Zhou Xuan, the word Zuoyi, a native of the right province of Wei Chong, entered Beijing to take the exam when he was a teenager, failed to pass the test repeatedly, and had no money to return to his hometown, so he simply married a wife and had children in Changxing City and settled down.

Time flies in a flash, and in a blink of an eye, this year is already forty-eight, but still nothing has been accomplished, and all day long in a group of sour Confucianism, muddy.

Awakened by the morning birdsong, he opened his sleepy eyes, got up from his tattered desk, gathered the paper that filled the table, and yawned heavily.

It's been another all-nighter, and the broken oil lamp on the table has completely dried up, and it seems that even if you still have the strength tonight, you won't be able to read it at night.

Zhou Xuan sighed regretfully, and was just about to get up, when a burst of angry footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.

"Hurry up, I have to earn some money back today, otherwise the family will not be able to open the pot."

A crisp female voice came into the room, and then the door of the study, or firewood room, was pushed open, and Zhou's wife walked in with a basin of water.

She is nearly forty years old, and after giving birth to two children, her figure has been a little out of shape, and she has become much richer in recent years.

From the old jewelry on her head, she can vaguely see the wealth before marrying Zhou Xuan, but since she followed Zhou Xuan, her life has deteriorated, and now she is a poor family struggling on the food and clothing line.

Zhou Xuan fell asleep on the table last night, the ink on the manuscript paper stained his face, Zhou's wife was angry when she saw his appearance, put the wooden basin to the side, and said: "I know that you are fooling around with the door closed, and you don't look at what kind of world is now?" ”

Zhou Xuan felt ashamed in his heart, and smiled flatteringly: "I'm counting the circumference, from ancient times to the present, no one has ever counted it." ”

"Phew!"

Zhou's wife grabbed a piece of manuscript paper full of large and small circles and said, "Count the circumference, count the circumference, how many years have you counted?" What is the result? ”

Zhou Xuan carefully snatched the manuscript paper from his wife's hand, put it in the drawer like a baby, and said with a smile: "There will be results soon, if I didn't fall asleep last night, maybe it would have been calculated by now!" ”

Zhou's wife said angrily: "Calculate it, even if you really let you calculate it, what's the use?" Can it be eaten as a meal, or as a garment? ”

Zhou Xuan pouted: "That's an unprecedented feat, as long as I calculate it, I will be able to leave a name in history!" ”

Zhou's wife was even more angry: "What are you daydreaming about? In the history of the Qing Dynasty, I will only remember those who are officials, look at your classmates, who have been in high school one after another over the years, and the worst ones have also been mixed up from the seventh grade, and they have no worries about food and clothing.

Look at you again, all day long, ghosts are obsessed, hiding in the house and tinkering with these ghost talismans, how long has the rice jar at home been empty? The rats born in our family are all bitter fortune tellers!

I don't care, you're going to have to go out and earn some silver taels today anyway! ”

Zhou Xuan's face changed slightly when he heard this, and he flattered: "Why don't you go and borrow some from your neighbors and survive today?" ”

"What did you say?"

Seeing that Zhou's wife's face changed greatly, Zhou Xuan hurriedly said: "I have worked hard for many years, and I see that I am about to complete it in the next few days, and I can't light the lights at home now, so I can only count it during the day, if I go out to earn money, I won't have time to calculate the circumference!" ”

With a "snap", Zhou's wife slapped the table fiercely, crossed her waist, pointed at Zhou Xuan and said: "Do you know that the neighbors around me have been borrowed by our family, and now people are hiding when they see me, who do you want me to borrow?" ”

Zhou Xuan pursed his mouth and whispered: "Do you want to ask your father-in-law to help for a while?" ”

Zhou's wife turned pale when she heard this, and said angrily: "Are you embarrassed to say it? How much money has my dad given us over the years? Have you forgotten that the last time during the Chinese New Year, his old man said that if you dare to come to the door to ask for money, he will break your legs? ”

"But ......"

Zhou Xuan wanted to say more, but Zhou's wife sat at the table aggrievedly, wiped her tears and began to complain.

"I don't know how I suddenly became blind and fell in love with you, a good-for-nothing guy?

Originally, seeing you studying hard day and night, diligently, I thought you were worth entrusting for life, but who knew that you are now like a ghost, and you have become this mud that can't support the wall.

