The master and servant went east along the north bank of Fengxi, it was late at night, Zeng Yu knew that his mother would be worried, and he trotted all the way with Sixi, and when he arrived at the south gate port, he met the paper merchant Xia Rongpi, Xia Rongpi said: "Zeng Gongzi is back - Lingtang chatters non-stop, and my old Xia has to come to look for you." "Because I asked Zeng Yu, did you see Lu Hanlin?

Zeng Yu briefly talked about the treatment of Lu Hanlin's grandson while walking, and said that he couldn't take a boat to Shinshu tonight, and he had to wait for Lu Hanlin's recommendation, so he was going to find an inn near the South Gate Wharf to stay overnight-

Xia Yupi smiled: "This is really a coincidence, I didn't expect Zeng Gongzi to be able to cure diseases, I know the Tao of the Dao, Brother Ling is the doctor." He also said: "It doesn't matter if my boat parchment arrives in Fucheng one day earlier or one day later, if Zeng Gongzi doesn't dislike it, I will let the boat wait for you, and we will leave tomorrow morning." ”

Zeng Yuzuo said: "Thank you and thank you, wait for me to ask my mother." ”

Back on the boat Zeng Yu told his mother, great-mother Zhou, of course, is willing to spend the night on the boat, if you live in the hotel, you will have to pay three cents of silver, now this kind of weather will be fine on the boat overnight, and tomorrow you can take a boat to Shinshu, in the great-mother Zhou's thoughts, although there are twenty taels of gold left by the uncle, but that is for Zeng Yu to marry a wife, so all the use can be saved, a family of three is helpless, and there are many places to spend money in the future.

It is already the end of the day, the hustle and bustle of the South Gate Port has long been dissipated, and everything is silent, only the sound of flowing water in Fengxi appears from time to time.

The captain and the shipwreck rested in the stern cabin, while the paper merchant Xia Yipi lay down on a mat at the bow of the boat, saying that it was so cool that the cabin was left to Zeng Yu's family.

Niuniu had already fallen asleep first, and her mother Zhou was half-leaning and half-sitting on a pu fan to fan Niuniu to cool off mosquitoes, Zeng Yu said: "Mother, you can rest too, the hour is not early." ”

Great-mother Zhou Shi said "um" and said in a low voice: "Yu'er, this Xia Chaofeng is a kind-hearted person, our mother and son are now inheriting the love of others, and we must keep in mind the favor of others. ”

Zeng Yu nodded: "My son wrote it down." ”

Great-mother Zhou said: "Then Lu Han Lincoln wrote a letter of recommendation for you to help you find an errand, that is, the noble person of your life, Lu Hanlin is a big squire in this county, and he lacks nothing, and we dare not say how to repay it in the future, anyway, you have to remember this kindness." ”

Zeng Yu said: "Yes, my son has a kindness to repay his kindness." "I thought that after I got Lu Hanlin's book tomorrow, I would explain to my mother that he wanted to make up for the exam-

There was a sound of snoring in the cabin, and Sixi fell asleep as soon as he lay down, this little Xi was tired today.

Zeng Yu also felt tired, braved the rain to rush so many roads, and got up again to write the "rebuilding Yongfeng County Record", which was exhausting, and now I want to lie down with my feet stretched, but the habit of more than ten years is still sitting cross-legged, hugging Kunlun, singing the heavenly drum, gargling and rubbing the kidneys, and only after practicing the eight sections of brocade did I lay down with my clothes and soon fell asleep.

In the second half of the night, Zeng Yu suddenly woke up, feeling a breeze, and when he turned his head to look, his mother hadn't slept yet, and she was sitting on the side of the cabin to fan him and Niuniu to repel mosquitoes-

"Mother, why don't you sleep yet!" Zeng Yu sat up.

"My mother has already slept for a while, and she has just woken up."

