Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

Chapter 86 Exam
Lao Piao went to the grocery store to inquire and got ten sets of four treasures of the study. It was said that these were the inventory when the grocery store opened, and they had never been sold since they were brought there.

Chen Gu's heart sank when he heard this, because it meant that among the thousands of people in Fobao, not a single one had a need for the Four Treasures of the Study, or to put it more bluntly, not a single one could write.

There were ten sets of four treasures of the study, and eight of them were occupied by people in the mountain village. There were more than 2,000 people in the entire Buddhist collection, and only one white-haired old man came out and occupied a position.

It's good to have one, and having one also makes Chen Gu feel relieved.

Chen Gu had already decided that no matter whether the old man could recite the Thousand Character Classic from memory or not, even if he could only write a few sentences, Chen Gu would recruit him.

After all, there is such a local person from Fobao working for the government, so when any announcement is issued in the future, the local people from Fobao will have more trust in it.

It took more than an hour to finish writing the thousand words. What Chen Gu didn't expect was that the first person to finish was the old man from Fobao.

Seeing the old man stop writing, Chen Gu shouted, "Since you've finished writing, bring it over to me and let me see it!"

"Boss!" The old man bowed to Chen Gu, then handed over the paper full of words with both hands.

Chen Gu took the paper and asked casually, "What's your name? Tell me about your family situation!"

"We will build a school soon, and then you can learn more and practice more." Chen Gu said to the only person who failed to be selected, and then raised his voice and said: "The boss will open a school here. Anyone who wants to study, whether adults or children, can come and study for half an hour every day. There will be a special teacher to teach."

After Lao Piao brought the money, Chen Ju gave Dai Changjiang one tael of silver and said, "This is for your family's emergency use. It will be deducted from your monthly salary in the future, 100 coins per month, until it is all deducted."

The other eight people were all from the copycat group. They also wrote and handed in their 8,000-word essays one after another. Chen Gu collected them and took a look. Except for one person whose writing was full of mistakes and whose handwriting was particularly awkward, the other seven were recruited.

"The second youngest is called Dai Changjiang. He lives next to the Guanyin Temple. He has an old wife and two sons who are both married. He has two grandsons and three granddaughters. One daughter is married and her parents are deceased. One brother has separated from the family and lives on his own. One sister has passed away!" said Dai Changjiang.

Chen Gu thought for a moment and said to Lao Piao beside him, "Bring some silver ingots."

Chen Gu nodded as he opened the paper. At first glance, Dai Changjiang's handwriting was actually very good. There was not a single mistake in an essay of a thousand words, which was already amazing.

Don't think that one thousand words are too few. Chen Gu had seen that kind of street challenge before. It was just a simple way of writing numbers. As long as you wrote three hundred and sixty-six correctly, you could get a prize. However, only very few people could win the prize.

"Thank you, boss!" Dai Changjiang said excitedly after taking the silver. One or two taels of silver is not much, but it is enough to solve some urgent problems.

After Dai Changjiang received the silver, he immediately ran over to give it to his family and explained to them that he would not go home for the time being because he had to work soon. Although his family was reluctant to let him go, they were also happy that Dai Changjiang had found such a high-paying job.

Chen Gu often revised his notes, let alone writing the Thousand Character Essay in one breath.

"Your family is quite healthy. You are a blessed person. Your handwriting is very good. You have been accepted. You can start working today. Come with me to eat a big meal, and then we will start working after dinner!"

Whether or not one can learn something and what one can learn in one hour a day is not something Chen Gu can worry about. He is not training scholars anyway. He just needs everyone to be able to write and calculate.

You don't need all of them, it's enough to train some useful people.

As for whether everyone can seize this opportunity to change their fate, it depends on personal efforts, talent and luck. After recruiting scholars, Chen Jue returned to his own courtyard to eat. Lao Piao wanted to eat with him but was chased away by Chen Jue. With his appetite, even if the three of them didn't eat, it would not be enough for him to be full.

There were four dishes and one soup. Qin Ling and Wu Qing'er both had a bowl of rice, and took two or three bites of each dish with their chopsticks, and finally drank a bowl of soup to feel full.

However, Chen Gu ate three bowls of rice and finally finished all the dishes.

"My master has a big appetite, so I can cook more food!" Wu Qing'er said.

"No, this is just right, it's enough. I just ate it all because I didn't want to waste it." Chen Gu said with a smile.

After finishing his meal, Chen Gu returned to the threshing ground and began recruiting warrior apprentices.

A lot of people signed up this time. Even though Chen Gu limited the age to those between sixteen and twenty-six years old, there were still more than four hundred people who signed up, all from Fobao.

Someone must have lied about their age, but Chen Gu has no way to verify it, nor does he want to. If you are willing to come, come, as long as you meet the requirements.

There are also four to five hundred people who have signed up in the mountain village. Although there are nearly a thousand people in the mountain village now, more than half of them are various craftsmen. In addition, Yunhua has selected one hundred and fifty people to leave first, so some of these registered people should actually be craftsmen.

Chen Gu also didn't care. Since he wanted to join the army, he could just come.

"It's three miles from here to Qingyuan Palace. Run to Qingyuan Palace and get a stick of incense. The first eight hundred people to return will qualify!" Chen Gu suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "Run!"

Upon hearing this, about a thousand people immediately started running wildly. If they really ran all the way back and forth for three thousand meters, they might not have the strength to come back. This test was not only about running, but also about endurance and wisdom.

At Qingyuan Palace, Yunhua and his men were distributing incense. Looking at the crowd running over, Yunhua said to his men, "Look, you don't even need to announce yourself if you follow me. You're just a warrior. How great!"

His subordinates couldn't help but be thankful for their choice. If Chen Gu knew about this, he would definitely laugh at them for being thankful too early.

Chen Gu's training intensity for the special forces is very high, and it is hard to say whether they can hold on. But Yunhua's personality is such that he will definitely not agree to their withdrawal.

It was because Chen Gu saw Yunhua's ruthlessness that he asked him to select the people first.

After getting the incense, these people quickly ran back.

Chen Gu gave a reward of eight hundred coins to the first person who ran back, seven hundred and ninety-nine coins to the second one, and only one coin to the last one. Anyone who received the reward was considered selected.

“It doesn’t matter if you are not selected. There will be opportunities in the future. We have many craftsmen, including blacksmiths, carpenters, stonemasons, and tile makers. Those who are not selected can learn to be craftsmen. Don’t be afraid of having no work.

Even if there is no work, we will provide food and accommodation.”

(End of this chapter)