Top Scholar

Chapter 269 Announcement
After the provincial examination results are announced, the provincial government will compile the list of successful candidates and submit it to the Grand Master for the upcoming provincial examination.

At the same time, in accordance with the order in which the students were selected, five people were grouped together, and the seal of the outstanding student was used to vouch for the seal.

In addition, each student must fill out their age, place of origin, three generations of ancestors, and scriptures again, compile them into a book, and submit each book with a signed document.

The examination papers originally collected for the state and county examinations should also be bound together and sealed for verification during the provincial examination.

With all this done, the work following the state examination was finally completed, and all that remained was for the Grand Master's examination to take place.

The Grand Master was another name for the Deputy Commissioner of Education, who usually resided in the provincial capital. After the provincial examinations, he would travel to various prefectures and counties to personally preside over the county-level examinations and admit students. Therefore, the county-level examinations were the true examinations for selecting scholars!

In fact, at the beginning of the dynasty, there was only the provincial examination, but there was only one Grand Master, who had to travel to all the prefectures and counties in the province twice every three years to preside over the annual examination, the provincial examination, and the imperial examination.

With the nation enjoying long-term peace, the number of scholars increased significantly, overwhelming the Deputy Commissioner of Education. Following the sudden deaths of several great masters, the court was forced to order prefectures and counties to pre-select students to alleviate the workload of the Deputy Commissioner of Education; this led to the establishment of the prefectural and county examinations…

~~
After completing all his work in the prefecture, Instructor Hai returned to Hejiang by boat.

Accompanying him were students from Hejiang who had just finished the prefectural examination, excluding Su Luye and his companions.

The date for the provincial examination is undecided; it depends on the Grandmaster's schedule. Based on past experience, Grandmasters usually start in Chengdu and travel along the Yangtze River, passing through various prefectures and counties to take the exams. By the time they reach Luzhou, it will be at least August or later…

Given the long time that had passed, Mr. Zhang, Lin Zhihong, and the others couldn't just wait idly in Luzhou. They agreed to reunite during the provincial examinations and then boarded the county boats to return to their respective homes.

After parting ways with Mr. Zhang and the others, Haihan went straight to the county government office without even going home, to report the state examination results to Magistrate Lu.

Upon hearing that a total of 28 candidates from our county had made it into the prefectural examination, second only to Luzhou's 39 candidates, Magistrate Lu was naturally overjoyed. He clapped his hands and laughed, "Excellent! Excellent! This truly lives up to our reputation as the 'Land of Mencius and Zou' in Sichuan!"

He pressed further, asking, "Is Hongzhi the top scholar?"

"Yes." Hai Han nodded and said, "Second is Zhu Zihe, and third is Mr. Su's elder brother, Su Man!"

"So, our county swept the top three spots in this prefectural examination?" You Muyou always had a knack for spotting the highlights.

“That’s also true, you could say that…” Haihan, with his integrity, would not have agreed. It was fine for the Su brothers to be considered from this county, but Zhu Zihe took the county exam in Luzhou, so how could he also be considered from this county?

He was just trying to appease the master today and didn't dare say anything that would spoil the mood.

"Very well, very well!" Magistrate Lu indeed didn't find anything wrong with You Muyou's statement. He immediately ordered, "Send good news to the Su family, and announce that they have passed the imperial examination according to the standards for a scholar!"

“Alright,” You Muyou replied, “I will go there myself.”

"That would be best. We must convey the county's condolences to the old master of the Su family!" Magistrate Lu nodded.

"Yes!"

After You Muyou left, Magistrate Lu asked Hai Han, "Is there anything else?"

"And..." Hai Han swallowed hard, took out two letters from his satchel and handed them to Magistrate Lu, saying, "Here are letters from Mr. Su and the County Head Tian to Your Excellency. I have brought them with me."

"Put it there, thank you for your trouble." Magistrate Lu nodded. After Hai Han put down the letter, he picked up his teacup, indicating that he was seeing the guest out.

