Good luck with koi carp

Chapter 144 Teachings
"Grandma, what do you want from me?"


It was a holiday for the academy today, so Chili didn't go out. She stayed in her yard to read. When she was absorbed in reading, she heard a message from Wang's mother saying that the old lady had sent someone to call her over. Chili didn't know what her grandmother suddenly asked her to do. , then got up and went to take a look.


As soon as she stepped into the door of the house, Chi Li was keenly aware of the strangeness of her surrounding environment.


There are too few people, or in other words, the only ones who can still stay in this house to serve are Shen's confidants.


Seeing this, Chili also understood that her grandmother wanted to tell her something that should not be known to outsiders, and what the specific reason was. Thinking about it, Chili could only think of the recent incident where her family suddenly allowed her third cousin to study. Something happened.


I heard that my third cousin is already preparing for the county examination in February next year, but I don’t know if it’s true or not.


Chi Li hasn't gone to ask for confirmation yet, but looking at her grandmother's attitude today, she shouldn't have to ask anymore.


"Li'er, come here and sit next to grandma."


Mrs. Shen's expression was as loving as ever. It was obvious that she was not really angry about her granddaughter's rash intervention in the family affairs. She also actively waved to her child to sit in the empty seat next to her.


Chili obediently walked over and sat down, calling softly: "Grandma..."


She decided to act coquettishly and beg for mercy later if things went wrong. At least for her mother's sake, her grandmother wouldn't punish her too harshly, right?

It is said that people become better with age, so how could Mrs. Shen fail to see her granddaughter's little frailty? She smiled cheerfully, raised her hand and patted the back of the child's hand to comfort her.


"Don't be afraid, grandma doesn't want to blame you. You deliberately risked offending your second aunt by asking me and your grandpa to help your third cousin. That's because of the deep love between you two sisters. It's not too late for grandma to be happy. It's just a little shortcoming. , maybe because your family has a small population, your mother has not taught you these housekeeping tricks very much. Even if she still remembers to cover up a little, your previous actions were still too obvious. If your second aunt wanted to check afterward, it would be very easy. I can trace it to you. Fortunately, your grandfather has covered it up for you, so you don’t need to worry about it in the future. Grandma specially called you here today just to teach you how to be more careful in everything you do. point……"


It turned out that in order to help Xu Xiang'er solve her mother's problem, Chi Li came to ask her maternal grandparents for help.


Through her mother, Chili knew that these two old people were more open-minded than ordinary people. If she could explain the reasons directly to them and let them hear her granddaughter's wish, they would definitely help.


Sure enough, with the two big mountains of Mr. Xu and the Shen family pressing down, no matter how dissatisfied the Zheng family was, they could only compromise.


Especially when she wanted to seek support from her husband, she found out that although her husband temporarily encouraged her to go out to take the scientific examination, he still chose to support her daughter's decision due to the pressure from her parents and her daughter's firm will. He can no longer influence this outcome.


But she was still not reconciled.


What if my daughter really goes out to study and take the scientific examination, but ends up accomplishing nothing and losing her reputation?

Then should she get married? Where would she find someone to rely on for the rest of her life? As parents, they couldn't support her for the rest of their lives.


In fact, Ms. Zheng has no bad intentions towards her daughter. Everyone understands this. After all, Xu Xiang'er is her biological daughter. She is just treating her daughter well in her own way. It's just that everyone has different ideas. What she thinks is the good intention of Xu Xiang'er is not the same as Xu Xiang'er's. Don't accept it, even feel pain about it.


Fortunately, she has a pair of open-minded grandparents, and a father who, even if he doesn't understand, is still willing to compromise for the daughter he has always loved.


So this is also the confidence that Xu Xiang'er can truly fight successfully.


Otherwise, if it were another family with old-fashioned feudal ideas, even if Chili wanted to help, the only way she could think of would be to let the other party find a way to escape from the family of origin before making any plans.


"Second aunt really compromised in the end?" Chi Li asked.


Why does she feel like things are not that simple?


Sure enough, after hearing her granddaughter's doubts, Mrs. Shen shook her head and said, "It's not that easy. Your second aunt can temporarily relax this time, just because the time, place and people are favorable."


The so-called right time, right place, right people, and the right people are actually just a coincidence.


Something happened to the family with whom Xu Xiang'er fell in love recently. The younger generation may not know anything about it yet, but the elders of Xu's family got the news early in the morning. However, they are still in a wait-and-see mode before the matter is decided. Today, I may have roughly confirmed that there is not a good family to get married to, so I intend to break off the engagement for my granddaughter.


It just happened to happen that Xu Xiang'er expressed that he did not want to get married and wanted to study and take the imperial examination.


