Zhao Yu started the way home alone. After walking for a few tens of meters, it was determined that Zha Hongliang should have gone away, and Zhao Yu's shoulders suddenly sank.

When Zha Hongliang was present just now, Zhao Yu didn't want to continue to mourn without any fun. But now that his friend is gone, he doesn't have to pretend to be happy anymore.

In fact, the topic of 'fairness' took root in his mind very early. And now, it has become a towering tree, absorbing Zhao Yu's energy and thoughts at all times.

He didn't even know how long he would last?

With a lamented sigh, he continued to walk around dejectedly.

After walking for about twenty minutes, Zhao Yu finally came to his door. But at the moment when he was about to step into the house, he couldn't help but look up at the whole house.

The simple tiled house and the small space look like it has been in disrepair at a glance. Alas, it was a world away from the house of the councillor just now.

Zhao Yu shook his head and pushed the door open.

"Ahh

After entering the living room, that is, the moment he just walked to the table, Zhao Yu heard his mother's call. But he didn't respond immediately, but took off the sword wrap and other things that were bound to his body, and then he picked up a cup with a buckle from the center of the table, and the other lifted the kettle next to it.

After the cup was straightened, Zhao Yu poured a large glass of water into it.

At this time, her mother had already walked out of the kitchen, and she stared at Zhao Yu closely, revealing a rather surprised look.

"It's Xiao Yu who is back!"

Zhao Yu nodded at it and responded with the word 'en'. He brought the filled cup to his lips and drank most of it in one gulp.

"Why did you come back so late today?"

"Oh. Zhao Yu glanced to the side casually, "There was a delay when I got home, so it was too late." ”

"What's the matter?"

"It's nothing. Zhao Yu scratched his head, and then took out the three steamed buns stuffed into the clothes, "Mom, this is a steamed bun." You can take it and eat it!"

"Huh?" Mom walked to the table and looked at the three steamed buns in surprise, "How did you have steamed buns, where did they come from?"

"Well...... Zhao Yu quickly told him what happened with Zha Hongliang on the way back from the trial ground.

Mother Sun Yanli nodded after hearing this: "Oh, so that's the case! Go and rest in your room! Mom will make dinner in no time, and she will call you then. “

With that, Mom turned around and walked towards the kitchen again. The three steamed buns were placed on the table at random.

Zhao Yu drank another glass of water, felt that his throat was no longer dry, and he entered his room.

There's nothing to do now, just wait for dinner. Zhao Yu lay down directly on the bed, without even taking off his shoes. Looking at the ceiling, he reminisced about everything that had happened in the Proving Ground and back home. Gradually, he actually felt a trace of tiredness. He slowly closed his eyes, as if he was being held up by something.

It wasn't until his mother shouted outside that he had eaten, and Zhao Yu returned to reality. He then got up and went to the living room. The scenery outside the window seems to have been darkened, and there is no longer a little sunlight involved.

In the evening, the mother and son ate at the table. Corn tortillas and a few nests were placed on the table. Of course, those three steamed buns are also staple foods. However, it seems that the mother wants to save the steamed buns for the next morning. Zhao Yu has no opinion on this. Anyway, it's something unpalatable and tasteless.

Nibbling on the nest head that was as hard as iron, Zhao Yu had to mix a few mouthfuls of cold water into his mouth from time to time.

"Anyway, that kid is still good, and he knows how to divide you when he grabs something."

At this time, her mother Sun Yanli opened a conversation box at random. She was also eating her nest head, and after she was still nibbling on the mouth, she swept her fingers slightly over her mouth.

When the meal was just started, Zhao Yu had already told the whole story in front of the councilor's house. It's not just about grabbing steamed buns, but also why I went to the councilor's house, and why I put it in the trial ground early today. Of course, this is also the result of my mother's repeated questions. Mother seemed to have to figure out the ins and outs of the three steamed buns before she would give up, which made Zhao Yu a little angry.

Do you still want to suspect that this steamed bun was stolen? This is too disbelieving in your son-Zhao Yu was holding back this sentence in his heart at that time.

"Yes, yes. Actually, he wanted to give me five at the time. I didn't ask for it, so I took three. ”

"Oh, is it?" the mother rolled her eyes at her son, "Well, you're doing a good job." Actually, you don't want to take those three, after all, someone grabbed them. ”

"But he insisted on giving it to me. If I don't take it, he seems to be angry. ”

"That's it, there's no way around it. In the future, your mother will cook something for you, and you will give it to others to eat. ”

"Oh, it doesn't have to be like this! Hasn't Aza always taken care of me? I guess he just wanted to share something to eat with me. ”

But even then, you can't owe anything to others. Zhao Yu, didn't my mother always educate you before? No matter how poor a person is, he can't just take other people's things!"

Zhao Yu only felt that his mother's remarks were a little ridiculous, didn't the three steamed buns also take from other people's parliamentarians?

However, because he didn't want to argue about anything, Zhao Yu still replied perfunctorily, "Okay! Okay! I know!"

