The Little First Grand Secretary in My House

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Generally, names are given by elders, and should not be chosen by the younger generation at random. If they are ordinary villagers, that's fine. But Xue Tingyan is a scholar, and scholars should know etiquette and observe etiquette. If they don't observe etiquette, this book will be in vain. Read.

Xue Tingyan's heart was extremely clear, and he understood what the uncle meant. He chuckled and said: When my father was still alive, I asked my uncle and grandpa to help me choose a name. The uncle refused because he had a cheap name so that I could make a living. Now Tingting My son is fourteen years old, so he can’t keep using his nickname, so he chose one at random.”

As soon as these words came out, Xue Qingshan's face became a little ugly. Xue Tingyan was obviously saying that he, an uncle, was unwilling to give him a name, which was deliberately demeaning. After all, since you have received your education, you should never be without a name.

He smiled reluctantly and explained: Isn't it because your health is not good, and I want to wait until you are an adult before naming you? You can't understand this painstaking effort, what if I don't choose one for you now?

As he said that, without waiting for Xue Tingyan's answer, he sighed and looked melancholy and said: You have been weak since you were born. When your father was alive, he hoped that you would be blessed and live longer, so your uncle named you Fushou. What do you think? ?”

The name was chosen so casually that it was not worthy of the name of Xue Qingshan, the only child in Yuqing Village.

Xue Tingyan hesitated for a moment and then refused: I still can't be uncle. Ting'er's name has been decided. I went to the grave to inform my parents before. There is no way to change it.

This remark also clarified why he went to the cemetery every year. Ever since Xue Tingyan saw that Xue Qingshan had invited so many people and made such a scene, he knew that the other party must have something up his sleeve.

Regardless of what he was planning, he just blocked all the ways that might be used to make a fuss by the other party, and waited to see what would happen.

Sure enough, the expression of Patriarch Xue next to him softened a little.

Before, he had always thought that this kid, Erfang, did it deliberately, just to compete with Juncai for the opportunity to study at Qinghe Academy. This time I came to see this young man who is gentle and polite, neither humble nor arrogant. Although Patriarch Xue has no fame, he still knows a few words. He has been the patriarch for many years, so he naturally has a good eye for people.

He was very surprised, because he had seen Gouzi before, but he was not deeply impressed by him. His only impression was that he was an inconspicuous young man. Now it seems that this child has grown up somewhat unexpectedly.

But no matter how unexpected it was, Patriarch Xue did not forget what he was doing here.

Just a good impression was not enough to make him shake the decision he had already made. He had asked someone to test Juncai, and he was much more knowledgeable than his two grandsons. If the next child in Yuqing Village could be named, Patriarch Xue felt that Xue Juncai was the most likely candidate.

Maybe he is not just a child, but a scholar.

With two future talents and a young boy who doesn't know how to deal with it, Patriarch Xue naturally knows how to answer this multiple-choice question.

However, the previous idea of ​​helping out was abandoned. If Xue Qingshan couldn't even handle a child, he wouldn't be worthy of his attention.

How could Xue Qingshan not see what Patriarch Xue was thinking. In his eyes, this old man is just a master who never sees rabbits but doesn't let go of hawks. He receives the benefits he brings to the clan, but never knows how to do him any favors.

If any clan has an ethnology, the clan will not subsidize one or two of them. On the contrary, he worked all day long. Every time a certain family in the clan would randomly bring some food, the clan leader would call him over and ask him to accept it.

Being generous to others, wasting other people's wealth, being ruthless to others, is of no use to oneself!

Xue Qingshan sneered in his heart, but with a respectful expression on his face, he invited clan leader Zheng Lizheng and others into the house.

Patriarch Xue and Zheng Li were sitting cross-legged on the kang, one on the left and one on the right, while the others were sitting on stools below. Yang and Zhou were busy pouring tea, and even Xue Taoer was sent to ask Mr. Xue to come home quickly.

Patriarch Xue and Zheng Lizheng both had the habit of smoking cigarettes, so they took out their cigarette bags when they sat down.

Xue Qingshan hurriedly took a bag of tobacco leaves from his mother, Mrs. Zhao, and while offering cigarettes to the two of them, he said: My father grew this by himself. It is usually very precious. My cousin and Uncle Li Zheng will try it.

The tobacco your father grew is good, but there is too little. After lighting it, Zheng Lizheng took a deep breath and said with a smile.

Xue Qingshan replied: If Uncle Li Zheng likes it, I'll pretend to be a little bit better with you when I leave later. Just don't dislike it.

