Good luck with koi carp

Chapter 139

What is the surprise?

Surprise is when something that you didn't expect to have suddenly becomes true, and it actually happens to you. The extreme joy caused by this result is called surprise.


At this time, the three members of the Chi family were immersed in this surprise.


Chi Li was able to pass the junior high school examination and got a good fifth grade. To be honest, not only the Chi family couple, but also Chi Li himself felt incredible about this.


She was actually prepared for this failure.


As a result, reality gave her a huge surprise, and this surprise was different from any previous surprises that relied on good luck, even though Chi Li knew that there was still some luck in it.


For example, after the exam, everyone found out that the examiner for their current academic exam was actually the deputy prime minister Liu Zhengzhi. Although this person was a lonely minister who did not stand on either side, he quite agreed that women could participate in the imperial examination. Government decree.


It can be said that the reason why the Empress' Party was able to win this game was not only the persistence of Her Majesty the Empress, but also the result of this vigorous promotion.


Therefore, with this person as the examiner, Chi Li and other female students will naturally no longer suffer the grievances they suffered during the government examination, and will be treated truly fairly and justly.


It is precisely because this person is the one who asked the questions that the difficulty of the academy examinations in this field has increased sharply.


In Chi Xiucai's words, this big brother was supposed to be taking the provincial examination or even the Chunwei examination, but for some reason he suddenly came to their side to participate in a small college examination.


However, the people below them didn’t understand what happened to the people above them, so they didn’t think too much about it.


No matter what, even if there was some luck, Chi Li really showed her full strength in this exam. She succeeded by relying on her own ability, so she was naturally very happy.


For the Chi family, it is a great joy for their daughter to become a scholar.


This time, the Chi family and his wife are not planning to keep a low profile. They are planning to return to their hometown to hold a banquet to warmly celebrate their daughter's happy event, and at the same time, to inform those who were short-sighted in the past.


In the future you will look down on others, but today we will make it impossible for you to reach high!


Of course, before going back, they also planned to host a feast at the Hexiang Tower in Fucheng to entertain all their relatives and friends.


Among the invited people were Chi Li, the Zhang family, Chi Xiucai's friends in Fucheng, and his two students who had not returned yet. The most important Xue Zhangming family must not be left behind. .


Chi Xiucai understood that the fact that his daughter could improve so much in a short period of time must be attributed to the unselfish teaching of her friend Xue Zhangming.


Another point worth mentioning is that the leader of this court trial is none other than Xue Zhangming.


His bad luck seemed to have been wiped out this time. The entire exam process went very smoothly, and he never encountered any bad luck. In the end, in an incredibly smooth state, he successfully displayed his true knowledge level and achieved breakthroughs in his abilities. After a tough challenge, he successfully won No. 1 with a cliff-like result.


After hearing that the results were announced, this person was invited by the magistrate of Nanhuai Prefecture to be a guest at his house.


It seemed like this on the surface. In fact, Chili heard from her father that it seemed that the person who really summoned the other party was the legendary deputy prime minister.


As for the reason, it should be due to appreciation of his talent.


However, Chi Xiucai's other two students who also participated in the college examination unfortunately failed.


It was normal for Shouzi Qi to fail the exam. He ranked low in the government exam, and the competition in the college exam was several times more intense than the government exam. It was not so easy to pass the exam, but Ning Zhuxuan did not pass the exam either. This made Chi Xiucai feel a little regretful.


Ning Zhuxuan is not on the main list, but he is famous on the secondary list and is still in the top three. In other words, he is actually just a little bit away from winning, but it is only such a small gap. It is a pity that he missed the position of scholar.


On the day of the Chi family's banquet, all the guests they had invited came to the banquet. Everyone was smiling, and their eyes looking at Chi Li were full of admiration and formidable appreciation. All kinds of congratulatory words came rushing in like the sea water. Almost drowning Chili, she, a person who was not afraid of society at first, was frightened by the whole society.


In the end, she could only deal with this scene by following her parents closely and keeping a polite smile.


Chili felt a little overwhelmed when she thought that there would be a bigger celebration banquet after she returned home, and she heard that her mother's family had received the news and would send people to attend and send gifts to her granddaughter.


The social fear has been committed and has gotten worse. What should I do?

Well, there's nothing to do. Halfway through the banquet, Chi Li found that she had begun to adapt, regaining her calm and polite attitude, and chatted with the guests one by one.


Most of the people present were scholars. Not to mention, talking to them would not bring her any intellectual enlightenment or improvement at once, but it also made Chili feel the comfort of dealing with high-quality cultural people.


