Poor Family

  Chapter 83 Home visit

After returning from the county school, everyone was exhausted. Wang Gui and Tang Huai lay on the bed moaning in pain. They drew their bows three hundred times today and ran another fifty miles in the afternoon. It seems to be far away from myself.

  When they got home, the extreme soreness and exhaustion hit them together, making them miserable. Wang Gui and Tang Huai yelled that they regretted that they should not learn martial arts from Zhou Tong.

  The two little maids were busy running around, boiling water, wringing hot towels, pinching their legs and hitting their backs, making Li Yanqing frown, shook his head and turned away.

  Li Yanqing and Yue Fei could still hold on. They lifted the lock a hundred times before running every day, and they continued to run long-distance every day. Running was very easy for them, but they only had to draw the bow three hundred times, which made their arms very weak.

  But Yue Fei didn't care about his physical exhaustion at this time. He found Li Yanqing in the dining hall worried. He found that he had to take riding and archery lessons every day, so how could they have time to study and prepare for the exam?

   "Old Li, why don't we go tell Master Zhou that we should take riding and archery lessons every two days instead!"

  Just when Wang Gui came to look for Li Yanqing, he heard Yue Fei's suggestion and yelled, "Yes! Let's talk about it, we can't even hold chopsticks, riding and shooting every day, isn't it killing us?"

  Li Yanqing shook his head with a smile, "You guys are thinking too simply. Master Zhou said this morning that if you don't want to go, you can quit. Now I'm going to make a request, isn't it just quitting?"

   "Then what to do? How do we read books."

  Yue Fei was worried to the extreme. Of course he didn't want to quit riding and archery, but he also wanted to be admitted to the state school. What should he do?

   "Yes! I also want to study, what should I do?" Tang Huai muttered while pinching his extremely sore thin arm.

  Li Yanqing picked up the book bag and said: "What else can I do, use the night time to study! Practicing martial arts during the day and studying at night, this kind of life is actually not bad, you continue to think of ways! I will go to study first."

  Yue Fei had no choice but to pick up his book bag and go back to his room. Wang Gui and Tang Huai stared at each other, what should they do?

  Li Yanqing went back to his study and opened a large nanmu box. This big box was full of books and weighed at least a hundred catties. He opened the lid, and there were dozens of scriptures neatly stacked in the box.

The imperial examinations in the Song Dynasty mainly examined the seven classics, among which "Yi", "Poetry", "Shangshu", "Zhou Li" and "Book of Rites" were designated as the great classics, "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" were designated as the concurrent classics, provincial examinations and interpretation examinations it's the same.

However, since Wang Anshi's political reform, he has reinterpreted the "Book of Songs", "Shangshu" and "Zhou Li" and compiled them into "Zhouguan Xinyi", "Mao Shiyi" and "Shangshuyi", which are collectively called the Three Classics Xinyi. This is the main test.

This is not as simple as reading three books. Among them, "Mao Shiyi" has 20 volumes, "Shang Shuyi" has 13 volumes, and "Zhou Guan Xinyi" has 16 volumes, adding up to nearly 50 volumes. To understand the implications.

  Li Yanqing was taught by Yao Ding, a mentor, and studied in Lushan Academy for five years. He read the three classics and new meanings.

Li Yanqing has been able to recite nearly fifty volumes of scriptures and interpretations backwards, and he has also recorded more than two dozen thick notes. These are the contents of the lectures given to him by his master Yao Ding for five years. He only needs to use this year's time , review master Yao Ding's lecture notes carefully several times, and then you can take the Fajie Exam.

Li Yanqing took out the books and notes, and piled them up around him like a hill. From the bottom of the box, he found twelve thick thread-bound books that were already a little yellow. These were the reading notes written by his father Li Daqi back then. Li Daqi's understanding of "San Jing Xin Yi" is essential.

At that time, Li Daqi was the first Xie Yuan in the Xiangzhou Xie Examination. The scriptures at home used to pile up like a mountain, and he basically sold them all later. However, his wife Yun Niang wrapped these twelve reading notes in oiled paper and kept them. She wanted to leave it to her own children, and to her relief under Jiuquan, ten years later, the essence of these twelve notebooks was really used by her son.

  Li Yanqing found five notebooks of "Zhou Guan Xin Yi" from inside, came to Yue Fei's room door, he knocked on the door, "Old Yue, it's me!"

   "Come in!"

  Li Yanqing opened the door and walked into the room, only to see Yue Fei practicing calligraphy, Li Yanqing smiled and put five notebooks of "Zhou Guan Xin Yi" on his desk.

   "This is the essence of reading that my father wrote back then. I'll lend you a copy. I don't think it's worse than attending a class in school. If you read it thoroughly, it doesn't matter if you don't have a class in the school!"

