126 Happiness
Everyone went to the hill opposite excitedly. When they saw that the water had already flowed into the pond, the villagers of Hu Village bowed excitedly when they saw Li Yu. “Thank you, Miss Li.”
Li Yu looked at the tired and thin villagers and said with a smile, “You should not be thanking me but yourselves. It’s because you really want to change and are willing to work hard to achieve your current achievements. Everyone, don’t thank me. I’ll tell everyone about my experience growing winter wheat. Remember it well. If you don’t understand, you can look for me at my house.”
“Thank you, Miss Li,” the villagers of Hu Village shouted in unison.
Li Yu was also a little excited when she saw their happy expressions. She smiled and told them what to pay attention to when planting the winter wheat. She also told them the method for selecting the seeds. Only when they remembered it seriously did she bid farewell to everyone. Old Hu stopped Li Yu and said, “Miss, please have a meal here before leaving!”
“Thank you, but there’s no need for that this time. I still have something to do at home. When you plant food next year, I’ll come and try your new food.” Li Yu looked at them and smiled.
Old Hu bowed excitedly. “Okay, you must come then.”
Li Yu bade farewell to the villagers and drove the mule cart back. The villagers of Hu Village went home and gathered their money together. They pulled the cart towards the seed shop that Li Yu had mentioned.
Li Yu rushed home and saw Li Mei standing at the door with Brother Pig in her arms. She stopped the car and smiled at Li Mei. “Aunt, you’re out of confinement!”
Li Mei said worriedly, “It’s already the fourth day of the new month. Why isn’t there any news from Mr. Zhou? Look, you’re not anxious at all.”
“The rankings will only be released on the next day. This is the rule of the government office.” Li Yu comforted Li Mei.
Li Mei walked up to Li Yu and said in a low voice, “Yu’er, you shouldn’t have come back earlier. Look at Mr. Zhou. He’s young and handsome. Aunt is worried that Mr. Zhou will be snatched away by those young ladies.”
Li Yu shrugged and whispered into Li Mei’s ear, “Aunt, don’t worry. If Mr. Zhou is snatched away, I’ll find a better one. It’s not easy to find a three-legged toad. Are you afraid of missing a two-legged man?”
When Li Mei heard this, she slapped Li Yu and said angrily, “Crazy girl, you can only say this between us. Don’t let outsiders hear it.”
Li Yu hurriedly nodded. “Don’t worry, I’m not stupid.”
“I’m glad you know. I’ll go to the workshop and take a look. Zhao Cai brought back a few more carts of wool. I’ll see how they’re doing.”
Li Mei was interrupted by Li Yu and stopped thinking about Zhou Jia. She carried Brother Pig and walked towards the workshop.
After Li Yu put the mule cart away, she returned to the house and saw the grain seeds sent over from the farmstead. She closed the door and stored the grain seeds in the space. She took out the rapeseed and went to Zhou Jia’s workshop.
Zhao Cai and Uncle Zhou had just put the wool into the warehouse when Li Yu arrived. Zhao Cai bowed to Li Yu and said with a smile, “Miss, Young Master asked me to tell you not to sell the food at home first. The food in the Tongzhou Prefecture has to be transferred to the Qingzhou Prefecture. There will be an increase in the price of food in a few days. Young Master said that the most important thing is that the few provinces adjacent to the Qingzhou Prefecture have suffered a decrease in production because of the drought. I heard that the Qingzhou Prefecture is starving and the government office was almost broken through by the refugees. I’m afraid life will be even more difficult in the future.”
“Alright, go and rest first. You can leave tomorrow morning,” Li Yu said with a smile.
The clerk nodded. “Thank you, Miss. I have to rush back now. There are many people on the street tomorrow, and the bag shops are all short of goods.”
After Li Yu and Uncle Zhou sent Zhao Cai away, Uncle Zhou looked at Li Yu worriedly. “Miss, don’t tell me we’ll be having trouble again?”
Li Yu thought for a moment and said to Uncle Zhou, “We have to make preparations first. It’s best if we can prepare some arrows at home. However, since Xiao Xi sent the letter back, he should be prepared.”
While Zhou Jia was waiting for news in Tongzhou City, he picked Li Qing up from the private school and brought him home to stay. After school, he still had to write articles and practice. Li Qing looked at Zhou Jia resentfully. “Sir, if you abuse me like this, I’ll complain when I get back.”
Zhou Jia glanced at him. “Don’t you want to surpass me? You are complaining about just this bit of hardship. Write another article on the question.”
“Just you wait. I’ll definitely surpass you.” Li Qing gritted his teeth and started writing.
The next day, at the beginning of September, the entrance of the Five Gong Courtyard was surrounded by people waiting for news. Ji Xiang was already under the Rankings Wall on the west side of the courtyard and had occupied the best position to wait for the rankings to be released.
When dawn broke, the door of the tribute court opened. When the bailiff and officials came out with the list, everyone looked up at the bailiff who posted the list. The people who had been waiting there rushed forward and almost squeezed Ji Xiang’s shoes off.
Ji Xiang looked up and saw the words Zhou Jia below the first place. Ji Xiang rubbed his eyes and looked at it carefully again. He jumped up in joy. “Ah! Ha, ha, ha. My young master came in the first place.”
Ji Xiang cheered and squeezed out of the crowd under the envious and jealous gazes of the onlookers. He ran all the way to the alley of the Teacher Temple and ran over to hug Zhao Cai. “Zhao Cai, Young Master’s first place. He is a Top Scorer. Hahaha…”
The clerk looked at Ji Xiang with glowing eyes. “That’s great. Young Master got it. Young Master got promoted.”
Zhao Cai wiped his tears. “Let’s go back and tell Young Master.”
Ji Xiang and Zhao Cai grinned from ear to ear and rushed back to Osmanthus Lane with silly smiles. Just as Ji Xiang reached the door, he jumped out of the cart and shouted as he ran, “Young Master, Young Master, you’ve gotten first in… ”
Zhou Jia heard Ji Xiang’s happy voice in the study and walked out excitedly. He stood at the door of the central room and smiled as he watched Ji Xiang rush into the room. When Ji Xiang saw him, his eyes turned red. “Young Master, you won. You’ve clinched first place.”
Zhou Jia smiled and looked at Ji Xiang with reddened eyes. “Got it. Go back and tell the Miss the good news!”
Lucky wiped away tears of joy. “Okay, okay, I’ll go back now.”
Zhang Guisheng looked at the crowd in front of the rankings and waited anxiously for Zhang Defa’s news.
Zhang Defa stood in front of the list and looked at it several times. He did not see Zhang Guisheng’s name, but he saw Zhou Jia’s name below the first place.
“If he got first place, how could my Guisheng not rank?” Zhang Defa muttered to himself. “How did this happen? No, my Guisheng is so outstanding. Did the examiner miss out on my Guisheng’s name?”
The man standing beside Zhang Defa looked at him and shook his head with pity. “Sigh! Another person who went crazy thinking about the Central Election.”
The dazed Zhang Defa was squeezed out of the crowd. He subconsciously walked up to Zhang Guisheng and looked at him blankly.
When Zhang Guisheng saw his expression, he knew that there was no hope. He glanced at Zhang Defa and called out miserably, “Father.” Then, he lowered his head and walked back.
Zhang Defa came back to his senses and chased after him. “Guisheng, didn’t you say that you got everything right? Why isn’t your name on the list? Did the examiner make a mistake?”
Zhang Guisheng saw that the pedestrians on the road were looking at the father and son and pointing at them. Their expressions were as if they had seen a lunatic.