The County Examination
As for the production of the printing press, Zhao Ruxi had long ago entrusted Xiao Lingyan to secretly produce it in the south. All the upheavals in the capital had nothing to do with her.
Besides continuing to teach painting to officials in various places, she devoted the rest of her energy to books. Occasionally, she would take a walk on the estate.
Last year, taking advantage of the winter off-season, the people in the village not only built neat and spacious houses for themselves, made a lot of vermicelli, and opened a rice noodle shop, but also carried out some infrastructure construction as instructed by Zhao Ruxi.
The chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, pigs, and cattle that were originally raised for the master of the village were all raised by people organized by the village head in five separate areas at the foot of the mountain.
After all, the servants' own houses were small and had no front or back yards. They couldn't even feed themselves, so where Youyu to feed the livestock? The livestock given to the master were raised on rice bran mixed with vegetable leaves and wild vegetables, which were left over from when the farm pounded grain for the master.
Zhao Ruxi felt there were two problems with doing this. One was the risk of disease; the farm had experienced several outbreaks of chicken plague, killing many chickens. The other was the need to assign dedicated people to manage it, which was a waste of labor.
She simply adopted a voluntary adoption system. Whichever farm servant was willing to raise these livestock could take some back, with the males and females of appropriate sizes. Of the chickens, ducks, and eggs raised, they would keep one-quarter and hand over three-quarters. Of course, if all the chickens and ducks died, they would have to compensate for the losses. If they raised them well, they could also receive a reward, and a standard was set for this.
As soon as the plan was announced, the farm servants rushed to adopt the livestock.
Poultry like chickens don't require much care. They can be fed with a little rice bran and chopped vegetable leaves every day. They lay four eggs, and you can keep one for yourself. If you raise a few chicks, they'll grow up in six months, and by then at least one will belong to you.
Ducks and geese are a bit troublesome because they need to be herded into the pond to graze, and pigs, cattle, and sheep also require some effort. However, the elderly and children in the family can do these things. If you are diligent, you will put in some effort sooner or later, but the profits will be considerable.
However, Qian Duoduo still advised them according to their individual abilities. Chickens, ducks, and pigs were fine, but cattle and sheep were not something everyone could raise well.
Seeing everyone's high level of enthusiasm, Zhao Ruxi even suggested raising earthworms to feed chickens, ducks, and pigs.
She had never done farm work or raised chickens or ducks in her two lives; she had only seen this method in books and novels.
To be on the safe side, she designated one company to conduct a pilot program, so that they wouldn't bear the consequences if it failed. If it succeeded, their method would then be rolled out.
With the livestock issue resolved, fruit trees were planted on the mountain during the winter, and fish fry were released into the pond, which was then contracted out to skilled fish farmers.
Zhao Ruxi wanted to convert rice into a cash crop, but these fields were all top-quality paddy fields, and it would be a waste to change them to other crops.
The Great Jin Dynasty was still facing a food shortage, and the imperial court attached great importance to the cultivation of grain on farmland. Those with paddy fields also had an obligation to grow grain to alleviate the food crisis. Seeing that the farmhands were able to make a good living through other means, Zhao Ruxi did not mention the matter of switching to cash crops.
She did give the farmhands some methods for accumulating fertilizer, so that they could improve the soil's fertility and plant a crop of winter wheat in the winter.
She doesn't know much about agriculture, and she doesn't dare to give unsolicited advice to experts, so this is all she can do for now.
Before they knew it, the time for the county examination had arrived.
Zhao Ruxi was a veteran of countless battles in her past life and wasn't nervous at all about the exam.
But Madam Cui was extremely nervous.
She privately approached Grand Princess Shangde and said to her, "Princess, I'm worried that Consort Jin or Princess Pingyang might sabotage Zhiwei in the county examination. Zhiwei was ranked first in the annual examination, but she can't even pass the county examination. I wonder how she'll be ridiculed by the Capital Women's Academy."
"I've thought of that too. I'll go see the Emperor right away and ask him to send someone to supervise the examinations and make sure everyone is careful."
Grand Princess Shangde stood up as she spoke and hurried into the palace.
Women taking the imperial examinations were treated differently from men. Due to their smaller numbers and special status, they were not arranged to take the exams in the same examination rooms as the male candidates. Instead, they were given a separate courtyard next to the examination hall, where two officials appointed by the imperial court would supervise the exams.
It is very important to know who these two officials are.
If someone is working for Consort Jin and wants to cause trouble for Zhao Ruxi, they have plenty of ways to do so.
"Your Majesty, you saw what happened at the last painting competition. Some people just couldn't stand Zhiwei's success and tried to Zhiwei her up. I'm worried that people will make things difficult for her this time when she takes the imperial examination. Could you appoint an upright person to be the examiner for the female candidates? I don't need him to show any Zhiwei; I only ask for fairness."
"Okay," Xiao Ge readily agreed.
Even if Grand Princess Shangde hadn't brought it up, he would have done it anyway.
Zhao Ruxi's paintings can be considered at the level of a national master, and the imperial court would certainly take protective measures for such a person.
She got into trouble in the painting competition last time; if she gets into trouble again in the imperial examination, Xiao Ge won't be able to explain it to the world. His uncle will probably scold him terribly.
The county examination consisted of several sessions and was not of a high rank. Since the officials in the imperial court were busy with other matters, they could only send people in sinecure positions to supervise the examination.
Xiao Ge already had someone in mind, but according to the rules, he couldn't tell Grand Princess Shangde, and Grand Princess Shangde didn't ask any further questions.
On the day of the county examination, Zhao Ruxi arrived at the examination hall only a meal early.
When she arrived at the examination room, she found only four other people besides herself. Three of them clearly knew each other and were huddled together whispering; the other sat nervously on the other side.
The three people who were talking glanced at Zhao Ruxi as she entered, and one of them asked, "You're Zhao Ruxi?"
Zhao Ruxi nodded. "Exactly."
"We are all from the Capital Women's Academy," the person said again.
Her tone was calm, and her gaze towards Zhao Ruxi was merely curious, without any arrogance or disdain.
This is also the effect of Zhao Ruxi becoming famous overnight after participating in the painting competition.
Her achievements in painting were something these women could only look up to for their entire lives; not to mention that she ranked first in the annual examination, completely outshining these women.
Therefore, no matter how noble their background, these women could not be arrogant in front of the truly talented Zhao Ruxi. Otherwise, if people found out, their reputation would suffer.
The woman sitting alone looked up at Zhao Ruxi Zhao Ruxi with curiosity and admiration when she heard her name.
Zhao Ruxi said "Nice to meet you" and then ignored them, lowering her head to lay out her writing implements.
Because there were few candidates, and the examination was overseen by only two officials and two assistants, no one dared to cheat under such watchful eyes. As a result, female candidates were exempt from the body search; their writing implements were also not checked.
Seeing that she had no intention of striking up a conversation, the three women from the Capital Women's Academy, somewhat arrogant, stopped talking, and the room fell silent.
The two assistants who arrived first breathed a sigh of relief.