Chapter Thirty-One: The Village in Mourning

  Seeing the old clan leader happily leading the villagers to help him flatten the land, buy green bricks, go up the mountain to cut trees, and prepare for the big beam and store tiles, Yun Zheng's heart was filled with waves of sadness.

  You must distinguish between objects when playing tricks, the more cunning a person is, the more attention should be paid to this point. When facing kind and honest people, playing tricks can easily succeed, but there will be no sense of accomplishment at all. It's like you hit a punch heavily, but it hits an empty space, at this time, this punch is almost like hitting yourself.

  Yun Zheng now has this feeling, he should have just taken out the money and asked the elder to help him invite the villagers to build his house, it would have been fine. But instead, he's beating around the bush, although the goal is achieved, Yun Zheng feels like a stupid donkey. He could have happily invited the villagers for a cup of tea and sincerely thanked them, but now he feels like everyone is looking at him with contemptuous eyes, his back is numb.

  Wanted to go and help with the work, was severely scolded by the old clan elder, only two days left before the exam, how can you still be idle? After finishing, he pointed at the fellow villagers who were working and said: "This is a group of useless people, including me, deserved to be cattle for a lifetime. Now there's a good opportunity, as long as you can pass the test and become a Xiucai, the whole village will support you, official grain will be reduced by half, labor service will be exempted, do you know how many fewer people will die in the village? Go back to warm up your books, come back and see if I'll break your legs."

  Grey and dispirited, he returned to the bamboo building. Yun Er looked at Yun Zheng strangely and said: "What's wrong with you? Why are you so downhearted?"

  Yun Zheng lay on the clean bamboo floor, letting the snake crawl onto his belly, looking at the snake's shiny eyes and saying: "You're a loser, you've misused your cunning. Yun Er, remember this, in the future when you play tricks, you must distinguish between targets clearly, or else this blow will make you unable to straighten up."

  The cauliflower snake seemed to understand Yun Zheng's words and slid down from Yun Zheng's body with its tongue out, going to find a mouse to vent its anger.

  Yun Er held her chin and lay on Yun Da's head, saying: "You used to say that if you owed someone something, just return it to them and that's it. Since you think you owe the people in the village, just repay them and it's done. You have this ability."

  Confucius in the villages, was gentle as if he could not speak; when at the altars and in the court, his speech was full of reverence. When with the princes, his words were rich and decided. When speaking to the common people, he was affable and kind. When with the nobles, he was dignified and serious.

  Yun Zheng's recitation of the "Analects, Xiang Dang" made him suddenly understand a truth: Confucius had long ago encountered Yun Zheng's situation, so when facing the villagers, he appeared to be inarticulate, but when facing the monarch, he could speak with great caution, and when speaking with colleagues, he would speak eloquently. It seems that speaking to people in their own language has been a timeless principle.

  The old clan head heard Yun Zheng reading and was delighted, spitting a mouthful of saliva into his palm, and continued to work with his hoe. The villagers helping to build the house only needed to take care of one meal in the morning, and the cooking was left to the wife of Laorou and Cang'er, without any good food, a large pot of coarse rice, a catty of fatty pork cooked into oil and boiled a large pot of green vegetables, with some oil residue floating on top, which was considered a delicacy.

  At night, the cured meat came back and said with a huff, telling Yun Zheng that Cang Er's wife always stole oil residue to eat, and even mixed hot lard with rice, eating like a pig.

  Yun Zheng laughed it off, thinking that when he was working on the construction site, they didn't have it any better. Eating some leftover oil and mixing in some oil water wasn't a big deal, it was just one of the perks of being a cook. He told Larou to cut more meat tomorrow, trying to get some fatty pieces into the dish.

  "Master, it's not possible. Our family already provides the best food in the village by giving everyone a catty of pork every day. If we give them two catties a day, other families in the village won't be able to cook when they build their houses. Besides, thirty or so people eating one catty of pork is already too much." As soon as Yun Zheng finished speaking, Larou immediately widened his eyes and opened his mouth to object.

  "It doesn't matter, tell everyone that it's for my exam in two days and I'm treating them to a meal with meat. It makes me feel better inside. Now that the spring planting has just ended, everyone is extremely tired, and they still have to help us build our house. Eating more nutritious food will give them energy to work. Don't you want to move into the brick house soon?"

  Yun Zheng now speaks always so gentle and persuasive, Larou heard that there was such a reason and agreed. Now the biggest thing in the village is the young master's exam. As long as it involves the exam, even if it means pulling back a pig, Larou won't mind.

  The next day, Yun Zheng didn't come down from the bamboo building, and instead sat on its platform, writing furiously for a whole day until the sun was about to set. He finally stood up, stretched his waist, and walked down from the bamboo building to chat with the old tribal chief and the villagers.

  "We've had meat to eat, but don't waste money like this in the future. As long as you pass the imperial exam and become a Tongsheng, I won't mind not eating meat at all." The old clan leader saw Yun Zheng going downstairs for a stroll and pulled him over to start nagging.

  "It's all hard labor, if you don't eat well, where will the energy come from? Thanks for your hard work, everyone. This is just a small treat to celebrate, after the exam, I'll definitely invite everyone out for a feast and we won't leave until we're drunk."

  "Yun Dai will definitely pass the exam, he's the smartest person I've ever met, a genius. Even the old village head of Guangling Village can pass, why can't Yun Dai? This lifetime I haven't attended any banquets, this time I must experience it."

  Someone opened their mouth, and everyone's words couldn't be stopped. Many people curiously asked Yun Zheng if he still had to worship the gods when going to take the exam, go through the Ghost Gate, and heard that anyone who pretended to be literate would be detected by the gatekeeper and sent to the 18th layer of hell to be chopped with knives and axes? They also wanted Yun Zheng to show them his examination permit to see what it looked like.

  The old clan leader saw Yun Zheng take out the certificate and slapped him on the back with a loud rebuke to the villagers around: "What are you looking at? Do you know how to read? You're just like dogs staring at the stars, what if this precious thing gets dirty? Hurry up and put it away! The day after tomorrow I'll accompany you to take the exam. I heard that for the exam, we need to bring a bamboo basket with brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone. Cangjiu, your basket-weaving skills are the best in the village, so make one tonight. I've already soaked the rattan strips, they're all high-quality golden silk rattan, don't dare to delay!"

  Yun Erduan stared at everything in front of him with a bowl of rice, he couldn't understand why it was so lively just for a junior high school entrance exam. When he took the exam himself, his family only had a dry bun.

  Yun Zhengxian put down his rice bowl and looked at Yun Da saying: "I also want to take the exam!"

  Please recommend and collect, thank you, regards He Jianqiang.