Great-mother Zhou said, moved her body, sat upright, but said in her ear: "Listen, fish, it seems that someone is crying somewhere-"

Zeng Yu listened attentively, and then smiled: "Mother, where is someone crying, it is the sound of the water mill turning, there is a mill not far from here, and the sound of the water mill is like a whimper." ”

Great-mother Zhou listened for a moment, and laughed softly: "I said, who is so miserable, they are still crying in the middle of the night, but it turned out to be the sound of water." ”

Zeng Yu saw that his mother's hair was neatly bunned, and the silver hairpin was still upright, so he knew that his mother hadn't slept all night, and his mother had fanned his brother and sister to repel mosquitoes, and when he heard the sound of water in the distance, he thought that his family was crying, which was his mother's own inner sorrow!

Zeng Yu burst into tears, knelt at his mother's feet, and said sadly: "The son is not filial, so let his mother suffer." ”

Great-mother Zhou panicked: "What's the matter, what's wrong, it's good to say this?" I wanted to pull my son to sit up, but when I touched the tears on my son's face, I became more and more panicked, and said continuously: "Xiaoyu, Yu'er, why are you crying, don't scare your mother!" ”

Zeng Yu didn't want to alarm others, so he hurriedly wiped a handful of tears and sat up and said: "Mother, my son thinks that he has grown up, but he still wants his mother to drift and suffer, and his son is really uncomfortable——"

"Not bitter, not bitter." Great-mother Zhou hurriedly interrupted her son's words, took her son's hand and patted it gently, "Mother is not bitter, and where can I complain about you in this matter, you have done a good job, my mother has seen that you have spoken and acted very steadily in the past two days, much stronger than before, and my mother is very relieved." ”

Since the words were spoken, Zeng Yu told his mother that he wanted to fight for the make-up exam, and he had to try it, he didn't want to delay it for another three years, if he couldn't make up the exam or still failed the make-up exam, then he had to find an errand first and slowly boil it -

Great-mother Zhou asked: "If I can make up the exam, where can I take it?" ”

Zeng Yu said: "After the school officer took the examination of our Guangxin Mansion, he will go to Fuzhou to take the main examination, and the son of the Fuzhou Academy will not be able to catch up, but at the end of May, the son of Yuanzhou Mansion will definitely be able to catch up, and the son wants to rush to Yuanzhou Mansion City first, and as soon as Huang Tixue arrives, his son will submit Lu Hanlin's letter, and strive to get the opportunity to make up the examination, and the son wants to try again, and the son is a little unwilling. ”

Great-mother Zhou was a little worried, her son was so keen on fame, if he fell off the list again, would he not be able to bear it, but she didn't know that her son's soul had been integrated into another soul, and her son was still her son, but her spirit and mind were quite different, and now Zeng Yu was not smarter than before, what had changed was a pragmatic mentality and the ability to judge the situation-

"Son, how long is the distance from here to Yuanzhou?" Great-mother Zhou asked.

Zeng Yu said: "About a thousand miles. ”

"Ahh Great-mother Zhou exclaimed: "So far! ”

This is where Zeng Yu is embarrassed, and said: "My son is worried about my mother and Niuniu now, here I go to Yuanzhou for two thousand miles, and it takes about two months to take the exam, my son is young and strong, such a little distance is nothing, didn't my son go to Lushan Bailu Cave Academy last year to listen to lectures, but it is obviously inappropriate for my mother and Niuniu to rush this long way, my son wants to ask Sister Ruolan if she can take care of her mother and Niuniu for two months, and my son will rush back at the end of June or early July no matter how the make-up exam is. ”

Ruolan's sister is Zeng Yu's half-sister Zeng Ruolan, Zeng Ruolan married a son surnamed Zhu in Shinshu when Zeng Yu was six years old, Zhu's family is in the sugar business, the family is relatively solid, Zeng Yu's father and mother are alive, Zeng Ruolan will go back to Shitian every year to visit her parents, although she is not a mother, but Zeng Ruolan is still very fond of the smart and studious Zeng Yu, every time she returns to Ning, she will bring some gifts to Zeng Yu, and tell Zeng Yu to study hard, six years ago, after the second old Xie died, Zeng Ruolan was rare to come back, but the relationship between sister and brother is still good, Zeng Yu's first two hospital exams were borrowed from his sister's house outside Shinshu City, only this time he didn't go-

