An illiterate fool, after listening to the fortune teller, went to Beijing to take the exam. Unexpectedly, he actually passed the exam and was promoted to three levels in a row with his own luck. This is the story we are going to tell you: A fool becomes an official!
This story happened in Ming Dynasty . There was a rich man named Zhou Wanwan in Henan. The family is very rich. Half of the county's industry belongs to their family. Although Zhou Yuanwai's family has a lot of money, he does not rely on his money to do whatever he wants and bully the weak. On the contrary, he is a kind man who often helps poor people. Zhou Wanwan had a son named Zhou Youcai. Although the word "cai" in his name is true, this guy has been bright-minded since he was a child. Zhou Wanwan spent a lot of money to hire a private school teacher to teach him how to read and write, but Zhou Youcai didn't learn a single word.
Zhou Wanwan felt helpless when he saw his son like this. It seemed that this son was already dead, so he simply ignored him and married a beautiful concubine to study the matter of having another son. Zhou Wanwan thought to himself: If he has another son, he must be taught well from an early age. He cannot be like Zhou Youcai and not recognize him. As for Zhou Youcai's son, his family has plenty of money anyway, so when he grows up, it will be enough to marry him a talented daughter-in-law to complement her. Zhou Youcai now completely let himself go. Without the restraints of his husband and father, he wandered the streets with a few servants all day long. He went to a teahouse to listen to books one day, and to the theater the next day to listen to a play. His life was very uncomfortable.
In the blink of an eye, Zhou Youcai grew into a handsome young man. On this day, Zhou Youcai was walking down the street with two servants, holding a folding fan and shaking his head. A fortune teller saw him. Thinking that he hadn't opened yet today, he called Zhou Youcai over to flatter him. Maybe the young master would reward him with a tael of silver when he was happy. Then he called Zhou Youcai to his stall and said: Master, I see that you are full in heaven, in the ground, in radius, your face is red, and you are in high spirits. This is the sign of great wealth and great honor. After hearing this, one of the servants, Zhang San, said disdainfully: What you, sir, are talking about are all nonsense. Our young master’s family is rich, so he must be rich and powerful. You don’t have to say that.
After hearing this, the fortune teller rolled his eyes and said: I am not talking about the young master's property, but that the young master will be rich and noble in his official career and has a bright future. Zhou Youcai immediately became interested after hearing this. Because he didn't know a single Chinese character, he always wanted to do something of a high standard to prove himself to his father. Now I heard from the fortune teller that I will be rich and powerful in my official career. Being an official is a very high level thing. Zhou Youcai hurriedly asked: Sir, how can I become rich in my official career? The fortune teller smiled and said: You go to Beijing now to take the exam. I guarantee that you will pass the exam and get into the top three. After hearing this, Zhou Youcai was overjoyed. If he went to high school, he would be able to become an official. He was very good at this, so he asked Zhang San to reward the fortune teller with two taels of silver, and then went home to prepare.
The fortune teller took the money and was so happy that he quickly packed up his stall and left. Before leaving, I didn't forget to mutter: You are really a fool. You didn't pass the exam to be a scholar or a candidate. You still want to go to Beijing to take the exam. You will have to be kicked out when you get there. Anyway, I have already got the money. Goodbye to you. Besides, Zhou Youcai tidied up after returning home and took a lot of money. When his father saw this, he asked him what he was doing. After hearing this, Zhou Youcai told him in detail about his encounter with the fortune teller today. After hearing this, Zhou Wanwan felt bitter in his heart. He didn't even know that this stupid son had been deceived. But I can't expose him to his face, so I can just let him go to the capital to run into trouble. Maybe he will learn better when he comes back. He told Zhang San and Li Si to take good care of the young master on the way, and then said some blessings and sent them on their way.
In order to get to the capital as soon as possible, the three of them hired a carriage and rushed to the capital. By the time they arrived, it was already getting late, and the guards at the city gate were about to close their doors. They saw a carriage coming and stopped them.Zhou Youcai didn't understand the rules of the capital, so he said angrily: "What are you doing! Why are you blocking my carriage? Do you know who I am?" I am a student who comes to Beijing to take the exam, and I will be among the top three. Can you bear with me if I miss the exam? The guard wanted to take advantage of these people, but he didn't expect that the richly dressed young man would be so loud and said that he would be among the top three. Could it be that he was the young man of that big shot. If this is really the case, I can't afford it. My predecessor was taken away because he didn't have the foresight. Thinking of this, the guard immediately let them enter the capital.
