Half a year has passed in a flash, and in a blink of an eye, it is August 12, and the township test is imminent.

On this day, the brothers Chen Ruishan and Chen Xiangshan sent Chen Wenqi and Jingxing, who accompanied them to the exam, to a place five miles outside the village.

"Dad, Fifth Uncle, it's hot, go back. Chen Wenqi stood on a small dirt slope, turned his head, and said to his sweaty father and fifth uncle.

Chen Ruishan stepped forward, gently put the book in his hand on Chen Wenqi's back, tied the strap for his son with his own hands, and lovingly instructed: "Qi'er, you have to take care of yourself when you go to the long and hot summer." When you arrive at the Huangzhou wharf, hire a small boat, and you can get to Wuchang City in less than a day, and the time is very free, don't rush to the road. ”

The boy wrote it down. Daddy and Fifth Uncle should also take care of their health. ”

Chen Ruishan turned around and saw that the fifth brother had already helped Jingxing carry another book, so he touched Jingxing's head and said, "Jingxing, your brother Wenqi has to prepare for the exam, you will work hard in everything, don't distract his energy." ”

Jing Xing nodded again and again, and said crisply: "Master, don't worry, Jing Xing will take care of Brother Wen Qi." ”

"Hehe, I'm relieved, I'm relieved. Chen Ruishan smiled, then turned to his son and said, "Qi'er, Daddy has another sentence, you can remember it." ”

"Daddy, please. ”

"Half a year ago, do you still remember the civil and military dispute between your fifth uncle and your master Yangshan? In fact, for the country, both cultural and martial arts are very important, and it is difficult to weigh which is more important. Since I have chosen the path of Wenju this time, I have to concentrate on learning. Your little martial arts, unless it is a critical moment, should not be easily revealed. Of course, the purpose of learning martial arts is not only fitness, but also the righteousness of seeing unevenness and drawing a sword to help each other. However, even if we are chivalrous and righteous, we must weigh the importance and grasp the proportions, and we must not bully the weak and fight bravely, let alone lynch or hurt people's lives. Did you write it down?"

"Daddy's teachings are remembered by children for the rest of their lives. Chen Wenqi replied respectfully.

Chen Xiangshan walked over and saw the reluctance of the eldest brother, so he said with a smile: "Big brother, Wen Qi is not a child anymore, you can rest assured that they will be on the road, if they continue to nag like this, maybe the sun will fall in the west before they reach Huangzhou." Wen Qi, the fifth uncle also has a saying, you remember, no matter whether you can win the move this time, you will come back happily for me, and the fifth uncle is still waiting to learn from you. ”

"Yes, fifth uncle, father, Wen Qi will not disappoint the elders in his hometown. Please come back. ”

"Okay, let's go back. When you are away from home, everything is careful. Chen Ruishan, Chen Xiangshan, Wen Qi and Jingxing waved goodbye, and returned to Chenjiazhuang step by step.

After Chen Ruishan and Chen Xiangshan left, Jing Xing raised the flat burden in his hand and said, "Brother Wenqi, let me carry the luggage, it's even hotter on my back." You see, your clothes are soaked with sweat. ”

"In this weather, even if you don't carry things, you still sweat. You are such a villain, it's strange to pick two heavy books and not squash you. Or, I'll pick it?" Chen Wenqi said, and came to unravel the book on Jingxing's back.

Jingxing knew that Chen Wenqi was afraid of being tired, so he hurriedly ran away: "Forget it, let's carry one by one." It's a big deal to go back and be scolded by my father. ”

The climate of the south of the Yangtze River is very different from the climate of the northern country, although the summer is too early and the autumn equinox is approaching, but the "autumn tiger" is still undiminished. The two of them walked all the way, sweating like pulp, soaking wet, and the tea they carried had already run out. Just when the two of them were thirsty, they saw a house on the side of the road in front of them, with a goose-yellow banner on the eaves, and the word "tea" on it was vigorous and powerful.

When the two of them saw each other, they immediately felt relieved, and hurriedly quickened their pace and rushed to the front of the house. When I looked up, there was a plaque hanging under the eaves, and the paper temporarily pasted on the plaque had five big characters of "Lan Ji Kung Fu Tea".

