The rain was dripping, and the night in Shengjing was dark and gloomy, with the crisp autumn cold.

When Qi Chuan returned home, it was the dead of night.

The roof leaked rain, and the rain went down the wall roots, accumulating a small puddle on the ground, and when I stepped on it carelessly, the thin-soled boots were suddenly soaked.

He pulled up his wet legs, pushed the door open, and walked in.

There was a lamp on the table in the room, and a young woman in a satin shirt was sitting outside on a few couches eating wine, and the saltwater shrimp and shrimp shells were thrown on the ground, and the room was drunk.

This is Qi Chuan's wife, Ma.

She was already a little drunk, squinted at Qi Chuan, looked at the water stains on Qi Chuan's clothes with some disgust, and muttered: "It's dirty!" ”

Qi Chuan ignored her, only glanced inside, and said, "Jiu'er is asleep?" ”

Jiu'er is Qi Chuan's son, Ma snorted.

He nodded, took off his soaked coat, and threw it into the barrel where he washed his clothes at the door.

Ma Shi took the wine jug, stared at him drunkenly for a long time, and suddenly moved his butt a few steps forward, moved to the edge of a few couches, and asked, "Has my son's academy fallen?" ”

Qi Chuan paused and shook his head.

Qi Jiu'er is now of age to go to school, and it is time to choose a college to go to school. However, now Shengjing's official school, the good ones can't get in, and the bad ones he can't look down on. A few days ago, Qi Chuan was anxious about this matter, and two or three months have passed, and Qi Jiu'er's academy still has no whereabouts.

When Ma heard this, his nose moved, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he took a sip: "Waste!" ”

Qi Chuan's forehead was beating faintly, and he shouted in a low voice: "Be quiet, beware of waking Jiu'er!" ”

Ma Shi became more and more angry, and scolded in his mouth: "Useless things, I told you a long time ago, and I raise more to please Shangfeng on weekdays." The people who went to the trial court with you are all better than you now, but you are still a record. Needless to say, there are not many flowers, and they keep going out every day. Look at yourself, drenched like a dog with nowhere to go, that is, it looks bright, the old lady married you blindly, I thought I was an official wife, but who knew that I came to live a hard life, you are a dog who is not shallow! ”

Qi Chuan looked at her open mouth, like a huge greedy fish under the faint light, swallowing the shrimp shells all over the ground, along with the gloomy night.

Ma is not his own wife.

He has followed Fan Zhenglian for many years, and returned to Shengjing City from Yuan'an County, he helped Fan Zhenglian judge many beautiful cases, he is the best pen for Fan Zhenglian, Fan Zhenglian can't do without him, everything is handled for him, including becoming a family affair for him.

Ma is the niece of Mrs. Fan's grandmother, and the family works in the Fan family. Mrs. Fan told him about the niece of the people around her, which was to show appreciation, trust and care, and naked surveillance.

is to tie him and the Fan family together forever and completely, and remind him all the time that he is not a beautiful man who splashes ink on the imperial examination field, nor is he a resourceful county lieutenant in Yuan'an County, but a small record in the trial court, and the Fan family is no more ordinary subordinate.

Ma has a spicy temperament, greedy for enjoyment, and only knows how to eat and drink and scold people every day after passing the door, and thinks that he will not be able to tie up the Fan family, so that his career is hopeless now. For example, at this moment, when he returned from the rain, she did not care about him at all, only cursed and cursed.

"It's really a poor man's roots, do you really think it's amazing to read a few sentences? It's just a lowly one, and I've been a unblessed slave all my life! ”

He had heard this many times on weekdays, and he had long been accustomed to it, and he couldn't withstand half of the turmoil in his heart. But I don't know if it's because the rain is too cold tonight, and he is too tired, which suddenly reminds him of the ridicule in the trial court.

Minions, untouchables, that's what they look like in the eyes of these people.

There were still fresh eggs and sweet potatoes piled up in the corner of the dark and dilapidated house, and they were afraid of being wet by the leaking rain, so they were covered with a layer of oilcloth, but like a cold arrow, it stinged the man's eyes in an instant.

It was a native egg that he deliberately went to the countryside to find, Jiu'er's school has not been accounted for for a long time, Fan Zhenglian is always perfunctory, so he brought these gifts to the house to find Zhao Feiyan, thinking that women are always more kind-hearted, maybe they will see that he has worked hard for the Fan family for many years to help, after all, for the Fan family, this is just a matter of effort.

But the product was later delivered to another person in its original form.

The words of the maid beside the female doctor came to my ears again.

"I heard it all at the time, and they said that this was a pickled goods sent by poor ghosts, and they were all rotten, and they also took up space in the house, so they were sent to us!"

