Qing Yao

Chapter 4: Is it true or false?

Xinghua is a good place. It produced two famous literati, Shi Nai'an and Zheng Banqiao.

The former wrote "Water Margin", and the latter was one of the so-called Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou. His bamboo paintings were particularly famous. Unfortunately, he passed away more than 20 years ago, otherwise Zhao An would definitely have gone to see this famous Mr. Banqiao.

In addition to Shi Nai'an and Zheng Banqiao, Xinghua also produced three cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty, namely Gao Gu, the chief minister of the cabinet during the Tianshun period, Li Chunfang, the chief minister of the cabinet during the Longqing period, and Wu Shen, the second minister of the cabinet during the Chongzhen period.

Throughout history, the literary style of Xinghua has always been very prosperous. Since the Xianchun period of the Southern Song Dynasty to the present, more than 200 people from Xinghua have passed the imperial examinations, more than 80 people have passed the imperial examinations, and Li Chunfang, the top scorer, has emerged. Therefore, families in Xinghua will send their children to school as long as they have the means. This has led to the scale of community schools in Xinghua County far exceeding that of other places, with more than 30 community schools of all sizes.

There are two community schools in Zhao An’s hometown, Chenbao, one in the town and the other in his village.

The two community schools were one responsible for students in the east and the other responsible for students in the west, which was no different from the division of the education system in later generations.

The difference is that the community school in the town is large, with more than a hundred students, while the village has only fifty or sixty students.

The teaching staff in the town is definitely better than those in the village. Therefore, many parents in the village try their best to send their children to study in the town so that their children can pass the imperial examination and become scholars. Some of them even go out to borrow money for this purpose.

This is because Xinghua is a land of fish and rice, and the living conditions of the people are better than those in other areas. If you were in those poor areas, you would be thankful to have the opportunity to go to school. How could you possibly spend all your money just to send your children to a good school?

After returning from Yangzhou, Zhao An first took the "bus" that ran regularly between the two places. It was a carriage pulled by horses and donkeys. The ticket price was not high, only ten copper coins for a one-way trip.

Families with better conditions could hire horse-drawn carriages, and wealthy families even traveled in sedan chairs. On the way, Zhao An saw a "separate team" consisting of several sedan chairs, and guessed that most of them were the families of wealthy salt merchants in Yangzhou out for an outing.

Just looking at the living conditions in Yangzhou, it has something to do with the so-called "Kangxi and Qianlong prosperous era", but Zhao An knows that this is because Yangzhou has been a wealthy area since ancient times, and the salt industry has led to relatively prosperous development in the surrounding areas of Yangzhou.

If it were somewhere else, the person would probably be pale and have diarrhea after eating too much.

So reincarnation is a technical job.

For the common people, the best option is to live in a land of fish and rice.

Of course, this superior quality is limited to not being too hungry.

The poor are still poor, and the rich are still rich.

After getting off the bus in Xinghua County, Zhao An bought a boat ticket to go home. The county was dozens of miles away from Chenbao Town where his home was. There were many lakes and rivers in Xinghua, and people mostly traveled by boat.

The boat was the kind of Wufeng boat described by Mr. Lu Xun, which has a sail and the boatman sits at the back and rows the boat. It is not fast, but it is stable and people will not get seasick on it.

The ship made several stops along the way, and it was already dark by the time it arrived at Chenbao.

The daytime temperature in March is OK, but it is very cool at night.

Fortunately, Zhao An was young and energetic, so even though he was wearing thin clothes, he didn't feel cold at all. After getting ashore, he stretched his muscles and bones and walked towards his house in the moonlight.

The houses of the people in the village where the Zhao family lives are all built along the lake, and the materials are also locally sourced. The reeds produced by the lake are used as the main material for building the house. To put it simply, it is a thatched house with mud inside and outside.

Those who are better off have already moved to the town and live in blue brick and tile houses.

It would be more accurate to say that these people are fishermen rather than farmers.

Live by the mountain, eat by the mountain; live by the water, eat by the water.

Zhao An's mother died more than ten years ago. It was his father who raised him with great difficulty. Unfortunately, he died before he could see his son get married and have children because he fell ill from years of fishing and catching shrimps in the lake.

As for Zhao An's grandparents, Zhao An had never seen them. He only heard from neighbors that the Zhao family was not local and that they had moved here from outside a few generations ago.

Calculating the time, it was around the time when the Qing army entered the pass. I guess they moved their family to the lake where the Qing soldiers could hardly find them to avoid the war.

There was nothing in the thatched hut except a few simple living facilities, and the rice jar was also empty. Looking at this "home" that could be lit by a fire, Zhao An smiled bitterly. After putting away the things he brought back from Yangzhou one by one, he went to bed.

I'm not hungry. I had a bowl of plain noodles while waiting for the boat in the county town.

Early the next morning, Zhao An carried two bags of things and went straight to the community school in the village.

As soon as he arrived outside the community school, he heard the sound of reading aloud from inside. It was the "Thousand Character Classic", which was used as an enlightenment textbook along with "Three Character Classic" and "Hundred Family Names". Zhao An also learned it when he was a child, and he still remembered the beginning "The sky and the earth are dark yellow, the universe is vast and boundless".

