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

Du Zhong smiled and walked forward, brought the person over and introduced him, "This is my cousin Tan Yaoqi. Like us, he passed the imperial examination this year. He was studying in the provincial school before, and just transferred to the prefectural school these two days. We will be classmates from now on, so please take care of him."

Tan Yaoqi smiled faintly and bowed to everyone, and the other students also returned the greetings.

Zhang Ping'an was full of questions. He didn't know that Tan Yaoqi had gone to the provincial school. Even if he had gone there, it would only be for about a month at most. How did he transfer to the prefectural school?

But this was not his business, so Zhang Pingan just pretended not to know and continued eating and drinking.

Du Zhong arranged for everyone to sit down at a table right next to Zhang Ping'an.

Now Zhang Pingan couldn't pretend not to see it anymore, so he turned around and said hello with a smile: "Brother Tan, long time no see!"

Tan Yaoqi smiled faintly and said, "Not long, only about a month."

Zhang Pingan laughed dryly: "Haha, yes..."

The two of them didn't speak after that.

After everyone was seated, Du Zhong began to act as the master of ceremonies. He spoke passionately about the importance of the literary gathering and his outlook for the future. He seemed very high-spirited. After that, he began the first item of the literary gathering, the talent show.

Everyone knew this in advance, and everyone brought their own musical instrument. Students who brought zithers and zhengs had their servants help them set them up first.

Zhang Ping'an was also prepared, and it was easy to bring a bamboo flute.

It's no wonder that everyone played well. Zhang Pingan watched with great interest, enjoying the music while eating. Yuan Ziang, who was standing next to him, also commented while eating, "Well, your acquaintance plays the piano quite well!"

"Although he is a little arrogant, he is quite talented," Zhang Ping'an nodded in response.

After a while, it was Yuan Ziang's turn. Yuan Ziang chose the flute and played a song called "Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake". Ignoring his appearance, he played quite well. Zhang Pingan played "Autumn Thoughts" on the bamboo flute.

A scholar nearby jokingly said, "Mr. Zhang and Mr. Yuan really have similar interests. Even their choice of instruments and music are similar."

Zhang Pingan replied with a smile: "You Xiucai, this is purely a coincidence. I can only say that Yuan Xiucai and I are indeed like-minded people."

It was the other scholars' turn to perform. Yuan Ziang leaned in and chuckled softly, "I'm just lazy. I don't want to carry around such a large qin or sheng. It's too much trouble!"

Zhang Pingan also smiled and whispered, "I think it's because the bamboo flute is cheap and convenient to carry around. It seems we have the same idea in this regard."

"Hahahaha," Yuan Ziang laughed softly, "No, I'm going to get a stitch in my side from laughing."

Zhang Pingan rolled his eyes: "Is it that funny?"

"Mr. Yuan, I see that you are laughing so hard that you can't even straighten your back. But do you have any interesting stories? Why not share them with everyone?" Du Zhong asked with a smile.

Everyone looked over at him at once. Yuan Ziang relaxed his gaze and said awkwardly, "It's nothing. I just heard a joke. Go on, go on."

"The reeds reflect the sun, the lake is full of green waves, the autumn colors are picturesque, and they touch people's hearts. This scene is very beautiful. Why don't we each write a poem in the name of autumn? I will ask my servant to copy it down so that we can have it as a souvenir in the future," Du Zhong suggested while waving his fan.

Everyone agreed.

Du Zhong glanced at Yuan Ziang and said with a smile, "How about letting Scholar Yuan start first?"

In this situation, he definitely couldn't say no, so Yuan Ziang replied, "Yes!"

But he was not a poet, and after a long pause he finally wrote: "A clear stream flows over the green hills, the sky and water are clear and fresh, a color of autumn. Thirty miles away from the world of mortals, white clouds and red leaves drift by."

Everyone was tactful and supportive, praising the work. Yuan Ziang finally breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and whispered to Zhang Pingan, "This Du Zhong is really petty. I thought he was a good person."

"Okay, okay, it's not a big deal," Zhang Pingan said with a smile.

To be honest, the scenery of Lingbo Lake is really nice. It is quite relaxing for a group of young and promising students to have a picnic, play the piano and compose poetry.

It was not until the afternoon, near the time of Shen, that everyone finished and went home. Zhang Ping'an took Yuan Ziang's mule cart back home. When he got home, he found that his father and Xiaohu had already returned.

"Dad, Xiaohu, when did you come back?" Zhang Pingan asked in surprise.

Zhang Laoer looked a little tired and replied with a smile, "I got back at noon today."

Mrs. Xu was picking vegetables to prepare dinner, and her face was full of worry.

Zhang Pingan asked in confusion: "Mom, what's wrong with you? What happened?"

Xu sighed and said, "I heard from your father that taxes have increased by another 10% this year, and they're not allowed to be paid with silver or money. Grain prices have also increased quite a bit. Our family is fine, but I'm worried about your sisters and your grandfather's family. I don't know what to do."

"Each of their families has some savings over the years, so they will definitely be able to get through this year," Zhang Laoer thought.

"The world is becoming increasingly difficult, and this is what I'm worried about," Xu said unhappily.

"No matter what, our family is still able to get by. Whether the world is good or not is not something we ordinary people can decide. All we can do now is to take care of ourselves. If we have the spare capacity, we can help our relatives later," Zhang Pingan comforted him. We are all ordinary people at the bottom of society, so what's the point in worrying.

"Dad, did everything go smoothly on this trip back?" Zhang Pingan asked.

"It's okay. Thanks to Doctor Fu's introduction, it went quite smoothly. Our family is now much better off. I even invited Doctor Fu to dinner at the restaurant. He told me that many people in our city and counties have caught colds and are in urgent need of cinnamon twigs and ephedra. These two medicines are not produced locally, so they will definitely be difficult to buy in the future. He asked me to prepare more, and I brought back two big bags this time," Zhang Laoer replied with a smile.

Zhang Ping'an nodded. "Although Doctor Fu is a bit greedy, he's actually quite good to our family. This is all thanks to the relationship that Master Luo established. My classmates had a literary gathering during this holiday and didn't have time to visit. I'll go visit Master Luo next time I have a holiday."

Zhang Laoer was very pleased to hear this. His son was becoming more and more thorough in his work. "It's inevitable that officials will be greedy. If you can be less greedy, it will be a blessing for the common people. Next time you visit Master Luo, bring more gifts. Our family is well-off thanks to the Luo family."

"Yeah, I know," Zhang Pingan nodded.

The days passed by quickly, and half a month had passed in a flash. The weather in Ezhou Prefecture was getting colder. Recently, Zhang Pingan could clearly feel that more and more people were coughing, whether in the prefectural school or out buying things. The coughs were so severe that they even felt like they were going to cough out their lungs.

The provincial school was relatively okay, with strict management. Once a student showed signs of a cold or cough, he or she would be immediately ordered to go home and recuperate.

But ordinary people do not have this condition. Even if they are coughing to death, they still have to go out to make a living, otherwise they don’t know where their dinner will come from the next day.

Zhang Ping'an had a vague feeling that something was wrong, and he became even more nervous when he thought of what Doctor Fu said to his father when they were having dinner half a month ago.

After asking Professor Han for half a day off, Zhang Pingan wrote a letter to Jinbao at the post station about the current situation and his speculation, asking Jinbao to be prepared and to help notify other people at home. In ancient times, catching a cold was no joke, especially since it looked like an epidemic.