The ancient life of a master craftsman

On the day when the list was released, when the list was released, there were four people in the room, and three of them were very nervous. Yunli sat by the window of the teahouse, looking from the second floor to the place where the list was posted, fingers tucked together, looking at the There are so many people around, I can't wait to become a man and get in, so that I can get the news as soon as possible.

Zhang Jiu was also restless. He would add some tea to Yunli for a while, and stand behind Yunli and stretch his neck to look at him together. Shuangzhong kept stretching his limbs, his feet were about to move, as if he was about to rush at the next moment. Go out and see the same result.

On the contrary, it was the examinee himself. Li Enbai was drinking tea and eating refreshments leisurely. Seeing that Yunli's fingers were turning white, he stretched out his hand to hug him who was nervous, and separated his fingers forcefully from Yunli's, interlocking his fingers, " It's still early, don't be so nervous."

Because the list was going to be released today, Yunli woke up very early, and immediately called Li Enbai to the teahouse private room they had booked in advance, regardless of the fact that there was still half a day before the list was released.

Li Enbai was dragged here, so he simply ordered two pots of tea and a plate of refreshments, and asked Shuangzhong to buy some steamed buns, sesame seed cakes and other breakfasts.With tea, Yunli was absent-minded about breakfast, and kept looking at the bulletin board of the examination institute.

They came early, and the private room had already been reserved, so it was still a safe place to rest. It was not too difficult to wait for a whole morning. Some candidates were reluctant to spend the money and waited on the first floor of the teahouse, but Impatient, coming out and going in, the teahouse has been extremely lively since early in the morning.

Yunli also saw more and more people around the bulletin board, and he became more and more nervous. Let alone drinking tea, he almost got out of the window, and was hugged by Li Enbai, who couldn't see past it. When I was in my arms, I was still thinking about seeing it.

Li Enbai signaled Zhang Jiu and his wife to go out for a while, and they quietly retreated to the door of the private room with winks. Zhang Jiu covered his mouth and smiled lightly. It's all right, and Li Enbai specially asked him to sit and rest when he was in the private room.

At this moment, he relied on his family husband, "Brother Zhong, the relationship between the master and the young master is really good."

"En." Shuangzhong straightened his back, trying to make Fulang more comfortable.

Zhang Jiu and the others are on the second floor. The second floor is full of private rooms, which are relatively quiet, but the first floor is full of people coming and going, which is very lively. Zhang Jiu can vaguely hear voices coming from the first floor in the corridor. He took a picture He patted Shuangzhong on the chest, "Brother Zhong, there are more and more people now, hurry up and wait at the notice board, you won't be able to squeeze in after a while."

Shuangzhong also wanted to go, but he was worried about leaving Zhang Jiu alone in the corridor, "Wait a little longer, I'll tell the master before I go."

"The master will definitely say that you are not in a hurry, wait a little longer, you can go now!" Zhang Jiu patted him, "You are almost in a hurry if you haven't seen the little master, you must want to know the ranking of the master at the first time, I will go in and follow Just say it, sir."

Just as Shuangzhong was about to say something, Yunli opened the door, "Brother Jiu, you two, come in quickly, you are not in good health yet, you can't keep standing, come in and sit." Pulling Zhang Jiu into the private room.

It's okay for Zhang Jiu to walk slowly, he winked at Shuangzhong, and followed the young master in, while Shuangzhong stood at the door, "Master, young master, I'll go to the bulletin board to see what's going on, and I'll report back later." .”

Yunli's eyes lit up instantly, he looked at Li Enbai's eyes full of expectation, and saw his loyal feet firmly rooted outside the door, he followed their thoughts, "Go, come back when it's hot, leave the list There's still a while."

At noon when the rankings are released, the government will first set off two firecrackers, and then post the rankings written on the red paper on the bulletin board. In addition, the rest are just roll calls, and only the top ten will have special announcers come to announce the good news.

