Do you know: I, a commoner prime minister

Chapter 5 Proposing Marriage

The Great Zhou Dynasty has now abolished the elimination process of the palace examination; the palace examination only ranks candidates.

Therefore, as long as one's name is on the list of successful candidates in the provincial examination, it is already considered a great achievement.

Even so, the difficulty was still very high, because each imperial examination only admitted a little over two hundred people at a time, and nearly four hundred at a time.

There are more than two hundred prefectures in the Great Zhou Dynasty, which means that on average, only one person from each prefecture can pass the imperial examination each time.

But this thing is definitely not evenly distributed. In some wealthy prefectures in Jiangnan, several or even a dozen people pass the imperial examinations each time.

Qinghe County belongs to Tongzhou. Although it is in Jiangnan, it is not a large prefecture.

In good times, a candidate might pass the imperial examinations in a few attempts; in bad times, it might take more than ten attempts to produce even one.

Zhou An wasn't confident either, but seeing the expectation in the old man's eyes, he had no choice but to agree.

"Alright, you're going to propose tomorrow, you must have a lot of things to do at home, go back first," Lu Wang said, waving his hand.

"This student takes his leave!" Zhou An bowed and withdrew.

.........

The next morning, Matchmaker Liu arrived at the Zhou family's house.

By this time, the Zhou family members had changed into their best clothes.

Zhou An sat with them for a while, but he was so embarrassed by the praise that he made an excuse to go out and wait for Lu Wang to arrive at the town entrance.

After waiting for nearly half an hour, a carriage finally came towards them.

Zhou An recognized the carriage as the one Lu Wang usually rode in, straightened his clothes, and went to greet him.

The coachman recognized Zhou An, spoke to Lu Wang inside the carriage, and then stopped the carriage.

"Greetings, Your Excellency. You must be tired from your journey!" Zhou An bowed respectfully.

"It's not hard work. It's good to get out and about while I can still move around. In a few years, I'm afraid I won't be able to handle the physical exertion."

Lu Wang laughed heartily and beckoned Zhou An to get into the carriage.

After Zhou An got into the carriage, the driver continued driving and entered the town.

While chatting with Lu Wang, Zhou An occasionally looked outside to give directions to the coachman.

Yu Jie'er was assigned by Madam Hao to keep watch at the entrance of the alley. When she saw the carriage coming, she quickly ran into the alley.

"Father, Mother, a carriage is coming!"

When the carriage stopped at the alley entrance, Zhou Li and Hao Shi hurriedly came out to wait.

Zhou An got out of the carriage first and reached out to help Lu Wang down.

"Greetings, Instructor Lu!" Zhou Li led Hao Shi forward somewhat reservedly to pay their respects.

He had seen Lu Wang from afar when he sent Zhou An to the county school, but they hadn't spoken.

The instructor was an official, while Zhou Li and Hao Shi were just ordinary people, so they were naturally a little nervous.

"You're too polite."

Lu Wang smiled and nodded, saying, "It's truly remarkable that you've raised Zhou An so well."

"This is hardly a sign of good upbringing."

Zhou Li quickly said, "Da Lang often says that Instructor Lu takes good care of him, and that's all thanks to you."

"Father, Mother, please invite the instructor in first."

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Lu Wang, Zhou An and his parents spoke up to offer their reminder.

"Yes, yes, please come in!" Zhou Li warmly invited Lu Wang inside.

"Is the Zhou family going to arrange a marriage for their son, Scholar Zhou?"

"Didn't you see Matchmaker Liu is here too? Hasn't she arranged a marriage for his daughter Yu yet?"

The neighbors who had gathered around were all talking about it, and they were all very curious about who the Zhou family was asking for a marriage proposal from.

The population of Youyang Town consists of refugees resettled by the imperial court at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. They have a variety of surnames and no large clans.

Unlike other towns, which are basically dominated by only a few major surnames.

Therefore, many weddings are held within the town.

Given the Zhou family's circumstances, the families in the rural villages would definitely look down on them, but it's impossible for them to remain completely unknown in the town.

