Chapter 38: Strange Talk

He got up and washed his face.

Zhang Gui started eating the food his mother had left, and the courtyard door was suddenly pushed open.

A middle-aged man wearing a half-new, half-old leather-lined jacket walked in.

He stood in the courtyard and looked around, then walked quickly into Zhang Gui's room and bowed slightly.

"Gui Ge'er, the Old Master wants you to go over."

This person was Zhang Gui's cheap father, the steward Zhang Xi of the scholar Zhang Bashan's family.

Although a scholar was the most elementary merit in the Ming Song imperial examination, and child students didn't count because they had no privileges or public welfare, they still had various decencies.

First, they didn't have to bow when entering the government office.

Second, the government would allocate five mu of land to the scholar as "farming and reading silver," and could also exempt the land tax on twenty mu of land.

Also, the scholar's own direct relatives up to three generations did not have to serve imperial corvée labor.

In addition, the school government office would also give the scholar five dou of rice or flour every month as rations.

To prevent the scholar from only knowing how to read and not knowing how to manage, and starving to death even with land.

Five dou of rice or flour could be about eighty catties, enough for an adult man to survive, and if exchanged for coarse grain, it could even support a wife and children.

Ordinary scholars could live with such guarantees, not to mention noble family descendants.

Although scholars seemed to be so numerous in noble families that they were worthless, they were actually the backbone and the foundation rooted in the countryside.

Because if a scholar was willing to give up the imperial examination and join the local government, they were qualified to be a Nine Grade minor official.

Whether it was the mayor of a large market in the commandery city, the patrol inspector or town head of a town, or the compassionate agriculture envoy or irrigation officer in the countryside, and so on.

Only when a noble family occupied the majority of these grassroots local officials who could work until death could they say that they "lead the countryside and gather the wise."

Therefore, once a descendant of the Pingyang Zhang family passed the scholar exam, the clan would immediately allocate twenty mu of clan land and send servants to farm it for support.

And they would issue three shi of refined rice to the scholar every month as rations.

If they couldn't pass the provincial exam and were willing to give up the imperial examination to become a sesame official and contribute to the family's roots in the countryside,

the family would increase the allocated clan land to one hundred mu and increase the monthly rations to ten shi.

And Zhang Gui's cheap father, Zhang Bashan, was an old scholar who had fought in the provincial exam for a long time but couldn't pass.

Although he had fewer clan supplies because he was unwilling to give up the imperial examination, Zhang Bashan also had a father.

And his father was also a scholar who had been a sesame official for decades and had saved over a thousand mu of private land to divide among his five sons.

The youngest son, Zhang Bashan, was allocated two hundred and thirty mu, belonging to a small landlord.

When he passed the scholar exam in his twenties, he was in high spirits and lived an exceptionally comfortable life.

He was also handsome, which was why he was able to coax Auntie Caiyang into his hands.

It's just that later he lost his exam luck, couldn't pass the provincial exam no matter what, and took a second concubine, giving birth to three sons and two daughters.

The burden increased greatly, and he slowly fell into decline.

Now the family only had a steward who had grown up from a book boy, and a rough worker who swept the courtyard, chopped wood, and fetched water.

Two maids who cooked, did needlework, cleaned the house, and served tea and water.

Zhang Gui, as an illegitimate son born to a concubine who didn't enter the hall, had a low status in the family, or rather, no status.

After Auntie Caiyang could make a living by selling stinky shrimp paste, Zhang Bashan didn't even give rations to his wife and children.

But who would have thought that Auntie Caiyang's life was getting better and better, while Zhang Bashan's life was getting worse day by day.

Such a father, let alone in decline, couldn't have deep feelings for Zhang Gui even if he were prosperous.

Zhang Gui treated everyone in Zhang Bashan's family with a cold face.

But unexpectedly, he was very gentle this time, and didn't even get angry with the steward Zhang Xi, with whom he had always been at odds.

He said slowly: "Is the scholar looking for me? Then I'll go over immediately."

Such an attitude clearly surprised Zhang Xi, but it was normal for people to grow up, be tempered by society, and become slick.

"I didn't expect that after half a year, Gui Ge has become sensible."

Zhang Gui explained:

"I'm not sensible, but I feel that my position and Zhang Bashan's have been swapped.

In the past, he tricked my mother's belly, gave birth to me, and didn't take responsibility, so he owed me.

Now his whole family, and even you servants, might be implicated by me in the future, so it has become me owing him.

Naturally, the attitude is different."

Seeing the arc like a scimitar on his corner of the mouth that didn't smile easily, Zhang Xi didn't know why he felt a pinch in his heart, and the hair on his back stood up.

He said dryly: "Gui Ge is talking strange talk again.

Although you were implicated by the thief Zhang Yan and dismissed from your duties by the clan, it doesn't mean there is no chance to make up for your crimes.

It's not about implicating the Old Master, let alone us servants."

Hearing this, Zhang Gui laughed and muttered to himself: "It's best if you think so.

Lest you be beheaded as the servants of a rebellious barbarian king, and be terrified before the nine generations are exterminated."

"Gui, Gui Ge, what did you say?"

Hearing the six words "beheaded, nine generations exterminated" vaguely, Zhang Xi asked with an ugly face.

Zhang Gui waved his hand and said with a smile: "I said it's best if it's like this."

He got up, ignored Zhang Xi, and walked toward Zhang Bashan's house with big strides.

"Qijing Ward," the place where the backbone descendants of the Zhang family in Pingyang Town gathered, could be considered a quasi-core area.

There was little prosperity here, but much scholarly atmosphere; there were few fat and rich people of the main branch, but many elites of the cadet branches.

The resident level was more than two grades higher than Youyu Ward.

Zhang Bashan lived on the edge of Qijing Ward.

The two-entry old house was specially purchased for him by his father before he fell seriously ill and before the family was divided.

It was said to be a house left for the youngest son who had not yet married, and was not included in the divided family property.

It fully practiced the truth of the folk saying, "Parents in the world love the youngest."

It also made Zhang Bashan's four brothers and sisters-in-law bite their teeth in anger, but they had nothing to say.

Noble families who pass on farming and reading value ethics the most.

And the grandfather, father, and old master were the greatest "parents" in the five relationships of "Heaven, Earth, Lord, Parent, Teacher."

Let alone being biased when dividing the family, what could they do even if he didn't give a copper coin.

When Zhang Gui arrived in front of his cheap father's house, the only rough worker, Zhang Mang, was looking around with his arms crossed at the door.

Seeing Zhang Gui, he hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed him, and pulled him into the house,

"Oh, Young Master Gui, you finally came.

The Old Master has been waiting anxiously, telling me to wait at the door and go see him immediately when you come.

Eh, where is Steward Zhang Xi? Didn't he go to call you?"

"He didn't run as fast as I did, and he sprained his foot while chasing, so he's behind."

The two-entry courtyard could be walked from the gate to the main hall in a dozen steps.

There was no one else in the main hall, only Zhang Bashan sitting in the main seat.

Zhang Gui walked into the main hall and stood straight, asking: "Is the scholar Zhang looking for me?"

Although the attitude was different, when he really saw Zhang Bashan, a burst of anger still went straight to his heart.

Hearing his own son talk to him like this, Zhang Bashan was also so angry that his eyes were on fire.

Because every time they met, they were inevitably unhappy with each other, which was why Zhang Bashan had only seen the illegitimate son who had returned from the Outer Wild Ocean for the first time in over two months.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 39 =====