bestfiction Chapter 315 Ancient Farmer Scholars 7
Chapter 315 Ancient Farmer Scholars 7
After the teacher had finished grading all the other students' papers, Liu Yuxi also borrowed them to read through them.
Sure enough! He's self-aware; he's far inferior. From the very beginning, his approach was significantly weaker than others.
Look at the source of that idea! I've read that book too! How come I didn't think of writing about it from that angle? Maybe I just didn't fully grasp the concepts from the books I've read!
I now know exactly where to improve myself.
The four of them continued their daily studies as usual, but Liu Yuxi was no longer as anxious as he had been for the previous three years. Anyway, there were still three years until the next provincial examination. He bought a small shop to sell soap and some herbal skincare products, rouge, lipstick and the like.
The shopkeeper was the daughter of a village head in the Liu family. She had returned home as a widow, and people in the village were always gossiping about her or trying to arrange a marriage for her, so she couldn't stay at home at all.
Before she got married, this young widow learned to read and write and do accounting from her father, the head of the village. She was especially good at accounting.
When Liu Yuxi opened his shop and was choosing a manager, he selected her. She and her family were naturally willing. Not to mention that most of the customers in the rouge shop were women, the manager's monthly salary of two taels was something they couldn't refuse.
They selected the most suitable estate, set aside 100 acres of land specifically for planting the necessary flowers and medicinal herbs, and also placed the soap workshop on this estate. The workers were all selected from those with indentured contracts.
Even so, Liu Yuxi still did all the key steps himself. There was no other way; in this day and age, secret recipes could be passed down through generations, and it was never too much to keep them secret.
Opening a shop is more profitable than farming. Within a year, Liu Yuxi bought a small estate of about 100 mu outside the city.
In peacetime, whether you buy a shop or farmland, you can make a profit. Land yields a harvest every year, and shops generate monthly rent. If you ever run out of money, you can resell the property and maybe even make a profit.
Unfortunately, their Fengzhou Prefecture is located in the north, where they grow wheat, sorghum, and soybeans, but not rice. Otherwise, they could have built a rice paddy fish farm.
However, he still managed to get the livestock industry going, raising pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, and geese. He had each of the village leaders find a few hardworking and capable women to take charge of the animals, and he also taught the village leaders composting techniques, so that the animal manure had a place to go.
He also dug seven ponds, each two acres in size, across the four estates, averaging one pond for every 100 acres, for raising fish and storing water. The fish fry were obtained from his spatial dimension, and he also released some shrimp fry, crab fry, and crayfish—because he loves to eat them! That's one good thing about ancient times; there was no surveillance, making it much more convenient to use spatial dimensions.
Once the estate had a stable output, ingredients were sent to the prefectural city once a week, and any surplus was sold for money. Not only did the family have more food, but this inflow and outflow also left them with a considerable amount of money.
It's not that he likes to cause trouble, but there weren't many entertainment activities in ancient times. Slowing down the pace of study would give him a lot more time.
He did all these things on his days off. Every time he went to the estate, he would bring his three sons with him. They were ten years younger than him, practically grown men. He couldn't just stop caring about anything because of studying. What if they couldn't even distinguish between the five grains? If he didn't care about people's livelihood, even if he passed the imperial examination and became an official, he wouldn't become a good one.
Since there was no mistress of the house, Liu Yuxi handled the housekeeping himself. He was really good at it, and he always had three young men with him when he was doing things. They were all experts in everything.
Thanks to Liu Yuxi's unconventional education, the children did not grow up to be bookworms; on the contrary, they were quite lively.
The only thing he can't do at home now is cook! A wise man keeps away from cooks! In the beginning, he would stand at the kitchen door and teach the family cook how to cook each dish. Now the cook is trained, and when he encounters a new dish, he only needs to tell the cook how to make it.
When people are busy, time flies by, and before they know it, it's New Year's Eve of the ninth year of Jiale.
The children are twelve years old. Because of their martial arts training, they are all quite strong. All three of them will be taking the exam this year. According to Master Zhao, Zimu and Zilin will have no problem passing the preliminary exam, while Zisen has a 50/50 chance of passing the county-level exam.
Regardless of whether you pass the exam or not, if your family's circumstances allow, spending money to gain experience is definitely worthwhile.
The thought that if my son is lucky enough to pass the county-level exam this year, the two of them can take the provincial-level exam together... Sigh! It's so upsetting!
In three years, his grades have been consistently in the top ten of Class A. Well, he's still a long way from the top three; he's still in the "luck-dependent" category.
Do you think he should take the provincial examination this year? If he does, he might suffer and still not pass; if he doesn't, what if he does pass? That would be a real mess!
Busy with his sons' county and prefectural examinations, Liu Yuxi had to take leave. After all, the children had no mother, so it was up to him, the old father, to worry.
I shared my test-taking experience with my sons in advance. Putting aside everything else, the psychological counseling was absolutely top-notch, and none of the boys would be depressed because of poor test results.
When the results of the prefectural examination came out, a glance at the list revealed that, as expected, the eldest and second eldest sons' scores were already quite low, with only the third son still ranking in the top ten.
After consulting with the children, it was finally decided that they would all participate in the entrance exam, just to accompany the third child. As always, the family has plenty of money.
After the imperial examinations, I took a few kids to a restaurant for a big meal. But after we finished eating, these brats said it wasn't as good as what their own chef makes! Ta-da! Their palates have become so spoiled!
The results of the entrance exams are out, and well, I failed them all. I'll pick myself up, go back to studying, and try again next year.
A few months later, before the provincial examination, Liu Yuxi's score improved by two places. Well, let's register. Whether he passes or not depends on whether his ancestors' graves will emit auspicious smoke.
Having endured another "nine days and six nights," having experienced it once before, Liu Yuxi didn't just go home and fall asleep this time. After taking a shower and eating, he quickly wrote down his answers from memory.
The next day, together with the other classmates, I handed in my answers to the teacher and discussed them with others. After the teacher finished correcting them, I returned them. Looking at the annotations on them, I felt hopeful!
On the day the results were announced, Liu Yuxi took leave to stay at home and let Mo Qing check the list. He prepared a basket of copper coins in advance and wrapped several 5-tael silver notes in red envelopes.
He prepared all of this secretly. He was worried that if he passed the exam, his family wouldn't have anything prepared, which would be embarrassing. If he didn't pass, he could use it next time!
Before the messenger could deliver the good news, Mo Qing ran back, having lost one of his shoes. This was quite normal; every time the list was posted, people would rush forward in a chaotic frenzy, and shoes would often be trampled off. Usually, people would wait until the crowd dispersed before picking them up.