Lucky husband

This county examination was Li Mingde's first county examination. Besides Li Mingde, Bai Zhiwen also had to take part.

In addition, Jiang Qiming from the Jiang family, that is, Li Mingjin's eldest cousin, is going to the state city to take the prefectural exam. Last year, Jiang Qiming passed the prefectural exam once. According to his level, this year's prefectural exam should be fine.

Five days before the county examination, Mrs. Li went from the village to the county seat with a lot of money. distracted from things other than exams, so that Bai Xiuhe and the others can concentrate on things in the shop.

Two years before the purchase of this second-tier courtyard, Li’s big house, old man Li and old lady Li would come and live for a period of time during the slack season. Later, they were less willing to move around and became Only the two brothers Limingde and Limingli lived.

The two are not at home during the day, the door of their house has been closed for a long time, and there is almost no smoke from the kitchen. Some time ago, after Li Mingli was recommended by shopkeeper Sun to go to Zhoucheng as the deputy shopkeeper of the bookstore, the house became even more deserted. It wasn't until Mrs. Li came that she gained a lot of popularity.

During the day when Li Mingde went to Mr. Zhang's side, Mrs. Li went to chat with her neighbors, mainly to find out about her grandson's life, and to see how the surrounding environment is, and whether her grandson would live here. what's wrong.

Mrs. Li's face can look a little mean when she doesn't smile, but once she is willing to smile and get along with others, her appearance will become approachable and easy to get along with others.

Under her deliberate approach, Granny Li figured out what it was like for her eldest grandson to live here alone on the first day.

To be honest, Mrs. Li felt sorry for the child, it was too deserted, and there was no one to talk to, she was a little worried that living alone for a long time would cause problems.

After thinking about it, Mrs. Li put the blame on her old man. If the old man hadn't insisted on guarding those precious lands, they could live in the county with the boss and his family. But at least he can take care of Mingde's life.

Now that the county examination is about to take place, it is difficult to make any changes at this time. Mrs. Li kept her anger towards her old man in her heart, and after asking some women who had experience in taking care of examinees, she came up with As a housekeeper, he tosses delicious food for Li Mingde every day, and tries his best to make up for him before the exam, so as not to be exhausted and sick after the exam.

Five days passed in a flash, and on the afternoon before the exam, Bai Zhiwen came outside the Li family's big house with the basket for the exam and the clothes he was going to wear tomorrow.

Both Li Mingde and Bai Zhiwen will take this year's county examination. They have discussed before that Bai Zhiwen lives in Li's house, and they can go to the examination room together to take care of each other.

The county examination takes three days in total. During these three days, candidates read and answer questions, eat, drink and sleep in a small numbered room. The examination room will only provide some necessary charcoal fire and water, and the rest will be prepared by themselves.

After asking experienced people, Mrs. Li combined with the experience Bai Yao once told her, and prepared white flour pancakes for Li Mingde and Bai Zhiwen, which were enough for them to eat for three days. It won't go bad after three days in the weather. You can eat the pancakes after soaking them in warm water in boiling water in the examination room.

In addition to food, there are also clothes. If you want to sleep in the numbered room and the candidates are not allowed to bring quilts, you can only work hard on the outer robe. Bai Zhiwen's outer robe was made for him by Bai Yao, and Li Mingde's outer robe The gown was made by Jiang Zhiyun, and a thin layer of cotton was carefully stuffed into the muslin cloth. It would not look too bulky to be brought into the examination room, and it would be enough to cover it up at night to keep warm.

There are also enough pens, inkstones and inkstones to be used in the examination room. If these things are broken in the examination room, no one can borrow them.

Everything was ready, and on the day of the exam, all the candidates had already gathered outside the exam room before dawn. The same was true for Bai Zhiwen and Li Mingde. They were wearing thick and moderate clothes, and they were full of energy among the listless candidates. It looks quite eye-catching.

The county examination is the same as the children's examination, and three documents must be prepared: personal confession, mutual bond, and bond.

