When he woke up, it was already evening, the room was a little dim, Chen Tang subconsciously touched the back of his head, and found that the injury there seemed to be healed, and his head didn't feel any pain.

He exhaled, his eyes suddenly falling on the pillow, and he felt that something had changed in the object, and he couldn't help but pick it up and examine it carefully.

At this glance, I really saw the clue: where is this pillow? It is clearly a long box, and in memory, this thing should have been brought back by the ranger's father before his death. Maybe the predecessor was poor, and when I saw that it was suitable, I simply used it as a pillow.

Chen Tang stretched out his hand and knocked on it, making a "tuk-tuk" sound, and it seemed to be empty.

Could it be that there is a treasure hidden?

He perked up and hurried to find the entrance, but when he looked over and over, both ends were closed, except for one end, on which a pattern was depicted, faint and inconspicuous. If you look carefully, you can see the strokes outlined, which is quite mysterious, and you can't understand it at all, just like the legendary "ghost painting symbol".

Pick it up and shake it, there is no movement, dare to be hollow, empty.

Chen Tang sighed, threw it back on the bed in disappointment, and continued to use it as a pillow.

When I came out of Huzhuang at noon, I didn't even eat lunch, and now, I only feel hungry. Teaching in the village, although he has been tricked many times, his life is not easy, but the food is not bad every day, at least there is rice to eat, and occasionally meat. In contrast, Chen Tang set up a stall in the state capital, and when he had a business, he could still buy a bun to eat, and if he had no business, he could only drink some porridge and water to survive.

After eating in Huzhuang for half a month, Chen Tang has grown stronger, no longer as skinny as before, and he can't help but be weak.

He got up and walked to the corner of the hall outside, where there was a small water tank, and when he opened the lid of the tank, there was a puddle of clear water inside, which happened to be used as a mirror to take care of his face.

As for real mirrors, they are luxuries and cannot afford them.

The water surface is calm, reflecting a delicate and youthful appearance.

"This year, it should be twenty, just over the crown ......"

Chen Tang twisted his neck, looked at it from different angles, and was satisfied with this: his face was surprisingly ruddy, not like the kind of sour scholar who had no power to restrain the chicken;

Occupy each other's bodies, fuse each other's memories, the two become one, no longer separate from each other, the difference is that there is an additional world of knowledge, and the three views of thinking have changed dramatically.

"Brother Bujin, Brother Bujin, are you back?"

There was a timid call outside the door.

When Chen Tang walked out, he saw a thin girl standing outside, and the memories related to it suddenly surfaced, and he hurriedly said, "It's Ah Ling, what's wrong?"

The little girl's name is "Su Ling", she lives in the dilapidated house next door, her family is not surnamed Chen, she belongs to an outsider, her father died early, and her mother depends on each other, but her mother is also frail and sickly.

Su Ling is only thirteen years old this year, so he has to work in the fields, go up the mountain to pick wild vegetables and fruits, carry water and chop firewood, etc., and do all kinds of affairs to support his family.

The little girl picked fresh wild fruits on the mountain, often brought them to Chen Tang to eat, and helped him carry water, send firewood, etc., and when Chen Tang was free, he taught her to read and write.

Su Ling looked at him with some trepidation: "Brother Bujin, my mother is asleep, I can't wake up, I'm a little scared......"

Chen Tang was stunned for a moment, followed her back, and on a dilapidated bed, he saw the sick and difficult woman lying there upright, and she had been going to Elysium for a long time.

His nose was sore, he took the little girl in his arms, and patted her back gently: "Ah Ling, don't be afraid, there is a brother in everything......"

Su Ling wowed, and then cried heartbreakingly.

Chen Tang spent three hundred yuan to buy a thin coffin, and asked some people to help bury Su Lingniang on the mountain.

For this matter, a clan elder in the village called Chen Tang over and reprimanded him: "Chen Tang, you are stupid in reading, you can't support your own family, what are you doing in charge of other people's?"

Chen Tang thought for a while and replied calmly: "There are some things that someone has to do." I don't mind if I can help if I can. ”

The clan elder shook his head and scolded three words: "Brainless." ”

After the aftermath, Su Ling packed up some things, moved to Chen Tang's house, arranged a bed in the small hall, and stayed.

People in the village said that Chen Tang helped her handle her mother's funeral, so she was equivalent to Chen Tang's person.

Chen Tang didn't think about that, he only thought that Su Ling was lonely and lonely, he really needed to take care of him, and he lived at home, when he had a younger sister, he usually helped with some housework or something, he was so attentive to his work, and when he got home, he at least had a hot mouth to drink.

There is not much money left to be a tutor, and most of it is spent on the aftermath of Su Ling's mother.

Chen Tang thought about it, and finally found that he had to return to his old business, go to the state capital to set up stalls, help people write, and write letters.

In the past, in order to study, the family's two acres of thin land had already been sold, but the Su family was an outsider, but they had no land, so they could only help people work.

Su Ling goes up the mountain every day to chop firewood, pick wild fruits and vegetables, if there is any odd work in the village, she also does it, busy from morning to night, but even if she is so hard and tired, it is difficult to make money, and she can only earn a daily ration.

As for Chen Tang setting up a stall in the city, he is also a hard worker.

Chenjiazhuang is not far from the state capital, and it takes more than half an hour to enter the city.

When I go out in the morning and come back at dusk, I set up a stall for four or five hours, and I can earn about ten dollars without going hungry. However, now that there are more people in the family, the expenses are in vain, and this income is naturally stretched.

Life is tight, food and clothing are a problem, and of course it is impossible to have savings.

With no money to spare, it becomes out of reach to take the exam.

In this world, the test is not only knowledge, but also money. Every time you take a test, you need to spend a lot: entrance fees, travel expenses, room and board, pen and ink, communication, ......

For Chen Tang, none of this has been settled. And after his careful consideration and investigation, he found that if he wants to live a decent and nourishing life in this world, the only reliable and direct way is the imperial examination.

As for technical work, as a Chinese teacher, he only hated that he did not deeply understand the sentence: "If you learn mathematics, physics and chemistry well, you will not be afraid to go all over the world."

However, he has been a Chinese teacher for more than ten years, and he still has a lot of specialties, but the current environment is almost useless.

After all, the poor people have a weak foundation, and they have no money to study in schools, and they can't afford to read, so it is naturally difficult to improve.

Thinking about the future, the more Chen Tang thought about it, the more headache he had, and in the end, he had no choice, so he spent some money, bought a roll of yellow-edged paper, bought some inferior pen and ink, and prepared to go to the city to open a stall and return to his old business.

It's useless to stay stupid at home, it's better to make a living first, earn a little money, live a life, and ensure that you can survive before you can talk about the question of "how to live".

Early the next morning, when she got up early, Su Ling had already made breakfast.

A pot of wild vegetable porridge, more vegetables and less rice, yellow, yellow, green and green, no oil and no salt.

Chen Tang drank a big bowl in a hurry, told Su Ling a few words, and then went out with the book basket that had been repaired several times on his back and went to the state capital.