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

"Village Chief Su, have you ever thought about buying seeds from Su Erlang or growing seedlings together? It is obvious that the seedlings from his family look stronger," asked Zhang Pingan.

"Everyone in the village thinks their family is unlucky and doesn't interact with them. I am the only one who visits them occasionally," said the village chief in surprise.

After saying that, he sighed again, "Originally, I was thinking of learning how to increase production from him, and then telling the rest of the village after I learned it, but I really can't see how the process is different. Oh! I did exchange some seeds with him, and when the autumn harvest came, the ones that grew were slightly better than mine, but they were still far behind Erlangzi's, so I just didn't bother to bother!"

After taking a careful look at Erlangzi's family's fields, Zhang Ping'an had a rough idea of ​​what was going on.

It was almost lunchtime.

The village head said enthusiastically, "My lords, it's already noon. Why don't you come to my humble abode for lunch?"

This is also customary.

Zhang Pingan did not refuse.

Pointing at Su Erleng, he said, "Take their whole family with you."

While Su Erlang was still stunned, the village chief pushed and shoved him onto the mule cart. The oldest of the three children was nine years old, the middle one was seven years old, and the youngest was five years old. They were all nimble and climbed onto the cart without waiting for anyone to hold them.

This was the first time they had ridden in such a clean mule cart. In the past, it was a blessing to be able to ride in a dirty ox cart occasionally. The three children were very curious.

The village chief and Erlangzi were riding in a car. When they saw this, they immediately scolded them, "Don't touch it, or you might damage it. These are all cars belonging to noble people!"

Erlangzi was stunned for a moment before he remembered and said anxiously, "Grandma, the child's mother hasn't come yet!"

The village chief held the man down and wiped his sweat: "Who brings women with them when they go to visit? Don't worry, I've sent someone to send a message to your family!"

Erlangzi could understand most of what was said, and the village chief was also an acquaintance of his, so he stopped making a fuss after hearing what was said and sat down peacefully.

He touched the copper coins in his arms and said to his sons with a simple smile: "When we go to the market on the 15th, Dad will buy you some fried dough sticks!"

One dou is bigger and very sensible: "Buy it for two dou and three dou, I'm not greedy!"

Erdou also said: "I'm not greedy, just buy it for Sandou!"

Sandou was rather thin, but fortunately he had delicate features and looked quite pleasing. Hearing this, he felt somewhat melancholy, propping up his chin as he looked out the window and said, "It would be great if that official could buy all our bayberries. That way, we'd have plenty of money and could buy fried dough sticks, candied haws, exchange brown rice for polished rice, and even buy meat."

"What the hell are you dreaming about!" The village chief rolled his eyes and said speechlessly.

"Hehe," Yidou touched his brother's head and smiled.

The village chief is the only person in their village who is close to their family. He is also fairly fair in his dealings, so the children are not too afraid of him.

After a while, they arrived at the village head's house.

Although it is also in the countryside, there are eight large blue brick and tile houses standing there, which looks very impressive.

The yard at the entrance is paved with stone slabs, and there are no chickens or ducks raised there, so there is no smell of chicken shit that is common in farmhouses. It is quite exquisite!

The village head's wife knew that the county magistrate and others would come to have dinner today, so she started working early with her daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law.

Frying, cooking, stir-frying and stewing, she used all her skills, absolutely not letting her man lose face.

A rich smell of meat wafted from the kitchen, filling the yard with fragrance.

The village head's eldest son was busy pouring tea for everyone, while the second son took a few boys to set the tables. With so many people, there had to be at least five tables.

Although the county government subsidized the food expenses, the village head would not follow that standard, so in the end he had to subsidize some of the expenses himself.

After everyone is seated, the food will be served.

Su Erleng's family was arranged to sit at the table next to Zhang Ping'an, with Village Chief Su.

Originally, he was going to be seated at the same table with the yamen runners, but Village Chief Su was afraid that Erlangzi didn't understand the ways of the world and might offend the yamen runners, and he was also afraid that he might cause trouble, so he finally forced him to sit next to him.

I have to say that the women in the headman's family are very good at cooking.

At least Zhang Ping'an and Zhang Laoer thought the food tasted pretty good, as they were all home-cooked farm dishes.

For Village Chief Su and Su Erlang's family, this meal was so delicious that it was even more sumptuous than the Chinese New Year meal.

Yidou held the large bowl of white rice and asked carefully, "Grandpa Village Chief, can I have some vegetables?"

Village Chief Su felt a little soft-hearted and emotional after hearing this. He patted Yidou's head and said with a smile, "Of course you can. Eat as much as you want!"

A quarter of an hour later, Village Chief Su deeply regretted what he had said.

Su Erlang and his two sons were all big eaters and didn't know how to be polite. Soon most of the dishes on the table disappeared.

The nose that the village chief looked at at the main table was not a nose, and the eyes were not eyes.

The village chief sighed in his heart, knowing that he had offended someone again!

After his reminder, the few of them slowly slowed down their eating speed.

Sandou touched his bulging belly and said contentedly, "It's great to be your guest!"

Zhang Ping'an saw all of this, smiled, and thought of his nephews Donkey Egg and Cat Egg, who were also big eaters.

After lunch, everyone continued to inspect the water conservancy projects.

The village chief was experienced and said, "This year is expected to be a good harvest. God has blessed us with good things!"

By this time, the solar term table was already well established, and experienced farmers would observe the weather and have a rough estimate of the harvest.

After the day's work was almost over, Zhang Ping'an sat down to rest at the village chief's house, drank a cup of tea, and put forward his own ideas.

"Sir, you mean...you mean...you want to ask Erlangzi to help you farm," the village chief was so surprised that he stuttered.

Zhang Ping'an nodded. "Yes, the county government has quite a bit of official property, all outside the county town, not too far from your village. It would be convenient for Erlangzi to travel back and forth to take care of his own farmland. If he wants, he can bring his family to live in the posthouse at no cost to him. This would also make it convenient for him to report to me at any time. At the same time, I will also have someone prepare a mule cart for him."

"This...this...is considered eating public food?" The village chief was incredulous.

Zhang Pingan thought about it and nodded. "Well, I guess so. If he helps with the farming, I'll naturally give him a monthly salary of 800 coins. If he can steadily increase his production, the monthly salary will double!"

"Oh my god, that fool is eating the emperor's food," murmured the village chief.

He was not entirely jealous of the 800 wen monthly salary, but his status. Among the four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, status was the most important.

With this identity, I guess no one in the village will dare to bully Erlangzi's family anymore.

Erlangzi was still a little confused and didn't understand the situation. He asked, "Are you going to ask me to work and then give me a monthly salary?"

He still knows the monthly salary.

The village chief was afraid that Erlangzi would ruin the plan, so he quickly asked someone to invite the old lady over. The old lady was still the head of their family.

The old lady was also a little surprised: "Ask a fool to farm?"

"Yes, I plan to set aside a separate experimental field," Zhang Pingan nodded.