Poor Family

  Chapter 25 The Sign of the Top

  Early in the morning, the four of Li Yanqing changed into the clothes they wore on formal occasions. They usually wore hoodies, which consisted of black gauze caps, sapon shirts and horn belts. Due to the cold weather, they put on a short fur fur outside.

  The four of them did not take the bullock cart, and under the leadership of Master Yao Ding, they walked directly to the county government office not far away. They went to participate in the opening ceremony and lottery ceremony of the Boys' Association today.

As soon as they walked to the side door of the county government office, a man ran out from the door. He was tall and thin, with eyebrows and eyes very similar to Tang Huai. He was their contact person. Tang Huai's uncle, named Tang Zhengzong, was about forty years old. Up and down, it looks very smart and capable.

   Tang Zhengzong has been their liaison for four consecutive years, and he is already familiar with a set of procedures. Seeing Yao Ding, he quickly said: "The other seven companies have already arrived, so we are the only ones missing."

   "Didn't it start at the right time? It's still half an hour away!" Yao Ding said dissatisfied.

Tang Zhengzong smiled wryly, "Everyone wanted to know each other's situation, so they arrived early. Just now, Tangbei Township School and Yuli Town School had a contest, and it was full of gunpowder. If there is no accident, it will be the two of them competing for the leader this year. "

  Speaking of this, Tang Zhengzong said in a low voice again: "I also heard a news that the Zhizhou Li Daguan will also come this time. I wonder if the news is true?"

  Yao Ding did not say a word. The eldest son told him last night that Li Zhizhou was very interested in the boys from Tangyin County, and he would come to observe this time, probably in the last few days.

  But he had a big quarrel with his eldest son last night and didn't want to bring it up, so Yao Ding said, "Let's talk about these trivial matters later! Let's go in first."

  Everyone walked into the middle hall, and saw that the courtyard was full of students, lined up in seven teams, and all the teenagers looked about twelve or thirteen years old, each of them was full of ambition, and looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes.

When the four students from the Lushan Town School walked in, the students in the yard laughed loudly, and they sent four little kids. Everyone looked down on the Lushan Town School, but now that four kids came, everyone didn’t even think about it. Putting them in the eyes, it's okay, safflower always needs green leaves to set off.

At this time, an official in his thirties came out from the hall. He coughed heavily, and the courtyard fell silent. Looking at the official's appearance, Li Yanqing knew that he was Yao Wannian, the son of Master Yao. Tangyin County Xuezheng is in charge of the county's educational examinations, and the father and son look almost exactly alike.

Yao Wannian invited Master Yao Ding to sit in the hall for a while. The students were not treated so well. They all stood in line in the yard for an hour or two, waiting patiently for the lottery to disperse. Their legs were numb from the cold, but Most of the students had experience, each brought a book to pass the time, Li Yanqing and the others only Yue Fei brought a copy of "Wang Linchuan Collection".

  Only standing there for a moment, Li Yanqing heard someone whispering in the nearby team, "Whose son do you think this red boy is? Why would the bull devil say that red boy is not his son?"

  Li Yanqing was taken aback, isn't this his own book? He looked back, only to find that almost half of the twenty-eight students were reading the same book. Li Yanqing looked down at the covers of their books. Li Yanqing covered his mouth all of a sudden, and almost burst out laughing. This pen name is really good. Isn't he "Little Lushan Boy"?

  Wang Gui whispered to Li Yanqing: "This book seems to be pretty good, let's buy a copy later."

  Li Yanqing nodded again and again, he must go and buy a copy, it seems to be selling well.

After waiting for half an hour, Li Yanqing's legs were about to freeze. With the sound of a bell, the Boys' Reunion Ceremony finally started. The masters from eight schools came out of the middle hall surrounded by three officials chatting and laughing. Among the three, Li Yanqing only knew one Xuezheng, Yao Wannian.

  Tang Huai whispered to the crowd: "The one in the middle is Liu Zhixian, the one on the left is Ma County Chancellor, and the one on the right is Xuezheng. The three of them are the judges for this boy's competition."

  Liu Zhixian looks very ordinary, with fair skin, but he has a good temperament, tall and thin, with a bit of a monk's demeanor.

On the other hand, the maxian magistrate next to him is very impressive. His face is longer than that of a donkey, and his eyes are more white than black, like a tadpole swimming in a white porcelain bowl. This is commonly known as four white eyes. Also known as Snake Eyes, its appearance is born from the heart, and from the appearance, it feels that this county prime minister is not a kind person.

