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

As they were talking, Donkey Egg and Cat Egg came bounding in, followed by Zhang Ping'an. The children were holding sugar figurines, large windmills, and small wooden swords.

"Ping'an, just spoil them. They both have a lot of these little gadgets, but you're just wasting money," Daya said with a smile, pretending to beat the two children. Donkey's egg was very smart. Seeing this, he ran to the backyard with his brother Mao'er, laughing.

Zhang Pingan held Daya and comforted her, "Sister, how much can a few small toys cost? As long as the children are happy, don't scare them."

Daya then sat down again, observed him carefully and said, "Ping'an, you have lost weight recently, but is it because studying is too hard?"

"Sister, I eat well and sleep well every day, and I don't work in the fields. It's not hard for me. It's my father and mother who are hard-working. I've lost weight because I've grown taller. Don't worry about me," Zhang Ping'an smiled helplessly.

Zhang Laoer interrupted, "You still need to study harder. Studying takes a lot of brain power."

"Dad, I've been eating well, this is normal." Zhang Pingan explained again, not wanting to dwell on the food, and changed the subject: "Let's go see Third Sister after buying meat. We also have to buy books, otherwise we'll be late."

"Oh, yes, look at my brain, I forget it as soon as I chat. My dear relative, give me ten pounds of the best pork belly," Zhang Laoer responded, taking out a purse from his arms and counting the money for the meat and giving it to Liu the butcher.

Butcher Liu declined for a while before accepting it. He went to the butcher's stall and cut ten pounds of good meat himself. He also gave him two ribs tied up separately with hemp rope and said, "Ping An likes to eat ribs, right? Take these two ribs back and make soup for him. Scholars need more nourishment."

Zhang Laoer did not refuse, thanked them, accepted them and put them in the basket.

Zhang Pingan saw that everything was packed and then said goodbye to his elder sister: "Uncle, elder sister, we are leaving first. Please say hello to my brother-in-law for me. I will come to see you next time."

Then we boarded the mule cart.

Zhang Laoer was driving the car in front and nodded, saying, "My dear, Daya, let's go."

"Well, Dad, please drive slowly," Daya waved while holding her little daughter Zhuzhu.

Zhang Laoer brought his son straight to Sanya's place. As soon as they arrived at the grocery store, their in-law, Old Man Qian, saw them and came out to greet them warmly, saying, "Why are you here, in-law? Come in and have a seat! Ping'an is getting more and more handsome. You can tell at first glance that he's a very smart kid!"

Zhang Laoer and Zhang Ping'an responded and went in to sit down. Zhang Laoer didn't know what to say. The relationship between the two families had been very strained in the past two years. One reason was that San Ya had been married for two years and still had no children, so Old Man Qian and Old Lady Qian looked down on her. The other reason was that the old couple were too partial and only wanted to give the family property to the eldest brother, which led to the two brothers Qian Lao Da and Qian Laoer fighting every day, making the whole place a mess.

The two sisters-in-law were also restless. Old Mrs. Qian often slapped her thigh and cursed herself for being so blind to choose San Ya, such a restless rural girl, as her daughter-in-law.

No matter how San Ya behaves at home, she is still the married daughter of the Zhang family. The father and son felt uncomfortable after hearing this and came to support San Ya many times.

This stalemate was not a good thing, so Zhang Pingan was the first to break the silence and said with a smile: "Uncle, my father and I came to see my third sister. We just harvested some wolfberries at home and gave her a few bags."

Old Man Qian had been a small businessman for many years and was very smooth-talking. After hearing this, he smiled and said, "Thank you for remembering me, my in-laws. San Ya is lucky to have parents and brothers like you. Go look for her in the backyard. She's there!"

Zhang Laoer and Zhang Pingan then went to the backyard. The Qian family's layout was a front-yard-backyard layout, with business done in the front and people living in the back.

When the two entered the backyard, San Ya was washing clothes by the well, and Qian Dasao was washing snow vegetables on the other side of the well to make sauerkraut. Although the two were close to each other, they ignored each other.