"Kung Fu tea. Chen Wenqi couldn't help but smile dumbly. I have heard that Xiajiang people like to drink kung fu tea, is it also fashionable in the local area?

"Lan-Ji-Gong-Fu-Tea. Suddenly, I heard someone next to me reading word by word: "Tsk, the wonders of ancient times, the hot day, the thirst is so thirsty that you can't drink it, who is impatient to drink what 'kung fu tea'?"

Chen Wenqi turned his head and saw that two young men with facial features, tall, short, fat and thin, and dressed exactly the same were standing side by side behind him.

The young man with the folding fan in his hand smiled at Chen Wenqi, saying hello to the meeting of Pingshui, and then said to the young man with the sword in his hand:

"Brother Yan, don't be uncommon and strange, the world is big, and there are no surprises. Let's go into the back room and see how to drink this 'Lan Ji Kung Fu Tea'. After speaking, he bowed slightly to Chen Wenqi and walked into the house first.

The young man known as "Brother Yan" walked to the counter in the room in three steps and two steps, tapped the counter lightly with his fingers, and said to the busy guys at the counter: "Man, come here for two large bowls of herbal tea." ”

"Welcome to the shop. The man raised his head, greeted everyone warmly, and then said, "Guest officer, if you are buying tea, it will be a bowl of silver or two." The rules of the small shop, pay first and drink tea later. ”

"What? A bowl of tea for a tael of silver?" The young man called "Brother Yan" was so shocked that his eyes were about to fall to the floor, "Are you selling tea or robbing?"

Hearing the guy's offer, the other people who came in together were also very surprised. You know, a tael of silver costs four stones of rice.

"The guest officer is not impatient, and the small one is to buy tea. There is also free tea at the shop. But...... Alas, it is not clear in a sentence or two, please look at this, guest officers. The man was full of spring breeze and reached out to the side and pointed.

Everyone followed the man's finger and saw a screen standing next to the counter, which read:

"The ancients said: 'When you are in the world, you will have a job: the farmer will measure the crops, the merchant will discuss the bribery, the craftsmanship will be used to the fine tools, the art will be used to contemplate spells, the martial artist will be accustomed to the bow and horse, and the scribe will discuss the scriptures'. The guests who enter the store today are nothing more than the four people of "Shinong Industry and Commerce", and my teahouse is called "Kung Fu Tea", which is so with Shi Yanwen, with agricultural words, with Gong Yan Qiao, and business words. For those who dew 'Kung Fu', the shop will serve fragrant tea and drink it for free (each person can bring another person to drink with him). If there is no 'kung fu' and you really need to drink, you will sell it according to one or two lines of silver and a bowl of tea, and you will not be in arrears. ”

After everyone saw it, they suddenly realized that this "Kung Fu Tea" was not the other "Kung Fu Tea". Among them, there is an elderly person with a skill, one comes to the money in the heartache pocket, and the other is itchy for a while, so he is very interested in "Kung Fu Tea" and wants to see if he can win free tea with "Kung Fu". So he impatiently asked the guy what "speech, words, words, and words" were.

The guy smiled slightly, approached the screen, turned it upside down, and saw that the back of the screen read:

"Those who speak can lift a thousand catties of stones, and the arms can be straightened; or a hard bow can shoot thirty feet, and the arrow can touch the target;

Speakers, draw lots to choose the topic, 100 steps into a poem, rhyme, even, battle can be;

Those who are skillful can condense water into ice or melt ice into water in a breath, or enter the maze and walk out within a stick of incense.

Those who speak and count can rearrange the nine palaces, no matter how many steps they move, and complete them within one stick of incense, or calculate the abacus and calculate ten questions correctly within one stick of incense. ”

After reading it, some of them looked embarrassed, some were eager to try, and some looked back at the people who were sitting and drinking tea, not knowing whether they were drinking "kung fu tea" or "tattooed silver tea".

