The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

The man struggled non-stop until he finally broke free, without uttering a single word, he dashed away like a whirl of smoke.

Mr. Wu’s beard bristled with anger.

Several gossips who targeted this distinguished old man naturally did not dare to clash with him and scattered immediately.

But Mr. Wu didn’t want to let it rest so easily, so he angrily went to find Yingbao’s master, Zhou Wuchang.

He was familiar with Zhou Wuchang, but they had never interacted before.

But no matter what, if his apprentice was being slandered, Zhou Wuchang couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

Upon arrival at the medical office, Zhou Wuchang and his senior disciple were both present, so Mr. Wu explained to them all the rumors that were being spread outside.

As soon as Zhou Wuchang heard this, he had a rough idea who was stirring up trouble behind the scenes.

But when it comes to catching a thief with the goods, if they refused to admit it, there was nothing anyone else could do.

Mr. Wu said, “Those spreading rumors have malicious intentions. If they are not punished by law, I’m afraid they would harm the Jiang siblings. I won’t allow such a thing to happen.”

His young disciple had just taken the imperial examination, his life was still a long journey yet to be traveled. If someone used this opportunity to tarnish the reputation of the Jiang family, it would undoubtedly affect the future prospects of the young disciple.

Zhou Wuchang contemplated for a moment and said, “I will take care of this matter, Mr. Wu does not need to worry.”

Mr. Wu nodded, “If you can step in, that would be great. However, I also want to find some people to investigate what exactly those who spread the rumors are up to.”

The two agreed and each went to trace the source of the rumors.

The next day, Jiang Jie came out of the examination room.

From a distance, he could see his mother, sister, and master all standing on a high spot looking towards him.

His sister was even standing in the carriage, waving at him enthusiastically.

Jiang Jie grinned broadly, but alas, the weight of the examination basket on his shoulder was too heavy for him to run over.

His mother and sister had already run over, helping him carry the basket of books.

Yingbao handed him an apple, “Here, it’s from our own apple trees last year. I stored it specially, we also have some citrus fruit at home.”

Jiang Jie accepted the apple and took a bite right away.

He was brutally exhausted from the examination, he wasn’t allowed to lie down or move freely and it was bitterly cold.

“Sister, you have no idea, the person next to me caught a cold. He was coughing continuously, and he even cried non-stop at night,” Jiang Jie chatted while following behind her mom towards the horse carriage.

Mr. Wu also walked over and said, “Get in the carriage quickly. We can continue talking when we get home.”

“Alright.” Jiang Jie hoisted himself into the carriage with the help of Mr. Wu, and Yingbao also got on the carriage.

Chunniang arranged her son’s examination basket, bedding and cloak properly, then sat on the carriage to drive home.

The meals had been prepared at home, all kept warm inside the steamer.

Four joy meatballs, braised fish, tofu stew with cabbage, and soy sauce beef.

The staples were rice, meanwhile, Chunniang also made dumplings and steamed two baskets of cabbage pork buns.

After washing his hands and face when he got home, Jiang Jie quickly sat at the table with his master to eat.

The examination room provided food as well; white rice with tofu and salted vegetables cooked in meat broth.

Both rice and the dish were cold when served. Jiang Jie remembered his master’s words, he heated it up with his small charcoal heater before eating. But, the taste was far from satisfying.

After dinner, Mr. Wu didn’t ask anything but told Jiang Jie to rest while he prepared some questions. They would discuss them after Jiang Jie woke up.

Yingbao went back to her room and made some energy capsules for her brother using Five Tripod Elixir. Because the previous batch had all been eaten by him as snacks, he said it was to refresh his mind.

The next day, Jiang Jie started the second round of the examination.

After sending his apprentice into the examination room, Mr. Wu quickly went to find the head of the County Government’s arrest officers.

His son had been the County Magistrate here for several years, and he himself had also lived in the County Government for several years, so he was quite familiar with all the government officials.

Upon hearing that Mr. Wu wanted them to quietly investigate the rumors outside and the situation of Chen Guanglu’s family, Jin Wu assured him with a pat on his chest that they would handle it well.

