The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

The Zhang family's courtyard is large, with three main rooms and the middle one serving as the main hall. The left side of the main hall is occupied by Mr. Zhang, the right side is occupied by Mr. Zhang and his wife, the east wing is occupied by Mr. Zhang the third and his wife, and the west wing is allocated to Mr. Zhang the second's family. The houses are all large and spacious. The children are still young and still live in the same room with their parents, separated by a straw curtain, which makes them very comfortable.

But according to convention, the old house should be inherited by the eldest son, so before Zhang Laoer and Zhang Laosan's children get married, they still have to find a way to build their own houses, otherwise the children will have no place to get married.

Now that they have separated, the three families take turns cooking. Xu had been busy all afternoon and was tired after just coming out of confinement. While the other two families were quiet, she prepared to cook first. After feeding the two children in the room, she went to the kitchen to knead some flour, chopped up the vegetables picked from the garden, and cooked a dumpling soup with the noodles. Of course, there were more vegetables than noodles.

After eating, Zhang Laoer had to take the sacks to the threshing ground to collect the grain. If it got wet with dew, the whole afternoon of drying would have been wasted.

Several children ran around and helped to hold the sacks, which also provided a lot of help to Zhang Laoer.

They were busy until it was completely dark. After returning to the room, Zhang Laoer went to see his son first. Both children were asleep. Looking at his son's sleeping face, Zhang Laoer stood by the bed and chuckled twice, feeling a sense of satisfaction in his heart.

After standing there for a long time, he couldn't help but touch the child's face with his fingers. It was as soft and smooth as a peeled egg. Only then did he realize that the child's face was covered in several bite marks. Perhaps Zhang Laoer's hand was too rough and uncomfortable, the child tilted his head and smacked his lips twice. Frightened, Zhang Laoer quickly withdrew his hand, fearing that his son would cry.

Xu was folding clothes nearby. When she saw this, she couldn't help but give Zhang Laoer a cold look and scolded him, "Be gentle, don't wake our son up."

"Hehe, I just wanted to touch him, I didn't want to wake him up."

"Look at you. When you are about to get kissed, your body is so dirty. Go wash it off quickly. You are covered in sweat and mud and yet you come to touch your son."

"Okay, I'll go right away," Zhang Laoer replied. He was indeed very dirty.

"Mom, I want to touch it too."

"And me," Daya and the others were chattering beside them.

"What are you touching? You might wake up your brother. Hurry up and take a shower," Xu drove them away.

"Mom, can I wait and see? That way, when Goudan asks me what my brother looks like, I'll know what to say," said Erya.

"You can take a look after he's washed clean. My brother is small and weak, and he can't be stained with dirt," Xu thought for a moment and replied.

"Okay, let's go take a shower."

A bathroom was specially built in the backyard. The children were still young, so a large wooden tub was enough for them to sit down and play with water while taking a bath. It was very fun for several children to take a bath together.

The weather was hot, so there was no need to boil water. Zhang Laoer simply drew water from the well in the backyard and washed his two children. When Zhang Laoer came in after washing, the two children had already been put in the cradle.

Daya and the others also changed into clean clothes and came in.

"Our son is so well behaved," Zhang Laoer couldn't help but say. He had rarely heard his son cry. At most, he would whimper if he was uncomfortable being touched.

"Of course, our son really knows how to care for others. He usually cries when he's hungry or has diarrhea. It's much easier for him to take care of them than it was for me before," Mrs. Xu replied with a smile.

"My younger brother is really well behaved," Daya agreed.

"My younger brother is much more obedient than Liuya. Liuya always cries and is so annoying," Erya also said.

"My brother's eyes are still bright, as if there are stars in his eyes," San Ya said.

Si Ya didn't understand anything and just followed her sisters' lead.

"I see that my son has several mosquito bites on his face. Tomorrow when I go to the market, I will buy him a fine cloth mosquito net, and then make him a bamboo stretcher to hold up the mosquito net," said Zhang Laoer with concern.