Yue Fei is going to take the state school entrance examination, and the state school entrance examination mainly tests one major classic and two concurrent classics. They are very familiar with "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius", so don't worry, the difficult one is "Zhou Guan Xinyi". As long as you read "Zhou Guan Xinyi" thoroughly, you will basically have no problem getting into the state school.

Although Yue Fei attended classes with Li Yanqing in Lushan Academy, he was far inferior to Li Yanqing in learning. He took the notes and read a few pages. He couldn't help being surprised and happy, and quickly got up and clasped his fists: "With these notes, I will be admitted to the state. There is no need to worry about learning, thank you for your help, I will finish copying them as soon as possible."

  Actually, Li Yanqing knew Yue Fei's level very well, and there was no problem at all when he was admitted to the state school, otherwise the master would not let him go to Anyang for the exam at the same time as himself.

   It’s just that Yue Fei was just too cautious. He went to the county school but didn’t go to the school to attend lectures.

At this moment, there was a rush of running outside, and Wang Gui rushed past the door, "Old Gui, I'm here!" Li Yanqing yelled, Wang Gui stopped, ran back and said hurriedly : "Come out quickly, Master Zhou is here!"

  Li Yanqing and Yue Fei were taken aback, and quickly followed Wang Gui out, only to see Zhou Tong sitting in the living room drinking tea, Tang Huai standing beside him with his hands down, looking very uneasy.

  The three of them stepped forward and bowed together, "See Master Zhou!"

Zhou Tong was wearing a loose blue cloth gown straight, his skin was dark, his eyes gleamed fiercely, even if he was sitting on a chair, he looked mighty and mighty, but there was a hint of a smile on his face, he took out four small gourds and put them on the table, "I guess your arms and legs are sore today. This is my secret medicine. It activates the meridians and relieves fatigue. Before you go to bed at night, take a pill and dissolve it in water, then apply it on your arms and legs. You will be able to recover tomorrow." Normal training, insist on using it for ten days, and you won’t need it in the future.”

   As he spoke, he handed the small gourd to the four of them. The four of them were overjoyed and took it quickly. They bowed and thanked: "Thank you, Master Zhou, for your concern!"

Of course Zhou Tong is not as simple as coming to deliver medicine. He has taught countless apprentices in his life, but few of them really satisfy him. He is already old, and this time he came to Tangyin County to teach riding and archery, and he also wanted to accept some closed disciples. Among the twelve people today, besides Li Yanqing, he found that Yue Fei is also a malleable talent, not only calm and stable, but also super strong, which is a good material for training a strong crossbow.

Zhou Tong pondered and asked, "I know you are all studying at school, but practicing riding and archery is also a process of continuous accumulation. You must not fish for three days and hang the net for two days. It is required to be uninterrupted every day. You study, let me discuss with you, and practice once every two days, what do you think?"

  The three of them all looked at Yue Fei. It didn't matter whether Li Yanqing went to the school or not, and it didn't matter whether Wang Gui and Tang Huai went to the school or not.

  Yue Fei was a little flustered under Zhou Tong's sharp gaze. He lowered his head and said, "It doesn't need to be done once every two days. It doesn't matter if you practice every day."

   "But how do you go to school to study?"

Zhou Tong smiled again: "Or I'll go talk to your family and ask you to go to Xiangzhou to learn martial arts, and to go to Beijing to participate in martial arts in the future. With my connections in the army, I can give you a good recommendation. This is also a good idea." It’s a very good way out, what do you think?”

Of course Li Yanqing will not take the martial arts exam, but he can only represent himself, not Yue Fei, let alone make decisions for Wang Gui and Tang Huai. Seeing that the three companions were hesitant, he said, "Report to Master Zhou, This matter is very important, please let us think about it for a while, and give Master Zhou an answer later, but one thing is for sure, we can practice riding and archery every day, and we are going to study at night."

Zhou Tong heard that they could practice riding and archery every day, so he stopped asking, got up and said, "Of course I want to give you some time to think about it. I have something to say to you alone."

  Li Yanqing sent Zhou Tong out of the gate, Zhou Tong stopped, stared at a big tree in the distance and said in a deep voice: "I have been to Daming Mansion, and I also found Yu Cheng, and gave him Song Jiang's letter."

   "How is Uncle Hu's family?" Li Yanqing asked.

   "I don't know what to say. The three of them rented 50 acres of land and farmed for a living."

   "Why is it a family of three? It should be a family of four!" Li Yanqing asked in bewilderment.

   "His wife returned to her natal family four years ago."

  Li Yanqing got news from Uncle Hu for the first time in four years, but unexpectedly hearing such a result, he couldn't help but secretly sighed.

  (end of this chapter)