Chapter 46: Spring Imperial Examinations is Coming
Days passed uneventfully for Lu Lin and the Chen Brothers, but the young people who went to school in town had become the talk of the village for the Spring Imperial Examinations was just around the corner.
The young people's family would always try to create a quiet environment for them, they would keep their voice down and make less noise.
"Lin Gege, do you know there are so many matchmakers visiting the Lus now?" Chen Xiao Cai asked.
"Oh? Matchmakers? For who?"
"Some are for Lu Tong, some are for Lu Cheng Yu. But Tang said Lu Cheng Yu needed to focus on the examination first, so mainly they are for Lu Tong. The villagers all say that Lu Cheng Yu is very proud and arrogant, he thinks he is too good for the village girls, he is counting on marrying a lady in town after he becomes a Xiucai. (T/N: Xiucai, one who passed the imperial examination at the county level)" said Chen Xiao Cai with a radiant face.
Lu Lin was surprised to see Chen Xiao Cai's change, Chen Xiao Cai used to be a sulky kid who pulls a long face all the time, but now he looked so much happier. Lu Lin thought it must be those little friends who had help him open up more.
"Zhang Da Hu told you this?"
"Not only Zhang Da Hu, but other kids are also talking about the same thing."
Lu Lin smiled, "Good job, Cai, it looks you and your friends are really getting along well."
Chen Xiao Cai scratched his head and blushed a bit.
Chen Xiao Cai didn't understand why the kids who used to stay away from him now had become his best friends, they would tell him all the gossips they had heard from the parents without reservation. 'Well, maybe it's for the Tangyuan's sake.' Thought Chen Xiao Cai.
Zhang Da Hu and the kids kept asking Chen Xiao Cai when they could help to do some farm work or pick some berries, they all said they were willing to work for free, all they wanted was a nice meal. But Lu Lin didn't mention a word about berry picking, so Chen Xiao Cai had been turning them down.
"The kids can't wait to have some more Tangyuan." Laughed Chen Xiao Mi, "I can't believe they finished the whole pot. I'm so glad I had eaten some in advance, otherwise I couldn't even have a taste."
Glutinous rice was too pricy for most villages, that was the first time the kids had Tangyuan, and they wished they could have some more soon.
"Cai, what else have you heard about Lu Tong's marriage?" Lu Lin was interested to find out more information.
Chen Xiao Cai shook his head, "Not yet, the Lus want 20 taels of silver as betrothal present, which has scared away a lot of families."
"20 taels?" Lu Lin was a bit shocked.
'20 taels is no small amount, and I'm sure Tang won't prepare a decent dowry for Lu Tong like other families who marry daughters.' Thought Lu Lin.
Chen Xiao Cai continued, "My friends also said there are a lot of villagers who like Lu Tong, but they are scared away by that 20 taels."
Chen Xiao Cai had no idea hie brother and his brother-in-law had already made a fortune through selling alcohol and jam, so he also was intimidated by the number 20.
"Wow, 20 taels!" murmured Chen Xiao Mi, then he couldn't help but recall he had only spent 10 taels on marrying Lu Lin, he didn't think that Lu Tong was worth two Lu Lin.
Lu Lin cast a glimpse at Chen Xiao Mi who was lost in thought and snickered.
"That will scare away a lot of villagers, is Tang not afraid of that? Maybe Lu Tong will end up marrying late due to the high price." Said Chen Xiao Mi.
"Tang seems to be very confident." Lu Lin shrugged.
'Tang must be very confident with her kids, she must be counting on Lu Cheng Yu becoming a Xiucai this time, so both Lu Tong and Lu Cheng Yu can marry well, but it will end up ugly if Lu Cheng Yu fails at the examination. Lu Tong is turning 18 soon and she need to pay tax if she can't marry soon.' Thought Lu Lin.
The villagers enjoyed gossip. The Lus were a well-off family, they had a lot of farm land, so 3 tales tax money wasn't a big deal for them, but it was a disgrace more than anything.
Chen Xiao Cai tilted his head, "I also heard many villagers have a crush on Lu Tong, they say she is pretty."
Lu Lin smiled, 'That Lu Tong is a lazy bone compared to other village girls who work hard all the time, she doesn't do any farm work, so she has fair skin and she wears better clothes, that's why the villagers think she is pretty.'