That family was chosen by Mrs. Zheng for her daughter, but something happened in the end, causing the marriage to fall through. She had to be a little weak in front of her daughter. It was at this opportunity that Mr. Xu could ask her to temporarily let go. Discipline your daughter and let her do what she wants to do.


Of course, Zheng's worries about her daughter's future are actually justified, so in the end the two parties made an agreement. If Xu Xiang'er can pass next year's county examination, then Zheng will allow her to continue studying for the scientific examination. If she fails, then Xu Xiang'er will still have to Go home and get married and have children.


After all, she is already 17 years old this year. If she delays for another year, she will be [-]. She has been engaged once more. It is not easy to find a good family. If she continues to be so willful, Mrs. Zheng will really die for her daughter. look.


"Then what happened to Sister Xiang'er's ex-fiancé's family?"


Chi Li knew she shouldn't ask, but she couldn't help but be curious. Anyway, she and her grandmother were the only two people here now, and the other servants were all her grandmother's trusted confidants, so it wouldn't be a problem even if they spoke out.


Mrs. Shen had no intention of concealing this matter, but because the matter was quite dirty and her granddaughter was a young girl who had not yet left the court, she spoke more cryptically.


But who is Chi Li? She has experienced so many worlds and is baptized by the modern information flow. She has long been a girl who understands instantly, so she doesn't need to ask any more questions. She analyzed the truth from her grandmother's verbal hints.


It turns out that Xu Xiang'er's ex-fiancé's family is doing business in Fucheng. Although he is a merchant, he is quite wealthy, and there is no mother-in-law there. If Xu Xiang'er can marry her, she will directly become the mistress of the house.


This was originally a good marriage, judging from the surface.


Unexpectedly, there was some trouble there a few days ago. It was said that the future father-in-law there actually gave his son a stepmother who was younger than him, and the stepmother already had a son who could run and jump. After a while, he also said that Xu Xiang'er's ex-fiance had a maid in his house, and that the maid was pregnant...


The direct impact of all kinds of complicated information makes many elders confused.


At first they were a little unbelievable, but later they sent people to verify it out of fear of being wrongly accused. After confirming that the little stepmother, the sweetheart maid, etc. were all true, the Xu family immediately told the story of the broken marriage. Return.


Don't ask your girls to jump into such a big fire pit.


Their family is not the kind of family that sells their daughters. It’s not too late to have a baby of their own, so how could they harm her like this?


It was also because she knew that she had almost harmed her daughter that she felt guilty and short of breath and did not dare to take a tough stance to stop her daughter from studying as before.


All the above matters were finally solved by Xu's elders, and everyone was happy with the result. However, after the incident, Ms. Shen felt that her granddaughter's methods of doing things were a bit simple and crude, and she was afraid that she would suffer losses if she behaved this way in the future, so she specially called someone here today. , teach it yourself.


"Grandma knows that the path our Li'er will take in the future is different from most people, but because of this, you need to be more cautious in your words and deeds, and don't be easily caught."


If Chili was a little confused at first, now she understood the good intentions of her elders, so she bowed her head obediently and listened to her grandmother's teachings.


Shen just kept it simple. She knew that her granddaughter was smart and she would figure it out herself.


So after I finished talking, I stopped holding on to her and started to care about my child's study and life during this period.


"It's all very good. Li'er thinks if we continue like this step by step, I may not be able to give it a try in the provincial examination next year."


Externally, Chili has always been very humble and will not reveal her feelings easily, but she has nothing to hide from her grandmother who truly cares about her.


Now Chili has been enrolled in Henglu Academy for half a year. Her performance ranking has gradually improved from the upper-middle level at the beginning to the upper-middle level. She is only a few spots away from winning the first place.


Some good people have analyzed before that those who can occupy the top three positions in the Henglu Academy's internal rankings for three consecutive monthly exams can basically lock in the provincial examination quota. The only difference lies in the final ranking.


Moreover, this rural examination is still from Bohe Prefecture, not Nanhuai Prefecture. Although the two prefectures are close to each other, they do not belong to the same province. The examination scope of the rural examination is divided by provinces, so there is no difference between the two sides. We will take exams together.


In other words, if Chi Li can survive the provincial examination in Bohe Mansion, then he will definitely be on the list of candidates if he returns to Nanhuai Mansion, where the competition atmosphere is more relaxed.


Of course, with her current level of knowledge, she still needs to work harder if she wants to pass the provincial examination.


But hope is close at hand.


"Then you should concentrate on your studies from now on. You don't have to worry about things at home, and grandma won't let anyone disturb you. The most important thing now is your scientific examination. If you can succeed, our family will be able to raise more people."


She is still a female candidate, so even if Shen is a woman who never pays attention to politics, she can probably understand the meaning of this.


