northernbook Chapter 349 Li Fan’s Choice
Chapter 349 Li Fan’s Choice
Gu Yongwen and his mother were anxious and angry, but because they were tied up, they had no way to stop the mother and her two children from taking the money and escaping.
After the mother and her two children left, the two men persisted for most of the day and finally helped each other to untie the ropes that were tied around each other.
The two people who regained their freedom first went to find Gu Yongmei and asked her to help hire someone to look for the mother and her two children. Then they asked Gu Yongmei for money and took a carriage to the county government to report the case. Unfortunately, the mother and her two children were well prepared, and neither the people Gu Yongmei helped to find nor the officers from the county government could find them.
Gu Yongwen and his mother had no choice but to continue clinging to Gu Yongmei and sucking her blood.
Of course, these are not things that Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou would care about.
After passing the imperial examination, Bai Jingzhou, feeling that his level was not good enough, did not immediately go to the capital to take part in the imperial examination, but instead planned to continue his studies.
If he didn't go, Bai Jingshan and Gu Wenhai, who were at the bottom of the list, would definitely not go.
Li Fan, who ranked higher than them, had a hope of passing the exam, but after much thought, he finally decided to wait three years before going to Beijing with Bai Jingzhou and others.
He wanted to accumulate his knowledge and get a good rank in the exam three years later, rather than just try hard now and then either fail or fall into the same category as the third place Jinshi candidates.
After he passed the imperial examination, not only the schools in the county and town, but also the academies and schools in the state capital extended olive branches to him.
Perhaps knowing that he came from a poor family and needed to shoulder the heavy responsibility of supporting his family, these academies and schools wanted to poach him to be a teacher.
They did guess right. Li Fan was not like Bai Jingzhou and the others who could concentrate on their studies with the support of their family. As the only adult male in the family, he had to find a way to make money to return home.
Bai Jingzhou is a smart man, and of course he has thought of things that others have thought of.
After Li Fan decided not to go to the capital to take the exam for the time being, Bai Jingzhou had a deep talk with him.
He gave Li Fan two choices. One was that he would introduce Li Fan to the academy and lend him some money. The other was that Li Fan would continue to stay in Baijia Village to teach, but he would increase the tuition fee to ten taels per month and would also take him out to study next year or the year after. Bai Jingzhou would cover all expenses during the study tour.
Li Fan chose to continue teaching in Baijia Village without a second thought. The monthly salary of ten taels was top-notch in the county and even in the state capital, and the opportunity to study abroad was also rare, but what mattered most was that he could support himself with this job.
Although he came from a poor family, he had his own pride and lofty ambitions, and was not willing to add unnecessary social shackles to himself just because of his poverty.
When the news of his success in the imperial examination spread, many gentry and merchants in the county rushed to give him gifts, money and gifts, but he only accepted those gifts whose value was less than five taels of silver. As for the more expensive ones, he simply let the people take them back as they were.
This is also why Bai Jingzhou only said that he could lend him money instead of giving him money directly.
Of course, Li Fan did not ignore his academic problems at all.
He stayed in Baijia Village to teach instead of going to other higher-priced schools because here he could enjoy the rich educational resources represented by Bai Jingzhou.
Before, he was able to pass the imperial examination just by attending classes regularly at the county school. This was because he often exchanged knowledge with Bai Jingzhou, read a lot of Bai Jingzhou's collection of books, and used Bai Jingzhou's influence to indirectly ask for advice from Lin's father and the teachers in the academy.
He was aware of his shortcomings and knew what was the best choice, so he chose to continue teaching in Baijia Village without hesitation.
Thanks to this scholar, the number of students in Baijia Village School increased dramatically.
The newly built school building was sufficient for the time being, but the number of teachers was seriously insufficient.
In order to share the workload with Li Fan, Bai Jingzhou decisively hired two scholars in the village to be teachers.
Both of these scholars were surnamed Bai. When they went to Daming Prefecture to take the exam, they both borrowed Bai Jingzhou's carriage and residence.
Although their academic level was not as high as Li Fan's, they were still qualified to teach in the school and teach the children and those students who had not yet passed the examination to become a scholar.
It just so happened that the families of these two people were not well-off. Like Li Fan, they also needed to earn money to support their families while studying.
Even if Bai Jingzhou didn't look for them, they would take the initiative to find Bai Jingzhou and recommend themselves. After all, this is a sought-after job with high pay, little work and close to home.
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After passing the imperial examination, Bai Jingzhou did not spend most of his time studying hard in the academy as he did before. He went to the academy to thank the principal and teachers, and to entertain his classmates with whom he had a good relationship. Then he returned to Baijia Village with Gu Wenxuan and Gu Wenhai.
During the time he stayed at home, he sorted out the results of his own cotton rotation experiment, as well as his experience in planting sweet potatoes, peanuts, corn, and sunflowers.
In the second booklet submitted to the court through the county government, Bai Jingzhou specifically noted that the planting methods of sweet potatoes and beans were provided by Mu Hanzhi. They simply added some planting experiences that were relatively more suitable for the northern climate and soil on the basis of the planting methods provided by Mu Hanzhi, as well as their per-acre yield data for the past two years, the uses of the fruits and straw of the new crops, and the cooking methods of the new crops.
The new Qingshan County magistrate who came at the beginning of last year had no personal relationship with Bai Jingzhou, but he had good abilities and conduct. After taking office, he did many big and small things to benefit the people. Like the previous County Magistrate Peng, he was also a rare good official.
Bai Jingzhou was well-informed. After observing him for more than a year and finding that he was indeed a qualified official who worked steadily, Bai Jingzhou decided to report their valuable experience through the county government.
After finishing this task, Bai Jingzhou helped his father-in-law's family with Gu Wenhai's engagement arrangements.
Gu Wenhai's marriage had not been decided before. It was only after he passed the imperial examination that Master Yuan from their academy suddenly became interested in marrying off his daughter and took the initiative to ask the headmaster of the academy to act as a matchmaker between his daughter and Gu Wenhai.
Mr. Yuan's daughter is fourteen years old this year, two years younger than Gu Wenhai, and is just the right age to arrange a marriage.
It just so happened that Master Yuan's son was also studying in the academy, and had a good relationship with Bai Jingzhou, Gu Wenhai and others. When his sister reached a certain age, his family began to look for a marriage for her, but they always failed to find one that satisfied their family's wishes.
At this time, the news that Bai Jingzhou, Bai Jingshan and Gu Wenhai had passed the imperial examinations reached the academy. Mr. Yuan had an idea and recommended Gu Wenhai, who he thought was a suitable candidate, to his family elders.