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

This Weimanlou restaurant has two floors. Xiao Yifei asked for a private room on the second floor and set up two tables. One table was for the three female relatives, and the other table was for the men. But the dishes were the same, with more than a dozen dishes on each table, which was very rich.

Everyone had something to do in the afternoon, so they didn't drink any alcohol. They just ordered a small pot of rice wine as a token of their appreciation, which wouldn't make them drunk.

The meal was finished in less than half an hour.

After finishing his meal, Lin Junhui said goodbye. "Brother Xiao, thank you for your hospitality today. I have something else to do this afternoon, so I'll take my leave now. When the baby is one month old, remember to invite me over for the full moon banquet. I'll prepare a generous gift for the child then!"

Xiao Yifei knew that Lin Junhui had a wide circle of friends and was very busy, so he didn't force him to stay. He smiled and said, "Okay, sure. I'll definitely invite you over for the full moon banquet when the time comes!"

After Lin Junhui left, Xiao Yifei's biological mother and brother also said goodbye and left.

"Second brother, you have grown a lot in the past two years. Now you are a father and your career has improved. Mother and I are very pleased. Seize this opportunity. There are only two brothers left in the Xiao family now. It depends on us to revitalize the family business in the future. Don't keep it to yourself if you have any problems. Come to me and mother if you need help. We are leaving now," Xiao Yifei's brother said softly.

"Yes, brother, I know," Xiao Yifei nodded in response.

"Actually, your mother and your elder brother are pretty good. They have a sense of purpose and bottom line in dealing with people and doing things," Zhang Ping'an said, looking at the carriage road going away.

"Yeah, relatively speaking it's pretty good. When I think about it, I used to have conflicts with them, mainly because we had different positions and ideas. But after fleeing and arriving in Lin'an, my relationship with my eldest brother has become much closer. Maybe this is the saying that blood is thicker than water," Xiao Yifei said with a hint of sadness.

If he had figured it out earlier, he might not have been so twisted and resentful as a child!

Jin Bao patted Xiao Yifei's shoulder and comforted him, "This is not your fault. If you ask me, it's best to be monogamous. That way there won't be so many problems!"

"You're right. When the child was born today, I secretly swore in my heart that I would never take a concubine in this life!" Xiao Yifei said with a firm look in his eyes.

After seeing Lin Junhui and the Xiao family mother and son leave, Xu walked over to Xiao Yifei and said, "Yifei, I just told the waiter to pack up the leftovers. There are only three women at our table, and there are still a lot of leftovers. Don't waste them. Take them back and put them in well water to cool them down. We can still eat a few more meals. I'll go back with Jin Bao's mother to pack them now. Wait a moment!"

After saying that, he called Jin Bao Niang back to the second floor.

Before Zhang Pingan and Xiao Yifei could say anything, the two of them had already gone up.

Liu Sanlang exhaled upon hearing this and grinned, "Mother-in-law and Jin Baoniang both know how to live their lives. I was feeling sorry for them just now, but Lin Junhui and your legitimate mother and brother were all here, so I couldn't say anything for fear of losing face for you. Now, it's good. Mother-in-law is really smart!"

The families are close to each other and know each other well. They don't need to care about face or be pretentious.

Xiao Yifei smiled and said, "That's good. When I was studying at the academy, I often heard Ping'an say that waste is shameful. Now it seems that this is the result of my aunt's words and deeds!"

There were quite a few dishes left over from lunch, most of which were meat dishes. Xu and Jin Bao's mother took away more than twenty pieces of oil paper wrappers.

Then everyone returned to the Xiao family together.

On the way, Xu also instructed: "It's hot, you should eat vegetables first. Put the meat in well water to cool it down. It can keep for two more days. If you find it troublesome or worried that it won't keep well, you can add more salt and dry it into jerky. In life, you have to be careful!"

