On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Lu Yuan carried a pound of thick-cut pork belly tied with a red string. Accompanied by his father-in-law, Lin Dashan, he stepped through the snow and knocked on the gate of Zhou, the village chief of Qingshui Village.
Village Chief Zhou’s house stood right in the center of the village. It was a spacious courtyard made of blue bricks, far more imposing than the crumbling mud house of the Lin family. It carried the unmistakable air of authority that belonged to the person in charge of the village.
“Oh, it’s the eldest son of the Lu family! It’s New Year’s Day, and you’ve gone to the trouble of bringing such a generous gift!”
Village Chief Zhou puffed on his dry tobacco pipe and welcomed the two men into the warmly heated main room with a broad smile.
He was also a Tongsheng scholar. Although he had never passed the Xiucai examination, he was highly respected in the village and held scholars in particularly high regard.
Lu Yuan neither humbled nor flaunted himself. He respectfully bowed and placed the pork belly on the table.
Then he pulled several hundred copper coins from his sleeve and respectfully pushed them toward Zhou.
“Happy New Year, Grandpa Village Chief. I came today because I have a favor to ask.”
Lu Yuan got straight to the point.
“I have already severed ties with the Lu family, so naturally my household registration can no longer remain there. I would like to establish a separate household registration for my family of four and register all of us here in Qingshui Village.”
“This money is for your travel expenses and the tea money needed to handle matters with the county household-registration office. I hope you’ll be willing to trouble yourself on our behalf.”
In this era, transferring one’s household registration was no trivial matter. The village chief had to take the village seal and personally go to the county government office to handle it.
Village Chief Zhou was a kind and reasonable man. Seeing that Lu Yuan was educated, courteous, and understood the proper etiquette, he readily accepted the money and pork.
“Young Lu, you are well educated and filial toward your wife’s family. Having someone like you settle in Qingshui Village is a blessing for the whole village!”
Village Chief Zhou tapped the ash from his tobacco pipe and smiled.
“Once the county office reopens after the fifth day of the New Year, I’ll go and get it taken care of for you.”
Hearing this, Lin Dashan rubbed his hands excitedly and repeatedly thanked him.
However, Zhou suddenly stopped smiling as he looked at Lu Yuan and let out a heavy sigh.
“Young Lu, the household registration is easy enough to deal with. But as for your imperial examination… I’m afraid you’re celebrating too soon!”
Village Chief Zhou’s brows knitted together, his voice filled with an elder’s concern.
“Now that the Lu family has removed your name from the genealogy, you’ve become a rootless ‘man without a household clan.’ Who will provide your linbao guarantee for next year’s county examination?”
The smile on Lin Dashan’s face instantly froze.
“Village Chief, if his household registration has been transferred here, why can’t he take the examination?”
Village Chief Zhou shook his head and patiently explained the strict imperial examination regulations of the dynasty.
“Dashan, you don’t understand the rules governing the examinations.”
“The county examination, prefectural examination, and academy examination all require strict guarantees. Even the very first stage—the county examination—has extremely demanding requirements.”
“First, five Tongsheng scholars from the same village must form a ‘five-person mutual guarantee,’ vouching for one another’s clean backgrounds and ensuring that none of them is taking the examination under a false identity.”
Village Chief Zhou knocked the ash from his pipe and sighed.
“Qingshui Village is poor. Aside from this old man, where are we supposed to find four other Tongsheng scholars to form the mutual guarantee?”
“And that’s not even the hardest part.”
Zhou lowered his voice, his expression becoming solemn.
“The most troublesome requirement is that you must also find a licensed Shengyuan scholar—a ‘linsheng’—to personally guarantee you!”
“If something goes wrong with you, the linsheng who guaranteed you will be implicated as well. Now that you no longer have your clan backing you, which linsheng scholar would dare take such a huge risk by guaranteeing a rootless outsider like you?”
“Without a guarantor, you won’t even be able to register for the county examination!”
Those words were like a basin of ice-cold water poured directly over Lin Dashan’s head.
His eyes reddened with anxiety, and he tightly clasped his hands.
Could it be that all his son-in-law’s knowledge and talent would be wasted simply because he had severed ties with his family?
Compared with Lin Dashan’s panic, Lu Yuan remained remarkably calm.
He picked up the hot tea on the table and took a slow sip. There was not the slightest ripple in his deep eyes.
“Father, don’t worry.”
Lu Yuan put down his teacup and smiled calmly at Zhou.
“Grandpa Village Chief, rules are dead, but people are alive. Surely a living man can’t be suffocated by a dead rule?”
“Just help me get the household registration transferred. As for the guarantor… after the New Year, I’ll go to town and make friends with a linsheng scholar.”
Seeing how confident Lu Yuan looked, Village Chief Zhou was momentarily stunned before giving a bitter smile and nodding.
He merely thought Lu Yuan was young and fearless. He had no idea just how difficult it was to gain the favor of a linsheng scholar.
After bidding farewell to the village chief, the two men walked through the snow and returned to the Lin family’s courtyard.
Lu Yuan lifted the thick cotton curtain covering the main room, and a warm current carrying a faint milky fragrance rushed toward him.
The already cramped mud house now felt even more crowded.
Against the wall was a heated brick bed. Beside it stood a crude wooden double baby cradle.
And beneath the window, where the light was best, they had somehow squeezed in a brand-new unfinished wooden desk.
Lin Dashan and his eldest son had hurriedly made it for Lu Yuan. Although it had not been painted, they had sanded it extremely smooth specifically so Lu Yuan could study there.
