In the early spring of the third year of the Apocalypse (1623), Li Xianzhi personally went to the warehouse where the rice was stored, took out the jade wheat seeds he bought a year ago, found the tenants who were best at cultivating the fields, and planted them. He also kept some seeds for himself, plucked all the flowers and plants in the garden in the courtyard where he lived, and planted jade wheat.

When Miss He saw her husband like this, she couldn't help but worry in her heart, thinking that something was wrong with him, and couldn't help but ask.

Li Xianzhi said: "I have a big plan in my heart, but this fashion is insignificant, and it will naturally understand after a long time." ”

Miss He listened, obediently stopped asking, and let him toss.

Since burying these yellow seeds in the soil, Li Xianzhi has been circling around the garden every day, watching them give birth to tender yellow seedlings, grow ears like steel forks, sprinkle red tassels like blood, and then bear golden fruits. It was the late autumn season again, and his hard work was finally not in vain - a hundred catties of seeds brought a harvest of more than 20,000 catties.

Taking advantage of the good year, Li Xianzhi distributed the jade wheat seeds to each tenant household, allowing them to use them as staple food to grab seeds, and save some surplus grain before the disaster came.

At this time, because of the heavy taxes of the imperial court, especially the daily sharp increase in the levy of Liao, more and more people in Shaanxi went bankrupt and had to sell themselves to the rich family as slaves and servants to avoid the imperial court's levy. In the past two years, the number of families and tenants living in the Li family has increased dramatically to five or six hundred. The Li family had to buy more land to feed them, but Yulin was mostly barren land, and the harvest was meager, making it almost impossible to sustain it.

Fortunately, Li Xianzhi was the first to plant jade wheat, a golden grain that was not tasty, but the yield was twice as much as wheat and more than twice that of corn. In this way, within a year or two, the urgent need can be solved, and if it can be extended to the whole province of Shaanxi, it may be able to avoid the war caused by hunger and oppression in the near future......

Li Xianzhi watched packets of Yumai enter the warehouse, and felt that he seemed to be about to change history. But he didn't know that he was wishful thinking, and history was far more cruel and difficult to change than he imagined. But this is all later, at this time he still has a big thing to do in front of him - the imperial examination.

Since the last time he fell off the list, Li Xianzhi has not read the book for a few days, looking at the gradual progress of the examination period, he had to put down other things in his hand and copied the sage book again. Fortunately, the affairs of the Jimin Yuan are relatively stable, and the family is also well organized by his wife, and he doesn't want to worry about it, so he can concentrate on studying.

In the first month of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, Li Xianzhi postponed the date of entering Beijing a lot because he had a wife. Since getting married, time has passed, but Miss He's stomach has not moved. Li Xianzhi didn't realize anything before, but Miss He was in a hurry. She found Li Xianzhi and said, "It's been more than a year since the slave married her husband, but she has never been pregnant with a boy and a woman, it's really ashamed, I ......" said, swallowing and spitting.

Li Xianzhi has been busy running around for the past year, and he has neglected the newlywed wife a little on weekdays, and he is also ashamed in his heart, and said: "Madame, don't say that, this is also in a hurry, you just have peace of mind every day, don't think nonsense." ”

Miss He said again: "Seeing that my husband is going to Beijing to take the exam, once I go thousands of miles, it is better to take Yicui and Rouju into the house before leaving, so as to add a stick of incense to the Li family." ”

When Li Xianzhi heard this, he immediately became anxious and said: "How can this make me, I am husband and wife with you, and we are in harmony, if you don't study well, you will persuade yourself to marry a little wife." ”

When Miss He heard this, instead of being annoyed, she laughed and said slowly: "These two girls were originally married to fill the house with their husbands, I don't mind, you are annoyed." ”

Li Xianzhi said: "I can't do this, don't talk about it, as for Yicui and Rouju, I will find a good family to marry in the future." ”

Miss He pouted: "These two girls and I have grown up together since childhood, and they are like sisters, where are you going to marry them?" ”

Li Xianzhi couldn't cry or laugh a little, stopped arguing with her, and changed the topic: "Seeing that the imperial examination is open, I will enter Beijing in a few days, the mountains and rivers are far away, and there is no return date, I am not at home, you have to pay attention to yourself." ”

Miss He agreed, and the husband and wife said thoughtful words in the middle of the night and rested.

A few days later, Li Xianzhi was about to set off, and suddenly Miss He was unwell, and Li Xianzhi hurriedly sent someone to Jimin Hospital to invite Xu Zhongquan to diagnose him. After some looking, Xu Zhongquan said with a smile on his face: "Congratulations to the young master, Mrs. is happy." ”

Hearing this, Li Xianzhi was so happy that he couldn't speak for a long time, only two tears rolled in his eyes, and after a while, he threw himself on the side of the bed and desperately grabbed Miss He's hand. The people in the room retreated in amusement. Only Yi Cui and Rou Ju closed the door, opened the tent, and hid and snickered......

