Chapter 1147: Three Female Housekeepers, Anonymous County Examination

The next day.

After Li Wan, Tanchun and Daiyu paid their respects to their elders, they came to Tanchun's room in the green gauze cabinet and sat down together.

Li Wan is the eldest daughter-in-law of Jia Zheng and Wang Fu-ren.

Logically speaking, among the three female housekeepers, Li Wan should be the one in charge, with Tanchun and Daiyu as assistants.

However, ever since her husband passed away, Li Wan's heart has been as devastated as a dead tree.

Li Wan had no interest in the housekeeper, who seemed to hold great power in the eyes of others.

So, the three girls discussed it and decided to nominate Tanchun as the leader.

Although Tanchun was not yet twelve years old, she had a strong personality. Once she took over the power, she issued orders. She first ordered people to fetch the account books of previous years, and then, based on the account books, she ordered people to list the major events of the past one or two months.

With the account books from previous years to rely on, Tanchun, Li Wan and Daiyu divided the work and worked together, and in just three or two days, they figured out the process.

Also, because Lai Da and Lai Er, who were in charge of the household, had just been beheaded, the servants did not dare to be careless or do anything hypocritical at this time.

Everyone in Rongguo Mansion thought that this Spring Festival would be quite busy.

After all, Li Wan, Tanchun and Lin Daiyu were all first-time housekeepers.

Moreover, there were more than twenty fewer stewards and housekeepers in the mansion.

Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Xing were worried about this matter for several days, fearing that the three girls might have missed something and made a fool of themselves.

As a result, more than a month passed in the blink of an eye.

The Spring Festival has passed, and Lady Jia's birthday has also passed, but the entire Rongguo Mansion is still running in an orderly manner.

Li Wan, Tanchun and Lin Daiyu did not show any sign of complaining or feeling tired at all.

Everyone recalled that in the past Wang Xifeng complained every day that "being a housekeeper is hard and tiring."

After such a comparison, everyone suddenly realized how ridiculous Wang Xifeng's "complaints of hardship and tiredness" were in the past.

Under such circumstances, Jia Lian divorced Wang Xifeng quietly.

Everyone in Rongguo Mansion just sighed and forgot all the happy times that Wang Xifeng had brought them in the past.

The sixth day of February.

The day of the Chang'an County examination.

The hour of Chou has just passed.

Su Mingzhe was awakened by Xiren.

After washing up and getting dressed, Su Mingzhe looked at the dry breakfast on the table and suddenly felt a little unhappy:

"How come there's not even any porridge this early in the morning? Aren't you afraid that I'll die of thirst?"

Xiren listened and explained with a smile:
"Second Master, you are going to take part in the county exam. From now on, it will take almost three hours to get your number plate. If you drink the porridge, there will be no place to go to the toilet. Are you going to poop in your pants?"

"How did you learn to be so sharp-tongued from Qingwen? Have you forgotten how powerful your Second Master is?"

As Su Mingzhe spoke, he was about to reach out to pinch Xiren's vital points, ready to let her know how powerful he is.

It was Qingwen who came in with a bowl of ginseng and bird's nest, interrupting their playfulness:

"Please stop making trouble, or the Madam will come and skin Sister Xiren alive!"

When Xiren heard Qingwen mention Lady Wang, she shuddered and quickly moved away from Su Mingzhe:

"Second Master, please eat quickly, we will be leaving soon."

Su Mingzhe had just finished his meal and rinsed his mouth when he saw the maid Qianxue leading Yuanyang, the head maidservant beside Lady Jia, in.

As soon as Yuanyang entered the room, she giggled and said:

"Second Master, have you already eaten? The old lady was worried and insisted that I come to check on you. I said, with Xiren and Qingwen, two older maids, here, how could Second Master get up late and miss things?"

When Xiren saw that only Yuanyang came in, she asked casually:
"Sister Yuanyang, are the girls awake yet?"

"I got up. How could I not get up?"

Yuanyang smiled and pointed outside the door, saying:

"Miss Lin wanted to come over, but I stopped her. After all, it's still early, and it's not convenient for her to come."

"However, although Miss Lin herself did not come, she sent Zijuan to see her off on her behalf. And the three girls in our family also sent maids, who are waiting outside."

When Su Mingzhe expanded his spiritual consciousness, he saw Lin Daiyu's maid Zijuan, Sanchun's servants Siqi, Shishu, Ruhua, and Wang Fu-ren's servant Jinchuan were all waiting outside.