Moreover, being a scholar is different from being a scholar. After passing the examination, you can become an official.


Whether one can be an official is also a watershed that divides a class. After crossing that threshold, one's status is also very different from before. Otherwise, how could there be so many talented people who have passed the examination and are still taking the provincial examination desperately? Is this the name of a person?

Also for the huge benefits represented behind this fame.


Basically, it can be said that if a family can cultivate a successful person, then the entire family will be able to transcend social classes.


Of course, it would be even more amazing if you could pass the Jinshi examination.


Even if the Xu family is just Chili's aunt, if Chili can really pass the examination, it will only have advantages and no disadvantages for the Xu family. Therefore, even if it is for the benefit of the family's future, Mr. Xu and Mrs. Shen will never do it. Family members are allowed to disturb Chili’s study.


Chili also understood what her family expected of her, so after being warned, she calmed down her mind, stopped meddling in other things, and threw herself into studying like crazy with herself and others.


In the blink of an eye, summer turned to autumn, and winter turned to spring. When the weather gradually started to get hotter, Chili was shocked to realize that the summer of the next year had already arrived, and she had already studied at Henglu Academy for more than a year. .


For more than a year, Chili's life has been monotonous every day.


Studying, studying, studying, it seemed that she had nothing else to do except studying. Even when her second cousin got married and her third cousin passed the county examination, Chi Li could only poke out half of her head from her busy study. After asking Mother Wang to prepare a gift for them, she immersed herself in the book again.


Under this momentum of working hard to the extreme, Chili didn't know when she began to steadily occupy the top spot in the monthly exams. No matter how many people behind her tried to catch up, they couldn't shake her.
In addition, there is one little thing that is quite surprising.


Ever since Chi Li and two other female students entered Henglu Academy, apart from necessary study exchanges and daily greetings, there has been no more friendship between them.


This was true even when two more junior girls came to the academy in the second year.


The five girls didn't communicate much with each other, and they didn't mean to make friends with each other, which directly broke some people's idea that they would stick together because they were of the same sex.


Actually this is normal.


In Chili's opinion.


Including themselves, if they can stand up and compete with men for the few imperial examination places in this era, they are destined to have to pay more than ordinary people.


This kind of dedication cannot be said to be transcending for the time being, but catching up.


Because in the past thousands of years, women's education level was far lower than that of men, so even if they now have the opportunity to study openly, they will have to spend more time and effort to catch up, which has been stretched by a long time. distance.


Therefore, they cannot allocate enough energy to do other things. Things like making friends, developing hobbies, etc. have all been temporarily abandoned. The most important thing for them now is studying, and they have to spend their limited time Read out the results.


Otherwise, once they are about to pass the best age for marriage and they still cannot produce results that can convince their families to continue supporting their studies, they will most likely be forced to go home to get married and have children.


This is also the oppression and limitation of women in this era.


At the same time, it is also one of the obstacles that hinders them from truly taking the imperial examination.


Even getting the test results may not necessarily change your destiny. Chi Li still remembers that Xu Xiang'er finally passed the county examination with the lowest ranking after all the hard work. She thought she would be able to control her life from then on, but she was Her mother told her that she would only give her two more years of freedom.


Two years later, no matter how good her daughter's studies are, Xu Xiang'er must get married. The only good news is that Zheng promised that if her husband doesn't mind after her daughter gets married, she can continue to study and take exams. Will hinder her again.


When Chi Li learned the news, she was silent for a long time.


But she didn't go to Xu Xiang'er again.


Because this time, Xu Xiang'er took care of it herself before Chi Li. She agreed to her mother's request. At the same time, she also said that if she wanted to get married, she wanted to find a husband she wanted. She hoped that her mother would not make decisions for her at will. Afraid that her mother would disapprove, she also used the excuse that she didn't want to encounter the same bad things as her ex-fiancé's family.


As soon as these last words came out, they were like a trump card that made Zheng immediately compromise.


The mother and daughter had been quarreling for a long time, and it ended with both parties taking a step back.


And Chi Li also saw the changes in Xu Xiang'er, knowing that she had begun to have her own opinions, dared to express her own thoughts, and fought for her future, she knew that she had nothing to do with her here.


Chili turned her head and focused her attention on the approaching provincial examination.


The provincial examination is usually held in August, once every three years.


Now that it is mid-June, Chili's household registration is not here. She must rush to the examination location in the province where her household registration is located before the exam.


In other words, she is going home.


Since she came out to study, Chi Li has not spent two Spring Festivals at home, and her parents miss her very much. So when they heard that their daughter was about to leave home, the Chi family decided to come over and pick up their daughter in person.


And they kept the news secret, wanting to give their daughter a surprise.