Although Zhou Youcai entered Beijing smoothly, he didn't know where the exam was? I want to find someone to ask, but there is no one around this late at night. At this moment, several people riding tall horses came over. When Zhou Youcai saw this, he stopped several people's horses. What Zhou Youcai didn't know was that the horse he stopped was the horse of Wei Zhongxian who was nine thousand years old at that time. Wei Zhongxian's guard thought that there were fools from here and there who dared to stop the nine thousand year old horse to kill him, so he was about to draw his sword and chop Zhou Youcai down. However, Zhou Youcai was lucky. Wei Zhongxian was happy today, so he stopped his men's actions and asked Zhou Youcai why he stopped him. Zhou Youcai said that he was a student who came to Beijing to take the exam, but he didn't know the location of the exam room and wanted to know where it was.
Wei Zhongxian smiled after hearing this and said: You don’t even know the location of the examination room, so what else are you going to take? Just go back and forth from there. After hearing this, Zhou Youcai said unhappily: I came all the way here just to get into the top three in the exam. How can I just go back? After hearing this, Wei Zhongxian said: You said that the top three in the exam must be the top three? No matter how many people have taken the exam, you may not be sure you will be on the list. You can only be so sure. After hearing this, Zhou Youcai said with confidence: "Others are others, I am me, I will definitely get the top three in the exam." After hearing this, Wei Zhongxian thought to himself that if this person is not a fool, he must be a knowledgeable person. If he is really knowledgeable, he can still be used by me in the future, so he said to the two guards: You two send him to the examination room. I want to see if he can be among the top three.
Then Wei Zhongxian's two guards sent Zhou Youcai to the examination room. The two examiners were dumbfounded when they saw it. The two guards of Jiu Qian Sui personally sent him, and they did it in the middle of the night. This person's identity must be unusual. He must be a confidant of Jiu Qian Sui. Jiu Qian Sui is now very powerful, and it is not something that our two little examiners can offend. After the two settled Zhou Youcai, they became worried. One of them said: We can’t afford to offend the person who was given this gift at the age of 9,000! Another person also said: Who can say otherwise? I don’t know how knowledgeable this young man is? What can we do? How about we try it out? The two went to Zhou Youcai's house to test him. When the two of them came out, their faces were dark! This guy doesn’t know anything, and he says he will be in the top three!
If you really go to the examination room to take the exam, you will definitely be the last one. It's better not to let him take the exam. The two of us can make a test paper for him. Then the two of us made a test paper overnight and wrote down the names of the talented people from last week. As a result, Zhou Youcai ranked second in high school. And it was only then that Zhou Youcai realized that it was Wei Zhongxian's horse that he had stopped last time. If Wei Zhongxian's guards hadn't sent him to the examination room, he probably would have had to be kicked out. This nine-thousand-year-old man was his noble man, so he immediately asked his servants to prepare valuable gifts for him. At this time, the two examiners also came to Wei Zhongxian's house to ask for credit. You see, the illiterate person you sent us got us into second place. We should be rewarded no matter what. The two examiners told Wei Zhongxian about Zhou Youcai.
After hearing this, Wei Zhongxian said that he was really careless and had been deceived by a fool, but it was not easy to get angry in front of the two examiners. If they knew that they had been deceived by a fool, how would they be able to stand up in court in the future, so they rewarded two examiners and let them go. As soon as the two examiners left, Zhou Youcai came. Wei Zhongxian originally wanted to kill Zhou Youcai, but after seeing the gift list this boy gave him, he smiled and said: Yes, you are very smart.Although the gift Zhou Youcai gave him was very valuable, it could not dissipate Wei Zhongxian's anger that he thought he was being played, so he said: Brother Zhou is really talented. He said he could get into the top three, but he actually got second place. Well, Guhuang County is short of a county magistrate. You can get up and take office there tomorrow.
