Fu Yong placed his bamboo baskets behind a tree. Here, several trees formed a small flat area just large enough for them to store their things.

Fu Yong had Guan Er take two people to slip forward and look. “See if there’s a pavilion and people.”

Guan Er agreed and went with two close friends, climbing up along the mountainside. Halfway up, they crossed over and peered down. Soon they came running back excitedly. “Brother Fu, I didn’t see a pavilion, but I saw a tea shed with many people drinking tea and eating there.”

Hearing this, everyone’s stomachs started rumbling. One person sniffed and said: “No wonder I kept smelling wheat fragrance. They must be making steamed buns.”

Fu Yong thought for a moment and called over Dong Shu, the eldest and most steady among them. “Brother Dong, you take Fu Hong and Guan Er to gather intelligence. I’ll wait here with the others.”

Dong Shu felt nervous upon hearing this and quickly shook his head. “I can’t do it. I’ll stay here and watch them. You take Fu Hong and Guan Er.”

Fu Yong lowered his gaze in thought. He did have many things he wanted to find out, so he stood up. “Alright, I’ll go. Two more people come up the mountain to watch us. If something happens, I’ll try to signal you, and you leave immediately and return directly to the mountains.”

The young men became agitated and asked: “What about the farming tools?”

Fu Yong: “If you receive the signal, it means we can’t buy farming tools and will lose our lives. At that point, preserving life is paramount.”

Before leaving the mountains, the elders had repeatedly instructed them to listen to Fu Yong, so despite their reluctance, the young men looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

Fu Yong then led four people over the mountain, leaving two halfway up, and took Fu Hong and Guan Er down.

Only when they reached the foot of the mountain did they see a pavilion hidden by the tree cover.

The pavilion was somewhat old with no one inside, but across the road on a grassy area, a tea shed was set up with many people sitting there. Ox carts and mule carts were parked by the roadside.

Fu Yong had left all the money pouches with the group earlier, carrying only a string of copper coins on his person.

He led the two toward a table, cupping his hands and asking: “My friend, might we share this table?”

Two men sat at this table, clearly together. Their sleeves were wide, and despite the hot weather they wore cloth shoes—clearly people of some means.

The seated guests looked up at Fu Yong. Seeing him in narrow-sleeved short garments with patches at the elbows and wearing straw sandals, but with a refined bearing unlike ordinary farmers, they nodded in agreement.

In this era, even imperial relatives could fall to become beggars, so the guests didn’t look down on Fu Yong. Seeing his courteous manner, they nodded approval.

Fu Yong glanced at Fu Hong and Guan Er, then sat down on a long bench.

Fu Hong and Guan Er looked at the two guests, then mimicked their posture and sat properly on a bench. Five people filled the entire table.

Fu Yong ordered three steamed buns, three flatbreads, and three bowls of tea, waiting to eat.

When the tea arrived, Fu Yong smiled and asked the two: “Are you friends entering the city or just leaving it?”

“At this hour, naturally we’re entering the city.”

Fu Yong looked up at the sun and laughed. “I’ve been so busy I lost track of time and didn’t realize it was already late.”

The two guests expressed agreement and asked in return: “Are you harvesting wheat?”

Fu Yong vaguely acknowledged with a sound. They didn’t grow spring wheat in the mountains—all winter wheat, which had been harvested completely back in the fourth month. After harvesting the wheat, they began transplanting rice seedlings.

This area was along the Fen River and should also grow winter wheat. To be harvesting wheat now suggested something unusual happened last year, so they switched to planting spring wheat in early spring.

Whether that unusual event was natural disaster or man-made calamity remained unknown.

Fu Yong: “I see you two are scholars. Are you traveling for study?”

The two smiled at each other. “We received documents for the provincial examination and are going to Luoyang to take the recruitment examination.”

