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

There was still snow on the road, so the mule cart moved slowly. It was almost dark when everyone returned to Zhangjia Village.

There was no one at the entrance of the village. They must have gone home for dinner. Xiaohu jumped out of the car and knocked on the door: "Grandpa, Grandma, open the door!"

Li's voice came from the yard: "Who is it? It's dinner time, knocking on the door!"

"It's me, Xiaohu," Xiaohu shouted at the top of his voice.

Li opened the door and said in surprise, "Second brother, second sister-in-law, why are you back? Come in, come in!"

After saying that, he turned around and shouted to the yard, "Dad, Mom, third brother, second brother and the others are back!"

Soon, a group of people gathered at the door. Zhang looked in good spirits and said in a deep voice, "Don't gather at the door. Help your second uncle and the others drive the car in first."

Because of the epidemic, Dahe and Erhe were also at home. Together with the children at home, there were nearly 30 people in the family, and it was very noisy.

Zhang Pingan gave a bag of candies to a few children and asked them to go to the backyard to share them. More than a dozen children were so happy that they kept saying that their uncle was the best. Then they went to the backyard, and the surroundings immediately became much quieter.

"Brother Ping'an, I'll go home first," Xiaohu said when he saw that there were many people helping at home.

Zhang Pingan knew that Xiaohu must be homesick, so he didn't force him to stay for dinner. He packed up some of his things and let Xiaohu take them back. He smiled and said, "Remember to come over for dinner tomorrow."

"Yeah," Xiaohu nodded, then ran home with his things.

Li smiled as she helped move things, "The children are so happy now. They ate a lot of candy and snacks during the New Year. Xiaohu is also lucky. I see that he has grown a lot taller and fatter in the six months since he came to the capital. He must have eaten well."

"They are all children," Xu replied with a smile.

"You may have to sleep in a crowded room tonight. Dahe and Erhe are back from town. There are so many children at home that there is not enough space, so we set up a few beds in your west wing," Li said.

After everyone moved everything to the west wing, Li took her two daughters-in-law and hurried to cook. The food was almost ready just now, so now she would definitely have to add a few more dishes. She seemed much more easy-going than before, always with a smile on her face, very much like an eldest sister-in-law.

Half an hour later, the whole family sat down to eat. Zhang Laosan's family had already eaten, and now they sat at the table to join in the fun and chat.

"Second brother, Ping'an, how many days will you stay this time?" asked Zhang Laosan.

"Wait five or six days. Ping An only took 15 days off, and the journey back and forth will take another seven or eight days," Zhang Laoer chatted while eating.

Zhang, who was sitting at the head of the table, said, "The roads are hard to walk on in the winter, and Ping'an still has to go to school. Why did you come back so hard?"

"Grandma, my dad is worried about our family, you and my grandpa, and we didn't come back for the New Year, so he must come back to see us to feel at ease," Zhang Ping'an said with a smile.

Zhang then smiled and said, "You are so thoughtful. Don't be like this in the future. Just live your life well."

Zhang Laoda said jokingly, "Mom, my second brother is back to see you, why are you talking like that?"

Zhang glanced at her eldest son and said calmly, "I just talk like that, what's wrong?"

Boss Zhang said awkwardly, "Nothing, nothing."

Zhang Pingan smiled and said, "Grandma, we brought you and Grandpa some down jackets when we came back this time. Nowadays, all the wealthy families in the capital wear down jackets. They are very warm. You can try them on after dinner."

"Yeah," Zhang replied with a smile, took a bite of cured pork head and drank a glass of wine.

Although it is a national mourning now, the rural people are far away and do not feel it directly. They still eat and drink as usual and do not care about these things.

Zhang Laoer ate half his fill before sighing, "Home food is still the best. Oh, and did you know that the old emperor passed away on the first day of the Lunar New Year? We're in a period of national mourning now. From now on, we should avoid heavy dishes like fish and meat. It's better to be more cautious."