In fact, as a woman participating in the scientific examination, Chili heard all kinds of discordant voices along the way, and was even treated unfairly. However, at today's banquet, she did not hear a word Some of the harsh words were just sincere congratulations and admiration. The harmony between people seemed to have reached its peak.


She suddenly felt that she was no longer afraid of society, and she quite enjoyed participating in such occasions.


After all, everyone speaks nicely and has a sincere attitude, which is really enjoyable.


Among them, Zhang Dabao's mother was the most kind and enthusiastic towards Chi Li.


After all, Chi Li is a close friend of her precious daughter, and she is also the only two women in the entire Nanhuai Mansion who have won the title of scholar and have such a high ranking in the exam. In the eyes of Zhang Dabao's mother, Chi Li is that kind of person. It will naturally benefit a lot if your own daughter befriends other people's children.


Maybe one day, she can rely on her daughter to appreciate the scenery of the Chi family today.


A scholar's mother or something like that sounds pretty beautiful.


After a banquet, Chili was exhausted and received a lot of gifts. These gifts were all given by relatives and friends. They could be accepted directly. When other people have happy events in the future, they would return the same value as today's gifts. A gift is enough, but it is just a normal exchange of favors.


What really bothered the Chi family were the wealthy businessmen from the city who heard the news and sent expensive gifts to the Chi family.


Many of the gifts given by others were even more expensive than those given to Chi Xiucai when he was admitted to the scholar examination. Some of them even included farm shops and the like. The extravagance of the gifts was simply eye-popping.


If he were just an ordinary scholar, it might not be enough to make this group of people spend so much effort.


After all, businessmen pursue profit and will not do anything without profit. Moreover, since the founding of this dynasty, countless academic examinations have been held, each time producing fifty scholars. This quota is pitifully small for scholars. But for these wealthy businessmen, it has accumulated to a large number. If everyone gave heavy gifts, they would have gone bankrupt long ago before they could reap the rewards.


Therefore, even if they want to cast a wide net and recruit some potential scholars in advance to serve as their future shields, they will only select one or two who are good enough to give gifts.


Chi Li was ranked fifth in the college examination, which was considered to be among the outstanding.


But that's not the point. The point is that she is a woman. She is in her mid-teens this year, has haircut, has no engagement yet, and is of the right age for marriage.


I would like to ask, apart from parents and relatives of the emperor, master, master, and relatives of heaven and earth, is there any closer relationship than marriage?


Therefore, these wealthy businessmen are so actively trying to please the Chi family. They are just drunkards who are not interested in drinking. The Chi family is not stupid, how could they not see it?


There was almost no hesitation at all, and there was no need to even discuss with each other. No matter how many gifts those people sent, many things were returned intact, and the Chi family also let the word out.


"It is said that men should first establish a career before starting a family. I strongly believe that women should do the same. Our Li'er is still young and should study hard to gain fame. There is no rush to talk about marriage yet. Wait. When he makes some achievements in the imperial examination, it won't be too late for us as a couple to slowly find a son-in-law for our son."


These are the original words of Chi Xiucai.


After hearing what he said, everyone knew that the Chi family's ambitions did not end there. Not only did they want to support their daughter in taking the exam, but they also intended for her to continue to go to school and take part in the provincial examination.


Regardless of whether it succeeds or not, at least until the provincial examination is over, their family has no plans to find a husband for their daughter.


Not surprising when you think about it.


The daughter of the Chi family is only 15 years old this year. She is still young. Even if she is old enough to get married, it is not impossible to delay it for two more years. Moreover, she is already so talented at such a young age. No one can tell the difference. What will be the results of the provincial examination in the next year? If you can pass the examination, then the standard for selecting a son-in-law will naturally be raised to a higher level. If you fail the examination, it will not matter. It is not too late to want to see someone at the age of 17.


After an analysis, many outsiders who didn't know enough about the Chi family felt that they had discovered the truth.


Some people insinuate that the Chi family is very calculating, others regret not being able to take advantage, and of course there are also those who feel that the Chi family has a long-term vision, and so on.


No matter what the outside world guessed, the Chi family who had been temporarily clean finally breathed a sigh of relief. Later, fearing that they would be disturbed by those who pretended to be giving gifts but actually came to test Chi Li's marriage, they quickly packed up their things and left the city. , went back to Dayan County.


Listening to the clatter of horse hooves in her ears, Chi Li nestled in her mother's arms and asked, "Mom, do you really agree that I won't get married?"


It turned out that after seeing the idea of ​​those wealthy businessmen in the city wanting to bet on marriage, Chili immediately came to her parents and told them bluntly that she might not get married in this life.


