"Yes, Master," Shen Xiaoming replied respectfully.
After another quarter of an hour, the masters entered the classroom one by one. It was time for the exam, and Shen Xiaoming quickly followed the master who had spoken to him.
In the courtyard, the originally noisy crowd instantly disappeared, leaving only some parents who had come to see off their children standing there, anxiously waiting.
Shen Xiaoyan then carefully surveyed the entire courtyard. The courtyard was about an acre in size, and the ground where they were standing was paved with black bricks.
Adjacent to the classrooms, there were either trees or low branches, which Shen Xiaoyan guessed were flowers.
Stone tables and benches were placed under the trees. Although they felt a bit cool to sit on now, they would be very pleasant in the summer.
Shen Xiaoyan pulled Zheng Wei to walk over and sit on a stone bench. Behind them was the classroom where Shen Xiaoming was taking his exam.
"The one who was just talking to Xiaoming is called Xu Zhou. He's an old scholar. Although he didn't pass the imperial examinations, his knowledge is decent. He teaches one of the middle classes here. If Xiaoming passes the exam, he'll probably be with him," Zheng Wei explained softly to Shen Xiaoyan.
"So, he has a good impression of Xiaoming?"
"Yes, Xiaoming is very likable."
Shen Xiaoyan's eyes narrowed into a smile, and she said proudly, "Naturally, Xiaoming is the best."
The two waited for half an hour before seeing Xu Zhou walk out of the classroom. The other masters also emerged one by one, each holding a stack of papers. Shen Xiaoyan guessed they were the exam papers.
Shen Xiaoyan didn't know exactly what the exam was about, but when Shen Xiaoming came out, he was clearly very happy. Before Shen Xiaoyan could ask, he said, "Big sister, I passed the exam. I can go to the middle class to study."
Shen Xiaoyan spared no praise, "Xiaoming, you're amazing."
Since they had passed the exam, they would now enter their respective classes and begin their studies. Shen Xiaoyan guessed that today would probably be about distributing books and explaining rules, just like her first life when she started school.
The only difference was that in her previous life, books were free, unlike now, where tuition and book fees amounted to 7 taels of silver a year, which most families could not afford.
Moreover, you had to buy your own ink and brushes. If you wanted to learn better than others, you also had to buy books and commentaries, which was a considerable sum.
Therefore, the fact that the Shen family could afford to send both Shen He and Shen Bing to school indicated that Shen Cheng had a lot of money. However, when she thought about her and Shen Xiaoming's lives in the Shen family, Shen Xiaoyan felt extremely fortunate to be able to sever ties with them.
In the Great Chu Kingdom, girls could attend school and learn to read, but only up to a certain level. Once they finished the advanced class, they could not continue.
To go to a better academy or to pursue a career in officialdom was simply out of the question.
Even so, very few families sent their daughters to school. Shen Xiaoyan had observed closely, and the number of girls in the entire school was no more than ten.
This indicated that even though women were allowed to read and write, most parents still believed that it was useless for women to study. After all, they were destined to marry, have children, and manage the household. Learning these things was a waste of money.
The children re-entered their respective classrooms, and Shen Xiaoyan and Zheng Wei left the school together.
They had already agreed with Shen Xiaoming that he would return home by himself after school. It was not far from their home, and Shen Xiaoming was fast, so he could be back in a little over fifteen minutes.
On the way back, Shen Xiaoyan felt a sense of pride as her child grew up. Sending Shen Xiaoming to school lifted a great weight off her heart.
Regardless of whether Shen Xiaoming could achieve success in the future, at least he had the opportunity to choose his own destiny.
Zheng Wei walked alongside Shen Xiaoyan, clearly sensing her good mood, and a smile touched his lips.
No matter when, as long as Shen Xiaoyan was happy, he was happy.
They returned home and began their work.
The weather was still cold, and it was not yet time to plant anything. However, they still had dozens of acres of wasteland to clear.
The weeds had turned yellow, but they needed to be dug up, and then the ground had to be beaten with a rake to remove any small stones or branches underneath.
This much land was a significant undertaking for the two of them.
Although they now had a mule and could buy a plow to till the land, Shen Xiaoyan still felt that it was not as fast as doing it themselves.
So, upon returning home, they both changed into old clothes, picked up their bamboo baskets and rakes, and went to the back of their homestead.
When they built their new house, they had only used 8 acres of land. So, looking from the back of the homestead, there was a large, flat expanse of land, a total of 24 acres, which was indeed quite a lot.
Behind their land, there was no more, as it connected to a small hill.
The hill was not high, only about 10 meters, but it stretched far. Further beyond, across the river, was Baiyun Peak.
Shen Xiaoyan had actually set her sights on this hill, but she didn't have the money to buy it now, so she could only wait for later.
Besides, no one was likely to compete with her for such a place.
Last year, the striped watermelons sold for a high price, but this year they would be grown with the villagers, so the price would likely be lower than last year, but still profitable.
It would take another year or two for the striped watermelons to become popular in the vicinity before the price would truly drop. Therefore, Shen Xiaoyan still planned to plant more striped watermelons this year.
These 24 acres of land were not enclosed by a courtyard wall because Shen Xiaoyan intended to expand it eventually, so there was no need to do so unnecessarily. Besides, she did not intend to plant striped watermelons here.
Both of them were strong and experienced in manual labor, so they were both fast and accurate at tilling the land and picking out stones and grass roots.
In the span of a morning, one acre of land had been cleared.
"Mimi, let's go back," Zheng Wei looked up at the sky. It was time for lunch, and Shen Xiaoming would probably be back to eat as well.
Although the school provided lunch, it was not plentiful. It was generally for the masters and students who lived at school, as well as for those who lived far away and stayed to eat.
Eating at school was not free; you had to pay for meals. Therefore, children from Baiyun Village and those who lived nearby would go home for lunch.
Shen Xiaoyan already knew the school hours. The morning session was from Chen Shi to Si Shi, which was exactly 4 hours. The afternoon session was from Wei Shi to Shen Shi, also 4 hours.
This was similar to the study time in her previous life, but there were no weekends. However, every ten days, there was one day of rest. There were also holidays during busy farming seasons and festivals.