When Xu Yuanzuo returned home, his mother finally breathed a sigh of relief and didn't mention the blind gentleman again.

When Xu Liangzuo came back, the family had lunch. Because my sister went to someone's house today to help make needles and fingers, and the main family took care of the food, so I didn't have to wait for her.

After eating, a person came from outside the door and shouted: "Aunt Xu, there is a letter." ”

Mother Xu hurriedly came out, took the letter, and asked the little brother who sent the letter to come into the house to serve tea. The little brother had other important matters, so he gave the letter and left, without delay.

Both of the brothers guessed that it was their father's letter, and one was excited to read it for his mother. The other is quite indifferent, naturally Xu Yuanzuo.

Even Xu Yuanzuo in the past was not very enthusiastic about his father. After all, the business of this year is hard work, going out in February and returning in October, if you miss the trip, you have to spend the New Year outside. How much time can I spend with my family and children?

"Father said: I will be back in a few days, and it will be October at the latest!" Xu Liangzuo said excitedly: "I also said that there are a lot of pure colors this time...... What is Pure Color? ”

"Profitable." Xu Yuanzuo answered, and said, "It seems that Mr. Blind is still accurate." ”

Mother Xu was in a dilemma. If Mr. Blind is not accurate, she will forget about it in two days. But the blind gentleman is still accurate, so if he kills other people's two cents of silver, will he really want to ruin a wealth in the future?

"You chase it out, what does he say?" Mother Xu asked.

Xu Yuanzuo said disapprerovingly: "I didn't say anything." ”

Xu's mother didn't ask, only Xu Liangzuo asked on the side: "What is profit?" What Mr. Blind? ”

Xu Yuanzuo didn't bother to explain to the little kid, he pressed the top of Liangzuo's head and turned in the direction of the stairs: "I've been resting for so long after eating, go up and endorse it!" ”

"If you don't read yourself, you know that you want me to endorse ......," Xu Liangzuo said unhappily.

"Now it's all up to you to study and change your court, no matter how lazy you are, our family doesn't even have a person to support the façade." Xu Yuanzuo pushed his younger brother upstairs as he spoke, but in fact, he just wanted to escape from his mother.

Mother Xu didn't think so, and went to the back door river to wash the dishes and chopsticks.

When the two brothers arrived upstairs in their own room, Xu Liangzuo saw the paper and ink on the table at a glance, took out one and said, "Hey, the eldest brother's words ......"

Xu Yuanzuo's important notes had already been hidden, and he was not afraid of him looking at them, so he just urged: "Don't worry about it, hurry up and warm the book, I'll help you check it." ”

Xu Liangzuo put down the paper, a little excited, and said, "Brother, you said yesterday that there are three difficulties in reading, so isn't it that I can't read it too?" Although my talent is better than yours, my family study and hard work are still not as good as others. ”

Xu Yuanzuo pursed his lips and said secretly: You are better than me? Better than my humanoid calculator? Or do you also know the next four hundred and fifty years?

"There are three difficulties in reading, but it also has a great help." Xu Yuanzuo still said to his younger brother with warm words: "With this help, even if your talent is mediocre and your family education is insufficient, as long as you are willing to work hard, you will definitely be able to be admitted." ”

Xu Liangzuo's eyebrows trembled: "What did the eldest brother say?" ”

"Silver." Xu Yuanzuo said with a smile: "As long as there is silver to pave the road, and you are willing to work hard, you can naturally buy all kinds of art and literature for reference, and hire a smart teacher to guide you." ”

"How can you get so much money at home?" Xu Liangzuo sighed.

"I'll do it in the future. You can read good books with peace of mind, be a good official, and shade your family. Xu Yuanzuo said: "When you can stand up the pillars, I will go to school again." ”

Xu Liangzuo has not yet untied the knot, and has been pressed on the high stool by his brother, so he is about to take a pen and write it to him.