It's just that it's a little more troublesome to bond, and you need to be with the students who are children and take part in the county examination. Bai Zhiwen grew up in Hongyun Prefecture, and his playmates, classmates, etc. are all there. Fortunately, Li Mingde had studied in the county school before. , he knew people in the school, and he found three classmates with good conduct early on and agreed to guarantee each other.

Originally, Zhang Anhao thought that he had only two disciples, and planned to help them find Tongsheng who would be mutual guarantees, but he didn't expect that the two disciples would solve the problem by themselves, and he didn't bother him.

The three candidates who were mutual security with the two of them came a little later, and the five of them found a corner and stood there, waiting for a while to search and enter the examination room.

In fact, at this time, the guards and examiners of the inspection tour arrived at the examination room early. They came earlier than the examinees. Under the leadership of Zhao Chengze, the county magistrate, they checked the examination room and the numbered room for the last time. At the order of the chief examiner of the test, the guards standing at the door began to call the candidates at the door to check in the small shed outside the examination room in accordance with the order of registration.

The first step of the inspection is to take off the robe and wear only unlined clothing. One officer will search the body, another officer will check the outer garment, and another officer will check the basket that the candidate brings into the examination room. To open it, especially for steamed buns and pancakes, you must break it open to see if there is a small note hidden.

In the morning of April, the temperature was still a little low. Zhao Chengze was worried that the students who had taken off their outer robes would catch the wind, so he ordered people to build two sheds outside the examination room, so that the candidates could be examined in the sheds. The way the examinee took off his clothes was seen by others.

After the body search, the appearance of the candidates changed drastically, their hair was disheveled, some of the clothes were put on in a hurry and some belts were not fastened, and the pancakes and steamed buns in the basket were broken into small pieces.

The college candidates ignored those for the time being, and entered the examination room with their baskets in hand.

The first thing to do after entering is to draw lots. The location of the numbered room is drawn. The best location is the numbered room in a few corners. It is quiet, and it is not easy to be affected by the outside situation when answering the questions.

The worst location is next to the latrine, which is nicknamed by everyone as the number of dung rooms. Calm down and do the questions.

Mrs. Li was at the front of the crowd. After seeing her grandson being inspected and entering the examination room, she begged all the gods and Buddhas she knew in her heart. Disgusting shit.

Li Mingde's luck was not bad, he drew a room next to the corner, but there were people on both sides, so it was relatively quiet.

Bai Zhiwen's luck was also good. The room he also drew was a little far from the dung number, but the candidate on his left kept walking around restlessly after arriving in the room, which made him a little nervous and wanted to Remind the other party to be quiet, but thinking that the exam is not started at this moment, it is hard to say anything.

Fortunately, the patrolling officer noticed that the examinee was making noises and warned him, and the examinee finally calmed down.

One of the other three children who had guarantored each other with them was not so lucky. He got a number that was only three rooms away from the hut. Before the exam started, he seemed to smell the ecstasy in the hut. The whole person was not well, and shivered abruptly.

After all the candidates have entered the examination room, the irrelevant personnel outside the examination room will be driven away. In the next three days, no one around here can wander outside to prevent anyone from passing information to the candidates inside.

These three days passed very slowly, both for the candidates answering the questions inside and for the family members of the candidates waiting anxiously outside.

Three days later, Jiang Zhiyun called an ox cart early and waited not far from the examination room. After a while, she was in charge of sending Bai Zhiwen and Li Mingde who came down from the examination room, and Mrs. Li, who had been in the county for a while, back to Shanghe Village.

Candidates leave the examination room in the order in which they entered the lottery room. Some candidates seemed to have been tortured for three days. Better to be able to walk out by myself.

There are many candidates who belong to the former. They are limp and have no strength and are able to walk with the support of the guards. Some of them are directly lifted out by people with boards.

Fortunately, the family members of those candidates who did not look good had been waiting outside, watching their children go in vertically and come out horizontally, and immediately went to carry them away.