Some say it might be a wealthy family in Qinghe County, while others say it might be someone from a nearby town.

Although there's no result yet, it's not convenient to go and ask in person now.

Zhou family

Upon arriving at the main hall, Zhou Li invited Lu Wang to take the seat of honor and asked Hao Shi to make tea.

Lu Wang listened with a smile as Zhou Li and Matchmaker Liu recounted the preparations and procedures for their marriage proposal, nodding in response from time to time.

"Instructor Lu, please have some tea."

Hao placed the teacup on the table next to Lu Wang.

Lu Wang was about to speak when he saw the tea leaves unfurling in the teacup after being steeped in boiling water, and he froze.

Thinking he was being dismissive, Mrs. Hao said somewhat embarrassedly, "We don't have any good tea at home. This is tea leaves picked from wild tea trees on the nearby mountain. Please don't mind."

"It's not that I dislike the tea, but why are these tea leaves still so tender and green?" Lu Wang asked curiously.

In the Zhou Dynasty, there were generally only two ways to drink tea.

One method is to make tea by grinding processed tea leaves into powder, placing the powder in a tea bowl, and then stirring it while adding boiling water.

The specific procedures are quite complicated, and ordinary people naturally don't know how to do them, nor do they have the time or inclination.

Therefore, ordinary people would add tea leaves to the boiling water and boil it together, then scoop out the tea leaves to drink.

Lu Wang had also drunk tea brewed by ordinary people and had even seen it with his own eyes.

The tea leaves that have been boiled are not what they look like in the teacup now.

Moreover, serving tea with tea leaves included is considered extremely impolite, even in ordinary households.

Zhou An sensed something was wrong and stepped forward to explain, "Instructor, this tea was prepared by a student. It can be drunk simply by steeping it in boiling water. Please try it."

He didn't like tea powder, and he couldn't stand boiling tea leaves directly, so he tried to stir-fry tea himself.

After many attempts, he finally managed to figure it out, but Zhou An only drank it privately at home and never took it out.

Several years have passed since then, and the family has gotten used to drinking it, so he forgot to remind them.

But since things have come to this point, it wouldn't be appropriate to serve the tea.

"Oh?"

Lu Wang became interested and picked up the teacup, immediately smelling the aroma of tea.

"The aroma of tea fills the air, the tea leaves are tender and green, floating in the water—wonderful, wonderful!"

Lu Wang smiled and praised him, then brought the teacup to his lips and took a sip.

He savored it for a moment, swallowed it, and his eyes became even brighter.

"It has a slightly bitter taste at first, but then a sweet aftertaste, leaving a lingering fragrance on the lips and teeth—it's truly wonderful!"

"I'm glad you like it, Your Excellency. I'll prepare some for you later so you can take it home and enjoy it slowly," Zhou An said.

"Well then, I won't stand on ceremony."

Lu Wang really wanted to talk to Zhou An about this tea-frying, but he was still thinking about his business and wasn't in a hurry.

"It's getting late; it's not wise to propose marriage too late. Why don't we set off now?"

"Why!"

Zhou Li nodded quickly and told Zhou An and Hao Shi to bring out the prepared gifts.

Then, carrying the gifts with Zhou An, he left Hao Shi and Yu Jie'er at home, and went out with Lu Wang and Matchmaker Liu.

The Sheng family lived just outside the town, not far away. It wasn't suitable to go by oxcart, and Lu Wang's carriage was too small, so they went on foot.

"Big Brother, give me the things, and you help Instructor Lu."

"No need," Lu Wang said with a smile, shaking his head. "My legs are still quite nimble, and there's not much to go. I don't need anyone to help me."

Seeing this, Zhou Li did not insist. The four of them walked for a while and left the town. From a distance, they could see the magnificent house halfway up the mountain.

It's said to be halfway up the mountain, but it's not actually that high; the drop between it and the road below is only about two or three meters.

I heard that a great flood once submerged Youyang Town. The Sheng family later prospered and chose to build their house outside the town to prevent such a situation from happening again.