The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

As the saying goes, when one person attains enlightenment, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.

Even the most ignorant person knows that having a juren in the family is a very remarkable thing, and the other people in the family will benefit from it to a certain extent in the future.

Li quickly stood up and agreed with a smile, "Mom is right, we need to tidy up before going out. We can't embarrass ourselves!"

After that, he instructed his second daughter-in-law, "Hurry up and call back those naughty boys, so they can also share in his uncle's joy!"

Erzhu's wife responded loudly and went out to the alley to call the children.

Ma was feeling envious and jealous when she heard this, but she couldn't show it. This was too much. She guessed that she would never be able to compete with her second sister-in-law in the future!

Although she thought so in her heart, Ma still put on a smile and kept complimenting Zhang Laoer.

In fact, Zhang Laoer didn't care about Ma's thoughts at all. Women compare themselves to each other, and naturally men do too. Zhang Laoer didn't see Zhang Laoda and Zhang Laosan in the yard, and asked with some disappointment, "Big brother and third brother are not at home?"

Li replied, "Your eldest and third brothers, as well as Dazhu, Erzhu, and Dahe, have all gone to work on someone else's house. The employer was in a hurry to finish the work, so they left before dawn. The wages are quite good. I'll ask someone to call them back."

After saying that, he went out to the neighbor's house next door, ready to ask someone to find the men in the family. Erhe worked in a bookstore, so he had to trouble someone to make a trip.

The naughty boys at home were playing in the alley. Erzhu's wife stood at the door and called them loudly a few times, and they all came back.

Chen Yang, the oldest of Er Zhu's children, was already over eight years old. He came in with a bunch of little radishes, his face flushed. He went to the kitchen first, scooped half a bucket of water from the water tank, and drank a few big gulps. The other children followed suit. After drinking, they wiped their mouths and asked, "Mom, what's wrong? Why did you call us back?"

Erzhu's wife, holding a new coat she had just taken out of the box, said with a smile, "Your uncle has passed the imperial examination. We are going to his house together now. Come and change your clothes quickly. Look at the sweat on your face!"

The children were just a few years old and only knew that being a juren was very powerful, but they had no idea how powerful he was.

Zhang Chenyang asked excitedly and curiously, "Will my uncle become an official in the future?"

Being able to become an official must be extremely powerful!

Erzhu's wife didn't understand either, so she said nonchalantly, "Should be able to. Why are you asking so many questions? You're the only one who has so much to do every day. Anyway, we have to clean up everything neatly today!"

A few of the younger ones started chirping after hearing this.

Zhang Pingan just smiled when he heard this. It would certainly be no problem to become a rich and idle person after passing the imperial examination, but it was not so easy to become an official. A juren needed connections to become an official. If he had no connections, he would have to take the imperial examination to have a way out.

Now he has a higher outlook!

Here, Mrs. Li asked her neighbors to go and find the men in her family. Their workplace was in the east of the city, not far away. More than a quarter of an hour later, Boss Zhang and his men came back in a cart.

Zhang Laosan jumped off the cart and shouted loudly before entering the door: "Mom, I heard that Ping An passed the imperial examination?!"

Others then came into the yard, all of them sweating and covered in dust, but their faces were full of joy.

"Yes, third brother, how about I ask someone to find you back?!" Li said with a smile.

Then he urged everyone to wash up and change clothes quickly.

Old man Zhang also slowly came out of the room with a cane. He was over sixty years old and his back had been severely hunched over the past year. His health was not very good. He usually either basked in the sun at the entrance of the alley or slept in the room, unwilling to move. Zhang didn't care about him. As long as he could eat, drink and sleep, it was fine. He was an invisible person at home and everyone often forgot about him.

When he heard that his grandson had passed the imperial examination, he burst into tears and took Zhang Ping'an's hand and said, "That's great! Ping'an has made it!"

Seeing this, Zhang handed over her handkerchief and said calmly, "Wipe your tears!"

Zhang Ping'an patted his grandfather's hand to comfort him. He felt ashamed. Old man Zhang had such a low sense of presence that he had forgotten about his grandfather for a moment.

After everyone quickly packed up, they headed towards Zhang Laoer's house.

When passing by Daya, Erya and Xu Xiaojiu's house, Zhang Laoer instructed Liu Sanlang to go to each house to tell them the good news and come over later so that everyone could have dinner together in the evening.

Liu Sanlang nodded and went home to report the good news.

At this time, Xu was very restless at home, and she would look out the door from time to time to see if there was anyone coming to report the good news.

Seeing Zhang Laoer and the others coming back, looking very happy, he hurried forward and asked cautiously, "Did you win?"

Zhang Pingan smiled and said, "Mom, I won! The person who announced the good news should be here soon!"

When Xu heard this, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her eyes instantly turned red, and she cried and laughed at the same time. She quickly clasped her hands together and chanted, "May the Buddha bless you, and may our ancestors bless you."