"By the way, brother, the master said that even if you don't study, you should go and say hello to him, where you can say no, you won't go." Xu Liangzuo took the pen and muttered, "I was ashamed of myself this morning." ”

"Well, when you finish school, I'll go to Master Lu's house to pay a visit." Xu Yuanzuo said: "I mention two words, you write down the text silently." ”

"Okay." Xu Liangzuo straightened his body and was full of momentum: "As long as it is in the Analects, just come." ”

Xu Yuanzuo likes motivated people, smiled with satisfaction, and said clearly: "Zi said ......"

Xu Liangzuo froze on the stool.

Brother, you're kidding me!

The whole article in the "Analects" is "Zi Said"!

In this era, there is a lot of pressure to study, but Mr. does not have much time to teach, the key is to look at the student's own learning ability.

Xu Liangzuo wrote a small half of the "Analects" silently at home, and only then did he move his wrist, put away the pen and ink books, and then went to class.

Xu Yuanzuo reviewed college mathematics at home, trying to recall some calculus formulas and example problems, and for a while he didn't think of how to transform them into productivity and bring profits to himself.

When the voice of a naughty boy sounded on the other side of the river, Xu Yuanzuo knew that it was the end of the township school, shook the pen in the pen wash, got up and picked it up and walked out.

"Mother, I'm going to visit the Master." Xu Yuanzuo said hello.

Mother Xu knew that her son was determined to refuse to study, so she was busy with family affairs with a straight face, but she didn't hear it.

Xu Yuanzuo didn't go to this joint to beg for scolding, and after the report, he went out with peace of mind.

Lu Fuzi's family is in Zhangjiawei, west of the town, but he usually lives in the dormitory next door to the City God Temple. It was because the squires understood that he was old, and it was a little too tiring to walk four or five miles every morning and evening, so they took it out and let him live in vain. Now Lu Fuzi regards this house as a permanent residence, and Zhangjiawei simply left it to his son and daughter-in-law to live.

Just as a walk, Xu Yuanzuo arrived at the gate of Master Lu. He knocked on the door, knowing that there was a deaf old servant inside, and shouted loudly: "Student Xu Yuanzuo, please see Master Lu." ”

shouted twice, and the old servant came out to open the door, and came to Xu Yuanzuo to look left and right, and then he was willing to let him in.

It turned out that in addition to his bad ears, his eyes were no longer working.

Lu Fuzi had already sat in the main seat of the guest hall, with a cup of tea on the table, and glanced at Xu Yuanzuo as if intentionally or unintentionally.

"Master," Xu Yuanzuo stepped forward to salute, "The student is here to tell the master." ”

"Don't want to read anymore?" Lu Fuzi had a calm face. Although Xu Yuanzuo has nothing to do with him whether he studies or not, he doesn't have the consciousness of "no one is missing", but he just took five taels of silver from others, and he dropped out of school, which made him a little embarrassed.

"Books still have to be read." Xu Yuanzuo smiled: "It's just that I can't go to school." ”

Lu Fuzi shook his head: "It's okay, everyone has their own life, and they can't be forced." Actually, you don't have to rush over, just go to the school tomorrow and talk about it. ”

"I'm still here to greet my master." Xu Yuanzuo looked at the furnishings in the house and said, "The master lives here, it's really hard." ”

Lu Fuzi was said to be in his heart, so he pretended to be high: "A gentleman is not worried about poverty." Even if you don't go to school, you still have to read the saints. ”

"The student thinks that the master should not be so difficult." Xu Yuanzuo sighed lightly.

Lu Fuzi was angry in his heart, and said secretly: Did you say this to your face! You ran here to take revenge, but you can't do it!

"Master, I heard that the Zun family doesn't have any land anymore." Xu Yuanzuo said: "Brother Shi operates flower cloth, but his income is acceptable. ”

"Ahem, it's night, let's go back early." Lu Fuzi was worried that if he didn't drive Xu Yuanzuo away, he was afraid that he would lose Sven and smash it with a tea cup.

If you smash this porcelain bowl, it will be very bad.

