The village chief and clan chief came over cheerfully and asked about the wedding banquet.
"Our clan will provide money to hold a banquet for a day, and the whole village can come over to drink and eat meat!"
Grandpa Xie was happy, because his son was promising, and now he was considered the most distinguished old man in this branch.
"Thank you, patriarch, but what I mean is that Xiuwen hasn't come back yet. We will discuss it after he comes back. What do you think, uncle?"
Several people nodded and had no objections.
One of the tribesmen didn't understand and asked: "When will my cousin come back? Will he go directly to the capital?"
"No, after the Gui List is announced, there will be a deer-crowing banquet in Fucheng. He is Jieyuan, so he will definitely participate. After that, he will go back to the academy to thank his teacher. He will probably be back in two or three days. "
"Since it's Zhongjie Yuan, why did the news come so late?"
"From what I heard from nephew Liu Xian, it seems that there are still unsolved cases in Fucheng. After the announcement of the Guilin List, it seems that someone was involved. The county magistrate was also afraid that there would be another mistake in the middle, so he was late on purpose. I’ll send someone over in two days to tell you the good news.”
The implication is that I am afraid of rejoicing in vain.
Fortunately, Xie Xiuwen did not lose the top spot.
When Xie Rongzhao and his party arrived at the county town, Cheng Juren specially sent someone to ask him to come over and ask him to come over. Xie Xiuwen also accepted the offer and wanted to thank the Cheng family again.
Cheng Jingzhou took out the silver note and handed it to Xie Rongzhao. After she counted it, she confirmed that it was nine hundred taels, and then carefully put it into her purse.
"My dear, do you want to keep this banknote for yourself?"
"Well, I'm still young. I'll leave it to my father for safekeeping when I get home."
Xie Xiuwen didn't stay at Cheng's house for too long. About half an hour later, he left home again.
Everyone in Xiejiazhuang who had no work to do was waiting at the entrance of the village. When Xie Xiuwen came back, he received a warm welcome.
Xie Xiuwen naturally cheered up and greeted his relatives one by one.
Grandma Xie and Mrs. Gao were sitting in the back hall, both of them looking bad.
I originally thought that Xie Xiuwen would definitely not win this time, but unexpectedly, he came back with the top spot.
Now that it's over, how can they explain it to that person?
"Auntie, should we send a letter to the capital?"
"Well, I've already sent the letter. There's no rush. Even if I'm going to Beijing to take the exam, I'll have to wait."
"Auntie, no matter what, my second brother won the exam. Even if he doesn't go to Beijing to take the exam, our family is confident. Who dares to be disrespectful to us in Gaoyang County in the future? You see, come and give gifts these days. There are quite a few of them, should we take this opportunity to buy a house in the county?"
Mrs. Gao knew that the old lady had a lot of money, so she could definitely afford two houses.
But the problem is that the Xie family is in such a state of decline that they still support a few scholars. The old woman has never dared to reveal her family background because she is afraid that the old man will become suspicious.
Now it is perfect to take this opportunity to buy a house.
"This matter is not urgent. I have to discuss it with your father first."
In fact, Grandma Xie was also moved.
If they can buy a house in the county, their family will become a wealthy family living in the county in the future, and if they live in the county, their grandchildren will be able to find better families for their marriages.
At least, no one will call them mud-legged people anymore.
Xie Xiuwen passed the exam and had more tax-free land under his name. In addition to himself, there were several more places exempt from Yao service. Even those with property could also get some tax exemptions.
After all, the total of all the exempted taxes is a hundred taels less.
This is equivalent to what Xie Xiuwen earned for his family!
But it cannot be underestimated.
Xie Xiuwen was selected, so he naturally thought of his own little family first.
In the past, if his wife and daughter were treated harshly at home, it would be fine if he didn't know about it. Now that he knows everything, he must make more preparations.
When he stopped at Cheng's house before, it was Cheng Juren who gave him the land deed.
When he came back last time, Xie Xiuwen asked Cheng Juren to help him keep an eye on some good fields. He didn't dare to buy more, but forty or fifty acres was still OK.
There is a lot of fertile land in Gaoyang County. One acre of fertile land costs seven or eight taels of silver, while the price of Botian is four or five taels.
Cheng Juren helped him find fertile land, which happened to be a village with eighty acres of fertile land. In addition to the fields, there was also a small house with two entrances. The head of the village now lives there, but the main courtyard is empty. On.
Because there was a house and a dozen servants, including living deeds and dead deeds, and they were all resold, the other party only needed five hundred taels of silver to close the deal.
To be honest, the price is really cheap.
Xie Xiuwen was moved, so he immediately agreed and took out all the remaining silver notes on his body. He was still short of 300 taels, but finally took the 500 taels of silver notes that Xie Rongzhao gave him.
He knew the origin of these five hundred taels, and knowing that his sweet baby had earned them, there was no burden on Hua Hua.
But as a result, he only had two hundred taels of silver left in his hand.
After throwing away the two hundred taels of silver for their family's travel expenses to the capital, food, etc., there might be about 170 taels left.
After that, I have to rent a house in the capital, and there are also some occasions where I need to socialize and I can't go empty-handed. Calculating this, if I leave next month, I'm afraid I won't be able to survive the spring of next year.
Even if he passed the imperial examination, his salary after becoming a Jinshi was pitifully small. How could he support his family in the capital?
Therefore, Xie Xiuwen started to have a headache for money again.
Fortunately, Xie Laosan brought him good news in the evening, and he had an extra 150 taels of silver notes in his hand.
After the couple sorted out the banknotes, silver ingots and some broken silver, they found that they now had more than 600 taels of silver available.
This number still makes Xie Xiuwen feel very pleased.
When he learned that two hundred taels of them were rewarded by the county government, he thought that he would have to pay a visit to the county government tomorrow.
Xie Xiuwen discussed the flowing water banquet with Mr. Xie early the next morning.
"Father, everything about the banquet is entirely up to you and the clan leader and the village chief. There is one thing. If the congratulatory gift sent by the local squire is less than ten taels of silver, you and my mother can accept it. If it is more, I'm afraid it won't be accepted. OK."
Mr. Xie was stunned for a moment: "Why do you say this?"
"Father, I still want to continue my scientific examination. It is not appropriate to have too much contact with the squire now. Moreover, there are not many tax-free land quotas under my name now, so it is not appropriate to promise it to others."
Grandpa Xie and Xie Xiuran were both stunned. What is this?
Xie Xiuran was the first to ask: "Second brother, don't we have 600 acres of tax-free land in our name? Our family only has 100 acres of land. How about 500 acres left?"
Grandpa Xie looked calm, and he obviously felt that his eldest son was right.
"Father, the Liu family originally gave Ruolan a small village as a dowry, but it was only because my uncle-in-law worked in the government office that he kept it. Now that I have won the election, my uncle-in-law has made the decision to allocate the farmland. It’s in my name.”
(End of chapter)
