Reporting Good News

Meanwhile, Jiang Youfu was happily busy, balancing his daily cultivation with honing his culinary skills.

Thanks to the small portion of the loot they had acquired from the bandit stronghold, the sect could now afford to eat meat almost every day.

However, Liu Yunan managed the account book with meticulous care. He set aside the majority of the funds for the sect's future use, while allocating the grain as their current daily rations.

About seven or eight days ago, the village had already completed a round of crop harvesting.

It was now the time of Grain in Ear, the season to begin planting the second round of crops.

Every household in Xiushui Village was busy in the fields. Despite the torrential rain that had lasted for days previously, the farmlands in Xiushui Village seemed largely unaffected. Moreover, the crops were extremely plump, making the villagers very happy.

However, many surrounding villages for miles around were not as fortunate. Many were more or less affected by the heavy rain, resulting in somewhat reduced grain yields. Fortunately, the county office promptly issued a notice reducing taxes for the disaster-stricken areas.

The commoners, who had initially felt somewhat lost, all breathed a massive sigh of relief.

As for Xiushui Village, not only did their fields not suffer a reduction in yield, but because the abundant rainfall during the Grain Buds period had helped the crops fill out nicely, their grain yield actually saw a slight increase. This led the villagers of Xiushui Village, during their breaks from farming over the past few days, to proudly show off to people in the neighboring villages.

For a time, many people in the nearby villages felt that Xiushui Village's feng shui was indeed quite good. Many villagers who did not belong to large, prominent clans even began considering moving to Xiushui Village.

It was another busy farming season.

The Lingxian Sect on the mountain was no exception.

The Spirit Grain previously planted in the spirit fields had also matured over the past few days and was harvested by the collective efforts of everyone in the sect.

Because they didn't have many initial seeds to begin with, Lin Dayou strictly forbade anyone from eating even a single grain of the newly harvested Spirit Grain; it all had to be used as seeds!

There was no helping it. They had only harvested a few handfuls of Spirit Grain in total. If they cooked a meal for this large group of people right now, it would be far too difficult to ever reach the point where they could plant enough Spirit Grain to eat it freely.

As a result, the sect members, who had been craving the enchanting aroma of the Spirit Grain, had no choice but to satisfy their cravings with Jiang Youfu's cooking.

As for the newcomers, Mo Yuanjiao and Mo Que, they had never tasted Spirit Grain before. But seeing everyone's eager expressions, the two of them also began to look forward to it.

Thus, under Lin Dayou's leadership, the Lingxian Sect's great farming endeavor proceeded in full swing. Everyone actively went down to the fields together to plow and sow, awaiting the arrival of the autumn harvest.

A few days later, on a scorchingly hot afternoon, several yamen runners riding tall horses approached Xiushui Village, beating gongs and drums, trailed by a group of villagers.

Hey! Old Hu! The officers are here to announce good news to your village!

A middle-aged rustic following behind the runners' horses shouted to a person standing under the large tree at the entrance of Xiushui Village.

The Xiushui Village residents chatting under the tree were baffled. Why were the officers coming to their village to announce good news? What good news?

Look at those tall horses, they even have festive large red rosettes hung on them!

Some of the quick-witted youths had already run into the village to find the village chief and the clan elders.

The remaining villagers all gathered around, following alongside the fine steeds at a respectful distance as they made their way into the village.

The runners on horseback beat the bronze gongs in their hands, yet they dared not strike too loudly for fear of startling the horses beneath them.

These horses had been borrowed by the county magistrate from the patrol inspector; it would be disastrous if they were frightened.

Furthermore, they usually rode ponies. This was their first time riding such tall horses, and it would be terrible if they were thrown off.

But they had no choice. Because this was the first time in decades that their county had produced an Anshou in the academy examination, the county magistrate insisted that the announcement must be made with grand pageantry.

It only made things hard for these runners who had never ridden such tall and majestic steeds before.

But what could they do? They could only be as careful as possible.

The men sat stiffly upright on horseback. Their foreheads were covered in bead-sized drops of sweat, which rolled down into their collars under the baking sun.

Thus, the villagers of Xiushui Village who hurried over upon hearing the news, as well as the villagers from nearby villages who had encountered them on the road and followed along, watched these heavily sweating runners draped in red silk and large red rosettes. The runners held their bronze gongs high and struck them incredibly softly.

They only stopped when they reached the open space in the village where the village chief usually made announcements and discussed matters.

Village Chief Du Liushui also hurried over at this moment, bowing to the runners and saying:

I did not know of your esteemed arrival and failed to welcome you from afar. I beg your forgiveness, officers...

Please do not be so polite, Village Chief! the runners on horseback quickly replied. Then, these runners were seen climbing down from their horses one by one, their movements somewhat clumsy and exceedingly cautious.

After the leader dismounted and stood firm, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, flicked it to the ground, and pulled out a piece of paper tied with red silk from his chest, saying to Village Chief Du:

Village Chief, we are here to announce a great piece of joyous news for your village. Quickly have someone call all the available villagers over so I can tell you!

So the village chief hastily ordered people to call out all the villagers who were hiding from the sun at home.

Only when the villagers had surrounded them tightly, three layers deep, did they clear their throats and announce loudly:

Today, Sun Yigao of Xiushui Village, Cuifeng Town, Anqun County, has honorably achieved the first place as Anshou in the Hufang Province academy examination of the ninth year of Longchu! To reward Xiushui Village for producing such outstanding talent, the County Magistrate has specially exempted Xiushui Village from this year's miscellaneous taxes!

Hearing the first half of the announcement, many villagers initially did not know what it meant. It sounded like the Sun family boy had taken an exam and gotten some Anshou? They completely did not understand.

But they understood the second half perfectly! Exemption from this year's miscellaneous taxes!

Although they still had to pay the main tax, for the impoverished Xiushui Village, the miscellaneous taxes were a considerable expense!

As a result, even if everyone initially did not know how well Sun Yigao had done in his exam, hearing that the county magistrate had actually waived their miscellaneous taxes for the year meant he must have done exceptionally well, enough to incidentally spare their entire village from miscellaneous taxes!

Thus, under the scorching early summer sun, the villagers cheered together from the bottom of their hearts.

At this moment, many villagers suddenly felt in their hearts that studying seemed quite useful after all.

Sun Yigao studied well, and he alone could exempt their entire village from miscellaneous taxes. If someone studied just a bit worse, even if they couldn't exempt a whole village, exempting a single household would still be incredible.

The people on the mountain who were originally busy farming had long heard the commotion in the village below and hurried down to watch.

Unexpectedly, they heard the good news that Sun Yigao had topped the academy examination as Anshou.

Lin Xiao was also extremely happy.

Although passing the academy examination only granted him the title of Xiucai for now, even as a Xiucai, he was the first place among this batch of scholars.

Lin Xiao believed that with Sun Yigao's talent and learning, he would certainly be able to achieve top honors in the upcoming provincial and metropolitan examinations.