Farmhouse Green Plum

Daya's expression also changed, and she asked, "How long have you been here?"

Yuan Qing touched the tip of his nose awkwardly, "Always here."

"So you..."

"I heard everything." Yuan Qing lowered his head guiltily, then raised the book in his hand and explained, "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. The second round of banquet hadn't started yet, so I came here to review my lessons. Who knew you would come over?"

So, he heard everything the three of them said just now!

Daya was both angry and embarrassed, but the key was that she couldn't find any reason to blame the other party.

After holding it in for a long time, she had to bite the bullet and change the subject, "You have to review your lessons in such a short time. No wonder you are so good at studying."

"Haha, it's boring to just wait." It can be seen that Yuan Qing was also embarrassed.

Lai Di was open-minded and didn't think there was anything to be shy about in their previous conversation with a child from another village.

She was even more worried that her treasonous words to the county magistrate would be heard by the master, so she stretched her neck to look behind the paulownia tree: "Where is your master?"

"I came here to eat alone." After saying this, Yuan Qing quickly realized that this was not what Lai Di really wanted to ask, and added: "Don't worry, there is no one else here except me."

Lai Di felt relieved and begged, "Don't tell anyone what I just said."

If those outrageous words were to spread, not only her but their entire family would be implicated.

Thinking of what Di had just said, Daya also became nervous. Regardless of the embarrassment, she asked Yuan Qing not to tell anyone.

Yuan Qing nodded, put a cross on the book, and said seriously: "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

After getting his promise, the three of them finally felt relieved. Thinking of what he said before, Daya asked curiously, "Why do you say the county magistrate is not confused?"

"In half a year, Magistrate Hu's term will be up. He has not made any outstanding achievements in recent years. He is planning to take an unconventional approach and portray Wang Xiaohua as a chaste heroine in order to gain promotion."

Daya was still confused, "What does this have to do with his promotion?"

Yuan Qing did not show off his knowledge to them, and said in straightforward words: "According to the Daqian law, the county magistrate has the responsibility to educate the people. Under his rule, there were chaste and heroic women who can be written into the model of female virtues, which shows that he did a very good job in educating the people.

With achievements in government and some connections, promotion is not impossible.”

Daya and the other two were so shocked that they could hardly believe what they heard: The county magistrate could get promoted by rewarding the man who sold his own daughter into a brothel?

“This is too…” After a long while, Daya finally found her voice.

"So Sister Xiaohua was sold into a brothel, her brother got the gift and married, her parents got a reward from the government, the county magistrate got a promotion, so she deserved to die tragically, right?"

Daya once again felt the girls' terrible fate.

Everyone was silent. In the silence, only the rustling of the paulownia leaves above their heads in the wind seemed to tell the girls' tragic fate.

After a long while, Daya looked at the increasingly bustling Wang family from afar, and finally couldn't help but sigh softly: "Why haven't we met those impartial and selfless judges who seek justice for the people in operas?"

Yuan Qing said: "In fact, Magistrate Hu is already considered good. Although he doesn't do much, he doesn't have the courage to do anything particularly bad.

What the common people fear most is those county magistrates who have ruined their families. That is the real nightmare.”

Lai Di looked at Yuan Qing and whispered, "You know so much."

Her words reminded Daya. From the following words, it can be said that Yuan Qing is a scholar with broader knowledge than them, but how could he, a child from the village community school, know that County Magistrate Hu was planning to use Xiaohua's death to seek promotion?

"How do you know what Magistrate Hu is planning?" she asked.

"When my grandmother and I went to Qingshui Academy, we accidentally saw the teacher asking a teacher at the academy for advice on how to promote Magistrate Hu. It was that teacher who suggested that Magistrate Hu start with educating the people."

Thinking back to the first time she met him when she went to sell herbs alone, and the words of his grandfather and the village elders when they handed in the autumn harvest the next day, Daya suddenly realized, "When I met you half a month ago, were you going to Qingshui Academy to study with your grandmother?"

Yuan Qing glanced at Lai Di and Xiao Xiang and said, "You said this yourself, not because I didn't keep it a secret."

"They all know."

Yuan Qing's eyes swept across the faces of the three people, with a hint of doubt in his eyes, but he didn't ask any further questions. He nodded and said, "Yes, it's a pity that Qingshui Academy won't accept me."

"Isn't the community school in your village good? Why do you have to go to Qingshui Academy? It takes two hours to go back and forth, how tiring." Xiaoxiang expressed her incomprehension.

"The community school is very good, but the teacher has only passed the county and prefectural exams, not the academy exams. I want to take the exam for a scholar, and it would be easier to study at Qingshui Academy, where they have produced top scorers."

"Number one scholar?" Daya blinked her eyes. "So, there really was a number one scholar who lived in the county's Zhuangyuanfang?"

Zhuangyuanfang in Qingshui County is the West Street Market. It is dark, narrow and noisy, and has nothing to do with the quiet environment that scholars like. Daya always thought that it was just a street name, named Zhuangyuanfang for good luck.

She suddenly recalled a detail. Before the autumn harvest was delivered that day, Grandpa Yuan Qing asked the village elders to follow the example of Rongshu Village and drive the top scholar out. He did not get the top scholar archway, but instead gave it to the vendors on West Street in the county.

There really was a top scholar who lived in West Street! And he was from Rongshu Village?!

"Of course!" Yuan Qing said without hesitation, his eyes sparkling, "Back then, Mr. Shen Tingzhao and his widowed mother lived alone, with no extra money, so they could only live in the extremely poor environment of West Street.

Mr. Shen studied very hard, and finally succeeded in passing the imperial examination and became the top scholar. He returned home in glory and erected the archway of the top scholar in West Street.

As he spoke, his fingers holding the book tightened even more, and he said with great yearning, "One day, I will be like Mr. Shen, the top scorer in the imperial examination, return home in glory, and bring honor to my Yuan family!"

Studying and becoming the top scholar were things that were too far away from Daya and the others, and they could not empathize with Yuan Qing's excitement.

They worked hard and endured beatings and scolding from their parents, just hoping that their parents would not sell them. Boys like Yuan Qing didn't have to do anything, as their whole family would pave the way for them.

Daya smiled and responded, "If you win the first prize, not only will your family be honored, but all the nearby villages will be proud of you!"

Lai Di also perfunctorily said: "Your grandfather said the other day that if one person succeeds, the whole family will benefit. If you win the first place in the imperial examination, we can also benefit from it."

As she spoke of the latter part, her tone was inevitably tinged with sarcasm. According to Grandpa Yuan Qing, the only advantage they could get was that they would be looked up to by others when they visited their husband's family.

"Uh," Yuan Qing felt embarrassed when he thought of his grandfather asking for money from various villages that day. At the same time, he sensitively noticed that the three girls' tone had changed, and the way they looked at him was also wrong.