"It's just that my husband is incompetent, and I haven't been able to go to high school for two years in a row. However, I have made an appointment with several other scholars to study together in a study in the county seat, prepare for the exam in half a year, and set off at the end of the month. Please rest assured, Liu Ming will be the top student in high school one day, and return to his hometown in fine clothes, so that you and Feng'er can live a good life. The middle-aged man took the woman into his arms and whispered in his ear.

Hearing that she was going to leave the village and enter the county seat, the woman could no longer hold back the waves in her heart, and two lines of hot tears slipped quietly.

"Husband, you can go with confidence, I will take care of the affairs of the family. Feng'er is not a little doll anymore, and she is already sensible, so you can study with peace of mind and gain fame as soon as possible. It's just that the husband should also pay more attention to his body, don't be too economical, treat himself badly, and if he doesn't have a good body, what can he do even if he has fame?" the woman bit her lips lightly, endured the reluctance in her heart, and said with a slight sob.

"Don't worry, don't worry, I'm going here for my husband, and I won't return to my hometown if I don't go to high school for a day!" the man gently patted the woman's back and said with a firm gaze.

When the woman heard this, her face turned pale, and she wanted to say something, but she was afraid of damaging her husband's enthusiasm, so she had to hide the grief in her heart and smile bitterly.

Seven days later, on the winding path outside the village, a man in a white cloth shirt carrying a bag of baggage was reluctantly waving goodbye to a mother and son.

The man hugged his wife tightly in his arms, kissed her lightly on the forehead, and then bent down and touched his son's head.

"Feng'er, take care of your mother, Dad will be back soon. The man endured the reluctance in his heart. Said with a smile.

"Dad, Feng'er knows. My mother and I are waiting for you to come back at home. The boy nodded, his eyes firm.

The man patted the boy on the head again. After chuckling, he turned and walked towards the entrance of the village, but did not look back.

Because he was afraid that if he turned back, he would lose the courage to leave.

His wife and children reluctantly looked at his distant back, and were reluctant to leave for a long time, until the figure gradually drifted away, and finally turned into a white dot and disappeared at the end of the path outside the village.

Half a month later, in a small county town hundreds of miles away from Liujia Village.

It's noon. On a main road from west to east, there are crowds of people, and the shouts of peddlers and pawns are endless, and it is a lively scene of busy traffic.

A middle-aged man dressed in a white cloth shirt, with a delicate appearance and a faint scholarly temperament between his eyebrows, was carrying a burden and dragging a long figure to slowly walk to a academy at the corner of the main road.

Since then. In the wing room of this college, a candle is lit every night, reflecting a figure holding a scroll in his hand, shaking his head and studying carefully.

Half a year later. Before the red list, there was a crowd of people, congratulatory and lamentations.

"Brother Liu. Don't be discouraged, you didn't get in this year. I can take the exam again next year. At the front of the crowd, a scholar in a green robe. He said to a man in a white shirt beside him.

"I haven't been admitted for three years, and Liu is really ashamed of his family. The man in the white cloth shirt shook his head gloomily, and slowly squeezed out the noisy crowd.

Half a month later, Liujia Village.

"Mother, there is a letter, it was written to you by my father!" The child held a roll of bamboo slips in his hand and ran excitedly into a rice field more than one person high.

When the plainly dressed woman heard this, she immediately stopped the work in her hand, wiped her hands on the hem of her skirt, and then took the bamboo slip in the boy's hand with a smile on her face, opened it and looked at it.

But the smile on his face faded, replaced by a faint sadness.

"Feng'er, your father may have to stay in the county seat for another year before coming back next year. The woman slowly put away the bamboo slip and said with a reluctant smile.

The boy seemed to understand something, and silently lowered his head, but did not speak.

In the blink of an eye, another year has passed.

This year, the mother and son relied on each other for their lives and had an extremely difficult life.

There are fewer men in the family, there are fewer pillars, less main sources of income, and this year's drought in the fields, the harvest of the dealer is not only not good, but also beyond the means, if it is not for the woman who gritted her teeth and sold the only old cow left in the family, this was exchanged for some silver taels, barely maintaining expenses.

However, the same roll of bamboo slips means that the man is still not nominated for the red list, and the mother and wife still have not waited for the man's clothes to return home.

This is another three years.

On the bed in the old wooden house, the woman was finally bedridden because of years of fatigue, and now there is no rice left in the house, and what can be sold has been sold.

"Mother, there is a letter from my father!" said the boy cheerfully as he ran into the house again, threw himself at the head of the woman's bed, and said happily.

At this time, the boy was already twelve years old, and his body was significantly larger than three years ago, six feet tall, and his body was muscular, and he was no longer the child he was at that time.

"Ahem...... Cough ......" The woman smiled when she heard this, and barely supported herself, but she continued to cough.

"Mother, are you alright? The boy hurriedly rushed forward, helped him up, and asked with concern.

