The daily routine of the ancient imperial examination

The Dragon Boat Festival approaches midsummer, and the Qing Dynasty regains its growth.

Another year of the Dragon Boat Festival, children with five-color ropes wrapped around their hands were running in the fields with paper kites, and the adults behind them kept telling them to run slower, lest the children might fall.

The Dragon Boat Festival is very important in the Qing Kingdom, and all the private schools in the town gave the students a day off, allowing them to go back to spend the holiday with their families.

Those students were walking on the street, smelling the smell of realgar wine and wormwood, but the topics in their mouths had nothing to do with the Dragon Boat Festival.

"Brother Wu, have you read it? Yan Ruyu's latest script! If you haven't read it, I strongly recommend you to buy it! It's so beautiful!"

"What's the latest storybook? I just wrote a story with Lu Zhuangyuan as the main character and submitted it. I haven't had time to read it yet."

When the other party heard this, he gave you a look of courage: "Take Lu Zhuangyuan as the protagonist, and you are not afraid that he will come back to settle accounts with you."

The man puffed up his chest without any panic: "If he comes to me, then I will immediately kneel down and apologize to him, and by the way, I will ask you how to get into the first prize!"

The other party glanced at him and joked: "If you want to be the champion, you probably have to wait until your next life, haha!"

The man refused to accept: "Stop talking nonsense, as long as you study hard, it is always possible!"

"Okay, okay, I won't argue with you. When you go to the bookstore, remember to buy their latest storybook. It seems to be called Nine-year-old County Taiye. It's really interesting!"

At this moment, a little beggar was bouncing past them with a stack of leaflets in his arms.

"Look, take a look~ Why the body disappeared after being missing for several days, and why a case that has been around for a hundred years can be easily discovered by a child. All the stories are in Yan Ruyu's latest story book, Nine-year-old County Grandpa!"

"Hey! Kid, stop! Give me a leaflet!" The man stopped the little beggar and asked for a leaflet.

"Hey~ You take it. My name is Xiaoqianzi. When you buy books and newspapers in the store, my name will give you a discount!"

"Okay, thank you kid." After finishing speaking, he passed the flyer in his hand to the friend next to him.

The other party took it in his hand and unfolded it, and the first thing that caught his eye was a line of bold words: Although he looks like a child, he is a nine-year-old county grandpa who is smart enough to solve a case.

Looking at the brief introduction below again, it turned out that the nine-year-old child prodigy solved a case of destroying corpses and exterminating traces that was offered a huge reward in Fucheng, and solved several centuries-old mystery cases one after another, which alarmed the emperor to reward him with official positions.

"Yan Ruyu's style of writing this time is different from before, but it looks good, I'll buy it later and have a look!" After reading the introduction, my friend was also aroused curiosity.

There are quite a few people discussing this latest storybook on the street. Those who haven’t read it are recommended by friends to read it quickly, and those who have read it will discuss the interlocking clues and the incredible method of destroying corpses and traces with other friends who have read it. .

"I really didn't expect that the old sow could eat people! The murderer actually fed the corpse directly to the old sow. No wonder so many people couldn't find the victim! This nine-year-old Xiaoxian grandpa is really amazing!"

Amidst the discussions among the crowd, the little beggars continued to shout and distribute leaflets during the holiday.

"Look, take a look~ Why the body disappeared after being missing for several days, and why a case that has been around for a hundred years can be easily discovered by a child. All the stories are in Yan Ruyu's latest story book, Nine-year-old County Grandpa!"

Lu Xiuyuan, who had just returned to Ping'an Town, was attracted by the yelling before he had time to get off the carriage.

"Kid, please give me a list."

"Hey~ Master, you have taken it. My name is Xiaozhuo. If you buy books and newspapers in the store, my name will give you a discount!" After the other party stepped on the foot and handed the flyer into the carriage, he bounced and continued to yell for recommendations.

Hearing this introduction, Lu Xiuyuan turned his head to the other side: "Ah Chen, have you started getting commissions in bookstores now? There used to be discounts for reporting the names of recommenders."