Pauper...... Rotten......

Qi Chuan's fists couldn't help but clench slowly.

He is like a dog raised by the Fan family, with no self-esteem, no future, and nothing.

On a rainy night, Ma was still cursing: "Don't pee on yourself, short-lived slaves, you can't count on anything, call my family to drink the northwest wind ......"

"Shut up!" Qi Chuan kicked over the table, and the shrimp shells on the table scattered to the ground.

Ma was stunned. When she scolded Qi Chuan on weekdays, this person never returned the mouth, like a gourd. She raised her head and looked at her husband, who had always been silent, but saw that the other party's eyes were gloomy, as if they were wrapped in a fire, like a demon on a rainy night, looking at her fiercely.

She was suddenly frightened, and did not continue to curse. Until the man kicked away the bucket in front of him, as if he couldn't bear the cramped house, slammed the door, turned around and rushed into the rain outside the house.

After a long time, Ma came back to his senses, spat in front of the empty door, and opened his mouth hatefully.

"If you are dying, teach him to die outside!"

……

A few gusts of autumn rain washed away the last bit of inflammation left in Shengjing.

After the white dew, the night is cool. There are particular people who get up early in the morning to "collect clear dew". The medical scriptures read: Autumn dew on the head of the hundred grasses, collected when not embarrassed, cures all diseases, quenches thirst, makes people light and not hungry, and the muscles are pleasant. ”

Elegant people have this leisure and elegance, but the students are very busy, tomorrow is the first day of August, autumn is coming, students are at home to clean up the end of the pen and ink. Miaokou's He Blind Character Measurement Business is surprisingly good - there are always people who want to test their son's head for the exam.

The vendors on West Street closed their stalls earlier than usual, and at the house of Wu Youcai, a fresh fish shop, the white flags had not yet been taken out, and at a glance, it was deserted.

Mrs. Wu entered the soil seven days ago, He Blind picked a good day and an auspicious day, and chose a piece of feng shui treasure land for Mrs. Wu to be buried, and said to Wu Youcai: "This is a piece of auspicious land, rest assured, Lingtang is buried here, this place can produce a champion, and the son will definitely be an official in the future." ”

Wu Youcai listened, and just smiled faintly.

His mother has gone, whether he is a champion or an official, but his mother can't see it.

The autumn wind whimpered, Wu Youcai pulled out the weeds at the gate of the courtyard, turned around and went into the house, and went to clean up the paper and pen to be used tomorrow.

In the past, every time before the autumn festival, these were carefully prepared by his mother for him. Now that his mother is gone, he cleans up by himself, and when he recalls the past, he feels more and more cold.

Wu Youcai bent down and dragged the old exam basket out from under the bed.

This test basket was bought by his mother for 50 yuan from a candidate who was in high school when he first entered school, saying that it was a sign of the other party's joy. Who knew that more than ten years had passed, and when his mother had gone, he still hadn't gotten what he wanted.

After he dragged the exam basket out, he didn't open the bookcase, but sat down on the ground, and his eyes swept over the small table in the corner, and a palm-sized bag of paper came.

It was the paper bag that Lu Tong gave him.

The paper was wrapped in a dark room, as if it could emit a faint white light, grabbing all his mind, like an impermanent imp sitting at the table, smiling at him with bad intentions.

Wu Youcai was a little stunned.

Lu Tong's words that day came to his ears again.

"Wu Youcai, you left the field for the first time at the age of eighteen, and it has been twelve years since then. It's been twelve years, haven't you ever thought about why you can't pass the exam once? ”

"If the fraud in the imperial examination is not dealt with, then after you hang up filial piety and burn paper, buy land and bury your mother, you will be the same as before, and you will be succumbed to mediocrity for life. This is your destiny. ”

"If someone dies in the examination room, it is not a trivial matter that the Ministry of Rites alone can suppress. The more people, the worse it will be, and the more important it will be, and the interests of all parties will be mixed, and the originally simple things will become complicated. ”

"Those examiners are well-dressed, disrupting officialdom, making the talented people oppress the untalented, if it is me......"

"Of course, kill him."

Kill him......

Wu Youcai suddenly shuddered.

He hurried back to his senses, as if awakened from that terrifying dream, and gripped the lid of the examination basket with both hands.

It's so easy to kill an examiner. Not to mention whether this can be done, he is now alone, and his relatives have passed away, so he doesn't have to worry about who will be affected, but since elementary school, he has been thinking about the virtues of his ancestors and his parents; Think about the grace of the country, and think about the blessing of the family; A scholar who thinks about the urgency of helping others on the outside and the evil of idleness on the inside" wants to kill innocent people for his own selfish desires, which is like the bewitchment of evil spirits to him.

