Ye Qingyi's skills in embroidery are much better than Gu Jiu imagined.
By the time Gu Jiu came back, Ye Qingyi could already embroider many complicated patterns.
Considering the upcoming Tongsheng exam, Gu Jiu bought a lot of things in advance to prepare for emergencies.
"Xiao Jing, don't be nervous when you take the exam tomorrow. You are still young. You just know how to take the test this year. It will be the same next year."
Gu Jiu helped Gu Jing pack the things and ordered.
"Yes." Gu Jing nodded, but what she was thinking about was that she must pass this exam.
The exam location was not far from the inn, so the two of them went there after eating early.
"Gu Jiu, you actually brought him here. This exam is not for free, you have to pay for it. You don't think he can really pass it!"
Gu Zheqi came over and said sarcastically.
The candidates on the side heard the movement and looked over, but they were not as excited as Gu Zheqi.
It is normal in Yuncheng to take the child exam at the age of six or seven, so they asked themselves, who didn’t start taking the exam at the age of six or seven? What if it passes?
"Gu Zheqi, don't forget, you started taking the exam when you were five years old. It took you so many years to pass the exam, and you don't even look at how much extra money you spent!"
Gu Jiu rolled his eyes and was too lazy to waste words with Gu Zheqi, so he continued to tell Gu Jing.
Gu Zheqi also rarely closed his mouth. After a moment, Gu Jiu looked up and saw a woman in pink clothes with a maid, talking quietly to Gu Zheqi.
Looking at Gu Zheqi's energetic look, he thought that this was the young lady from the Shi family.
He's a nice person, but he's a bit poor in discernment, and he actually fell in love with Gu Zheqi!
As time passed, there were more and more people at the gate.
"Xiaojiu!"
Gu Jiu turned around when he heard the noise and saw the village chief leading his son this way.
Behind him, there were other people from Gujia Village rushing here with their children.
"Xiao Jing also wants to take the exam?"
"Yes, let him go in and try to see what the exam is like."
Gu Jiu and others were chatting in the open, while Wang Dahu was observing in the dark.
He had been following Gu Jiu these past few days and saw that she had been in contact with those people, but there was nothing unusual about her for so many days. Apart from scholars, the only people she came into contact with were ordinary people.
Could it be that she was sure which one of these people would be on the list?
Or which scholar among these people is tied to the daughter of a certain family?
Or maybe she lied that day!
Wang Dahu's face was gloomy. If this girl is really powerless, then she will be finished!
After a while, Wang Guan walked over slowly.
"Brother Wang looks good! I guess he is determined to win this exam!"
Hearing the flattery from the people on the side, Wang Guan flicked his fan and smiled: "It's not worth mentioning."
After a while, the time came and the door opened. Gu Jing waved and Ye Qingyi said goodbye to Gu Jiu.
"Mom, you wait here, I'll go to the store to take a look first."
"Okay, you go quickly."
After saying goodbye to the village chief and others, Gu Jiu left everyone's sight but did not go to "Jiuyang Book Shop". Instead, he went to the custom shop he went to when he first came to the city.
"Shopkeeper, I wonder if you still remember me."
Gu Jiu walked in and smiled at the shopkeeper.
Seeing Gu Jiu, the shopkeeper immediately showed his big gold teeth.
"Why, are there good silkworm cocoons again?"
"No." Gu Jiu shook his head and stated the purpose of his trip.
The shopkeeper was stunned, looked at Gu Jiu for a moment and asked in silence: "You know what kind of business we do here, right? This is a meticulous job, and there must be no deviation at all."
Gu Jiu nodded.
"I know that the people in the village have nothing to do every day, so they must be able to do this very carefully. And it doesn't matter even if they deal with it. After they finish it, I will definitely check it before bringing it over."
The shopkeeper looked at Gu Jiu without saying a word. He was doing customization here, and there was no shortage of business at any time of the year, so the craft of cocoon spinning was needed at all times.
"I can let you give it a try. I will first give you a hundred silkworm cocoons. One silkworm cocoon can extract one thousand meters of silk. Regardless of the poor quality, it can also produce seventy or eighty one thousand meters." If you can do it, then we can cooperate for a long time in the future.”
"As for the cost? It costs three copper coins for one cocoon."
"no problem."
The shopkeeper nodded: "Then follow me to the warehouse to get it."
After getting the things, Gu Jiu went to buy some wood board materials without stopping.
"What is this for?" Ling Yang looked at the wooden disc and asked in confusion.
"Make a spinning machine. Look." As he spoke, Gu Jiu opened the bag given by the shopkeeper and showed Ling Yang the silkworm cocoons inside.
"I found that when people extract cocoons, they fix the silk on a detachable device and then peel it off slowly. This is too slow. I want to make a rotatable disc, and then you can turn the handle to achieve the silk extraction. purpose.”
Ling Yang nodded in understanding: "You want to help others draw silk?"
"No." Gu Jiu shook his head.
"Jobs for the villagers."
At that time, I took out a copper plate difference for each cocoon. Alas, it’s not that I’m greedy for money, it’s just that otherwise, she really couldn’t complete the system’s tasks.
Gold, how many copper coins do you need to earn one tael of gold!
Gu Jiu's hands-on ability is very strong, and combined with the memory of his previous life, he quickly built a simple version of the spinning machine.
"Will this work?"
"Not yet, this silkworm cocoon needs to be boiled in hot water first."
Boil for five minutes and then pour water over it, then you can start to draw the silk.
The first one went smoothly, and Gu Jiu felt particularly happy watching Xinsi.
