I feel so good after dressing up as a peasant girl

Chapter 296 Mr. Candidate

After a subtle and covert investigation, Bai Jingzhou crossed out two of them that he thought were inappropriate.

Of the two who are not suitable, one of them pretends to be a decent person outside, but acts superior to others in every way at home.

He took it for granted that he spent the money earned by the whole family, but he had no gratitude at all. Not only did he never help his family with work, but he was also always picky about food and clothing.

His family financial situation did not allow him to employ servants, so he treated his nephews and nieces as servants. Most importantly, he looked down on his illiterate brother and sister-in-law, even though it was clearly his brother and sister-in-law who were the ones who supported his studies.

The other one was also outrageous. His family was obviously so poor that they could barely make ends meet, but he still had to put on a show of wealth outside. His wife and children were tightening their belts and starving at home, but he would go out to eat with his classmates at every turn, and he would try to choose the best food and daily necessities.

Bai Jingzhou felt that the two men had character problems, so he simply crossed them off the list of candidates.

Among the remaining three scholars, Bai Jingzhou was most satisfied with Li Fanli, a scholar from Ershilipu in Guanzhuang Town.

Li Fan, whose courtesy name is Zisheng, is 22 years old this year. He passed the imperial examination to become a scholar when he was 18 years old. However, as the world was in chaos in the past few years and his family was in financial difficulty, they could not afford to bribe the examiners or buy test papers, so he still holds the title of scholar.

It is worth mentioning that although he also took the imperial examination this fall, because he had been struggling to make a living in recent years, he inevitably slacked off in his studies, so he ultimately failed.

Bai Jingzhou felt that he was suitable because although he also came from a poor family, his attitude towards his family was completely opposite to the previous two.

The situation was chaotic in the past few years, and Li Fan enjoyed one of the benefits for scholars, which was "exemption from the adult tax", but he had no chance of other benefits. He could only find ways to make money on his own.

He copied books, wrote letters for others, wrote articles, wrote poems, and worked as an accountant... As long as the price was not too low, he would not mind any job.

As far as Bai Jingzhou knew, what he wanted most was to find a private school to teach, but unfortunately, there were very few children who could afford to go to school in the past few years. Everyone had a hard time making a living, so where would they get the extra money to send their children to private school?

He really couldn't find a suitable private school, so he could only do these low-cost jobs to support his family.

Bai Jingzhou found out that Li Fan was originally from Xiatun Village, Guanzhuang Town. After his father died while serving labor service, his uncles and aunts wanted to drive him and his mother out. His grandparents were old and had to rely on other children and grandchildren to support them in their old age, so he silently acquiesced to their behavior.

Fortunately, Li Fan's uncle was a man who valued friendship and was also shrewd and capable. He brought his clansmen to the Li family's house and forced them to give a share of the family property to Li Fan and his mother according to the rules of dividing the family property.

The Li family disagreed, and it was no use even though the Li clan leader and the villagers in Xiatun Village had been talking their mouths off.

Uncle Li Fan was not afraid of their rogue behavior, so he brought his clansmen and stayed at the Li family.

When it was time for dinner and the Li family was cooking, they would grab the bowls and chopsticks and start eating. At night, when the Li family was going to bed, they would sit in the main room and the yard and laugh loudly, forcing the Li family to live unbearably, so they had no choice but to shamelessly ask the clan leader and the head of the village for help in mediating.

They proposed to sever the relationship with Li Fan and his mother. After that, they naturally would not have to support Li Fan anymore.

Uncle Li Fan directly exposed their wishful thinking, "What? You want me, your uncle, to raise a child for your Li family, and then when the child grows up, you will exploit and control him under the banner of being his elder? Don't dream!"

He said that it is possible to sever ties, but a document of severance must be signed, and the reason for the severance must be clearly stated in the document:

The child's father died in labor service, but his grandparents and uncles insisted on kicking the child and his mother out of the house, without any regard for the life and death of the orphan and his widow. He brought his nephew to seek justice, but the Li family proposed to break off the relationship because they didn't want to raise the child.

The Li family couldn't persuade him any more, so they had to agree to have the head of the village write a letter of severance of relationship to Li Fan and his mother, witnessed by the clan leader and two other village elders.

In addition, Uncle Li Fan also obtained six strings of money as compensation for them and their son.

Among the six strings of money, two strings were the dowry brought by Li Fan's mother. Over the years, her mother-in-law had spent it bit by bit by asking her to buy things but not giving her money.

Li Fan's mother didn't want to be scolded by her mother-in-law for being unfilial every day and to be found fault with by her mother-in-law no matter what she did, so she acquiesced to her behavior.

In addition to the two strings of cash as a dowry, Li Fanniang originally also had a silver hairpin and a pair of silver bracelets, which together weighed about three taels.

When Li Fan's father went to perform hard labor, the two elders of the Li family refused to give money to Li Fan's father to spend, and they forced her to pawn her dowry jewelry. So Li Fan's mother took the jewelry to a silver shop in the county town and pawned it.

She had a good relationship with Li Fan's father and couldn't bear to see him go to serve in the army, but she couldn't afford even a penny for an emergency. Even though she knew that her in-laws were taking advantage of her, she still did it.

As for the basins, buckets, quilts, boxes and cabinets that originally belonged to her and had already been divided among her sisters-in-law, her brother said "they were dirty" and forced the Li family to pay another 1,000 yuan as compensation.

Of course, the Li family was not convinced. After all, they just took some old things of Li Fanniang. But Li Fan's uncle just said, "You think you are right to steal other people's things?"

In the countryside, it doesn't matter if you steal my things and I call the police to arrest you. People will just bring a group of people to deal with you directly.

Those women were afraid of being beaten, so they could only take out the money reluctantly.

Uncle Li Fan got the money, took the severance document and left with his clansmen. From then on, Li Fan and his mother began to live a poor life relying on Uncle Li Fan.

Originally, Uncle Li Fan wanted to place his sister and nephew in his own home, but Li Fan's mother was unwilling. She spent two strings of money and bought a small courtyard next to Uncle Li Fan's home.

That small courtyard was originally the house of their clan members, but there is no one left in that branch now, and the house was returned to the clan several years ago.

Li Fan and his family still live in the same house, so Bai Jingzhou knows that the house is not only small in size, but also has only three very dilapidated adobe houses. The two strings of money that Li Fan's mother used back then were more like buying a residential plot than a house.

In the years since Li Fan and his mother moved in, the clansmen have helped them repair and rebuild the house. However, because Li Fan was studying, their family could not afford to spend much money on building a house, so the clansmen could only build them an adobe house with a thatched roof.

Li Fan's mother gritted her teeth and persevered over the years, using her weaving skills to raise her son, help him find a wife, and even helped him pass the imperial examination to become a scholar.