  At this time, Li Yanqing suddenly remembered something. Didn't his father take the exam for the county magistrate's nephew? Could it be this ma county magistrate? Although that happened four years ago, Li Yanqing's intuition told him that it should be the county magistrate.

   "Students have worked hard!"

Liu Zhen, the county magistrate, said, "Since the establishment of the Boys' Association in this county, this year has been the fifth session. Here is a good news for everyone. Eight people participated in the second Boys' Association two months ago. The state examination, seven of them passed the high school Juren, and will go to Beijing to take the provincial examination next year. This incident caused a sensation in Xiangzhou, and even the magistrate decided to come to observe this boy's association, which shows that the boy's association established by this county is completely correct... ..."

Liu Zhen, the county magistrate, became more and more excited as he spoke, and the students below were also whispering. Seven of the eight people got the exam. This ratio is really amazing. Wang Gui curled his lips and said: "This is not the result of my own hard work. The boy will say It has to be like a dog skin plaster, once it is applied, it will work."

Yue Fei shook his head and disagreed with Wang Gui's point of view, "It can't be said that, we have gained a lot after only 20 days of hard training, but I heard that several townships have started forced training half a year ago, and the boys will be very angry. It trains people, there’s no denying that.”

Li Yanqing didn't listen to what they said, his attention was still on Ma Xiancheng, he found that when the magistrate said 'the boy will be completely correct', Ma Xiancheng curled his lips inadvertently, showing a look of disdain, Although this expression was fleeting and hard to see, it was still carefully captured by Li Yanqing. He thought to himself, it turns out that there is also a hidden conflict between the county magistrate and the county magistrate!

Liu Zhixian spoke for a quarter of an hour before officially announcing the start of the fifth Boys' Association. The following was the lottery ceremony. The top four from last year were drawn to determine their opponents in the first round. With a famous school name, everyone hopes to get the Lushan Town School, which means that the first round will be passed easily.

After Xuezheng Yao Wannian reiterated the various rules, he took a bamboo tube with four sticks and walked up to the masters of the four schools, Yuli Town School, Tangyin County Xuexiao School, Tangyin Wuben School, and Tangyin Wuben School. There is Weinan Town School.

  The corresponding four lots are Longyang Township School, Yongji Township School, Lushan Township School and Tangbei Township School.

In fact, there are far more than these eight schools in Tangyin County. There are dozens of private schools, village schools, social schools, etc., with a little more than 20 or 30 people, and a little less than a dozen or so people. There are only eight schools.

  Seeing that the lottery has already started, all the students looked at the four elementary school students in the Lushan Town School, their eyes were full of jokes, who will catch this little deer this year?

  At this time, Wei Nanzhen's master He Zhen suddenly laughed, "I won the draw!"

  Everyone understood what he meant. This year it will be Weinan Town Academy vs. Lushan Town Academy. There was an uproar inside and outside the middle hall. Liu Zhixian coughed heavily in dissatisfaction. He Zhencai realized his gaffe and quickly apologized with a smile.

  Liu Zhixian nodded and said: "Since they are all smoked, let Xuezheng announce it!"

Yao Wannian said in a loud voice before leaving: "I will announce the results of the lottery. Yongji Township vs. Yongji Township, Tangyin County Xuexue vs. Longyang Township, Tangyin Wuben vs. Tangbei Township, Weinan Township vs. Lushan Township. The time is tomorrow." In the morning, the time is exactly right, and the venue is in the Qinfen Hall of the county school, if you are late, you will give up and admit defeat."

After the ceremony ended amidst a lot of noise, the four students in Weinan Town hugged each other excitedly, as if they had already won ahead of time. Yao Ding stepped forward and patted the shoulders of his disciples and said with a smile: "Actually, we are lucky." Not bad, I drew a lottery."

  Everyone laughed bitterly. They were lucky not to meet Yuli Town School and Tangbei Township School in the first round.

Yao Ding said again: "Later, Xuezheng is going to clarify the debate and examination rules for the eight masters, and I will also participate. You go back to the inn to eat something, and write or read when you have time at noon. Running outside."

  The four agreed, and followed the crowd to the outside, out of the county office, Wang Gui smiled at Yue Fei and Tang Huai: "Brother Qing and I want to go to the bookstore, do you want to go too?"

  Tang Huai gave Wang Gui a kick. He actually had to discuss such a good thing with himself. The three of them looked at Yue Fei together. Yue Fei hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement, you scholar! Who doesn't want to visit a bookstore.

  (end of this chapter)