The next day, when the sky had just begun to brighten, the three Jiang men shouldered their baskets and went up the mountain to pick mushrooms.
It was the rainy season, and the mushrooms on the mountain were especially plentiful and fat during this time, so there were many people going up the mountain to gather mushrooms.
By noon, the villagers of Xijin Village saw the three Jiangs coming down the mountain with delighted expressions on their faces. Upon asking, they learned that the Jiang family had actually found a huge lingzhi mushroom on the mountain.
This lingzhi was a valuable medicinal ingredient. It was said to be very expensive.
The late Fifth Old Master Qi of the village had found one before and sold it for a full thirty or so taels of silver. With that money he built a five-room house with blue brick and glazed tiles, which made the other villagers extremely envious.
It was a pity that his descendants were not hardworking. Not only did they lose all the family money gambling, one of them even worried his wife to death. They sold off the fields and children too.
In the end, even the house with blue brick and glazed tiles was mortgaged to someone else. Thinking back now, it was sigh-inducing.
After the Jiang father and sons hurried home to eat lunch, they immediately rushed to the county seat and went to the biggest and most reputable medicinal shop, Andang.
Finally, because of this lingzhi's age, excellent quality, and potent medicinal properties, Andang paid the high price of 180 taels of silver for it.
It was the first time the Jiang father and sons had seen so much money. They didn't dare stay in the city for long. After leaving Andang, they headed straight home.
By the time they got home, the sky was already dark. After dinner, they sent the children to their rooms to rest.
Old Jiang poured all the silver they had earned today selling the lingzhi in a pile on the table.
Seeing the shiny heap of silver ingots, the women's eyes lit up.
Old Lady Hu carefully reached out and touched it, her face full of disbelief. Stuttering, she asked, "Old man, is all this really ours?"
Seeing the excited expressions on everyone's faces, Old Jiang suppressed his own excitement and affirmatively replied, "That's right, it's all ours. This lingzhi sold for a total of 180 taels of silver.
The shop owner at Andang gave 100 taels in banknotes, plus five 10-tael silver ingots and six 5-tael small ingots. It's all here."
He pushed the entire pile of silver in front of Old Lady Hu.
Old Lady Hu looked at him, then gathered the silver into a pile. Hesitating for a moment, she said, "Over these years, the family has worked hard to send Third Son and the two grandchildren to school.
Now, thanks to our good girl's blessing, we've gotten this much silver.
I'm thinking, give each room some for pocket money, and for yourselves to buy what you want, or to take back to your maternal families. It'll be more convenient that way."
As she spoke, Old Lady Hu took three 10-tael silver ingots and gave one to each room, saying, "Today I'm giving 10 taels to each room."
Then she picked up two 5-tael small ingots and placed them in front of Lu, saying, "These two are for our little good girl. It's thanks to her blessings that our family has gotten all this silver."
Old Lady Hu turned to the first and second rooms, "You don't have any objections, right?"
Seeing that her two daughters-in-law both shook their heads saying they didn't, she nodded in satisfaction and put away the remaining silver.
Old Jiang picked up the conversation, "The rest of the silver, I plan to use some to host a one-month celebration banquet for our good girl, and keep some for when Third Son goes to the prefectural city for the exams.
We must host an abundant banquet for the good girl's one-month celebration. Firstly to accumulate more blessings for her, and secondly to show some reciprocity to our clansmen.
Over these years, our clansmen have helped us out a great deal inside and out. Now that our lives are a little better, we should also give back. One must not forget their roots!"
Old Jiang took a sip of boiled water and continued, "Third Son will be taking the county exam in the second half of the year. This is a big deal. With this money, our family can finally breathe easy." Speaking to this point, Old Jiang vigorously said, "All of our grandchildren, every single one, I will send to school!"
"Ah oh, ahh yaya!" Go to school, good! Send big brothers all to school!
Knowledge changes destiny!
Grandpa is amazing!
Hearing that the big brothers would be sent to school, Jiang Yuqing excitedly jumped and shouted.
The tender, milky cries of the infant sounded especially lovely in the quiet night.
As soon as Old Lady Hu heard it, she smiled and took her granddaughter from Lu's arms, happily playing with her, "Good girl, Grandpa said he'll send your big brothers all to school. Isn't that good?"
"Ah oh oh!" The little baby earnestly answered, of course it's good.
However poor, one must not skimp on education or be harsh with children.
Studying is a good thing. If this was my previous world, the big brothers would have entered school long ago.
"Hahaha, it seems my good girl also thinks Grandpa is right!
It's settled then.
Tomorrow morning, Eldest, take the children and bring Little Seven too, go to your in-laws' and ask.
If it's possible, send them all to school!" The in-laws Old Jiang referred to was Lu's own father, Old Scholar Lu.
When Old Scholar Lu was young, he was quite learned and talented. But unfortunately, bad timing meant he never managed to pass the provincial exams despite trying multiple times from a young age to become a successful candidate.
The first time he took the exam, his grandfather died, so he had to observe the mourning period for three years according to custom. Right after the mourning period ended, his grandmother passed away, and he observed mourning again for three years.
