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

An auntie, cracking melon seeds, asked, "What? Sanya, what did you say? Conscription? We've never heard of conscription in this place. Are you mistaken?"

San Ya was sweating profusely and stamped her feet, saying, "What's wrong? Everyone in the government office has been notified. Didn't Uncle Daqiang hear what the head of the village said?"

Everyone in the yard looked at each other and replied, "Haven't you heard about this?"

A woman happened to see Zhang Daqiang and said, "Isn't Daqiang here? Why not just ask him? He's the village chief, and the headman must notify him if there's anything."

Seeing that someone had already exposed the matter, Zhang Daqiang simply didn't hide it and said directly, "It is true, but we are far away from the city, and I am worried that the information is inaccurate. I plan to have Ping An go to the county town tomorrow to ask his classmates before we tell you. Since you already know about it, it's good, so you can be mentally prepared."

The crowd, who had just thought this was unreliable, immediately exploded and asked in a flurry, "What? Is this really happening? Daqiang, why don't you tell us what the specific rules are?"

Zhang Daqiang then repeated what the village head had said yesterday about the conscription system.

Immediately, many elderly women slapped their thighs and cried out, "Oh my God! Is this going to kill us? We've saved money on food and clothing every year, and paid a lot for exemption from military service. Now we have to recruit soldiers! How are our families going to survive now that the man who heads the family is gone?"

Zhang was upset watching from the side. She frowned and shouted, "If you want to cry, go back home. Why are you wailing in our house? The conscription is decided by the court. What's the point of crying? Now we have to discuss who in our family will go."

After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "Let's all go home!"

Soon the yard was cleared out, leaving only Jinbao's family.

Jin Bao asked in a low voice: "What's going on? Didn't you hear the news in the capital?"

Zhang Pingan frowned and said, "I didn't hear about it at all when I was in the capital, but I was delayed for a few days on my way back. Now it's been four or five days, so it's hard to say if there have been any changes in the capital. However, you are the only son in your family, and your grandfather is old. After he turns fifty, your family doesn't need to send anyone out."

"I know. Why are we having to recruit soldiers out of the blue?" Jinbao sighed.

Jin Bao's father was also discussing this with Zhang Lao Er at this time: "Second brother, your family's Ping An is a scholar, you and Ping An definitely don't need to go. There is nothing else we can do about this, it's all arranged by the court."

This news was quite shocking. Zhang Laoer was stunned for a moment before nodding and replying, "Yeah, I know."

In this situation, Jinbao's father couldn't keep him any longer, so he shouted at Jinbao: "Jinbao, go home, didn't you say you still had homework to finish?"

"Oh, yes, then Ping'an, let's go back first. I'll come to see you in the afternoon." Jinbao acted as if he suddenly realized something, and blinked at Zhang Ping'an with his back to his father, meaning you know what he meant.

Zhang Pingan couldn't help but curl his lips as he looked at Jin Bao's poor acting skills.

After everyone else had left, Daya said helplessly, "Didn't we agree on this on the way? We should have discussed this privately first. Why did you yell about it as soon as you got off the car?"

San Ya said unconcernedly, "Everyone has to know anyway. It doesn't matter whether I tell you or not. The most important thing now is how to prevent our Yongde from joining the army. I don't want to be a widow."

"Why didn't the children come back with us?" asked Zhang Laoer. He saw that only his eldest son-in-law, Daya and Sanya came back.

"Now that this incident has happened, everyone is in a fuss, so I didn't bring the children back. My third brother-in-law had a quarrel with my family, and it wasn't over when we arrived," Daya replied. She was also upset. According to the situation, one person from their family would have to go, and she didn't know who would go in the end.

"Oh," Zhang Laoer sighed. He had originally wanted to go home and have a good rest for a few days, but he didn't expect this to happen.

Now no one in the family had the appetite to eat. Mrs. Li was also absent-minded while cooking with her two daughters-in-law. However, she kept her composure and didn't say anything. Let's see what attitude her mother-in-law would have.

When Xu heard that the scholar's title could exempt two places from military service, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and was very glad that her son had passed the exam. Although she was also worried about her daughter, son-in-law, and her older and younger brothers from her mother's family, at least she didn't have to worry about her own son and her husband, so she didn't say anything.

The most impatient was Ma. Before they even started eating, she said with a stern face, "My men are weak. They can't carry anything, big or small. Anyway, we don't have any children."

Zhang Laosan also lost the enthusiasm he had in chatting just now and sat aside in silence.

Zhang Laoda heard this and shouted, "Third sister-in-law, what do you mean? I'm the eldest son in the family. There's no way I'm going."

"Should it be our family then? Big brother, as the eldest son, you have already got the biggest share when the family property was divided. Now that you are serving in the military, you can't take advantage of it anymore," Ma replied unwillingly.

"As a woman, what qualifications do you have to talk to me, third brother?" said Old Zhang angrily.

Both sides tacitly avoided the second room.

Seeing that his uncle was being so rude, Dahe and Erhe also said, "Uncle, although you are the elder, we should discuss this matter together."

Zhang Laoda wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Zhang: "Alright, let's not talk about this today. Let's talk about it tomorrow. There's still some time until the end of the month!"

After that, he turned to Li, who was listening attentively, and said, "It's time to cook. What's the big fuss? What's the point of making such a commotion?"

Old man Zhang didn't say a word, as if this matter had nothing to do with him.

Zhang Pingan frowned and said, "I'll go to the county tomorrow to ask around and see what happens."

Just as he finished speaking, Erya came back. Her face didn't look happy. She probably knew about the conscription. After entering the house, she asked, "Grandma, Dad, little brother, have you heard? We are going to recruit soldiers here. Our village chief just gathered all the men in the village to tell them this morning."

Seeing that no one responded, Erya understood: "You all know about this, what should I do?"

After saying that, he turned around in a hurry.