After smoothly arriving under the peppercorn trees, Chen Liejiu took the dagger from between his lips and smirked. He always knew his husband was a fox spirit in disguise—wherever a fox had passed, it would surely bless him with safety.
He called Chen Wu and the others over: "Come down along the branches I just swung from. We need to quickly cut some cuttings to take back for propagation. Don't miss the farming season."
Xu Huaiqian had gone to the academy to study. His five mu of grain land were planted with ginger, and now Chen Liejiu had brought back peppercorn branches from the mountains, filling his remaining five mu of mulberry land with cuttings.
Not a single one of the ten mu was planted with crops. The villagers couldn't understand it at all.
"!!! Madness! Madness! Madness!"
"Xu Huaiqian and Chen Liejiu have gone completely mad!"
"Instead of planting proper crops, they insist on these crooked ways. If these crooked ways could make money, why would we still farm?!"
For thousands of years, it was common sense that land was for growing crops. Even if you planted something else, that was something only landlords could do.
Xu Huaiqian only had ten mu of land, and not even good land at that. Instead of farming properly, he planted these weird things, thinking he could get rich from them?
The whole village thought they were fantastical!
It wasn't that they wanted to pour cold water, but farming was different from anything else.
They could watch from the sidelines with things like making charcoal or hatching chicks, but farming touched a reverse scale for the villagers, provoking an extreme reaction.
If someone in their family had a son who used good land for something other than crops, had no harvest for a year, and left the whole family to live on air the next year, they'd beat him to death in fury.
But they couldn't persuade Chen Liejiu.
Even the elders of the Chen clan went to the fields to advise Chen Liejiu, telling him not to indulge Xu Huaiqian and to at least leave a few mu for crops, but Chen Liejiu retorted sharply:
"With my husband here, my household doesn't pay taxes, doesn't serve corvée labor, and doesn't lack food or drink. I'll plant whatever I want on my land!"
The elder was left speechless and had to give up. After all, he had to admit Chen Liejiu had a point.
He was now a Xiucai's husband—he had money and status. Who were they to tell him what to plant on his land?
Seeing they couldn't persuade him, the elder waved for everyone else to stop making a fuss: "Let him be. When autumn comes and everyone else has a harvest while his family doesn't, he'll know regret."
Young people were impulsive and stubborn, always thinking they were right. Once he hit a wall, he'd naturally turn back.
Like the rest of the village, the elder didn't believe Xu Huaiqian's crooked ways would succeed. But since Xu Huaiqian and Chen Liejiu were clearly on a roll, and good advice can't save those doomed to fail, and since their family wasn't short on money, why not let them mess around?
So the village stopped advising and instead waited to see them make a joke of themselves.
" Too much money burning a hole. They fuss every time they have a few coins. Wouldn't it be better to use that money to buy land? Once their money runs out, we'll see what they do then."
Land bought could be passed down for generations, building a family estate for descendants. Some capable families could become major landlords after a few generations.
People here hadn't yet had the unthinkably rebellious idea of "enjoy life without worrying about descendants." Whatever was good for future generations was considered good.
Of course, with exceptions for particularly selfish individuals.
Chen Liejiu didn't care what others thought. He had gone through great hardships to bring back peppercorn branches from the deep mountains—there was no way he wouldn't plant them!
Not only would he plant them, he would plant them well!
So while Xu Huaiqian studied at the academy, Chen Liejiu ran back and forth between the mountains and the fields every day. Someone who originally knew nothing about farming now somewhat understood it.
Of course, Xu Huaiqian's studies at the academy weren't easy either. Passing the Xiucai exam was just the most basic foundation; the Juren exam was the real heavyweight in the imperial exams.
Hadn't Fan Jin gone mad immediately after passing the Juren exam?
Xu Huaiqian also felt he was going crazy—endless studies, endless assignments, endless books to memorize.
The intensity was much higher than in the Tong Sheng class at Qinglian Academy, almost catching up to the intensity of Meng Fangxun's special training before their Xiucai exam.
" I can't do it, I can't, I'm dying." After two months, Xu Huaiqian lay directly on the bed, crying out that he couldn't go on.
It wasn't that he couldn't do it; his body couldn't handle it. After resting all winter, he had mostly stopped coughing blood, but recently his relentless study pressure had made him start again.