Zhou Youcai was very happy after hearing this. Now he also has an official position. Let’s see who dares to say that he is uneducated in the future. After Zhou Youcai left, Wei Zhongxian's bodyguard asked: Sir, this fool relied on your prestige to get a second place. Why didn't you let me kill him just now? After hearing this, Wei Zhongxian said: "I'm confused. The two chief examiners just gave him a second place. If I kill him in my house, although it will relieve my anger, I will also fall into trouble, which will be a bit troublesome to deal with." Besides, this guy was quite sensible and gave me a lot of gifts. I sent him to Guhuang County just to kill him with the help of bandits there. His death in the hands of bandits has nothing to do with us. After hearing this, the guard flattered Wei Zhongxian and said he was smart.
It turns out that the former magistrate of Guhuang County was killed by the bandits there. Guhuang County is economically backward and bandits are rampant. After Zhou Youcai goes there, he will probably follow in the footsteps of the previous county magistrate. But Zhou Youcai didn't know what was going on. After writing a letter to his father announcing the good news, he took Zhang San and Li Si to Guhuang County to take office. When the three of them arrived, they were dumbfounded. The county town was too run-down. The most annoying thing was that there was one missing gate at the yamen gate. After asking the master, they learned that this gate had been carried away by the villagers to build a bridge. They said that another gate would be demolished in two days. After the master's introduction, Zhou Youcai realized that he had been tricked by Wei Zhongxian. This Guhuang County is really too poor, and bandits are rampant. My predecessor was killed by bandits.
Zhou Youcai wanted to give up the job after hearing what his master said, but when he thought about how bragging his father had just written, wouldn't it be too embarrassing if he ran away home at this time. As soon as it comes, make peace with it. Fortunately, I brought a lot of money when I came out this time, and then I took out five hundred taels of silver notes and gave them to the master, asking him to repair the places that needed to be repaired in the yamen and replace the things that needed to be replaced. When the master saw how generous the new county master was, he immediately took the banknote and went to do some work. The master was very efficient in doing things. It didn't take long for the policeman to replace the new door. After the new gate was installed, Zhou Youcai saw that the clothes worn by the yamen's policemen were all patched, so he asked the master what was going on? How damaging this is to the image of the yamen!
Master said: Sir, you don’t know, these agents who are still working in the Yamen are all young people with ideals. Our Yamen has not been paid for several months. The other detectives have long gone to make a living elsewhere. After hearing this, Zhou Youcai asked: Why don't you report this situation to your superiors? The master said aggrievedly: Sir, it's not that you don't respond, but that it's useless to respond. The prefect doesn't pay attention to our small county at all, and he dislikes us for holding him back! Zhou Youcai thought to himself that this would not work. If the bandits came that day, none of the catchers in the yamen could beat him. Wouldn't he be in trouble? He immediately took out another five hundred taels of silver notes and handed it to the master and said: Since the superiors will not provide you with food and salary, I will first use my own pocket to take out five hundred taels of silver to make up for your food and salary. But starting from tomorrow, you all must dress up, pick up your sword, and come to the Yamen to report!
The master and several detectives were very happy after hearing this. They thought that the county master who came here was of no use, but they didn't expect that he was the God of Wealth. The master immediately patted his chest and said: Sir, don't worry, starting from tomorrow, all the arresters in the yamen will return to their posts, and I guarantee that everyone will be energetic! After hearing this, Zhou Youcai said: "When everything is ready tomorrow, call all the big players in the city. I will hold a meeting for them!" After hearing this, the master went to do it. On the second day, all the policemen in the Yamen were fully dressed, and all of them carried knives and sticks to look impressive. Everyone greeted Zhou Youcai after seeing him, which made Zhou Youcai feel very proud.
After a while, the master called the rich people in the city. Zhou Youcai took a look and found that there were many rich businessmen in the city, more than 20 people. Zhou Youcai had a purpose in calling these people here, just to get some money from these people. Although he brought a lot of money from home, he had given gifts to Wei Zhongxian before, and now he was renovating the Yamen and paying the police officers, so he didn't have much money left. Moreover, he asked his master and found out that the reason why the yamen was like this was that the people had no money to eat and no one came to pay taxes. That's why Zhou Youcai wanted to get some money from these wealthy households. When Zhou Youcai expressed his thoughts in such a tactful way, the rich man in the hall said unhappily: Sir, bandits are rampant here. They come to the city every now and then to rob, making it difficult for us to do business, and we don't have any money now!