There is still about an hour before noon, there is really no need to squeeze through the crowd, it will be too late to wait until the government comes to set off firecrackers.

"Hey, I got it, master." Shuangzhong closed the door of the private room, turned around and went downstairs, facing the gradually rising sun, burrowing into the crowd.

Although Shuangzhong is quite tall, he is very flexible. After a while, he got from the back of the crowd to the front row, and then stabbed somewhere, as if the soles of his feet had taken root. He was surrounded by all kinds of waves. Since standing still.

Zhang Jiu sat not far behind Yunli, watching the two masters get together, talking intimately, pretending that he didn't see the young master's red lips, he lowered his head and chuckled.

He didn't even dare to think about such a relaxed day, even when he was the second wife's manager, he was not as comfortable as he is now, so he will definitely get better, and only when he gets better can he take good care of the little master and the master's daily life, and only then can he repay the two. The master's life-saving grace.

As soon as noon arrived, the government servants punctually lit two firecrackers next to the bulletin board. There was a crackling sound for a while, which attracted the attention of the whole street. Shuangzhong wiped the sweat from his forehead Zhu, wait for the yamen servants to post the red list.

As soon as he posted it, he immediately looked for it. Because he didn't know the level of the master, he searched from the end to the front for safety reasons, and it happened that the yamen servant also posted it from the back.

"One hundred...ninety...eighty...seventy..." Shuangzhong found sixty and hadn't seen the name of the master, and he began to feel a little excited. He heard the little master say that the master Although it was the first time to take the imperial examination, but he won the first place in the county examination, and now the master's name did not appear in the second half, maybe the master did well in the exam this time.

So he continued to look forward and found the last red list posted by the yamen servant. This one was the top 1 in this government examination. He clenched his fists unconsciously, took a deep breath, and started from the last People look up and see No.[-] all the time!

No.1 is the name of his master!

Shuangzhong music blossomed, turned around and ran back to the teahouse, pushing away the crowd, "Master, great joy! Master, great joy!"

There was also someone in the teahouse who came back from his own boy, and heard him shouting joy, couldn't help but poke his head to look, only to see Shuangzhong rushing up to the second floor in three steps at a time, and his excited shout echoed.

When Yunli heard the sound of firecrackers, she couldn't help but wanted to run outside, but was hugged tightly by Li Enbai. The outside was full of men, so he couldn't let Li Zi go into the crowd of men, coaxing him, "Shuangzhong went to see it, I can't tell You haven't squeezed inside before you go down, he has finished reading, so we will miss it? Let's wait here, Shuangzhong will come back and tell us when he sees it. "

Zhang Jiu wanted to stand up and go to the first floor to see if Shuangzhong was back, but Li Enbai stopped him with a look, so he could only wait impatiently like the little master.When waiting, the time is always very long, Yunli clasped his hands together, muttering something in his mouth.

Li Enbai was too close to him, and he could only clearly hear the words 'sure', 'some', and 'can hit', patting him on the back as a consolation.

At this time, Shuangzhong's voice came from far to near, "Master! Great joy!"

Yunli jumped out of Li Enbai's arms all of a sudden, opened the door like a gust of wind, and almost collided with Shuangzhong who rushed up.

Shuangzhong barely stabilized his body, "My lord, I'm overjoyed! I won No.1!"

Yunli was ecstatic when she heard that, and turned around and jumped on Li Enbai, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Brother En, you passed the Tongsheng exam!"

Li Enbai did not expect that he also won No.1 in the government test. The original pleasant mood slowly calmed down when Yunli screamed and jumped, patted him on the back, and hugged him, "Let's go, let's go back." !"

Shuangzhong and Zhang Jiu were also happy, with smiles blooming on their faces, "Yes, yes, the announcer should come to the door after a while, let's go back quickly!"

Shuangzhong also picked up Zhang Jiu, and was about to go downstairs with the gentlemen, but Li Enbai stopped at the door of the private room and said, "Shuangzhong, go down first and ask the driver to stop the carriage to the main entrance."