A few days later, when the fifth exam was over, Jin Wu found Mr. Wu and reported that they had clarified everything.

The rumors originated from the neighbors of Chen Guanglu’s family, claiming that they were told by Han Yueniang.

However, Han Yueniang and her daughter had already gone to Beijing with Pei Shixian and they had no access to the principals.

Mr. Wu was so angry that his beard was trembling. He turned around and informed Master Zhou Wuchang of his investigation.

Zhou Wuchang also found out that the rumors came from the Han Family, but he was investigating another matter.

He discovered that Chen Guanglu was actually buying cotton and grain in Qinchuan County on behalf of the Commandery Prince.

Not only that, he found out that Chen was colluding with the local County Magistrate, and exerting influence over the local transport gang leader, planning to cause trouble in Qinchuan County. His intentions were highly significant.

However, Zhou Wuchang did not plan to report it at the moment, he wanted to play along and expose the big fish behind this plot.

On the day the results were announced, Mr. Wu told Chunniang to open the front door, and he himself sat underneath the porch with his junior apprentice, drinking tea.

As it was approaching noon, a messenger ran over, banging a gong and shouting, “Jiang Jie of Dongchen Village, Chuanhe Town, has topped the county exam! Jiang Jie has topped the county exam!”

Upon hearing someone shouting her son’s name, Chunniang immediately ran out.

She saw two messengers running swiftly, they glanced at the gate and asked Chunniang, “Is this the home of Jiang Jie?”

“Yes, Yes!” Chunniang could not express her excitement.

The messenger bowed with his fist, “Congratulations, madam! Congratulations to you! Your young Master Jiang Jie has topped the county exam.”

Yingbao immediately invited them in: “Please come in for a cup of tea.”

The two messengers laughed and entered the yard. They didn’t enter the house but paid respects to Mr. Wu and Jiang Jie, and sat down beside the table under the porch.

Chunniang quickly went into the room and took out two coins each as rewards for the messengers before she went to prepare food in the kitchen.

Yingbao brought out the prepared tea and snacks for the two messengers to eat.

The messenger who brought good news was supposed to stay for a celebration meal. Chunniang was busy preparing food in the kitchen, and Jiang Quan and Erni had come over early in the morning to help.

Shortly after, another two groups of messengers came with good news, and Chunniang also gave each of them two coins as rewards.

Seeing this, neighbors from both sides came over to congratulate them. Yingbao brought out candy and snacks, letting them take and eat.

Mr. Wu was very proud. After flaunting outside for a while, he took Jiang Jie into the room to explain to him about the Prefecture City Exam.

The Prefecture City Exam is of utmost importance, and he must go in April.

The county exam mostly tests basic knowledge, mainly memorizing classics and theoretical discussion, as well as the candidate’s calligraphy skills.

Only after passing the county exam, the candidate is qualified to take the official exam in the Prefecture City, which is supervised by the Prefecture City’s governor or prefect. The final exam is presided over by an educational commissioner appointed by the Imperial Court.

Next, the County Magistrate summoned the top three scholars; he was quite surprised when he saw Jiang Jie.

An eight-year-old who topped the county exam was indeed a rare sight.

The County Magistrate presented Jiang Jie with a set of scholar’s four jewels (writing brush, ink stick, ink slab, and paper), and a book, as encouragement, and gave one set each to the other two scholars.

The other two were not young anymore, one was twenty-two and the other was twenty-eight.

In March, Jiang’s third son took his son and daughter to the Prefecture City to take the exam, and Mr. Wu and Yuanbao accompanied them.

Seeing his young cousin topping the county exam, Yuanbao also wanted to try next year.

He was several years older than his little cousin, thirteen this year, and his studies were also quite solid.

But his tutor felt that he needed more experience, so he didn’t let him take the exam this year.

However, when he found out that his eight-year-old cousin had topped the county exam, his old tutor became unsettled, somewhat regretting not letting Yuanbao enter the exam this year.

Upon hearing that the young topper was going to take the Prefecture City Exam, his tutor let Yuanbao accompany him for exposure and experience.