Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 415: Provincial Examination Results
Shuangdianzi is even more remote than Maoershan and has little information.

Li Zhengwen and his friends only vaguely heard that the Qing Dynasty had declared war on some country, but no one was quite clear about what exactly happened.

Even they don’t know about it, let alone ordinary people who have never even heard of it.

In fact, this is normal. Ordinary people work hard every day and cannot even guarantee enough food and clothing. Who has the leisure time to pay attention to international affairs?
Besides, even if they wanted to care, they had no channel to get the news.

After listening to Qu Shaoyang's narration, Zhao Zhengguo and others learned that the Japanese deliberately provoked trouble and attacked the Beiyang troop transport ship. They were filled with righteous indignation and expressed their desire to fight the Japanese to the death.

"Sir, if you have anything to say, just tell us. We will do it even if it means going through fire and water.

The slogan of our security team is to protect the country and the people. The Japanese are not afraid of death and dare to attack us. Let them have a taste of our power." Everyone said in unison.

"Okay, with what you said, I feel relieved.

Then I'd like to trouble you all to assemble the team as soon as possible, and it would be best if you could recruit a group of hunters and strong men.

Once the situation changes, I want a well-trained team that can fight the enemy at any time. Can you do that?"

Qu Shaoyang looked at everyone and asked.

"Don't worry, sir, there will be no problem.

In the past few years, we have been following the adults' requests and have been practicing shooting, martial arts, and marching formations with the security team.

Any one of our security team members is a brave man who can defeat ten enemies at once." Zhao Zhengguo assured, patting his chest.

“On the battlefield, individual soldier quality is important, but more important is mutual cooperation and absolute obedience to orders.

Don't underestimate the Japanese, they use new training methods and their combat capabilities are quite strong."

It’s not that Qu Shaoyang is trying to boost other people’s ambitions and destroy his own prestige.

Although these people in the security team also train on weekdays, they are still far behind the regular troops.

There is no other way. After all, they are militiamen, and Zhao Zhengguo and others have not received formal training, so the requirements cannot be so high.

The current situation is unclear, and Qu Shaoyang doesn't dare to stay outside for too long.

If any order came down from above and Qu Shaoyang was not there, causing important matters to be delayed, he would not be able to take responsibility.

So after a detailed discussion with Li Zhengwen, Zhao Zhengguo and others, Qu Shaoyang led his men to leave Dianzi Street the next day.

When Qu Shaoyang returned to Maoer Mountain, it was already the sixth day of September.

The twins, a boy and a girl, were born on the third day of August and were one month old on the third day of September.

Qu Shaoyang was not at home at that time, and Chen Xiuyun had to stay in confinement for a full month, and the family was busy making ginseng, so no one arranged a full-month banquet or anything like that.

Everyone thought that since Qu Shaoyang had a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, they must celebrate it.

But after waiting for a long time, there was still no news.

Qu Shaoyang happened to come back, and some people curiously asked when the Qu family would hold a full-month banquet for their child.

"Let's wait for a while. Xiuyun is very weak after giving birth this time. She needs to stay in confinement for two months and rest well.

Wait until she is out of confinement, and then we will arrange the full moon banquet."

At the moment, Qu Shaoyang really wasn't in the mood to hold a full-moon banquet, but he couldn't say too much in front of outsiders, so he found an excuse to shirk it.

After coming back, Qu Shaoyang naturally went to see his wife and children.

After a month of rest, Chen Xiuyun looks much better.

The two little babies were light when they were born, not as chubby as Gensuo and Genyou, but they have grown a lot in this month.

The two kids have grown up a little now. Their skin is not so wrinkled anymore, and their faces are fuller. They both look very good.

The two children just woke up, and Chen Xiuyun and the maid changed their blankets and clothes. Qu Shaoyang played with the two children while chatting with Chen Xiuyun.

The two little ones didn't have a name when they were born. It was during the Mid-Autumn Festival when Qu Laokouer and Liu Dongshan came back, and everyone discussed and gave the two kids nicknames.

The boy is named Genquan and the girl is named Lingdang.

Little Bell was very interesting. When Qu Shaoyang made a noise by flicking his tongue, she giggled and cooperated very well.

Qu Shaoyang already liked girls, and when he saw how well-behaved and cute his daughter was, he liked her even more.

As for Xiao Genquan, he could interact with Qu Shaoyang, but he didn't like to laugh much. He just kept kicking his little arms and legs around, which was quite funny.

"These two little guys are becoming more and more interesting. Today, someone asked me when we were going to hold the full-month banquet.

Well, wife, I want to discuss something with you. Should we not hold the full-month banquet for our two children?

