After my soul traveled to ancient times, I don't want to be cannon fodder

啊… … .

Xu Yongzhang was devastated!

It shouldn't be like this!

This shouldn't be the case!

What went wrong, why did it all turn out like this?

Xu Yongzhang was in the midst of collapse, and Zhong Ning was not feeling well either.

It’s because her private tutor came to give lessons at home.

In fact, the characters are easy to recognize. After all, I am a college graduate in modern times. How can I be really uneducated?

The difficult part is writing.

And it is written with a brush.

She was used to using a hard pen, and when she suddenly started using a soft pen, especially when writing complex and difficult traditional Chinese characters, she felt like her life was being taken away when she wrote each character.

The teacher who taught her was named Li Yuan.

He is nineteen years old this year and was originally a student of Fengcheng Academy.

However, due to his poor family background and his mother's serious illness, he had to drop out of college to make a living, set up a stall, write letters for people, copy books, or sell calligraphy and paintings to supplement the family income!

Fortunately, although he is not very talented, he studies hard.

Even if you are not in college, you can still learn spontaneously!

When Zhong Ning asked him to be a tutor, he was really happy. Not only were there few students to teach, but the teaching time was only one hour a day.

The salary was not low, two taels of silver a month. With this salary, at least his mother could get some good medicine when she was sick and improve her basic living standards.

Besides, Zhong Ning didn't have high expectations of him.

She just wanted to learn to read.

What a simple request!

When he started teaching one character at a time, he thought that if Zhong Ning could learn five characters a day, it would be very efficient.

But unexpectedly, she could remember at least thirty words a day.

I have a good memory, but my handwriting is really disappointing.

Li Yuan had no choice but to take out the copybook he usually used to practice calligraphy and give it to Zhong Ning to practice on.

Homework is assigned every day, and at least ten large characters must be completed in a day!

The most important thing in practicing soft brush calligraphy is wrist strength.

Use your wrist to exert force so that your writing can be as steady as a rock.

Li Yuan used the method his master had taught him to train Zhong Ning. He hung a stone under his wrist to balance his wrist strength.

Zhong Ning practiced this method for a few days and really felt that his hands were going to be broken.

But with hard work, there are rewards.

At least the handwriting is readable.

It used to be a mess, but now at least it has shape.

Be able to recognize what this word is.

Zhong Ning still feels a sense of accomplishment about this!

On this day, Zhong Ning was still practicing the newly learned traditional Chinese characters, but he saw Li Yuan, who was always calm, standing aside reading a book but could not turn the page.

I don’t know how long he stared at that page, even a fool could see that he was worried!

But I don’t dare to ask about the teacher’s affairs!

Seeing that Li Yuan's eyes were becoming more and more lost, Zhong Ning couldn't help but cough lightly!

Li Yuan put down the book and walked over!

"But is there anything you don't understand?" Li Yuan asked with concern!

"Sir, you misunderstood. I saw you reading for a long time without turning a page, so I dared to ask, sir, is there anything difficult? Why are you so uneasy?"

Li Yuan's eyes dimmed slightly, and then he sighed, "Nothing, I just feel regretful!"

"Any regrets?" Zhong Ning asked.

Seeing that Zhong Ning was determined to get to the bottom of things, Li Yuan felt that there was nothing he couldn't tell. After all, the person in front of him knew his situation.

"Do you know the Wu family in Qingpingfang and the Wu Jinshi?"

Zhong Ning nodded slightly.

As early as after entering the county town, she had already visited the Wu Mansion.

After all, one of the reasons for the original tragedy was that Xu Yongzhang wanted to become a disciple of Wu Jinshi!

It is said that this Jinshi Wu was also a second-class Jinshi who was selected in the palace examination. However, after passing the examination, he found that he was not suitable for officialdom, so he resigned and retired.

Now that the word has spread that he wants to recruit disciples, I'm afraid that the gate of the Wu Mansion is already crowded with students and parents who want to enter the mansion.

Doesn’t Li Yuan also want to join the Wu family?

It seemed that he sensed the inquiry from Zhong Ning.

Li Yuan admitted directly, "Who wouldn't want a teacher who can guide them on their path to the imperial examination? I'm also a student, so how can I avoid this custom?"

"Then why don't you give it a try, sir? I heard that this Jinshi Wu doesn't care about the students' backgrounds. If you're interested, you can give it a try!"

Zhong Ning tilted her head slightly, although she didn't believe that this Wu man would not care about background but only care about talent.

If that were true, Xu Yongzhang wouldn't have to go to so much trouble!

"It's too late!" Li Yuan sighed slightly. "Today is the day of the assessment. Many wealthy gentry have brought their proud children to visit us. I'm afraid that children from poor families like me won't even have the chance to visit them!"

"Why can't I go in?" Zhong Ning was curious.

"Because only students recognized by the Wu Mansion can receive invitations, and this recognition, in addition to talent and knowledge, also depends on family background. Only those who hold this invitation can enter the Wu Mansion today to take the assessment."

That's it!

So what Xu Yongzhang has always wanted to get is this invitation to enter the mansion?

I just don’t know whether Xu Yongzhang actually received the invitation?

At least it's like feeding the tiger with one's own body.

Chang Wenyuan wouldn't be so heartless, right?

Thinking of this, Zhong Ning also wanted to watch the show, and immediately said to Li Yuan: "Sir, the Wu Mansion is selecting disciples today, why not go and take a look, just in case, things turn around?"

Li Yuan glanced at her and his heart moved slightly.

He coughed lightly and then said, "Then I'll go take a look first. You practice your calligraphy at home first. I'll check it when I come back!"

Zhong Ning: …

She wants to go too!

Let her practice calligraphy again!

angry!

After Li Yuan left, Zhong Ningjing calmed down to practice calligraphy for two pieces, and then suddenly remembered that there was a small box in the space that she brought out from Zhou Yuhua's room.

There was a booklet in the box, but she didn't understand it at the time.

But she knows quite a few words now.

It’s a good time to take a good look!

As her thoughts turned, a tattered booklet appeared in her palm.

When she opened it, she suddenly felt like she knew the words inside, and each one was so familiar.

Before Zhong Ning could feel happy, he froze in place.

The booklet contains records of the trafficking activities of the old man and his wife, the Xu family, which were once glorious.

When they were young, they were truly a couple of thieves.

He made a lot of money by kidnapping and selling children from rich families all the way from south to north.

At least half of these children are from wealthy local families in the county.

They were taken away by the couple and sold to different places.

There are twenty-three names recorded in this booklet alone.

And Zhong Ning is one of them.

In the record on that page that marked the place of trafficking as Shengjing, a total of two children were successfully abducted.

One is Zhong Ning and the other is a boy!

The abduction record states that the time of abduction was fourteen years ago.

That year, Zhong Ning was just born and the boy was already two years old.

Now, Zhong Ning is fourteen years old.

The boy is about sixteen years old this year.