New willow branches brushed across the river surface. The Fushui County Government Office was surrounded by rows of onlookers. When they saw the gate open and people coming out, the crowded crowd became agitated.
“The results are out!”
“… Everyone, get out of the way and make way.”
The person who came out of the county government office held the notice and was escorted by the yamen runners to post it on the list. As soon as the person who posted it left, two yamen runners quickly crossed their water and fire sticks to protect the notice board.
On the opposite side, a crowd of people rushed over, to the point where they were shoulder to shoulder, blocking the street. People at the back could only tiptoe to look forward.
"Ouch... I got it! I got it!"
"Help me check if my name is on it!"
"Please make way. I think I'm the third..."
Among the gathered crowd, there were common people who came to watch the fun, as well as candidates taking the Tongshi. Such a scene could be seen every spring. As one had to pass the imperial examination for three consecutive years to qualify as a student, many scholars still flocked to take the exam.
Behind the crowd, two burly men squeezed to the front of the bulletin board, pressing the water and fire sticks in front of them, and grinned when they saw the name at the top of the list.
"Haha, Lu Lang won again, and he's the first prize!"
"Hurry back and report the good news!"
“Let’s go!”
The two men returned and squeezed out, causing the scholars around them to be angry but not to speak. Some watched the backs of the two big men leaving, and wiped their robes that had been squeezed by them with disdain.
"What's so great about that... Even if you win the first prize, you may not win the next one."
"Those two people just mentioned Lu Lang?"
"Lu Lang has never heard of it, who among you knows?"
"Hey, you just came out of the study, here to take the children's exam?"
"Is Lu Lang famous?"
"More than just famous... The reputation of 'When in a hurry, Lu Lang will help' is well-known in Fushui County... And this is the third year in a row that he has won the first prize..."
"Yes, it's this Lu Lang. I've heard a little about him at home. Where's the person who said he had never heard of him? Where's he?!"
"It seems to have been scared away..."
Various voices were mixed together, and the scholar whose real name was "Lu Lang" had long since run away, causing the nearby people and candidates to laugh and scold him for being a coward.
There were people who won the first place for three consecutive years, but it was rare for a poor farmer's family to achieve such an achievement. In a small county like Fushui, he was considered a great figure.
Even the tea servant often tells stories about Lu Lang.
"The Lujia Village was so poor back then. More than a dozen generations of villagers were either digging in the fields or hunting in the mountains. I don't know if it was God's will that Lujia Village produced such a smart and literate young talent... It is rumored that Lu Lang was born with a fragrant fragrance, could speak at the age of six months... and could speak fluently at the age of two... He must have been taught by a master, and he must have acquired a natural talent, otherwise how could Lujia Village become so prosperous in three years..."
Whenever such a story is told by a storyteller, he or she will add some exaggeration to make the audience's words fluctuate.
"What a child prodigy..."
"No wonder the chief clerk Shu Huagong wanted to be his teacher. It turns out he knew it a long time ago."
"… Although Lujia Village has produced a Lu Lang, it is not necessarily the case that Fushui County has produced a very talented person, who may even become a senior official in the court in the future."
"Haha, I wonder if Mr. Lu has any engagement. My daughter is just waiting to be married..."
…
Outside the noisy teahouse, on the long street, two figures on horseback had passed the intersection. After leaving the county gate, they cracked their whips and shouted "Gee!", speeding up along the official road towards the southwest.
The towns along the way gradually fell into the background, the mountains were green and continuous, and the chirping of birds could be heard from the old forests on the side of the mountain walls.
After turning the corner ahead, the two big men saw vast green fields. Several white gravel paths connected the official road, one of which connected it to another village nearby. Many buildings were also built in the middle, most of which were barns, storage warehouses for fish ponds, and houses built here by villagers who had started families in the past three years.
When you look closer, the two villages seem to be connected together.
In three years, thanks to the improved spirit gathering formation, the fields have produced good harvests, the grains of grains are full, and the fish and shrimp in the pond have become popular commodities. There is an endless stream of merchants coming here to buy fish and shrimp, and some are even sold to other counties and towns outside. The people of Lujia Village and Beicun have naturally benefited from this, and their lives have become much better than before. They dare not say that they have meat every meal, but eating a meat dish every two or three days is something that people who were used to living a hard life in the past would never dare to think of.
People from other villages came here to propose marriage and broke down the doors of every house. Even half-grown boys in the family had already been arranged to get married.
Of course, there was another strange thing. In the cold winter of the previous year, there was a wolf disaster. Several villages near the mountain in Tongling County on the other side of Qixia Mountain suffered one after another. It was said that more than ten people died. The villagers who formed a night patrol here found that the wolves were approaching the two villages here. They did not dare to get close when they were more than ten feet away, and ran back to the mountains in shame.
This became a strange story in the neighborhood.
Everyone in the village knows who has earned this hard-earned living, but recently, the village has built a private school, which has been reported to the county government. In the surrounding area, only Lujia Village has such a treatment. Many people ask for help from others and use their connections to send their children to the private school to be taught by that "Lu Lang".
Now, the villagers can stand up straight wherever they go. After all, their own children can go to school first, while others will have to wait until the year after next.
…
The afternoon sun shone through the mountain village and the clean road surface. Mr. Lu changed his place to bask in the sun and sat on the armchair, putting his crutches aside. He listened to the faint sounds of reading coming from the wall behind him and shook his head gently.
The villagers passing by would occasionally stop and quietly look at the serious expressions of their children through the half-open windows. Only then would they go home with satisfaction, carrying their hoes and preparing to ask their wives to cook more meat to nourish the children's brains.
Soon, the sound of reading stopped, and a group of children rushed out of the room cheering, carrying cloth bags filled with books, and ran home.
The door swayed slightly and then opened. A young man in a green gauze robe walked out. The jade pendant with two fish pearls on his waist swayed slightly. He walked to the armchair and leaned down.
"Grandpa, it's time to go home."
The dazed old man opened his eyes, looked at the sky, opened his toothless mouth, and walked slowly back home on a pear wood cane.
The soft glow of the sunset shone over the handsome face. Lu Liangsheng curled his lips and brushed his robe sleeves towards the hunched back. A breeze entangled Lu Taigong's legs, and his slow pace obviously increased.
"Haha... I'm still as sharp as ever. My legs are still as nimble as ever."
The old man, leaning on a cane, basking in the setting sun, smiled and spoke to the younger generations around him, then returned home in high spirits.
Lu Liangsheng turned around with a smile, holding the book, and walked towards his home. The villagers he met on the way all waved and greeted him. Some children who were not yet old enough to go to school were even pressed down by the adults and respectfully called out, "Sir."
"You can enroll next year, so it won't be too late to ask then."
Lu Liangsheng looked at the child who looked a little aggrieved and had red eyes, smiled, and stroked the top of his head. The child only felt the warmth rushing from his head into his heart, and the grievance that was originally suppressed by his own parents was now much better.
She raised her little face and stared blankly at the young scholar.
"Sir, don't you slap your palms? I heard that all gentlemen slap their palms..."
In the distance, the sound of horse hooves could be heard shaking the ground. Lu Liangsheng smiled and said, "No fighting." He shifted his gaze away from the child and his parents and looked outside the village.
Two figures on horses came galloping across the gravel road. Lu Pan waved and shouted on horseback.
"Liangsheng, you won again, first prize—"
I have been the top student for three consecutive years and have obtained the qualification of a student. It is time for me to go on a long journey... We should do good deeds, both small and big.
The sunset glow fell on the pretty face, and Lu Liangsheng looked into the distance and thought.
The hem of the robe swayed gently in the wind.