Seeing that someone took the lead and was unwilling to pay, someone complained and said: Sir, the top priority now is to eliminate the banditry in the city, otherwise we will never get rich here. Zhou Youcai felt very uncomfortable when he saw that he couldn't get the money and asked these wealthy businessmen to arrange tasks for him. He also knew that the bandits must be eradicated, but eradicating the bandits required money. How could he recruit troops to attack the bandits now that he had no money. Just when Zhou Youcai was worried, the master came to him and said: Sir, our yamen has not paid wages for a long time. The head catcher, the cook, the men who did the chores, and the bearer who carried your sedan chair all ran away. Do you think you should pay to recruit another group of people?
Zhou Youcai was moved after hearing this. Yes, he had heard about Wei Zhongxian selling his official position a long time ago. He could also imitate him and sell the vacant positions in the Yamen. Then he asked the master to post a notice saying that there are many positions vacant in the yamen. Those who are capable can apply for the yamen. As long as the money is in place, they can take up the post immediately. As soon as this notice was posted, the wealthy people in the city couldn't sit still. They came one after another and wanted to buy an official position to do it. Although the position was small, it was still an official position. In this time, Zhou Youcai received 800 taels of silver. The master looked at the white money and said with a smile: Your Excellency is really smart. This way our Yamen's warehouse will be much more abundant. However, the matter of selling your official position has caused a storm in the city, and the bandits may have known about it. It's probably not safe to store our money in the warehouse.
After hearing this, Zhou Youcai smiled and said: Those bandits still dare to come to the Yamen to rob? The master said worriedly: Sir, the bandits may not dare to come, but we have powerful bandits in the east and west. The leader in the east is called Wang Mazi, and the leader in the west is called Ma Liu. If the two of them unite, even we yamen policemen won't be able to withstand it. After hearing this, Zhou Youcai pondered for a while and said: If it's okay, just put the money in the warehouse. Today is the first time our Yamen has opened one. I invite the brothers to a restaurant for a drink. Although the master was worried about the money in the warehouse, he still had to listen to the county master, so he had no choice but to go along. When Zhou Youcai and his gang were having a good time drinking, a policeman came over and said, "Sir, it's not good. Wang Mazi and Ma Liu led their men and robbed all the money in our warehouse. We two brothers were the only ones who couldn't resist them."
Master was very anxious after hearing this, but Zhou Youcai didn't care and said: It's okay, let them grab the gun. On the next day, Zhou Youcai asked his master to post a notice saying that the Yamen lost fifteen hundred silver last night. Anyone who can provide clues will be rewarded! The master asked doubtfully: Sir, didn't we lose eight hundred taels of silver? How can we write it as one thousand five hundred taels? After hearing this, Zhou Youcai smiled and said: Just do it. Then he asked the master to recruit some young and middle-aged people as agents. Three days later, a police officer came to report: Sir, two groups of people were found fighting in Wolongpo. After hearing this, Zhou Youcai immediately summoned all the detectives and went to Wolongpo.
Only then did the master realize why Zhou Youcai wrote the amount of money on the notice as one thousand five hundred taels. This was to make the two gangs of bandits fight among themselves so that he could reap the benefits. In this way, Zhou Youcai easily took down two groups of bandits.Although he doesn't know a word, he has been in the market since he was a child, and his family is still in business, so Zhou Youcai still has his own unique insights into the suffering of the people and the development of business. The bandits were gone, and the villagers were very grateful to Zhou Youcai. Coincidentally, the imperial envoys from the imperial court were patrolling here. They heard that the people were full of praise for Zhou Youcai, the county magistrate. After checking, it was found that this person was sent by Wei Zhongxian. Thinking that he was someone who was being trained by Nine Thousand Years Old for training, when he returned to the capital, he spoke kindly to Zhou Youcai in front of the emperor, and he also flattered Wei Zhongxian.
