Poor Family

  Chapter 81 Returning to the County

It was already late at night when Li Yanqing returned home, the village was very quiet, the lights in every house were dark, and only occasionally the whimpering sound of the domestic dog could be heard, thinking that he was about to leave his small village for the county seat, he actually gave birth to this very familiar small village. A trace of nostalgia.

  Arrived at the door of the house, Li Yanqing had just jumped off the donkey when the yard creaked open, and the magpie rushed out, crying with tears all over his face: "Little official, sister is gone!"

   "Where did she go?" Li Yanqing was slightly taken aback.

"have no idea!"

  Magpie choked up and said: "In the evening, a young man came to pick her up on horseback, and my sister followed him. I couldn't persuade my sister, she left without looking back."

  Li Yanqing understood that it must be Zhang Qiao. Zhang Qiao was defeated by him, and he would not stay in Tangyin County anymore, so he took the wild goose away by the way.

   "Go back! Your sister will be fine."

Li Yanqing led the donkey and walked into the yard. Seeing the magpie's red eyes and worried face, he comforted her with a smile and said, "I met that young man this afternoon, and he won the third place in the martial arts examination. Don't worry about it, frivolous prodigal son."

  Hearing what the little official said, the magpie was a little relieved. At this moment, she remembered something again, and hurriedly said: "Little official, someone brought a horse at noon today, saying it was a gift from the patriarch to the young official."

  Li Yanqing was overwhelmed with surprise. He left the donkey and ran to the backyard. The patriarch gave him a horse as a gift.

Both Wang Gui and Tang Huai had their own horses, and Li Yanqing was also thinking of buying a horse, but he couldn't find any suitable horses. They were either draft horses for farming, or heavy-drawn horses for pulling carts. There are one or two horses that can be ridden, but he thinks the coat is too messy.

   Unexpectedly, the patriarch thought of himself first, Li Yanqing prayed while running, it must be a good horse that satisfies him.

  He rushed to the backyard in one breath, and saw a horse standing quietly in the barn in the backyard, like a noble and handsome man, quiet and elegant, Li Yanqing fell in love with it immediately.

Although it is night, you can still see the appearance of the horse with the help of the lantern hanging on the shed. Its fur is vaguely white, its head is small and full, its neck is long and powerful, its limbs are slender, and its physique is strong. Under the light, a pair of prominent legs , Shining bright, beaming eyes are watching him.

   "Young officer, this is a fine horse!"

Uncle Zhong appeared behind Li Yanqing leading the donkey, and said with a smile, "I have raised horses in Li's residence for nearly thirty years, and I have seen many kinds of horses. This horse is a horse dealer who came from the north two years ago. The one I bought in my hand was only one and a half years old at the time, and it was the best horse in the Li residence. The second master had always wanted to give it to Brother Feng, but the master refused to agree. I never thought that the master would actually give it to a small official."

  As Li Yanqing approached, the white horse became excited, snorted constantly, and rummaged the hay under its feet.

  But when Li Yanqing walked under its head, it became quiet again, its brown eyes showed soft gaze, and its muscles quivered slightly under its soft and graceful fur.

Li Yanqing patted its strong neck lightly, and carefully arranged the tangled mane on its neck. Li Yanqing's face moved closer to its nostrils that were as big as bat wings, and the white horse took a deep breath. , spat out again, shuddered, raised its pointed ears, stretched out its thick black lips to Li Yanqing, and gently arched it on his head, which made Li Yanqing's heart almost melt up.

   "Does it have a name?" Li Yanqing asked fondly stroking the soft and fine mane of the horse.

   "It was originally called Xuejian, which was the name given by its original owner. The petty official can also give it another name."

   "Snow Sword!"

  Li Yanqing thought about it and smiled: "That's a good name, it's called Xuejian!"

   "The master also sent a saddle and a bridle. I will put it on tomorrow, so that the little official can ride it around."

   "If Uncle Zhong bothers you, please ask Uncle Zhong to take good care of it for me."

  Li Yanqing fed his beloved horse some feed, and then went back to his room.

In the early morning of the next day, Li Yanqing came back from a hot run, and saw that Uncle Zhong had led the horse to the yard. It had been scrubbed clean. Under the sun, the snow-white fur was as shiny and smooth as silk, and the horse's hoof was like cast steel, beating vigorously. Facing the ground, the long tail of the horse is fluttering in the wind, and it has been equipped with a new pair of saddle bridles, which makes it even more elegant and elegant.

   "Little official, why don't you give it a try." Uncle Zhong patted the saddle and laughed.

Li Yanqing is no longer the youthful boy who fell off a donkey. He learned how to ride a horse in Wanggui Mansion. Although he is not tall enough, he is taller than many adults. He has been running for five years Make his legs strong enough to handle a galloping horse.