To be honest, Chi Li was more surprised than happy when she suddenly saw her parents at Xu's house.


But after being surprised, her eyes were still wet for some reason, and like a child that had not grown up, she was buried deep in her mother's arms and refused to come out even if she said anything.


For everyone in the Xu family, Chi Li has always behaved very maturely, steadily, and quite self-disciplined. This was the first time they saw her acting like a little daughter, and they couldn't help laughing.


Mrs. Shen also joked about her granddaughter, but was pushed back by her daughter who was protecting the calf. She was so angry that she pointed at her daughter twice, and then she couldn't help but laugh.


Due to tight time, the Chi family couple did not stay too long after arriving. They only stayed for two days and made some repairs. Then they took their daughter and said goodbye to the Xu family, and then set off to go home.


"Now we can get home much faster than before."


Standing on the deck of the passenger ship, Chi Xiucai sighed with his daughter.


Chi Li also nodded after hearing this: "Indeed."


Over the years, she has also been paying attention to current affairs in the country during her studies, so she knows that since the empress came to power, she has been interested in developing the domestic economy, including using the canal to promote north-south trade.


To this end, Her Majesty the Empress also ordered the shipyards to build faster ships, saying that they would be able to transport goods faster to promote trade and economic development.


Since the empress gave the order to die, the shipyard craftsmen worked almost desperately on various researches, and finally they were able to build a faster ship, which even had a considerable cargo capacity. Considerable, and with the support of sufficient funds allocated by the imperial court, several ships have been urgently produced and put into use.


The Chili family is now traveling on an official ship operated by the Imperial Household Shipping Company to carry cargo and passengers. This ship is a new type of fast ship that was put into use at the beginning of the year.


Taking this ship, the journey home that they originally needed to take for half a month was shortened to less than ten days. Considering today's transportation level, it can be said to be quite fast.


It is precisely because of this that the Chi family and his wife were able to come all the way to pick up their daughter. Otherwise, the round trip and the time spent at the Xu family would have taken more than a month, which would have delayed many things at home and they would not have time at all. So much time to come.


The time on the boat was a bit boring, and Chili was not reading almost all the time like before. In order to pass the time, she started asking her parents about the current situation at home.


"There hasn't been much change at home, except that I bought about 20 more acres of fertile farmland, more than [-] acres of medium-sized farmland, and bought an additional house in Nanhuai Mansion." Mrs. Xu said this in an understatement. Great achievements over the past year.


Chi Li was stunned when she heard this.


So she has long said that her mother is a very good business person. She just had no motivation before. But now, when her mother works hard for her, the gains are no less than what she got from studying.


Although the two cannot be generalized, Chi Li still feels that Xu is a capable person.


In comparison, Chi Xiucai's side only expanded the private school by one-third, which was just a small and insignificant achievement.


Well, this comment was made by Chi Xiucai himself.


But Chi Li knew that these words were just self-effacing words from his father.


Maybe given time, even if the private school opened by her father cannot become a large academy like Henglu Academy, it can become the number one private school in Dayan County.


No, it’s already number one now.


Because he was too busy, Chi Xiucai later hired another scholar and two students to help teach.


Fortunately, the house originally used by the Chi family as a private school was quite large. Even after the expansion, it could still accommodate so many teachers and students. However, Chi Li heard from her father that he already had plans to turn over the house next door. He bought it and merged it into a private school.


However, because all the money at home has been used by her mother to buy land, it is not enough for the time being, so she has to wait until the food comes in after this autumn harvest and then sell half of it to be able to afford a house.


"Is the government still collecting grain?"


Keenly noticing something from his father's words, Chili couldn't help but ask.


"Well, I'm still keeping it. Seeing that the price is right, I sell half of the grain to the government every year." Chi Xiucai nodded.


Since their daughter was selected as a scholar, their family has been exempted from taxes on an additional [-] acres of land. In addition to the newly purchased fields, the Chi family harvests a considerable amount of food every year, even to the point where even two food shops cannot consume it. The granaries at home are all full and cannot be filled.


It just so happened that the government had been collecting grain in recent years, so they simply sold the excess grain to the government.


As mentioned before, there are mostly two reasons why the imperial court collects grain on a large scale. One is to prepare grain for war, and the other is to encounter some natural or man-made disaster and need to raise grain for disaster relief.


However, there has been no war or disaster recently, and the imperial court continues to collect grain, which seems a bit strange.


I don't know what the person at the top had in mind. After thinking to no avail, Chili just kept it in mind and planned to check it out later.


Instead of returning directly to Dayan County, Chili's family settled in Fucheng.


As the capital of a province, Nanhuai Prefecture is the venue for this provincial examination.

(End of this chapter)