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

Although it was said to be a discussion, the real decision makers were Lin Junhui and Tan Yaoqi. Given their identities, if anything went wrong, Master Yang would have a hard time explaining himself when he returned.

The escort agency arranged mule carts. Even if they increased the speed, it would still take at least two hours to get back to the county town. By then it would be dark and the city gates would be closed. They would have no choice but to sleep outside the city, which was even more unsafe.

Lin Junhui and Tan Yaoqi are both smart people. They have taken all these into consideration, but they feel that the closer they are to the county town, the safer they will feel. If anything happens, it will be easier to go back to the county town to call for help. After discussing it, they decided to speed up their journey to the county town and strengthen vigilance on the road.

What happened here could not be hidden from the teacher of the county school. Teacher Yang and the leading escort told Teacher Lu of the county school about their doubts and concerns. Teacher Lu nodded and said he would cooperate.

No one wanted to talk anymore, and everyone paid close attention to the movements around them.

The escort driving the carriage also kept waving his whip, and the speed suddenly increased a lot.

Zhang Ping'an secretly instructed the people around him: "Tie up all your valuables with you, so that if something happens, you won't suffer too much loss."

Without his son's instruction, Zhang Laoer had already secretly tightened his belt. All the silver was in the belt. In addition, important documents such as household registration certificate and guarantee letter were all wrapped in oil paper and put in a bag, tied tightly and carried on his back.

Liu Sanlang tied the dozen or so skins he had picked up at noon with a rope around his waist, tied the bundle tightly and carried it on his back. This was his most valuable property.

After the mule cart sped up and went more than twenty miles, the county town gate could be seen in the distance. It was already dark, and the escorts had to light torches. Kerosene was expensive in ancient times, so this would result in a lot of money losses.

At this moment, a strong wind blew all around, making it impossible to open one's eyes. In the distance, lightning flashed across the night sky. The weather became increasingly hot and humid, making it hard to breathe. Add to that the swarms of snakes, insects, rats and ants scurrying around. Many students could no longer remain calm and cried out in tears, "How long will it take? Is there a ghost coming out?!"

Tan Yaoqi was already upset. Upon hearing this, he pulled out a whip from his follower's waist and hit the shaft of the cart with it. He said gloomily, "If you dare to scream again, the ghosts will come out and eat you first!"

When everyone saw this, they dared not say anything.

After walking another four or five miles, the mule refused to move forward and kept digging its hooves in the same place. No matter how the escorts whipped it, it was useless. Zhang Ping'an could clearly feel a sound coming from the ground, a bit like muffled thunder, and this time there was no way to stop it from making noise.

Zhang Pingan said to Master Yang, "Master, we can't go any further. I suspect it's an earthquake. There's a muffled sound of thunder coming from underground. I have sharp hearing, so I can't be mistaken."

Master Yang was also disturbed by the turbulent wind blowing around him. He was not afraid of fighting the enemy face to face, but he was most afraid of this kind of invisible supernatural thing. He jumped out of the car and lay on the ground to listen carefully. After a moment, his expression was solemn and he said, "There is indeed a sound!"

Zhang Pingan jumped off the mule cart with his bag on his back and said to his father and brother-in-law, "Dad, brother-in-law, please get off the cart quickly. There might be an earthquake. It's safer on the ground than in the cart. If the mule gets scared and runs away, it will be terrible."

Zhang Laoer and Liu Sanlang also jumped out of the car quickly. Several people stood under the car anxiously. Seeing this situation, Liu Shengyuan and Jiang Yaozu also quickly asked their family members to get out of the car together. It is always right to listen to smart people when there is something wrong.

Lin Junhui and Tan Yaoqi jumped out of the car and walked over to ask, "What's wrong?"

Master Yang said sternly, "There's a noise underground. We can't go any further. Besides, we can't get into the county town if we go back now. It's better to rest here for one night and go into the city tomorrow morning."

Tan Yaoqi frowned when he heard this, and he lay on the ground to listen. After getting up, he said irritably, "Yeah, there was a muffled sound of thunder, but we're almost at the county town, and camping outside the city gate is better than in this wilderness."

