Zhang Yuan's house is behind the Fuxue Palace, and naturally it was also blown and sent home, and the little girl Rabbit Pavilion heard the sound of the blowing and ran out to take a look, turned around and ran to the inner courtyard, shouting sharply while running: "Mrs., Mrs., the young master is in the middle, the young master is in the show-"

Zhang's mother Lu smiled: "This is the county test, as well as the government test and the road test, it's still early." "I went out to the front hall with the big girl Yiting to see, the group of drummers was boiling and blowing so loudly that several families in Dongzhang came to inquire, Zhang Yuan dealt with them one by one, and rewarded a penny of silver to send the group of drummers.

Zhang's mother, Lu, had already instructed the cook to prepare the meal, and asked Zhang Yuan: "My son is hungry, let's drink a cup of hot tea first." After Zhang Yuan drank a few sips of hot tea, Fang asked, "How did my son do in the exam?" ”

Zhang Yuan smiled and said: "Fortunately, Hou Xianzun also read the exam papers, and he will definitely win." ”

Zhang's mother Lu was very happy.

Mu Zhen really came in from outside, and when he heard Zhang Yuan's words, he said happily: "Congratulations to the young master for high school." ”

Zhang Yuan looked at this fallen girl and was wearing a tattered old shirt, the cold winter has passed, the weather is getting warmer, Mu Zhenzhen can no longer wear the two sets of winter clothes that Zhang Yuan paid for her last year, she is now wearing the old skirt that her mother wore before her death - Zhang Yuan said: "Zhenzhen, let Yiting take you to the Cross Street Garment Shop to sew two sets of spring and autumn skirts, in a few days you will go to Songjiang with me, you have to dress better, many people are snobs, only look at clothes and don't look at people." ”

Mu Zhenzhen lowered his head with some inferiority, lowered his eyes and looked at his long-sleeved short coat and long skirt, the cuffs were ground into raw edges, the skirt was patched at the knees, and the skirt was also short, revealing half of the white calves, fifteen-year-old Mu Zhenzhen's current stature is already taller than her deceased mother-Zhang's mother Lu smiled: "Although Zhenzhen's clothes are shabby, they are clean every time they come, which is better than many people-Yiting, you take Zhenzhen to the ready-to-wear shop to sew clothes, and you also sew a set yourself, and pick your own favorite style." ”

The little girl Rabbit Pavilion opened her eyes wide to look at it, Zhang Yuan noticed her, and said with a smile: "Bring the Rabbit Pavilion with you, her eyes are dripping." ”

Zhang's mother Lu Shi laughed, looked at her son twice, and said: "Zhang Yuan, you also go to sew two sets of new clothes, your clothes last year were a little short, this time I went to my sister and brother-in-law's house, you have to dress brightly, Xiao Wu also sewed a set, Xiao Wu also went to sew a set, Xiao Wu also has to follow." ”

Cui Gu came over and said, "Young master, the meal is ready." ”

Zhang Yuan was still eating, and the Shang steward came, bowed down and said, "Is Zhang Gongzi going out of the examination room, my second master asked the villain to ask Zhang Gongzi if the eight shares are going well?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Thank you Second Brother Shang for your concern, this county test is quite smooth." ”

The Shang steward said happily: "That's good, that's good, the second master and the eldest lady are all worried, and the villain will go back to report the good news." ”

Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "It's still early to report the good news, and I will come back to meet the second brother Shang after the list is announced." ”

Shang's steward said: "There is another thing to report to Zhang Gongzi, my eldest master has sent someone from Beijing to take the eldest lady and the two young ladies Jinglan and Jinghui into Beijing, and the second master wants to send them to Hangzhou, and then take the canal from the boat to Beijing, just wait for Zhang Gongzi County to set off after the trial unveiling of the list." ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Okay, I know, I will come to see you off then." ”

After the Shang steward left, Zhang Yuan and Mu Zhenzhen, Yiting, Rabbit Pavilion, and Wuling went to the Cross Street Garment Shop to sew new clothes, five people and seven sets of clothes, a total of four taels and five dollars of silver, Zhang Yuan's two sets of spring shirts are the most expensive, one is azure, one is willow blue, all of them are the best lake Luo silk shirts.

