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

The provincial school was wealthy and had many toilets built, so there was no need for many people to queue up like in the prefectural school before. After the two of them found a place with few people to take care of their urgent needs, they went to the cafeteria.

Bai Yunhe's family must be very well off. He didn't pay any attention to the prices while eating and just ordered a few dishes at random.

Zhang Ping'an ordered a meat dish, a vegetable dish and a soup, which was enough to fill him up and provide him with balanced nutrition.

The two of them didn't talk much after they sat down. Zhang Ping'an saw that the other party had no appetite and didn't move his chopsticks much. It seemed that the other party just needed his company and didn't want to have a close relationship with him.

Everyone has things they don't want to talk about, and Zhang Ping'an didn't want to meddle in other people's business, so he didn't ask any more questions. After dinner, the two of them returned to the classroom together.

As soon as I entered the classroom, I saw a group of students in the front row gathered together chatting, and those in the back basically had their own small groups. Only the student sitting in the last row of the classroom was alone, concentrating on studying.

Bai Yunhe seemed to be used to it. He didn't look at anyone else and walked silently to his seat.

Zhang Pingan watched coldly. It seemed that Class A was quite clique-like. He had no intention of breaking this balance and walked quietly to his position.

After a few days, Zhang Ping'an finally figured out the general situation of this class. Those sitting in the front row basically had family backgrounds, good academic performance, and were the ones with a foreseeable bright future. Those in the middle and back were those who had some family backgrounds but poor academic performance. The last one or two rows of six or seven people were merchants and poor children. Bai Yunhe was a merchant, and Zhang Ping'an was poor.

The main reason why Bai Yunhe wanted to drag people to accompany him was because he was too handsome and his family had too much money. Therefore, some children of officials with ulterior motives always liked to make fun of his appearance, occasionally touch him, and even extort money from him in disguise for fun, forcing Bai Yunhe to avoid them.

During the break that day, those sons of officials came to Bai Yunhe again.

One of the tall and thin students reached out to pinch Bai Yunhe's face, saying some frivolous words.

Bai Yunhe turned his head away, his eyes filled with disgust, but he still endured it and didn't want to make a big deal out of it. He said with all his strength, "Don't try to touch me, or I'll tell the Master."

"Go ahead and tell the teacher that we are classmates. What's wrong with wanting to make friends with you? Should I hit you or scold you?" Another short and fat student said with his arms crossed and a squint, his tone cold.

"Hey, I think the Pisces jade pendant made of Lantian jade you are wearing today is quite nice. Can you give it to me to see?" the man said, extending his hand.

"Here you go, no thanks," Bai Yunhe took off the jade pendant from his waist and handed it over, saying with a stern face and a cold look as if he wanted to keep strangers away, showing that he was angry.

After taking it, the man said a few sarcastic words before leaving.

As soon as the others left, Bai Yunhe's shoulders immediately slumped, and it was obvious that he was just bluffing.

Other students generally wouldn't get involved in such matters, including several teachers in the middle school. They were not unaware of the situation, but since these children of officials had strong family backgrounds and the matter didn't become a big deal, they turned a blind eye and pretended not to see anything.

To borrow a saying from my previous life, the imperial examination can only filter out poor students, but it cannot filter out scum, because human nature is inherently diverse.

After seeing these clearly, Zhang Pingan became more low-key and devoted himself to studying every day.

My eldest brother-in-law and Xiao Yifei have also finished their exams and the results have been announced. They were both well prepared and passed the county exam without any surprises. Now they are waiting for the prefectural exam in April. After passing the prefectural exam, they will become martial arts students.

This was considered a happy event, and Liu the butcher was so happy that he was overjoyed. He said that he would treat everyone to a meal after he passed the provincial examination.

The days passed quickly and it was soon late March. When Zhang Ping'an came to class that day, he saw that Bai Yunhe's seat in front of him was empty. It was very rare that he didn't come to class today. Zhang Ping'an thought that he was sick and took leave, so he didn't take it too seriously.

As a result, the other party did not come for several days, which was obviously abnormal. When Zhang Pingan was wondering whether the other party had dropped out of school, he saw a man who looked like a housekeeper coming to pack up things at noon. After asking around, he found out that Bai Yunhe's family had spent a lot of money to hire a teacher for him, and he had indeed dropped out of school and no longer came to the provincial school to attend classes.

This incident did not cause any waves except for a few sarcastic remarks from the uneducated sons of officials who often bullied Bai Yunhe.

Everyone is very clear about the purpose of coming here, which is to make connections, study hard, pass the imperial examinations, and enter the official career. A son of a merchant is not worth their attention too much.

But people who like to bully will continue to look for the next target of bullying. Zhang Pingan has a vague feeling that this person might be himself.

There was no other reason. First, he was a transfer student and had no connection with the people in this class. He didn't have any particularly good classmates with good backgrounds. Of course, those children of officials looked down on him. Their arrogance was engraved in their bones and they were much more difficult to deal with than his former classmates in the provincial school. Second, his status and background were the lowest in the class. Killing him was like killing an ant.

So when those people came to him, he was not surprised at all, as if he had expected it.

"Hey, since when can anyone enter our class? The threshold is too low. I have to talk to the teacher and the academician tomorrow," the tall and thin man who bullied Bai Yunhe last time said sarcastically.

Zhang Ping'an lowered his head slightly and did not intend to pay attention to their provocation.

Seeing that he didn't respond, the tall and thin man crossed his arms and sneered, "Are you mute? I'm talking to you!"

Zhang Pingan was silent for a moment, then stood up, bowed, and said calmly, "My fellow students, I came here only to study hard and delve into my knowledge. If I have offended you in any way, please forgive me. I apologize to you all!"

The short and fat student scoffed at the words, "Humph, someone so poor he can only rent a house in the south of the city still talks about studying. It's simply laughable!"

Zhang Ping'an's heart sank. It seemed that the two of them had carefully studied his background.

Just then, the mathematics teacher walked into the classroom, and those sons of officials calmed down a little and sat back in their seats.

The Master looked around and said meaningfully, "The way to learn is to cultivate your character, not to cause trouble!"

I barely got through this first time.

After class, Zhang Pingan knew that he could not just sit there and wait for death. Bullying could only happen once or countless times, and it would only get worse in the future. He had no money to be blackmailed, so it would only cause him physical or mental harm.

I originally wanted to stick to the principle of "I won't offend others unless they offend me" and get through the provincial examination safely, but now it seems that it's impossible, so don't blame him!