Chapter 103
After thanking and seeing the village chief and the others off, Fang Zichen followed Yang Mingyi back to Zuixiao Restaurant.
The chili sauce was selling quickly—almost as soon as Zhao Ger arrived, customers would gather around. The chili sauce was truly too delicious, it could be mixed with rice or noodles or used as a dip.
A jar wouldn't last more than a few days. Some people thought it was expensive and resisted buying another jar after finishing one, but meals without the chili sauce always felt like something was missing, utterly bland and flavorless. Now, a full basket of chili sauce wasn't enough to sell in a single day, but there was no other way. They were short-handed. Although Zhao Ger felt it was a pity, he was so busy he barely had time to set foot on the ground, and each day he could only make so much.
Fang Zichen came home from work already very tired, Zhao Ger couldn't possibly ask him to help make it. He tried his best to finish making all the chili sauce in the afternoon—otherwise, when Fang Zichen returned and saw him busy, he would always step in to lend a hand. Zhao Ger didn't want him to get tired.
Now, after selling the chili sauce, he went to the pork stall and bought two jin (1 kg) of pork, asking Old Man Li to cut it into four portions, each half a jin. This was to give to the village chief and He Daleng and the others. There was no donkey to ride today, so Zhao Ger held Guaizai's hand and walked home, unaware that Xiaohe Village was currently bustling with excitement.
After He Daleng left, his daughter-in-law, Liu-shi, immediately went next door. Although she was stingy, she wasn't bad-hearted. Because her family had been selling chili peppers to Zhao Ger recently, they had earned some silver. In her eyes now, Zhao Ger was her God of Wealth. She considered Fang Zichen taking the imperial exams not a bad thing at all, and certainly nothing to be ashamed of, so when she chatted about it, she was unrestrained and had no reservations.
Women and fulangs loved gossiping about these kinds of tidbits. In just one morning, the entire Xiaohe Village, from top to bottom, old and young, even the old hen in the backyard and the big fat pig in the pigpen, all knew about it.
Some thought he was promising, bold, looked noble, and could read. Before he ended up wandering far from home, his family had probably had him study, and maybe he really could achieve something in the exams. Others were not optimistic. Fang Zichen was good-looking, capable, and doted on his fulang and protected his child.
The village girls and gers had previously pitied Zhao Ger, thinking he was a servant bought by the Ma family. Some looked down on him—some, after marrying themselves and having difficult in-laws or an inconsiderate husband, and living a hard life, found solace in seeing Zhao Ger's life even harder than theirs, feeling that however bad they had it, they were still better off than Zhao Ger.
But now, everyone envied Zhao Ger. With Fang Zichen as a benchmark, the unmarried girls and gers in the village looked down on other men even more. Some men were broad-minded and felt it didn't matter. No matter how good Fang Zichen was, he couldn't possibly marry all the girls and gers in the village.
There's a saying: better to be the wife of a poor man than the concubine of a rich one. A concubine, to put it bluntly, was only slightly higher in status than a servant. They could be hit or scolded at will.
But some men were narrow-minded. Seeing all the village girls and gers focusing their attention on Fang Zichen and discussing him constantly, they found Fang Zichen very irritating. Now, knowing about this exam matter, they were even more sour.
"Pah, him? He knows a couple of characters and thinks he can take the imperial exams! He thinks just because he's good at fighting, he'll be good at exams? He should take a good look at himself and see how much he's really worth."
"Exactly, making such a big fuss. Let's see if he isn't embarrassed when he fails."
"Scholar Wang from Xiaorong Village is also taking the exam this year. I wonder if he'll pass this time."
"He should be able to, right? He's taken it a few times before, so he's experienced. It would be unreasonable if he still couldn't pass after all this."
"Last time I went to my maternal grandmother's to help cut rice, I was fortunate enough to see Scholar Wang. He happened to be home then, I heard it was some 'agricultural break' from the private school, I don't really understand. As I passed his doorway, I saw him sitting under the eaves reading. When I came back, I saw him still holding a book, studying. He's very diligent. Even so, he's taken the exam several times, and I heard he passed the county-level exam but didn't pass the prefectural-level exam. He's already well over twenty. How old is Fang Zichen? How many years has he even studied? And he's from overseas, what he learned is different from us. I admire his courage for daring to go, but let's be honest, I think he'll probably just bring back a lump of shit."
Passing both the county-level and prefectural-level exams meant achieving the rank of Tongsheng. These narrow-minded men didn't think much of Fang Zichen's chances. Most of his admirers weren't optimistic either, but they didn't say much. Even if he failed, he was still miles ahead of the other village men. And just having taken the exam placed him above them.
Zhao Ger went home, put down the basket, drank some water, then took Guaizai and carried the meat to express his thanks to each family. The several families all declined, refusing to accept it.
With several dozen households in the village, the fact that Zhao Ger had sought them out specifically showed he remembered their kindness. Moreover, it wasn't such a big favor, they had taken the ox cart both ways, so it wasn't much effort, and they had even eaten two large, fatty buns from him that morning, which must have cost several copper coins. This half-jin of white, fatty meat probably cost quite a bit too.
After another round of polite refusals, when Zhao Ger finally left He Daleng's house, sweat was beading on his forehead, and his mouth was parched. It felt more tiring than doing a morning's work in the fields. He thought, good thing Fang Zichen wasn't here. If he had been the one coming to give thanks and present the meat and encountered this situation, if the other party politely said 'No, no, don't stand on ceremony, please take it back,' he might very well have actually taken the meat back. Thinking of this, Zhao Ger couldn't help but laugh.
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