Chapter 222 Preparing for the Provincial Examination

Chapter 222 Preparing for the Provincial Examination

Sun Shan came second in the county exam, and he did not intend to celebrate himself, but Aunt Zhang was a kind person. During dinner, she gave Sun Shan a chicken drumstick and said encouragingly, "Shanzi, you came second at such a young age. You will definitely pass the exam to become a scholar in the future. You will be better than your teacher... you may be even better than the teacher in the future."

Although Aunt Zhang is an illiterate rural woman, she has worked in the school for many years and knows the students' situation well.

Sun Shan was the most diligent, calm, patient, youngest and best-performing student she had ever seen.

The more I watch, the more I feel that Sun Shan has a promising future.

Sun Shan looked at the delicious chicken drumstick and drooled as he said, "Thank you, Aunt Zhang. I will try my best."

Oh, Aunt Zhang is the outsider who trusts me the most, apart from the Sun family. She has good vision.

After finishing the chicken leg, continue doing what you need to do.

It’s just a county exam, not an academy exam. There’s nothing to be proud of.

If you pass the academy examination, you can relax for a month or two, but the county examination will be followed by the prefectural examination, so you can't be at ease.

When I look down and look up again, it’s April soon.

In the provincial examination, the chief examiner is the prefect.

The procedures for the prefectural and county examinations were similar, except that this time Sun Shan had to travel across mountains and rivers to take the examination in Zhangzhou Prefecture instead of taking the examination in the familiar Huangyang County.

Hong Xiucai approached the students who were going to take the exam and said, "The provincial exam is almost here. I will grant you two days off so that you can go home and prepare well."

The so-called preparation not only includes preparing the food, but also discussing having an adult accompany you.

After all, it is not possible for students to travel far alone.

Mr. Hong would accompany the candidates to every provincial examination.

Firstly, with him around, the candidates can feel more stable. Secondly, with him around, the process is more familiar to ensure that there will be no mistakes. Thirdly, his two sons are in Zhangzhou Prefecture, so it would be good to visit Zhangzhou Prefecture once a year.

Hong Xiucai said to Sun Shan, Zheng Hongwen, and Liang Shen, "The three of you will follow Huang Xiucai's students and me to the city. You don't need to find an inn to stay in. All five of you can stay at my house."

After a pause, he continued, "My son has a yard over there, which is the best place for you candidates to live. It is close to the examination hall and quiet. Go to Zhangzhou Prefecture in advance and live there while studying while waiting for the examination."

Looking at the three people, he added: "Teacher will tell you the truth. I won't charge you for accommodation, but you have to pay for food. I can't let the teacher lose a lot of money."

When Sun Shan and others heard Mr. Hong speak so bluntly, they covered their mouths and laughed.

Providing free accommodation is already a great achievement, but students are not so shameless as to also provide meals.

When Hong Xiucai saw the three students laughing, he also laughed, nodded and said, "Find someone to accompany you. I am most afraid that something will go wrong in the exam. I can't handle the five of you. Anything can happen in the exam room, so you need to be well prepared."

Sun Shan and his two companions quickly replied, "Yes, Master, we understand."

This time, there were 3 people from the Hong Family School, 1 person from the Huang Family School, and 1 person from the Hongjia Village School, which was Hong Xiucai's hometown.

A total of 5 people formed a group and went to take the provincial examination together.

We know each other well, so you can rest assured.

Mr. Huang handed his students over to Mr. Hong and decided not to go himself.

Mr. Hong didn't care, it was just a small favor.

It takes two days and one night to walk along the mountain road from Huangyang County to Zhangzhou Prefecture.

Sun Shan asked his roommate Hong Jian whether the mountain road to Zhangzhou Prefecture was difficult to travel.

Hong Jian nodded and said yes very affirmatively, so when taking the road to Zhangzhou Prefecture, one must be careful and concentrate.

We still need to hire a bodyguard for this trip.

Through Zeng Jiajun's relationship, Sun Shan and his four companions got a preferential price and hitchhiked with the escort team.