The teacher who taught "Thousand Character Classic" was Zhao An's childhood teacher. His surname was Zhang and he was an old scholar in his sixties.

However, his academic qualification is only that of a Tongsheng.

Even someone with a scholar's degree wouldn't come here to teach fishermen's children.

Teacher Zhang is definitely not the person Zhao An is looking for. He is looking for Principal Jiang En.

Officially, Jiang En, the principal of the community school, was a school official sent by the county, but in reality he was just a temporary worker. Not only was he not an official, he was not even a clerk. Even his salary was not paid by the county, but by the county instructor in charge of Confucianism.

It's just that this temporary worker belongs to the education system. As an educated person, he is naturally superior to others. They respect and are polite to each other. The people who don't know the truth may actually think that this temporary worker is an official.

Jiang En's "public house" was in the southeast corner of the community school classroom. It might be that all the magistrates of Xinghua County attached great importance to education, so they allocated a lot of funds to the community school below, so that the principal Jiang En did not have to stay in the thatched hut to work, but had a special blue brick house.

This blue brick house was the only decent building in the entire village. Why did Zhao An want to find Principal Jiang?

There is no other reason, it's just that Principal Jiang is not only stingy, but also loves to take advantage of others.

In short, Principal Jiang does not have the advantages of a scholar, but he has all the bad habits.

After glancing around and confirming that the teachers were all in class, Zhao An tiptoed to Jiang Engong's room, knocked gently on the door, and said respectfully, "Student Zhao An wishes to see you, sir!"

There is nothing wrong with this statement. The Chinese say that a teacher is a father for life. Zhao An attended a community school for two years when he was a child, so all the teachers in the community school, including the principal Jiang En, were his teachers.

It’s okay to call me daddy even if you don’t want to be shameless.

"Zhao An?"

In the public housing, Jiang En, who was studying the official documents issued by the county, was very surprised by Zhao An's visit. As far as he knew, this kid from the Zhao family had been hanging around outside all day since his father passed away. He relied on the boxing he learned from others to stir up trouble. He was nowhere to be seen all day long. Why did he come to him today?
The sun rises from the west in broad daylight.

"The master is busy,"

After Zhao An entered the room, he looked respectful and cautious with a smile. Without waiting for Jiang En to ask what was going on, he placed two bags of snacks he brought back from Yangzhou on his table.

"What are you doing?"

Although he was the principal, Jiang En usually received only salted fish and millet from students' parents. He had never seen the good things from the big city. His eyes changed immediately. He glanced at Zhao An and chuckled, "Zhao An, I don't usually see you asking me how I am, the teacher. But today you come to see me with gifts. Are you asking me to do something for you?"

"The little worms in the students' stomachs really can't escape the teacher's eyes."

Zhao An, who knew Jiang En's character, chuckled and leaned forward, "Didn't I go to Yangzhou to look for my uncle?"

In a few words, he explained his intention.

"Oh?"

Jiang En rubbed his long beard lightly, frowning slightly: "Are you asking me to get you a student license?"

"That's what I mean. I can't be a student without a license. Please help me, sir. I will be very grateful!"

Zhao An pretended to kneel down and kowtowed three times to Jiang En.

If you ask for help from others, you must have the right attitude.

Jiang En clearly didn't want to help. He shook his head and snorted, "Did you know that privately applying for a tribute license is against the law?"

"For others, that's illegal, but for you, it's helping your students. You're like the compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva."

As he spoke, Zhao An, who had already stood up, took out the few silver coins given by his cousin Wang Defa and placed them all on the table.

You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a kid. Just for the sake of a stable job, this little money is all just feeding the dog.

The effect was obvious. Jiang En raised his eyebrows and his expression relaxed, but he did not say anything. Instead, he was secretly wondering whether to help or not.

A mere student license is obviously not a big deal. The county issues at least 300 student licenses every year. Who knows if there is one more or one less.

Besides, this guy wants a license not to do anything illegal, but to work in the Yangzhou Taxation Bureau. If he does well, he might be able to help his family in the future.

Even if I can't help you in the future, I will still raise my hand for the sake of the gift and change in front of me.

Can you make the duck that is in your mouth fly away?

After thinking about it, Jiang En agreed to the matter, but asked Zhao An to wait for a few days, because the community school did not have the student's license ready, so he had to wait for a few days.

When Zhao An heard that he had to wait for a few days, he was naturally reluctant, but there was nothing he could do. He had to thank him profusely and go back to wait for news.

It is said that money makes the world go round. A few days later, Jiang En sent a seven or eight-year-old student to ask Zhao An to go over. After arriving at the place, he directly gave Zhao An a student's license with his name, native place and age written on it.

Zhao An, overjoyed, quickly took it and looked at it, and found that it was a graduation certificate for himself when he was thirteen years old and passed the examination to become a Tongsheng.

No problem at all.

Just as he was about to thank her, Jiang En said, "I've gotten you a license, but the county doesn't have your file on file."

What do you mean?
You say this license is fake, but it is actually a certificate issued by the Qing court to students from all over the country.

You say it's real, right? Sorry, there's no stub.

It is equivalent to depositing money into a bank but the bank does not give you a deposit receipt.

Obviously, Jiang En, the old fox, had a trick up his sleeve, or in other words, he solved the problem in advance to avoid unnecessary trouble in the future.

(End of this chapter)