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

After finishing his meal, Zhang Pingan took some time to go to the yamen, and asked the clerk to fill in the record, and recounted in detail the specific circumstances of the day of the incident.

The case has been settled, and now it's just a formality. The person taking the statement was very kind and didn't make things difficult for Zhang Pingan. It only took a little over a quarter of an hour.

After returning to the state school, it was soon time for afternoon classes.

The lecturer was a Jinshi (a scholar of the Jin Dynasty) and quite old. When he came in and saw the four people sitting sparsely in different directions, he narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "Everyone, sit in the front. There are empty seats anyway!"

Zhang Ping'an and another student sat in the middle front row as instructed.

The old teacher nodded with satisfaction, and then began to teach everyone by shaking his head.

The afternoon passed quickly.

After school, they went to visit other classmates' homes as agreed.

One of the classmates was named Huo. His elder was a fourth-rank general of Wuwei. His home was closest to the provincial school, so the four of them went to this home first.

After handing over the visiting card, the doorman hurriedly led everyone in.

The classmate's mother and brother came out to greet everyone. Seeing their son's classmate coming to visit, the two were very warm, especially towards Jiang Fengping. The two families seemed to be very familiar with each other, and there was a hint of flattery in Huo's mother's words.

"My dear nephew, thank you so much for bringing your classmates to visit our Heng'er. I heard that you were also frightened. I was planning to ask your brother Huo to visit you at your home with some supplements in the next two days. However, Heng'er's injury has not improved. His brother and I are extremely worried and have been unable to spare the time," said Huo's mother with a smile. There was a hint of fatigue on her face, and she did not seem to be lying.

Jiang Fengping quickly replied, "Aunt, what are you talking about? Zhiheng is seriously injured, and it's only right that we should be the ones to visit him. Has he gotten better these past two days?"

Speaking of this, Mother Huo's face was filled with sorrow. She sighed softly and said, "At least his life is safe. However, the doctor said he needs to stay in bed for at least six months. He definitely won't be able to take part in the provincial examination."

At this point, Brother Huo also felt it was a pity and sighed, "Our family is a family of military generals, and we all took the path of the military examination. Heng'er is the best at studying. Master Huang said he has a good chance of passing the provincial examination. My father, who was leading the troops on the front lines, was always hoping that he would pass. Who would have thought that he would encounter such a disaster? It's really a pity!"

As he spoke, he gritted his teeth and said angrily, "Those damn assassins, those northern barbarians, they thought they could use you as leverage, dream on!"

Mrs. Huo didn't want to talk about these political affairs, so she changed the subject and said, "Let's not talk about these unhappy things. You still have to go visit the two children from the Geng and Gao families later. I won't waste your time. When I'm free later, I'll have a good chat with you. I'll have the servants take you to Heng'er's room to see him and talk to him. He will definitely be happy!"

"Okay, auntie, let's talk another day. We'll go first," Jiang Fengping took the lead and stood up and saluted.

Zhang Ping'an just followed suit.

Several people followed the servant all the way to the classmate's bedroom.

At this time, the other person was lying on the couch reading a book, with a servant holding the book and helping him turn the pages. His head and legs were wrapped in large pieces of gauze, and red bloodstains were faintly seeping out of the gauze. There was not a single piece of good skin on the exposed areas, which were all blue and purple.

Seeing his classmates coming over, classmate Huo's eyes were full of surprise, and he said with difficulty, "Brother Jiang, Brother Zhong, why are you here?"

As he spoke, his eyes swept towards Zhang Ping'an and another student.

Zhang Ping'an suspected that he might not remember his last name, so he took the initiative to introduce himself: "Brother Huo, my last name is Zhang Ping'an. I came with a few other classmates to see you. How is your injury now?"

Another classmate followed suit and introduced himself.

Classmate Huo on the bed suddenly realized what was going on and greeted the two of them.

A few people started to exchange greetings.

Recovering from an injury is a very boring thing.

Classmate Huo couldn't get out of bed and was very depressed.

After hearing everyone's greetings, he forced a wry smile and said, "Thank you all for your concern. Although I am now unable to move and need to stay in bed for a while, I am lucky to have survived. Compared with other classmates who were killed, I am very lucky!"

After saying that, he coughed lightly again.

The servants nearby hurried forward to help him calm down.

Jiang Fengping smiled and consoled him, "Brother Huo, you are blessed by fate. Once you recover from your injuries, you will have many opportunities in the future. Your health is the most important thing."

Everyone agreed.

After the attack on the pleasure boat, the few remaining survivors seemed to be closer to each other than before, and the atmosphere of the conversation was quite pleasant.

Zhong Jinhuai is a very versatile person who is good at livening up the atmosphere. He then started talking about the interesting things that everyone had experienced in the provincial school, leading the conversation.

After hearing this, classmate Huo's expression improved a little. He smiled faintly and his pale face had a slight blush.

At this moment, Zhong Jinhuai suddenly seemed to recall something and spoke out, "We all come from military families, and we're both skilled in martial arts. We also brought a number of followers and guards with us, which is why we were able to escape. But Brother Zhang seems to have been born into a farming family, and his martial arts skills are mediocre. He handled the assassination attempt quite calmly, and was the first to escape death. I really admire him!"

Zhang Ping'an's heart skipped a beat when he heard this. He felt like it had finally arrived. He knew that these people would not ask him out for no reason.

But he still looked confused and frightened, and said humbly: "It was all luck. Fortunately, I was on the second floor at that time. Later, after I jumped off the boat, I met Lord Zhou who rescued me, so I was able to save my life."

Faced with the gazes of several people, Zhang Pingan could only pretend to be ignorant.

He also realized that several people asked him to go with them, claiming that they were going to visit him together, but in fact they were intentionally or unintentionally trying to find out his background.

Zhang Pingan felt that he behaved very normally, had a clean background, and simple interpersonal relationships, so it was not worth it for several people to spend so much time and effort to go around in circles to find out.

The only possibility is Lord Zhou. He probably suspects that he has some connection with Lord Zhou.

And there was also the eunuch who appeared on the boat that day. I always felt something was wrong.

However, I have too little information and cannot analyze anything. The only thing I can be sure of is that everyone is very afraid of the power behind Lord Zhou, and this power is very powerful.

After a trial, everyone said some words of encouragement to each other before saying goodbye. Classmate Huo looked reluctant to leave and urged everyone to come and play often.

Mother Huo and Brother Huo sent servants to escort them to the door.

After leaving the Huo Mansion, they took a carriage and headed towards the Geng and Gao families.

The leader of the Geng and Gao families is a fourth-rank military general, who is currently also on the front line of Cangwu River.

The injuries of these two were much more serious than classmate Huo. They suffered severe blows to the head and lungs and have not yet fully regained consciousness.

A few of them sat for a while symbolically and then said goodbye and left.

When leaving, Jiang Fengping asked the driver to take Zhang Pingan home first.

Zhang Ping'an politely refused several times but it was of no use.

Jiang Fengping appears gentle on the surface, but is actually very domineering at heart.