The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 159 Scholar

After finishing the two college entrance examinations, Chang Ping slept for a whole afternoon before regaining some strength. Then he memorized the examination questions and let his two younger brothers figure out the answers on their own.

After the exam, the academy started classes. Changping wrote out his answers from memory and gave them to the teacher for review.

After reading it, the teacher said, "If nothing unexpected happens, you should be on the list for this subject."

Although Changping felt a little relieved, he did not tell his family what his master said. He was afraid that something might go wrong. If he didn't win, it would be bad to let everyone be happy for nothing.

The teacher also commented on the papers written by Chang'an and Changfu. Every word he said was practical and he pointed out each person's shortcomings, asking them to avoid such problems in their future studies.

Seven days later, the results of the academy examination were announced, and Changping was indeed on the list. Although his ranking was not high enough and he did not pass the examination to become a scholar, an eighteen-year-old scholar could be considered a young talent in the northwest where literature was not popular.

The chief examiner for this year's Academy of Sciences is Mr. Wang Hengzhi, a classmate of his. Although the two are not close friends, they still visit each other from time to time. Before the exam, Chen Cui asked Changping to visit Mr. Wang and learned about the examiner's preferences.

Knowing the examiner's likes and dislikes, I will be more confident during the Changping exam. At least when writing, I will avoid some things that may displease the examiner and prevent him from being annoyed.

After the list came out, Chen Cui took Changping to Wang Hengzhi's house to visit and thank him. Changping expressed his gratitude sincerely.

Wang Hengzhi did not take credit for it. He waved his hand and said, "It's just a small effort. It's not worth it. This is all the result of your own hard work. You are so young and successful. It's really cause for celebration!"

Chang Ping said ashamedly, "I am not worthy of this honor. When I was my age, you were already preparing for the imperial examination. How could I be so worthy of such praise from you?"

Wang Hengzhi disagreed: "You know, I started to study at the age of five, and I had studied for eleven years when I passed the examination. You have only studied for a few years, but you have achieved such achievements. You are far ahead of others!"

Changping smiled embarrassedly.

Wang Hengzhi patted him on the shoulder and said, "Young man, it is good to be modest and cautious. The road to the imperial examination is still long. Passing the academy examination is just a step in the door. The provincial and metropolitan examinations that follow are the hurdles that determine your fate. Many people stop at the academy examination throughout their lives. How you choose to go in the future is entirely up to you."

Lord Wang was encouraging the young men here, while over in the flower hall, Chen Cui and Mrs. Zhang were talking about business matters.

"There are already 7,000 jars in the warehouse. We estimate that we can produce another 1,000 or 2,000 jars until the end of September." Chen Cui was reporting on the inventory situation of canned fruit.

"Is the impact of the drought this year so great that the fruit production has decreased so much?" Zhang Ruomei frowned.

"Yes, people don't have enough time to water the crops, let alone the fruit trees. The crop yield has dropped by at least 30%. Even if the peppers are watered three times this year, the harvest is not good, not even two-thirds of last year's."

Chen Cui sighed.

It didn't rain when it should have, and the crops were suffering from severe drought. People had to carry water on their shoulders and hands to irrigate the crops, but the results were not very good. Some places far from water sources were hit harder.

Chen Cui specially dug two deep wells on the farm and mobilized everyone in the farm to water the peppers several times, but the reduction in pepper production was still unavoidable.

As a result, the output of both canned fruit and hot pot base will be reduced this year, and profits will definitely fall.

"Alas, no wonder the master looks so unhappy lately, he is busy until very late every day."

Zhang Ruomei looked worried and sighed as well.

After arriving in the prefectural capital and serving as the Tongzhi, Wang Hengzhi was no longer the chief officer, and it was not easy for him to go to the countryside to check on things as frequently. However, he was still very concerned about the conditions in several counties under the jurisdiction of Longnan Prefecture, especially those near the prefectural capital. He would take time out to go there in person for field inspections.

But no matter how you look at it, this year's production reduction has become inevitable. The autumn harvest is coming soon. If the tax is still set as in previous years, the surplus grain left by the farmers after paying the taxes will certainly not be enough for them to live on. By then, the people will be unable to make a living, and he will not be able to feel at ease as an official.

However, if tax cuts were to be implemented, the prefect would first have to report it to the court and obtain approval before it could be implemented. He was not sure whether the prefect, Lord Ma, was willing to take the lead.

After all, complaining to superiors, no matter what the reason, would show that the chief official was incompetent and unable to govern the local area, which would inevitably affect his reputation and future promotions. Lord Ma might not be willing to take this risk.

Wang Hengzhi sighed. Based on his understanding of Mr. Ma, he would most likely refuse and ask the people to hold out and wait until next year.

But what he feared was that next year would not be good either. "After a severe drought, there will be a severe flood." This was the experience he had gained from people in various places during his many years in the local area, and it had been verified in many places.

Wang Hengzhi felt that regardless of whether Lord Ma agreed or not, he had to give it a try and inform him of the immediate benefits and future risks so as to avoid being unable to cope with disasters in the future.

Drought and floods are something no one wants to see, but they are unavoidable. Every year, the entire Longnan Prefecture conscripts laborers to build water conservancy projects, trying to reduce the impact of weather on agriculture in this way, but ultimately they cannot resist the power of nature.

Due to the drought, the water levels of many rivers have dropped significantly, and even some small tributaries have dried up, causing worries for many farmers who rely on river irrigation.

Chen Cui asked someone to send a message, asking Dahe to dig a deep well in the farm in the county town. She also sent money to Liu Youcai, asking him to hire someone to dig two deep wells in the middle of the fields in the village to facilitate the villagers' irrigation water. This move attracted many villagers to favor their family.

Coming out of Wang Youzhi's house, Changping frowned and said, "Mom, is the situation on our farm not going well this year?"

"We planted peppers this season and watered them several times, but the yield still dropped by one-third. Fortunately, we had a lot of stock before, so the impact was not that big. The farmers who make a living from farming are suffering. With such a small harvest, they may starve in the winter."

"Mom, do you think the results would be better if everyone planted corn this year? Corn has a high yield and is drought-resistant," Changping asked.

"This is beyond our control. It depends on the court's arrangements. The promotion of new grains often takes several years. We have only offered them for two or three years. Maybe they are being grown in other places. It will take time for them to reach us."

In fact, Chen Cui also felt that the spread of corn was too slow. If things could be done more efficiently, experimental fields should be set up in various provinces to determine suitable production areas, and finally the planting area could be expanded based on the yields in each region. This would be much better than planting it in only one place and expanding year after year.

Unfortunately, it was not her turn to speak on this matter. After offering the seeds and receiving the reward, what followed had nothing to do with her.

All she can decide are the more than 100 acres of land she owns and the livelihoods of the dozens of people under her.