It is only the middle of the first lunar month, and there is still one or two months before the Sheng family moves to Bianjing. Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai will also stay in Youyang for a while.
Therefore, Zhuang Jun was not in a hurry to leave. He only waited for Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai to finish their exams before meeting up with the Sheng family's troops in Yangzhou and sailing to Beijing together.
After leaving the lakeside courtyard, Wei Chen paid a visit to his senior brother Shen Du's house and told him about Zhuang Jun's decision to enter the capital soon.
Shen Du regretted this, but still expressed respect for the teacher's wishes. He just hoped that on the day Zhuang Jun left, Wei Chen could inform him or go to see him off.
Wei Chen naturally agreed.
The brothers chatted for a while, and when Wei Chen saw that it was getting late, he stood up and left.
He originally wanted to go to Shengjia Trading Company in the city to see the sales of amber wine, but after thinking about it, he gave up the idea.
Wei Chen decided to slowly get out of the wine shop business and let Wei Ruyi and Zhang Ming come forward more. This is also a common practice in officialdom.
It would be best if even the winery's members were handed over to Wei Ruyi and Zhang Ming, with Wei Chen completely hidden behind the scenes, so that a lot of trouble would be avoided in the future.
After returning from Jiangning, Wei Chen went to his aunt and uncle and told his plans, and then began studying hard behind closed doors with Sheng Changbai and Sheng Changfeng to prepare for the annual exam.
However, when people live in this world, there will always be troubles that cannot be avoided, and Wei Chen is not immune to it.
Before and after the Lantern Festival, the threshold of Wei Chen's family was almost broken. Many candidates who were related to Wei Chen came to the door one after another, asking Wei Chen to serve as a trial for their county.
In just two or three days, hundreds of candidates came to visit, which made Wei Chen extremely annoyed.
There is nothing we can do about it. There are only a few dozen candidates in total in the county. After deducting those who have died of illness, are ill, are observing the system, and studying abroad, there are only a few people who can really act as guardians for the candidates. p>
In particular, Wei Chen is still the junior Sanyuan who has won three consecutive championships. Many people ask Wei Chen to be their guarantee because they want to take advantage of Wei Chen's literary spirit.
Among them are members of the Wei clan from Xiyin Village, relatives of the Sheng family, and many old classmates from the Sheng family's free school.
It was all a favor and there was no way to shirk it, so Wei Chen had no choice but to be patient, receive them one by one, and agree to be their guarantee.
Wei Chen felt quite strange when he thought that a year ago, he was just like these candidates, busy preparing for the county examination, but now he was able to serve as their bailiff.
According to the rules, each person should give one tael of silver as a thank you gift. Wei Chen now has a rich family and has no shortage of money to provide as a guarantee. But if someone really wants to give it to him, Wei Chen will not refuse. After all, it is a heartfelt gift, and if you push it outwards, it will be reversed
Hurtful.
After adding up all the thank-you gifts, Wei Chen made a small profit of dozens of taels of silver.
Of course, when Wei Chen acted as guarantee for those candidates from poor families, he did not take any money from them.
When these people come to the county town, they will spend a lot of money just to stay in an inn, plus the cost of pens, ink and paper. To participate in a boy's examination, they will spend more than half a year's savings at home.
Wei Chen himself also came from a poor background and knew how difficult it was for these candidates. Anyway, he didn't care about these melons and dates, so he just regarded it as doing some good deeds to give back to his hometown.
Although Wei Chen just did it casually, in the eyes of the recipients, it was a real act of kindness. All the poor candidates in Youyang were extremely grateful to Wei Chen.
Although they were short of money, they still brought some gifts to express their gratitude to Wei Chen. They were all local products from the countryside. They were not worth a lot of money, but they were quite generous. The large and small bags were piled high in the concierge.
Sheng Changbai was secretly stunned when he saw this small mountain of gifts. Although he didn't care about these gifts, he understood the meaning behind them.
This is what people hope for!
