian's face was full of complexity. He knew very well that the people who died back then were not all killed by Song Jingmin.
But this person was the chief culprit.
If he hadn't hacked Li Ermao to death with one saber strike, how could there have been the subsequent ard brawl?
Not to ntion that during the brawl, he also beat several people to death.
The most important thing was that Song Jingmin was not a person from Sanshi Village at that ti, but was invited to help.
In a year of severe drought, disputes arising from fighting for water were not rare.
If it was just an ard brawl between villages, the dead and injured could only consider themselves unlucky.
But an outsider running over to ddle in this matter, that was no longer a dispute between villages, but hatred.
Therefore, when the County Magistrate ca to diate at that ti, Sanshi Village backed down so easily.
Not only because they lost the fight, but also because they were not in the right.
If Chu Xun were a person with formidable martial arts skills, taking revenge would be fine.
But he just happened to be a farr.
"This matter... you must think thrice before acting. That is a martial artist, whose fists can split monunts and crack stones, extrely formidable," Li Shoutian said worriedly.
"I have my own sense of propriety in this matter," Chu Xun said.
Li Shoutian knew his temperant and that he wasn't the type to be casually impulsive, so he said, "It's good as long as you grasp the sense of propriety yourself. As an old man who has lost several teeth, it's not good for to say too much. Just think of the people around you first. If sothing happens to you, Anxiu won't be able to bear it."
Chu Xun said "hmm", and then asked, "You didn't co this ti just to talk to about the martial arts hall, did you?"
"There is actually one more thing I want to discuss with you." As Li Shoutian spoke, the expression on his face was sowhat awkward, causing the wrinkles on his forehead and the corners of his eyes to pile up together.
His older sister-in-law and her two sons were going to sell the family's house and farmland.
Priced at four hundred taels.
Not only that, they were also looking for people all over the village to borrow silver.
Those won even went to their maiden hos to borrow.
The family even found Li Shoutian, insisting on life and death that he help sell these assets, and additionally wanted to borrow two hundred taels of silver to use.
Promising that in at most three years, they would repay two hundred and thirty taels, including principal and interest.
It couldn't be considered a loss, but Li Shoutian just felt inexplicably uneasy in his heart.
Selling the house and selling the land, what were they trying to do?
They said it was to raise money to support Li Chang'an's studies and prepare for next year's autumn provincial examination, but it wouldn't take this much.
As soon as Chu Xun heard this, he guessed what this family wanted to do.
If it was just participating in the autumn provincial examination, eighty to a hundred taels would be enough. Even adding paper, ink, writing brushes, inkstones, and purchasing ancient books, it wouldn't exceed two hundred taels at most.
Now the money raised was close to a thousand taels. I'm afraid they wanted to bribe the examiners and engage in malpractices for selfish ends.
Li Chang'an had already participated in the autumn provincial examination twice, and neither ti did he pass.
The last ti Chu Xun saw him, his hair was ssy, his whole body was dirty, and his eyes were bloodshot, looking like a madman.
Presumably, he couldn't bear the tornt of the imperial examinations and wanted to take a shortcut.
Chu Xun flatly refused on the grounds that the price was too expensive.
A re few hundred taels of silver was not worth ntioning to him.
But if this silver was for Li Chang'an to use for cheating, it might beco a disaster in the future.
"Village Chief, you should still go back and persuade them. Breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats is not necessarily good. If Chang'an wants to test for scholarly honors, it's better to take the silver and find an academy to study seriously for a few years."
"He is still young and has many opportunities."
How could Li Shoutian not think this way, so he didn't say much more on this matter.
After returning, as Chu Xun had said, he hadn't persuaded Li Tianjian's wife for more than a few sentences before the old sister-in-law got anxious and angry.
"You guys just don't want to see Chang'an beco an official!"
"Bullying us because our old man is gone, right! The old one is gone, but there are still the young ones!"
Li Shoutian had no choice. Unable to overco the issue of face, he ultimately still took out two hundred taels of silver.
He also bustled around everywhere, helping to sell the house and farmland to the villagers, or outsiders who wanted to settle in Pinecone Village.
After Chu Xun learned of this, he could only sigh.
Fortune and misfortune depend on each other. Who knows what will happen in the future.
Half a year later, Huan'er was called to Fenggu City to study by Tang Shijun's side.
He was originally very smart, and with Tang Shijun's careful teaching.
In the subsequent college examination, sure enough, he took the top spot again and obtained the scholarly honor of a Cultivated Talent.
At the sa ti, Li Chang'an returned to the village, his head held almost higher than the sky.
