Mountain Folk (Imperial Examinations)

Songxi Village lies deep in the mountains and forests. It has just thirteen households, and because the mountain roads are steep and difficult to travel, most of the villagers have never left the village in their entire lives.

Watching the villagers toil year after year and still struggle to get enough to eat, and seeing the young men worry that their families' poverty would keep them from finding wives, village head He Changgen felt deeply troubled. Were the people of Songxi Village doomed to be mired in hardship for generations?

One day, a Daoist priest in a blue robe passed through Songxi Village while gathering herbs. After hearing all of He Changgen's troubles, he offered this advice: "Within books lies a beauty like jade; within books lies a house of gold."

Theme: Face adversity head-on