The Tongsheng exam only lasted one day. After Gu Jiu showed the silk to the shopkeeper and confirmed that it looked like this, Gu Jing just finished the exam and left the examination room.
"Mom!" Seeing Ye Qingyi, Gu Jing happily rushed forward and eagerly shared what she saw and heard inside.
"Are the test questions easy?" Ye Qingyi asked with a smile.
"Yeah! I can do it! It's just that I wrote a little slowly, and the last question ended a little sloppily, but I think the rest of the answers were good." Gu Jing patted her chest, her face full of joy.
This joyful scene naturally aroused dissatisfaction from the other candidates. Many people muttered in low voices, and some even walked up to Gu Jing and Ye Qingyi.
Gu Jing ignored them and eagerly took Ye Qingyi's hand and walked to the inn: "Mom, let's go back quickly. I want to tell my sister in detail what it's like inside."
Children's results usually come out in three to five days.
When the day came, Gu Jiu took Gu Jing to look at the list. Ling Yang deliberately closed the door and accompanied the two of them.
"Aren't you very confident these days? Why don't you dare to go at this time?" Gu Jiu said with a smile, looking at the person with his head covered in the quilt.
"Well, that's different." Gu Jing's voice was a little muffled: "Sister, how about you and Sister Ling help me go see it."
I don’t know what she thought of, but Gu Jing’s little head suddenly popped out of the quilt: “Sister, if I win, you will buy me a candied haws. If I don’t win, you will buy me two. Are the roots good?”
Gu Jiu laughed dumbly and stepped forward to pull him out.
"Okay. But you have to go by yourself. How can a man not even have this courage? Get dressed quickly. Your sister Ling is still waiting for you outside."
By the time the three of them fell down, the front of the list was already crowded with people.
"Sister, there are so many people, why don't we come back tomorrow." Gu Jing asked tentatively.
"No, my sister has something to do tomorrow."
"Then I'll see for myself."
Gu Jiu lowered his head and rubbed Gu Jing's hair vigorously: "This thing is for the best, but it doesn't matter. It's not a matter of life and death. Is there anything you don't dare to look at?"
"Xiao Jing, your sister is right. This is not a critical event that cannot be repeated. There is no need to be so nervous. Come on, Sister Ling will take you in."
After a moment, Gu Jiu squeezed in first.
Looking at the bright red paper in front of him, Gu Jiu started to read down from the first name.
There weren't many people passing by, maybe more than 20 people, and I heard from the lady next to me that this was the most people had passed by in the past three years.
When he saw the seventh person, Gu Jiu saw Wang Guan's name, paused, and continued to look down.
As the names passed by one by one, it would be false to say that there were no mood swings. Gu Jiu still hoped that Gu Jing would win the exam, but she also knew that Gu Jing's study time was too short, and based on the words of other candidates, Look, this exam is still a bit difficult.
Just when Gu Jiu saw the twentieth name, Gu Jing suddenly pointed at the penultimate name and shouted excitedly.
"Sister, look, it's me, I'm number 21!"
Gu Jiu, Ling Yang and others nearby were immediately attracted.
Gu Jiu carefully looked at both sides, and there was no mistake in every stroke.
"Yeah, this kid looks like he's only six or seven years old! He's actually a middle school student at such a young age. His qualifications are quite good! Which bookstore did your little brother read and buy the materials at before taking the exam?"
Gu Jing was stunned. What kind of bookstore? He only knew that his sister opened a bookstore.
"Jiuyang Bookshop."
"Oh! OK, OK."
After hearing the old man's words, Gu Jiu immediately sensed a business opportunity and took Ling Yang and Gu Jing to squeeze out of the crowd.
"Xiao Jiu, what's wrong?" Ling Yang asked confused.
"Here comes the big life."
After Gu Jiu asked Gu Jing for a bunch of candied haws as agreed, he immediately took Ling Yang with him to several nearby bookstores to buy books.
"Xiao Jiu, we don't specialize in selling this, why do we need so many books suddenly?"
Ling Yang said puzzledly while holding more than a dozen books.
"Sell for money."
"But these books are very common."
Just as Gu Jiu was about to explain, he suddenly saw the old man just now asking about "Jiuyang Book Store". He didn't have time to explain to Ling Yang and quickly pulled her back to the book store.
Sure enough, after a while, many people gathered outside the bookstore.
"Everyone, these are the books in our store. You can browse them at will."
Gu Jiu and Ling Yang put away the brochures and pushed up the books they just bought.
"Take this copy!"
One of them didn't even look at it, just picked the worst one and paid quickly. With it in such bad condition, it must have been borrowed the most.
"Okay, you need to pay a deposit of one penny here."
"no problem."
After this incident, the reputation of "Jiuyang Book Store" gradually emerged, and more and more people wanted to see what was so special about this book store that it allowed a child who was just seven years old to pass the Tongsheng Examination.
At the same time, demand for brochures in the store also exceeded supply.
"Jiuyang Bookstore" has also become an excuse for many scholars to come to this place of smoke and willows.
"Sister, I'll go back to the village and lie down first. You've been working hard in the store these days."
Gu Jiu said while packing his baggage.
"No problem, go and come back quickly."
After getting on the carriage to visit the village, after a whole day of jolting, Gu Jiu knocked on the door of the village chief's house on time that night.
"Xiao Jiu, why are you back suddenly? Come on, come on in."
It was Aunt Xia who opened the door, and when she saw Gu Jiu, she happily accepted her in.
"Have you eaten? If not, Aunt Xia will cook it for you. You don't know how lucky Aunt Xia is today. She picked such a big basket full of mushrooms!" Aunt Xia said happily while gesticulating to Gu Jiu.
