Chapter 1176: Everyone Gives Gifts to Sun Shan (2)
Widow Li looked at Sun Shan anxiously and replied in a low voice, "Sir, I am not tired."
Don't ask her why she answered that way, she doesn't know how to answer.
It is hard to raise children, especially since I am a widow and have to support a scholar.
Even if you don’t experience the hardships yourself, you will still feel the pain when you see them.
Widow Li is not really old, but half of her hair is already white.
Seeing her reservedness, Sun Shan brought up some homely topics and asked with a smile, "Madam, did you grow these vegetables and fruits yourself? They are so well grown, so juicy and green."
Talking about these common topics, Widow Li relaxed a little.
He smiled and said, "Sir, I still have two acres of land at home, and these are planted by my son."
Unexpectedly, it was Mr. Zhong who planted the crops. Sun Shan said admiringly, "Mr. Zhong does a good job of planting crops. He is a good farmer."
Then he said, "Madam, to be honest, I also came from the village. I seem to be good at studying, but I am actually better at farming. When I was at home, I loved farming."
After hearing what Sun Shan said, Mr. Zhong and Widow Li suddenly felt a sense of closeness.
I heard that the county magistrate was also a country boy. I didn't expect the rumor to be true.
Moreover, it was rumored that the county magistrate was good at farming. Now that he admitted it himself, it seemed that he really was good at farming.
Widow Li smiled and said, "I didn't expect adults to farm. Haha, my son can farm too. My hands are used to embroidering, so I can't farm. I used to let others farm, but later my son Ren Yazi grew up and he farmed on his own."
Sun Shan nodded repeatedly and said, "Studying is one thing, but we come from the countryside and we can't do without farming. Mr. Zhong has done a good job."
Scholar Zhong had never expected that Sun Shan did not look down on the farmer, so he quickly said, "Your Excellency, you are too kind."
Sun Shan suggested: "Next year, the government will have bird droppings for sale. You can buy some and take them home. Whether you are farming or growing vegetables, if you apply fertilizer according to the requirements, you will get more grain and your vegetables will grow better. I have used this kind of bird droppings myself and it is very useful."
Widow Li and Scholar Zhong never expected that Sun Shan would promote bird droppings to them.
Mr. Sun said so, and if they didn’t buy a few pounds to take back, they would be letting Mr. Sun down for his recommendation.
Widow Li promised repeatedly: "I will. I will definitely come to buy bird droppings next year."
Sun Shan chatted with Widow Li for a while about daily life, and seeing that it was getting late, he sent her away.
After Gui Ge'er sent Widow Li and her son away, the fat candidate's family came to give gifts.
Sun Shan was stunned and asked, "Why did Fatty give me a gift?"
It is natural for the Wang family to send it off. It is polite and proper for the widow Li to send it off.
Why did Fatty's father send it? Sun Shan didn't understand.
Gui Ge'er replied between understanding and not understanding: "Brother Shan, maybe Fatty's father thanks you for sending someone to safely escort Fatty to the examination room."
The fat boy was greedy and kept smacking his mouth while eating. If he hadn't been watched by Sun Dali, he probably wouldn't have been able to enter the examination room.
Sun Shan disagreed and said, "Fatty hasn't come back yet, so how can his father know what he has done? If you really want to be grateful, Fatty should come back."
Gui Ge'er shook his head and said, "Brother Shan, maybe Fatty's father saw others sending gifts, so he also sent gifts, otherwise it would not make sense."
This makes a lot of sense. Not only Fatty's dad, but even Sun Shan does the same thing as him.
Since I have accepted gifts from the Wang family and the widow, it would seem unreasonable if I don't meet Fatty's father.
Sun Shan reluctantly invited Fatty's father in.
It turns out that Fatty's dad is not fat at all, he is a thin guy.
It looks like Fatty ate his father's share as well.
When Fatty's father saw Sun Shan, he said, "Sir, I came here to thank you. Thanks to your escort, my son was able to arrive at Chenzhou Prefecture safely and pass the imperial examination. Thank you, sir."
Sun Shan didn't know whether what Fatty's father said was true or false, but he saw a pile of gifts, which were much richer than those given by Widow Li.
I couldn't help but feel satisfied and nodded secretly.
He said calmly, "You're welcome. This is what I should do. This is a trivial matter, so don't express your gratitude. I'm their teacher, and I'm very pleased to see that they can achieve good results."
In order to show distance, Sun Shan called himself "this official", and in order to show intimacy, Sun Shan called himself "I".
These two titles vary with familiarity.
The first time I met Fatty, I had to be polite.
Although Fatty's father doesn't look like a businessman, he is actually a merchant, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to raise Fatty so fat.
After Sun Shan said a few polite words, Fatty's dad immediately climbed up the pole and started flattering Sun Shan.
Sun Shan looked at Fatty's father with a smile. He had experienced this kind of flattery too many times and had become immune to it.
Sun Shan would not get lost in the praise from his fat father.
After a brief chat, he sent the guest away.
In the next two days, newly-minted scholar fathers or grandfathers came to give gifts one after another.
Fortunately, there were only 8 candidates who passed the exam this time. If there were more than ten or twenty, wouldn’t they have to meet with them every day?
He, Sun Shan, is very busy!
Gui Ge'er looked at the pile of gifts excitedly, touching them here and there and sorting them out.
He said happily: "Brother Shan, you sent me a lot of gifts, more and richer than the gifts I received during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Haha, Brother Shan, it seems that the candidate's family really thanks you."
Sun Shan was helpless. After accepting the gifts from the Wang family at the beginning, he had to keep accepting gifts from them.
Otherwise it will cause unnecessary misunderstandings. We can't accept candidate A's answer but not candidate B's. What will candidate C think?
He said helplessly: "Pick out the food to eat, put the used ones aside, and sell them when Uncle Dali comes to Chenzhou Prefecture next time."
Sun Shan made a lot of money from the last resale. He would keep all the gifts he could and wait for a chance to sell them to make more money.
Sun Dali said cheerfully, "Yes, sir. Last time when I sold inkstones to him, the shopkeeper asked me to continue selling them to him. He also said that our products are good and of good quality."
Seeing so many gifts, Sun Dali immediately decided which merchant to trade with next time he went to Chenzhou Prefecture.
Haha, it will definitely sell for a lot of money.
The corner of Master Zhang's mouth twitched.
He looked at the pile of food in front of him and saw that his master had asked him to take it back and eat it slowly.
He then looked at the pile of gifts he had picked up and was preparing to sell in Chenzhou Prefecture.
I feel like the world is changing too fast and it's hard to adapt.
Mr. Zhang couldn't understand why the scholar wanted to give gifts to Sun Shan. Wasn't it Sun Shan who gave them gifts to express his congratulations?
Or is it that he has never worked for an official before and doesn't understand the rules of officialdom?
Master Zhang was puzzled and didn't know how to ask, so he just kept it in mind and tried hard to find the answer.
If Master Zhang asked Sun Shan.
Sun Shan didn't know why either.
Because when he was in high school, he didn't give any gifts to Lord Wei, but on the contrary Lord Wei gave him gifts to congratulate him.
Perhaps each county has its own customs. In Yuanlu County, it was popular for candidates to give gifts to the county magistrate after passing the exam.