The other party explained: "At first, it was to prevent these little beggars from eating and not working to motivate them. Now it seems that the effect is good. Everyone is working hard."

Lu Xiuyuan smiled, unfolded the flyer in his hand and began to read it. The title of the book alone is very good.

"Achen, the group of people you recruited after you are fine, they are quite accurate in catching hot spots."

Shi Yunchen leaned over to him and glanced at the author, "Oh, this is the Wang Batian I told you about before. He was the only one who wrote that the male protagonist was invincible in the whole village at the age of three, and successfully mastered the whole village at the age of five. The economic lifeline of the village, when he gets angry on weekdays, stomps his feet, and the hens in the whole village are so frightened that they cannot lay eggs.”

Good guy, Lu Xiuyuan called him a good guy in his heart.

As far as this man's imagination is concerned, he is really ashamed of himself.

"Is this person not bad? I'll take you to meet him some other day."

"Yes, yes." Lu Xiuyuan nodded and said, "Anyway, now that the nine-year-old magistrate has come out, he won't be far away from the five-year-old No. [-] scholar. The name of the next book is directly reserved for him."

While the two were chatting, the carriage also arrived at Shifu in the town.

The young master jumped out of the carriage and went home first, and he continued to go back to the village in the carriage.

The salute and the things for the family are still behind. The two of them traveled lightly and did not bring too much luggage.

The main reason is that the title of No. [-] Scholar is too famous. After entering Linjie Province, people kept blocking the road to treat guests to dinner. It was tiring to deal with this every day and wasted time. In the end, he simply visited the governor in private and came back quietly.

The carriage was walking on the way back to the village. Lu Xiuyuan opened the curtain and saw that the roads on both sides were no longer as narrow as those made by manpower before, but had been repaired to be flat and wide. However, in just one year, this has changed a lot. .

Propping his chin, Lu Xiuyuan looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar scenery outside, his heart fluttered slightly.

He was thinking for a while what the first sentence he would say when he got home.

After not returning home for a year, the longing for his family and his homeland has all awakened and boiled when he entered Ping'an Town, and now it is surging in his heart non-stop.

The family members should have received the good news that he is the No. [-] scholar. What kind of expression should he put on when we meet again?Is it the expressionless face pretending to be calm, or the elation of joy that cannot be concealed.

The carriage had already driven to the entrance of Jinshan Village. While Lu Xiuyuan was still struggling, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye.

"Nan Xing stop and stop!"

"What's the matter, uncle?" Nan Xing quickly reined in, "Aren't you home yet?"

But now Lu Xiuyuan didn't have time to answer. Before the carriage came to a complete stop, he jumped off and waved desperately to the people not far away.

"mother!"

Mrs. Zhang was habitually taking a stroll around the entrance of the village after eating, when she heard that familiar and unfamiliar voice calling herself.

This is her family Erlang's voice!Is Jiro back?

Mrs. Zhang couldn't help holding her breath, and turned her head to follow the direction of the voice.

The person in the indigo student suit next to the luxurious carriage is not her Erlang!

"Erlang! You're back?!"

When Lu Xiuyuan saw Zhang's familiar face that he hadn't seen for more than a year, his nasal cavity was sore uncontrollably, and he rushed over impatiently.

"Mom, I'm back!"

The two embraced tightly, enjoying the warmth of this moment.

"Oh my good Erlang, you're finally back."

Zhang looked at her son who had grown a lot taller in front of her, and touched Lu Xiuyuan's cheek with distress.

"Erlang suffered a lot this year and lost weight."

"It's not bitter, it's not bitter, I've grown taller again." After finishing speaking, Lu Xiuyuan also looked carefully at Mrs. Zhang, and the other party's eyes were bright and his face was ruddy. "Mother is still so young and beautiful!"

The other party didn't seem to have changed much when he left, which is great.