"There are a lot of mosquitoes in the summer, there's nothing we can do about it, but the fine cloth ones should be expensive. How about I go and ask my sister-in-law tomorrow? Her brothers Dazhu and Erzhu have used mosquito nets before. Theirs is made of linen, which can also keep out mosquitoes, but it's not as light-transmitting and breathable as cotton," Xu replied.

The couple talked in silence, something they hadn't experienced in more than two years.

As the two of them asked and answered each other, they both felt that their lives were more hopeful and the room was full of warmth.

There were two big beds in the room, and Daya and the other children slept on one of them. This bamboo bed was woven by Zhang Laoer himself. Maybe they were tired during the day, so Daya and the other children fell asleep soon after they climbed onto the bed after talking.

Seeing that the children were all asleep, Xu went over and blew out the lamp, as lamp oil was expensive.

After returning to bed, Zhang Laoer was silent for a moment and said, "Sanniang, have you blamed me for the past two years, and for the fact that my mother asked me to divorce my wife..."

"Don't say anymore, I don't blame you," Xu stopped talking, "I have heard a lot of gossip in the village. As a man with a family of his own, you must be even more ashamed. I know you don't want to do that either. In the end, I am sorry for you. No family can give birth to so many daughters in a row."

Xu knew the pain in Zhang Laoer's heart, and she herself had also been suffering before.

If it weren't for this little guy's timely arrival, I'm afraid I wouldn't even be alive now. I really had the intention to die before. Rather than being divorced and returning home, bringing shame to my family and embarrassing my parents, I decided to end it myself. Fortunately, my son came, and it didn't come to that!

"Now that our son is here, our lives will get better and better. I will definitely work hard to make you and your son live a good life. After the busy farming season is over, I will go to Ezhou Wharf with the third brother, Daqiang and Erqiang and others. There will definitely be many ships coming to transport grain. There will be a lot of work and the wages will be high," said Zhang Laoer, reaching out and holding Xu's hand.

After thinking for a while, he put his left hand into the crack of the wall and dug out a small cloth bag. "This is the money from our family. I put the money I earned from selling bamboo utensils and grain, as well as the money from labor, in this bag. I'll give it to you for safekeeping. It's up to you to decide what to buy for the family."

Xu took it and touched it. It was all small change, probably more than 30 taels. The moment she received the silver, Xu burst into tears. It was not because of the money, but because the head of the family finally trusted her and was willing to let her take care of the family.

In fact, when they first got married, the family's money was also kept by Xu. Gradually, it seemed that after San Ya was born, Zhang Laoer asked for the money back with the instigation of his mother-in-law, saying that he would manage it himself. In fact, he was just guarding against himself.

At that time, Xu felt very upset and cried several times behind people's backs, but she knew she had no confidence, so she said nothing, not even telling her own mother.

Xu's sobbing was obvious in the darkness, and Zhang Laoer leaned over and hugged her.

"Don't cry, it's my fault in the past. If you want to feel bad, just hit me." Zhang Laoer didn't know how to comfort people, so this was the only way he could think of.

"Pfft, why would I hit you?" Xu was so angry that she laughed and reached out to hit Zhang Laoer, the wooden man. "It's all over."

Xu couldn't hold back her tears for a moment, and it took a while for her to stop. Years of suppressed grievances were finally swept away after she cried. Zhang Laoer listened quietly, patting Xu's back from time to time. He knew that Xu needed to vent her grievances.

"Really, I think life is pretty good now," said Mrs. Xu.

"I think so too," Zhang Laoer replied.

"Actually, there are still quite a few things missing at home. Ping'an's clothes are still the old ones picked up from Daya and the others, and they are all in tatters. We need a set of decent clothes for the full-month banquet. Also, I don't have much milk this time, and it will be even less for two children. They may only be able to feed for one or two months at most. It would be better to buy a ewe and let Liuya drink goat's milk. When I run out of milk, Ping'an can take over. We are almost out of oil and salt, so we have to buy some. It will definitely take a lot to hold the banquet," Xu counted carefully.

"I'll do as you say," said Zhang Laoer. He was now content with having a son.

A good night's sleep.