Zhou's words were extremely tough, but for her, it was actually soft.

The eldest aunt glanced at Zhou coldly, and said indifferently: "Look at where my sister said, what the family said, it's just that my eldest man studies hard, but he doesn't even have the money to buy walnuts and tofu brains to replenish his brain...... Alas, when will this hard day be the end? ”

Zhou wanted to have a seizure when he heard this, but Shen Xi pulled his sleeves, so he snorted coldly, ignored Wang, and lowered his head to clean up the room.

Wang is the wife of Shen Mingwen, the son of the Shen family, because her husband is a showman, one foot is considered to have stepped into the gentry class, so he likes to put up a shelf on weekdays, and the old lady who is in charge of the family also prefers the long house.

The Shen family has five sons, all of whom were born to an old lady, and it is said that there will be no favoritism, but for the eldest son and eldest grandson, it is called a careful care, and the whole family is living with wild vegetables and coarse grains all year round, but the uncle Shen Mingwen is stained with meat and fishy, and the small stove in the family is not cut off every day, even with the Wang family and her three children.

Moreover, the Shen family has a total of seven grandchildren, which can be regarded as prosperous, and Shen Xi is the youngest. Not only is he the eldest, but his father Shen Mingjun is also the eldest, so in such an environment, not many people in Shen Xi pay attention to his words and deeds, and fortunately, he can occasionally indulge his depressed mood.

Among the five sons of the Shen family, the second, third, and fourth are all engaged in farming in the village, and the fifth is Shen Xi's father, Shen Ming, who is all working as long-term workers in the Wang family, a big landlord in this county.

Before the eldest Shen Mingwen was admitted to Xiucai, he was supported by a few brothers, and he had to start from a young age because of the huge cost of studying, so the family lived a tight life, until Shen Mingwen lived up to expectations and was admitted to Xiucai to become a student in the county.

Because the old lady is in charge of the house, and at the same time is relatively fair, in addition to being too frugal in food and clothing, the atmosphere between the rooms is quite harmonious.

In the Shen family's grandchildren, perhaps the son inherits his father's business, and only Shen Yongzhuo, the eldest man of the old family, can go to school in a private school in the county seat, which is decided by the old lady herself. Although there are occasional filthy differences between the various rooms of the Shen family, they are all a family, and they all expect that there will be a master in the family, and after Shen Mingwen fills the real gap, the family will naturally flourish, and there are not many complaints about the old lady.

Living in the same big house, Shen Xi doesn't have much contact with other siblings, especially after occupying this body last year, because he is worried about revealing his identity, he has always been grateful for playing mud, catching crickets, playing scarabs and other small games, and over time, several cousins no longer play with him.

Let's talk about Wang, she glanced at Shen Xi's impatient appearance, shook her head and smiled, and stood hesitantly for a while, wanting to speak and stopping.

"Sister, my sister-in-law didn't come to you for eggs, my sister-in-law has something to ask you." After hesitating for a long time, Wang still said.

When Shen Xi heard this, he immediately smiled bitterly, but he didn't dare to speak.

Zhou snorted lightly: "Sister-in-law, isn't it here to borrow money again?" Sister-in-law, just spare me, this big family, so many people, sister-in-law borrowed money from my family alone, and borrowed it and didn't pay it back...... I only lent my sister-in-law fifty yuan last time, and Xiaolang hasn't had meat for almost two months. ”

Although the Shen family is not separated, each room has its own small stove, and the old lady also acquiesces. Shen Xi felt that the eldest aunt in front of him was a little excessive, and she relied on her husband to be a talent on weekdays, and never took her father and mother in her eyes.

Since Shen Mingwen was admitted to Xiucai, the Wang family has stopped doing things at home, staying in the room all day, relying on the withheld part of the uncle's food and silver, the couple has opened a small stove openly, and the money is almost spent, and then borrows from the Zhou family, who has some surplus money in her husband's hands when she works outside.

Don't look at Zhou's spicy, in fact, it is nothing more than a knife mouth tofu heart, every time he is coaxed by the Wang family to say a few words, he lends the money, so the uncle's family owes the most to his own family, every time he is thirty or fifty wen, and now there are at least two or three taels of silver.