He stood up and went to the outer room, where maids from all over the place came up to him and expressed their masters' feelings.

Su Mingzhe understood everything.

At this time, Li Gui outside reminded that it was almost time to set off.

Xiren called the servant Mingyan and checked the items in the examination basket again.

After confirming that the writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstone, snacks, tea, etc. were correct, Mingyan put them back.

Accompanied by Li Gui and Mingyan, Su Mingzhe arrived at the gate of Rongguo Mansion and met Jia Zheng, who had been waiting for a long time, and Jia Xu, a student from Chang'an County who had vouched for him. Jia Xu's ancestors were not originally from the Rongguo Mansion and Ningguo Mansion, but because of their ancestors' relationship, they had contact with each other.

When Jia Xu saw Su Mingzhe leaving, he immediately bowed and said:
"Brother Bao is here!"

Su Mingzhe returned the favor:
"Brother Xu, thank you for your help!"

Everyone got on the carriage that had been prepared long ago and rushed to the examination room.

After Su Mingzhe reported, Jia Xu's mission was completed.

Su Mingzhe carried his examination basket and walked into the examination room.

At this time, someone searched the body.

These search agents were basically county yamen runners, patrol officers, and military marshals.

Because they had informed each other in advance, they all knew Su Mingzhe, the 'Prince Baoyu' of the Rongguo Mansion, and they searched him symbolically and let him in.

After everyone has been searched, the examination room begins to close the gate.

At this time, the sky began to brighten.

The county magistrate led everyone to the front of the government hall to pay homage to the sages and talk about the rules.

After the lecture was over, the number plates were distributed.

Each number plate corresponds to a housing unit.

Because this was only the first session of the county examination and students could leave after finishing one paper, the examination rooms were not very large and could only accommodate a few seats.

There are fifty dormitories in each row, and more than fifty rows in total, which can accommodate more than two thousand candidates to take the exam at the same time.

However, there were only more than 1,500 candidates who registered this year, so some number plates near toilets were not issued.

Everyone received a number plate and entered the dormitory.

It was around 7:00 a.m. when the papers were distributed.

Su Mingzhe received the test paper and studied it first before examining the questions.

Once you have the answer in mind, answer the questions on a piece of scratch paper.

After I finished answering the questions on the draft paper, I checked them over to make sure there were no taboo words before I copied them onto the test paper.

Before noon, Su Mingzhe had finished all of this.

The names of candidates in the county examination shall not be covered.

Su Mingzhe was too lazy to pretend and simply raised his hand to indicate that he wanted to hand in the paper.

The patrolling soldiers have been keeping an eye on Su Mingzhe. After all, he is the young master of Rongguo Mansion.

The soldier came trotting over and learned that Su Mingzhe was about to hand in his paper. He quickly opened the door and invited Su Mingzhe to come to the front of the official hall.

The county magistrate, county school instructor, tutor, and school principal were surprised to see Su Mingzhe, the son of Rongguo Mansion, hand in his test paper so quickly, but they could only order someone to bring his test paper to them.

Su Mingzhe is twelve years old this year. The test paper he uses is called the 'Minor Test Paper'. The questions are simpler than those on the 'Adult Test Paper'.

After placing the test papers on the table, the county magistrate, the teacher and six other people did not ask Su Mingzhe any questions, but helped check the test papers first.

The first thing to check is whether there are any taboo words.

Make sure there are no taboos and check again whether the sentence is fluent.

When no serious problems were found, several people secretly breathed a sigh of relief and could continue drawing circles.

The so-called drawing a circle means being selected.

The circles can be divided into large circles and small circles.

Once you enter the small circle, you will definitely pass.

Once you enter the big circle, you will need to take part in several subsequent "re-examinations" to confirm your success.

After the county magistrate and the teacher confirmed that everything was correct, they stamped Su Mingzhe's paper and confirmed Su Mingzhe's place.

The county examination is that simple.

After the county examination is completed, if you submit your paper early, you will have to wait until ten or twenty people are gathered before the gate can be opened and people can be let out.

This is called 'putting the top card'.

Su Mingzhe came to the waiting place, where there were already five or six people.

No one was allowed to speak and just stood there.

After waiting for about ten more minutes, ten people gathered.

The bailiff opened the dragon gate and let the ten people out.

Su Mingzhe casually bowed to his companions and went straight to Li Gui, Mingyan and Jia Xu who were waiting for him.

(End of this chapter)