Shuangzhong put Zhang Jiu down, and hurried down to inform the coachman who was watching the carriage. Li Enbai reminded Zhang Jiu, "Brother Jiu, don't laugh when you go out later."

Zhang Jiu's eyes widened, "Master..." Realizing that he was protecting him, Zhang Jiu's eyes were a little hot, "Oh, I see, Master."

Yunli also recovered from the surprise of Li Enbai's passing the exam, and asked worriedly, "Brother Jiu, are you okay?"

Zhang Jiu's face was much paler than when he came out in the morning, and Yunli felt a little guilty when he saw it. Brother Jiu should have been in bed to recuperate, but because of them, he got up early in the morning, so he must be feeling very uncomfortable now.

"My little master, I'm fine. Don't worry, my little master." Zhang Jiu raised a smile, and his originally pretty face became charming and bright.

Shuangzhong came back soon, "Master, the carriage is already waiting at the door."

"Well, let's go." Li Enbai took Yunli's hand and walked out first.

Zhang Jiu hurriedly put away his smile, and was carried downstairs by Shuang Zhong, but he was so happy in his heart that the corners of his mouth always turned up involuntarily, fearing that he would attract other eyes, so he could only hide his face in Shuang Zhong's arms. On his neck, he laughed unscrupulously.

Shuangzhong could feel the trembling on his body, and his laughter was faintly heard in his ears, revealing a silly smile.Following the two masters into the carriage, the coachman had already heard Shuang Zhong mention Li Enbai's ranking, and immediately congratulated Li Enbai when he saw Li Enbai, "Congratulations, Young Master Li!"

"Happy together."

Only half an hour after Li Enbai and the others returned to their residence, the announcer rode out of their yard, "Excuse me, is this the residence of Mr. Li Enbai of Huaimu Village?"

Shuangzhong had been waiting at the door, and when he heard the question, he quickly answered, "Yes, yes, this is it!"

The person who announced the good news got off the horse, "Announcement——Li Enbai of Huaimu Village won the No. 1 government test!" He yelled three times in a row and beat the gong he carried with him. When Li Enbai came out, the good news was announced.

Li Enbai gave the reward, "Thank you."

"Little man, Mr. Li's talent, I wish you success and prosperity!" The announcer squeezed the money in the red envelope, happily said a lot of good things, and then left.

The neighborhood that Li Enbai rented was full of examinees, and it was relatively close to the examination institute, so many candidates from other places were willing to rent here, and they would come out to see the good news when they heard the good news.

"Congratulations, No. 1 in the government examination, Mr. Li is talented!"

"It's just a fluke, it's just a fluke." Li Enbai was modest, without showing a complacent expression.

After finally sending away these people who he didn't know at all, Li Enbai stood at the door, sighed softly and slowly, and finally passed the first hurdle.

It's not that he is not nervous, but he is confident in his knowledge, so he is sure that he can be on the list, but there is a difference between being on the list, No. 1 and the last, and he knows which is more important.

He was not surprised to get No.1 in the county test. It can be said that he dared to judge that he was in the top ten when he saw the test paper. After all, the test was all related to recitation and history, and his memory was definitely top-notch.

But the government test is still No.1, which is really beyond his expectation. Although his theory has been improved a lot with Liu Chuncheng's guidance, the difference in thinking logic means that his argument is different from the current trend, and the score of the theory is the same. There is no way to judge, it just depends on whether the examiner of the year can accept the new argument.

Fortunately, the New Year's imperial examination has always received the attention of the court, and there will be no old-fashioned examiners standing in the way for Li Enbai.

He thought in his heart that this childbirth test was over, and his name would definitely spread throughout Xinglong Town, and even all the counties and towns under Shicheng would know him as a number one person.Presumably the Zhang family would also know, and Chen Yingcai would also know that he was more than 70 students in the Tongsheng Examination, and he should be very angry when he heard that he got the first place in the exam, right?

