Poor Family

  Chapter 20 Four Gentlemen Selection

   At the same moment when Li Yanqing was bargaining with shopkeeper Luo, four squires from Xiaohe Township were invited to the school by Yao Ding.

  These four great squires are all prominent figures in Xiaohe Township, including Li Wenyou, patriarch of the Li clan, Wang Wanhao, Wang Gui's grandfather, Tang Lian, Tang Huai's grandfather, and a squire named Zhang Baojun, who is also the patriarch of a large clan.

   These four squires are also the sponsors of the school. Although the school has been changed to be run by the government, Yao Ding still needs to discuss important matters with them.

   "I guess everyone has guessed what it is to invite everyone to come. I went to the county this morning, and Xuezheng has set the time for this year's children's meeting. The time is set on the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, which is four days earlier than last year."

The style of writing in the Song Dynasty was very prosperous, and every imperial examination was highly valued from the imperial court to the local government. Jinshi in high school was not only a great honor for a scholar, but also the glory of his hometown. extremely beneficial.

  That's why all the local governments attach great importance to the selection of young talents in the county. Some county magistrates with vision have even been recruited since childhood. Liu Zhen, the magistrate of Tangyin County, is such an official.

After he took office as magistrate four years ago, he personally formulated a plan for the selection of young elites. Among them, the eight primary schools under the jurisdiction of the county will hold a winter test every December, called the Boys' Club, and each of the eight primary schools will select four students This year is the fifth time to participate.

The selection of the four places is up to each township. Yao Ding wanted to use an exam to select the students, but the four squires who run the school firmly disagreed. They went to the magistrate collectively, but Liu Zhixian compromised and agreed that Xiaohe Township students would be assigned to them. The four recommended it, and Yao Ding nominated it to Xuezheng.

Therefore, the students representing Xiaohe Township to participate in the Boys' Association every year are all children of their four families, and the results can be imagined. They rank eighth every year, and last year they rose a little to rank seventh. Accident, due to halfway withdrawal.

  Yao Ding also became cold-hearted. Every year, the four of them are nominated randomly, and he just submits the report, but today he has an idea.

  Wang Wanhao was the most straightforward, he smiled immediately: "Then follow last year's list! Anyway, there is no change, what do you think?"

  Tang Lian is more shrewd. In the past, Master Yao sent them a post and asked him to recommend it. He never discussed together, but today he called everyone together. There must be a change.

  He smiled and asked: "Master Yao, will there be any changes for the boy this year?"

  Yao Ding shook his head, "There is no change, but I want to recommend someone for the quota, so I will discuss it with everyone."

  Everyone laughed, "Master Yao wants to recommend Grandson Ling!"

  Last year, the four of them promised that this year's boy would give Yao Ding's grandson Yue Fei a spot, which was also a thank you for his hard work in the past few years.

  Yao Ding pondered for a while and said: "Although my grandson Yue Fei is indeed good, I want to give up this spot to another person. This person is called Li Yanqing, and he is a new student."

   Li Wenyou froze for a moment, 'Qing'er? '

   Li Wenyou really didn't expect that Qing'er was so valued by Yao Ding that he invited four squires to discuss this matter. Maybe Qing'er also has the literary talents of the great ancestor, so it must be so.

   "Master Yao, whose family is this Li Yanqing from?" Wang Wanhao asked.

Although the other three people did not know that Li Yanqing was the grandson of Li Wenyou, Li Wenyou couldn't hold back his face. He said with a dry smile: "I understand Master Yao's intentions, but the rules must not be broken. If you try, it will also cause criticism from the villagers, Master Yao doesn't need to give up the quota, I will recommend Yanqing."

  It was only then that everyone realized that this Li Yanqing was from the Li clan, but Yao Ding was a little confused: "But two days ago, he told me that the Li family will recommend Li Feng this year."

   Du Baozheng is Li Wengui, Li Wenyou's younger brother, and Li Feng is his eldest grandson. Every year, he takes up a quota.

  Li Wenyou smiled, "This is a matter of my family. I told him when I went back, but the Li family recommended Yanqing."

  Even if Li Yanqing is settled and has occupied Li's quota, the following problem is that the other three families will give up a quota to Yao Ding's grandson.

Wang Wanhao's face darkened suddenly. Last year, the four of them drew lots to decide. Wang Wanhao got the lottery. At first he wanted to confuse it, but Yao Ding was not confused, so he raised this matter again. He had no choice but to Expressed his position: "Okay! This year the boy will not participate in the Wang family test."

  Yao Ding was very relieved. His grandson was the best in school, but he didn't have the opportunity to take the boy's test. It really made him feel unfair. Today, he finally got his wish.