The examiner has no grudge against him, even if he is really bought by someone as Lu Tong said, he will not be guilty of death, how can he do it?

What's more, he has been a peaceful person for so many years, and he has long been accustomed to swallowing his anger, no unfairness, any oppression, and he doesn't even have the idea of fighting.

If it were the eighteen-year-old Wu Youcai, he might still have a trace of courage to compete with the turbid world and the powerful, but now Wu Youcai, who has been worn by the world, has long lost that heart, like a piece of ink paper that has been ironed, spread evenly in the heaven and earth, and let the wind and rain destroy it.

"Fairness" is a luxury thing, and the poor dare not think about it, maybe only once they die, they can only get a little bit if they go to the Yin Division to find the judge of Hades.

He shook his head, as if to shake out all the chaotic thoughts in his head, and lowered his head to open the lid of the exam basket with all his might.

There are some old things in the examination basket, and he wants to put some paper and ink in it and bring it to the dormitory tomorrow.

He reached out and took out a few pieces of old paper, took out a few times, and suddenly touched a hard thing with his fingertips, and he was puzzled, and when he took it out, it turned out to be a bag wrapped in layers of red flower cloth.

This is...... Wu Youcai concentrated.

The safflower cloth is the leftover cloth head that my mother used to sew and mend clothes, and this bag is about to be secretly put in the examination basket by my mother. He picked up the bag and traced his fingers over the rough cloth, as if he could feel the warmth of his mother.

After looking at it for a while, Wu Youcai tried to open the bag, and as soon as he opened it, he found that the bag was tightly wrapped layer by layer, and it took five or six layers to completely dismantle it, and there were some fine pieces of hay scattered in it, and there were ten silver dollars neatly placed around the hay.

It was a hundred taels of silver.

Wu Youcai was stunned for a moment.

This is the silver that his mother left him!

It was as if a needle had pierced his heart suddenly, and the dense pain spread from his heart, and Wu Youcai's tears poured out instantly.

His mother was frugal all her life, killing and selling fish, and a fish only earned a dozen cents, and he didn't know how long his mother would have to save this hundred taels of silver, but it must be the savings she had worked so hard to leave for him. She didn't tell Wu Youcai, maybe she was afraid that Wu Youcai would use the money to buy useless medicinal herbs, or for something else.

Confucian Sheng sat on the ground, tears like a gushing spring smashed to the ground. As if he saw his mother dragging the crippled sick body, he exchanged a box full of copper coins for ten beautiful silver ingots, wiped them clean one by one, and carefully wrapped them in cloth and hid them in this examination basket. He seemed to be able to see his mother standing in front of him, smiling and comforting him as before: "My son will become an official after the entrance examination, so I don't have to look around, what does the rope look like?" Take this silver, and let no one despise it! ”

His mother's voice and smile were like being in front of him, but he was lying on the ground mourning and wailing, and in the sorrow, there was strong resentment and unwillingness to burn in his heart.

He will never be able to pass the exam, and he will never be an official! Because the ladder up was stopped, because he was just a poor man who killed fish in the fresh fish shop!

Wu Youcai raised his head suddenly, staring viciously at the oiled paper bag on the corner of the table, the oiled paper was wrapped in the dim light, and in the stark stark of silver ingots scattered on the ground, he sneered at him silently.

As if bewitched, he slowly reached out to the oiled paper packet.

Why?

The bottom of the lush stream is pine, and it is far from the seedlings on the mountain. With the other diameter of the stem, the shade of this hundred-foot strip......

He doesn't want to be a pine at the bottom of the stream for the rest of his life, and he doesn't want to succumb to the seedlings on the mountain for the rest of his life.

Lu Tong's shocking words slowly emerged from his heart again.

In the mourning hall where the storm was coming, Confucian asked Lu Tong: "Why does Dr. Lu want to help me?" ”

The woman looked at him in silence and did not answer, her eyes were like a dark haze, and she couldn't see clearly.

Wu Youcai knew in her heart that she wanted to use him, and the so-called words of helping him must have another purpose. But at this moment, he was willing to bewitch her. I am grateful to her for finding a desperate and happy way for him in this resentment and misery, so that he will not sink in this endless misery.

Confucian fingertips touched the paper bag on the table.

The paper bag was cold and cold, like a cold curse, and in an instant, there seemed to be an impermanence behind him who laughed heartily, as if celebrating the final victory in this game.

So he clutched the paper bag tightly in his palm, and fell down in the empty room, crying silently.