"Well, aunt, I didn't expect you to know so much about living. I'm really grateful for your advice." Xiao Yifei listened very carefully and didn't feel annoyed.

After returning to the Xiao family, everyone exchanged greetings with Xiao's mother and then said goodbye and left.

Liu Sanlang held the box in his arms and couldn't let it go, but he was a little nervous, afraid that he would break this precious bow.

Zhang Pingan couldn't bear to see this and teased him, "Brother-in-law, why don't you hold this bow when you sleep at night to prevent it from being stolen? It's worth more than three hundred taels of silver!"

Unexpectedly, Liu Sanlang actually nodded and said naively, "You're right. I'll have to hold him while I sleep. It's too precious. When I get old, I'll pass it on to my children!"

"Uh..." Zhang Pingan held his forehead and smiled!

Xu also laughed and said, "This young master of the Lin family is really generous. He spent several hundred taels at once. He is worthy of being from a wealthy family. Sanlang, you must seize this opportunity and strive to pass the military examination in October. Then you will have no worries for the rest of your life!"

"Yes, mother, I will try my best," Liu Sanlang nodded seriously.

When passing by Liu's house, Zhang Laoer stopped the car, let Liu Sanlang out, and said, "Sanlang, go call Wu Ya and Liu Ya out."

"Okay," Liu Sanlang replied.

After a while, Wu Ya and Liu Ya came out, followed by a few little kids, shouting that they wanted to go to grandpa's house to play, but were stopped by Daya who came out with them.

"Dad, Mom, and little brother, we'll have dinner tonight, please come over early," Daya shouted.

"I know. The sun is strong. Let's go inside quickly," Xu said, waving her hand.

As the saying goes, summer sleepiness is hard to get rid of. After arriving home, a few people sat down to rest for a while, and then they felt very sleepy. There was nothing to do, so they simply went back to their rooms for a nap.

At 3 p.m., when the sun was about to set, Zhang Laoer finally got up and woke them up.

Zhang Ping'an stretched, but was not fully awake yet. He went to the yard to scoop up some water and washed his face before he finally woke up.

These days when you don’t have to think about anything and can relax completely are truly heavenly days!

After they had packed up, Xu went to Liu's house carrying a bag of fried dough twists wrapped in oil paper and cut a piece of fine cloth stored at home as a gift.

When they arrived at Liu's house, it was still early. After sitting for a while, Zhang brought the families of Zhang Lao Da and Zhang Lao San over together. Jin Bao's family and Xu Xiaojiu's family also arrived soon after.

The girl from the Wang family that cousin Tianshou married also came here today. Her facial features are ordinary, but her skin is very fair. In addition to her good natural foundation, it can be seen that she has not done any farm work at home. There is nothing wrong with her complexion, and she looks quite normal. Cousin Tiancai came alone. It seems that the girl from the Tian family has not returned yet.

Today we are celebrating my eldest brother-in-law's passing the exam to become a military scholar, so no one mentioned this spoiling thing.

Everyone went to Shiweilou happily together.

Butcher Liu must have been really happy today. He booked four tables, and even had seats for children over twelve years old, spending a lot of money.

The food and drinks were also fully served.

"Today everyone must get drunk. I am happy. I will drink to my heart's content today. I will drink first to show my respect," said Liu the butcher in a bright and loud voice, and then he drank the wine in his bowl in one gulp.

"Okay," the men agreed.

The female relatives also felt warm in their hearts, as it is always good to have someone promising around you, let alone Liu Sanlang, who is usually simple-minded and always helps others when they have problems. Even Shen and Ma have to admit that Sanlang is an excellent person and does good things!

The drinking lasted until dark. Liu Sanlang was finally very restless, as he was worried that someone would steal his bow.

Zhang Ping'an felt so tired for him.

The quiet and comfortable days always passed by in a flash. Zhang Ping'an went to the bookstore every day to meet a few friends. In the blink of an eye, more than ten days had passed and it was the day for the results to be announced.