The conversation at the dinner table would come to an abrupt end, but the mother's reopening shattered that hope.

"Xiao Yu, in fact, think about it, you have a friend like Ah Zhai, which can be regarded as your blessing. ”

Zhao Yu suddenly stopped gnawing on the head of the nest. At first his eyes were fixed, but soon he shifted them a few times, "Oh!

"How's that? What do you usually talk about together?"

"I didn't talk about anything!" Zhao Yu deliberately turned his face in the opposite direction of his mother.

"Didn't you talk anything? You guys were together every day in the Proving Grounds, and you didn't talk about the Trials?"

Zhao Yu was made to tremble by the word 'trial', and his lower arm trembled. To hide the panic in his heart, he picked up a tortilla with his other free hand. Now that he has things in both hands, he won't be confused by being idle.

"We haven't talked about it, we've been trying in the proving ground all day, and if we talk about it in our free time, we're going to go crazy. Zhao Yu sped up his action of nibbling on food. Because the food he chewed was not delivered as fast as it was delivered, his mouth was already so bad that his speech was a little indistinct. However, this is also intentional on his part, and at the moment he only wants to be vague.

"Yes, you don't talk about this during the day!"

Zhao Yu nodded, he prayed that this topic would end soon. But the mother put down the half-gnawed nest head and sighed lightly.

"You and Ah Zha two, can the junior swordsman pass this time?"

It's over, it's here again. Zhao Yu bit his head and shook his head. But instead of biting it off completely, he stopped. In this way, the head of the nest is equivalent to covering most of his face. Not only that, but he leaned forward and chose to curl up as much as he could.

Seeing that his son didn't respond, he also made that kind of cover-up action. Sun Yanli's appetite was suddenly cut in half. She no longer wanted to eat, but put her hands on the table.

"Xiao Yu, you should have to show the proper learning attitude in the testing ground. How can you be so laissez-faire?" Sun Yanli's tone was quite serious.

But for Zhao Yu, it was like chewing wax. He slumped on the table completely: "What are you doing! I didn't say I couldn't try it well, why do you say I'm laissez-faire?"

"But you said earlier that you barely talk to your friends about trials. Sun Yanli tapped his index finger on the tabletop, "This is too abnormal." Let's try together, and we have to meet the day of the assessment. How could it be that there had not been a conversation about this topic at all?"

"Oh! I just haven't talked about it!" Zhao Yu's body was like mud, rubbing on the edge of the table.

"Then why don't you talk about it, why can't you think about it a little longer?"

"Oops! How do you know that I don't have a long mind! Everything is your cranky thinking!" Zhao Yu straightened up, but it was the complete opposite of lying on his stomach, this time he raised his head high, and his mouth was also wide open.

"Then you tell me, you ask yourself. In the past two years, have you tried with your heart, and have you spent time to learn the swordsman profession?"

"Why not?"

"Really? Do you really have to? Tell me with your own conscience, have you seriously put effort into the trial?"

Zhao Yu was a little speechless for a while. He made a 'cut' and took a big bite of the nest.

"Actually, Mom has been paying attention to you, and she has long realized that you don't have the heart to test at all. You are already 20 years old, and you should understand some truths! You should know what it means to pass the trial, and if you don't pass, what will you do in the future? Are you like your mother, and be a farmer for the rest of your life?"

The residue of the nest head was stirred in his mouth, and Zhao Yu chewed faster and faster. There was still a murmur in his ears, and he only felt that his consciousness was being poured into a mess by the black ink of the bottle.

"If you look at the neighbors, there are a couple of older brothers who are a little older than you. They just haven't even passed the primary vocational examination, and now they are living a miserable life! Don't you feel a little bit about this experience? Or do you think ......?"

"Oops! ”

Because he couldn't stand his mother's nagging, Zhao Yu fortunately threw the leftover nest head on the plate. There was a crisp sound of glass crashing, but fortunately he didn't use it too hard, and it just made a little messy on the table.

Sun Yanli seemed to be shocked by her son's resistance, and she stared at her eyes and stopped talking.

The atmosphere fell into an awkward silence for a while, and both mother and son kept their mouths firmly shut, and there was no eye contact.

For a long time, Sun Yanli seemed to have broken free from a state of hard thinking, and rubbed his cheeks with both hands.

"Zhao Yu. You honestly tell your mother, can you pass the primary assessment of the swordsman this time?"

Hearing that his mother had changed his name to Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu was like suffering several lightning strikes. He glanced at his mother tightly. At this time, my mother became so old for some reason. Not to mention the slender wrinkles on his forehead, the few strands of hair that have fallen out are also full of silver.

Zhao Yu didn't know how to respond to his mother's question, so he had to bow his head in shame.

"Can you pass it? Tell me honestly. Don't worry, even if you say no, Mom won't blame you. ”

Hearing that there was a slight tremor in his mother's voice, Zhao Yu quickly raised his eyes upward. However, the lifting action lasted less than a few seconds, and he fell back as if he had given up completely.

There was a sigh from the side, which must have been from the mother.

