A Poor Man's Son-in-Law: He Picks Up the Daughter of a Duke's Mansion at the Start

Three days later, Lu Qingyan handed in the copied "Thousand Character Classic".

The shopkeeper put on his glasses and carefully read through each page. He read slowly, so Lu Qingyan waited quietly. The shop was quiet; the faint sounds of vendors calling out their wares from the street could be heard.

"Not bad." The shopkeeper finally looked up, put down the copybook, and said, "Your handwriting is much steadyer than when you were testing it. Eighty coins, please check."

He counted out the copper coins from the drawer and lined them up one by one on the counter. Eighty gleaming coins were piled up in a small stack.

Lu Qingyan didn't rush to collect it: "Are you still copying 'Youxue Qionglin'?"

"Copy it." The shopkeeper took out paper and ink from under the counter. "This one is thicker, 120 coins. Return it in ten days."

"it is good."

Lu Qingyan took the paper and ink, then put the money into his pocket. The pocket was heavy, and it felt a little hot against his chest.

After leaving the bookstore, he didn't go home immediately. First, he went to the grain store and bought five catties of white rice for twenty-five coins. Then he went to the butcher shop and bought a palm-sized piece of pork belly for fifteen coins. After thinking for a moment, he went to the general store and bought the cheapest paper and a piece of ink, spending forty coins.

He had twenty coins left. Clutching the coins, he stood on the street for a while before finally entering the cloth shop and buying three feet of blue cloth—to make a new dress for Zhao.

On the way back, my baggage felt heavier, but my heart felt lighter.

It was noon when they arrived home. Lu Tiezhu and Lu Dashan had not yet returned from the fields, Zhao was cooking in the kitchen, and her two younger sisters were picking wild vegetables in the yard.

"Third Brother!" Sanya saw him first and skipped over.

Lu Qingyan put down the bundle and first took out the package of meat. It was wrapped in oil paper and still had some oil seeping through.

Zhao came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron: "Why buy dried meat? It's too expensive..."

"I earned some money today by handing in the book copying." Lu Qingyan then took out rice and cloth. "I'll keep the rice for the family to eat, and give the cloth to Mother."

Zhao was stunned. She looked at the meat, then at the rice, and then touched the blue cloth. Her lips moved, but she couldn't say anything.

"How much?" she asked finally.

"The Thousand Character Classic costs eighty coins," Lu Qingyan said truthfully. "After buying these, I have twenty coins left."

He took out the rest of his money.

Zhao didn't take the money, but said with red eyes, "Keep it, buy paper and pens."

"I've bought paper and pens." Lu Qingyan pointed to the bundle. "Mother, you can make a dress out of this fabric. The sleeves of your old dress are all torn to shreds."

Er Ya and San Ya came closer to examine the cloth, their little hands gently touching it, afraid to apply too much pressure. The blue cloth wasn't of the best quality, but it was much better than the patched-up clothes they were wearing.

When Lu Tiezhu and Lu Dashan returned in the evening, they were stunned to see the meat and vegetables on the table.

"What day is it today?" Lu Dashan asked.

"The money Yan'er earned," Zhao said, straightening her back a little.

The meat was stir-fried with wild vegetables, a glistening plate of oil. Each person received a few slices. Lu Qingyan gave his slice to Sanya, but Sanya gave it back to him, saying, "Third brother, you're tired from studying."

After some polite refusals, the meat was eventually shared.

At the dinner table, Lu Tiezhu asked about the book copying. Lu Qingyan gave a brief explanation and then mentioned that he had taken on another job.

"Ten days, one hundred and twenty coins?" Lu Dashan calculated. "That means I can earn more than three hundred coins a month?"

"It depends on whether the bookstore has that many jobs," Lu Qingyan said. "And it can't interfere with my studies."

Lu Tiezhu nodded: "Studying is the most important thing."

At night, the oil lamp was lit again.

Lu Qingyan didn't rush to copy the new book; instead, he took out the original owner's textbooks to review. He could recite the Four Books and Five Classics fluently in his previous life, but the imperial examinations of this era had fixed formats and interpretations, so he had to follow them.

He opened the Analects and began with "To learn and at due times to practice what one has learned," writing annotations on scrap paper as he read. These were not the notes the original owner had memorized by rote, but rather his own organized understanding—the meaning of the words, their background, key points of commentaries from various dynasties, and potential exam questions.