In the evening, Zhang Yuan went to Zhang Rulin, the ancestor of the West Zhangjian clan, and recited the two pieces of the county test to Zhang Rulin, Zhang Rulin was pleased: "There are very few such good arts in the county test, I don't know if the Hou County Order will pull you as the head of the case, maybe he will consider avoiding suspicion and putting you as the second, which is okay." ”

Zhang Yuan said again that he would go to Qingpu County, Songjiang Prefecture to celebrate the birthday of his brother-in-law Lu Tao after the list was released, Zhang Rulin frowned and said: "The government test is in early April, can you come back?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Brother-in-law Lu's birthday is the seventh day of the first month of March, and the grandson of the clan will return from Qingpu on the ninth day of the first month, and he will definitely be able to rush back at the end of March." ”

Zhang Rulin nodded and said: "Okay, be cautious on the road, you have to go to the Hou County Order to issue a road guide, although the road guide inspection is not strict now, but there will be less unnecessary trouble, and next year you will have a reputation for being a student, and then you will be allowed to swim tomorrow." ”

Under the Hongwu ancestral system, the people of Lijia need to apply to the government for road guidance when they are hundreds of miles away from home, and those who have more than one person are not subject to this restriction.

…… On the day of the county examination, Hou County Ling said to Zhang Yuan that it would be released after three days, but more than 2,500 candidates of more than 5,000 eight-strand essays in three days where he could read it alone, at first he read both articles, and then only read the article "The state has no way", if the literature and science are not clear, the second article will not be too lazy to read, and it will be directly dethroned, and then only look at the first article of the broken questions and the topic, of course, Hou County Ling is still very serious about grading, he asked Sun Jiaoyu and Zhu Xundao to read the examination papers that were dethroned by him again, don't miss talents because of his negligence, In this way, it was not until the morning of 15 February that the case was issued, and a total of 408 students were taken, which is almost 1 out of 5, and there is no quota for admission to the county examination, as long as the arts and sciences are smooth, it will be taken, and it does not matter if a few more are admitted, anyway, it does not cost the county government a penny, that is, to register the roster -- on the morning of 15 February, Zhang Yuan's family came to Zhang Yuan's house, named Lu Dayou, who was sent by Zhang Yuan's sister Zhang Ruoxi to take Zhang Yuan to Songjiang, Seeing Zhang's mother Lu, kowtowing to say hello, and presenting the family letter of the young grandmother Zhang Ruoxi, Zhang's mother Lu was very happy and said: "Zhang Yuan is waiting for the county to try to release the list, and he is ready to leave after the list." ”

was talking about the county trial list here, and I heard Zhang Dingyi shouting all the way in from outside the bamboo fence gate:

"It's on the list, it's on the list, Brother Jie Zi is in it, Brother Jie Zi is in it, and the name is in the middle."

Zhang Yuan said to his mother, "My son will go and have a look." "Striding out, although it was expected to pass the county exam, but now I am excited to hear the news of the release of the list.

Zhang Yuan asked: "Dingyi, how many of them am I?" ”

Zhang Dingyi: "I don't know about this, anyway, I was hit, I saw Brother Jie Zi's name written in the middle, so I hurriedly ran to report the good news, there is a reward, right?" ”

Zhang Yuan smiled and asked Wuling to give Zhang Ding a few dozen dollars, he himself took a big step and ran to the county office, and when he came to the square in front of the county office, he saw hundreds of people surrounded in front of the Jingshan Pavilion, and some people kept shouting "XX is in it, XX is in it", there are too many people, Zhang Yuan can't squeeze through, so he asked loudly: "Is Zhang Yuan in it?" ”

"Brushed", those who were vying to see the county trial case list turned around together, and those who recognized Zhang Yuan shouted: "Case leader Zhang, case leader Zhang is here!" ”

"Get out of the way, let Zhang take a look at the case list."