As a result, Li Xianzhi's trip to Beijing was delayed for a few days, and it took fifteen years before he was able to get up, and before leaving, he asked the two maids to take care of his wife.

He Renlong and Hui Xianyang were sent out of the city, Li Xianzhi took Jin Shun'er and Han Chu'er to face the cold wind, rode their horses to Beijing in a hurry, did not dare to delay all the way, changed horses several times, and finally arrived on the sixth day of the first month of February, only three days before the exam.

Once again, he came to the vicinity of the Tribute Courtyard, where people from all over the world had already gathered, and it seemed that some people were overcrowded. It took him a lot of trouble to find a simple inn on the street corner a mile away from the Gongyuan.

Three days passed in a flash, and Li Xianzhi nested in a musty hut every day, and read the articles of Wang, Tang, Qu, and Xue hard.

On the ninth day of the first month, I came out of the first exam, I felt good, I was in a good mood, and on the 12th and 15th, I took another exam, and I finished the test, waiting for the list.

After a while, Li Xianzhi and the others were anxious, and they were not accompanied by anyone they knew, so they felt very bored. Counting that there are still more than 20 days left on the list of days, I want to visit You Shilu at Juyongguan. After making up his mind, he paid for the store, and asked Jin Shun'er and Han Chu'er to buy some dry food and prepare some drinking water.

The innkeeper shouted to the little two who ran the hall to help prepare the horses. After a short time, the horse was prepared, and Li Xianzhi, Jin Shun'er, and Han Chu'er set off for Juyong Pass. Jin Shun'er and Han Chu'er had heard Li Ruyi and Li Xi'er talk about the last time they met a bandit, and they were afraid, but because they didn't dare to disobey Li Xianzhi, they had to beat the drum and go on the road.

Fortunately, there was nothing to do all the way, and within a few days I arrived at Juyong Pass, entered the Guancheng, went to the guerrilla mansion, handed over the post, and the gatekeeper replied that General You went out to patrol the border and was not in the mansion. He asked when he would be back. The doorkeeper replied "I don't know" and closed the door and went in.

Li Xianzhi was disappointed, so he found an inn to live in Guancheng, and sent Jin Shun'er and Han Chu'er to take turns to inquire about the guerrilla mansion every day, waiting for You Shilu to come back. After a few days, he still disappeared, and he was worried about the release of the list, so he left a letter to You Shilu and returned to Beijing.

On the way back, I was not in a hurry, I walked all the way, arrived in the capital, and found a decent inn to live in a distant place in the south of the city, waiting for the list.

On April 15, the apricot blossoms were blooming, the Ministry of Rites released the list, Li Xianzhi watched in front of the list, hundreds of names on the list, counted them one by one, and finally, found his name outside the more than 200.

"Hit! Hit! ”

Li Xianzhi, like most of the people on the list, shouted unscrupulously. Jin Shun'er and Han Chu'er also jumped with joy.

The three masters and servants pushed aside the crowd and returned to the inn, full of joy and joy. is in the same inn, and there are people who come back one after another, some who are smiling and high-spirited, and some who are depressed and secretly wiping tears.

These people who have passed the exam are not as cold as before, and they spontaneously talk to each other and visit each other - and now they are on the same list, they have formed a friendship, and they will enter the officialdom in the future.

Li Xianzhi had neither fellow villagers nor classmates, so he still stayed in his room to study and prepare for the palace exam. On this day, Xiao Er ran in and said, "Someone outside the door took a post and asked to see the master." ”

Li Xianzhi thought that You Shilu had come to Beijing, so he hurriedly greeted him, but saw that the person in front of him had never known him.

The man was about fifty years old, wearing a sauce-colored cloth and a corrugated hat, and when he saw Li Xianzhi coming out, he hurriedly came up, bowed slightly, and said, "Your Excellency is Master Li from Yulin Weilai?" ”

Li Xianzhi was taken aback when he saw that the man knew him, and asked, "Your Excellency?" ”

The man replied: "The surname is Zhou, he is the housekeeper of Zhou Langzhong's mansion in the household department, and he came to invite Master Li to come over the mansion on the order of the master of the family." I don't want Master Li to be such a young man. As he spoke, his eyes lit up.

Li Xian couldn't remember that there was an acquaintance surnamed Zhou in Beijing, so he asked, "May I ask which Master Zhou is in your mansion?" ”

Steward Zhou said: "The lord of our mansion respects the word pure benevolence. ”

Li Xianzhi was taken aback again, and said, "When did Master Zhou come to Beijing to be an official?" ”

Steward Zhou said: "Master Li doesn't know, my master first worked as a student in Shaanxi, and then the imperial court recalled and released a Fujian school administrator, and when he returned to Beijing after his term of office, he was transferred to Hubu Langzhong, which was only a few days ago." ”

Li Xianzhi then understood, and immediately said: "Steward Lao Zhou returns to Master Zhou, I will come." ”

Steward Zhou left an entourage to lead the way, and he said goodbye and went back first.