“Ha, this business is going well. Thomas Ford is the Grand Secretary, his elder brother teaches students at home, and whoever becomes his brother’s disciple is basically a reserve under Thomas Ford. Does it really matter if his brother is a good teacher or not? The most important thing is to stand before Elder Ford and let Elder Ford see your loyalty. Wouldn’t all those gentry scramble to send their children to his brother? Even giving gifts to Thomas Ford can be done with a clear conscience—‘We’re honoring the teacher, not the Grand Secretary.’ In this way, all the gentry of Shuntian are united under Elder Ford’s banner.”

　　William Young said.

　　“Nonsense! Mr. Ford is truly learned; his students pass the exams every year.”

　　Helen Howard rebuked angrily.

　　“Nonsense, his students just show their credentials and the examiners immediately set them aside for success! By the way, how do you know so much? Could it be that you…”

　　William Young looked at him suspiciously.

　　“I heard it from my brother’s teacher!”

　　Helen Howard quickly said.

　　“You have a younger brother?”

　　William Young drawled.

　　“Why do you think I go through wind and rain with my father? Isn’t it just to earn more money so my brother can pass the scholar’s exam? Don’t tell anyone—my brother is fostered at my uncle’s house, and to outsiders, he’s said to be my uncle’s son. In our line of work, you never know when something might happen, and if he gets implicated, it’s all over. Our family’s hopes rest on him. He’s already a tongsheng, and he’s passed the prefectural exam. Next, he can take the exam for xiucai. If only he could become a disciple of Mr. Ford.”

　　Helen Howard said wistfully.

　　“Wait, isn’t it possible to just buy the xiucai degree?”

　　William Young asked doubtfully.

　　“Nonsense, how could you buy a xiucai? What you can buy is a jiansheng, and that costs several hundred taels of silver. Besides, even if you buy it, it’s just an ‘exceptional’ jiansheng. Unless you keep spending money, you can’t become an official. You’d have to spend thousands of taels just to get a minor post. The powerful buy a jiansheng and get promoted with help, the rich keep spending and can do it too, but for ordinary families like ours, selling everything for a jiansheng is pointless. It’s better to work hard—maybe Heaven will show mercy and let us earn a degree. Even if it’s just a xiucai, we won’t have to pay taxes in the future, and even when passing through the customs on a boat, we won’t have to pay a single coin.”

　　Helen Howard said with boundless longing.

　　“You really are a small head with big dreams!”

　　William Young sighed.

Chapter 009: Cousins

　　Of course, in this era, passing the imperial exams and becoming a zhuangyuan is everyone’s dream…

　　No matter your background.

　　Whether a farmer, merchant, even a military officer, or some shady character—any smuggler who doesn’t want to be a zhuangyuan isn’t a good citizen. The title of xiucai is sacred; people like William Young who talk about buying a xiucai are simply uncouth.

　　But you really can buy a xiucai.

　　Although the system doesn’t allow it, and you can’t buy the title of xiucai with money, what you can buy is the status of jiansheng, and even then, only the least respected ‘exceptional’ jiansheng, and only when the opportunity arises—like when the country needs disaster relief or the court is in serious trouble, then they open up the option for the public to donate for the jiansheng title. This kind of ‘exceptional’ jiansheng is different from the orthodox route: passing the provincial exam to enter the Imperial Academy, or being a tribute student, or entering by family privilege. It’s the lowest rank, and even regular xiucai can look down on them. It just lets you skip the county, prefectural, and academy exams to become a xiucai, and go straight to the provincial exam, but if you fail that, it’s still useless. In theory, a jiansheng can become an official, but in practice, it’s extremely difficult—after all, there’s a whole line of jinshi waiting for appointments, and even more juren below them.

　　As for ‘exceptional’ jiansheng, it’s even less likely.

　　Ahead of them are the ‘exam jiansheng’ who are both juren and jiansheng, the ‘privileged jiansheng’ with connections, and the ‘tribute jiansheng’ who are local talents.

　　‘Exceptional’ jiansheng?

　　As one Ming dynasty ‘exceptional’ jiansheng lamented, after spending thousands of taels and getting nothing, he couldn’t even face his wife when he got home!

　　In this respect, the Ming dynasty was not as good as our Great Qing.

　　In the Great Qing, everything from degrees to official posts had clear price tags, fair for all, nothing was off-limits for donation—except that the xiucai wasn’t worth much, so they kept that as a last shred of dignity. For everything else, as long as you had silver, you could rise from jiansheng all the way up. Robert Lee, a high-ranking official, is a prime example—he survived the White Lotus Rebellion and the Taiping Army, and withstood the foreign powers’ exploitation, all by selling offices. If only Chongzhen had been shameless enough to sell offices on a large scale at the end of the Ming, and allowed local gentry to form militias, maybe he wouldn’t have had to hang himself on Coal Hill.

　　Li Zicheng?

　　Could Li Zicheng compare to the Heavenly King of Hong?

　　But even in the stubborn Ming dynasty, there were still ways to get a xiucai. You couldn’t buy it outright, but you could give gifts—bribe the provincial education commissioner with five hundred taels, and there’d be no exam you couldn’t pass.

　　Buying an ‘exceptional’ jiansheng only cost three hundred taels.