Chapter Eighty-Eight: Like a Dream!

In a secluded courtyard, the walls of the grass mixed with a little mud bricks hung red peppers, ears of corn and other things to dry, and among the few simple and dilapidated houses, one of the cleanest was used as a study and bedroom, but even the cleanest room, the walls painted with mud and grass had begun to turn yellow, an oil lamp seemed to be shaking on the desk, and the room was filled with a faint smell of fireworks.

This is Zhou Lingyun's home.

In the study, a young man dressed in a gray Confucian robe, with slightly dark skin, thick eyebrows, a pretty nose, and thin lips is Zhou Lingyun and Li Yiqi.

Li Yiqi took a small sip of the rice porridge and began to look at the book in his hand intently - "The Theory of Difficult Strategies", written by a generation of great Confucian Zhengxue Mr. Fang Xiaoru, is one of the Confucian classics, Li Yiqi has long memorized it, but somehow, he is still attracted by the subtleties of it, and he has no distractions.

The oil lights on the desks were getting dimmer, and the sky was getting darker and darker, and smoke was rising from every house in the town......

Time passed, night fell, Li Yiqi had already read "Difficult Strategy" from the first volume to the sixth volume, and Qinghao in his hand also involuntarily began to annotate and transcribe on the paper.

"Brother Zhou, Brother Zhou!"

Suddenly, a small figure appeared outside the window.

Li Yiqi put down the book, pushed open the door, and said with a wry smile: "Mei'er, why are you really here." ”

"Hehe, people are afraid that you will be hungry, you see, I did it!"

Mei'er's big black eyes were as curved as the crescent moon, and she was carrying a basket in her hand, which seemed to still contain food.

Two big white steamed buns, two eggs, a plate of radish pickles, and a big bowl of flower rice porridge, a very simple farmer's coarse tea and light rice.

Li Yiqi looked at the food, smiled slightly, and a burst of warmth swelled in his heart, since the death of her parents, this little girl is the best for herself.

"Little girl, let your father know that you secretly helped me, and I have to say that you ......"

Li Yiqi shook his head helplessly, gently touched Mei'er's little head, and said with a smile.

"Hmph, I didn't bother to pay attention to him......"

Mei'er lowered her eyes, pursed her lips, and muttered dissatisfiedly: "My father wants me to marry the young master of the Xie family, but people don't marry, Zhou-brother-brother-"

Mei'er said angrily, and then gently tugged at Li Yiqi's sleeve, revealing a hint of expectation in her big black eyes, as if she wanted the latter to say something.

Seeing this, Li Yiqi's cheeks were slightly red, he lowered his head, and said with a wry smile in a low voice: "The orders of your parents and the words of the matchmaker, you should listen to ....."

He is a scholar, a teenager, and thin-skinned, even if he has long admired Mei'er, it is difficult to speak now.

“......”

I didn't expect Li Yiqi to say such a thing, Mei'er took a deep breath, a touch of resentment appeared on her delicate little face, she pinched her powder fist and gently slapped Li Yiqi, and said coquettishly: "I married that Xie Gongzi, who will take care of you?"

Hearing this, Li Yiqi scratched his head, his eyes flickered for a long time, and he said in a low voice: "No matter how I say it, I can count myself as a child, and I can go to the county government to receive two taels of silver every month......

The implication is that I don't need you to feed me.

"Phew, isn't your money going to be saved for the exam in Beijing?" Mei'er folded her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes.

Hearing this, Li Yiqi's eyes also flashed a touch of sourness, his parents died the year before last, and the family originally had a few acres of land, Li Yiqi was a scholar, unable to make a living by himself, and later sold to others, and now he can only rely on the two taels of silver issued by the county government every month to survive, just hoping to win a reputation in the state capital as soon as possible.

In the Great Xia Dynasty, scholars were divided into children's examinations, state examinations, and general examinations.

There are many Confucian students in Daxia, and the general students can be admitted to the county government and the county government within half a year after entering the palace, and then the state examination and the general examination are held in the state capital and Shangjing City respectively.

That is to say, after a student enters the school palace or academy at the age of ten, he can be admitted to Xiucai at the age of thirteen, and he is considered a truly promising Confucian student at the age of sixteen, otherwise he is still a child at the age of sixteen like Li Yiqi, which is equivalent to failing the state test once.

