084 – Entry-level Examinee
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The two coachmen and four home guards were flattered, and they quickly expressed their thanks. A bit of sauce was a small thing but the rarest thing was that someone could think of them.
After that, Lei Xiangzhi finally scooped himself a spoon.
Consequently, the smell of beef sauce wafted all over the place.Bu Qingyun’s beef sauce was sandwiched in the steamed bread. He opened his mouth and took a big bite. He praised, “Delicious! There’s a lot of beef in it. It’s finely cut, aromatic, and soft.”
Ling Qiyun, who was absorbed in eating, repeatedly nodded.
“Brother Lei, give me another spoonful?” Qu Zongwen looked at Lei Xiangzhi with a happy smile. He had a round pancake in his hands without a trace of being bitten. This was obviously his second pancake.
Lei Xiangzhi waved his hand, “There’s only such a small pot. Don’t you want to eat it for the next meal?”
Qu Zongwen regretfully licked his lips, wondering if he could ask Sister-in-law Lei for another pot. However, at the thought of Eldest Brother Lei’s face, he quivered and gave up this unreliable idea.
This was their first time traveling a long distance so Qin Mian would not treat himself and Lei Tie badly. Moreover, he had a magical space. His lunch with Lei Tie was chopped scallion multi-layer pancakes and beef sauce, as well as thick vermicelli soup in a bamboo tube, which turned hot in Lei Tie’s grasp. This vermicelli was taken from the space. Thanks to his love of gourmet food and eschatology, he had bought some books on homemade food, including how to make vermicelli, rice wrappers, and so on. When he had time, he would definitely make the vermicelli.
Everyone could smell the other scents in Qin Mian’s carriage beside the scent of beef sauce, but they did not have the cheek to approach.Teacher Gong said, “It’s afternoon. We should speed up our journey; otherwise, we’ll miss the lodging. If you all can’t adapt to it, give consideration to each other.”
“Yes, teacher!” All the scholars said in unison.
When everyone had finished their lunch, the carriages continued on their way.
Qin Mian had a good sleep in the morning. He accompanied Lei Tie to sit on the shaft and talked to him while basking in the sun.
In the evening, they stayed in a small inn in a small town, and nothing bad happened. Teacher Gong and the four home guards were secretly relieved.
The next day, Qin Mian found it boring to ride in the carriage. He mounted the horse and sauntered around nearby.
Lei Tie watched his wife on horseback riding forward for a while and retreating to his side after a while. He regretted not bringing Xile along. If Xile was here, he could let Xile drive the carriage while he rode the horse with his wife.
Qin Mian rode forward merrily in the spring breeze. Suddenly, as if he felt something, he looked back and bumped into the gaze of the man following him. He turned his horse’s head and rode back.
“Butt hurts after sitting in the carriage for a long time.” He whispered.
Lei Tie was silent for a while before unhappily said, “Riding a horse for a long time will also hurt the butt and legs.”
“Hehehe…” Qin Mian’s eyebrows danced with laughter. It turned out that this man could not be separated from him. He could even say such a straightforward sentence.
He handed the reins to the man and jumped into the carriage.
Lei Tie stretched out his long arms to catch him steadily, placed him beside him, and tied the reins to the shaft.
Qin Mian took out two apples from the space, one for each person.
He casually looked at the deep woods on both sides of the government-financed road and blurted out, “It’s so quiet.”
About two li1 away was the terrain of a narrow road between two hillsides. The road turned to a corner, so the end could not be seen.
Lei Tie said, “There is a fight ahead.”
Qin Mian was surprised, “Don’t tell me, it’s really a highway robbery? What to do?”
Lei Tie kneaded his shoulder, shook the reins, and sped up, surpassing the three carriages in front.
On the first carriage, Teacher Gong came out to breathe and sat on the shaft with the coachman.
“Might there be something wrong, Boss Lei and Madam?” Teacher Gong asked suspiciously.
Qin Mian said concisely and comprehensively, “Teacher Gong, the terrain ahead looks very dangerous. A-Tie will go to explore the road first and we move slowly in the back.” He could not let people know that Lei Tie’s skill was so high that he could hear the sound from so far away.
He spoke vaguely, but Teacher Gong understood and his expression turned solemn — if there were villains who wanted to cause trouble, the terrain ahead was the best choice.
The faces of the coachman and the two home guards that were hired to lead the fleet of carriages at the front changed slightly.
“Thank you for your trouble, Boss Lei.” Teacher Gong solemnly said to Lei Tie.