"Ahem...... Feng'er, my mother has also taught you a lot of words over the years, this time my mother ...... Cough...... Test you, you open it, read it to your mother. The woman coughed a few more times, then lay back on the bed again, and said in a somewhat weak voice.

"Lianxi, it's useless for her husband, she hasn't been able to go to high school for six years, and she really has no face to go back to the village to see her fellow villagers. But I miss you and Feng'er very much, and you two are doing well in the near future, and I look forward to recovery. Mother, Dad, he didn't ......" The boy read to the back, and his originally excited voice gradually lowered.

"Feng'er...... Cough...... Quick, go get a pen and paper, and write back to your father. Hearing this, the woman said anxiously.

Half a month later, in the wing room of the academy in the town, the haggard man in white shirt held a family letter in his hand, but he couldn't see his beloved wife's handwriting, but his son's immature handwriting.

"Husband, I'm okay with Feng'er, husband can study with confidence, we will wait for you at home to return from high school. Feng'er not only reads and writes, but also gets stronger and stronger, and he hopes to gallop on the battlefield one day. Serve the country. ”

And so it went on for another three years.

On this day, before a deserted grave. A sturdy teenager with a letter in his hand. There was a flash of anger and bitterness in his eyes.

"Mother, why don't you let me tell my father, you are already so sick, and you still want me to write back to him every time to tell him that our mother and mother are okay, why? Father has been away from home for eight or nine years, but he has never come back to see us once, and now that you are gone, he still doesn't know.

He's down again this year, and I really don't know he's going to have to wait until that day. Is the high school imperial examination so important to him, even so important that he can not go home to see his wife and children for so many years?

As soon as the words fell, two lines of hot tears gushed out, and the young man slammed his fist into the boulder next to the tombstone.

With a "bang", a thin crack appeared on the boulder, and the back of the boy's hand was stained with blood.

At the same time, in the academy in the county seat, Liu Ming, who was dressed in a white robe and had a stubble on his face. Still reading day and night.

In the past nine years, he has long forgotten the time, as if he will not feel tired as long as he reads a book, and he has been reading books again and again every day.

Finally. In the tenth year.

"Brother Liu, you are finally in high school, and you are still a tanhua. ”

"Yes. Hit, finally hit!" Liu Ming held an official document with trembling hands. The word "Tanhua" is written on it, and its name is written below. and a boxy red seal.

Brushing the gray hair on his temples and tidying up his appearance, two lines of turbid tears couldn't help but flow out, and then he laughed into the sky.

On this day, Liujia Village seems to be particularly lively.

On the only road leading to the village, a group of people was walking slowly.

The person at the head is riding on horseback, wearing a red robe and a high crown, needless to say, it is naturally this year's Tanhua, Liu Ming.

And the group behind him was also wearing red robes, beating gongs and drums, looking very lively.

"Liu Tanhua, in front of it is the Liujia Village. The horseman who led the horse pointed to the signboard at the entrance of the village and said to Liu Ming.

Liu Ming glanced at him with a narrow gaze, then jumped off the horse's back.

"I'm going to walk back on my own. I didn't expect it to be ten years long, and I don't know how Lianxi and Feng'er are now. After Liu Ming said lightly, he pressed the excitement in his heart and walked towards the entrance of the village by himself.

After glancing at the old signboard at the village gate again, Liu Ming quickened his pace and walked quickly towards the house where he was.

Compared with ten years ago, the village seems to be much more deserted, and it seems that only a few elderly people are still sitting in front of their homes at the bustling village crossing, fiddling with the grain harvested in the field.

"You are, the third child of the Liu family, you're back!"

After a white-haired old woman who was over the age of sixteen looked at Liu Ming a few times, she seemed to recognize Liu Ming's identity, and said with some excitement, but then looked away, as if she had thought of something.

"Fifth aunt, your old eyesight is still so good, it's me who is back, and I have explored flowers in high school. What's the matter, Aunt Five, is Lianxi okay, what about Feng'er?" Liu Ming looked at the old woman's expression, and a feeling of uneasiness came to his heart, and he asked eagerly.

The old woman didn't say anything more, but shook her head slightly and sighed softly.

Seeing this, Liu Ming couldn't help but chuckle in his heart, and then rushed towards his home without looking back.

As 10 years ago, over a small hill in the village, in the middle of a depression, there is a small wooden house made of thick logs.

Liu Ming pushed open the door of the empty house, but found that the house was empty.

The dilapidated house was covered with dust, as if no one had lived in it for a long time.

On the table and on the ground, there are a few wooden basins that have long since dried up, obviously leaking from the wooden house on rainy days, and are used to collect rainwater.

"Feng'er, Dad is back. Seeing this, Liu Ming called out loudly.

(Second update.) Great Khan, forgot to go to the field today, met several other authors, but at ten o'clock in the evening and hurried back, fortunately on the high-speed rail with a lot of books, otherwise it would be too late to update. (To be continued......)