"The next hospital test is the most important thing." Li Enbai read, he waited to completely trample Chen Yingcai under his feet, to see how incompetent he was with no avail.

As for Chen Yingcai, will he think of a way in advance to prevent him from taking the examination... Li Enbai already has a way to deal with it. The so-called strong dragon can't overwhelm the local snake, but it's really hard to say who this local snake is...

"Brother En, why are you standing here?" Yunli bounced over to find him.

Li Enbai caught Yun Li, who had transformed into a little rabbit, and pinched his cheek, "I'm thinking about something, I'll go to the yamen to register tomorrow, do you want to go with me?"

Yunli shook her head, "I won't go, Brother En, you can take Brother Shuangzhong, I will cook delicious food for you at home, and reward you!"

"Okay, but Shuangzhong should stay here, Master Liu and I will go." Li Enbai was not worried about keeping only two younger brothers here.

Although the law and order in Shicheng is not bad, they are not locals, and they are easy to be regarded as fat sheep by local gangsters, especially if they rent a yard alone, they may not look rich, but they can squeeze out a lot of money. Will rent a yard alone.

Yunli nodded, and pulled Li Enbai to go inside, "Let's eat, I cooked a few dishes, Brother Jiu also taught me a new dish, let's have a simple meal today, and I will prepare a table tomorrow, let's eat again celebrate!"

Tomorrow Li Enbai has to go to the yamen to register. If there is a celebration today, there must be some wine to make the atmosphere, but the drinking was a mistake, Yunli cautiously moved the celebration to tomorrow, and there is still time to be happy after the serious business is done.

Li Enbai was heartbroken by his thoughtfulness and prudence, followed his strength and went to the main hall to eat with him, "The dishes you cook are delicious, don't bother, we will celebrate with dad and the others when we get home .”

Yunli turned her head and glared at him, "It's no trouble!"

"Good, good, easy, do it, do it, you can do whatever you want." Li Enbai hurriedly followed his words.

Seeing that he had a good attitude, Yunli snorted, and generously forgave him for not paying attention, but the smile on his face couldn't be taken back no matter what.

The next day, Li Enbai went to the yamen to register his merits. The procedure was not complicated, but a chief clerk of the yamen talked with him for a long time, encouraging him to seriously prepare for the September court exam. If he could win the case, it would be them Shichengtou has a small three yuan.

What is inside and outside the words is nothing more than a hint of solicitation.Li Enbai just pretended that he didn't understand, and he didn't pick up the words at all. He made a dull and honest image throughout the whole process, and fooled the master.

The master knew that Li Enbai didn't understand his hint, so he wasn't in a hurry. Right now, Li Enbai was just a little boy, not even a scholar, and it wasn't worth his effort. If he didn't understand, he wouldn't understand. If he can really win the little three yuan, he will naturally have a good communication with Li Enbai.

Li Enbai left with a piece of paper given by the yamen, and had to hand in the paper to the county magistrate when he returned. He got into the carriage and threw the paper into the system space.

"Interesting." Li Enbai thought that what the master secretary said to him was to win over people for the magistrate. It seems that the magistrate has a big heart.

But none of this has anything to do with him, at least before he passed the exam for a scholar, none of this had anything to do with him.

Yunli waited for Li Enbai to leave in the carriage, and began to prepare. The food was bought by Shuangzhong early in the morning. He made a list last night.

Zhang Jiu wanted to help, but he didn't even stand for a long time. How could Yunli let him do the work? He did the work neatly by himself. The vegetables were washed and cut, the meat was boiled in cold water without the skin, and the blood and white rice were removed. Also wash it clean and steam it in a wok... One person can make the feeling of several people, Zhang Jiu, who is so agile, is dumbfounded.

Shuangzhong can only help pour the water for washing vegetables, and Yunli is tossing and turning in the kitchen to show his skills, he doesn't even have a place to stand.