Hai Han, however, refused to leave, saying, "Please, sir, take a look at Mr. Su's letter first."

"I'm busy, I'll look at it later." Magistrate Lu wouldn't be led by the nose by his subordinates; the more they pressured him, the less he would look at it.

"My lord!" Hai Han exclaimed, his eyes wide with anger. "I'll still speak even if you don't look!"

"I know what you're going to say, no way!" Magistrate Lu sneered, picked up an official document from the table, and slapped it on his face. "Look at this! The prefecture is levying a full three thousand taels of silver on the county. Even if we sold the county, it wouldn't be enough! How can I afford to support your bunch of pedantic scholars?!"

"Master..." Hai Han had already explained all the reasons he could to him, and now he was speechless.

"Get out!" Magistrate Lu slammed his teacup on the table, his tone turning unpleasant.

"Sigh..." Hai Han sighed deeply and retreated helplessly. He thought Mr. Su had a lot of influence, and he had even begged and pleaded with Su Lu to write a letter, but it was still no use...

After Haihan left, Magistrate Lu picked up the letter opener and began to carefully read the letters from Su Lu and Steward Tian one by one.

His expression changed immediately upon seeing it...

~~
At noon, in the Su family's new house, the family was having lunch.

The old lady had already satisfied her craving. Most of the men in the family were in Luzhou, and Su Youjin and Xiao Jinbao were also on a diet, so the family ate a very light lunch.

There was only one meat dish, braised chicken sashimi; the rest were all vegetarian. Auntie even gave two chicken legs to Xibao and Dongge…

Little Jinbao didn't join in, but instead started to take over the rest of the chicken parts, not even sparing the chicken head.

"Make Jinbao more meat, look how pitiful the child is." Seeing his daughter kissing the chicken head and trying her best to suck out the chicken tongue, the uncle felt heartbroken.

“No, she needs to lose weight just like you!” Auntie said firmly, “She’s already six years old. If she doesn’t lose weight now, she’ll be fat for the rest of her life.”

Then he asked Su Youjin, "Do you want your daughter to be a chubby girl for the rest of her life?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jinbao put down the chicken head in shame...

"Oh, so what if she's a little chubby? We can afford to raise her now," the old lady said, speaking up for her granddaughter. "Mom, will she even find a husband in the future? Who wants to marry a lazy, chubby wife?" the eldest aunt insisted, refusing to compromise.

"What? Marry a great wife? Isn't that great?" The old lady couldn't understand.

Seeing that Xiao Jinbao was about to cry, her aunt quickly changed the subject, saying, "I wonder how Second Brother and the others did on their exams?"

The aunt quickly and quietly coaxed Xiao Jinbao, and in no time at all, she made her easygoing niece happy.

"Who knows?" Su Youjin said, "Qiu-ge'er is definitely fine, and Chun-ge'er should also have a chance."

"And what about my son?" the old man asked.

“See…” Su Youjin managed to utter two words after a long pause.

"My second uncle struggled so much in the county exam, he'll definitely be doomed in the prefectural exam." My aunt was much more blunt: "Father should be content if he can pass the county exam. Don't keep looking at other mountains and thinking they're higher."

"If you don't want to eat anything good, then I'm not eating!" The old man threw down his chopsticks and prepared to go for a walk.

But then they heard the crackling of firecrackers and the sounds of suona horns and drums coming from the street corner.

"Who would hold a wedding procession in the middle of the day? How rude!" the old man said, frowning.

Noon is associated with Yang, while weddings are associated with Yin. There is a saying that "the wedding procession should not cross the line at noon, otherwise the couple will quarrel."

"Even if you're not particular, you can't have the wedding ceremony at noon!" The eldest aunt, completely unaware that she had just made a few remarks, laughed as if nothing had happened.
"Could they be here to bring good news to Qiu-ge and Chun-ge?"

