Chapter 116: Good News 1/2

When Li Qingzhi saw his name, Zhu Xunmiao saw it too. He turned around excitedly to say something, but almost dropped the bun in his mouth.

Swallowing the bite, Zhu Xunmiao exclaimed, “Brother Li, you’re the top scorer!”

After saying that, Zhu Xunmiao continued to squeeze forward—he hadn’t seen the full list yet!

Before long, Zhu Xunmiao emerged from the crowd, excitedly saying, “I made it! Haha! I made it!”

Zhu Xunmiao had received careful guidance from Li Xiucai for a long time, and he had been working very hard this past year. Not long ago, he had even received guidance from Magistrate Guo…

Although his performance in this prefectural examination was not outstanding, he still made it onto the list.

Shortly after, Xu Qifei also came out of the crowd with a flushed face, saying, “I made it too!”

Xu Qifei was much more diligent in his studies than Zhu Xunmiao. After getting to know Zhu Xunmiao, he read some books that he might not have read before.

Coupled with Magistrate Zhang’s fair examination… His ranking was slightly higher than Zhu Xunmiao’s.

At this point, more and more people had seen the entire list.

Magistrate Zhang had selected 56 people this time, so the vast majority of people did not make it onto the list.

These people were disappointed, but no one said Magistrate Zhang was unfair.

They were quite clear about their own abilities, and the people on the list were somewhat famous—even Zhu Xunmiao and Xu Qifei, who often accompanied Li Qingzhi, had made acquaintances.

The classmate who had come to the prefectural examination with Li Qingzhi and the others this time was regretfully not listed.

Zhu Xunmiao and Xu Qifei went forward to comfort him. After feeling upset for a while, he quickly accepted reality: “Actually, it’s normal for me not to make it onto the list. Li Xiucai has so many sons, but only two of them passed the prefectural examination. My knowledge can’t compare to theirs or yours.”

Despite being the sons of Li Xiucai, none of them had passed the xiucai examination yet, and some of them couldn’t even pass the county examination.

In any case, this prefectural examination brought both joy and sorrow to different families.

Zhu Xunmiao was particularly excited. Leading Li Qingzhi and the others out of the crowd, he said, “Let’s go to the restaurant for breakfast. It’s on me!”

Having already eaten quite a bit, Li Qingzhi agreed without hesitation, “Okay.”

The restaurant had a variety of food to choose from.

Zhu Xunmiao asked them to order, and Li Qingzhi didn’t hesitate to order a bowl of eel noodle soup.

The others also ordered noodle dishes, while Zhu Xunmiao additionally ordered a basket of pork dumplings, ten pan-fried dumplings, and several pieces of deep-fried dough sticks.

Then they watched in amazement as Li Qingzhi, who had already eaten buns and rice dumplings, not only finished his noodles but also tasted the dumplings and fried dumplings and finally took a piece of deep-fried dough stick to eat slowly.

“Brother Li, you really can eat!” Zhu Xunmiao admired.

Li Qingzhi replied, “I just have a good appetite.”

Zhu Xunmiao: “…” Even if someone has a good appetite, it shouldn’t be this much!

Li Qingzhi really liked the food at the restaurant. Not only was it delicious, but it was also high in calories.

Take the deep-fried dough sticks, for example… With every bite, you could feel the oil bursting in your mouth.

After eating too much, Li Qingzhi picked up a teacup and drank some tea.

The tea was chrysanthemum tea, with white chrysanthemum blossoms blooming in the water, looking very appetizing.

While drinking tea, Li Qingzhi also chewed on the chrysanthemum blossoms—it would be a waste otherwise!

After they had eaten their fill, someone copied down the list of prefectural examination results. Zhu Xunmiao bought a copy and sent it back to Chongcheng County with a servant, so his father could be informed of the good news as soon as possible.

As for them… assuming nothing unexpected happened, Magistrate Zhang would host a banquet for those who passed the prefectural examination. They planned to return to Chongcheng County after the banquet.

However… At noon, a bailiff came to them and told them that Magistrate Zhang had canceled the banquet.

Nevertheless, although Magistrate Zhang was not holding a banquet, he had written a few words of encouragement for each scholar who made it onto the list.

