The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

At this moment, the clan chief and village chief of Zhuge Village arrived, panting heavily. The two supported each other, and perhaps because they were in too much of a hurry, even the clan chief, who always paid attention to his appearance, appeared before everyone with his hair disheveled.

"I am the village chief of Zhuge Village. May I ask, gentlemen, what important matter brings you here in person?" Village chief Zhuge Fengtian stepped forward and asked cautiously.

To be honest, he was a little panicked, fearing that the imperial court would increase taxes in places like theirs, which had not been affected by the recent drought in the north, due to the reduced tax revenue... or even worse, impose forced labor and other arduous tasks ahead of schedule.

The constable standing between the three men, seeing the village head arrive, opened the paper in his hand and read aloud:

"...His Majesty now orders the implementation of household registration throughout the entire Xia Kingdom...With each household as the unit, details of their hometown, name, age, marriage, number of children, assets, land and houses, etc., shall be listed and registered one by one...For all households of civilians, soldiers, artisans, etc., their household registration shall be based on their original household registration and shall not be changed arbitrarily. Those who violate this rule shall be punished."

After reading the county government's announcement, the yamen runner looked at the village chief of Zhuge Village and spoke meaningfully:

"This household registration is very important. We hope the village chief will supervise the villagers carefully and ensure that they report truthfully... We also request that the village chief have someone copy this notice down..."

As for the village specifically designated by Magistrate Wu, these constables still had to give it face and give it special attention.

Whether these people can understand what they mean is none of their business.

Upon hearing the announcement, Village Chief Zhuge Fengtian was puzzled. Wasn't the household registration supposed to be done every ten years? Why was it being done two years earlier this time? But adhering to the principle of "better to avoid trouble," he quickly agreed and personally found pen, ink, and paper to transcribe the contents of the announcement.

Meanwhile, clan chief Zhuge Fengcang was also busy. He was warmly inviting the three constables to have a simple meal in the village, and also taking this opportunity to gather some information.

The three constables felt very pleased to see the village chief of Zhuge Village being so enthusiastic.

The three of them had been walking all morning and were quite willing to stay and have lunch and rest, but remembering Magistrate Wu's instructions, they decisively shook their heads and refused.

"The clan chief is so kind as to invite us to stay and have a meal before we leave, but unfortunately, the county magistrate has given a strict order that we must visit half of the villages in Yunshui Town today..."

The clan chief tried to persuade them to stay several times, but when he realized he couldn't keep them any longer, he could only give each of the three a purse.

Seeing this, the three men couldn't help but praise the village chief of Zhuge Village for his competence. In their good mood, the head constable couldn't help but remind Zhuge Fengcang once again of the importance of this household registration.

After Zhuge Fengtian finished copying the county government's announcement, the three yamen runners headed towards the next village.

Only then did the people at the entrance of Zhuge Village dare to breathe loudly.

"Hey, they're finally leaving. If they hadn't left, I was afraid I would have suffocated."

"Who says otherwise? For some reason, seeing these yamen runners is even more frightening than seeing Uncle Fengnian and the county magistrate!"

"I must say, the magistrate who came before the New Year had kind eyes and a plump, well-proportioned figure. He was very polite even when he spoke to us. He was clearly a good official who was dedicated to serving the people."

"You're really shameless. Was that magistrate being polite to you? He was only being kind to you because of Uncle Fengnian and Brother Laifu..."

"..."

An hour later.

Zhuge Laifu's carriage slowly came to a stop near the entrance of Zhuge Village.

To satisfy his and Lin Si Niang's vanity and love of showing off, Zhuge Yunshu, Zhuge Yunchu, and her two cousins ​​all got off the carriage here.

However, something was very wrong with Zhuge Village today. Zhuge Laifu whispered to Lin Si Niang beside him:

"Fourth Aunt, didn't we ask Fourth Brother and his wife to come back early to inform Father and Mother that Da Hua and Chu Jie'er passed the county exam? Why is the village entrance so deserted?"

Lin Si Niang also looked around following Zhuge Laifu's voice, then looked puzzled:

"That shouldn't be the case. Knowing my mother as I do, the village entrance should already be full of her old friends by now."

Zhuge Yunshu listened to her parents' conversation and glanced at the village entrance.

In her memory, the entrance to Zhuge Village had never been so quiet. Even during the busy farming season, one or two elderly people would sit there chatting from time to time. Moreover, even without these chatting old people, there should be some villagers returning home from the fields for lunch.

After all, judging from the sky, it was already close to noon.

Having thought of this, Zhuge Yunshu spoke his mind.

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Laifu and Lin Si Niang suddenly felt a sense of panic.

So they quickly had Zhuge Yunren take Zhuge Yunchu to the clan chief's house, while they boarded a carriage and headed home.

As soon as the group arrived at their doorstep, they heard a commotion inside. Zhuge Yunshu quickly followed his parents inside and found that the whole family was there, including Zhuge Yunli, who had been attending school.

However, the situation in the courtyard at this moment was somewhat puzzling.

Zhuge Yunli sat at his desk, holding a writing brush, and asked the person standing in front of him:

"Silver in hand".

Zhuge Laihua was a little flustered: "Son, I don't have any savings left. I've given them all to your mother."

Zhuge Yunli rolled his eyes. His father really wasn't good at lying: "Father, the yamen runner said that if we don't report the truth and get caught, we'll be in jail."

Startled, Zhuge Laihua quickly pulled out all the copper coins he had on him: "...That's all, that's all I have. I was originally planning to save some up and go with your uncle to the restaurant in town to see what the food there is like..."

Zhuge Lairong: "..."

Oh dear, my silly little brother~

Honest as he is, he had already gotten through this ordeal, but this jerk actually managed to drag him out.

However, he had no choice but to reluctantly hand over the savings he had accumulated over the past few months, under the sharp glare of his wife.

It cost a total of ninety coins, a full fifty coins more than when Zhuge Liang came to China.

The entire Zhuge family: "..."

Ah... they were speechless.

Zhuge Fengshou, in particular, looked at his two sons with disdain as they saw how many copper coins they had saved up over several months.

He couldn't help but touch the four hidden pockets on his body, thinking smugly, "What a coward, I actually hid 120 coins, 30 coins in each pocket."

"..."

Zhuge Yunshu and the others: "..."

Looking at the scene in their home, they didn't understand why, but they couldn't help but tighten their purses.

At this moment, they all regretted not coming back a little later.

However, before they could figure out where to hide their purses, they were caught red-handed by the sharp-eyed Old Chen.