After reading it, Xiao Jingxing whispered in Chen Wenqi's ear: "Brother Wenqi, this bending bow and archery, lifting a thousand catties, anyone with martial arts can do it, and chanting poems and counting nine palaces are not difficult for people who read." Only if this 'condensing water into ice or melting ice into water' is to be completed in a single breath, how much deep work can it do? ”

Chen Wenqi stretched out his hand and scratched his nose, and whispered: "Why do you want any flame palm cold ice palm, the others need some real skills, is this the only question...... You can do it easily, too. ”

"Me?" Jing Xing didn't seem to believe it, and when he was about to ask him the trick, he saw Chen Wenqi wave his hand and "shhhh

At this time, a middle-aged man with a shoulder coat came out of the crowd and said: "Qian is not talented, the abacus is acceptable, let's play a few arithmetic problems and mix a bowl of tea to drink." ”

When the man heard this, he shouted loudly: "There are guests who 'speak'." ”

Before the words fell, a young girl walked out from the back of the lobby like a willow, with bright eyes and bright teeth, apricot eyes and peach cheeks, a light body, and a glamorous and unparalleled beauty. It makes everyone look at it with hot eyes and ears, and hit the deer in their hearts.

The girl was not surprised, pursed her lips and smiled, Ying Ying said: "Which guest officer 'counts'? Please follow the little girl to the backyard to perform skills." Guest officers who have 'speech power', 'speech', and 'speech skill' are also invited to come. ”

Everyone didn't know if they had skills to offer, or if they didn't see enough beauty, so they all followed the girl to the back of the lobby. Chen Wenqi saw Jing Xing's fascinated face, so he raised his chin to him, and the two walked with the crowd.

Behind the teahouse, there is a large courtyard, and under the shade of a tree in a corner of the courtyard, two old men in a long shirt and a short coat are playing against each other, turning a blind eye to visitors.

After the girl waited for the guests to sit down in the grass pavilion that was temporarily erected, she led the middle-aged man surnamed Qian to the bookcase placed in the grass pavilion, asked him to choose an abacus to take advantage of, and asked the middle-aged man surnamed Qian to take out a paper stick from a small wooden box covered with silk cloth on the bookcase, on which were written ten mixed arithmetic problems of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and then lit an incense stick and inserted it into the incense burner, and whispered to the middle-aged man: "Please calculate the guest officer." ”

As soon as the girl's voice fell, the middle-aged man's abacus "crackled". When there was still an inch left in the incense burner, the middle-aged man shouted, "The calculation is finished." ”

When everyone heard this, they applauded as if it was their own masterpiece.

"Don't panic, I don't know if it's right or not. The girl's voice was not as beautiful as her beauty, and it was so cold that it seemed a little unsightly.

The girl took the arithmetic problem in the hands of the middle-aged man, spread it on the bookcase, took an unused large block wolf from the drawer of the bookcase, dipped it in a little water, and smeared it a few times on the blank space next to the arithmetic, and ten numbers immediately appeared (the answer was pre-written on each arithmetic paper).

The girl compared the answers one by one, found no mistakes, and said to the middle-aged man: "Congratulations to the guest officer, it's all right, please go into the back room and drink tea." Then he shouted crisply into the house: "Serve tea to Mr. Qian." ”

When everyone heard this, there was another round of applause.

"Okay, Fang Mou is also here to offer ugliness. The sword-wielding "Brother Yan" stood up and clenched his fists and said to the girl.

"Dare to ask the guest officer which line to choose?"

"Fang, a farmer in the countryside, has no ability, only a few catties of brute strength, just lift a stone. ”

The maiden looked at him, neither moving nor speaking, apparently not believing him to be a plough and a harrow.

"What, is there anything else wrong with the girl?" The sword-wielding "Brother Yan" asked politely.

The girl said slowly: "This guest officer, let's choose something else." If you can't lift it, you'll hurt yourself. After speaking, he seemed to be afraid of hurting the young man's self-esteem, and hurriedly added: "Oh, the little girl has no other meaning, and no one has been able to lift this stone stone so far." ”

"Thank you, girl, for reminding me. But Fang has no success in a certain skill, only a few catties of brute force, and he has the right to try it today. "Brother Yan" said and pointed to the young man with a folding fan in his hand, "This is my brother." My brother testified that if you can't lift the stone and hurt yourself, you will be to blame, and you will never blame your shop. ”

When the girl saw the young man with a folding fan in his hand, she nodded her head slightly, and knew that he had agreed, so she said to "Brother Yan":

