The Lucky Farmgirl

Manbao’s fief was not very prosperous, so the land was not expensive, especially the wasteland.

Zhou Lijun found a plot of land close to the roadside and bought it. Now that the workshops and houses were all built, everyone went to see it.

The reason for the fast construction was because it was built similar to a small farm courtyard, unlike the detailed planning of Pu Village’s manor before, and the bricks, stones, and timber used were good.

The workshops built were rows of courtyards and houses, inside were processing rooms for grinding medicine, boiling medicine, oil refining, planned based on Ms.Lu’s experience...

Anyway, the divisions were quite detailed.

At that time, they would need to hire many people, and Zhou Lijun decided to hire people from his little aunt’s fief.

Manbao took a vase to give it to Ms.Zheng.

Ms.Zheng placed it on the shelf in the outer room, then after looking at it, felt it wasn’t coordinated well, so she moved it to her study, placed it on a shelf, and felt comfortable.

"Was it cut from the garden?"

Manbao nodded and said with a bright smile, "I just cut a little."

When Ms.Zheng went for a walk in the evening, she realized it was more than just a little. Many of her prized flowers had been cut, making her heart ache, so she protected the remaining buds, forbidding Zhou Man from cutting them again.

She said, "Cutting flowers is a process, at least leave one blooming flower on the branch so it doesn’t look bare and unattractive."

Manbao nodded repeatedly and said, "Auntie Zheng, next time I’ll buy flowers to put in a vase for you."

Ms.Zheng immediately said, "Make sure they’re big blooms."

This was not difficult for Manbao at all.

She agreed with a smile and immediately went to the market to order many fresh flowers. After the holiday, upon her return from the street, she brought back flowers.

Knowing that Manbao could always find beautiful flowers, Ms.Zheng was delighted, and they arranged the flowers in vases together. She kept one vase for herself and gave the others to Old Madam Liu and the closer Mrs.Bai and Junior Ms.Qian.

Not long after starting work, it was the Double Ninth holiday again.

But this time, Manbao and the others didn’t go out to play but stayed home to study with Bai Erlang and the other three.

Guan Yong was amazed when he came to the capital and saw Bai Shan’s notes. Indeed, the County School and the Imperial Academy’s teachers were significantly different, not to mention compared to the teachers at Chongwen Pavilion.

He learned something new almost every day and realized that this time the Imperial Examination was truly for accumulating experience. Having read Bai Shan’s articles, he knew that even in three years, he might not pass the examination.

And the articles by Bai Dalang and Bai Erlang were not inferior; he also felt he couldn’t catch up.

Guan Yong quietly said to his wife, "We might stay until next year’s Ming Classic exam. I won’t pass the Imperial Examination."

Zhou Lixin had anticipated this, knowing how hard it was to pass, so he nodded and said, "Don’t worry. We’ll just stay here. You can keep studying with Mr. Zhou. I also studied with Mr. Zhou for two years. In that sense, we’re schoolmates."

Zhou Lixin couldn’t help but smile and said, "Had I known Mr. Zhuang was so formidable, I should have gone to Qili Village to study."

But back then, Mr. Zhuang was not well-known, and compared to teaching a group of brats in a village at Old Master Bai’s invitation, the famous teachers in the county were naturally better. So Guan Yong was sent to study in the county early on, making him the most accomplished child in the three nearby villages, aside from Bai Dalang.

Unfortunately, later, Bai Shan came, and the not-so-academic Bai Erlang even surpassed him and went to study in Yizhou...

Guan Yong lightly coughed, pulling his wandering thoughts back, and said to his wife, "I’m just missing the child."

Zhou Lixin also missed their child, his smile faded, and he sighed, "I wonder if he’s behaving at home. Maybe after the little aunt’s wedding, I should go back with the second uncle and the others."

"No," Guan Yong quickly said, "You can’t leave me here alone."

"Your parents are here too."

Guan Yong shook his head, "Father-in-law and mother-in-law are indeed great, but we’ve been together since we got married. Now that we’re in the capital, how could you go back alone? Don’t worry, mom will take good care of the child."

Suppressing his longing and worry, Guan Yong reassured his wife.

Thinking of the upcoming examination, Zhou Lixin didn’t want to distract him, so he nodded.

Just a couple of days after the Double Ninth festival, on September twelfth, the Imperial Examination officially began, and Bai Shan and the others escorted Bai Dalang and the three into the exam venue.

Successful figure Bai Shan personally escorted them to the entrance of the examination center and also met Feng Zongping and Pei Shouyue. He simply extended his best wishes to them; no matter the outcome, everyone was full of ambition at this point.

However, they were also prepared for the worst. Feng Zongping said to Bai Erlang, "If we don’t make it this time, we’ll take the Ming Classic exam next year together."

Bai Erlang nodded.

Bai Dalang also nodded.

Pei Shouyue and Guan Yong nodded in agreement as well.

The Imperial Examination not only looked at policy essays and classical literature but also mainly tested poetry and the candidates’ reputation.

Feng Zongping’s reputation in the capital was quite good, and as the Crown Prince’s attendant, the examiners all knew him. Over the past two years, he had written two or three commendable articles.

Bai Dalang was also well-known, having almost passed last year, so the examiners had likely heard of him. However, they were still not as famous as Bai Erlang.

This one was renowned for three aspects: one, he was also the Crown Prince’s attendant; two, he was the future imperial son-in-law; three, he was the junior brother of Zhou Man and Bai Shan, especially since he had co-authored a proposal about the Imperial Medical Department with Zhou Man and Bai Shan that the emperor often shared with his ministers.

The examiners eligible to judge the Imperial Examination naturally had high status, and they had seen Bai Erlang’s proposal quite a few times.

They had to admit that Bai Erlang had practical talents, so during the review, they placed his paper among those selected.

After ranking the candidates, they took the list to the emperor. The emperor generally chose the top three, although he could rank the others if he wished, whether they followed his ranking was another matter.

The emperor reviewed Bai Dalang’s paper, nodded in satisfaction, glanced at the list, and seeing the examiners had placed him twelfth, said nothing more. But on reviewing Bai Erlang’s, he hesitated.

This time, Li Maoyue was one of the examiners. Seeing the emperor’s hesitation, he asked, "Does Your Majesty find this paper lacking?"

The emperor said, "Not that it’s lacking. After reviewing other papers, perhaps his literary talent is slightly lesser, but his insight is not inferior, and he is practical. Placing him twentieth isn’t bad, but a family producing two xucceesful scholars..."

He felt it was too great an honor.

Li Maoyue understood the emperor’s underlying message and smiled, "Your Majesty, Lord Wei said there’s no need to avoid relatives when selecting the virtuous. If Bai Cheng indeed possesses such talent, it would be unfair to fail him simply because he’s the future son-in-law."

The emperor raised an eyebrow, in full agreement. He wasn’t pretending; he wanted to ensure people knew Bai Cheng’s success wasn’t due to favoritism but his genuine ability.

However, the emperor still aimed for fairness, feeling placing him in the twentieth spot was slightly generous, so he moved him to twenty-third.

The chief examiners nodded slightly, agreeing the emperor was fair, so the list was finalized.