As a professor, he excels at systematic learning. He first builds the framework, then fills in the details. The Four Books may seem fragmented, but they actually have an internal logic. He categorizes related chapters, compares the discussions of similar concepts in different chapters, and combines this with essential reference books such as "Collected Annotations by Master Zhu" to form his own system of understanding.

This is an advantage of modern learning methods.

Copying books also helps. When he copied the Thousand Character Classic, he not only practiced his handwriting but also firmly engraved the thousand unique characters into his mind. Now, copying the Primer for Children is even more effective—this primer covers everything from astronomy and geography to human relationships, serving as both handwriting practice and knowledge accumulation.

He copied carefully, applying even pressure to each stroke and ensuring the structure was correct. His wrist would sag after a while, so he would stop to move around and silently memorize what he had just copied.

So he spent his days reading and his nights copying books, and his days became regular.

Five days later, he had copied half of the *Elementary Learning Compendium*. His handwriting had visibly improved, from neat but slightly stiff at first to fluent and natural now. When the shopkeeper collected the books for the second time, he glanced at him a few more times: "Your handwriting has improved."

Lu Qingyan just smiled.

He is indeed making progress. Not just in his handwriting, but also in his knowledge.

The original owner's foundation wasn't bad; she passed the preliminary examination, indicating she grasped the basic meanings of the scriptures. What she lacked was a thorough understanding and deep comprehension. That's what Lu Qingyan filled in.

He studied the questions from past county examinations—all of which he had borrowed and copied from the town's bookstore. The imperial examinations in the Dayong Dynasty were similar to those in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The county examinations tested essays on the Four Books, poems written on test papers, interpretations of classics, and policy essays. Among these, essays on the Four Books were the most important, requiring candidates to speak on behalf of sages and adhering to strict formats.

Lu Qingyan tried writing a few pieces. At first, he was still unfamiliar with the format, and there were always flaws. But he had a deep understanding and could always grasp the key points when breaking down the topic, which was something others couldn't do.

After finishing writing, he revised it by comparing it with the model text, rewriting it again and again. He used up sheet after sheet of scrap paper, and calluses formed on his right index and middle fingers.

Half a month later, after submitting the manuscript for *Youxue Qionglin*, he received assignments for *Di Zi Gui* and *Bai Jia Xing*. The bookseller recognized him and would always give him paper and ink whenever he came: "Same price as always."

Lu Qingyan became the regular copyist of books at Moxiangzhai.

He gave half of his earnings to his family and kept the other half to buy books. He bought a secondhand copy of "Collected Annotations on Zhu Xi" at a bookstore; the pages were yellowed, but the handwriting was still clear. He also bought a copy of "The Laws and Regulations of the Great Yong Dynasty"—understanding the law was fundamental for the imperial examinations, which required knowledge of current affairs.

Things gradually changed at the family's dinner table. Although there wasn't meat at every meal, the porridge became thicker, and there was less bran in the flatbread. Zhao made a new dress from that piece of blue cloth, and when she wore it to the village's wedding banquet, she stood up straight.

Lu Qingyan himself changed even more. His face was still that of a sixteen-year-old, but his eyes were more serious, his back was straighter, and he spoke and acted with more composure. When the villagers saw him, they all said, "The third son of the Lu family really looks like a scholar now."

Only Lu Qingyan himself knew that the road ahead was still long.

The county examination is in August, which is more than four months away. The path from a junior scholar to a county-level scholar is a major hurdle; out of several hundred junior scholars in the county, only twenty or thirty are selected each year. He has to give it his all.

That night, he was reading under the lamp again. When he came to the passage in Mencius, "Gongsun Chou I," where he reads, "Even with wisdom, it is better to take advantage of the situation," he paused for a moment.

Go with the flow. In this era, the imperial examination was the greatest force.

He picked up a pen and wrote a note beside it: "It is imperative, and it must be done now."

Outside the window, spring is in full bloom. The peach and plum blossoms have faded, and green fruit has settled on the branches. The warm night breeze blows in through the broken window, ruffling the pages.

The oil lamp crackled.

Lu Qingyan looked up at the dark night outside the window. In the distance, there was the sound of dogs barking; nearby, the chirping of insects.

He took a deep breath and continued, head down.

A single word, a single sentence, a single page.

The shadow under the lamp is steady.