Faced with this situation, some of the scholars who passed the prefectural examination were bewildered, but Li Qingzhi, looking at Magistrate Zhang’s handwriting, felt that something was amiss.

“Magistrate Zhang’s handwriting is really good! I didn’t expect to receive a calligraphy work from Magistrate Zhang!” Zhu Xunmiao looked at the letter written to him by Magistrate Zhang, turning it over and over, then looked at Li Qingzhi. “Brother Li, since Magistrate Zhang doesn’t plan to hold a banquet, let’s go back first.”

After nearly a month away from home, Zhu Xunmiao was starting to miss it.

“Okay, let’s go back.” Li Qingzhi also missed home, especially wanting to hug and kiss Jin Xiaoye.

At the very least, he wanted to hug and kiss Li Damao and Li Ermao, his little nephews.

He really missed them.

“After we pack up, we’ll leave immediately. We’ll be home by tonight!” Zhu Xunmiao stood up and quickly started packing.

Li Qingzhi didn’t have much to pack, so he finished even faster. Before leaving, however, he specifically wrote a letter and had someone deliver it to Chongwen Academy for Zhou Sanchang.

Although Zhou Sanchang invited him to study at Chongwen Academy, he agreed but planned to go there after some time.

And he probably wouldn’t stay at Chongwen Academy for long… He wanted to live with Jin Xiaoye and the others.

After packing up, they boarded Zhu’s boat and headed towards Chongcheng County.

Chongcheng County.

Zhu Xunmiao went to the prefectural capital to take the prefectural examination, but Zhu Qian didn’t accompany him.

His business was already quite large, and now he had become the president of the Chongcheng County Chamber of Commerce. He had many things to do and didn’t have time to accompany Zhu Xunmiao to the examination. However, although he didn’t go, Zhu Qian had always been concerned about Zhu Xunmiao. He even found a servant to send messages back and forth, so he knew the general situation in the prefectural capital.

During lunchtime that day, he mentioned his son to his wife again: “In two days, the results of the prefectural examination will be announced. I wonder if Xunmiao will make it onto the list.”

“The county magistrate said that it’s not difficult for Xunmiao to pass the exam for the Scholar title, right? He should be able to do it,” Mrs. Zhu said.

“Yes,” Zhu Qian said proudly, “Xunmiao has been smart since he was a child. Once, I made a mistake in writing a word, and I didn’t even notice it, but he spotted it at a glance…”

As Zhu Qian was speaking, someone rushed in from outside: “Master, good news! Good news! Young Master has passed!”

“Really?” Zhu Qian was overjoyed.

“Of course it’s true, Master! People have come from the prefectural capital!”

Zhu Qian was even happier: “The announcement of the prefectural examination results came so quickly! What about the others? Did they pass?”

“Mr. Li and Master Xu both passed, and Mr. Li even came first!”

“I knew Li Qingzhi was extraordinary!” Zhu Qian laughed heartily. “Quickly, find someone to report this good news to Shopkeeper Jin Xiaoye!”

Zhu Qian opened the list sent by Zhu Xunmiao and looked at it happily.

Although Zhu Xunmiao’s ranking was lower, he was still very happy. He also gave each of the servants in the Zhu family one hundred copper coins to share the joy.

While Zhu Qian was overjoyed, shopkeeper Jin was also having lunch.

For lunch today, the female workers had stewed pork with soybeans.

There wasn’t much meat, but after it was cut, each female worker could have a piece. But those soybeans were also fragrant with the smell of meat, plus the soup…

Mixing rice with soybean and meat soup was so delicious!

These female workers had been at Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop for almost two months and had all gained weight, especially the girls from Miaoqian Village, who had all changed drastically.

When they first arrived, they didn’t know anything and had to learn a lot. Plus, Jin Xiaoye had taken on a lot of orders, so they were very busy… In these two months, they hadn’t returned to Miaoqian Village at all.

Those with better family backgrounds had it better; their parents had come to the county to see them. But for someone like Jin Mao’er… She hadn’t seen her parents for over two months!

But Jin Mao’er didn’t miss home at all.

Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop was really great!

They did need to work, but they didn’t work all day.