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

As the saying goes, illness comes like a mountain falling, and illness goes away like a thread spinning.

Zhang Ping'an rested at home for seven or eight days before he felt that he had almost recovered.

Mrs. Xu always felt that her son's complexion was not as good as before, so she prepared delicious food for her son in different ways every day, hoping to nourish him.

Xiao Yifei and Jin Bao also came to visit Zhang Pingan two or three times and chatted with him, fearing that Zhang Pingan would be bored at home.

Jin Bao even took out the storybook he had written and read it secretly to Zhang Ping'an, saying that he wanted Zhang Ping'an to check his new book, but in fact he was afraid that Zhang Ping'an would be too bored.

Everyone only found out what happened on the pleasure boat in the past two days, and they are all terrified.

After Master Huang knew that Zhang Ping'an had woken up, he sent someone to inform Zhang Ping'an yesterday that he could return to the provincial school to attend classes as usual tomorrow.

Although Zhang Laoer and Xu were still a little worried about their son's health, seeing that Zhang Ping'an had almost recovered in the past two days and insisted on going back to continue his classes, they gave up and agreed to their son's request.

Although Zhang Ping'an didn't know what happened in the meantime, he knew the danger was over after reading Lin Junhui's reply.

You must never slack off in your studies. It is only a matter of time before you return to the provincial school.

Early the next morning, Zhang Ping'an got up early, packed his things, had breakfast, took his schoolbag and went out. He took the familiar road to the provincial school, but Zhang Ping'an's mood was different from before.

When we arrived at the provincial school, the Class A classroom was empty, with only three people sitting there, including classmates Jiang and Zhong who had disappeared on the ship.

There were too few people, so Zhang Pingan didn't go back to his seat directly as he usually did. Instead, he greeted the three people one by one.

Classmate Zhong, whose family was wealthy, waved his fan and said with an ambiguous smile, "You're quite lucky!"

Zhang Pingan smiled back and returned to his seat.

After a while, it was time for class. Mr. Huang came in and saw Zhang Ping'an. He glanced at him for a while, then looked away without saying anything.

Even though there were only four people in the class, Mr. Huang did not slack off and taught as usual. The morning passed quickly.

After class, it was lunchtime. Before leaving, Master Huang called out the name, "Zhang Ping'an, come to my study."

In an instant, the other three people also looked over.

Zhang Ping'an was mentally prepared for this and did not panic. After tidying his clothes, he followed Master Huang to the study.

After arriving at the study, Master Huang dismissed his followers, stroked his beard, leaned back in his chair, and examined Zhang Ping'an. After a long while, he shook his head and said, "I really misjudged you at the beginning. I didn't expect you to have such a strong backing!"

Zhang Pingan was filled with questions after hearing this. When did he have a backer?

But now was not the time for him to speak, so he just listened quietly and waited for Master Huang to continue.

As expected, Master Huang saw that Zhang Ping'an didn't respond, so he continued slowly, "You were lucky this time. Or maybe we were both lucky. Jiang Fengping and Zhong Jinhuai, the two people with the deepest backgrounds in Class A, were safe. And with Lord Zhou Ziming mediating, it involved many forces and a lot of balancing. It was finally resolved with great difficulty. I don't know how much effort it took. And you, on the other hand, solved the problem after a good night's sleep!"

"Zhou Ziming?" Zhang Pingan repeated.

Master Huang asked doubtfully, "That's Mr. Zhou Ziming, the magistrate of the Grand Canal Administration. Don't you know him?"

Zhang Pingan nodded and replied, "We've met a few times!"

"That's it," said Lord Huang. "He contributed greatly to this matter. Although he is only a sixth-rank official, the power behind him cannot be underestimated."

After saying this, he observed Zhang Ping'an's reaction.

Zhang Ping'an's reaction was no reaction.

Master Huang was a little disappointed when he saw this.

"I wonder how the other classmates were rescued?" Zhang Pingan paused and asked, feeling very confused.

Master Huang picked out what he could say and said, "They all come from military families, and the followers they brought with them are all skilled in martial arts. Jiang Fengping, in particular, has practiced martial arts since childhood and is quite skilled himself. He found an opportunity to jump off the boat and escape during the fight with those people. They were also their main target and pursued him for a long time, so he escaped very late."

"What about the other three? I haven't seen them come to class yet?"

Master Huang was silent for a moment, then replied, "Although three others have escaped, they were seriously injured and are currently recuperating in the mansion. They won't be able to return to the provincial academy for the time being!"

Zhang Ping'an was also very sad after hearing this. Compared with those classmates who died, they were already very lucky.

"There are only four of you in our class now. You are all very knowledgeable, and the course progress may be accelerated in the future. You should recover your health as soon as possible," Master Huang said lightly.

Zhang Pingan nodded and replied, "Student understands."

"Okay, there's nothing else to do. You can go back. After lunch, go to the yamen and find the clerk to make a final record," Master Huang said, waving his hand.

Zhang Ping'an stood up, bowed and left.

Just as he was about to go to the cafeteria for lunch, he ran into Jiang Fengping, the important figure Master Huang had just mentioned. He said, "Brother Zhang, the three of us were just discussing going to visit the other three. We heard they were seriously injured and are currently bedridden. Since we're the only ones left in such a disaster, it's only right that we pay them a visit."

Zhong Jinhuai also echoed: "Yes, this is a blessing in disguise!"

This kind of thing really deserves a visit.

Zhang Pingan nodded and said, "Okay, I wonder when you all plan to go. I'll get ready!"

Jiang Fengping said, "It's better to do it today than to wait for a day. Why not do it today? We're all classmates, so there's no need to make any special preparations!"

So urgent...

Since the other three agreed, Zhang Pingan didn't want to spoil the fun, so he didn't object and said, "Okay, let's go together after school this afternoon!"

After deciding this matter, Zhang Pingan went to the cafeteria to eat.