  . ． ． ． ． ．

At night, in the west room of Mrs. Hu’s house, the lights are bright and soft. Li Yanqing is sitting on the kang and concentrating on her homework. Tonight’s homework is the silent scripture "Thousand Characters" and "Hundred Family Surnames" three times each, and then copy Tang poems Twenty poems, "Thousand Characters" and "Hundred Family Surnames" were taught two years ago. Master Yao was afraid that the students would forget, so he let them review the past to learn the new.

  Most of the students have stayed in the school for two years, and they have a little foundation. Now they not only have to learn "The Analects of Confucius", but also recite ancient Chinese and Tang poems. Some older students with long studies even try to write poems and lyrics.

  Although Yao Ding has a weird temper, he is a great teacher. Li Yanqing also calmed down and studied with his master seriously.

  The room was very quiet, and Dahei was lying behind Li Yanqing, trying his best to deal with a big tube bone. This was a special gift Li Daqi bought for it, to reward it for protecting the little master without risking his own life.

Li Daqi was sitting in front of the big table in a daze. This afternoon he found his cousin Li Daguang, and learned the whole story from him. Before he recovered from the shock, the patriarch Li Wenyou sent someone to send fifty coins. The return of his four-year wages, in addition to his son's thirty pennies, converted into thirty taels of silver.

At this time, in addition to three ingots of vain silver, Li Daqi also had a land deed and ten guan coins. The ten guan coins were his hard-earned money from copying books for four years. Liu Chenghong snatched them away, and the housekeeper returned them. The mu land deed is the ancestral land left by his grandfather, which was forcibly bought by Baozheng Li Zhen at a very low price a few years ago.

  Li Daqi's nose was sore, and everything he lost came back. It would be great if Qing Erniang was still there.

   After an unknown amount of time, Li Daqi wiped away his tears, got up and came to the kang, sat cross-legged opposite his son, and asked with a forced smile, "Qing'er, did you gain anything from studying?"

Li Yanqing replied while writing: "How can there be no gains? Although today is only the second day, but the homework from the school yesterday was handed out. Master Yao criticized me for writing with the Zangfeng of official script, but without the changes of regular script, which is not regular script." Not official, nondescript, I suggest that I first write official script for one year, then write regular script for two years, and finally write running script for two years."

  Li Daqi was very excited because his son used to write like ghosts and draw talismans, but then he suddenly wrote very beautifully, but he didn't pay attention to the details of his son's writing. When he said this today, he carefully looked at his son's homework, and it was really like this.

   "Your master is very accurate and the method is correct. You should listen to the teacher's teaching."

   "Well! If he's right, I'll listen."

  Li Daqi was very preoccupied, but he didn't hear what his son said. He pondered for a while and said, "Qing'er, Daddy is discussing something with you."

   "What is Daddy going to say?"

   "Daddy agreed with shopkeeper Luo today that you can write up to three more novels."

   "Why?" Li Yanqing stopped writing and looked at his father puzzled.

   "Actually, what you said today is right. You have to study, you are very busy with your studies, and you don't have time to write novels at all. If you want to pass the imperial examination, you must go all out and study hard for ten years. You must not be half-hearted."

   Li Yanqing immediately felt disgusted, why is it an imperial examination again, and he went to study by himself, not for the imperial examination.

Li Daqi saw that his son's face was not right, so he quickly changed his tactics and said, "You like to write novels. It's not that your father disagrees. It's just that you are still young and you know Fang Zhongyong's story. After you have studied hard for ten years, when you are sixteen years old, Then you can devote yourself to writing novels, and Dad will never stop you again."

What his father said made Li Yanqing feel a little better in his heart. He also knew that it was too early for him to write novels. He had to start writing only to change his family's poverty. But if he didn't write novels, what would his family rely on in the future? Life?

Li Daqi understood his son's worry, and quickly said: "Today, your fourth uncle told me that the county is going to jointly compile the county chronicles with other gentry early next year. It will take at least a few years to earn money, and I plan to rent out the three acres of ancestral land, and I will also have some grain and rice income every year. Although it is not rich, at least I can have enough food and clothing."

  Li Yanqing thought for a while and said, "Let's plant three acres of land to Uncle Hu! There is no need for any land rent, Uncle Hu has helped us enough."

   "According to you! According to you!"

Li Daqi promised repeatedly that as long as his son is willing to study hard, these trivial matters will not be a problem. He was happy and said with a smile: "Tomorrow I will go buy some clothes, food, rice, and some furniture. When the house is repaired, we will move back and start. new life."

  Li Yanqing grinned, "Give Daddy another wife."

  (end of this chapter)