"Sister-in-law," the aunt couldn't help but say, "There's no good news to announce when someone passes the provincial examination; only when someone becomes a scholar can the good news be announced."

"Really? Haha?" Auntie chuckled awkwardly, "If it's not true, then it's not true."

As they spoke, the sounds of suona horns and gongs grew closer and closer, until they seemed to reach right outside the door.

The maid Erni, who was guarding the gate, ran in and shouted in a loud voice, "Master and Madam, come out quickly! The county has come to bring good news to the family!"

"See what I told you?" The eldest aunt immediately perked up again, helped the old lady, and ran outside.

The family, with the elderly and children in tow, arrived at the gate and saw firecrackers and drums going off outside incessantly.

Ten yamen runners in black robes stood on the ground covered with red dust, playing musical instruments. The two leaders held up two aloft congratulatory plaques—the eight large gold characters on the red lacquered background, "Top Scholar in the County Examination" and "Top Scholar in the Prefecture Examination," shone brightly in the midday sun!

Not only were all the neighbors attracted, but many ordinary people who came to watch the excitement along with the celebratory procession also crowded around the Su family's door.

As the old man emerged from the doorway with Su Youjin's help, the messenger in red knelt on one knee, holding up a red report of victory with both hands, and announced loudly: "Congratulations to your esteemed third young master, whose name is Lu, for achieving the top score in both the county and state examinations! By order of His Majesty, we are hereby delivering this report of victory!"

"Quickly, take it." The old man was completely stunned, but fortunately, his eldest uncle had seen a lot of things and quickly stepped forward to take the good news. He then invited the messenger inside to serve tea and told his aunt to quickly prepare some copper coins for the reward.

"No rush for tea," You Muyou said with a smile, having also arrived at the scene. "Sending out the wedding invitations first is the proper thing to do!"

The messenger mixed gold powder with paste and pasted the wedding invitations on the Su family's front door, while loudly reciting auspicious words: "Gold powder for happiness, may you rise to great heights!"

"Congratulations!" You Muyou led the way by clasping his hands in congratulations, and the neighbors also offered their congratulations one after another.

"Thank you so much, thank you so much, congratulations to you too." The old man and the uncle hurriedly returned the greetings.

At this moment, the eldest aunt also brought out two strings of coins, wrapped in red paper, and gave them to the messenger.

"Alright, you can all go back now. I'll drink the tea for you." You Muyou waved his hand, signaling the clerks to return home and not go in to cause trouble for the Su family.

~~
Su Youjin and his son invited You Muyou into the living room, served him tea, and asked, "Mr. You, wasn't it said that the good news would only be announced after he passed the county-level examination? This is only the prefectural-level examination..."

"Don't worry, Hongzhi's becoming a Xiucai is a done deal." Mr. You explained with a smile: "According to custom, the top scorer in the state examination must be a Xiucai. The Grand Master will give my grandfather face no matter what."

"Is this a done deal?" The old man was dumbfounded.

"Yes." You Muyou cupped his hands in congratulations again: "So, on behalf of the students, congratulations, sir! This time, your Su family will at least produce a scholar!"

"Our Erlang Su family has produced a scholar?" the old man said in disbelief.

"Yes, Father!" Su Youjin stood up excitedly, waving his fist vigorously, "We can also raise a flagpole like Scholar Cheng!"

This was his lifelong dream.

Although everyone thought Su Lu would easily pass the imperial examination at the county level, when he actually passed, the whole family still felt it was too unreal...

"Auntie, pinch me quickly!" The eldest aunt hurriedly checked if she was dreaming.

"I'll do it!" The younger aunt said, pinching her older sister's arm hard before her younger sister could react.

"Ouch! Why are you using so much force?!" Auntie winced in pain, then grinned and said, "It's not a dream, our family is really going to produce a scholar!"

P.S. Next stop, the entrance exam! Still asking for monthly votes!!

(End of this chapter)