To be honest, if Mei'er hadn't often secretly come to help him behind his back, it would have been estimated that he would have spent all the money a long time ago, and it would be impossible to go to the state capital and the capital.

"Brother Zhou, you're going to the state capital next month to take the exam, right?" Mei'er said in a low voice.

"yes, what's wrong?" Li Yiqi asked rhetorically with a blink of his eyes.

"That'...... After you are admitted to Xiucai, what will you ..... Toward..... My dad ...... Raise...... Kiss...... ......" Mei'er said, lowering her head, playing with her long black hair, and her voice was like a mosquito.

Hearing this, Li Yiqi's eyes showed a gloomy color, and after a long time, he said in a low voice: "Mei'er, I'm not sure if I can get into the ......."

"What if you pass the test?" Mei'er's big black eyes didn't blink, and she asked closely.

"That'...... Then I'll propose to your father!"

Li Yiqi gritted his teeth and said without hesitation.

Once you become a showman, you can be regarded as having a real fame, you can enter the office, although you can't enter the court, but you can also be a petty official in the state and county, and you can also go to the school palace to be a teaching assistant in the future, teaching those noble children of the rich and noble lords, how the income will not be less than farming.

Moreover, the status of Xiucai is not comparable to that of children, the Ministry of Rites has statistics, and the Xiucai admitted to the state examination every year is only one thousandth of the children who take the exam, which can be described as cruel, but it is also because of the rarity of Xiucai, which leads to the extremely high status of Xiucai, even if he is not an official, he is a person with merit and fame, and he can sit on an equal table when he sees the head of the county.

To put it bluntly, high social status.

"Really?!" Mei'er asked with great joy when she heard this.

"Hmm. ”

Li Yiqi nodded heavily, if he can be admitted to Xiucai, he will definitely live up to Mei'er's gentleness towards him.

Hearing this, Mei'er's dark eyes opened wide, staring at Li Yiqi tightly without blinking, a mouthful of fine silver teeth biting her lips, tears gradually blurred her eyes, she suddenly cried out, and then hugged Li Yiqi tightly.

Li Yiqi slowly hugged the kitten-like girl in his arms, his eyes full of tenderness.

......

A month later, in Pingshan Town, Xiaodukou, Yang Liu Yiyi, the girl's teary eyes were hazy, she watched the river go away, and said in a loud voice: "Brother Zhou, I'll wait for you to come back!"

"Wait-you-come-come-marry-me!"

The long voice echoed above the river, and Li Yiqi sat on the ferry, silent, tears falling all over his sleeves.

......

A few days later, in Pingshan Town, by the small ferry, Yang Liu Yiyi, a slightly chubby woman carried a basket of clothes to be washed by the river, and said to the woman next to her while washing: "Eh, sister-in-law Wang, have you heard, the child of the Zhou family next door has been admitted to the Xiucai of our state capital!"

"No, baby, you heard it wrong! It was Xie Yuan who was admitted to the exam!" said another village woman who was washing clothes with a smug face.

"You don't understand, Xie Yuan is Xiucai, the number one Xiucai......" Another woman rubbed her clothes and interjected, and around them, several other village women also began to gossip.

"First place, really fake?!"

"Yes, the red list in the town has been posted, and the county magistrate said that he would come to the town to celebrate his achievements......"

"It's amazing, I'll just say it, I said that the kid was good when I was a child......"

"Then you marry your eldest girl to him, I'm afraid that people won't look down on him, haha......"

“......”

While several women were talking and laughing, a ferry boat slowly approached from the river, and on the ferry, a young man in a gray Confucian robe had a faint smile on the corner of his mouth, holding a roll of red lists in his hand.

"Big brother, thank you. ”

After going ashore, Li Yiqi respectfully saluted the big brother of the boat family, and at the same time took out a few pennies, his cheeks were slightly red, and he smiled bitterly: "Big brother of the boat family, I ...... I really don't have much money on me, and I will make up for the rest in the future, you see, I will never be in arrears!"

Seeing this, the eldest brother of the boat family seemed to be taken aback, his black face turned red, he waved his hand again and again, and said with a wry smile: "Oh, the officials can't help it, you can't help it, you are breaking my life!"