So when Li Enbai came back, he saw an interesting scene. The man who was a head taller than Yunli looked like a large dog, his eyes followed his turning from left to right and then from right to left, always wanting to rush in to help , but no chance at all.

A sick patient sat at the door of the kitchen with worry, and asked after a while, "Is the little master tired? Let Brother Zhong help you."

Yunli, who is slender, is full of vigor and smiling face, washing, cutting and frying non-stop in his hands, and he still doesn't forget to answer Brother Jiu's words, "No, I can do it by myself!"

Li Enbai approached, "Shuangzhong, go and set the dinner table first."

Shuangzhong went to set the table, Li Enbai washed his hands and went into the kitchen, "I'll chop the vegetables, you just fry them."

Yunli saw that he was back, so she wanted to speed up, and she didn't refuse when he said that. Anyway, they were like this at home. Brother En would help him chop vegetables, wash dishes, etc. when he was free, "Okay, these three This cut into shreds, this cut into chunks.”

Zhang Jiu watched the master take the kitchen knife and skillfully cut the vegetables. He couldn't close his mouth in surprise, and hurriedly stood up, "Master, let's chop the vegetables. You just came back from outside, so let's take a rest first!"

Yunli and Li Enbai said in unison, "No need." The two looked at each other and smiled, and said in unison, "You should rest, I (he) are used to cutting."

Zhang Jiu still wanted to say something, but Li Enbai couldn't allow him to refute. He started talking to Yunli from time to time, asking what he needed.

Looking at the couple's usual appearance, Zhang Jiu swallowed all he wanted to say, and once again found that his two masters are very special, kind-hearted, don't pay attention to rules, and have a good relationship. The master doesn't even care that the gentleman is away from the kitchen. custom.

But why is the master still like a noble son even though it is covered with oily fumes? He and the young master are also very close in their daily actions, but it is not the kind of male master he has seen that can change at any time. love that never changes.

When Shuangzhong came back, seeing the master chopping vegetables, his face turned pale with fright. Is the young master proud of being favored?How can I let the master into the kitchen?What if in the future...he was about to speak out to persuade, but was stopped by Zhang Jiu, and he could only watch with worry.

Zhang Jiu took Shuangzhong's hand and said quietly, "Don't worry, the master loves the little master very much."

Yunli and Li Enbai worked together to cook a table of sumptuous meals comparable to the New Year's Eve dinner, and asked Shuangzhong to boil two pots of wine. The five of them spent half an afternoon eating and drinking.

The atmosphere was very cheerful and harmonious, even the coachman of the Liu Mansion happily drank too much wine and fell asleep in his room. Zhang Jiu was sent back to his room by Shuangzhong to rest after eating a little. Shuangzhong and the coachman drank together After drinking a lot of wine, I went back and slept soundly next to my husband.

Only Yunli and Li Enbai were left, eating and drinking while taking care of serving each other. They talked and laughed, and they didn't know what they said. Anyway, they could talk non-stop, and finally both of them were full. .

"Ah, it's so supportive..." Yunli leaned back on the back of the chair, stroking her bulging belly.

Li Enbai also imitated him, doing the same pose, the husband and wife looked at each other, then at themselves, couldn't help laughing, "Hahaha."

After laughing, Li Enbai stood up and stretched out his hand, "Let's go to the yard to digest food?"

"Yeah!" Yunli put his hand on his palm and was pulled up by him. He stood up straight, looked into Li Enbai's eyes, his smiling eyes curved, "Brother Enbai, congratulations!"

"Congratulations, you won No.1!" Yunli seemed to have eaten half a catty of sugar, and her words were sweet, "You are the best person in my heart, and you deserve No.1!"

Li Enbai patted his head, "Thank you Lizi, I will always be the best person in your heart."

Yunli pulled him out, "Okay, Brother En, come on!"

They walked around the yard in circles, like the annual rings of a big tree, circle after circle, all memories.