Because she has embarked on a unique path, she no longer has to suffer the shackles of marriage like other women of this era, and live a depressing life where she can only support her husband and raise children, and the end can be seen at a glance.
So she doesn't want to be restrained anymore, and wants to continue walking up this road to see the scenery that other women can't see. If possible, she also wants to help other women and see what she can see. everything.


This road is difficult, Chi Li understands: "But my daughter feels that a person's life is only a few decades, so I have to do something meaningful, so that I will feel that this life is worthwhile and that I am not worthy of being a parent." daughter."


I don't know which of their daughter's words touched her, but in the end, the Chi family still chose to stand by their daughter's side and supported all her decisions.


Seeing this scene, Chili even felt a little envious of the original owner.


You have the best parents in the world.


It's a pity that it is not cherished.


The gentle falling force on the top of her head brought Chili back to her senses from her past memories. Only then did she realize that Mrs. Xu was gently stroking her head, and a gentle and kind voice sounded on it.


"Mom knows that my mother's Li'er is different. Unfortunately, my mother's ability is limited and I can't provide you with much help. But I also want my mother to be happy, so no matter what you want, I will try my best to help you." You know, even if you don't get married, Li'er will be your mother's good daughter all her life. As you said, Li'er, the value of my daughter lies in the top of the mountains and the vastness of the sea that others can't see, and not just It is only reflected in getting married and having children.”


Chi Li's pupils trembled slightly.


It had to be said that she was shocked by her mother's words.


After a period of silence, Chi Li hugged Mrs. Xu's waist tighter, buried her head inside, and rubbed her affectionately. Then she raised her head and said proudly: "Mom, please wait, my daughter will not let you down. From now on, I will not only make you and dad the parents of scholars, but also the parents of successful candidates, and even the parents of Jinshi!"


Her words were like a child promising to his parents that he would be ranked first in the grade. They seemed to be used to coax people. But regardless of whether her daughter could be admitted to the Jurenjinshi Examination, Xu was really persuaded at this moment. She was coaxed, so happy that even Chi Xiucai, who was sitting in the carriage in front, could hear her laughter.


Because Chi Li received too many gifts after being admitted as a scholar, her luggage doubled when she went home. As a last resort, the Chi family had no choice but to hire an extra carriage, and the family divided into two carriages to go home.


Among the gifts received, those suitable for Chili were given to her, while those that she could not use were handled by Mrs. Xu. If there is a need to return gifts in the future, Mrs. Xu will arrange them without any difficulty. Don't worry about it, Xu's is already done with it anyway, so it's not troublesome.


However, after this reminder, Mrs. Xu also began to consider adding two useful people to her daughter's staff.


The Chi family is not a wealthy family. There are not many servants in the family, and the total number of servants does not exceed ten.


Chi Li has a personal maid and a rough lady, while Chi Xiucai has two servants and a steward. The rest are under the control of Mrs. Xu.


Although the Zhao family siblings who came later also came to serve Chi Li, they were not considered servants, and they were still young and needed to be trained for a few more years before they could be used.


Therefore, her daughter now lacks someone who can take care of things and be useful. Xu can directly find a stewardess from her side, but with her around, the other party will not be 100% loyal to her daughter, even if the person who is truly loyal is Mrs. Xu herself is not willing to let such a person stay with her daughter.


Therefore, she made a mental plan to go back and find Ren Yazi to buy a few servants, and then let her daughter choose one of them, leaving two people with hard-working hands and feet who can do things around, so that she would have someone who can run errands around her whenever she has something to do in the future.


The benefits of being a scholar in Chili were not truly realized until he returned to Da'an County.


She got No. 5. According to the local regulations of Nanhuai Prefecture, the top five candidates in the college examination can be awarded the gifted student. The gifted student is a reward for those with the best test scores. Not only do they have everything that a scholar has, such as being exempted from corvee, They are exempted from land tax, do not kneel before officials, and other privileges. They can also receive a certain amount of extra rice from the government every month.


The specific number of places for natural students is determined by local officials based on actual conditions.


Chi Li heard from her father that when he took the imperial examination, scholars were still relatively rare, so the government gave more places for natural students. Basically, those who can get into the top ten can get it. Chi Xiucai is one of them, so he still has it now. I can go to the government to receive rice every month.


But as the number of scholars increased, more and more scholars passed the exams, and scholars became less valuable. The number of places given by the government for natural students gradually decreased, and now only five places are given in each college examination.


Chili was also lucky and happened to be stuck at the bottom, so she took this spot.


Although the rice grain given by the government every month is not very much, and it is not even enough to convert into one tael of silver, it can be regarded as a kind of extra income, and it also means that Chili is good enough to get the natural quota, which is a way to get The glory of going out and showing off.


