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

The young boatman named Gou Zi took off his tattered cotton jacket, carried a hemp rope on his shoulders, and jumped directly into the river. After shivering, he swam to the river bank, inserted a wooden screwdriver into the river bank, and climbed up using his hands and feet.

"How can we bear soaking in water in such a cold day?" sighed Zhang.

The leading boatman was already used to it and said indifferently: "Auntie, the dog is wearing a cowhide coat, it's not a problem. Besides, we are poor and our lives are worthless, what can we do!"

The young man named Gou Zi was indeed very agile and he climbed up the high river bank in no time.

After nailing a wooden stake on the riverbank, he tied one end of the hemp rope to the stake and threw the other end into the river, saying to the water: "Uncle, I'm fine!"

"Okay, those of you who are better at climbing up the rope first, and the elderly, the weak, women and children will go up last, and then we will pull you up together," urged the leading boatman. He wanted to go back quickly, and if he went faster he could get home before dark.

Zhang Pingan looked at the rope with a toothache, and hesitated and said, "Brother-in-law, how about the men in your family go first?"

There's nothing we can do about it. My eldest brother-in-law's family has the highest military strength, so they can go up first and help pull the situation back.

Liu Sanlang nodded and said, "Okay!"

He had been training with Master Yang in the academy for half a year, and his skills were already quite good compared to most people. Although he was tall, he was very flexible. He stood on the raft, grabbed the rope, and climbed up using his hands and feet for a while.

Butcher Liu's eldest and second sons rubbed their hands and were still thinking about how to proceed.

My second brother-in-law Liu Husheng said, "Why don't we go first? We are all good swimmers and have experience climbing up and down the pond."

Brother Liu also said, "Let me go first, and I'll pull you up when we get up."

After saying that, he grabbed the rope, pushed his feet on the river bank, and soon climbed up, looking very easy.

With someone leading the way, it was easy for the others to deal with. They all grew up in farming families and were strong. In less than half an hour, everyone was ashore. A few boys around seven or eight years old thought it was quite fun and played and laughed on the river bank after getting ashore.

Zhang Pingan checked the number of people and confirmed that they were correct. He then shouted to the leading boatman, "Everyone is here. Thank you very much!"

"Okay, let's go. Gouzi, you get off now," replied the leading boatman.

"Hey," the dog was about to go down the rope.

Zhang rummaged through her bag, grabbed a handful of brown sugar, and wrapped it in oil paper. She also took out a piece of dried ginger and handed it over, saying, "Wait a minute, find Mr. Lu Wei Dianzi to boil a bowl of ginger soup for you to drink before you leave, so as not to catch a cold."

The dog was stunned for a moment, then scratched his head and took it, saying thank you: "Hey, thank you very much!"

After saying that, he put the thing in his arms and went down the rope quickly.

The leading boatman smiled and praised: "Auntie, you are so kind. Now we are off. I wish you a safe journey!"

Watching the row of rafts drifting away along the riverbank, Zhang sighed and turned around, saying, "Don't leave in a hurry. Find a place to make a bowl of ginger soup first. The river is very cold. Anyone with a fever or cough should see a doctor!"

Now, among so many people, only Liu the butcher's family still has a small iron pot, and the rest have all been thrown away in Heifengdu.

Zhang Pingan looked ahead and said, "Let's go ahead and see if there's a village where we can rest and get some water and start a fire. It's still early, so we can still make it into the city in the afternoon."

Now everyone didn't have much luggage, so they each carried a small bag and walked forward. They were moving quite fast, and after walking two miles they saw a small village.

When everyone entered the village, they found that there was a special tea stall at the entrance of the village. Although it was very simple, it was indeed doing business with a fire.

The tea stall was run by a middle-aged couple. They weren't too surprised to see 70 or 80 people, young and old, entering the village. They walked up to greet them warmly, "Dear guests, please take a seat. We have hot tea and hot food!"

"Boss, this place is quite a distance from the pier, and your village is not very big. Why did you choose to open a tea stall here?" Zhang Pingan asked doubtfully.

The boss didn't care. He wiped the table and said, "We're new here. We didn't have many passersby in the past, but for some reason, we've had a lot of people coming lately. It seems like they're all going to the provincial capital to take a boat south. They're all with families like you, and they look well-off. We're conveniently located right at the entrance of the village, so we're always asked for directions and places to stay. So we just set up a shed at the door to do some small business."

The stove of the tea shed was set up against the wall on the right side of the shed. Zhang walked over to take a look, then sat back and said, "Make us two pots of brown sugar ginger tea and some steamed buns."

"Okay," the boss responded happily and added firewood to the fire quickly.

There was no room to sit in the shed, but no one cared. They just found a clean stone by the door to sit on. After being out for so long, they no longer cared about their image!

The boss and his wife were both very quick and efficient. Soon the aroma of steamed buns wafted through the air. Everyone drank brown sugar ginger tea and ate steamed buns before they felt warm all over.

Jin Bao's mother missed her own teahouse, which was much bigger than this one and had a much richer variety of dishes. "Dad, after we settle down, we have to continue to make a living. We can't just sit there and eat up all the food."

"Tsk, I thought so too. We are much better at business than those two. With so many customers coming, we have to sell other things. How much money can we make just by selling steamed buns?" Jinbao's father replied in a low voice.

After eating and drinking, everyone started walking towards the dock, feeling much more energetic than before.

We arrived at the pier about a quarter of an hour later.

Among all the people, only Zhang Laoer, Zhang Pingan and Liu Sanlang had been to the provincial capital. No one else had been there, not even to the provincial capital. Looking at the bustling dock and the city gate in the distance, everyone was completely shocked by the prosperity of the provincial capital!

"This... this must be where the immortal master lives," Ma murmured.

Old man Zhang also murmured: "I am an old man, but one day I can come to the provincial capital. This life is not in vain. It is worth it, it is worth it!"