In the blink of an eye, Huineng was already nine years old. Xu is often hungry after falling into the middle of the road, and he is smaller than children of the same age.

On this day, he squatted under the eaves to sharpen his axe. A few friends jumped up and down with schoolbags on their backs, talked and laughed and passed by the door and went to school. His gaze lingered long in the direction they had disappeared.

Li Shi touched the scene and couldn't help but cry. She choked up and said, "Neng'er, I'm sorry for you." Our family is too poor to afford for you to go to school. ”

Huineng said: "Mother, I'm not thinking about going to school, but thinking, what's the use of them going to school?" ”

Li said sadly: "Silly boy, of course it is useful to go to school." If you learn the Four Books and Five Classics, you will be able to take the Xiucai and Zhongjinshi exams. ”

Huineng asked again: "What are you doing when you are admitted to the Jinshi?" ”

Li said: "Be an official." The entrance examination is what our people call the election of officials. If you win the jinshi, you can become a county official. Then he rose step by step, became a state official, became a state official, and became a prime minister. Under one man, above ten thousand. ”

Huineng broke the casserole and asked: "Then, after becoming the prime minister, what are you going to do?" ”

Li smiled: "When you become the prime minister, it will be over, you should be dismissed from office and go home for the people." ”

Huineng said with emotion: "After a big turn, I have to go back to the old place!" Rather, it would be better not to read the Four Books and the Five Classics in the first place. This is still a good fate, I can be safe and sound, and I will not be dismissed halfway. If you are like my father, if you are not careful, you will be dismissed and exiled, and even your life will be on the line. ”

Li couldn't cry and laughed, and said, "Then what do you want to do?" ”

Huineng raised the axe in his hand and said seriously: "Chop wood." From today onwards, I will go up to the mountains to chop firewood, exchange money for rice, and feed my mother. Not knowing whether to cry or laugh, she held her son tightly in her arms, her eyes glistening with tears.

At this time, through the sparse fence wall, it can be seen that a official in official uniform appeared at the entrance of the village. The mountain village is remote, and he has never been an errand in his adult years, so his appearance naturally attracts people's curious eyes. Li's heart seemed to be suddenly grabbed by an invisible hand—five or six years ago, it was this official who sent a letter urging her husband to take her husband's life. Unexpectedly, a few years later, he actually stopped in front of the Lu family's firewood again! Moreover, Li recognized him at a glance, he was the messenger from a few years ago!

Li subconsciously hugged Huineng tightly.

Before he could speak, a flattering smile appeared on his face. He obviously saw the Li mother and son in the courtyard, but he still knocked on the firewood politely and said, "Is Mrs. Lu here?" Please receive the letter from the Guangzhou Yamen. ”

Guangzhou? In that big city three hundred miles away, the Li family didn't even have any relatives outside the eight generations, let alone any connection with the yamen. Li hesitated and slowly walked towards the courtyard gate. Xiao Hui Neng was neat, ran over, opened the firewood, and invited the official who delivered the letter in.

"Madam, please take it. This is a handwritten letter from Lord Wen of Guangzhou Yamen! ”

Li Shi took the big envelope, still confused, and asked ignorantly, "What Lord Wen?" Who is Bun-sama? ”

The official was also a little surprised: "Lord Wen is the master of Guangzhou Thorn Shi Wenlong, who has not been in office for a long time!" Our Xinzhou County is under the jurisdiction of his old man. Master Wen said in a letter to the county lord that he was a classmate of your family, Mr. Lu. Can you know him? ”

Wenlong, Wenlong again! Wen Long is already a big member of the Weizhen Jiangshan, but Lu Xingyan is ......

"Madam, don't dare to slack off on the errand assigned by Master Assassin, the county master is still waiting for me to reply."

After Li received the letter, he went home and opened it to see that Wenlong, who had served as a bachelor of Hanlin in the court, was released as the assassin of Guangzhou. More than a month ago, he took office and came to Guangzhou, so he naturally asked the magistrate of Xinzhou about Lu Xingyao's situation. When he heard that his old friend had already died five years ago, he was very sad. Especially when he learned that Lu's widow was struggling to live alone with her son Huineng, he was even more embarrassed. Therefore, he wrote to ask Mrs. Li to take her son to Guangzhou and live with his family, and he wanted to take on the responsibility of raising future generations for his old friend, so that Hui Neng could study, gain fame in the future, and inherit the long-standing tradition of the Lu family.

It's really hail and snowflakes fall, and good things fall from the sky.

However, the elders in the village spoke in unison, and they all opposed Huineng's mother and son going to Guangzhou to join the high-ranking Thorn Shi. That's it, if you are not a close relative, and you have never met, how dare you entrust your life to him? You orphans and widows, when you go to that place where you are unfamiliar, you don't know that you have been sold!

Li's eldest brother and Huineng's eldest uncle strongly objected: "You can't starve to death, why do you want to go out?" ”

Li said, "Big brother, look at what you say! Wenlong is Xingtao's classmate and friend, and he said in his letter that he treats Huineng like his own son, and he provides food and clothing for our mother. ”

"Isn't that shameful enough? What do people say that you are a widow and you live in someone else's house for a long time? If you really can't handle it anymore, your family can't take the blame, so you can move back to Lang Village and live in our house. ”

Li asked, "Big brother, can you provide for Neng'er to go to school?" ”

"This ......," the uncle snorted a few times, and said disapprerovingly, "We ordinary people have never read for generations, don't we live like this?" ”

"Yes, yes," the elders also echoed, "As far as our land in Xinzhou County is concerned, there have been no Hanlin or Jinshi for thousands of years, and people have also lived a good life?" ”

Li pulled Huineng over, pushed him in front of everyone, and said as if solemnly announcing something: "He, surnamed Lu, is called Lu Huineng, and he is Lu Xingyao's son. The Lu family has been a scholarly family for thousands of years, and it has been a famous family in all dynasties. The children and grandchildren of the Lu family, if they are reduced to illiterate, the ancestors and ancestors under the Nine Springs will be uneasy! In the future, what kind of face will I have to meet my late husband? I ......"

Later, Li couldn't stop crying. When everyone saw this, they couldn't say anything more. However, moving a family is not an easy task after all. Although Lord Wenlong said that he provided everything for Huineng's mother and son in Guangzhou, the Li family still wanted to prepare some money in case of emergency. And their family, what can be converted into money, is only two acres of thin fields.

In desperation, I couldn't find a suitable buyer. Besides, the Li family also wants to change some coils after the crops in the field are harvested. So it was delayed again and again, and by the time the two of them finished preparing and really hit the road, it was already the end of summer, and it had been half a year since Lord Wenlong's letter.

From Xinzhou to Guangzhou, you can take a boat along the Xinjiang River, pass through Zhaoqing, enter the Pearl River, and go all the way to the river and wind, which is very convenient. However, the cost of the boat ride is not what a family like Huineng can raise. Besides, even if the money from the sale of land is enough for the boat fare, the two of them are reluctant to take it out. So, Huineng mother and son planned to walk along the country road, via Gaoming and Foshan, to Guangzhou.