Zhang Laoer was afraid that his son's reputation would be affected, so he wanted to nip it in the bud even if there was only a slight possibility.

The women and children had a small table to themselves. Li was eating at a small table nearby. Hearing this, she smiled and said, "I did hear the village chief say that, but here we live in a place where the emperor is far away and nobody cares about these things. It doesn't matter to us who becomes the emperor."

Zhang was unaware of this and was hearing about it for the first time. It was cold in winter and she seldom went out. She replied, "Ping'an is studying now, so he should be more careful. Don't cook meat in the future."

Li smiled and replied, "Well, I'll listen to you."

Although Ma was full, she still picked up the meat with chopsticks and ate it. Seeing the whole family praising the second wife like the moon, she felt very jealous, but she knew that being jealous was useless, so she could only pick up a few more chopsticks of meat and eat it resentfully.

The youngest son of Erzhu's family, nicknamed Manman, was only three years old and a slow eater. He watched Ma pick up the meat with chopsticks one after another, until the meat was almost gone. He couldn't help crying, "Wow, grandma, Third Grandma has picked up all the meat. I have no meat to eat. This is our meat."

Although the child is young, he knows that the two families usually eat separately, and he can clearly distinguish between your house and my house!

Ma was so embarrassed by the child's shouting that she had to put down her chopsticks and threatened: "Children, if you eat too much meat, you will turn into piglets!"

"I don't believe it. Grandma said everything you said is a lie."

Mrs. Li picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks for her grandson and said jokingly, "Hurry up and eat yours. Are you satisfied now?"

It is inevitable that there will be some bumps and bruises when a family is together, but Zhang didn't care at all.

After dinner, Zhang Laoer and Xu took out the things they brought from the city and divided them up. The whole family was smiling, especially Zhang and Old Man Zhang, whose down jackets were made of satin and embroidered, and looked very expensive. Li and Ma were so precious that they didn't dare to touch them for fear of scratching them.

"Oh my God, how much silver does this cost?" Ma sighed. If she were in his place, she would not be willing to spend it.

Zhang touched the clothes and sighed, "I never thought I'd be able to wear clothes like this again in my life. They're quite warm. You guys are so thoughtful."

Old Man Zhang wiped his tears as he put them on and said with a smile, "When I die, I'm going to take this dress with me into my coffin. You're not allowed to keep it for yourselves."

Zhang Lao Da and Zhang Lao San complimented him, "Dad and Mom are so lucky!"

"Life will get better and better in the future. We will be the last to get dressed. Our parents are old, so they should get dressed first," Li said with a smile. Among the three sisters-in-law, Li was the most emotionally intelligent and pleasant-sounding, and was also the most capable of getting things done.

Mrs. Zhang and Old Man Zhang tried it on and then put it away, saying they would wear it when they visited relatives.

Everyone washed up and went to bed.

The bedding at home was padded with straw and cotton wool. Every time he turned over, he could hear the rustling sound of the straw. Zhang Ping'an originally thought that he would not be able to sleep, but unexpectedly he had a good sleep all night.

When he got up the next day, Zhang Laosan had already driven to the next village to buy tofu. Since he couldn't eat chicken, duck, fish or meat, he had to buy some tofu.

Li's cooking skills are pretty good. She started frying vegetarian meatballs in the kitchen early in the morning. The aroma wafted from far away, and the villagers then realized that Zhang Laoer and his family had returned. Soon, the Zhang family's yard was full of people.

Xiaohu's father Daqiang also came with several children from his family.

Zhang Pingan helped move a few chairs, but saw Uncle Daqiang with a sad face: "Uncle Daqiang, what's wrong?"

"Hey, Ping'an, what should we do? The higher-ups are recruiting soldiers, and I haven't figured out how to tell everyone yet," Daqiang said in such a hurry that a big blister appeared at the corner of his mouth.