Zhao Yu clasped the hands placed on his thighs, as if rubbing them vigorously could calm his mind. Finally mustering up his courage, he trembled and confided a sentence.

"Actually...... I think even if I can pass the primary assessment...... It doesn't seem to be of much help to the rest of your life. After stumbling over this, Zhao Yu pursed his lips. He didn't even dare to gasp for more, just speculating about his mother's reaction.

But the mother just replied with an 'ah' in surprise.

Zhao Yu breathed a sigh of relief, he rubbed his thigh with his palm, thinking that he had finally said the words that had been held in his heart for a long time.

"Is there something going on?" asked the mother suddenly.

Zhao Yu was a little late to react, and he rubbed his snort with his fingers to hide his panic.

"If something happens, you must tell your mother!" Sun Yanli stretched out his hand and put it on the back of Zhao Yu's hand on his thigh.

Zhao Yu couldn't help but look at his mother, and found that his mother's eyes were full of care.

"Nothing happened?" Zhao Yu pulled away the hand that was being held by his mother.

"Why do you have this kind of thinking, why do you think that passing the primary examination is useless?"

Faced with his mother's question, Zhao Yu swallowed his saliva. "It's useless!" he looked away, "Even if I pass the junior swordsman exam, what can I do?

Sun Yanli moved her body back, she was surprised that her son actually expressed such an opinion.

Zhao Yu obviously noticed this situation as well, he scratched the center of his eyebrows, and continued to add words.

"Just give me the example of being a soldier. After passing the assessment of the junior swordsman, he is at most a nameless creep. If you want to climb up to become an officer, you can only continue to assess the intermediate or senior level, or even higher. Otherwise, it will be the life of a nameless low-level soldier for the rest of your life. ”

"So to put it bluntly, junior occupations are considered fragrant among us poor, and the rich don't take it seriously at all. Because even if you have the title of junior, you can only do some very low-level work. These very low-level jobs don't seem to be much better than those of the peasants. In that case, why do you care so much about whether you pass the primary level or not?"

Sun Yanli was stunned, she looked at Zhao Yu for a while and couldn't say a word.

"To put it more clearly, the passage of the primary level is just a stepping stone to the society in the future. After that, the intermediate and advanced level is the most important thing that can really expand life, which is the most important thing. So why do you want to spend so much effort on a stepping stone?"

Zhao Yu finished speaking in one breath. After getting no response for a long time, he felt that something was wrong, and quickly glanced at his mother. Only then did he realize that his mother was looking at him with strange eyes.

He couldn't stand the star, so he quickly avoided it.

"Zhao Yu. How can you have this kind of thinking? It's not that it's hard to use anything at the beginning, it doesn't matter. You must know that the intermediate and advanced levels after that are also built on the basis of passing the elementary level. Sun Yanli gently tapped the table to show that she wanted to wake up her son.

But Zhao Yu shrank his neck and swallowed his saliva. "But do the conditions at home allow me to continue to go to the trial? If I'm not mistaken, the intermediate assessment after that will cost money, right?"

Sun Yanli gasped when she heard this. There is really no spare money at home to provide an environment for his son to continue his trials, and Sun Yanli is often distressed about this, thinking that he seems to owe his son something.

However, she must pass the primary assessment, and she will not back down half a step no matter what.

"Yes, the level assessment will no longer be free in the future. But it doesn't mean that this policy will last forever, and maybe one day the intermediate level will be free? So you should still pass the elementary level and wait for the opportunity to take the intermediate or advanced level exam in the future. If you don't even have a beginner, why don't you keep climbing up!"

The mother seemed to be reasonable, but Zhao Yu had difficulty listening. Because there are too many examples that tell him that the assessment above the elementary level is not free.

"What about Mom herself?" Zhao Yu pursed his lips and accentuated his tone, "Mom should also have the title of junior swordsman!"

His mother, Sun Yanli, had the title of junior swordsman, which Zhao Yu knew when he was about ten years old. At that time, my mother was chatting with several neighbors. Chatting and chatting, the neighbors began to regret that their mother had the title of junior swordsman, but she could only be a farmer here. The mother did not say anything about it, but from her expression, it was clear that she did have a sense of sadness.

Zhao Yu once asked his mother why he had to work as a lowest-level peasant even though he had passed the primary level of swordsmanship. The mother just replied, 'As a farmer, the working hours are more casual, and I can spend more time with my son.' ’

At first, Zhao Yu believed it and thought that his mother was telling the truth. But as he grew older and matured the people he came into contact with, he realized the truth of the matter.

It turns out that passing the primary vocational assessment is not as noble as imagined, it is just a stepping stone that allows you to continue to pass the exam. It is of little value when measured in terms of elementary alone. Even if you have a junior career title, you won't even be able to get a good job. Because at the mother's age, almost all of them have a junior vocational title.

In other words, even though the mother has passed the swordsman primary, because the people around her have the same level of strength. Even, some people have something that their mother doesn't have, that is, relationships and connections. In that way, the mother will naturally not be able to compete with them, and the job will be snatched away by people with connections and connections.

That's the reality.