However, the young villagers couldn't figure that out, they had completely ignored the more important traits like good personality and diligence. Their parents couldn't convince them either, but 20 tales of silver was too much.
"Well, that has nothing to do with us, let's just watch and see how this turns out for Tang." Said Lu Lin.
Chen Xiao Cai nodded.
It was springtime, villagers tended to get busy on the farm land, but the young couple didn't have any farm land, so they kept going into the mountains.
Chen Xiao Cai and Chen Xiao Mai were busy too, they had been collecting food scrapes for the geese and chickens at home. The geese and chickens started to lay eggs, more than enough for their kitchen.
Lu Lin felt so glad that the kids had become so responsible for the animals at home.
Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi had expanded their veggie patch in the yard too, now that had lettuce, carrots, cucumber and so on.
This young couple went to town this day.
Manager Wang was more than happy to see them, he could make 200 cents for each jar of jam sold in the restaurant, plus the jam had attracted more customers for his restaurant. He had made significantly more money this month.
"Manager Wang, this is the last batch of jam, 20 jars in total. And I have 40 jars of sweet potato wine for you asl well."
Manager Wang took a look at the wine and asked whether they still had the other kind of alcohol.
Lu Lin apologized and said he didn't have enough ingredients to brew the other kind of alcohol.
Manager Wang nodded and said he understood, he paid the couple 32 taels in total.
"Lu Lin, Xiao Mi, you guys are becoming rich." Manager Wang smiled.
Lu Lin smiled and shook his head, "Not really, jam is so hard to make, and the ingredients are so expensive, you have no idea how much sugar I've put in each jar, and we all know how expensive sugar is. And I suffer a great loss if they go bad."
Manager Wang nodded and smiled, "Yeah, you guys work hard for your money. Anyways, please think of me whenever you have new business ideas."
"Of course, of course!" replied Lu Lin, "Manager Wang, your restaurant is packed today, and it looks like they are all here to buy that pastry."
"Yeah, it's called the Scholar Pastry. People are buying it for good luck in the Spring Imperial Examinations." Manager Wang explained.
"Ah~ they are for the Spring Imperial Examinations~" Lu Lin nodded, "it looks like people value the Spring Imperial Examinations so much."
Then Lu Lin recalled in modern society parents also valued college entrance examination, they would go to the temple to worship Buddha for good luck for their kids, so it was basically the same.
"Yes, we do. Lu Lin, would you like some Scholar Pastry?" Manager Wang asked.
Lu Lin thought for a while, he decided to buy some for the Chen Xiao Cai and Chen Xiao Mai just because the pastry looked yummy.
Lu Lin also bought some buns after he bought the pastry.
Chen Xiao Mi asked Lu Lin on the way back how many sweet potatoes they had left.
"Not a lot, we have been brewing a lot of wine recently. We have sold 300 jars of sweet potato wine, so there's only a small pile of sweet potatoes left in the shop now."
"How much beer have we sold?" asked Chen Xiao Mi.
"About a quarter of the total inventory."
"Hmm, why don't you have this much Latiao in stock?" Chen Xiao Mi blinked.
"Haha, because when you hang out at a friend's house, you bring beer instead of Latiao." Lu Lin was amused by Chen Xiao Mi's question.
Chen Xiao Mi lied in the mule carriage cozily and said, "How strange you people are! I think Latiao is so much better than beer."
Lu Lin laughed.
"How much money do we have now?" Chen Xiao Mi asked.
"310 taels, give or take."
"Really?" Chen Xiao Mi's eyes were wide open when he heard that, 'What a shame that no one is selling farmland, it would be great if we could just buy some farmland and find some tenant peasants. But probably I shouldn't do that even though there is farmland available, that's too high-profile.'
Chen Xiao Mi knew the villagers all knew he was doing business with Manager Wang in town, but no one knew how much money he had made, and he intended to keep it a secret too.
Chen Xiao Mai greeted Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi like a puppy as soon as they were home because he knew Lu Lin would bring him something to eat.
Lu Lin handed the pastry to Chen Xiao Mai with a smile. Chen Xiao Mai took a big bite without even looking at it. Lu Lin chuckled, 'Mai, this is Scholar Pastry, please don't be so uncouth.'
But on a second thought, Lu Lin changed his mind, Chen Xiao Mai could eat the pastry in whichever way he liked, the important thing was he was enjoying it.