After barely finishing that mourning period, on his way to take the exam for the third time, he got caught in the rain and came down with a severe cold, nearly dying from it, let alone taking any exam.
After that experience, Scholar Lu completely gave up any thoughts of taking the exams again. Instead he returned to his hometown of Xiushui Bay and opened a school, devoting himself wholeheartedly to teaching. He did teach several successful candidates in the end.
Jiang Wenyuan was one of them.
Not only that, Old Scholar Lu saw that this young man was exceptional in appearance, learning, and character. Later, he even married his precious daughter to him, who was Lu.
After Jiang Wenyuan passed the county-level exam, he went to study at the county school.
The Jiang family also sent the oldest of the next generation, Jiang Yujiang, and the third son, Jiang Yuhu, there too. They were all family, so they could look after each other more.
The next day, Jiang Wenkang did indeed take a string of nephews to Xiushui Bay where Lu's father lived. This included the reluctant Jiang Yuhe, who got headaches from reading and was stubbornly unwilling to study.
Xiushui Bay was not far from Xijin Village. Going upstream along the Qing River about four or five li, the place where the river bent was it.
Because the riverside was filled with who knows how many years’ worth of thick, sturdy willow trees, one of which was so enormous it took five or six grown men to encircle it, and the scenery there was picturesque in all four seasons, it was called “Xiushui Bay.”
Old Scholar Lu's private school was located on a small slope to the west of Xiushui Bay. It was a two-section courtyard built with blue bricks.
The school currently had over 50 students in total, all from the surrounding villages, separated into three classes from A to C.
Class C was for the complete beginners. Class B was for those with some foundation.
Class A had the fewest students. They were the ones who had studied for a few years and were preparing to take the entrance exam for tongsheng status next year. Currently Jiang Yujiang was in Class A and Jiang Yuhu was in Class B.
Despite only being a little over 5 years old, Jiang Yuchuan was the smartest of the Jiang boys of this generation.
This child seemed to take after his father, and was quite gifted in studying.
At such a young age, he could already recite the Three Character Classic from memory, and had started reading the classics and histories. He was a little study master.
Aside from his own talents, Lu's daily teaching also played a big part.
As for Jiang Yuhe and Jiang Yushan, they fell a bit short. Let alone reciting it, they still stumbled through the first ten lines of the Three Character Classic.
Of course there was nothing wrong with that. In the end, the Jiang family was sending them to study not expecting every grandson to be able to pass the exam to become a successful candidate.
They only hoped these children could learn more words, so they wouldn't be blind when they went out into the world in the future.
After the news spread that the Jiangs had struck it rich selling lingzhi and sent all seven grandsons to school, it caused quite a stir all around.
There were villagers who praised them, envied them, and spoke sourly of them.
But most people secretly looked upon the Jiang family's newborn baby girl.
Right after the child was born, the sky broke out in heavy rain despite having been in drought for a long time.
After that, the rain became normal, and spring plowing was able to proceed. In just a few days, the Jiang Family only went up the mountain to pick some mushrooms, and found a lingzhi.
According to Sanqiu Dad who had seen this lingzhi, the lingzhi was as big as a washbasin, and so purple it was red, worth at least several dozen taels of silver.
Good heavens, several dozen taels of silver, how much money was that!
Even if they didn't eat or drink their whole lives, they were afraid they couldn't save that much money.
Just look, the Jiang Family sent so many grandsons to school in one breath, which said it all.
It was said that for each child, just the monthly tuition was five hundred wen, plus books, writing brushes, paper and ink, each child had at least eight hundred wen in expenses per month, which was at least eight taels of silver per year.
Calculating this way, the Jiang Family's seven children, just the tuition for the year was fifty-six taels.
For ordinary farming households that had only three or four taels of silver in household expenses per year, this was simply an astronomical figure.
If this kept going, the silver from selling the lingzhi would be used up in just one year, and might not even be enough.
Had the Jiang Family gone crazy? How would they get by in days to come?
No matter how outsiders guessed and gossiped, life in the Jiang Family went on as usual, doing things the way they always did.
Soon, Jiang Yuqing’s one-month celebration was approaching.
The day before his daughter’s one-month celebration, Jiang Wenyuan specifically took time off to return home.
The Jiang Family had said early on that for the good baby’s one-month celebration, they would not accept gifts.
All the Jiang clan members, every single one, could come eat at the feast.
In addition, the Jiang Family also invited a few neighbor families they were on good terms with, like the village chief family, the Zhao Liuzhi Family, and the Qi Tofu Family.
A few days prior, the Jiang Family had already begun preparations.
The head chef, the servers, the women and old ladies who would help wash vegetables, cut vegetables, and do odd jobs had all been arranged.
The things that needed to be bought had also mostly all been purchased.
In addition, the tables, stools, bowls and chopsticks needed for the banquet had also been arranged to borrow from various households.
On the big day, before it was even light out, the Jiang house was already brightly lit.
In the backyard, the big fat pig let out tragic squeals as Old Fifth Wang used an iron hook to hook under its chin and drag it out of the pigpen.
With the help of several strong young men from farming families, in less than half a hour, the pig had been turned into meat on the chopping block.
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