"Haha, you kid is talking nonsense." Mrs. Zhang said with a smile: "There have been too many happy events at home during this time, one after another, my mother is happy every day, and the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes have deepened a lot from laughing. Still young."

"Having a healthy mentality is the most important thing!"

The two stood at the entrance of the village and chatted for a while, and Mrs. Zhang suddenly realized: "Which way did you go, Erlang? Didn't you see your elder brother?"

"My elder brother? Where is he? We just walked around the town and came back."

Mrs. Zhang explained: "Ever since I found out that you won the first prize, your elder brother has been waiting to pick you up at the Zhenzi Post Station every day. I'm afraid he is still waiting there now. You need to find someone to inform him."

As soon as the words fell, Nan Xing beside him spoke.

"Old lady, I'm going back to town to pick up the young master now."

"I'm sorry to trouble you." After finishing speaking, Mrs. Zhang wanted to take out a piece of silver in her bosom as a reward.

Nan Xing looked at this and got it?

"Old Madam, you must never do this!" After refusing with a wave of his hand, he hurriedly drove the carriage and turned around, and ran to the town without stopping.

"Hey, why did this kid leave like this?!"

Mrs. Zhang looked at the back of the carriage, feeling a little anxious.

"Mother, he is Ah Chen's personal servant, so it's okay to let him run errands." Lu Xiuyuan stopped him with a smile.

"Our two families are not married yet, so we still have to be careful not to let them run errands for nothing. Let them rest more when you have time in this hot weather." Zhang reminded.

"Okay, I got it." Lu Xiuyuan rubbed his stomach with a smile, "Mom, let's go home first, I'm hungry even if I haven't eaten at noon today."

As soon as he said he was hungry, Mrs. Zhang didn't have time to worry about anything else.

"Let's go! Let's go home! Go home!"

The two walked home together talking and laughing, but without the cover of the carriage, Lu Xiuyuan's inner clothes were soon wet with sweat.

It was past noon, and it was the hottest time of the day. They didn't meet many people on the way from the entrance of the village to their home. The sun was so bright that even the villagers who were working in the fields dared not go out for fear of heatstroke.

But when he thought of his family, in this weather, one was waiting at the entrance of the village and the other was guarding in the town, afraid of missing the first time to meet him, Lu Xiuyuan felt sore.

Back home, looking at the enlarged courtyard, his eyes widened slightly.

"Is this expanded again?"

Seeing his surprised expression, Mrs. Zhang couldn't help laughing and joking: "You will get married in two days. The previous room was too small. If you don't expand it, how can you marry someone else's little man?"

Lu Xiuyuan clicked his tongue as he watched.

Mrs. Zhang washed her face with two handfuls of mountain spring water at the bamboo tube at the door: "Erlang, come wash and cool down too."

Lu Xiuyuan rolled up his sleeves, walked forward and also bowed to the water. On such a hot day, it was so comfortable to pour the cool mountain spring on his face.

After washing their faces, the two just opened the door and entered the yard when they heard Mrs. Zhang laughing and shouting into the yard.

"Dafu! Xiulan! Look who's back!"

Lu Dafu came out of the main room sweating profusely, shaking his cattail fan: "It's a hot day, which relative is here again?"

As soon as the other party finished complaining, he saw Lu Xiuyuan standing in the yard smiling at himself.

This, this, this is his Erlang!

"When did you come back, Erlang?!"

As soon as Lu Dafu lost the cattail fan, he rushed forward in small steps.

"Just came back." Lu Xiuyuan smiled and let the other party look at him.

At this moment, the door of the West Room next door was also opened, and Xiulan, who had just put down her child, also came out.

He turned his head and called out, "Sister-in-law!"

Surprise flashed across Xiulan's face: "Erlang, you are back! When did you come back?"

Lu Xiuyuan explained again: "I just came back."

Seeing the hot sun, the other party stood in the yard and hurriedly waved away.

"Mother, Erlang, the sun is shining outside, you go inside and rest, I'll get you mung bean soup to relieve the heat."