Mrs. Qian's kids were playing by themselves.

Zhang Pingan called out first, "Third sister, Dad and I came to see you. Mom packed a few bags of wolfberries for you to bring over."

San Ya turned around and saw them. She shouted in surprise, "Dad, little brother, why are you here?" She wiped her hands on her apron and walked over, pulling the two of them directly into the west wing.

Zhang Pingan handed the things over and asked with concern: "How are you doing recently? I see that you and Sister Qian are not talking to each other."

San Ya snorted, then slammed the west wing door shut and shouted to the courtyard, "Don't talk to someone who doesn't understand what we're saying."

Mrs. Qian was not to be outdone and sarcastically said, "Yeah, I don't want to talk to a hen that can't lay eggs either."

San Ya was so angry that she slammed a chair down in the room. Zhang Lao Er and Zhang Ping An frowned at her. Zhang Lao Er said coldly, "San Ya, what are you doing? You're just looking for trouble. You can't argue with it, and you feel bad. Why bother? You're even throwing things around. If our in-laws see this, they'll just say that our Zhang family has no manners."

San Ya felt that she was the one who had suffered the greatest injustice, and said angrily: "Dad, didn't you see how she treated me? Just because she gave birth to a child, the whole family would bully me."

Looking at his daughter who was full of resentment, Zhang Laoer felt a little unfamiliar with her. He had never thought of San Ya like this before. Suddenly, he felt that there was nothing more to say, and no one would listen even if he said something. Looking at his daughter like this, Zhang Laoer shook his head and wanted to get up and leave.

San Ya pulled him back and said, "Dad, don't leave yet." Then she poured two glasses of water and brought them over. "You and my younger brother, have some water first. I have something else I want to discuss with you."

Zhang Laoer took the tea but didn't drink it. He said, "Just tell me what you want to say. Your little brother and I have something to do later!"

San Ya hesitated for a while before saying hesitantly, "I want to borrow some money from you. Yongde wants to start a small business of his own recently and won't be involved at home. He needs money to make ends meet."

Zhang Laoer asked carefully, "What kind of business do you want to do, and how much silver do you need?"

"I don't know what he does specifically, but he said he can make money and wants to borrow... borrow thirty taels." San Ya was a little afraid to look up after saying this.

Zhang Laoer thought he had misheard and raised his voice: "How much do you want to borrow? Are you crazy?!"

Zhang Ping'an's expression unconsciously grew serious. Thirty taels was not a small sum. Many people didn't even have five taels of silver in savings. Now he asked to borrow thirty taels without even giving a specific purpose. Who would dare to lend him money?

"Third sister, you have to ask your brother-in-law and Uncle Qian about this matter. You can't borrow money without consulting your elders. Money doesn't come from the wind. Our family only had a surplus of more than three taels a year before we grew medicinal herbs. Although it's better now, the expenses are also high. Aren't you making it difficult for Dad? Sorry, we can't lend you this money," Zhang Ping'an said calmly.

When San Ya heard this, she exploded and cried, "You obviously have money, why don't you lend us money? It's not like we don't want to pay it back."

Zhang Ping'an wanted to explain, but his third sister was crying and he couldn't continue.

Zhang Laoer was much more straightforward: "Sanyah, I think you have done well to be reborn into our Zhang family. Look around, which girl in our village is as lucky as ours? All of you sisters are married to good families found for you. Now I haven't even mentioned helping the family, but you still want to borrow the hard-earned money of your mother and me. Don't even think about it. Forget about starting a business. Even if someone in your husband's family died of illness today, they wouldn't be able to lend you so much. We're leaving first."

"Dad," Zhang Ping'an and San Ya shouted at the same time.

But Zhang Laoer had already walked out quickly, and it was obvious that he was very angry.

"Third sister, we will come to see you another day," Zhang Pingan said hello hurriedly and went out to chase his father.