Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 109 - 108: Repeat Student

Chapter 109: Chapter 108: Repeat Student
With Qiu’s horse carriage, Qin Yao and Liu Ji arrived at the county town by noon.
They bid farewell at the city gate, and the convoy continued toward its destination without stopping.
However, thinking about the possibility of encountering the bandits entrenched in this area, Qiu’s grave expression never faded.
He had been escorting goods from the west, Qishan Prefecture, needing to pass through Zijing Mansion to return to the eastern Capital City. He had only completed a third of the journey and had already lost a box of goods due to the bandits, leaving him in a rather despondent mood.
However, before leaving, he still smiled and gave Qin Yao a gourd, saying it contained seeds of a fruit called cool melon.
"The nobles of the Capital City love this during the summer. Originally, these seeds were kept by the Imperial Manor and the common folk were not allowed to plant them, so the price was always high. Ordinary folks wanting a slice in summer had to prepare ten taels of silver and wait in line to get one."
"In the scorching summer, the Princess sympathized with the common people, requesting Your Majesty to open up the Imperial Manor’s cultivation rooms, granting these rare fruit seeds to the common folks."
As he said this, Qiu gazed toward the east. His grave expression finally eased a little, "Next summer, ordinary people will also be able to enjoy this refreshing cool melon."
"The Princess is so kind."
After parting with the trade caravan, Liu Ji gratefully held the gourd of cool melon seeds.
Qin Yao guessed that this cool melon was most likely watermelon.
Watermelon, huh, when was the last time she had some? That time it seemed like the apocalypse hadn’t even arrived yet.
The time has been so long that the memory is a bit fuzzy, but Qin Yao is very much looking forward to planting these seeds in the spring and seeing what kind of fruit they bear.
The wonton stand at the city gate was still there, the business as good as ever. Qin Yao ordered four bowls of wontons, three for her and one for Liu Ji, filled their stomachs, and seeing that it was almost time for the academy classes in the afternoon, they bought a gift for the teacher and headed to the academy.
It was Qin Yao’s first time coming, unfamiliar with the place, so she asked Liu Ji to lead the way.
Liu Ji appeared calm on the way here, but when he arrived at the academy gate, he got a little timid.
He looked around, always wanting to see if anyone was older than him.
In the end, there were only two local families, leading their seven or eight-year-old sons to pay respects and enroll at the academy.
The entire county had this one official academy, already of a considerable scale, with dedicated personnel responsible for enrollment matters.
Qin Yao and her husband followed the two families with children through the academy’s side door to the registration point.
A teacher was there, responsible for handling student admissions.
So cases like in the storybooks, where a poor student would be taken under the wing of a famous teacher and achieve great success, simply don’t exist in reality.
The academy had only a few teachers, but many students; if you weren’t an exceptionally outstanding student, you couldn’t possibly catch the attention of a famous teacher.
Moreover, this place focused on self-directed growth, dependent on insight, with the teacher guiding you to the door, but personal cultivation was up to the individual.
Liu Ji mentioned he was a former student at this academy, and the teacher responsible for registration looked at him for a long time.
He shook his head, couldn’t remember, no impression.
However, seeing Liu Ji enroll at his age, he took a second look, found his appearance excellent, quite good.
The two little boys nearby looked up at Liu Ji, didn’t know what was funny, looked for a while and then bent their heads down, stifling their laughter.
It wasn’t until their parents gave them a rap on the head, that they behaved, keeping their gazes forward.
The academy wasn’t a place where you could enroll just by giving a gift; you also had to have your family tree checked up to three generations.
These documents were to be prepared by the enrolling student, and before coming, Qin Yao had already asked the Village Clan Leader for a certificate, which smoothly passed the inspection.
Then it was a test of the students’ character.
The teacher would ask a few questions to see how the students answered, judging from that.
If one passed the first stage, this stage only required giving the correct reference answers to pass.
It wasn’t Liu Ji’s first time enrolling. Back then, to get into the academy, he had memorized the standard answers with great effort. This time, the questions were almost exactly the same as before, word for word, so he passed easily.
The two young boys must have memorized them too but were still young and had only crammed last minute, so their recitation was shaky.
The parents offered reminders, and they managed to muddle through.
The two boys lived in the county town and took their enrollment badges to elsewhere.
Liu Ji needed to stay at the academy, so he had to pay an additional fee for lodging and meals.
The academy had a kitchen, where a cook was specifically responsible for preparing two meals a day for the students.
If one wanted three meals a day, they would have to make arrangements on their own.
The lodging fee and dining fee had increased, compared to the standard Qin Yao previously inquired about, each went up by fifty cents, amounting to one tael and one mace of silver per year.
Living arrangements were in large dormitories, with six people sharing a room. The rooms weren’t spacious but had good lighting, which Qin Yao found acceptable.
With the enrollment badge, they went to find the caretaker responsible for student boarding and meals, who assigned Liu Ji a room. It wasn’t full; along with him, there were only four people for now.
The students were attending classes in the front yard classroom at the moment, so the dormitory was empty. Scanning the hygiene situation, Liu Ji frowned.
Previously, he could sleep in a pigsty, but now... it’s all Qin Yao’s fault, that fierce woman, for being so particular, making him become so delicate now that he couldn’t even stand the smell of foot odor!
Qin Yao, with her back to him, was choosing the remaining beds, so she didn’t see Liu Ji’s resentful expression; otherwise, there might have been a beating today.
"This one then, in the corner, it’s quieter." Qin Yao said as she tossed the bedding she brought onto the innermost bunk.
Still treating Liu Ji like a freshman, she instructed him, "These two bunks in the middle are unoccupied. Before anyone moves in, you can place excess belongings there, making it a somewhat private space."
"Strange, not even a stove here. The kitchen didn’t mention providing hot water. Don’t they bathe or wash? Never mind, I’ll get you a kettle set and a basin later, so you can heat water for washing."
Upon hearing this, Liu Ji suddenly recalled his past life at the academy.
It seemed, indeed, no one regularly bathed or washed their hair... Oh Lord! It was bad enough with the foot odor, but must I also endure their body odor?
And to think they are scholars! How can they be so unconcerned!
Qin Yao finished making the bed, circled the small room, it was a brick house, with a kang bed, not too hot in summer, not cold in winter, she was quite satisfied.
Turning back, she patted Liu Ji’s shoulder, "Cherish this opportunity, study hard, ask questions if you don’t understand during class, and engage more with senior students who excel after class to gain insights, supplemented by your important notes from textbooks to enhance understanding."
"By the way, if someone wants to borrow your books, what do you do?" Qin Yao asked dangerously.
Liu Ji shook his head vehemently, "I won’t lend them, not even if they kill me!"
"Correct!" Qin Yao found him agreeable in every way at this moment, "We worked so hard for those exclusive materials. There are only so many Scholar positions. Giving them to others is like creating competition for yourself, get it?"
"I got it." Liu Ji replied earnestly.
Because her hand had somehow found its way to his neck, squeezing lightly.
Damn, if you want to strangle me, just say so!