Fu Yong’s eyes widened at these words, his heart beating violently. He knew about the recruitment examination—it was an exam held by Yuzhou to select talent that had caused quite a stir when announced across the land. At the time, some in the court had even claimed Zhao Hanzhang was trying to gather talented people from across the realm to rebel.

The recruitment examination was in Luoyang, which meant… had Zhao Hanzhang taken Luoyang, or had the Xiongnu borrowed her method?

But he couldn’t ask directly. His curiosity burned, and just as he was about to probe indirectly, the server brought their steamed buns and flatbreads. This interruption caused the two guests to turn and talk among themselves.

Fu Yong could only suppress his excitement and wait for another opportunity to ask. As it turned out…

“Sigh, I heard there will be extremely many people taking the exam in Luoyang this year. We don’t know if we can pass. Logically, with the new examination system just established, there shouldn’t be this many people.”

“General Zhao set up two suggestion boxes at the palace gates—one criticism pillar and one justice stone. The criticism pillar is for hearing opinions from across the realm. Everyone in the world can discuss government affairs. Mountain hermits, as long as they have insights on governance, can submit to the criticism pillar box. With such openness to counsel, how many hermits do you think will emerge?”

His companion sighed upon hearing this. “The country’s prosperity should bring joy, but thinking of all these talented people emerging at this time while my own prospects look dim, I can’t feel happy. I heard there are even northern gentry returning from Jiangnan participating, and those great families have foundations we cannot compare to.”

The other remained undeterred, smiling: “If I can’t become a county magistrate, surely I can become a chief clerk or deputy magistrate?”

“Now that the realm is newly settled, every region lacks people. We passed the provincial examination—I don’t believe General Zhao won’t employ us.” He said spiritedly: “We should thank General Zhao. Without her recruitment examination, people of our status would truly struggle to enter office.”

Fu Yong suppressed his excitement, his eyes bright as he asked: “Observing you two friends’ elegant and carefree manner, you must be scholars. Why would you say such things?”

The man smiled and waved his hand. “We are scholars, but our families only have a few acres of poor land, barely surviving in these chaotic times. With backgrounds like ours, if status were determined traditionally, we couldn’t even enter the evaluation banquet.”

What he didn’t say was that his grandfather had been a coroner at the county office, accumulating some money and luckily acquiring a few books. His father later went into business and was somehow swept up to become a soldier, joining the Zhao family army and becoming a squad leader.

With such a family background, forget about him—even three generations down might not gain entry to an evaluation banquet.

But now, none of that mattered. As long as they had learning and ability, they could take the recruitment examination. If they couldn’t pass the national examination, they could take the provincial examination. If they couldn’t pass the provincial examination, they could take the county examination. There would always be an opportunity to advance.

Besides written examinations, they could also take martial examinations.

However, he’d heard martial examinations were also difficult—not only testing martial skills and archery but also military strategy and mathematics. Supposedly, the exam papers even included some medical questions, making it no simpler than the written examination.

“Moreover, the recruitment examination’s written and martial exams are scheduled at different times. I’ll take the written exam first, and if I don’t pass, I’ll take the martial exam.”

His good friend asked with a smile: “What if you don’t pass the martial exam either?”

“Then I’ll take the Imperial Academy entrance exam. The Academy tests in the first month of next year, and my strongest subject in the provincial exam was mathematics. Once I enter the Academy, I’ll find a way to study under Minister Fu. If I can become his disciple, won’t that also lead to great success?”

His good friend couldn’t help saying: “You cunning fellow! Still, I wish you success in your aspirations. When you achieve fame and fortune in the future, don’t forget me.”

“I won’t, I won’t. I definitely won’t forget.”

Fu Yong quickly asked: “May I ask which Minister Fu you refer to? Might it be Fu Zhi of the northern lands? Wasn’t he a Secretary?”

“Brother, how long has it been since you entered the city to read the announcements? Minister Fu is naturally Fu Changyu. Secretary Fu was his grandfather, but he recently passed away. General Zhao and Minister Fu personally went to Yongzhou to escort the coffin back to the capital.”