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

The canal boat would be busy soon, so Xiao Yifei could no longer accompany Zhang Pingan and could only say goodbye reluctantly at the dock. They agreed to have dinner and drinks together after returning to Lin'an in two days. He also told Zhang Pingan his home address in Lin'an.

"Okay, go and get busy. I've already troubled you enough. Anyway, you will be in Lin'an the day after tomorrow, and we will have plenty of time to get together later," Zhang Ping'an said with a smile.

"That's right," Xiao Yifei scratched his head.

When Zhang Ping'an returned to the inn, everyone was already looking forward to it. Xu asked anxiously, "Son, how is it?"

"That's good news. We can go to the pier at noon tomorrow and take a boat to Lin'an. We will arrive in the evening," Zhang Ping'an said with a smile.

"Really? That's great. I knew my son could do it. That adult has good vision," Mrs. Xu said excitedly, patting her thigh.

Daya and Erya also praised: "You are really awesome, otherwise we would have to brave the cold wind and continue walking for several days!"

Both of them looked proud!

Daya smiled and continued to teach her son, "Donkey Egg and Cat Egg, do you hear me? You must learn from your uncle and study more. You know, only by studying can you have a great future. When you settle down in Lin'an, your parents will find a private school for you so that you can continue your studies!"

When Donkey Egg and Cat Egg heard the first half of the sentence, they puffed out their chests and said in a loud voice that they would definitely learn from their uncle. But when they heard the second half of the sentence, they had bitter faces and it seemed that they obviously did not like to study much, which made Daya poke her two sons in frustration.

Li and Ma were impressed and followed suit, praising him profusely. They cautiously asked, "How much is the boat fare?"

Zhang Ping'an thought about it. Lord Zhou didn't say anything about it, so he didn't know whether it was free or not. But with Lord Zhou's face, he thought the price would definitely not be too outrageous.

So he said, "Lord Zhou didn't say anything specific, and I didn't feel comfortable asking. Let's wait and see after we get on board tomorrow. If no one mentions it, we'll just pretend we don't know. If they do, we'll give it to them and try not to cause any trouble!"

"That's right," Zhang Laoer nodded.

Guo Jia smiled and said, "I'm so lucky, thank you so much!"

Everyone packed their luggage happily and discussed going out to buy some small things to take with them. Everything would be expensive in Lin'an, after all, it was the capital, and buying things in advance could save a lot of money. One had to be thrifty in life.

Even Zhang joined in, standing up and saying, "I've never been to the capital in my life. I have to clean up and go in properly. I can't let people look down on me!"

Everyone was busy at once.

We went to bed early at night, and after a good night's sleep, we all got up at dawn.

As the saying goes, it is better to be early than late, so everyone arrived at the dock quite early.

The dock was still the same as before, with canal ships docked at the shore with flags flying on their bows. Xiao Yifei and his crew were nowhere to be seen. They had said yesterday that their canal ship would depart later, so they might still be busy.

The lady boss of the noodle stall yesterday recognized everyone and waved them over for dinner, saying with a smile, "You guys are so lucky to have run into someone you know yesterday. Look, you can get on the boat today. It'll be a great time to go to Lin'an from now on!"

Unfortunately, no one had the appetite to eat her noodles today. Worried about seasickness, everyone only ate half a dry biscuit in the morning and didn't dare to eat more. Zhang Ping'an also prepared a lot of dried tangerine peel.

After the bad experience of taking a boat at Yingzhou Wharf last time, everyone naturally did whatever Zhang Pingan said. They were all very obedient and no one ate anything without permission.

When it was past midnight, everyone hurried to find the prepared large ship and boarded it.

The boatman had obviously been informed in advance and did not mention the fare. He was very enthusiastic and helped a few people tie up the cart and mule on the first-floor deck, then led everyone to the cabin on the second floor.

After arriving at the cabin, everyone found that the space was quite spacious and there were windows, so it was not stuffy at all. There was also a narrow fenced corridor outside the door, from which you could overlook the scenery on the river. It was simply vvv VIP treatment.

After they all sat down, other passengers began to be let onto the first-floor deck. Soon the cabins and decks were packed with people, just like the last time Zhang Ping'an took a boat in Yingzhou, with people so tightly packed together.

Zhang smiled and said, "Thank goodness we're safe. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to sit in such a comfortable cabin. My old arms and legs wouldn't have to suffer!"

Others joined in the response, and even the children were much more energetic than last time, excitedly crowding together against the windows to look out.

After a while, the boat slowly set sail.

Although it was winter, the scenery along the way was still very nice. The houses on both sides of the river kept receding, and the people on the dock became smaller and smaller.

Donkey Egg pointed to the distance and shouted, "Mom, look, what a big bird!" Daya quickly pulled him back and told him to be careful not to fall into the water.

There was no food on the boat, so everyone ate dry biscuits at noon.

Jinbao's grandmother was afraid that the eggs would be broken, so she boiled them all this morning. She left two for Jinbao and gave half of the remaining eggs to each of the children to eat with pancakes.

Mrs. Li regretted, "Why didn't I think of boiling the eggs? It would have been easier to bring them with me. Oh, if I had known there was so much space on the boat, I should have bought more things yesterday. Otherwise, I would have spent a lot more money in Lin'an!"

Daya smiled and said, "Yes, but we can go to Lin'an and buy it slowly."

At first, everyone still had the energy to talk, but as the boat swayed, most people fell down and leaned against each other and fell asleep.

Mrs. Zhang and Grandma Jinbao were old and slept little, so neither of them slept and kept an eye on the luggage and the children.

Grandma Jinbao looked out the window and said sadly, "Ah, I wonder what the situation is like in Lin'an?"

Zhang was completely unconcerned: "Who cares about the situation? Just make the best of it. Don't overthink it!"

Towards evening, Zhang woke everyone up. They rubbed their eyes and looked out the window, finally seeing the outline of Lin'an City.