"In that case, the guest officer will come with me. The girl led "Brother Yan" outside the grass pavilion, pointed to the big stone and said: "This stone stone is called a thousand catties, but it is actually more than 500 catties. Not to mention the weight of the stone, it is difficult to lift the stone stone with a smooth body and no strength in the hand. If you want to do it reluctantly, you will definitely be disabled, and ask the guest officer to think twice. The girl turned her head and glanced at the old man playing in the shade of the tree, and whispered to "Brother Yan": "Actually, the small shop ...... , even if the guest officer doesn't have much effort, it's ...... Tea will also be served to the guest officer to quench his thirst. ”

At this time, the young man with a folding fan in his hand raised his voice and said, "Brother Fool, thank the girl for her repeated attention. However, it doesn't hurt to let the younger brother do it. ”

"Then, Childe must be careful. The girl had no choice but to give a word of advice and step aside.

"Brother Yan" walked around the stone stone, his feet were different, he took a deep breath, used his arms, clasped the holes at both ends of the stone stone with both hands, and shouted "get up", the stone stone instantly rose from the ground, and was held firmly above his head by him.

The nervousness on the girl's face immediately changed to a look of surprise, and she shook her hands and said, "Enough, enough, put it down." ”

"Brother Yan" shook his arms, and the stone stone fell three feet away, smashing the ground into a large pit several inches deep.

When everyone saw that his thin figure had such divine power, they couldn't help but cheer.

The old man in the short coat, who was playing under the shade of the tree, got up and walked to the stone stone, supported the lower edge of the stone stone with the instep of his foot, hooked and sent the stone back to its original place. Where the stone fell, there was no trace of it.

"The little brother's arm strength is amazing, and he should serve three bowls of fragrant tea. Before serving tea, the little brother wants to try the strong bow? It doesn't matter if he can't pull it open or not. The old man in the short coat reached out and patted the dust on the instep of his feet, and said tentatively.

"The old man commands, the younger generation dares to disobey his fate?" The old man in the short coat sent the stone back to its original position lightly, and there was no trace where the stone stone landed, which made "Brother Yan" a little ashamed. The old man in the short coat asked him to bend his bow and shoot immediately, but he couldn't ask for it.

The shadow of the arrow target thirty zhang away is more than enough, and it is not within the range of ordinary bows and crossbows. The old man ordered someone to bring a huge bow, but saw that the bow was about five feet long, the bow arm was made of stainless steel with excellent toughness, and the bowstring was the thickness of a little finger. Such a huge bow, let alone bending the bow and shooting arrows, ordinary people are afraid that it will be very difficult to pick it up.

"Brother Yan" took the giant bow, grabbed the bowstring with the index, middle, and ring fingers of his right hand, and pulled it hard, and the bowstring, which was originally stretched straight, began to bend. After "Brother Yan" tried, he had a great grasp of it, so he pulled out a long arrow from the quiver, put it on the string, held the bow arm with his left hand, hooked the bowstring with his right hand, stretched out his arms, and slightly sideways his body, exerting twelve points of strength, and shouted "open", although the bowstring was not as round as the full moon, but it was also bent in response.

"Huh-", the arrow from the string flew out with a sound of breaking through the air, and shot at the target, the arrow kept shaking after being inserted into the target, and after three or five breaths, it finally couldn't bear the weight of the arrow shaft and fell to the ground.

"The little brother is so handsome, and he admires it. The old man also has a reluctant request: the little brother carries a sword with him, can he practice swordsmanship all the way and teach the old man to open his eyes?" The old man in the short coat "has to make inches" and made another request.

"Brother Yan" hesitated slightly, and his brother spoke: "Brother Yan, the old gentleman has opened the golden mouth, so what's the harm in asking the old gentleman for advice?"

Hearing what his brother said, "Brother Yan" took the long sword, hugged his fist at the old man in the short coat, and said: "It's better to be respectful than to obey your fate, the younger generation is ugly." After speaking, he practiced swordsmanship again.

After reading it, the old man in the short coat did not praise or disparage the sword moves, but said lightly: "Good swordsmanship, good swordsmanship." Please have tea in the inner room of the little brother. Then he went to play chess in the shade of the tree.