Lin Junhui also frowned: "We'll be in the county town in less than an hour. Why don't we keep going a little further?"

Zhang Pingan shook his head and said, "The mules won't move, which means we can't go any further. This is the best place to rest. The surrounding area is flat and vast, with farmland. Going further is a hilly area, which is unsafe."

The two sides were in a stalemate, and the team gradually became anxious. The leading escort was in a dilemma. Both sides had their reasons, and he didn't know what to do.

After a moment of stalemate, everyone no longer had to make a choice. This time, everyone clearly felt the ground shaking slightly. The mule was frightened and kept neighing and digging its hooves on the ground, trying to break free from the reins. If it had not been held tightly by the escorts, it would have been frightened and ran away.

Zhang Pingan quickly shouted, "The ground is shaking! Everyone run to the fields and lie down with your hands on your head."

After saying that, he didn't care whether others believed it or not. He pulled his father, brother-in-law and Brother Liu to the farmland on both sides. The autumn harvest had just been over and the land was bare. They found a flat place and lay down.

Zhang Laoer was still confused: "Son, what's going on?"

Liu Sanlang also looked puzzled. He didn't quite understand what had just happened. He knew that something was wrong, but people tend to follow the crowd. It felt strange that only the three of them ran away while no one else did.

Zhang Ping'an took out the realgar powder that Doctor Chen had given him and sprinkled it around before continuing to lie down. He explained, "Dad, brother-in-law, don't worry about others, just take care of ourselves. I think there's going to be an earthquake. There are noises underground, and there's a strong wind blowing everywhere. It's so stuffy. You've lived for almost 40 years, and when have you ever seen such a large number of snakes, insects, rats and ants running out?"

"That's right, I've never seen it before," Zhang Laoer muttered.

Liu Sanlang was very worried: "What if they...they all leave and don't care about us anymore?"

"That's no big deal. It's only about twenty miles away from the county town. We can walk back by ourselves," Zhang Pingan said patiently.

Brother Liu also agreed: "We can walk back on our own, there's nothing to be afraid of. The most important thing is to save our lives first."

The ground was shaking more and more. The others who were discussing something were stunned. The leading escort and Master Yang shouted at them, "Stop talking! Run to the fields! The ground is shaking!"

Lin Junhui and Tan Yaoqi were the first to react. They ran in the direction Zhang Pingan had just run. As luck would have it, they happened to lie next to Zhang Pingan.

The circle created by the realgar powder Zhang Ping'an had just spread was not very big, so after Lin Junhui lay over, Tan Yaoqi could only stay outside the circle.

There were many bugs and toads in the field. Tan Yaoqi was disgusted by these toads and asked Zhang Pingan, "Zhang Pingan, do you have any realgar powder? Lend it to me. I will pay you back a hundredfold when I return to the city."

"Wow, you have a very sensitive nose?" Zhang Pingan said in surprise. It was pitch black in the ground, and he definitely couldn't see it by looking. He probably knew it by smelling it.

Tan Yaoqi said arrogantly, "The realgar wine we drink during the Dragon Boat Festival has this flavor."

Zhang Pingan helplessly threw the other bag of realgar powder in his arms over. Tan Yaoqi took it and sprinkled it thickly around himself.

The others also reacted at this time and ran to the fields one after another, lying near Zhang Pingan. Tan Yaoqi scolded him harshly: "Stay away from me."

Unfortunately, no one listened to him at this time. His life was at stake, so he must protect himself first.

Everyone lay quietly in the field, no one spoke, and after a while the sound of the earthquake subsided.

Zhang Ping'an knew that earthquakes usually do not last very long, and the Huguang area is not a major earthquake zone. This should be an aftershock affected by the epicenter, and the earthquake should have passed by now. So he wanted to get up and see the surrounding situation, but was held tightly by Zhang Laoer and Liu Sanlang, unable to move. He had no choice but to continue lying there. Everyone lay there like this all night, and only slowly got up at dawn.