The current situation is not good, the court has suffered a series of defeats, if we still hold a grand celebration for the two children to celebrate the full moon, if the prefect knows about it, he will definitely find fault with us again. "

Qu Shaoyang was not a high-ranking official, so the affairs of the court had little to do with him.

But the new governor of the East Road is a little out of touch. He has been in office for less than a year, but he has already used excuses to deal with many people.

Maoer Mountain is far away from the east, so Qu Shaoyang has not been punished for the time being, but no one can guarantee that the new governor will remember Qu Shaoyang one day.

Now the imperial court is at war with Japan, suffering repeated defeats and heavy losses.

At this critical juncture, if Qu Shaoyang held a grand full-month banquet for his child, wouldn't that be handing evidence to the Taotai?

That's why Qu Shaoyang consulted with his wife and told her that the timing was not right and she should keep quiet and avoid causing trouble.

Chen Xiuyun is well-educated and well-mannered, and has gained a lot of experience in the past few years of marriage to Qu Shaoyang.

Upon hearing what her husband said, Chen Xiuyun quickly expressed her agreement.

In this way, the couple chatted while coaxing the child.

The two babies had just woken up. People say that young babies are straightforward. They will pee after eating and then get hungry. It is absolutely true.

The two kids should have been fed after they peed, but after playing with Qu Shaoyang for a long time and not waiting for their mother to feed them, the two little guys started to complain.

Seeing this, Chen Xiuyun picked up her daughter, undressed her and fed her.

"Hey? By the way, the results are about to be announced, right? I don't know if our eldest brother can pass the exam.

If my eldest brother passes the imperial examination, the Chen family will be truly honored."

Chen Xiuyun asked while feeding her daughter.

The results of the autumn examination are usually announced at the end of August or the beginning of September, on the day of the tiger or the day of the dragon.

Because Chen belongs to the dragon and Yin belongs to the tiger, it means the list of dragon and tiger.

If there are special circumstances, the announcement of the results will be postponed to mid-September.

“Normally the results should have been announced, but this year there happened to be a war, so I don’t know if it will have any impact.

I will send someone to Fengtian to inquire about the news tomorrow. You should rest and recuperate well. "

Usually, when one of the twins is hungry and wants to eat, the other one will also feel hungry.

As soon as Chen Xiuyun picked up her daughter, her son refused and started crying.

When Qu Shaoyang saw this, he quickly picked up his son, coaxed him softly, and chatted with Chen Xiuyun.

But little Genquan had a very bad temper. He couldn't stand being held by Qu Shaoyang. He just cried and yelled at the top of his lungs. "I don't know who our Genquan inherited this temper from. He's impatient and greedy.

If he were allowed to drink milk first, he would drink up both breasts and Lingling would have nothing to eat.

Let Lingling eat first, he would get so angry that he would cry, sometimes his face would turn purple. "

Chen Xiuyun had no choice but to let Qu Shaoyang give her son to him, so that they could each have one side and eat.

Sure enough, as soon as he had milk to drink, the boy Genquan stopped crying and sucked happily.

"Two kids need breastfeeding, can you feed them?

If that doesn't work, we can pick two neat and capable wives among those who have just given birth to babies and have them come and feed Genquan and Lingdang.

I see you are very tired." Seeing his wife holding two children and feeding them, Qu Shaoyang felt distressed and discussed with her.

"It's OK. Mom made me a lot of nourishing soups and stewed toad oil and other things. I have enough milk.

Don't worry, if the milk is not enough, I will find a way."

Chen Xiuyun smiled when she heard this. She is already a mother of four children, so how could she not understand something as simple as feeding the children?
Now that I have enough milk, I will feed the baby myself. If I don’t have enough milk, I will find another way.

The couple chatted for a while, and little Lingling felt full first and opened her mouth.

When Qu Shaoyang saw this, he quickly took the child, patted his back, and then placed him on the pillow.

Babies who have just finished the confinement period are basically still in the stage of eating and sleeping.

I had just played with Qu Shaoyang for quite a while and was tired of laughing, so I patted it gently a few times and little Bell fell into a sound sleep.

Genquan had a big appetite and one was not enough for him, so he took a few bites of another one before he let go.

Chen Xiuyun put her son on the kang as well, patted him and hummed a song, and soon Genquan fell asleep.

After the two children went to bed, Chen Xiuyun asked the maids to take good care of them.

She changed her clothes, combed her hair again, put on a thick cloak and a hood, and then went out with Qu Shaoyang to watch the ginseng processing outside.

During the days since the ginseng was transported back, Chen Xiuyun has always wanted to come out and take a look, but no one would let her.

Just then Qu Shaoyang came back, so Chen Xiuyun covered herself tightly and asked her husband to go and see for herself.