It costs 500 wen per person to go to Guangzhou Prefecture, and 500 wen per person to go to Zhangzhou Prefecture, and this is half price. The average person would have to pay 1 tael.

The roads in Zhangzhou Prefecture are all mountainous, so Zengjia Escort Agency would send more people to take this route. Firstly, the road is difficult to travel, and more people would help in case of danger. Secondly, they were afraid that criminals would ambush in the mountains, and if a fight broke out, more people would have an advantage.

The mountains are poor and the water is bad. Sun Shan frowned. It seems that going to Zhangzhou Prefecture is much more dangerous than going to Guangzhou Prefecture. No wonder the merchants in Huangyang County go to the provincial government to get goods instead of Zhangzhou Prefecture.

Sun Shan and Zheng Hongwen returned to Sunjia Village with a small bag under the escort of Zheng Hongyuan.

When they reached the entrance of the village, Zheng Hongyuan said, "Shanzi, you can go back now. Do you want me to take you home?"

Zheng Hongwen, who was sitting on the ox cart, chuckled, feeling that his elder brother treated Shanzi like a little kid and followed him wherever he went.

The main reason Zheng Hongwen came back this time was to tell Zheng Tongsheng that he was going to take the provincial examination and also to learn from others.

After all, Zheng Tongsheng had also taken the provincial examination. Although it was a long time ago, we still need to learn from the experience of our predecessors.

Sun Shan waved his hands helplessly: "Second brother-in-law, no need. You guys go back. Just come pick me up the day after tomorrow."

Zheng Hongyuan looked at the village sign at the entrance of the village that read "Sunjia Village" and felt relieved.

They are all back in their own territory now, so everything should be fine.

He said, "Shanzi, don't hang around in the village, go home first."

Sun Shan walked into the small path of Sunjia Village without looking back and answered loudly: "I understand. I will go back now."

Sun Shan shook his head speechlessly. Ever since Lixia married Zheng Hongyuan, she had her second brother-in-law under her control. She would tell him to go east or west, and would always keep an eye on Sun Shan without blinking.

Sun Shan secretly praised his second sister Lixia for being the best, and her husband-subduing skills were amazing.

Fortunately, the second sister was good at pretending. She did all these things behind the scenes, but pretended to be virtuous in front of the Zheng family, so that the Zheng family didn't realize that Zheng Hongwen was becoming a "henpecked husband".

Sun Shan had no objection to this. His sister was his own family, and his brother-in-law was an outsider. He could only help relatives and not others. As long as Lixia did not go too far, he could do whatever she wanted.

Walking into the small path of Sunjia Village, it was around 11 o'clock in the morning. The village was sparsely populated and everyone must have gone to work in the fields.

Occasionally I would meet a few fellow villagers, who would just shout out to me and then pass by.

You don’t need to wait for them to respond, and they don’t need to wait for you to respond.

But not shouting is absolutely not an option, or people will say you are arrogant and look down on others.

Where there are people, there is the world, and where there is the world, there are rules.

Sun Shan intends to follow the rules.

After walking for a while, they arrived home. The gate to the courtyard was open. Sun Shan walked in with a small bag on his back. He saw no one there, so he shouted, "Grandma, I'm back."

After a while, Xiaoman came out of the kitchen, saw Shanzi, and asked in surprise: "Shanzi, how did you come back?"

He quickly helped him take the small bag and poured him a glass of water.

She was going to get married next year at the Grain Full Moon Festival, so Huang, Sun Boming and Su asked her to do housework at home so that she wouldn't have to go to the fields. They wanted her to be well-fed before getting married.

Sun Shan smiled and said, "I have something to tell you when I get back."

Then he told Hong Xiucai's request. The provincial examination was approaching and he was going to take the examination in Zhangzhou Prefecture, so he went home to prepare.

When Xiaoman heard that Sun Shan was going to Zhangzhou Prefecture to take the exam, she said nervously, "Shanzi, let's listen to the Master and leave early. We can study anywhere, so we might as well study near the examination hall so that we won't miss the prefectural exam."

Hong Xiucai also thought so, so he notified the students to go to Zhangzhou Prefecture in advance, so as to avoid arriving too late and being too late.