The more people came out, the more anxious the waiting people became, especially after listening to people yelling in my ears about calling for a doctor quickly and going home to boil hot water and make soup.

Fortunately, both Li Mingde and Bai Zhiwen belonged to the latter type, and they seemed to be in good spirits, and they didn't need anyone to help them. They followed Mrs. Li and Jiang Zhiyun to the place where the bullock cart was.

Candidates who are more energetic like them are the kind who usually do some work at home, so that they can survive a test that takes a full three days.

Although the two of them seemed to be fine, Old Madam Li was worried. She brought out the ginger soup that was wrapped in an old jacket on the ox cart and was still hot, and asked them to drink it one by one. .

After that, Granny Li took the two of them back to the village to rest, and Zhang Anhao gave them three days off. During these three days, they only needed to do their daily homework and didn't need to fuss.

Compared with the one-day Tongsheng Examination, the County Examination was indeed much more tiring. Although they looked fine, they each had something to eat and wash after returning home, and they didn't get up until almost noon the next day.

The courtyard of the Li family and the courtyard of the Bai family are next to each other. After having lunch at home, Bai Zhiwen took the essays he had written silently to Li Mingde next door, intending to read each other's essays.

When Bai Zhiwen came over, Li Mingjin was playing with his younger siblings in the yard. To be precise, Li Mingyue and Li Mingkang were competing.

They were in the courtyard of Li's house because the master who taught Li Mingkang brought two other disciples besides enlightening them children. To participate in this year's government examination, the master had to take that disciple to Hongyun Prefecture in person, so he gave all the children in the private school a ten-day vacation.

Jiang Zhiyun thought that Li Mingde would go home to rest for a few days after the exam, and that Kanger would not have to go to private school for a few days, so she packed up her things and returned to Shanghe Village with her two children this morning.

After a few months, this was the first time that Bai Zhiwen saw Li Mingjin again. He saw Li Mingjin's eyes crooked while smiling in front of his younger siblings, and couldn't help but take a second look.

Li Mingjin and the others also saw Bai Zhiwen, Li Mingjin slightly suppressed the smile on his face, Li Mingyue and Li Mingkang looked at each other, and stopped in unison.

The elder brother of the Bai family was taking the talent test just like their eldest brother, so he had stopped studying three hundred thousand a long time ago. The two of them recited three hundred thousand in front of him, as if they were playing big swords in front of Guan Gong, so it was embarrassing.

Hearing the movement at the door, Li Mingde came out. He had already silently written his essay in the examination room and was waiting for Bai Zhiwen.

Li Mingde's appearance broke the awkward atmosphere in the courtyard. After the two elder brothers left, Li Mingjin asked his younger siblings to continue reciting the names of hundreds of families. Whoever could be betrayed the most, he would give his soft cake today. eat.

Ever since Jiang Zhiyun learned how to make soft cakes, and knew that old man Li and Mrs. Li also like soft cakes, she began to make soft cakes often, because the amount of sugar in them would not damage the teeth. When the two children were hungry, she put other The snacks were replaced by homemade soft cakes.

13-year-old Li Mingjin has already left the age of eating snacks when he was a child. He is worried that if he eats too much, he will gain weight and become ugly. Occasionally, he will eat a piece or two when he is hungry. Most of that soft cake went into his father or Li Mingkang's belly.

Usually when there is no competition, Li Mingkang's love for soft cakes is average, but after a competitor appeared today, Li Mingkang ignited his fighting spirit and really wanted to get his brother's share of the reward.

At this moment, Jiang Zhiyun was working in the kitchen with Mrs. Li. She heard the laughter of the children in the yard, smiled and said to Mrs. Li: "Mother, brother, their rice noodle shop sells rice noodles. Have you ever thought about selling something else?"

Mrs. Li seemed to have heard Li Chengzhi mention it twice at the end of last year. Now the rice noodle shop has rice noodles in broth, fish soup, sour radish and duck soup, sheep soup, dry rice and cold rice. Kind of, it is not easy to develop a new taste of rice noodles, they really thought about selling something else.

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