As soon as the emperor heard that Zhou Youcai was really a talented person, and that he was resigned to being a small county magistrate, he immediately issued an order to promote him to the prefect. Wei Zhongxian was shocked after hearing this. He didn't expect that this kid still had a few moments left. He wanted to kill him with the help of bandits. Not only was he fine, he also killed the bandits in turn. It seems that next time I celebrate my birthday, I have to ask this kid to come over and see what he is capable of! Zhou Youcai never expected that he would rise from a small county magistrate to a prefect, so he immediately wrote a letter to his father reporting the good news. It didn't take long for Zhou Youcai to receive a letter. However, this letter was not written to him by his father Zhou Wanwan, but from Wei Zhongxian, saying that he would celebrate his birthday next month and asked Zhou Youcai to come.
Zhou Youcai didn't know a single Chinese character, so he gave it to his master and asked him to read it to him. After listening to it, I realized that this letter was not sent by my father, but was written by Wei Zhongxian to me on his birthday. He was able to become the county magistrate, and he was so lucky that the magistrate had an inseparable relationship with Wei Zhongxian. It could be said that he was his noble man, and he had to make good preparations for his birthday. The master was very disgusted with Wei Zhongxian, a treacherous minister, so he wrote a pair of birthday couplets and put them in Zhou Youcai's gift. Zhou Youcai was also illiterate, so he took away the couplet along with the gold and silver jewelry he brought.
At the banquet for Wei Zhongxian’s birthday, everyone was toasting and drinking in a lively manner. At this time, because he did not understand Wei Zhongxian's meaning, the examiner who gave Zhou Youcai the second place said: "Everyone must have heard about Zhou Zhifu's deeds. I wonder if this time, in addition to gifts, there are some couplets to celebrate the nine thousand years old." He knew clearly that Zhou Youcai would not say anything like that, but he had misunderstood Wei Zhongxian's meaning last time, and now he has not been given a chance to be promoted, so he just wanted to make Zhou Youcai look embarrassed. After hearing this, Zhou Youcai thought he wanted a couplet for himself, so he took out the couplet written by his master from the gift he brought. Everyone was stunned when they opened it! I saw that what was written above was yes: In the past, Duke Cao entered Jiuxi, and now the King of Wei wants to receive Zen! The people sitting here are all cultural people, and when they saw this, it was a couplet scolding Wei Zhongxian. At that time, everyone was stunned and didn't speak.
In fact, Wei Zhongxian was also illiterate. Seeing that everyone was silent, he asked what was going on. The couplet was not well written, or what did it mean? Everyone did not dare to say that the couplet was meant to scold him, because Wei Zhongxian wanted to save face the most. If he knew that he had been scolded, everyone who was doing it might not survive. So everyone said this is a good couplet! Wei Zhongxian was very happy after hearing this, so he had him hung up. Later, Emperor Chongzhen came to power and vigorously eliminated Wei Zhongxian's party members. After learning that Zhou Youcai sent a couplet scolding Wei Zhongxian on his birthday, he was very happy. He ordered someone to give Zhou Youcai a three-level promotion. Zhou Youcai was stunned when he heard the news. It seemed that he could not get into officialdom. Someone might dig a hole for you and his life would be ruined. Then he told the emperor that he was ill and could no longer serve in the court.
The emperor seemed to be in line with my wishes. He had just succeeded me and the imperial treasury was empty. Without you as a senior official, I can get a lot less salary, so I agreed to Zhou Youcai's request and let him return to his hometown. After Zhou Youcai returned home, he met the fortune teller again. The fortune teller wanted to run away, but Zhou Youcai blocked his way and said, "Sir, my prediction was really accurate." Then he told him about his experience as an official over the years. The fortune teller was dumbfounded after hearing this. Unexpectedly, this kid actually took his joke seriously and was able to survive many disasters.It is estimated that Zhou Yuanwai has done too many good things, and all the blessings have been passed on to his son.
Okay, this story is over. If you have any thoughts after reading it, you can leave a message in the comment area to discuss. Finally, don’t forget to press and hold to like and follow to support. See you in the next story!