" You have to, even if you can't." Meng Fangxun pulled him up and fed him two pills. "Don't forget, we're taking the Juren exam together. Look how hard Pei Wangshu is pushing himself now; you can't fall behind."
Pei Wangshu was truly working hard. To catch up with them, he forced himself to read even when he couldn't focus. He even hired someone to read to him in his dormitory to avoid falling asleep while reading himself, all to pass the Xiucai exam this year.
Last month, through his own effort, he advanced to Class C. Whether he could pass or not, it was still major progress.
"I know, I'm just venting." Of course Xu Huaiqian knew he couldn't fall behind. He still wanted to take down that corrupt prefect in the prefectural city. If he hadn't been so domineering and allowed the exam officials to embezzle, Xu Huaiqian wouldn't have ruined his health and gone blind after the exams.
And for his A-Jiu, to let his A-Jiu shine, he had to fight hard too!
But he was so tired.
Xu Huaiqian gritted his teeth; he had never felt so exhausted. The knowledge in the books was so difficult—he had never seen or learned it before, and he had to memorize it by rote. So many books!
His brain wasn't a U USB drive that could scan and remember everything; he had to memorize every word and sentence.
Too tired, too tired. Having been somewhat pampered by his husband, Xu Huaiqian was so exhausted he almost wanted to give up entirely.
" Xiucai Xu, your husband sent you new food." Just as he lay on the bed feeling life was worthless, the attendant brought him a light of hope.
Xu Huaiqian, who had been lying like a corpse, instantly sat up and went to receive the food box.
Now that Xu Huaiqian had changed courtyards, he could no longer freely enter and exit the academy's back gate. Fortunately, each courtyard had an attendant; having the attendant handle things was just the same.
"After I finish eating, I'll keep fighting." Carrying the food box into the room, seeing Meng Fangxun and the others looking at him in astonishment, Xu Huaiqian said somewhat sheepishly.
"Alright, alright, as long as you're willing to work hard." Meng Fangxun had no objections; he was just a bit surprised to see Xu Huaiqian go from looking half-dead to instantly energetic at the mention of his husband.
"Eat quickly. After you finish, review what we studied the past few days. Magistrate Wu will be teaching this afternoon." Duan Youyan chimed in.
It wasn't that he wanted to make things hard for Xu Huaiqian, but studying at Qingyun Court was completely different from Qinglian Academy. Not only did the academy head teach them personally, but magistrates from various counties also frequently came to lecture.
The academy head hoped they would pass the Juren exam and succeed; the magistrates hoped they would pass to add to their achievements. Everyone was pushing them to strive, and the pace of study kept accelerating.
And when magistrates from each county taught, their favorite thing was to test the knowledge of the Xiucai from their own county, to see if they were promising talent.
Magistrate Wu had recommended Xu Huaiqian to the academy. He originally thought it would take two more years for him to pass the Xiucai exam, but he never expected Xu Huaiqian to pass in just two months.
Although he was just a last-place passer, he was still a Xiucai. And privately, Magistrate Wu felt Xu Huaiqian had considerable talent that hadn't yet emerged, so he held great hope for him.
Every time he taught, he always called on Xu Huaiqian to check his knowledge.
Hearing that Magistrate Wu was coming to teach, Xu Huaiqian's face fell instantly. He didn't know how he had offended this magistrate.
He was quizzed on his studies every time, laughed at by the other Xiucai every time.
He thought that after passing the Xiucai exam, everyone was a Xiucai, right? There wouldn't be any discrimination like in Class D.
However, imagination was beautiful, but bad attitudes were everywhere.
They didn't discriminate against Xu Huaiqian's health anymore; they directly started discriminating against his knowledge.
In the afternoon, after Magistrate Wu finished teaching and quizzed Xu Huaiqian on his studies, listening to him stammer through the material from the past few days, he said dissatisfied: "You need to be more diligent in your studies. Your essays, poetry, and songs are all lacking. Since memorization and transcription are your only strengths, you must master them even more thoroughly than others."
" Yes." Xu Huaiqian also knew he couldn't match the others here; he just had to work extremely hard. But there were only twelve hours in a day. He studied eight or nine hours, others studied eight or nine hours. To pull ahead, he had to work even harder.
To work harder, he needed a better body. With his modern body, he could study ten hours a day, leaving only two for sleep and rest.
But this body couldn't.
Unless he wanted to die, he had to take better care of himself.