Li Yanqing pressed the saddle, turned onto the horse lightly, Xuejian walked a few steps in the yard, Li Yanqing pulled the rein, Xuejian raised his front hooves, neighed, and rushed out of the far door, along the The trail rushed to the outside of the village, Uncle Zhong ran a few steps and shouted anxiously: "When will the little official come back?"

   "I'm going to Tangwang Village, come back at night!"

   Li Yanqing's answer came from far away, the horses had already galloped away.

The good times are always short, and it will be time to go to the county school in a blink of an eye. Early this morning, Li Yanqing bid farewell to Uncle Zhong and his wife, and took Aunt Chrysanthemum and Magpie to Lushan Town in a rented wide-shed bullock cart. , Li Yanqing rode his white horse in front, the ox cart followed slowly, and a donkey was tied behind.

At this time, Yue Fei, Wang Gui, and Tang Huai were already waiting at the entrance of the inn. They also brought three ox carts full of various daily necessities. Wang Gui and Tang Huai's little maid sat in the front ox cart. , the two waved to the magpie to say hello.

The three of them were all riding horses, and Wang Gui was riding his favorite horse, Hei Hammer. He was wearing a study crown, a warrior robe embroidered with purple flowers on a white background, and a crimson underwear at the hem, long riding boots, and a leather belt around his waist. , with the Heavenly King Whip on his back, he looks extraordinarily energetic.

Tang Huai's horse is a yellow puma, bought by his uncle at a high price from the capital, but today he is dressed as a scholar, wearing a loose white Confucian robe, holding a new gold-painted folding fan in his hand, fanning the breeze leisurely .

  Yue Fei also wore a blue scholar's uniform and a scholar's scarf on his head. Although he was not as energetic as Wang Gui, he had a straight waist, broad shoulders and long legs, and a strong figure. He also looked energetic.

He was riding a big green horse under his crotch. Its coat color was mottled, and the horse's buttocks were mixed with a few pieces of gray miscellaneous hair. It had a little fat on its stomach, and its fur was loose. It could be seen that the big green horse was old, but its physique was quite tall. .

   The four of them met each other, and they were very affectionate. Li Yanqing patted Yue Fei's horse and smiled, "Old Yue, this horse is not bad!"

  Yue Fei scratched his head in embarrassment and said: "It was given to me by my uncle. Although I am a little older, there is no problem with short-distance running. Master Zhou wants to teach riding and archery, so I can't do it without a horse!"

Speaking of riding and archery, Wang Gui suddenly became excited, "I always thought that neither the county school nor the state school had riding and archery. If you want to learn riding and archery, you have to go to the state martial arts school. I didn't expect that the county school also opened riding and archery this year, and it is still Professor, the world-renowned instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Army, we are so lucky!"

   "Are there any conditions for learning riding and archery?" Li Yanqing asked again.

Tang Huai gently shook his small gold-threaded folding fan and said with a smile: "Of course there are conditions. First, you must have a horse. The county school does not provide horses. You must bring your own. The second condition is that your marksmanship must be excellent or above. At least eight out of ten shots, we all met the standard, and I heard that only twelve people in the entire county school met the requirements."

  Li Yanqing chuckled, "Lao Tang is always well informed, it's getting late, let's go!"

  Four ox carts lined up in a line and drove towards the county seat.

  After several days of exhausting and exhausting work, all kinds of messy things were finally over, and their school life began to get on the right track, but soon, the new students became dazed again.

Reading in the county school is completely different from their elementary school. There is a master watching from morning to night in the elementary school, who has to practice calligraphy, silent scriptures, read books, recite poems, and be beaten if they fail to finish. He worked hard like a cow and couldn't stop for a moment. After entering the county school, all the previous learning methods disappeared.

   There are only eight professors in the county school, but there are more than 500 students. Each professor has a fixed place, and they will ask people to post the content of the next day's lecture on the door of the cafeteria the day before.

As for whether the students like to come or not, whether they like to listen or not, it has nothing to do with them. They just teach the scriptures, and they don’t assign any homework for the students to go back to do, and there are no exams. The professor will ask to go to the study to answer questions alone.

  The loose and free atmosphere of the county school is a severe test of the will of the students. If the students want to be admitted to the state school, they can only study **** their own and work harder.

  But teenagers are ignorant and yearn for freedom, and the loose and free atmosphere of the county school has gradually turned many children into wild horses.

  But there are also many children who want to get rid of their fate by studying. They don't relax because of the looseness of the county school. On the contrary, they work harder.

  Shortly after entering the county school, the students began to divide rapidly, embarking on different paths of study.

For Li Yanqing, the county school is just a short stop on his way to study. He will take the exam at the end of the year. He will soon calm down and start to study hard. The same is true for Zhang Xian. Their master knows the county school. If they are lax, they set goals for them early on.

  But Yue Fei was more diligent than them. Sometimes when the night was very late, the lights in Li Yanqing and Zhang Xian's room were off, while the other was on. Under the light, Yue Fei was still concentrating on his study.

  (end of this chapter)