Xu Yuanzuo got up and said with a smile: "The master has a reputation for being a student, and he is exempt from the rent of Ershitian and Erding from military service, if this is released, it will be worth some silver every year." After that, Xu Yuanzuo bowed and saluted, and said: "Disturb the master, if there is a dispatch in the future, the student will be the work of dogs and horses." ”

Lu Fuzi got up and watched Xu Yuanzuo go out, but he was thinking about Xu Nerd's words in his mind.

Indeed, there are no acres of land in the family now, and the annual preferential land rent and servitude of the imperial court are not wasted? But what if you want to let it out? Has anyone ever heard of a farmer willing to contribute talent? If they want to contribute, they will also dedicate themselves!

The students of the Ming Dynasty are commonly known as Xiucai, also known as Xianggong, and they are called masters, but there is a deep meaning in this. Although the students are scholars and are also treated preferentially by the state, after Yongle, the country is stable, and there are more and more students, and it is impossible to become an official by relying on the fame of the students. Only those who have the opportunity to confer a teaching position in the middle of nowhere.

In any case, lifting people is considered to be a person in the officialdom. Since people are in officialdom, their status is naturally different. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty only has poor talents, and there are no poor people.

Even if he was originally a poor talent, once he became a master in Chinese, there would immediately be peasant households in ten miles and eight townships with household registration and field books, surrendering their families, and volunteering to be slaves and maids, the purpose of which was to borrow the protective umbrella of the official lord to exempt him from field rent and servitude.

Especially the Ding service, it is better than the field rent.

Speaking of which, the preferential and exemption quota for lifters and students is exactly the same, and it has not increased by half a point, so it can only be attributed to the halo of the word "official" on the top of the head.

"Ridiculous!"

Lu Fuzi just thought about it and denied Xu Yuanzuo's suggestion, and felt a little sorry for his own waste, and couldn't help but be even more annoyed, and couldn't help but want to take out his anger at Xu Liangzuo, who was still studying in the school.

He returned to the house, read the book again, and said secretly in his heart: "I will only be fifty years old next year, and the grandmaster said that my time has come. I was disheartened last August and didn't make it, and now I really regret it. Where did you come from the sidelines since ancient times? If you enter the market the year after tomorrow, the time will come, and you will win the second list, or you may have the hope of success. ”

With the heart to go to the exam, Lu Fuzi calculated his net worth again.

During the Jiajing period, the price of the Four Books and Five Classics in the bookstore was quite low, and the land of Jiangnan articles was even more silver-cent. On the contrary, idle books such as "Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" are much more expensive.

As for the book of literature and art that Lu Fuzi wanted to buy, it was slightly more expensive than the Four Books and Five Classics, but it was easy to buy for a few dollars. Even if you buy more, a tael of silver is enough.

But if you want to enter the field, you have to practice the words. And when entering the exam, the pen and ink can't be settled. The pen must be a lake pen, so as not to be scattered before the end of the volume; The ink whiskers are emblem ink, so as not to lose the luster of the handwriting and weaken it.

The most feared thing in the field is that the article has passed, but it will be dethroned by the main examiner because of the handwriting.

In this way, paper, pen and ink all cost some money.

And you have to have a guarantor to enter the exam, and two taels of gift money are indispensable.

In this way, I am afraid that it will not cost three or five taels of silver.

I only earn three or five taels a year, and in addition to expenses, I don't have much left to support my family.

This year, it was regarded as a stall for the Xu family to speak, and there were an extra five taels, but unfortunately I ran into my son doing business and discounted the capital, and I had to paste it into the house. Speaking of which, outsiders think that selling flower cloth to the north is a profitable business, but when they encounter robbers and river bandits, or the price of cloth plummets, they will lose all their money.

If you don't have any wealth, you can't get rich.

The more Lu Fuzi thought about it, the more frustrated he became, so he simply went to bed early.

His head was next to the pillow, but he remembered what Xu Yuanzuo said about the method of open source, and made up his mind in a hazy way: Tomorrow, he will call Xu Yuanzuo to Taoism, and ask for ** to do it for him. If it is done, it is a good thing, but if it cannot be done, it will be ashamed of him, so that the young man will know that this world is difficult.