Under the leadership of Meng Lanxin, after several days of hard work from dawn to dusk, more than 3,000 kilograms of fresh ginseng were basically cleaned.

Most of them have been steamed and dried, some are still being steamed in the pot, and some are being loaded into the steamer to be steamed tonight.

In addition, there are some ginseng beards left that need to be sorted out, tied up, steamed and dried.

The open space in the yard is filled with forks for drying ginseng. Fortunately, the weather has been good recently and it has been sunny every day.

Many of the mallets have been half-dried and their color is getting darker.

It was the first time that Chen Xiuyun saw such a spectacular scene and she didn’t know what to say.

"Are these all our hammers? Oh my god, I didn't expect there would be so many."

Although Meng Lanxin told Chen Xiuyun after she came back that she had brought back more than thirty sacks of fresh ginseng.

But hearing about it and seeing it with your own eyes are two completely different things.

Only when you see it with your own eyes can you realize how spectacular it would be to see so many ginsengs drying in the yard.

"This is just the beginning. Wait a few years and you'll see that it will be several times more than this." Qu Shaoyang laughed when he heard this.

“I’m thinking that next year or the year after, I’ll have to build another place and set up a whole processing plant.

We will definitely have more and more mallets in the future. We can’t keep putting them everywhere in the fence like we do now, leaving no room for them to stand.”

As more and more ginseng fields are being built, more and more ginseng will be harvested and processed, so we have to set up another place specifically for processing ginseng.

Meng Lanxin, who was leading people to work, heard this, opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but swallowed it back.

When Qu Shaoyang came back, the ginseng was almost processed and the two babies were also one month old.

That night, the Qu family prepared two banquet tables and invited the Liu and Chen families to come over, and everyone had a great time together.

During the dinner, Liu Dongshan and Chen Langzhong also asked whether the results of the provincial examination had been announced.

Of course, they were not the only ones who were concerned about the announcement of the provincial examination results. Chen Yunzhe and Shen Lizhen, a couple who lived far away in Fengtian, were also anxious.

"Tomorrow is the day of the dragon, and I don't know if the results will be announced." Shen Lizhen muttered while eating.

"It should be about the same. I went to my mentor today and he said the results should be announced tomorrow."

Chen Yunzhe picked up some food for his wife to comfort her.

"Then I will send someone to guard outside the Imperial Examination Hall early tomorrow morning, and report back as soon as there is any news."

The next day, the seventh day of September, just after breakfast, Shen Lizhen sent the servants from the mansion to go to the Imperial Examination Hall to wait for news.

At this time, a large number of people gathered outside the Imperial Examination Hall, including the students who were taking part in the provincial examination and their families.

Everyone was looking up, crossing their legs, staring at the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall, waiting for the results to be announced.

I don’t know how long I waited, but when the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall opened, the officer in charge of posting the list of successful candidates came out.

When the people outside saw this, they rushed forward and soon the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall was completely blocked.

The officer shouted and pasted the list in his hand on the wall.

Because the provincial examination was held in August, and the results were announced during the season when sweet osmanthus was fragrant, the announcement of the provincial examination results was also called the Guibang.

Generally speaking, the results are announced from the back to the front, with the rankings posted in reverse order.

The officer would post a name, and the people in front would read out one more name. When they heard their own or their family's name on the list, they were so excited that they could not describe it.

The servants of the Chen residence stretched their necks and waited until the last list in the hands of the officer was posted on the wall, and finally they saw Chen Yunzhe's name.

"Congratulations, Master. Congratulations, Master. You are the second highest ranked player in high school."

The servants in the mansion came back running and shouting loudly before they even entered the house.

Chen Yunzhe and Shen Lizhen had been restless and anxious at home the whole afternoon, waiting for the announcement of the results.

Hearing the noise outside, the couple ran out in a hurry, just in time to see Shuanzi, a servant from the mansion, running in.

"Congratulations, sir, congratulations, madam, the master has won the second place in the imperial examination." Shuanzi ran out of breath and finally managed to say it.

"Ya Yuan? That means the second place? Master, did you hear that? You passed the exam, and you are the second Ya Yuan."

Shen Lizhen reacted quickly and immediately turned to look at Chen Yunzhe.

Chen Yunzhe was also surprised. He really didn't expect that he could get second place in the provincial examination.

You have to know that this is the provincial examination, and all the students in the entire province will participate. Many of them have taken the exam several times but still failed to pass.

"Shuanzi, you've worked hard. Here's your reward. Use it to have a drink."

Chen Yunzhe casually took out a piece of silver, which weighed about two taels, and stuffed it into Shuanzi's hand.

(End of this chapter)