Zhang Yuan heard these people call him the head of the case, and knew that the Hou County Order still did not avoid suspicion and took him as the head of the case, so he was naturally very happy, although the county test only wanted to pass, but who didn't have the heart to fight for the first?

Zhang Yuan seemed to have a water bead to separate the crowd and walked to the side of the Jingshan Pavilion, only to see a big wooden card with a large piece of paper pasted on it, which was densely packed with people's names, the list was circled, arranged in a clockwise direction, a circle and a circle, the name in the middle of the circle was written exceptionally large, it was the word "Zhang Yuan", which was the head of the Shanyin County test in the year of the Gui Chou - several classes of drummers heard the wind and moved, one of them grabbed Zhang Yuan, surrounded Zhang Yuan to blow and beat and went to Zhang Yuan's house to report the good news, Zhang Yuan couldn't get out, and thought helplessly: " How can I report the good news twice in the county test, next time I will never put the first card out, and stay in the examination shed for a while. ”

A group of drummers surrounded Zhang Yuan to Dongzhang, this time it was the real good news, blowing and playing hard work, wanting to ask for more money, the onlookers squeezed the bamboo fence gate of Zhang Yuan's house to collapse, these drummers are very good at saying auspicious words, and congratulated: "Good omen, good omen, squeezed through the bamboo fence door, that is to change the court, your son wants to go all the way to high school, show talent, lift people, Jinshi, promote and make a fortune." ”

After a little trouble, Zhang Yuan sealed three coins and rewarded them with silver, and then left happily.

Zhang Yuan said to his mother: "Ordinary poor families can't afford to pay this reward." ”

Lu Dayou on the side said with a smile: "As long as you make up for the fame of the student, someone will send money and things, if you win the lift, it will be even worse, and those who send land and property and send them as slaves will have to squeeze through the door - the young master of Jie Zi is the first time he participated in the scientific examination, and next year's Xiucai will be a must, I haven't heard that the county head can't win the show, and the great grandmaster also has to give the county order this face." ”

This Lu Da has a lot of experience and understands a lot.

The family was beaming with joy, Lu Yungu on the side of the Wulu Bridge heard the news, and immediately rushed to Zhang Yuan to say goodbye, several Qing guests Fan Zhen, Wu Ting, Zhan Shiyuan and others who often read to Zhang Yuan in Xizhang also came to say goodbye, Zhang Yuan was preparing to invite these guests to the Cross Street Restaurant to drink, Zhang Dai and Zhang Cao two brothers came, first to Zhang Yuan to say hello, and then said that the eldest father invited Zhang Yuan to go to the North Courtyard for a banquet, Lu Yungu, Fan Zhen and others said goodbye and said that they would come to bother again, and they would invite Zhang Yuan to the head of the case - Zhang Yuan followed Zhang Dai and Zhang Cao to Xizhang, Zhang Cao said: " Jie Zi, you are really going to be a blockbuster, the head of the county test, the eldest brother didn't get it at the beginning. ”

Zhang Yuan smiled: "Luck, luck." ”

Zhang Dai said: "The two articles of meson have also been posted, I just went to read it, it is indeed better than me, meson is an eight-strand genius." ”

Zhang Dai was not jealous because his brother was stronger than him, Zhang Dai, who wrote "Dream Memories of Tao'an" and "Dream of West Lake", was an open-minded and persistent and affectionate person.

When Zhang Rulin saw Zhang Yuan, he said happily: "My Shanyin Zhang family has been the champion, and now there is a county trial head, which is worth celebrating." ”

A banquet was held in the north courtyard, and Zhang Rulin and his grandchildren enjoyed a feast.

After the banquet, Zhang Dai and Zhang Cao sent Zhang Yuan back to Dongzhang, and Zhang Cao heard that Zhang Yuan was going to Songjiang in two days, so he said: "Isn't that going to see Dong Zuchang, you have to be careful, don't let him beat." ”

Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "The Dong family is in Huating, and I will go to Qingpu, it has nothing to do." ”

(To be continued)