Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

Chapter 303: The Shengyuan

Lian Fang Zhou saw Zhang Liang standing aside with his head down, lips pursed, and his face red.
Smiling, she said: “Alright, alright! Ah Liang is an honest person, you two quarrelsome children, don’t pull him in! Ah Ze, you will practice martial arts in the future but you can’t just watch Ah Jian and bully Zhang Liang, alright?”

“No, no, no, Miss is too serious!” Zhang Liang said hurriedly.

Lian Ze laughed: “How could it be possible for my sister to think of me as that type of person?”

“I know you won’t but its good to remind you!” Lian Fang Zhou smiled and then turned to Zhang Liang: “You go back first, come over tomorrow morning.”

Lian Ze walked out with Zhang Liang, hurriedly talking to him about what time they started morning exercises, and they left together.

From beginning to end, Zhang Liang did not look at Lian Fang Qing.

After leaving the Lian house, Zhang Liang raised his head and let out a long sigh of relief.
The smile on his face was brighter than the sunrise and his footsteps were lighter than swallows in the air.

He had not made up his mind to practice martial arts for nothing, only to protect Fourth Miss in the future and so he could come and see her every day.

He was not greedy, just one glance a day was enough.

He would be very careful, though, very, very careful.
No one, least of all Fourth Miss, could discover his feelings.

Because these feelings should not exist.
If someone discovered them, it would affect Fourth Miss’ reputation and he would lose the qualifications to meet her in the future.
This was something he could not tolerate!

Just thinking about never seeing her in the future made him feel uncomfortable and he was so flustered he didn’t know what to do.

He also knew that Fourth Miss would marry out in the future and had a plan.
When she was finally old enough to marry, he would beg her to marry him.
For the rest of his life, he didn’t want to leave her.
Even if he could only look from a distance, he would be happy to help her when she needed it.

To this goal, he finally took the first step.

Therefore, he would do his best to practice martial arts! No matter how hard it was or how tired he became, he would never shrink back!

~

A few days later, Old Man Wang sent someone over to report that the chicks would be delivered in two days.

Lian Fang Zhou accept this message with a smile and sent the messenger away.

Against Lian Fang Zhou’s expectations, her younger sister did a good job of taking care of the first batch of chickens, both meticulous and patient, and Lian Fang Zhou was gradually relieved.
The second batch would also be handed over to her to manage.

Lian Fang Qing was very happy and quickly agreed, patting her chest with a beaming smile while she assured her sister that she would not let her down!

Xiao Hui was getting more and more obedient, and her pheasant chicks were slowly growing, becoming brighter and more beautiful.
Now that she was able to take some of her family’s burden and was trusted by her sister, Lian Fang Qing felt that her life was very content!

While the chickens were left to Lian Fang Qing, Lian Fang Zhou focused more on caring for the cotton fields, particularly her breeding program.

Things continued normally until finally, after the Dragon Boat Festival, the news arrived in the village that Sun Ming and Lian Hai had both become Shengyuan*!

When the news came back, Dafang village was boiling!

Two shengyuan had come out of nowhere and the whole village was bursting with pride and excitement!

At this moment, everyone was sincerely happy.
As for how many of them were also a little envious and jealous, it was hard to say.

After this, Sun Zhang Xing finally received the household registration book from Zhang Li Zheng that he had always dreamed about but could never ask for, officially settling his family in Dafang Village.

When he received the registration book, Sun Zhang Xing was full of emotion.
Zhang Li Zheng smiled politely, saying that he had long intended to get the household registration book for them but he was always too busy and no one reminded him.
No, no, it was really his fault this time…

Of course, Sun Zhang Xing would not deliberately pick apart Zhang Li Zheng’s excuses and embarrass him.
Instead, he echoed a few sentences with understanding and sincerely thanked him, sending Zhang Li Zheng away satisfied with his attitude and actions.

Although his son had succeeded and had a good reputation with the local teacher, there was no reason to alienate people, Zhang Li Zheng was the village official, after all.

Once you had a household registration, you would receive a piece of land that your family could keep forever and each person would receive three free acres of land.

The land that their shack used to be on did not belong to them.
In other words, if someone took a fancy to the land, they only needed to spend a small amount of money to buy it and the Sun family would have had to move out.

Now it was different! The homestead they choose was much better.
Including the vegetable garden, it was about two acres.

As for the reclaimed wasteland, it was quickly selected.
After talking to Zhang Li Zheng and taking his certificate, the land deed could be obtained from the county government office.

A family of three could cultivate a total of nine acres of land.
The nine acres could be paddy fields or dry land but where would there be good paddy fields just lying around? The places suitable for paddy fields were basically all already owned, so nine acres of dry land were selected.

Even so, this was land that was all their own! After obtaining their land deed, the couple were so excited they couldn’t sleep at night!

After the success of their scholars, it expected for the family to set up a banquet and invite the villagers to celebrate.

Sun Zhang Xing grit his teeth and decided to take out four taels of silver to invite the whole village to come and eat a meal.

The local exams were held every year but the formal imperial exam was only once every three years.

After this year, there were still two years before the next examination, plenty of time for him to save more money for his son to prepare for the exam.
As long as they had land at home, their life would be better than before and it would be easy to save money.

Knowing of their difficulties, Lian Fang Zhou specialty packed a dozen silver taels, a good set of the four treasures of the study, and two fine bolts of cloth in sapphire blue and emerald green as gifts.
She smiled at the couple and said: “When the time comes, you will invite the villagers to eat.
If there is anything you need help with, just say it! Our family is very busy but we can still spare some time.
If some dishes need to be brought from the city, just take our donkey cart! I’m a regular customer at several shops, I will tell you which ones.
When the time comes, tell them that I introduced you and the cost will be a bit cheaper.”

There was a feeling of gratitude in the couple’s hearts.
This was sincere help! Madam Sun rubbed her hands and looked at Lian Fang Zhou with a smile, repeatedly murmuring: “Thank you, Miss Lian! Thank you so much!”

“We’re all from the same village, its just a matter of effort! It doesn’t have to be a big deal.” Lian Fang Zhou waved them goodbye, still smiling.

After they left, Madam Sun touch the cloth and smiled happily: “It will be midsummer soon, I can make two new outfits for Ah Ming, he will look much brighter when he goes out!”

Then she looked at the four treasures and said with infinite joy: “Miss Lian is really a good person! She’s so nice and generous and has a careful heart! Ah!”

Sun Zhang Xing nodded: “Don’t look at all the people in the village smiling and saying ‘congratulations’ to us, who knows what they’re really thinking.”

TN: Beep, beep, drama incoming!

*A shengyuan is the class of scholars who have passed the first examinations.
Previously I translated this as ‘a talent’ or ‘talented scholar’, which was confusing so I went back to the pinyin.