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

Zhang Pingan saw that the two of them were sweating from the pain on their faces after just a short while, so he quickly took out two handkerchiefs and shouted, "Dad, please cover my third brother-in-law's mouth quickly to prevent him from biting his tongue. Mom, please help me support my third sister."

Xu supported her daughter so that her son could help cover her mouth. She consoled her, "Sanya, stop crying. Just bear with it for a while. Don't you want to have a child? If you don't have one, everyone will point fingers at you. Look, your eldest cousin's wife wants to eat but can't. You should cherish your blessings, understand? Stop crying!"

After saying that, he raised his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his daughter's face.

"By the way, father of the child, please help Yongde to the next room and let them come out first. He may need to go to the toilet later, so please get him a toilet. Ping'an, Wu Ya and Liu Ya, you guys go out too," Xu said, driving them out.

Fifth and sixth girls were frightened by the scene and asked in shock, "Mom, is Third Sister okay?"

"It's okay, the pain will go away once the cold air is expelled," replied Mrs. Xu.

Zhang Laoer helped his third son-in-law to the next room. Qian Yongde was in so much pain that he could not walk. He held his stomach with both hands, unable to scream, and his face was pale.

Daya saw them and asked, "Dad, what happened to them?"

Mrs. Li replied from the side, "It's okay. They're just taking medicine to expel the cold. Your eldest cousin and the others can't eat anything they want, and even if they do, it's useless. Sigh!"

After saying that, he went back to his room.

The screams from the two rooms continued for a long time, and gradually stopped after about quarter of an hour.

Xu opened the door and said happily, "It's okay, it's okay, the cold is out!"

His face was covered in sweat, and his neck was scratched by San Ya.

Zhang Pingan really didn't expect that this was how the treatment would be done. It looked so painful. "Mom, your neck is injured. Is Third Sister okay?"

Mrs. Xu handed over the toilet and said with a smile, "She's fine. The cold has already been expelled. Look, the urine looks like pork skin jelly. That's the cold!"

Zhang Pingan quickly stepped back, "Mom, you don't have to show it to me..."

"What do you know? If this medicine works, I'll have to ask Doctor Chen to sell me two more packets to keep as a backup. I may not be able to meet such a miracle doctor in the future," Xu said unhappily.

Zhang Laoer also came out with the toilet at this time. After hearing what Xu said, he said, "Yongde was the same, but he felt much better after he urinated. He doesn't feel any pain now."

Xu asked Wu Ya and Liu Ya to go in and take care of San Ya, and she took two chamber pots to the toilet in the backyard.

By dinner time, they were both almost recovered, the pain was gone, and their appetites were still as good as before.

Qian Yongde grumbled as he ate, "Son, your parents have suffered so much for you!"

Xu rolled her eyes when she heard this. She couldn't even bear this little pain.

In a blink of an eye, it was the morning of the third day. Everyone got up at dawn and packed up their things. In fact, there was nothing much to pack up because most of the things had been thrown away.

Jinbao was still a little excited and ran over and said, "Ping An, I've never been on a big ship before!"

Zhang Pingan specially bought some dried tangerine peel yesterday in case he got seasick. Hearing this, he said, "You'll be able to sit on it in a moment. I just don't know if you can get used to it. I vomited the first time I sat on it."

Jin Bao was puzzled: "Why?"

"As for seasickness, you'll know once you ride it," Zhang Ping'an said with a smile.

Jinbao still couldn't understand. He thought it was very impressive to ride on a big ship.

Everyone called a cart and drove out of the city to the dock.

After a few days in the provincial capital, the children grew bolder and spoke in higher voices. Maodan was reluctant to leave. "Brother, do you think there will still be such a tall and big city gate for us to guard after we take the boat to the south?"

Donkey Egg thought about it carefully and replied, "I guess not, eh!"

Seeing the two little guys sigh was particularly funny. Liu Sanlang touched his two sons' heads and said with a smile: "When we get to the south, Dad will continue to teach you boxing and archery. Eat more and grow tall and strong. You can definitely become city gate soldiers. The city gates over there are also very high."

Donkey Egg was not easy to fool, so he asked back: "Dad, you have never been to the South, how do you know? You must be lying to me!"

"Uh," Liu Sanlang scratched his head, speechless.

Daya said with a smile, "Your father has never been there, but your uncle is well-read. He has read in books that the city gates in the south are all very tall and large. Don't you still believe your uncle?"

Donkey Egg nodded quickly: "Mom, I believe my uncle!"

After chatting and laughing, they arrived at the pier in a short while.

Zhang Ping'an took out the original deed and handed it over. After carefully checking it, the person under the boat said, "Yes, you can go aboard after paying the other half of the fare."

The remaining fare had been prepared long ago. The fare was paid per person, which was not a small amount of money. Zhang Pingan couldn't pay it alone, and everyone understood that.

After paying the money, everyone boarded the boat one by one from the wooden ladder.

Zhang Ping'an thought that it would be the same as when he took the exam in the provincial capital before, and that he should at least have a seat. However, there were no cabin numbers at all, and there were only a few seats. It was first come, first served, and people were crammed in like sardines in a can.

After a while, more and more people came and there was no room left on the boat.

"Son, why are there so many people on the boat?" Xu held the man and son tightly.

Wu Ya and Liu Ya also huddled together.

Fortunately, my eldest brother-in-law and his men were strong and formed a semi-circle on the outside to protect the women inside so that they would not be taken advantage of by strangers.

It gets noisy when there are too many people, and we finally waited for the boat to depart.

Zhang Pingan consoled him, "It'll be here in half an hour at most, so just be patient!"

There was no place to check the time. I guess after a quarter of an hour, someone got seasick and started vomiting on the boat. The smell was unbearable.

With this person as the center, we forcibly retreated into a small circle.

Zhang Ping'an felt so dizzy that he asked everyone to take out handkerchiefs wrapped with tangerine peel to cover their mouths and noses to relieve their headache.

More than a quarter of an hour passed, and I don’t know if it was Zhang Ping’an’s illusion, but he felt that the boat was not moving.

But it turned out that this was not an illusion. There was a commotion from the deck and spread to the cabin.