"That's right, let's get inside quickly! It's too hot outside." Lu Dafu picked up the cattail fan on the ground and fanned it to urge.

Three people entered the room, and the main room was still the same size as before. Mrs. Zhang found a box of snacks in the cupboard.

"I bought this for Xiao Lian before, Erlang, eat something to fill your stomach first, and mother will cook for you right away."

Lu Xiuyuan just took a bite of a snack in his hand when Xiulan came in behind her with a big pot of mung bean soup.

"Mom, you've been standing outside all morning, drink some mung bean soup, and I'll make the rice."

The other party used a spoon to hold three bowls and handed them to them respectively.

Seeing this, Lu Xiuyuan quickly reached out to take it: "Sister-in-law, I can do it myself."

Xiulan smiled, put down the spoon and went out.

Ton, ton, ton, after drinking a bowl in one go, Mrs. Zhang still felt a little thirsty, so she simply poured another bowl.

Seeing that Lu Xiuyuan was still eating snacks after drinking, the other party began to persuade him again: "Erlang just eat a little less, save your stomach for fried chicken, my mother bought a two-year-old chicken two days ago, and it will be fried with sauce later. , I guarantee you will have a round stomach!"

The two-year-old young rooster is put on a large piece of ginger, a large amount of oil, and Zhang's pickled secret sauce, which is absolutely amazing!

Thinking of this, Lu Xiuyuan suddenly felt that the snacks in his mouth were not delicious!

When Mrs. Zhang saw his reaction, she couldn't help laughing.

"Knowing that fried chicken is your favorite, mother will make more sauces later, and bring them all with you when you go to the capital as relatives. You can make them whenever you want."

Speaking of getting married, Mrs. Zhang thought of the hasty engagement before, and quickly asked Lu Xiuyuan for his opinion.

"Erlang, what do you think of this marriage? I heard from the young man that you two had already agreed with each other. Lang went to look for you, but fortunately, the family came to the door and said that they could look for you, but mother had no choice but to settle it for you directly, if you don't like it, we can find another way to cancel it in private."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiuyuan quickly refused: "No need to cancel, no need to cancel, we are fine, and this time I came back and specially asked for an extra month of vacation to get married."

"That's good." Mrs. Zhang breathed a sigh of relief, "Mother was worried that they would be deceiving people, and if she messed up the mandarin ducks, Erlang would be in trouble."

Looking at Zhang's loving face, Lu Xiuyuan felt warm in his heart.

"Don't worry, no matter what mother does, Erlang won't find it troublesome."

It was the moment of warmth, and Lu Dafu beside him suddenly said sourly: "There are three people in this room."

Lu Xiuyuan couldn't help laughing: "Dad's legs are fine now, right? After two days our family will buy more land and rent out, and Dad can be a supervisor and wait for the harvest."

"Just instruct them how to work, and collect rent every year?" Lu Dafu felt good when he heard this, "Our Erlang is really capable!"

Mrs. Zhang gave Lu Dafu a sideways look: "Look at how promising you are, and you still want to command others. It will be good if you handle your relatives well."

Hearing what Mrs. Zhang said, Lu Dafu looked a little embarrassed: "I haven't lent money to my elder brother and the others..."

"You are ashamed to say that last time you borrowed Erlang's money privately, Erlang almost failed the exam. If he didn't go there, how could he still be the champion now? If you go out for a walk, no one in the village cares about who you are. ?”

Seeing that the atmosphere was not good, Lu Xiuyuan quickly changed the topic: "I see that the courtyard has been expanded a lot, why is the main room still the same?"

Hearing his doubts, Mrs. Zhang explained: "Your father and I are getting older, and this space is just right for you to live in. I just expanded it for you brothers and added two more rooms."

The other party stood up: "Erlang, come and see the room that mother helped you to decorate. If there is something missing, mother, hurry up and find someone to fix it."

Lu Xiuyuan followed Mrs. Zhang to his room, and upon entering the door, he smelled a woody fragrance.The space has obviously doubled, and now the room has been lengthened and widened a lot on the basis of the original, completely different from before.