These were all polite words, and everyone knew what they were talking about. Zheng Lizheng nodded with a smile and went straight to the topic: What is Shanzi planning to do by inviting us old guys over this time?

Looking at Zheng Lizheng's smiling face, Xue Qingshan cursed the old fox in his heart.

He would never believe that things would turn out like this. If the man surnamed Zheng did nothing inside, he would never believe it. But it was precisely because of this that he even invited Zheng Lizheng here today. After all, he was Lizheng from Yuqing Village and his surname was Zheng, so he could avoid being said to be covering up.

Including several villagers present today, Xue Qingshan was thinking about inviting them. There were some with the surname Zheng, some with the surname Xue, and two others with mixed surnames in the village, but they were all popular in the village.

Is there something that some elders need to make the decision about? Should I wait for my father? He is in the fields and will be back soon.

As he was talking about Mr.

I feel ashamed to say this. Some things in my family recently made everyone laugh.

Upon hearing the beginning of these words, except for Patriarch Xue and Zheng Lizheng, everyone here couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. After all, this is someone else's family matter. Although this family matter has been brought to the public, it can be discussed in private and discussed on the stage. They are two different things.

Actually, to put it bluntly, it's all caused by poverty. If our family's previous situation was like this, we wouldn't be like this. If we give one baby as a gift, we won't give another baby as a gift.

An old man named Xue Lianhe, also named Xue and a contemporary of Mr. Xue, sighed: Lian Xing, don't say that, your family is in trouble too.

Old Mr. It’s a difficult problem.”

With trembling hands, he took out the dry pipe from his waist, lit it and took a puff, and then said: The palms and backs of my hands are full of flesh. It makes me feel bad to lose any of them. In fact, this matter was discussed last year, and I have been putting it off. I did it because I was afraid that my son would feel uncomfortable. It is not easy for a family like ours to provide for a scholar. It was not easy for our family to provide Shanzi. Although he did not live up to expectations and failed to pass the exam several times, in the end he still worked for the village and for us. Everyone did something.

Everyone has noticed how our family has been doing in the village over the years. We won't mention the distant ones, just the private school in Shanzi. As long as you are from the village and your family is not well-off, your education will be delayed or even less. , our family never mentions it. Why? It’s because we country people have a hard time making a living. We face the loess and our backs to the sky. If God doesn’t show mercy, the whole family will suffer from starvation. After a year of exhaustion, some of us can’t even pay taxes.

Actually, I'm not afraid of the laughter of a few brothers and sisters. I worked hard to support Shanzi's education. I just thought that if I could pass the exam, I would be able to exempt my family from some taxes.

These words were just to the point. They seemed to be spoken lightly for a few words without going into any more depth, but they made everyone feel mixed.

What Mr. Xue said was all the truth, and it was the truth that was realistic for people. That's what made it particularly complicated.

Someone finally stood up and spoke out about the previous incident, Brother Lianxing, please stop talking. We still can't trust your character? When someone in the village spread rumors, we told all the children at home, Brother Lianxing. Not that kind of person. There are grandfathers who don’t care about their grandchildren.

Yes, yes, everyone can understand it. It's not difficult for anyone.

Seeing that everyone was echoing Mr. Xue's words, only the man named Zheng remained silent. Zheng Lizheng's eyes flashed and he said with a smile: Everyone in the village is watching Shanzi's contribution to our village. They all know that Shanzi is benevolent and righteous. My duty is to think about everyone. I just have one sentence that I, as an elder, should not say.

Uncle Li Zheng, you are the Li Zheng of our village. There is nothing inappropriate to say.

Zheng Lizheng nodded: Logically speaking, this is your family's business, and I, an outsider, should not interfere. But Lian Xing also said before that the palms and backs of the hands are full of flesh. He suddenly sighed and said seriously: Shanzi, don’t forget why your second child is missing. We all here can understand it because we have lived for decades and have never seen anything ups and downs in our lives, so we are afraid that outsiders cannot understand.”

These words made Xue Qingshan look ugly on the spot, but since he could arrange this situation, he didn't have no countermeasures.

He immediately said: Uncle Li Zheng is right, so I discussed it with my father and planned to give the two children a chance. Let the two compete, and the winner will be admitted. If they fail, they will learn from me at home. I’ll talk about it later when I have the opportunity.”

Upon hearing this, everyone present looked at each other without much opinion. Especially with the previous foreshadowing, Xue Qingshan's words seemed reasonable and reasonable, leaving people with nothing to choose from.