If the uncle's family is having a tense life, Shen Xi will not have any objection to it, but the living standard of others is much better than his own, and he has to be sneaky to eat an egg, and he will open such a small stove once or twice a month, but people live so much that it is called a moisturization, last time Shen Xi saw Dalang Shen Yongzhuo holding a chicken leg and gnawing on it, so greedy that he cleared his saliva directly!

The Shen family was originally a scholarly heirloom, but the children and grandchildren of the first two generations of the family were not angry, the family was in the middle of the road, and there was discord between the brothers, so they simply divided the family property, and Shen Xi's grandfather was one of them.

Of course, this big house with three entrances is also the ancestral business of the Shen family, and there are dozens of acres of land in the village, but this is not even a dime a dime for the Shen family back then, which shows that Shen Xi's vein is not welcomed.

After the death of his grandfather, the Shen family's family became more and more declining, and there were originally a few long-term workers in the family, but because the Shen family did not distribute money and food in time, they dispersed.

Today's Shen family, although the family tree has been in the past three generations, Shen Xi's great-grandfather has been a master of the five products, but today's situation is not as good as an ordinary squire's family, and it has to be lamented that the world is impermanent.

The old man's last wish before his death was not to separate the family, so now the five couples and a large family are still living together.

The only exception is that the uncle was admitted to Xiucai ten years ago, and the old grandmother was very happy, and pinned all the hopes of reviving the Shen family on the uncle, and the degree of eccentricity has since reached the point of 100 obedience.

Only then did Shen Xi's mother Zhou was seen by the Wang family and secretly opened a small stove for Shen Xi and felt at a loss, after all, the uncle is a talented master, according to the current situation, it is true that only the uncle can be admitted to the exam, glorify the ancestors, and the Shen family can prosper the family.

As for Shen Xi, he was very skeptical in his heart, if the uncle really became an official one day, would it bring substantial benefits to his house.

Under Wang's soft and hard bubbles, the Zhou family quickly disarmed and surrendered, handing over the little private money left in the family.

Looking at the back of the Wang family's departure, Shen Xi snorted very unhappily: "Mother, why do you keep borrowing money from your aunt?" You don't know how good the life of the eldest aunt's family is, what about us, we eat wild vegetables and grass roots every day, there is no oil and water at all, I am almost hungry like a monkey......"

Halfway through speaking, Shen Xi suddenly realized that it seemed that a six- or seven-year-old child should not care about these things, but the words had already been spoken, and it was difficult to collect them.

Zhou was not much surprised, his son's temperament has become much more detached in the past year, and he only said such things as if he was seeing that the eldest grandson of the long house had books to read, and had good food and drink to offer, and he was jealous.

"Stinky boy, do you think your mother wants to? Your uncle is now a showman, and the next step is to lift people...... Although your uncle has fallen twice in a row, your uncle is still young and has a good chance to win in the future. If you win the promotion, then you have the opportunity to become an official, silly boy, do you know what an official is? As soon as your uncle becomes an official, how much can he help our family, and when the time comes, as long as he says a word, won't our family's life be better? ”

When Shen Xi heard this, he sighed slightly in his heart, and said secretly: Sure enough, everything is inferior, but there is only an era of high reading! Maybe it's more appropriate to put it another way, everything is inferior, only to be an official, the people and the official, how far is the difference in their status more than tens of millions of miles?

Seeing that Shen Xi was stunned, Zhou suddenly asked, "Boy, do you also want to study?" ”

When Shen Xi heard this, although he knew that if he showed his desire to study, it would definitely bring great pressure to his father and mother, but he still gritted his teeth and nodded vigorously.

Zhou squatted down, looked at Shen Xi carefully, and repeatedly examined the smart intelligence in Xiao Shen Xi's eyes, and only after a long time did he make up his mind:

"Baby, it's not that my mother is ruthless and doesn't let you study, it's our ...... Our family really can't afford the tuition, but it doesn't matter, when your aunt borrows money from our family next time, my mother will go to her and ask your uncle to take time to teach you......"

