Chapter 281: Sun Shan's Marriage
In July they are in the wild, in August they are in the house, in September they are outside the house, and in October the crickets come under my bed.
October is here in a blink of an eye.
Sun Shan stayed in Sunjia Village these days. He had nothing to do and did nothing but read books.
I originally wanted to do farm work in the fields, but before I even got to the ground, Sun Boming and Su sent me back home. I had no choice but to go home in shame.
Every morning when I went jogging, the villagers looked at me strangely, so I had to hide in the yard in shame.
The days of working and resting are really boring.
Sun Shan reread the commentaries on the Four Books and Five Classics by He Shilang of the He family. The more he read, the more he enjoyed it. However, this was far from enough.
If you only read the comments of one person, you will reach a dead end and gradually recognize only one person.
What Sun Shan needs is brainstorming.
The provincial examination is much deeper and broader than the imperial examination.
You must read more and listen more.
Of course, you have to find a professor to teach. You can't pass the exam by studying on your own.
Sun Shan sighed. He urgently needed a teacher to guide him.
These days Sun Shan would go to the county town to ask for advice from Scholar Hong and Scholar Huang, but the two teachers had limited knowledge. They were only good enough for the college entrance examinations, but they had no experience in the imperial examinations.
After passing the examination to become a scholar, Hong Xiucai and Huang Xiucai also took part in the provincial examination, but failed twice.
Firstly, they felt there was no hope of passing the imperial examination, and secondly, their families could not afford the expenses, so they decided not to take the exam again and returned to Huangyang County to become teachers.
Mr. Hong and Mr. Huang’s small “getting rich” started with giving up the provincial examinations. Only then did their family wealth accumulate slowly, leading to their current life of no worries about food and clothing.
Mr. Hong also sincerely warned Sun Shan that he must study hard now, because when he gets older, his memory will decline and studying will become more difficult.
Also, as we get older, get married and have children, there are more trivial things to deal with, which disturbs us and makes us lose the motivation to move forward.
The most important point is that there are too many exams, especially for farmers like them, whose families cannot afford it.
Huang Xiucai also advised Sun Shan not to keep taking exams just to pass the imperial examination, which would have left his family with nothing to eat, and he should cut his losses in time.
Scholars like them, as long as they don't squander money and manage their business well, their lives won't be too bad.
If a scholar lives a miserable life, it must be a problem of his character.
They both hoped that Sun Shan would not be so persistent. He should give up when he saw the difficulty because he had challenged many times and failed so many times.
Neither fighting and losing repeatedly nor fighting and failing repeatedly is desirable, and a farmer's son does not have the conditions.
Sun Shan sincerely thanked the two teachers for their sincere advice and was very glad to have met such good teachers during his student life.
Sun Shan was reading a book when Su came over and said, "Shanzi, Shanzi, what are you doing? Auntie is coming in."
Sun Shan closed the book and responded, "Mother, I'm reading."
Seeing Sun Shan reading seriously at his desk, Su said with great joy, "My Sun Shan is so diligent. He is still so diligent even after passing the examination. I have high hopes for you. You will definitely pass the examination and become a juren."
Sun Shan also smiled and said, "Mother, what do you want to talk to me about?"
No one comes to visit without a reason. If it wasn't an emergency, Su would not have come to disturb Sun Shan who was studying.
Su patted her head, exclaimed, and said with a smile, "Look at your memory, mother. Today your fifth uncle went to the county town to buy cloth at your eldest sister's shop. Your eldest brother-in-law brought you a message saying that Mr. Hong asked you to come to the school because he had something to discuss with you."
After a pause, he continued, "Your eldest brother-in-law originally wanted to come here in person, but when he saw your fifth uncle, he asked him to take the message directly. However, Mr. Hong said that it is not a matter of urgency, and you can just find a time to come out."
If it was an urgent matter, Mr. Hong would have definitely sent Uncle Hong to Sunjia Village instead of Xiajia Buyi Workshop to ask someone to bring the letter.
Ever since Guyu married and moved to the county town, the villagers have been communicating with people in the county town through the Xia Family Buyi Workshop.
People from the county told the Xia family that if they met anyone from Sunjia Village, they should send someone to take the message back.
This way you don't have to make the trip yourself.
Of course, if it is an urgent matter, you must go there in person.
Sun Shan thought that Mr. Hong wanted to discuss academic matters with him. After all, he had not left the county town for some time. He nodded and said, "Mother, I understand. I will go there tomorrow."
It's not possible to go today as it's too rushed. Anyway it's not a pressing matter so it's not too late to go tomorrow.
Speaking of going to the county town, and considering the recent grain harvest, Sun Shan remembered that he had not yet gone to the county to handle the scholar documents and transfer the land to his name for tax exemption.
The biggest benefit of passing the examination to become a scholar is that one is exempt from military service and tax on 30 acres of land.
The Sun family has not yet split up, which means that as long as Huang is still around, the Sun family will not need to send anyone to serve.
The Sun family just happened to have 30 acres of paddy fields, which could all be registered under Sun Shan’s name and exempt from tax.
Free from labor and land taxes, the Sun family will have a much better life.
In this way, the Sun family gets the benefits, but Sunjia Village does not actually get any benefits. However, the invisible benefits also make other villages envious.
Two months later, Sunjia Village became known as the "Scholar Village" by people from the surrounding villages. The ruffians no longer dared to act recklessly in the village. On the contrary, because the county magistrate drank scholar wine, they seemed very polite.
Because Sun Shan passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, marriages in the village have become much easier, especially among Sun Shan's close blood relatives. Many people have come to inquire about his marriage recently.
The matchmakers even did not let Sun Shan go. Sun Shan said frankly that he was only 13 years old and did not want to get married. The matchmakers took advantage of the situation and only said that they would be engaged and get married when he reached the right age.
In the end, Sun Shan could only say that he didn't want to consider marriage for the time being. He still had to continue his studies and didn't want to be bothered by such things.
Who would have thought that the matchmaker would turn around and say that Mr. Sun was arrogant and looked down on the person who proposed marriage.
Huang, Su and Sun Bomin were so angry that they wanted to catch the matchmaker and beat her up.
Sun Shan was still frightened. Oh, he had finally witnessed the power of the matchmaker's mouth. There was nothing they couldn't say, only things they couldn't think of.
Finally, Sun Shan persuaded the three Huang family members not to mind what the matchmaker said, and they would not allow the matchmaker to enter the house again.
Sun Shan took a look at the candidates introduced by the matchmaker. They were either merchants or small landlords. It seemed that his current market could only be found in these two identities. Even the people in the Huangyang County government were not enough.
The status of a scholar may only be popular in the countryside and among merchants, but it is not considered important among officials in the county town.
Sun Shan has no plans to get engaged at the moment, and he is also very aware that it is very difficult to find a woman who is mutually attracted to him.
A girl from a good family would definitely hide in her room and would never be let out to meet a man.
Sun Shan didn't mind his daughter working in the countryside, but she had to at least be literate. However, literacy was easier said than done. Boys didn't necessarily have the opportunity to go to school, let alone girls.
Sun Shan could not accept marrying an illiterate woman.
Sun Shan’s requirements were not very high. He just needed to be literate, have decent looks, have a good temper, and come from a good family.
For example, someone like Aunt Sun would be fine.
As for the children of high-ranking officials, Sun Shan had no intention of marrying up.
He never thought about becoming a noble or a prime minister. He just hoped to live a peaceful life and protect his parents.