Qin Mian drove the carriage. Lei Tie handed him the unfinished apple, leaped on the horse, and galloped away.
“What’s going on, eldest sister-in-law?” Lei Xiangzhi poked his head out of the carriage.
Qin Mian straightforwardly remembered a sentence, “Scholars are the least useful”. He worried that these scholars would be thrown into a panic so he said relaxedly, “Nothing, your eldest brother went to explore the way ahead.”
Lei Xiangzhi nodded and realized that the matter was rather complicated. However, seeing that his eldest brother left his eldest sister-in-law here, it showed that the matter was under the control of his eldest brother.
Qin Mian gnawed on Lei Tie’s apple. He raised his head to look up and he could barely see Lei Tie’s figure.
Everyone slowly arrived on the narrow road and saw six masked men besieging Lei Tie. Lei Tie handled them with ease.
There were two carriages by the side of the road. An old man in his fifties, who looked like a teacher, protected several scholars with panic on their faces behind him. Their two coachmen were injured and sat on the ground next to the wheels.
Lei Tie saw his wife had arrived and knocked the six masked men to the ground with several fists, making them clutching their abdomen and grunting.
“Ow…ow…”
“A-Tie.” Qin Mian jumped out of the carriage and ran over, “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” Lei Tie embraced his (QM) shoulder. Upon seeing only the core of the apple left in his (QM) hand, his eyes sank deeper2.
The old man collected himself and went to Lei Tie. He made a bow with hands folded in front as he said, “Many thanks to this brave man. If you didn’t show up in time, I’m afraid that my party would be brutally killed.”
“Don’t be too polite.” Lei Tie waved his hand and pulled Qin Mian back to his carriage.
Teacher Gong had to go over and talk to the old man himself. He learned that this group of people came from Changle County and also went to the prefecture center for the exam. The old man was Teacher Chen. When they arrived here, several masked men suddenly jumped out to rob them. Fearing that the bandits would be driven to desperate action, Teacher Chen did not dare to say more and took the initiative to hand over half of their belongings. Unexpectedly, the gang still did not give up. They not only robbed the remaining belongings but even hurt others. Both sides then fight; the two coachmen were injured to protect those several scholars. Fortunately, Lei Tie appeared in time and saved them.
Fortunately, neither of the coachmen was seriously injured. People who travel far away would bring some commonly used medicine in case of an emergency. Teacher Chen led his two students to help them bandage their wounds.
Teacher Gong said to Teacher Chen, “We’ll be passing by Wuwei County. It’s convenient to tie up these bandits and send them to the county authority so as not to do evil to those who came after us. What does Teacher Chen think?”
Teacher Chen’s face was calm and collected as he said in the manner that one abhorred evils as deadly foes, “Rightly so.”
He vacated a carriage and the four home guards took a rope to tie the six gangsters inside. In this way, Teacher Chen’s carriage had not enough space.
Qin Mian and Lei Tie did not mean to let strangers into their carriage.
This person Teacher Gong was also interesting. He did not mention borrowing Qin Mian’s carriage but took the initiative to let Teacher Chen’s students and his students squeeze together.
Ancient scholars were quite loveable.
Teacher Chen could drive a carriage and Teacher Gong called a home guard to help them drive the other carriage. The crowd traveled in a group.
This time, Teacher Gong’s carriage was at the front, while Qin Mian and Lei Tie’s carriage was behind him.
The scholars in the other carriages were talking about Lei Tie and envied him for his skill.
Two scholars wanted to get close to Lei Tie but they only received a cold face and had to give up resentfully.
Fortunately, nothing else had happened until they arrived at Qingtian Prefecture.
Due to the approaching prefectural examination, Qingtian Prefecture was very bustling. The streets were crowded with people and eight out of ten people were scholars.
The magistrate of Qingtian Prefecture was very thoughtful. He named several inns that could only receive students and put up official notices from the four days before the examination to the day when the examination was over. The owners of these inns were not reluctant. If the examinees living in their inns got a better place in the prefectural examination, it would also be a kind of powerful publicity for their inns. Moreover, it was not that the examinees would not be paying for staying in the inn. Hence, they would not suffer any losses at all.
Teacher Gong and Teacher Chen took their students to the inn to settle down. The exam would start the day after tomorrow which meant they still could have a rest day tomorrow.