The line of sight stopped at the place where the tables and chairs were placed. The old desks and old wooden beds in the room were all replaced with new furniture made of walnut catalpa, including bookshelves and cabinets.

"How to use this wood, it will cost a lot of money, right?"

Walnut catalpa is now the first choice for rich families to make furniture. It not only has the practical ornamental effect of mahogany, but also has the quality that mahogany cannot achieve due to acclimatization, cracking, deformation, and slits.

Mrs. Zhang said indifferently: "Just the walnut trees on our mountain, it doesn't cost money, just invite the workers to eat a few meals."

Oh yes, he almost forgot the origin of their Jinshan Village name again.

After looking at the room, they went back to the main room to make a pot of tea, and the family sat at the table and chatted.

Holding a teacup, Mrs. Zhang told him what had happened in the village over the past year, such and such a boy got married, and which family had someone who passed the examination of a scholar, and vowed to make up for all the information he lacked.

Lu Xiuyuan sat next to her and listened to her nagging slowly with a smile in his eyes.

While talking, suddenly there was a loud cry of a baby outside, and Mrs. Zhang slapped her forehead.

"It's broken! Why did you forget about this! Erlang, you haven't seen me yet, your sister-in-law gave birth to a kid."

The other party quickly got up and went to Westinghouse to hug him.

Not to mention Mrs. Zhang, Lu Xiuyuan himself forgot. Before leaving, he had calculated that his sister-in-law's due date was the end of April, but he forgot about the baby when he returned home.

Before he got up and took two steps, Mrs. Zhang walked in with the baby in her arms.

"Come and see your little nephew."

Lu Xiuyuan leaned over, the child had just woken up, and after feeling being hugged, he didn't continue to cry, but yawned and his eyes began to blur again.

"It's so cute, have you got a name? What's it called?"

The sister-in-law opened the curtain behind and walked in: "Your elder brother and I have never read any books, and we don't know what to call it, so we just wait for you to come back and help the child think of a name."

Well, Lu Xiuyuan was still trying to search for a more meaningful name for the Book of Poems for Men and Women, when he heard Xiao Lian's long-lost voice in the yard.

"Uncle! Uncle!"

"Uncle, Uncle! You are back, Uncle!"

Mrs. Zhang hurriedly opened the door curtain: "Hold down, my brother is still sleeping!"

Lu Xiuyuan simply bent over and walked out: "Xiao Lian, are you back from school?"

As soon as the other party saw him, he hurriedly broke away from his father's hand and slipped into Lu Xiuyuan's arms.

"Uncle, I miss you so much! Why did you come back!"

Rubbing Xiao Lian's head, he looked at his elder brother next to him: "Brother, you're back."

Lu Xiuwu hadn't seen this younger brother for a year, and he looked him up and down the first time he met.

"Erlang lost weight again, but he has grown up! Good! Just be safe!"

The two brothers patted each other's shoulders, and everything was silent.

Mrs. Zhang came out with the baby in her arms: "Both of you brothers, stop standing there, wash your hands and get ready to eat."

The two were rushed to wash their hands together, and when they came back, all the food was out of the pot, Xiulan saw that Erlang was surrounded by Lu Xiuwu and his father and son again, and put her hands on her hips: "Da Wu, come and serve the food!"

Hearing his daughter-in-law's summons, Lu Xiuwu didn't dare to delay, and hurriedly said: "Erlang, don't forget to give your little nephew a name after dinner!"

After finishing talking, I went to the kitchen to help serve the dishes.

When Xiao Lian next to her heard that she wanted to name her younger brother, she also began to pester Lu Xiuyuan: "Uncle, I want to change my name too! I won't be called Lu Lian anymore! Help me think of a more aggressive name!"

Mrs. Zhang, who had just returned to Westinghouse to put down her children, couldn't stand it any longer, so she simply pulled them into the house one by one.

"Let's eat first and then talk. There is no rush to change the name."

The author has something to say: No accidents, the next chapter should be able to get married