In addition, Chi Li can also exempt her family from taxes on a hundred acres of land like her father, which means that the Chi family can get more food every year and their income will directly increase a lot.


Maybe they also knew that the Chi family had a lot of land and could use up the quota of one hundred acres of land, so after they came back, no one came to ask for tax exemption by listing some of the fields in Chili's name.


Not only was Chili the only one in Dayan County to pass the exam this time, there was also another student from a poor family who also passed the exam. He was studying in another private school in the county run by a scholar named Yang.


There were only three private schools in Da'an County, and two of them had people admitted to the scholar's examination. When the master of the third private school heard that he was so angry that he blew his beard and stared, secretly scolding his incompetent students countless times.


But this is not the point. The point is that Chi Li heard that after the poor student was admitted to the scholar examination, some wealthy households in the county immediately came to him and asked with gifts to put some of their fields in their name. For this reason, we are also willing to send [-]% of the harvest as a thank you gift every year.


This is a beneficial thing for both of them. The student can use this to gradually improve his family's life, while the wealthy family can pay [-]% less tax, and both sides are happy.


In the end, the other party negotiated cooperation with those families. Chi Li didn't know, but she accidentally saw the other party on the street later and saw that he had taken off his old patched robe and put on a new one. He has become a little fatter and no longer looks like he has been hungry for a long time and is malnourished.


"It seems that this life is not bad." Chi Li whispered to himself.


She knew the other person, but only because they were from the same hometown and in the same class, so they could just say hello when they saw each other, no matter how much they did.


Because Chi Li could tell that the other party had some contempt for her woman's identity. Even if he didn't show it clearly, his concealment skills were still not good enough. Chi Li saw it, so she didn't bother to have a close relationship with him.


He's just a passerby, no need to worry about him.


The Chi family has been preparing for a banquet in the past few days. The reason for the delay is because they have to wait for someone from Xu's natal family to arrive.


As mentioned before, Xu's natal family is far away from Da'an County. It takes a lot of time to receive letters from there, prepare gifts and send people to attend Chili's celebration banquet. Therefore, in order to wait for everyone, the Chi family Just have to wait.


It just gave them more time to prepare.


Chi Xiucai and Xu were gearing up to prepare something special for their daughter. Chi Li didn't stop her and let her parents be happy. Besides, she was happy too, so let's have fun together.


The Xu family's cousin was left in Fucheng by the Xu family to take care of the business there, while the Zhao family's siblings followed Chi Li and were brought back to Da'an County.


It's just that Chili doesn't need to study at other people's homes now, so she doesn't need to borrow her cousins ​​to avoid suspicion. The two of them are young and there is no big use in staying around, so she simply takes them to her father's school and lets them continue studying. went.


If you study more, you may be able to take part in the imperial examination in a few years.


It is worth mentioning that after the birth of Chi Li, the number one female scholar in the county, there were several new little girls in Chi Xiucai's private school, all of whom were sent to be educated by their parents.


Maybe they also want to replicate Chili's success, or maybe some parents are insightful and have long-term plans for their daughters, or they are just willing to send their children to school because they want to study and they love them enough.


No matter what the reason was, after seeing the figures of these little girls, Chili felt an inexplicable sense of relief in her heart, as well as a sense of responsibility stemming from the changes caused by her.


Driven by this feeling, Chili would occasionally take the initiative to help teach at her father's private school when she was free, mainly teaching the new little girls.


The other students were already used to other teachers, and they had their own learning progress. It was not appropriate for her to step in hastily. However, if someone specifically came to ask for advice, Chi Li would not hesitate to teach.


Chi Xiucai had no control over his daughter's behavior.


In his opinion, being a teacher and solving doubts for others is also a way of learning. He doesn’t know what others are like. Anyway, in his own words, after so many years of teaching and educating people, he has gained a lot of experience.


It's just that Chi Xiucai had failed in many tests before and had long lost the spirit of his youth, so he no longer insisted on continuing to take the scientific examination and settled down to be a teacher at home.


Chili's maternal grandfather's house arrived about more than a week after the family returned to the county town. The people who came were surprising. They turned out to be Chili's grandparents, her two uncles, and their respective wives and children.


Obviously, Ms. Xu didn't expect that her whole family would come so fully, especially since her parents were so old, they would actually travel long distances to make this trip.


So after being stunned for a while, she came back to her senses. Her first reaction was to run forward in two steps, holding her parents' hands and crying uncontrollably.


"Mom, dad, long time no see. Are you okay?"


"Okay, it's alright."

(End of this chapter)