Last year, there was only one place for junior students in the government school, and it was occupied by Wei Chen. In order to enter the government school, Sheng Changbai was just a freshman, so naturally he couldn't be a guarantor. Even Sheng Changfeng asked Wei Chen to be his guarantor for this county examination.
.
Originally, Sheng Changbai didn't care whether he was a junior student or not, he just wanted to go to school. Now seeing Wei Chen's treatment as a junior student, he is really a little envious.
Soon the day of the February county examination came.
Sheng Changfeng got up at the fourth watch, and Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai also got up. Wei Chen was the Linbao, so he had to accompany him to the examination room. As the elder brother, Sheng Changbai felt that he had the obligation to take the examination.
After getting up, Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai saw the panda eyes on Sheng Changfeng's face and couldn't help but smile at each other. They were both experienced, and naturally knew that Sheng Changfeng was nervous before the exam and didn't sleep well last night.
Soon, Wei Ruyi brought them a large plate of food, and specially cooked a soft-boiled egg and mixed it with the other eggs.
Sheng Changfeng picked up one casually, peeled off the egg shell and looked at it. He suddenly raised his head and laughed proudly: "Haha, it's so refreshing!"
Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai smiled and congratulated: "Such a good sign, it seems that you are lucky this time!"
After breakfast, the three of them took a carriage to the county government office. The sky was filled with stars and the ground was bustling with traffic. Seeing this scene and recalling themselves last year, Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai felt a little emotional.
When Sheng Changfeng arrived at the county government office, he completely lost the confidence he had when he ate the soft-boiled eggs. He stood there so anxious that his calves could not help but tremble.
Sheng Changbai patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him: "You have studied hard these past few months and have studied hard. Today, as long as you take the exam normally and do the eight common questions, I guarantee you will win!"
"Got it."
Sheng Changfeng took a deep breath, nodded vigorously, then mustered up the courage and stepped into the examination room without hesitation.
Watching Sheng Changfeng's figure disappear behind the dragon gate, Sheng Changbai stood outside the examination room for a long time. It was not until all the candidates had entered that he returned home at Wei Chen's urging.
In the blink of an eye, the day of writing came, and Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai were sitting in the attic, correcting each other's newly completed essays.
"I got it, I got it, I got it!"
The door was pushed open, and Sheng Changfeng stumbled in, saying with a joyful face: "Brothers, I won!"
Sheng Changbai kept his hands on his hands, raised his head and asked: "Where did you get in the exam?"
Sheng Changfeng looked excited: "I ranked 35th in the county examination. I didn't expect that I could do so well!"
Wei Chen laughed and said: "Hey, thirty-five? That's incredible!"
Sheng Changbai said softly: "What's the big deal? Last year I was third and you were first. Who is the thirty-fifth one? Xingyun, do you remember?"
"Uh..." Wei Chen was speechless for a moment.
As for Sheng Changfeng, all the excitement he had just been expelled was like a punctured pig urine bubble. He sat on the chair and said feebly: "Second brother, I don't want you to attack people like this!"
Sheng Changbai shook his head and said seriously: "Chang Feng, do you know that in fact, Xingyun has been correcting your papers these days because he guessed the preferences of Youyang County Lord and specially corrected them for you?"
"Ah?"
Sheng Changfeng suddenly opened his mouth.
First, I was surprised by Wei Chen's vast magical power, he could even figure out the preferences of the county magistrate.
The second is that he is annoyed at his own uselessness. Wei Chen has gone to this extent for him, but he only got a score of thirty-five in the exam.
Seeing the frustration on Sheng Changfeng's face, Wei Chen gave Sheng Changbai a helpless look.
Before Sheng Changfeng's exam, seeing Sheng Changbai's concerned look, Wei Chen wondered if he wanted to enter the exam room for Sheng Changfeng.
When Sheng Changfeng got his results, Sheng Changbai was obviously very happy, but he still pretended to be dissatisfied with a straight face.
This is not a close brother, this is simply a close relationship with me!