The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

Hearing their daughter's steady breathing, Zhuge Laifu and his wife sighed helplessly, "Husband, tell me what's going on with your brother-in-law's marriage? We agreed that the marriage would take place after the woman finished her mourning period."

Zhuge Laifu also sighed. Although he usually found fault with everything about the fourth son, he knew in his heart how important the fourth son was to the family. Although his mother didn't say much, anyone with eyes could see the problem.

"If the girl hadn't insisted when they got engaged, it probably wouldn't have happened. Besides, there are so many children in the family, and they've grown up so fast these past few years, especially the boys. In the blink of an eye, Dazhu is about to get engaged... Sigh, anyone who loves their daughter wouldn't let her go into this hellhole."

"Who can argue with that? It's said that the woman is very pampered at home, with three older brothers who dote on her. I imagine her dowry is quite substantial."

"That's for sure. If it weren't for the fact that the fourth son is good-looking and his future sister-in-law is determined to marry him, our family wouldn't even be able to dream of it."

As if he had thought of something, Zhuge Laifu looked at Lin Shi and said, "We must perform well tomorrow. If the fourth son's marriage goes through, it will be beneficial to our Da Hua. When Da Hua goes to school in town, she will need the help of her uncle and aunt."

Madam Lin suddenly realized, "Husband, you're right. I have a few fine handkerchiefs here, made of silk. They were a reward from my stepmother when I was a child. They're said to be the legendary double-sided embroidery, which is very valuable. I'll take them to my mother-in-law as a gift tomorrow."

“You won’t let me touch those handkerchiefs. You have to look at them every night. You even said you’d save them for Da Hua as a family heirloom.” Zhuge Laifu said somewhat reluctantly.

"What's a little bit of this compared to the future of Da Hua? Besides, my brother-in-law has sacrificed a lot for the family. Although I'm a bit unreliable sometimes, I'm not really ignorant."

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Laifu's eyes stung with tears. Everyone said his wife was unreasonable, but in his eyes, she was the most sensible wife in the world.

In this life, with a wife like Fourth Sister and a clever daughter like Da Hua, what more could Zhuge Laifu possibly want?

Meanwhile, Zhuge Yunshu was diligently studying within the "Serving the Country and the People" system, because she couldn't shake her bad habit of boasting.

She considered herself less intelligent than other scholars of her time, so she could only spend more time reading than others.

"Host, according to the system's statistics, the pass rate for the preliminary examination in this era is less than 10%, and the pass rate for the county-level examination is the same. How can you, who started studying halfway through your life, compare with those ancient people who came from wealthy families and studied from a young age? The early bird catches the worm, which is your only option now."

Zhuge Yunshu doesn't want to deal with this damn system anymore. All it does is criticize her all day long. Humph!

She is currently browsing the paper prices on the learning mall page, and reluctantly spent 2 points to buy a sheet of Xuan paper, which is considered one of the better ones of this era. She plans to ask her teacher to inscribe a piece of calligraphy for her tomorrow and give it to her uncle and his family.

She told her family that her teacher had rewarded her, saying it was perfect.

This damn system lied to her, saying that none of the items inside the system could be taken out. Luckily, she tried it out and found that anything that existed in this era could be taken out.

Zhuge Yunshu looked at the fine paper, thought about it carefully, and felt that it would be more sincere for him to write it himself.

So he spread out the paper, carefully considered his options, took a deep breath, and wrote four large characters in one stroke: "Destined for Three Lifetimes."

Once the ink had dried, Zhuge Yunshu carefully rolled it up, tied it with a red string, and placed it on the bookshelf within the system.

Then, he took out the book "The Great Learning" from the bookshelf and started reading it.

According to the teachers' suggestions within the system, the Four Books should be read in the order of "The Great Learning", "The Analects", "Mencius", and "The Doctrine of the Mean".

Zhuge Yunshu also inquired with Master Li indirectly, and found that this was also the requirement in this era.

First, read "The Great Learning" to establish rules and lay a solid foundation, from "investigating things, extending knowledge, making one sincere, and rectifying one's heart" all the way to "cultivating oneself, regulating one's family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world," and then gradually understand the universe and all things, and finally have the family, country, and the world in mind.

In the words of the teachers within the system, it is essentially the life content of "all things—self—others," pointing out the goals and order of students' efforts in life. One could also say that the content of *The Great Learning* is a framework for scholars, with other content to be gradually accumulated and supplemented later.

Zhuge Yunshu looked at the thinnest copy of "The Great Learning" and then at the thickest copies of "Mencius" and "The Analects." She was grateful to have the explanations from renowned teachers within the system; otherwise, even the thinnest copy of "The Great Learning" would have taken her half a month to learn.

"One must not be impatient when reading. The saying 'Read a book a hundred times and its meaning will become clear' is not without merit. To truly understand a book, one must not only memorize and comprehend it, but also be able to recall the source of a sentence and its page and line number from a single line. If you cannot reach this level, it means you have not read enough books."

Zhuge Yunshu strongly agreed with the words of this famous teacher within the system: whether in ancient or modern times, the saying "read a book a hundred times and its meaning will become clear" carries great weight. However, the premise of this saying is that you must read and think attentively, rather than letting your mind wander.

Thinking back to the first few days of study, she found memorizing things very difficult and easy to forget. But now, she believes she has achieved the results her teacher described.

So he said, "Yes, I will remember your teachings, sir."

Zhuge Yunshu bid farewell to his renowned teacher and requested a systematic assessment.

As expected, the assessment content was exactly as the expert had predicted. The system would give you a sentence from "The Great Learning" and ask you to state its source, page and line number, meaning, and allusion. You also had to be able to apply the knowledge to other situations. Only after meeting all these requirements would the system determine that the book was excellent.

"Ding! You have mastered one copy of 'The Great Learning'. You are rewarded with one IQ point."

Zhuge Yunshu added a little intelligence to his stats and then checked his attributes again.

Name: Zhuge Yunshu / Zhuge Dahua

Gender: Female

Appearance: Dark-skinned and skinny (what a waste of a good foundation).

IQ score: 113/200

Talent Values: 33/100

Laziness rating: 40/100

Points: 78

Skill: Calligraphy (30/100)

Random tasks:

1. Complete the study of the Four Books within one month to receive a reward of 50 points.

2. Improve your calligraphy level within one month to receive a reward of 50 points. (Completed)

3. Become Master Li's beloved disciple; reward 50 points. (Completed)

4. Get at least ten classmates to like it; reward 50 points. (Completed)

Looking at his pitiful points, Zhuge Yunshu felt helpless. He earned them little by little, but spent them like water.

Take my previous 180 points, plus the 100 points I got from completing two tasks a few days ago, and now I only have 78 points left after just two days.

I spent 100 points to buy the Four Books and 100 points to buy time.

She got angry whenever the time was mentioned. It started with 80 points, but then it suddenly increased to 100 points. The system was so unfair. The reason it gave was hard to argue with: the newbie benefits were discounted by 20%.

Hearing this result, she felt as if her heart was bleeding.

What can you do when you encounter such a shady business system? You can only accept your fate.