"Baby, if this doesn't work out, let's stop studying, don't say anything else, your uncles and aunts won't agree, it's good to cultivate the fields honestly."

Shen Xi looked at the concern in his mother's eyes, and inevitably blamed himself in his heart, and forced himself to pretend to be indifferent: "Mother, it's okay, even if my son can't get ahead in the future, I will be filial to you two elders." ”

Looking at Shen Xi's well-behaved and sensible appearance, Zhou smiled and regained his pungent temperament: "Go, go, little rabbit, you know how to make the old lady angry." ”

Shen Xi laughed happily, ran out of the room, and shouted, "Mother, I'm going out to play." ”

……

……

Before he walked out of the courtyard gate, Shen Xi heard a frightened exclamation from the east wing where the uncle's family lived in the courtyard.

The Shen family is a traditional three-courtyard building, the front of the house is a stone paved courtyard, the entrance is a stone courtyard, the north side of the stone courtyard is the shadow wall, and the east side is the southeast corner courtyard. The north side of the southeast corner courtyard is the ear room toilet that connects the two courtyards, and the south side used to be a car car room, and now the two rooms are used as guest rooms.

On the west side of the stone courtyard is an archway, and the arch enters the front yard. The four inverted houses on the south side of the front yard used to be where Changgong and his family lived, but now they have been opened into pigsty and chicken coops. There is a moon arch on the west side of the front yard, and inside the arch is the southwest corner courtyard.

The north side of the southwest corner courtyard is still the ear room toilet that connects the second courtyard, and the three rooms on the south side were originally the south study room where the Shen family received guests when they were prosperous, and now they have become the location of Shen Xi's family.

The north side of the front yard is connected to the main courtyard by a hanging flower door, and there are six wings on the east side of the main courtyard, all of which are given to Shen Mingwen, the eldest of the Shen family. Shen Mingwen and his wife Wang have a son and two daughters, the eldest man Shen Yongzhuo, 15 years old, currently studying at the county school, and the two daughters are the 13-year-old eldest daughter Shen Qian and the 7-year-old fourth daughter Shen Man. One room for five people and six rooms, no matter how you live, it is enough, and the extra one is used as Shen Mingwen's reception room.

The six rooms in the west wing are divided between the second and third children, with three rooms in each room.

The second eldest Shen Mingyou and his wife Qian, there are fourteen-year-old Erlang Shen Yongfu, twelve-year-old Sanlang Shen Yongrui, ten-year-old third daughter Shen Tingting, and eight-year-old Wulang Shen Yongqi.

The third child, Shen Mingtang, and his wife Sun, have an eleven-year-old second daughter, Shen Xiuxiu, and a ten-year-old Shilang Shen Qian.

There are three main rooms in the north, the main hall in the middle, where guests are received and ancestors are worshipped, the old lady lives in the room on the east side of the main hall, and the room on the west side is where the family eats.

On both sides of the main house are the east and west ear rooms, and the east ear rooms have a peculiar shape, which is a three-story cylindrical attic, and Shen Xi has never understood its use. The west ear room used to be the study of the head of the Shen family, but now there are not many books left on the rows of bookshelves, and most of the space is used to pile up sundries.

On the outside of the east and west ear rooms, there are moon gates connected to the backyard.

There are eight rooms in the backyard, of which the kitchen is located in the northwest corner, and the remaining seven rooms were originally where the servants of the Shen family lived, but now three are given to the fourth child of the Shen family, and the rest are full of firewood.

Shen Mingxin, the fourth eldest of the Shen family, and his wife Feng have seven-year-old Liulang Shen Yuan and five-year-old five daughters ****, among which Shen Yuan has been smart since childhood and is deeply loved by the old lady.

Behind the backyard, there was originally a garden, but with the fall of the Shen family, it has now become a vegetable garden, which is full of seasonal vegetables, but this is not reserved for their own food, most of them are picked up in the town for money and grain.