Qin Mian and Lei Tie checked in at another inn on the opposite side of the street and informed Teacher Gong that they could go there to find them in case of anything. Teacher Gong had taught several sessions of exam candidates and had a rich experience. With him to take care of Lei Xiangzhi, they had nothing to worry about. After taking a hot bath, they changed to clean clothes and went out for a stroll.
The prefecture center was more progressive than the county town, with a dazzling line-up variety of commodities. Qin Mian and Lei Tie spent nearly two hours strolling around. They bought a lot of things, including some local specialties, to the point that their four hands were not enough. They also found out that there was a special snack in Qingtian Prefecture called silver-silk meat pancake. They went to buy two and tasted it. The taste was unique. Qin Mian bought fifty of them and let the shop assistant send it to the inn. He then put them into the space.
On the second day of their visit to Qingtian Prefecture, they spent a day sightseeing at White Dragon Temple.
On the morning of the third day, Qin Mian and Lei Tie sent Lei Xiangzhi to the examination hall. The prefectural examination consisted of three exams which held once a day.
These three days, Qin Mian and Lei Tie still spent the time to go sightseeing in carefree.
Three days later, the examinees came out of the examination hall. Some were happy and others were worried. The only thing in common was that all of them looked thinner. Lei Xiangzhi also looked thinner but his spirit was good. His eyes were shining with confidence. He must have done well in the exam.
Teacher Gong said that the day was getting late today and if they left today, they might have to sleep in the wild, so it was better to stay one night and set off the next morning.
No one else disagreed.
Qin Mian and Lei Tie did not ask Lei Xiangzhi how he did in the exam. They invited him to have a good meal in a big wine house and took him to buy some high-quality Four Treasures of the Study3.
Qin Mian got along with people quite well. On the way back to the inn, he bought some exquisite snacks and asked Lei Xiangzhi to share them with his teacher and other schoolmates.
The next day, after breakfast, they set out on their way home.
It took three days to go home. Once arrived, Qin Mian asked Uncle Fu if there was anything that happened at home.
Uncle Fu replied that there was not any.
As a matter of fact, Qin Mian thought too much. Lei Xiangzhi went to the prefecture center to take the exam which made Lei Daqiang and Du Shi so worried that they could not eat and sleep well. They could care less about going to the farm residence to make trouble.
Another day later, the county released the public roll of successful examinees, and the good news that Lei Xiangzhi got the second place in the prefectural examination reached Green Mountain Village.
As an entry-level examinee, Lei Xiangzhi could enter the academy in the county to study and take part in the annual college examination. If he passed the college examination, he could become a Xiucai. At present, Lei Xiangzhi was only one step away from the scholarly honor of a Xiucai.
Lei Daqiang and Du Shi were so happy that they grinned from ear to ear. Relatives and friends came to congratulate them in succession. Even Li Zheng himself went to the door to congratulate them. He also took the initiative to propose that if Lei Xiangzhi did not have enough travel expenses at the time of participating in the college examination, the villagers would help.
Du Shi appeared very proud and self-satisfied in front of Wei Shi. She wanted to feast the guests.
Lei Xiangzhi timely dispelled her idea. Although he was very happy, he was a rational person. This was not the time to relax.
Qu Zongwen, Bu Qingyun, Wang Shangwen, Zhao Tianhe, and Ling Qiyun also became entry-level examinees along with Lei Xiangzhi. The results of Qu Zongwen and Wang Shangwen were also quite good while the others ranked relatively low.
Two days later, Lei Xiangzhi and Qu Zongwen, Bu Qingyun, Wang Shangwen, Zhao Tianhe, and Ling Qiyun went to Zhaoyang County to study in Qingyun Academy to prepare for the college examination. After entering the academy, these students would live in the academy. Apart from major festivals, they were only allowed to return home once a month – the last two days of the month were holidays.
At the same time, Lei Xiangli, Lei Xiangzhi, and Lei Chuntao became hot [in favor]. People in the vicinity of Green Mountain Village knew that Lei Xiangzhi was very likely to be a Xiucai and they hoped to make the three people their own family before Lei Xiangzhi became a Xiucai. Once Lei Xiangzhi became a Xiucai, the Lei family would not necessarily look up to them.
The matchmakers in the county town became active. Almost every day, matchmakers ran to the old Lei’s house.
However, these had nothing to do with Qin Mian and Lei Tie. They began to work with the new wine house.
Note:
Footnotes
- ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m
- Uhh, he’s probably happy his wife ate his unfinished apple. He’s not a cheapskate.
- writing materials; writing brush, paper, ink, and ink-stone