Ink, brushes, paper, and inkstones were neatly arranged on the desk. In this tiny room, there was barely enough space for anyone to turn around.
“Husband, you’re back.”
Lin Qingyue was leaning against a soft pillow at the head of the kang bed, a fresh blue cotton headscarf wrapped around her head.
It had been more than ten days since she gave birth. Thanks to Lu Yuan constantly finding ways to nourish her, her formerly sallow little face had finally regained some healthy color.
At this moment, however, her eyes were filled with concern.
She had heard Lu Yuan talking with Lin Dashan outside through the paper-covered window.
“Husband… are you having trouble with the imperial examination?”
Lin Qingyue bit her lip.
“If you really can’t find someone to guarantee you, then don’t take the examination. With your skills, our family can still live a good life.”
Hearing how considerate his wife was, Lu Yuan’s heart warmed.
He quickly walked over to the kang, removed his outer coat covered in cold air, and gently tapped her little nose with his warm finger.
“What are you thinking about? How could such a small matter possibly stump your husband?”
Lu Yuan smiled and deliberately changed the subject.
“As long as you recover and grow strong and healthy, that’s more important than anything else. By the way, were the two little ones well-behaved today?”
He turned and leaned over the cradle to look at his two sleeping babies.
Just then, his son, Changsheng, opened his big black eyes.
The little one wriggled his body, his tiny mouth trembling pitifully as he let out a clear cry.
“He must have wet himself. I’ll change him.”
Lu Yuan skillfully rolled up his sleeves and awkwardly began unwrapping the layers of cloth around Changsheng.
He had just pulled out the soaked diaper and had not yet put on a clean one when—
Changsheng kicked his little legs.
A warm, crystal-clear stream of urine shot through the air in a perfect arc.
“Psht—!”
It landed squarely on Lu Yuan’s face!
“Cough, cough…”
Lu Yuan closed his eyes. His expression instantly froze, and his entire body went rigid.
“Pfft…”
Lin Qingyue stared for a moment from the kang before covering her mouth and bursting into laughter.
It was the first time since Lu Yuan had transmigrated that he had seen his wife laugh so freely and brightly. Even the corners of her eyes were filled with lively joy.
“You little rascal. You’re not even a month old and you’re already daring to attack your old man.”
Lu Yuan wiped the baby’s urine from his face. Instead of getting angry, he actually laughed.
After he finished cleaning Changsheng up, his little daughter An’an also woke up.
An’an neither cried nor fussed. She simply waved her plump little arms.
When Lu Yuan reached out his hand, An’an immediately grabbed the index finger of his right hand—the finger he used to hold a writing brush.
Her soft little hand clung tightly to it and refused to let go.
Looking at his adorable children and then at his gentle wife smiling warmly on the kang, Lu Yuan wiped the urine from his face.
Something deep inside him was fiercely touched.
His entire heart melted into a spring of tenderness.
“Husband, it’s so cramped in here with the desk.”
Lin Qingyue watched Lu Yuan sit down by the window and spoke apologetically.
“The children cry at night. They’ll surely disturb your studies. Why don’t you… go study in the west room instead?”
“No.”
Lu Yuan sat at the slightly rough wooden desk and opened the Collected Commentaries on the Four Books.
He turned around and gave his wife a reassuring look.
“I like it here. Every time I look up, I can see the three of you.”
A warm smile curled across his lips.
“Besides, if I stay here, I can study while also helping you take care of them at night. I’ll feel most at ease and safest when I can keep you all within sight.”
Lin Qingyue’s heart filled with sweetness. Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she stopped trying to persuade him.
She simply felt that this was the warmest home in the world.
The room became quiet again.
Only the soft rustling of turning pages could be heard.
Lu Yuan’s eyes rested on the books of the sages, but his mind was already rapidly calculating the family’s finances.
The imperial examinations had always been a bottomless pit.
Even if he managed to befriend a linsheng scholar in town who was willing to guarantee him, there were still the county, prefectural, and academy examinations ahead.
The cost of reference books, examination fees, travel expenses, lodging and meals during the journey, not to mention the inevitable social obligations and gifts…
Every single one required a huge amount of silver.
The thirty-some taels he had earned from selling the soap formula might look like a lot.
But after buying meat and grain, jewelry, and books these past few days, quite a bit had already been spent.
Once the spring thaw came, they would also have to tear down this broken mud house and build a proper blue-brick tiled house. That alone would cost at least a dozen taels.
All things considered, the money he had left would never be enough to support him until he passed the Xiucai examination!
He absolutely could not simply live off his savings.
Since the soap business was gone, he had to start an entirely new business after the New Year.
It had to be low-profile so it would not attract attention like the soap business.
But at the same time, it had to bring in astonishing profits.
More importantly, the new business had to serve as a stepping stone, allowing him to make connections with influential wealthy families in town or even the county and solve the problem of finding a guarantor for his examinations.
But what should he make?
Lu Yuan put down his purple-haired writing brush and rubbed his aching brow, sinking into deep thought.
The knowledge he had accumulated in his modern life raced through his mind.
Glass?
The manufacturing process was too complicated and could easily attract trouble.
Gunpowder?
That would be a crime serious enough to bring disaster upon his entire family.
After thinking it over and over, an extremely profitable ancient industry suddenly flashed through Lu Yuan’s mind.
Using modern distillation techniques to produce high-proof liquor!
Once clear, fiery, high-strength liquor appeared on the market, it would definitely make those who loved alcohol go crazy for it.
But…
He didn’t know how strictly alcohol production was regulated in ancient times.
Would this method actually work?