After all, no family is rich, and money does not come from a river.

Everyone went to see Zheng Lizheng. Zheng Lizheng looked at everyone with a smile and said, What are you looking at me for? Since the Lian Xing family has an idea, let's look at his family's. But how does this compare? We old guys don't If you are literate, should Shanzi be the referee?

After a pause, he shook his head: No, no, Shanzi is Juncai's father. He should avoid suspicion. It is better to choose another talent to convince everyone.

He looked up at Xue Qingshan and smiled: Shan Zi, don't you blame me, Uncle Li Zheng, for being too busy and talkative? In fact, I do it for your own good. We should be honest and upright when doing things.

Xue Qingshan wanted to throw out this person who always ruined his good deeds. How could he not complain? But on the surface, he couldn't say that. He could only seem to ponder for a moment and said: What Uncle Li Zheng said is, although I am an uncle, so I still have to avoid suspicion. If not, let me invite one, and then Uncle Li Zheng will invite one, and the two of them will set the questions on the spot and test the two minors.

Zheng Li was looking at Xue Qingshan with squinted eyes. Seeing how confident he looked, he had a bad feeling in his heart. But he had already interfered too much, and it would be too obvious to be picky anymore. He could only agree with a nod and a smile, and also praised Xue Qingshan for being a scholar and having a different mind.

Now that the matter has been settled, the rest of the conversation is just gossip.

Since someone was invited to the house, it was unjustifiable to skip lunch at noon, so Mr. Xue ordered several of his daughters-in-law to go down and pack lunch.

Just now these elders were talking inside, while Xue Tingyan and Xue Juncai were standing outside, so they naturally knew what was going on.

Zhao'er's face looked a little ugly, but Xue Juncai looked at Xue Tingyan proudly, then went in and talked with his father beside several elders, and naturally received another round of praises, not to mention them.

Zhao'er couldn't help but pulled Xue Tingyan back to the house, and said anxiously: What can we do? If I had known this, I would have resisted beating the talented boy. Dog, it's all my sister's fault. She brought you trouble.

She became anxious and mentioned things like Sister Gou'er again.

Don't be afraid, it's okay.

Are you really okay? Zhao'er turned around and said, But, what if we lose?

Xue Tingyan narrowed his eyes: Don't you believe me? Do you think I'm not as good as him?

Zhao'er immediately said: How is that possible! My dog ​​is the smartest. He will be a scholar in the future and become a high official. My sister is still waiting to enjoy the blessings of a dog!

Zhao'er and Xue Tingyan have said this sentence countless times.

When he was a child, she would encourage him like this every time he showed signs of discouragement. She even thought so in her heart, so when everyone disliked him and everyone thought he was not good, she was the only one who kept talking to him and even kept doing it with actions.

It's a pity that she didn't enjoy his blessing, not even for a day.

Obviously, none of that happened to him, it was just a dream, but every time he thought about it, Xue Tingyan felt a huge sense of sadness.

He closed his eyes and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: Since you said so, are you still afraid that I will lose?

In fact, Xue Tingyan was not good at reciting poems and writing poems, but he couldn't resist the fact that the man in his dream lived a long life and had a wide market. There was a long-standing joke among scholars—

It is said that there was a gray-haired scholar who was taking the exam. The examiner knew from his appearance that he was an old boy who had failed the exam many times, so he deliberately made things difficult for him: I will give you a couplet. If you can match it, I will take it. you.

The old boy felt bitter in his heart, but he didn't dare to give in.

The examiner came up with a question: The upper hook is for the old, the lower hook is for the test, the old is for the child, and the child is for the old.

The old boy bowed to him and said, One person is great, two people are heaven. Heaven is great and human feelings are great, and human feelings are greater than heaven.

This flattery was so exquisite that the examiner was embarrassed to go back on his word and had no choice but to select him as a scholar.

In fact, as soon as I heard this story, I knew it was made up. Anyone who has participated in the college examination should know what the situation will be like. How can the examiner take the initiative to test an old boy? The examiner and the examinee will not talk to each other, and this is also to avoid it.

It was obviously compiled by some failed scholar, and was used as a source of comfort. Because it made people laugh, it spread among the scholars. It even extends to any official in the DPRK who is appointed as an academic adviser or presides over the examination of a new subject. Officials who are close to him will inevitably tell him not to be 'too generous'.

It was both a joke and an exhortation. Fraud in imperial examinations has always been involved in many things. Once you do something wrong, you will inevitably end up with no guarantee.

Xue Tingyan didn't expect to hear this pairing here.