Hearing that the sound of the east wing of the main courtyard where Shen Mingwen, the eldest of the Shen family, was getting louder and louder, Shen Xi was very surprised, and walked to the door of the uncle's house with three steps and two steps, but saw that the uncle was being held by the third and fourth uncles, constantly struggling.

Shen Xi was stunned for a while, looked at the old lady with cold eyes in the distance, stepped forward and lowered her head, and greeted flatteringly: "Hello grandmother." ”

The old lady was full of white hair, holding a cane in her hand, and when she saw Shen Xi come forward to say hello, she just nodded slightly, so she didn't look at him again, but looked at the uncle, and said sincerely:

"Son, it's not that my mother is ruthless, you ...... Alas, this time, you will inevitably have to suffer a little, you must be attentive and pass the examination to comfort your father's spirit in the sky. ”

Shen Xi honestly stayed aside, poked his little head out, and looked at everything that was happening in front of him suspiciously.

Uncle is not very old, only thirty-four years old this year, so he still has hope to revive the Shen family, at this time he kept struggling, and begged in a fearful tone: "Mother, it is the son who is not angry, and the son will definitely not relax any more than half a point in the future, mother, please, I don't go to the attic, I don't want to go to the attic......"

The old lady let out a long sigh, and there was a lot of reluctance in her tone: "Da Lang, my mother is also forced to do so, don't worry, just stay up for two and a half years, and you will definitely be able to lift in two and a half years!" Da Lang, you suffered, my mother was also distressed, don't call it anymore, the last time you studied in the attic for a year, you were successfully admitted to Xiucai. ”

"When the next autumn exam begins, you will definitely be able to win the promotion, you will definitely be able to glorify your ancestors, and you will definitely be able to become an official." The old lady's voice suddenly became hot.

Shen Mingwen looked up to the sky and roared, tears in his eyes turned, only to see him sincerely frightened: "Mother, don't forget, I almost died in the attic last time, I don't want to go to the attic, I don't want to ......"

The old lady looked at Shen Mingwen's appearance, sighed faintly, and some horizontal iron was not made of steel: "Da Lang, youth is fleeting, autumn is once every three years, you are thirty-four years old this year, how many three years can you have in your life?" Stay up, two and a half years, just two and a half years. When you go up to the attic, I'll have someone bring you food and drink on time, and if you're upset, shout at the east window. ”

In the end, Shen Mingwen lowered his head in disgrace, let the third and fourth uncles send him to the attic.

Shen Xi leaned over and stepped forward.

Shen Mingwen was sent into the attic, and the old lady stopped and sighed for a long time, as if she was a few years older, and with the support of the second uncle, she turned around and left.

Shen Xi looked at the cylindrical building and shuddered in his heart.

The attic is second only to the ancestral ancestral hall in the Shen family, it is said that it is the attic, it is better to say that it is a round flashlight, it is completely closed, only there is a small iron window in the east, Shen Xi believes that even if it is in the middle of the day, you have to light an oil lamp to see things.

Just as Shen Xi was stunned, there was a "snap" sound from the small iron window, the sound was crisp and very regular, and every time it sounded, Shen Mingwen's cry of pain was heard, and he was heard gritting his teeth and the terrifying sound of his teeth.

"Smack."

"Let you go all day."

"Smack."

"Let you be half-hearted."

"Smack."

"Makes you not want to make progress."

"Smack."

"Keeping you out of business."

"Smack."

"Let you forget your father's teachings."

"Smack."

"Makes you impetuous."

"Smack."

"Makes you tired and slack."

After seven sounds, there was silence in the attic.

Shen Xi looked at the closed cylinder door in a daze, and when he came back to his senses, he only felt uncomfortable, and there was clearly only the uncle in the attic!

It wasn't until a long time later that Shen Xi understood that the attic was the heirloom of the Shen family, and if the children of the family failed to try repeatedly, they would be forcibly taken to this attic, confined for self-reflection, and after entering, they had to use the ring ruler to pump themselves seven times, and each time there must be blood stains overflowing, otherwise it would not be counted, and they would have to reflect seven more times.

************

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