The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

"Dahua, why are you back? Let your mother see you quickly—you've gotten so thin!" When Madam Lin looked up and saw Zhuge Yunshu, she was both surprised and distressed.

“Mother, it’s almost time for the county school’s joint competition. Since Yunshui Town is quite far from the county seat, the teacher has decided to leave early tomorrow. Therefore, we will need to stay in the county seat for two nights. So the teacher asked us to come home and tell you, and pack some changes of clothes and such…”

"And also, I haven't lost weight, you see I've grown taller." After saying this, Zhuge Yunshu turned around in front of Madam Lin.

"You know what, you've really grown taller." Madam Lin smiled and stepped forward to gesture.

"By the way, Mother, where is Father?" Zhuge Yunshu asked in confusion.

Although we've hired two assistants at the shop, we're still too busy!

"Oh, your father went back to Zhuge Village. The shop has been too busy these past few days, so he's planning to bring your cousins ​​over to help." He glanced at the girl beside Zhuge Yunshu, "Dahua, who is this young lady?"

"Look at my brain, I was so excited to see you that I almost forgot about this."

Then Zhuge Yunshu told Lin the whole story of what happened.

"Mother, you have to help me with this. I've already made such a boast, otherwise it'll be so embarrassing," Zhuge Yunshu whispered sweetly into Lin's ear.

"I thought it was something serious. Even if Miss Li hadn't come looking for us, we would have arranged for someone of excellent character and appearance to be there for you..."

“…I’ve just selected a few suitable candidates these past few days, and I was thinking of having your parents come over to discuss it in a few days!” Lin explained.

The reason why Qianli Yinyuan Pavilion has such a good reputation is because they truly consider the needs of two families and two young people.

Of course, during this time, it was inevitable to encounter some unreasonable people, but who are they? They make a living with their mouths. So, these people were all persuaded by their silver tongues, and now they have become the living advertisements for their shop.

After Zhuge Yunshu and her mother saw off Miss Li, a big customer, they happened to run into her father and her four cousins ​​who had come back from Zhuge Village.

Zhuge Yunshu quickly stepped forward to greet them one by one, and helped her cousins ​​with some of their luggage. Under Zhuge Laifu's questioning, she explained again why she had come home today.

She then took her cousins ​​to their residence in the backyard.

"Dahua, your family's yard in town is so beautiful, so big and clean." Fourth cousin said enviously, wishing she could live there forever.

The other three older cousins ​​also showed expressions of envy upon hearing this.

“My cousins, you can have one too, especially my third and fourth cousins. When you go to the clan school next year, you must study hard, especially to improve your handwriting... When you are able to earn money, you can buy a house in town.”

"And my eldest and second cousins, you two should work hard at the Thousand Miles Marriage Pavilion and learn some life skills and interpersonal skills from my parents... You must observe, listen, and think more. In time, you might find a way to make money that you are good at..."

Zhuge Yunshu glanced at her second cousin and, to be honest, felt it was a pity. She would be thirteen next year, just in time to miss the maximum age limit for the clan school.

Of all my cousins, she was the smartest.

Zhuge Yunshu led her cousins ​​to the backyard, where they shared a room. After putting down their luggage, she led them to the front hall to prepare for dinner.

The four cousins ​​were utterly astonished by the table full of delicious food prepared by their third uncle.

Especially when it comes to eating, it tastes even better than what my grandma makes.

I never would have guessed that their third uncle was such a hidden culinary master!

Zhuge Yunshu was already used to it; she had grown up eating her father's cooking since she was a child.

Of course, these were all treats the family secretly enjoyed outside.

"By the way, Father and Mother, why don't you hire a maid to cook at home? I see you're both very busy with your business, and it's too much trouble for you to take the time to cook," Zhuge Yunshu suggested.

Although her older cousins ​​were very eager to take on the cooking duties, Zhuge Yunshu was not happy about it. She hoped that her older cousins ​​could learn as much as they could while they were still young.

Especially my eldest cousin, since she hadn't spent many years with her parents, she discussed it with them and decided to try having her learn household management. After all, her future husband's family was a prominent and wealthy family in town, and learning these skills in advance would make things easier for her later.

"Hey, Da Hua is just like my daughter, we're totally on the same page."

“I’ve taken some time these past few days to check on the situation at the slave market. There have been so many refugees fleeing famine from all over the country lately, and many of them are selling themselves. I was thinking, why don’t we just buy their indentures? It would be a good deed!”

Hearing her father's words, Zhuge Yunshu was quite shocked. She had always been studying at the town school and had never heard of what was happening outside. She never expected that the situation outside was so serious.

“Honey, if you have a family, let’s buy them all! Anyway, you’ll need a lot of help in the future, and it’ll be easier to manage as a family.”

Lin said this also because she had her own selfish reasons; she simply couldn't bear to see a family separated.

“Father, if there are any veterans who have retired from the army, keep an eye out for them. Even if they are disabled, it doesn’t matter. Veterans are disciplined and skilled. They can be good guards for the family. We can trust people like that to work with us…” Zhuge Yunshu said.

She remembered that in her past life, the gatekeeper of her workplace was a veteran who had become disabled due to his duties. Although he looked serious, he was a really good person and very responsible.

These soldiers who defended their country may have had an aura of glory about them, which is why Zhuge Yunshu generally admired them.

"What you all say makes sense. I'll go check on the slave traders again tomorrow, don't worry!"

Zhuge Laifu thought that his family had earned a lot of money during this period, which was more than enough to buy the kind of people his wife and daughter had mentioned, and there were enough rooms in the house to accommodate them.

As for his parents, well, we'll deal with that later.

And so, without the knowledge of the Zhuge couple, their spendthrift third son spent a large sum of money.

Of course, these are all things for later.

After dinner, the family washed up and went to their rooms to sleep.

Meanwhile, Zhuge Yunshu, preoccupied with her own thoughts, entered the "Serving the Country and the People" system, wanting to see how different countries in this era dealt with natural disasters and refugees.

After all, every year there are people who are displaced due to famine, locust plagues, droughts and epidemics.

Zhuge Yunshu entered keywords into the learning mall and searched for them. It must be said that this keyword search function is really useful.

In just a short while, the system found no fewer than ten books on this subject for her.

About an hour later, Zhuge Yunshu put down the book in his hand and sighed helplessly.

So many books are mostly filled with lengthy descriptions of how severe and terrible the disasters were, how many people were displaced, and how much the imperial court valued them—all sorts of nonsense.

When the actual chapter finally arrived, the solution was to simply say that the villages severely affected by the plague should be burned down to prevent future troubles, or that those infected should be isolated and left to fend for themselves.

Zhuge Yunshu: "..."

It's so frustrating, isn't it? As expected of people living in ancient times, there's absolutely no guarantee of personal safety for ordinary people like us.

As for the refugees fleeing the famine, they were given some discarded materials to build a shed outside the city, so they would have a place to stay. The imperial court would provide porridge every day to ensure they wouldn't starve. They would continue like this until the disaster was over, at which point they could get some travel money to return to their hometowns and continue rebuilding.

However, all of this is predicated on the absence of corrupt officials and the fact that the government's disaster relief funds can truly reach the places and people in need.

But all of this is just too difficult.

……

In short, after reading these books, Zhuge Yunshu really had a headache.

Of all those books, only one was somewhat useful. Its main content was advice on how to rebuild after a disaster, but because it was extremely costly, no country was willing to try it.

So, from which nook and cranny did this fictional ancient world originate?

I thought that in a dynasty where women could take the imperial examinations and enter officialdom, the thinking would be much more advanced. But I never expected that some policies for the country and the people would be so backward.