"Thank you. "Brother Yan" humbly hugged his fist to the old man, thanked him, and then walked back to the young man with a folding fan in his hand, and said: "Brother, the rules of this shop, those who drink 'Kung Fu Tea' can bring one person to drink together, so don't bother anymore, let's drink tea." ”

"Brother" was itchy for a while, shook his head and said: "I'm not busy, I want to sacrifice ugliness for my brother, and earn a bowl of tea to drink." If the 'kung fu' is not good, how about touching the light of the younger brother?" Without waiting for the younger brother to agree, the "elder brother" turned to the girl: "Girl, I'll join you." ”

"In this case, please choose Shanglian. The girl walked up to the hut and pointed to the dozen strings tied to the pillars.

Everyone looked up along the string, and it turned out that each string was connected to a paper shaft, and as soon as the string was loosened, the paper shaft hung down.

The young man with a folding fan walked up to the grass pavilion and untied a thin rope casually, but saw a man drawn on the hanging paper scroll, carrying two bundles of firewood with a thick log, and the following was written:

"This wood picks firewood for thousands of miles. ”

At first glance, everyone saw that this was a split word couplet: "this" and "wood" together are a "firewood" character, and "thousand" and "li" together are a "heavy" character. Not only are two of the seven characters split, but the meaning is also very novel: isn't it very "heavy" to use thick wood as a flat burden?

The girl said, "Guest officer, please continue, the little girl has begun to timer." "Let's talk about it, walk slowly outside the grass pavilion.

"One, two, three......"

The young man with a folding fan in his hand tapped his head lightly with the fan and paced back and forth in the grass pavilion.

Everyone can't help but secretly think about whether they can make the next couplet.

"Eighteen, Nineteen......"

"There you go. The young man with the folding fan in his hand stopped and said in a loud voice: "My right couplet is: the longbow does not spread the Baqiu soldiers. ”

The people of Sichuan are very disdainful of some soldiers who are greedy for life and fear of death and oppress the people, and secretly call them "Qiu Ba". In this couplet, "long" and "bow" are combined into the word "zhang", and "eight" and "qiu" are combined into the word "soldier", and the meaning is also relatively clear.

"Good!"

"Miaolian!"

"Absolutely!"

The crowd cheered, as if they were connected.

The young man with the folding fan in his hand secretly screamed ashamed: yes, it was barely right, the time was pressing, and the battle and peace were not enough to think about.

"The guest officer is a good scholar. The girl praised it, and then said, "Please have tea in the inner room." ”

"No hurry, no hurry. The young man with a folding fan pulled "Brother Yan", and the two sat back to their original places. He wanted to wait, and if he was beyond the power of the crowd, his brother could bring the two of them to drink tea together.

If they don't leave, the girl can't urge him anymore, so he has to let him.

Next, everyone showed their skills, or bent the bow and shoot arrows with all their might, or continued the couplets with the words and sentences, or flipped the abacus with the five fingers, or rushed left and right to wander through the maze. In the meantime, there are many people who can't open the bow, can't connect pairs, and don't count correctly, and the girl doesn't take it seriously. As for the trespassers in the labyrinth, the girl threw a stone at the joint, intentionally or unintentionally, to guide them out of the labyrinth. In short, the shop does not seem to embarrass everyone, as long as you dare to show your skills, whether you succeed or not, you will be invited to the back room to serve fragrant tea to quench the thirst of customers.

Chen Wenqi was not in a hurry or impatient, sitting in the grass pavilion, watching everyone return to the inner room one by one, without saying anything, as if all this had nothing to do with him. Jing Xing, who was standing beside him, began to lose his breath, quietly pulled Chen Wenqi's sleeve, and said softly: "Brother Wenqi, what should we do......?"

At this time, a young man with a folding fan came to them and said, "This brother, the next brother wants to invite you to go to drink tea with Gui Gao, can you enjoy the light?"

Chen Wenqi knew that the two of them were afraid of embarrassment, so he said this. I can't help but praise their character. But he remained silent, stood up and bowed to the two brothers, and said, "The two nobles are very grateful. It's just that if I follow the two brothers into the house to drink tea like this, I'm afraid that my brother will feel gloomy. ”

At this time, the two old men who were playing chess under the shade of the tree messed up the chess game and got up and came to the grass pavilion. The old man in the long shirt took over and said, "This little brother is carrying a book on his back, he must be going to Wuchang City to take the autumn exam, right?"

