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

Zhang Laoer acted quickly and rode back to town early the next morning. Xu also prepared two bags of snacks for him to take back, one for his eldest son-in-law's family and one for his own family. He had to take care of the Chrysanthemum issue while he was back. It was not a good idea for him to stay at home all the time.

After driving all the way to the town, Zhang Laoer first went to his eldest son-in-law's house and explained his purpose. Naturally, Daya and her husband had no objection and were both easy to talk to.

Butcher Liu was thinking about the piece of fine cloth his in-laws had given him last time. In the end, the whole family got a few feet of it each. He was very satisfied and said enthusiastically: "We have to take our Sanlang with us when we go out. He may not be good at other things, but he is strong and can easily deal with three or two thieves. Now he goes to the countryside to collect pigs alone. I feel very relieved!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Sanlang scratched his head and smiled foolishly. Liu the Butcher originally wanted to keep some food for him, but Zhang Laoer was in a hurry to return to the county. If he ate before leaving, it would be too late, so he could only decline with a smile.

It was very dangerous to travel in the dark, so Liu the butcher did not force them anymore and asked his wife at home to make some pancakes for the two of them to take with them. Daya helped Liu Sanlang pack some clothes, gave him a few words of advice, and then watched them leave.

Zhang Laoer drove the cart to Yue's carpenter shop again. Liu Sanlang was a little confused sitting in the cart, but didn't ask anything.

Zhang Laoer parked the car in front of the Xu family's carpentry shop and asked his eldest son-in-law to sit in the car and wait. Then he went into the shop. Both of his brothers-in-law, Xu Youde and Xu Youcai, were there.

Seeing his brother-in-law coming, Xu Youde hurriedly ordered his eldest son to pour tea: "Chunsheng, pour tea for your uncle quickly."

Then he smiled and said to Zhang Laoer: "Brother-in-law, please sit down. Why did you come to the shop? Si Ya's dowry will be ready soon. I will have someone take it to the county for you. You don't have to make a trip here."

Zhang Laoer didn't sit down or smile. He said in a deep voice, "Brother, you know very well why I'm here. Your Juhua has been living in the county for almost a month. As a father, are you not going to take her home or what?"

Xu Youde is a decent man and has never been very tactful. This idea was proposed by Xiao Yu, and he was unaware of it at first. Later, after he found out and listened to his wife's analysis, he thought it would be nice if they could really get married, so he turned a blind eye. Now that Zhang Laoer pointed at his nose and questioned him, he could only laugh dryly and said, "Brother-in-law, you see, I'm busy in the shop and I don't have time."

"So what do you think now, big brother? I've always been tongue-tied and I'm most afraid of people beating around the bush. If I have something to say, I'll just say it directly. If you want to marry Juhua to my boy Ping'an, that's impossible. The two of them are not a good match. Before, I took into account our kinship and thought about how you and sister-in-law had helped our family many times. I didn't want to have a falling out, so I kept waiting for you to come and pick her up. But you haven't come for almost a month," said Zhang Laoer coldly.

Seeing that things were going wrong, Xu Youcai stepped forward to smooth things over and said, "Brother-in-law, there must be a misunderstanding here. Please sit down and have a cup of tea first."

Zhang Laoer was not prepared to really break up with his brother-in-law. After all, the Xu family had been very good to his family in the past, and nothing serious had happened at the moment. So he sat down reluctantly, drank half a cup of tea, and waited to see what his brother-in-law would say.

Actually, Xu Youde was unwilling to do such a risky thing. He was also very angry at Zhang Laoer's ruthless words just now. He was just about to say that he would go to the county town with him to pick up his daughter, but then he thought of what his wife said. He was in a dilemma for a while. After taking two deep breaths to calm down, he tentatively asked: "Brother-in-law, you have watched my daughter Juhua grow up since she was a child. She is a good girl. It is such a good thing for cousins ​​to get married!"

Zhang Laoer put down his teacup with a click and said, "Brother, if you say so, then in the end our two families may not even be relatives anymore."

When Xu Youcai saw that his brother-in-law was really angry, he couldn't help but look up and said to his eldest brother: "Brother, a forced melon is not sweet. Come with me to pick Juhua back!"

Xu Youde remained silent. Seeing that his eldest brother hadn't figured it out, Xu Youcai couldn't help but pull him aside and whispered, "I've felt that something was amiss for a long time. You and your eldest sister-in-law lied to us, saying that Juhua was taken away by her aunt to play for two days. Now that my brother-in-law has said so, if we shamelessly let Juhua continue to deny it, the only one who will suffer in the end will be our Juhua. Aren't you and your eldest sister-in-law just taking advantage of my third sister and her husband's soft hearts? But this is a matter of life and death for Ping An. There's no way they'll give in. By then, it won't be a marriage but an enmity. Ping An is about to succeed, why do you have to make trouble at this critical juncture!"

Xu Youde felt depressed: "It was all your sister-in-law's idea. She also wanted Juhua to have a good home."

Xu Youcai sneered: "These are all bad ideas! Hurry up and go to the county town with your brother-in-law to bring Juhua back, otherwise your brother-in-law will really be angry with you."

Xu Youde then said reluctantly: "Brother-in-law, I will go to the county town with you to bring Juhua back."

Zhang Laoer's expression turned from gloomy to bright. He stood up and said with a smile: "Brother, we are all real relatives. Let's not do these empty things. If there is any problem at home in the future, I will help you."

With the stairs down, Xu Youde felt a lot more relaxed. The three of them drove to the county town together and arrived home in the evening. Juhua saw her father coming with them and knew that she had no chance this time. She couldn't help but start crying again. Her family was used to it and no one paid any attention to her.

The next morning, Xu Youde called a taxi and the father and daughter returned to town.

"Huh, my ears are finally quiet," Xu and Si Ya sighed at the same time.

On August 1st, Qingsong Academy organized all the students to take the academy examination. There were ten people in total from the upper, middle and outer dormitories, plus each of them brought their relatives with them. The team was really not small, and was led by Master Yang.

Master Yang was also cursing in his heart. This kind of escort was tiring and unprofitable, and he would be held responsible if something went wrong. But since he was the only martial arts master in the academy, there was nothing he could do and he couldn't refuse!

Everyone gathered at the city gate, and after getting to know each other, they started to set off for Huguang Province. August was already very hot, and Huguang was a famous furnace, so everyone's clothes were soaked with sweat in a short while.

Several scholars began to complain, "What a horrible weather!"

Tan Yaoqi was the loudest among them, cursing all the way, and several guards were almost driven silly by his scolding. On the contrary, Lin Junhui, although also a child of a famous family, did not complain all the way.

After much difficulty, they arrived at the Ezhou Prefecture Pier. Everyone could take a boat to the provincial capital, which was more convenient. They could also enjoy the breeze on the boat, and at least it wasn't so hot. However, unexpectedly, most of the people got seasick.

Even Zhang Pingan didn't know that he was seasick, as he had never been seasick in his previous life!

The seasick people held on to the boat's side and vomited all the way to Huguang Province. It was so miserable that they almost vomited bile!