Chapter 102
These few families were completely stunned by this sudden news.
Fang Zichen is going to take the imperial exams?
He wasn't going for fun, nor was he joking—he was really going to take the exams!
The imperial exams!
How could it be so sudden?
Wasn't he working at Zuixiao Restaurant? How did he suddenly decide to take the exams?
It was no wonder they were shocked.
The village chief's family had received the news beforehand and already knew about this matter, but when Zhao Ger came to their door, they still felt it was like a dream.
He Daneng, the clan leader's family, and the Liu family even pulled Zhao Ger aside to ask him repeatedly if it was true.
Aunt Liu, being more familiar with Zhao Ger, asked in more detail.
"Zhao Ger, this isn't a joke, is it?"
Zhao Ger shook his head and said seriously, "It's true."
"How did he suddenly decide to take the exams?" Aunt Liu was sewing shoe soles in the main hall at the time. Upon hearing this, she pricked her finger with the needle, drawing a little blood.
She hissed in pain, sucked on her finger, and finally stopped working altogether. "Why does he want to take the exams?"
Zhao Ger replied, "It wasn't sudden, he had this plan before."
"But we never heard you mention it before." Aunt Liu looked at Zhou Ger. Zhou Ger was closest to Zhao Ger, they were similar in age. Zhao Ger might tell Zhou Ger some things, but wouldn't necessarily talk to her about them.
Zhou Ger shook his head at her, meaning he didn't know either.
His surprise was no less than Aunt Liu's at that moment.
Fang Zichen worked every day and occasionally wandered around the village, but he couldn't have been going around telling everyone 'I'm going to take the imperial exams.'
Therefore, only his pillow partner knew about this earlier.
He was full of confidence about the Tongsheng exam, acting as if success was certain, but Zhao Ger always felt the outcome was uncertain.
He didn't know much about the imperial examination system, only that such a thing existed.
The villagers didn't have much entertainment. After dinner, when it wasn't dark yet, people would always gather at the threshing ground to chat.
Their topics were varied, mostly useless gossip—which couple had argued today, how the corn in the fields wasn't as good as last year's, that the widow at the village entrance wore a new patterned dress yesterday. Only rarely would they talk about one or two serious matters.
But they were all country folk, revolving daily around their few acres of land. Their knowledge of outside affairs wasn't complete, mostly heard from working in town, half-understood snippets.
Hearsay couldn't be taken as truth.
But Zhao Ger believed it.
It wasn't that he was naive and easily fooled, he just thought of it as a support, a thought to keep him going.
The imperial exams, if everything went smoothly, the progression was inevitably Tongsheng, Xiucai, Juren.
If Fang Zichen's ability was as great as his mouth, then he could leave Xiaohe Village, go to the prefectural city, and then... the capital.
He wanted... to go home.
The thought of going home filled his mind constantly.
Day after day, year after year, this thought never ceased.
When he was being bullied and humiliated at the Ma family, when he was suffering bitterly, when he curled up shivering from the cold in winter, when Guaizai smiled sweetly at him and watched longingly as Ma Xiaoshun ate tanghulu, while his own son could only be scolded, reprimanded, and chased away like he was back then, then hiding to watch secretly and swallow his saliva—that was when this thought was the strongest.
Back then, whenever he stopped to catch his breath, he would instinctively gaze in the direction of the village entrance.
He didn't know where the capital was, but he felt that when he came, he had taken the road from the village entrance. So that road must lead to the capital, and the capital should be in that direction.
Home was in that direction too.
He still wanted to go home now, but... this thought wasn't as intense as it used to be.
Over ten-plus years, no matter how strong his feelings for home and his parents were, they had been worn away by repeated hopes and repeated disappointments.
Now, where Fang Zichen was, where he was, that was his home.
With Fang Zichen, whether he returned home or not didn't seem so important anymore.
Moreover, the capital was tens of thousands of miles away.
When he was abducted as a child, he and twelve other children of similar age were tied up by traffickers, crammed into a crude horse cart. Jostling along with the cart, they crossed mountains and forded rivers, enduring wind and dew, living a rough life. The traffickers had no conscience. If he shouted, cried, or made a fuss, he would be beaten.
When hungry, they only got hard wild vegetable buns.
Because it was his first time suffering, those dark days of hiding and moving for over three, almost four months, left a particularly deep impression on him.
Even if they weren't going for the exams, if he told Fang Zichen, Fang Zichen, who doted on him so much, would definitely take him. But, not to mention the long and arduous journey, these times were turbulent, with rampant bandits outside. If they encountered some who only sought money, there was still a chance to live. But if they robbed both wealth and 'beauty', then there was only a dead end.
Daxia valued literary accomplishment, and the law stipulated that anyone who injured a scholar with an official rank without cause would be pursued to the fullest extent by the court. In severe cases, the punishment could be death by hanging.
Furthermore, upon passing the xiucai examination, the court would bestow a jade pendant symbolizing one's rank. This was far more useful than a travel pass, as it exempted the bearer from the multiple inspections and interrogations by city gate guards.
Therefore, if Fang Zichen held an official rank, his journey would be much safer and more convenient.
Another reason was that to return to the capital, the cost of transportation, food, clothing, and lodging along the way would require no less than a hundred taels of silver. Without that amount, one couldn't make the trip.
Where could they get that much money?
Previously, returning home was his greatest desire. After having Guaizai, his greatest desire became ensuring the child grew up healthy, well-fed, clothed, and safe.
Now, that desire had changed again.
It had become even more greedy.
Fang Zichen cared deeply about face. The imperial exams were such an uncertain matter that he wouldn't go around talking about it. If the whole village found out and then his husband failed the exam again, given his temperament, he would probably die of shame and not dare to leave the house for half a month. If he found out he had spread the news, he would surely beat him.
But now, needing to ask someone to be his guarantor, he had no choice but to speak up.
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