Zeng Yu saw that his mother didn't answer for a while, and knew that his mother had concerns, Zeng Ruolan and him were not siblings after all, so he said: "We don't live in the Zhu family, just rent two rooms near the Zhu family, please take care of my sister and brother-in-law, don't let the locals bully, the Zhu family has some wealth in the local area." ”

Great-mother Zhou nodded and said: "Okay, Yu'er, although you go to Yuanzhou, no matter how well you do in the exam, you have to come back quickly, my mother and Niuniu are looking forward to you, you are our backbone." ”

Zeng Yu said with tears in his eyes: "My son knows, my mother can rest assured." ”

The mother and son were talking, the sky was gradually getting brighter, the boat lady was already washing rice and cooking porridge, Niuniu rubbed her eyes and sat up, and asked coquettishly: "A-Niang, have we arrived in Fucheng?" Seeing her mother, brother and Sixi looking at her and smiling, she didn't speak, so she walked to the bow of the boat by herself and looked, hey, it seems that it was still yesterday, and the big tree that tied the boat is exactly the same-

After the porridge was cooked, Xia Rongpi was about to beckon Zeng Yu's family to drink porridge, when he suddenly heard someone on the shore ask loudly: "Which boat is Ishida's Zeng Gongzi?" Ishida's great-son-"

Xia Yupi hurriedly said to Zeng Yu in the cabin: "Zeng Gongzi, someone is looking for you." ”

As soon as Zeng Yu walked to the bow of the boat, the person who shouted to find Ishida's Zeng Gongzi strode over when he heard Xia Yupi speak, but it was the manager of the Lu Mansion, followed by a second man who was carrying a basket.

When the steward of the Lu Mansion saw Zeng Yu, he smiled all over his face and said, "My lord asked me to invite Zeng Gongzi to the house for breakfast, and these two food baskets are food for Zeng Gongzi Lingtang and his sister. As he spoke, he asked the second Han of the housekeeper to pick up the food basket onto the boat.

Zeng Yu said to his mother, and then said to Xia Yupi: "Xia Chaofeng, please wait for a while or three." ”

"It's easy to say, Zeng Gongzi just goes, I can wait, I can wait."

The paper merchant Xia Rongpi saw that Lu Hanlin sent a housekeeper to invite Zeng Yu to eat, and also sent a food basket to Zeng Yu's mother and sister, the etiquette was really thoughtful, obviously Lu Hanlin attached more importance to Zeng Yu, Xia Rongpi was already enthusiastic, how could there be no reason not to wait for Zeng Yu.

Zeng Yu went ashore with the steward of Lu Mansion, and his great-mother Zhou and Niuniu drank porridge, and the two food baskets could not be moved for the time being, and they would wait for Zeng Yu to come back.

About an hour later, Zeng Yu came back, and the steward of the Lu Mansion sent it to the port again, looking very respectful.

Zeng Yu got on the boat and said to Xia Yupi: "Xia Chaofeng, you've been waiting for a long time, let's go." He also bowed his hand to the steward of the Lu Mansion on the shore and said: "The tired housekeeper has a word, thank you Mr. Lu for your late life, and if you return to Yongfeng in your later life, you will definitely come to the door again to meet and listen to the teachings." ”

Two pennies one after the other, the wooden boat left the wharf at the south gate of Yongfeng County, and set off to Xinzhou, sixty miles away, Zeng Yu in the cabin invited Xia Rongpi to taste the food sent by Lu Hanlin's mansion together, two food baskets, one of the baskets has two cylinders of Wufeng cloud tea and five catties of soil sugar, and the other basket is four dishes and four cakes, all of which are quite delicate and taste good-

The paper merchant Xia Rongpi sighed and said: "Today, thanks to the blessing of Zeng Gongzi, my old Xia can also taste the food of Hanlin Lu Mansion." ”

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