Chapter 49 - 49 It's Good to be Educated

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n49 It’s Good to be Educated

nHe would only be qualified to participate in the imperial exam if he passed the state exam? After that, the best scholar was selected from those that passed the imperial exam? Before he could become an official, he first had to spend thousands of taels of silver?

nHow could a family of farmers afford thousands of taels of silver?!

nIf they couldn’t afford it, they would have to try again, but the more they waited, the greater the competition.

nCould a person who couldn’t even pass the state exam go that far?

nLin Dachui and Old Lady Lin could no longer listen to the rest of the sentence.

nTheir dream to have a son who was an official was shattered.

nThe other members of the Lin family were also shocked when they heard this. They even felt that Lin Yuanshan had wasted their family’s money.

nAfter talking for a full 15 minutes, Zheng Yongzi finally finished explaining the process to become an official.

nLin Yuanshan felt a great sense of shame which made him wish he could hide in a hole.

nThe villagers, on the other hand, had learned a lot.

nAfter knowing that it was that difficult to become an official, they thought that it was pointless to spend so much money on studies.

nLin Xiaoyue thanked Zheng Yongzi.

nHearing the villagers’ discussion, she said to everyone, “actually, studying is not just to become an official. It can broaden one’s horizons. In reality, for example, to make a living, those who are educated could find better jobs. Just because it’s hard to become an official doesn’t mean that studying is useless.”

n“Yeah, those who are educated could go to town to find work. Those who aren’t can only do hard labor like my husband,” said a woman.

n“Besides, being educated makes it less likely for one to be scammed!” Another person said.

n“Yeah, it seems that it’s important to be educated…”

nThe village chief looked at Lin Xiaoyue with admiration.

n“In addition, although scholars are only qualified to become officials if they pass the imperial exam, there are also benefits even if they only pass the preliminary exam,” the village chief said to the villagers.

n“What benefits, village chief?” someone asked.

n“First, if there is a scholar in the family, two people in the family can be exempted from mandatory labor.”

n“Second, they will be given preferential treatment. If you are a scholar, you don’t have to kneel before an official, and you can not be tortured in court.”

n“Third, you are exempted from grain taxes. You can be exempted from the grain tax of 20 acres of land.”

nAs soon as he said that, the villagers immediately started chattering, especially when they heard about the grain tax exemption. This could save a lot of money for farming families.

nThus, many families wanted to send their children to school.

nSeeing that the villagers no longer had any misunderstandings about studying, Lin Xiaoyue looked at Lin Dachui again.

n“Grandpa, do you still think that letting fifth uncle go to school is the same as letting all the children in the family go to school?”

nAs soon as she said that, everyone turned to look at Lin Dachui.

nIn particular, the sons and grandsons of the Lin family all turned to look at him.

nIt was good to go to school, even if one couldn’t become an official. Perhaps one could earn a better living in the future. If one had knowledge, one could become a teacher.

nHowever, their parents (grandparents) favored his fifth son and spent all the money in the family on him. He was convinced that he could become an official after he passed the exam.

nHowever, Yongzi explained that the process was much more complicated than they had expected.

nLin Yuanshan had failed the state examination twice. Was it possible for him to become a scholar? Even if it was possible, how many years would it take?

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