Zhang said, "Alright, I'll bow later. Go in first, there are a lot of people here!"

"Oh, listen to mother," Xu forced herself to control her emotions, and hurriedly welcomed everyone into the house. She asked Wu Ya and Liu Ya in a loud voice to quickly light a fire, boil water and make tea.

He went to his room and brought out a tray of malt sugar, fried peanuts and melon seeds that he had hidden away, and warmly invited everyone to eat.

The adults were fine, but the children were overjoyed to have candy.

Everyone chatted while waiting for the newspaper to arrive.

"Third brother, you came back halfway through your work today. I hope the boss doesn't blame you. I heard from my eldest sister-in-law that the boss was quite anxious to finish the work," asked Zhang Laoer.

Zhang Laosan's face was wrinkled with smiles, and he waved his hands generously, saying, "Brother, it's okay, don't worry. The boss heard that someone in the family passed the imperial examination and was even more excited than I was. He told us to go back without saying anything and said we would still get paid. Tsk, you didn't see it, he was very polite!"

"That's good," Zhang Laoer smiled with relief after hearing that.

After a while, Daya, Erya, and Xu's uncle's family also came over, and the small courtyard was crowded.

"My dear relatives, congratulations. How come your Ping'an is so smart? That's amazing! A sixteen-year-old scholar? I've never heard of him before. How did you raise him since he was a child? Please share some of your experience with me. I will also train these naughty boys in my family in the same way in the future. Hahaha," said Liu the butcher cheerfully.

Zhang Laoer puffed out his chest upon hearing this, but still said modestly, "Well, that's innate. The child has been smart since he was young. You can't learn that! If you don't believe me, ask Daya. We've always eaten the same meals at home, and I haven't paid much attention to him, let alone lifted a finger. The child is just very hardworking and loves to study!"

"My father didn't lie about this. My younger brother has been studying since he was young. The teacher said that he is talented and hardworking. But the nephew looks like his uncle. I think my donkey egg and cat egg will be similar in the future," Daya said with a smile. Her words made the two elders feel comfortable.

Zhang Laoer suddenly felt a tightness in his arms, and then he remembered that he still had six fried dough cakes in his arms that he had not eaten. It was so hot that the food could not be kept for a long time, so he couldn't waste it.

We were so busy having fun that we hadn’t even had breakfast yet!

He quickly took out the pancakes and asked Xu to heat them up, and they shared them.

Xu also made another pot of egg soup with thick egg drops, and asked everyone to eat it with pancakes.

After Zhang Ping'an got over the hunger, he had no appetite. He ate half a piece of bread and drank a bowl of soup, but he couldn't eat anymore.

Zhang Laoer was very excited and didn't eat much.

Only Liu Sanlang had a good appetite. He bought all the remaining five pancakes and a pot of soup, and ate them with relish.

After a while after the meal, the team announcing the good news finally arrived. The sound of gongs and drums could be heard from far away, and the neighbors all stuck their heads out to watch the fun.

After the messenger arrived at the door and verified the address, he shouted, "Congratulations to your master, Zhang Mingping, for having ranked 55th in the Lin'an Urban and Rural Examination in the second year of the Jingcheng reign. I've come to announce the good news!"

"I'm here, I'm here," Zhang Laoer responded quickly and pulled his son over.

There were six people in total who announced the good news, two of them were official yamen runners, and the remaining four were a band of musicians.

After the leading yamen runner finished shouting, he bowed and handed over the golden flower note, saying with a smile: "Master Zhang, this is good news, please keep it!"

Zhang Ping'an took the good news, bowed to the yamen runner to express his gratitude, and felt deeply moved. This was like receiving the official admission notice for the Juren degree, which was really not easy!

Zhang Laoer and Xu Shi were laughing so hard that they couldn't stop, and hurriedly took out the prepared wedding money and handed it to the yamen runners.

The yamen runner did not leave immediately after receiving the reward. He said a few auspicious words and then set off a string of firecrackers that were over a meter long and were issued by the yamen. He waited until the firecrackers had finished popping before he said goodbye and left.

Before leaving, Zhang Laoer stuffed another handful of wedding money into the pockets. The two yamen runners weighed the silver coins in their hands and felt that they were not too little, so they asked the band to play harder.

The sounds of music and drums immediately became louder. Everyone in the alley now knew that the Zhang family had a successful candidate in the imperial examination. They were going to be very powerful in the future!

"Ping'an, is this the good news? The paper used is unusual," Erhe came over to take a look and said enviously.

He had also studied for two years, so he knew how difficult it was to gain fame and honor through the imperial examinations. His cousin was indeed amazing!

"Don't touch it randomly. We need to find someone to frame it," Xu said quickly.

"Mother, it's not that valuable. This is the good news, which states your rank in the imperial examination. You can take this and the household registration card to the government office to exchange for a new one. New candidates can also go to the provincial government to receive a hat, a set of clothes and a flag and plaque worth 20 taels of silver," Zhang Ping'an explained.