"Exactly. Chen Wenqi clasped his fists and saluted the two old men, and replied respectfully.

"No wonder it's not eaten by the mouth. is a talent who is rushing to take the exam, and he must not have any ink. Although the old man is a country man, he also likes to be vassal. Today, everyone raises stones and archery, and counts pairs have excellent performance, only the poems are not left with good sentences, and the old man dares to ask this brother to recite a poem. Of course, the time limit of 10 steps and 100 steps is waived. What do you think?" The old man in the long shirt had a look of hope on his face.

Chen Wenqi bowed to him and said, "What Mr. ordered, the younger generation naturally didn't dare to hide it. But the rules can't be broken, so let's keep the time as usual. ”

"Isn't it okay not to keep the time?" said the girl, who hesitated a little, and looked at the old man in the long robe.

"Since this brother is willing to follow the rules, let him do as he wishes. The old man in the long shirt said.

"Please sir. ”

"How about this 'township test'?"

"It's fine. Bother the girl with the time. ”

"One, two, three, four, five......"

"There you go. Chen Wenqi said:

"When we meet on the river, we all travel in the past, and all nations are dressed and crowned.

The Ming Dynasty worked hard to Chang'an Dao, and the star sword shot the bullfight. ”

After chanting, he waved to the old man in the long shirt: "The younger generation is not talented, lest his clumsy words and simple sentences pollute the audio-visual of the predecessors, so he borrowed the poems of the ancients to put it together, I don't know if it is possible?"

The old man in the long shirt looked happy, and said in a loud voice: "Okay, good! I heard that Shi Qing, a scholar in the Tang Dynasty, had a talent of five steps, and this little brother also became a seven-step talent in five steps, and it was also a collection of poems." The old man glanced at the people present and continued: "The collection of poems seems to be ready-made verses, without their own new ideas, but in fact it is more difficult than creating them by themselves. It is necessary to be well-read and memorized, and to collect sentences into poems at your fingertips, and it is also necessary to be natural and conform to the theme of the new poem. The little brother's collection of poems writes the scene and artistic conception of the 'township test' appropriately and naturally, without any axe and chisel, which is really a rare collection of sentences. ”

"Haha, Liu ...... Well, brother, in my impression, you rarely boast like this, and today you have discovered a genius?" said the old man in the short coat.

"Exactly, exactly. The old man in the long shirt said: "Don't hide it from you, we two old people can't help but feel a little emotional when we hear that the emperor has reopened the imperial examination. Pointing to the old man in the short coat, he said: "This benevolent brother lamented that over the past 10 years, the government has been barren, the imperial examination has not been prosperous, and the enthusiasm of the people has been neglected. So, our two brothers set up a bet and asked the little girl to book a teahouse for three days, using "kung fu tea" as a gimmick to test who was right and who was wrong. Unexpectedly, there are promising young people who have emerged today, and it is the old man who is very relieved. Dude, you're losing. ”

The old man in the short coat smiled "haha": "I admit defeat, and I will lose well! If I don't lose, will there be any hope for our Ming Dynasty?" Let's go back and give you a banquet and accept punishment." Then he turned back to the girl and said, "Girl, return the shop to you, take down our things, and you will still do your business." ”

"Uncle, there is still half a day, I can't take advantage of your old age. Why don't I give you a day's worth of silver?" said the girl hurriedly.

"Haha, these days we have put down the 'Kung Fu Tea', I don't know how many people have been embarrassed, although the girl you secretly took them to the side of the good tea reception, but the reputation of this 'Kung Fu Tea' spread, it is difficult to affect the girl's business. This half-day of silver can be regarded as compensation for the girl. ”

After the old man in the short coat finished speaking, he pulled the old man in a long shirt, said "take care" to everyone, and turned around and left the backyard.

"Two old men, can you leave your surname Gao?" The young man who was called "Brother Yan" by his brother seemed to be reluctant, and shouted behind the two old men.

"When we meet in Pingshui, why bother to leave a name? The two elders waved their hands and floated away.

"A few guest officers, please have tea in the back room, today our store is still covered by the two elders, everyone drink it for free. "The girl can be regarded as a heroine among women, not like the baht must be compared to the disciple, since the old man does not charge excess silver, let everyone enjoy it.