The eldest brother of the boat family has berthed at the ferry port of Pingshan Town for most of his life, and it is the first time he has seen hundreds of scholars come to the ferry at the same time to see off a person, among those people are officials, squires, and many elegant people.

That scene...... He couldn't remember how his stiff hands rowed the boat up.

The sage said that a gentleman loves money, takes it in a proper way, regards it in moderation, and uses it sparingly. If you send me across the river, you should collect some money, I remember the last time you sent me to the opposite side for ten yuan, I ...... I only have eight texts now, and I still ...... I still owe you two ......," Li Yiqi blushed and said with some embarrassment.

After that, he forced the copper plate into the other party's hand, and then turned around and ran over, these two coins, he will remember.

"Oh, I said no, it's all from a town, and it's just a cup of tea to take you across the river. Seeing Li Yiqi's figure running away, the big brother of the boat family stomped his feet angrily.

"Oh, you said this scholar...... Forget it, let's send two catties of fish to his family another day, it seems to be ...... The family surnamed Zhou on the west side of the town......" The big brother shook his head with a wry smile as he moored the boat back to the other side.

Over there, there are still people waiting for him to take people across the river.

"Ahh

Suddenly, a village woman who was doing laundry saw Li Yiqi walking briskly, and hurriedly exclaimed in a loud voice.

"What's the matter, baby, you forgot to feed the chickens?" a woman asked with a smile.

"No, the child of the Zhou family is back!" The village woman put down the clothes in her hand, wiped her hands on her body twice, and ran over happily.

Seeing this, the seven or eight village women who were still washing clothes all left their work behind and rushed towards Li Yiqi like a market.

"If you are not indifferent, you will not be ambitious, and if you are not quiet, you will not be far-reaching. ”

By the river, Li Yiqi lowered his head, his expression was solemn, and he muttered in his mouth.

Whether it was on the boat or now, his mind was still on the discussion with the 'teacher' he had just met, and he noticed that the seven aunts and eight aunts in the village had been killed in front of his eyes.

"Xiao Zhou, oh no, Zhou Xiucai, you're back!"

"Zhou Xiucai, Zhou Jieyuan, I am Aunt Li on the street next door to your house, I hugged you when you were a child!"

“......”

Li Yiqi, who was surrounded by a group of women, finally reacted to what had happened, and eighty percent of the news that he had won Xie Yuan's fame was reported back to his hometown.

As the saying goes, one person is lifted and the whole family is wiped out, but if this one is the top name in the state capital, then it is not simply the whole family is wiped out, but the whole village is wiped out, the whole town is wiped out, and the whole county is wiped out!

"Aunt Li, Aunt Wang, Aunt Yang......" Li Yiqi sweated on his forehead, and bowed to several women with a bitter face.

He has been studying behind closed doors since he was a child, and he basically has no communication except for the school palace, but he still knows the acquaintances in these towns.

Aunt Li's husband is a well-known butcher with surprisingly good craftsmanship. Mrs. Wang's family has a small cloth shop in the town, and in this small place, it can basically be said that they have a monopoly on the cloth business. Although Aunt Yang is a flat-headed ordinary person, she heard that she is related to the mayor......

It can be said that there are people with faces in the town!

It's a pity that when Li Yiqi reacted, he was already surrounded by groups, and it was impossible to run.

"The children of the Zhou family have grown so big, ouch, they are so handsome......" A village woman with still charming eyes was full of peach blossoms, and she stepped forward and touched Li Yiqi's chest with her hand without shyness, so frightened that the latter's face was like earth, and she retreated again and again.

This one he knew, a well-known pretty widow in town.

There are many rights and wrongs in front of the so-called widows, and Li Yiqi doesn't want to be one of these 'rights and wrongs'.

Unexpectedly, Li Yiqi's blushing and shy behavior fell in the eyes of this group of village women, and immediately caused a burst of laughter.

"A few aunts, I'..... I still have something to do, so I'll take my leave first. ”

Li Yiqi had a bitter face, and repeatedly bowed and bent over and over at this group of tigers and wolves, and then found a gap and ran away.

It's horrible......