The whole family laughed loudly whenever they saw anyone, shouting to the whole world.
"Our Li Chang'an ranked thirty-seventh on the main list of the autumn provincial examination! From now on, he is a Provincial Graduate Lord!"
The family took the governnt docunt and paraded around the village for a full three rounds, especially when passing by Chu Xun's house.
Li Tianjian's wife held the docunt high and shouted, "Chu Xun, that day we asked you to buy our family's farmland to support Chang'an's imperial examinations, and you even thought it was too expensive!"
"You didn't want the favor delivered to your door, don't regret it in the future!"
Before Chu Xun could make a sound, Zhang Anxiu had already run out and scolded Li Tianjian's wife, "So what if he passed the provincial exam? My nephew Huan'er is also a Cultivated Talent now. In the future, not only will he pass the provincial exam, but he will also beco the Number One Scholar!"
"Also, the Prefect of Fenggu City is very familiar with my Brother Xun, what are you yelling about! Can a Provincial Graduate Lord be more incredible than the Lord Prefect?"
Li Tianjian's wife's face turned black from the scolding, but she didn't dare to flare up.
Chu Xun's family indeed had a very good relationship with the Lord Prefect, and Huan'er was even Tang Shijun's disciple.
They couldn't quite afford to offend them...
Originally wanting to co and show off, but getting slapped in the face instead, they left lacking interest for a mont.
Zhang Anxiu ca back and said to Chu Xun, who was standing in front of the vegetable patch, "Just passing the provincial exam and having such arrogance. If Li Chang'an really becos an official lord, wouldn't he ascend to heaven?"
Chu Xun laughed dumbly, "Look how angry you are, why bother arguing with them like this."
Zhang Anxiu said, "I just look down on their appearance of villains achieving success, and they even ran to our house to yell. Didn't they see the plaque gifted by the Lord Prefect hanging on the door! In my opinion, he won't be able to beco any kind of official!"
Chu Xun laughed upon hearing this. He just liked this energy of Zhang Anxiu's.
Even if the Lord of Heaven ca, he couldn't overco her thoughts.
After Li Chang'an passed the provincial exam, many farrs and rchants ca looking for him, attaching themselves under his na to avoid taxes.
Over a year, he could get the benefit of several hundred taels of silver.
The family was overjoyed. Several hundred taels a year.
In less than two years, they could pay back the borrowed silver.
They could also buy back the farmland and house they had sold previously.
This deal was truly not a loss.
However, Li Chang'an was not too happy, because he only wanted to beco an official.
But he didn't expect that passing the provincial exam and becoming an official were completely different matters.
In the blink of an eye, the autumn harvest was imminent.
Li Chang'an, who had been waiting for news without success, ran to the Registry Office of the prefectural yan to ask, and was humiliated by that re Rank 9 Administrative Clerk.
"So many tropolitan Graduates of the current dynasty are still waiting at the Ministry of Personnel, and you, a lowly Provincial Graduate, also want to beco an official?"
"Overestimating your capabilities. Go back and wait. The day all the tropolitan Graduate Lords are gone, it will be your turn to co up."
Only then did Li Chang'an know that passing the provincial exam didn't an you could beco an official.
For most Provincial Graduates, being able to be a private advisor in a county yan was considered not bad.
After returning, Li Chang'an sat blankly for two days and two nights without eating.
Smashing pots and selling iron to borrow a thousand taels of silver, risking beheading to bribe the examiners, thinking that passing the provincial exam ant he could beco an official.
As a result, they said that even tropolitan Graduates were lining up waiting for the Ministry of Personnel's appointnt, and so had waited for seven or eight years without any news.
Then what was the aning of him passing the provincial exam?
Just to earn a thousand or eight hundred taels of silver a year?
What use was this little bit of silver!
Could it make him more glorious than Chu Xun!
Like a madman, he tore the books he had accumulated over the years to shreds.
Li Tianjian's family looked at Li Chang'an, who seed possessed, at a loss for what to do.
How did the old saying go again.
Three years as a clean Prefect, a hundred thousand taels of snow-white silver.
Isn't being an official just to fish for silver?
They didn't understand. Since he could already earn silver, what did it matter if he couldn't beco an official lord.
On the contrary, Zheng Xiuwen, who was originally demoted and investigated, was reinstated to his original post after the autumn provincial examination.
In addition, the imperial court added a Rank 8a Assistant County Magistrate official position to the county yan, exclusively in charge of civil affairs.
Li Zhaoming, who had been the acting County Magistrate for two years,
[End of Chapter]
User Comments
0 comments from readers