Do you know that because she can't afford to pay the teacher's salary of Mr. Private School, Jing'er has been kicked out and has no books to study, and Zhen'er has grown to the age of seven, and she doesn't know what it's like to eat meat.

It's good for you, forget it if you don't feel sorry for me, even ignore your flesh and blood, lock yourself in this broken firewood room all day long, draw your ghost talismans, and count your circumference.

I don't understand, what's so good about that thing, even if you really understand it, the court won't give you an official! ”

"What do you say? Jing'er was kicked out of the private school?! ”

Zhou Xuan was shocked when he heard this sentence, and the others couldn't listen to it anymore, he was also a scholar, everything was inferior, only the concept of high reading was deep-rooted, and his son was kicked out of the private school, which is a big deal.

Zhou's wife said hatefully: "I told you half a month ago, and now you seem to have heard of it for the first time?" ”

Zhou Xuan was stunned for a moment, and immediately tried to recall in his mind full of numbers, and found that there seemed to be such a thing, and his old face immediately turned red.

Zhou's wife snorted coldly and said angrily: "You have been like this in your life, do you still want to harm your son to never come out like you?"

I don't care what circumference you have, from today onwards I will lock the door of this firewood room, you give me to go out to earn money, when you have the salary of the private school, when you will come to calculate your circumference! ”

"Ma'am, this ......"

Zhou Xuan's face changed, but Zhou's wife had already slammed the door angrily, leaving him alone in the firewood room to grow his mouth.

At ten o'clock in the afternoon, although Zhou Xuan was unwilling, he was still kicked out of the gate by his wife.

The dazzling sun and howling cold wind made the circle that had not been out for months feel like a world away.

His stomach was rumbling with hunger, and the cold weather was also eroding his physical strength a little bit, but today's breakfast still didn't settle.

Where are you going to earn your salary for a private school?

Zhou Xuan, who was wandering back and forth on the street, was worried, and said that he was useless as a scholar, and now he even returned the books he had read before to the sage, and the only thing he could do was to become an accountant.

But he didn't want to lose Sven, which big family would go to work as a long-term helper, but who would be stupid enough to find a temporary accounting room?

When he was worried, Zhou Xuan looked up and found that he had unconsciously walked to the Qianwen Museum.

This place is a academy, and I used to live here when I was studying hard, and at this time, I suddenly saw the signboard of the dragon flying and the phoenix dance, and the scenes of the past immediately came to my heart, and I had mixed feelings for a while.

"Alas......"

It is said that the past is sentimental, and when he thinks of the teacher who doesn't know where, Zhou Xuan suddenly lost his interest in emotion, shook his head and was about to leave, when a few people happened to walk out of the academy and recognized him at a glance.

"Hey, isn't this our arithmetic master?"

Zhou Xuan does have some fame on the way to arithmetic, but it is a pity that arithmetic itself is classified as crooked, and this sentence is more ironic than praised.

When Zhou Xuan heard this, he raised his head slightly, only to see several brightly dressed bachelors coming towards him, and he vaguely recognized that the person who spoke among them was his former classmate.

Although this person has tried and failed many times like himself, because of his sleekness, he quickly found a job in a large family, and after so many years, he can be regarded as having some status, at least much better than him.

Although Zhou Xuan didn't want to deal with these people, he still adhered to the courtesy of scholars, and hurriedly said: "It turned out to be Brother Chen, rude, rude." ”

When several people saw Zhou Xuan's down-and-out appearance, they couldn't help but look down on him a little, and that Brother Chen even laughed evilly and said: "I heard that Brother Zhou hasn't been out for a long time, how could he suddenly come here today, isn't it also for that golden covenant?" ”

"A thousand-pound covenant?"

Zhou Xuan frowned and asked puzzled.

The bachelor surnamed Chen said with a smile: "Today, someone put out the list in the university hall, saying that as long as someone can solve this problem, they will give it away.

It's just unfortunate that the question happened to be arithmetic, and the difficulty was not small, so far no one has calculated it, I thought that Brother Zhou was able to learn arithmetic, and he came specifically for this question. ”

"If you solve a problem, you will be given a thousand gold, is this really the case?"

Zhou Xuan was immediately interested when he heard this.

When the scholars saw that he was really eager to try, they immediately looked at each other and laughed sarcastically.

"Bookmark for easy reading"