Of course Lu Xu didn't know, and he didn't know that when Tan Shitou came back and heard that Lu Zhou was literate, he dared to take the bill and ask Lu Zhou to help him read the account book and let Lu Zhou help him settle the accounts.
Little did he know that Lu Zhou had also learned the numbers he had scribbled on the mud wall at home after seeing them. Lu Zhou had learned the simplest addition and subtraction without any teacher, supplemented by counting his fingers and doing mental arithmetic. It was really helpful. Tan Shitou settled the accounts.
It's just that he was not confident in the calculated results, so he asked Tan Shitou to calculate again.
Tan Shitou didn't want to do the calculation, but Lu Wen was very interested. He pulled Tan Shitou to do the calculation twice, and it turned out that Lu Zhou's calculations were all correct!
Tan Shitou felt more relieved and bought snacks and drinks for Lu Zhou, and also treated the three brothers to a meal. Lu Zhou held the pen and slowly copied down the calculated numbers.
He had never written on paper before, and he wrote with great care.
Afraid that Tan Shitou and the others would not be able to understand, Lu Zhou thoughtfully added horizontal and vertical lines under the words to make it easier for them to count clearly.
After returning, Lu Wen and Lu Zhou went to cut pigweed together. While pulling the weeds, he asked Lu Zhou, "Did brother ask you to study?"
Lu Zhou shook his head, "No, brother doesn't know. Don't tell him yet."
Lu Wen was puzzled: "Why? Why do you want to study if you are fine?"
Lu Zhou: "I want to read it."
Lu Wen looked at him as if he were a ghost.
There is no one in their family who studies. Grandpa Li Zheng did have the idea of asking his children to study, and even sent his grandson Hu Tou to the only gentleman in Yinma Town for enlightenment. As a result, Hu Tou did not It’s not that kind of material. I was beaten every day. I was beaten every day. The palms of my hands were so red and swollen that I couldn’t even hold the chopsticks. It was so miserable...
Hutou stopped reading after less than half a year.
Except for the half-hearted Hu Tou, the only scholar Lu Wen knows is Yan Junqi. He admires Yan Junqi a little. As for Yan Junqi's books, they all look like ghost drawings to him. They all look the same, which makes people have a headache. Yan Junqi I can actually keep reading with my head down.
However, Lu Zhou has been a bit strange since he was a child, and Lu Wen doesn't understand him very well.
Lu Wen scratched his head and looked at Lu Zhou's small body and stupid appearance. He didn't look like someone who was good at doing business. He was good at farming, but he didn't know if he was good at studying.
He raised his head and thought about it, thinking, forget it, Lu Zhou wants to study anyway, his eldest brother pays for it, and it can't be spent on him, so just read as much as you like.
But he didn't understand, "Why didn't you tell the elder brother?" If he didn't tell the elder brother, who would buy him books, pens and ink?
Lu Zhou's expression darkened, and he said thoughtfully, "I want to wait until brother Jun Qi finishes the exam. Anyway, don't tell eldest brother yet."
After saying that, he mowed the grass again in a muffled voice, swishing the sickle, as if cutting off all the troubles.
Lu Wen looked at him blankly. What does his studying have to do with Yan Junqi?
Lu Wen put the grass into his backpack and thought about it for a while before he figured out what Lu Zhou was thinking - Yan Junqi is a famous child prodigy in his village. He has been studying since he was three years old. Lu Zhou is not as smart as Yan Junqi and is now ten years old. , if Yan Junqi failed to pass the examination after studying for more than ten years, then Lu Zhou would not dare to study.
Now that his uncle is gone, their family relies entirely on his eldest brother to make money to support the family. With Lu Zhou's character, he would never let his eldest brother support him in studying for more than ten years.
Lu Wen suddenly felt worried for Lu Zhou.
Yes, his eldest brother is already seventeen. If the uncle had not died, he would have been old enough to talk about marriage. Nowadays, matchmakers often come to grocery stores to inquire.
In ten years' time, Lu Xu's family should be separated anyway. Even if the family is not separated, Lu Zhou is already twenty, the age to build a house and get married. How can his brother continue to provide for him to eat, drink and study?
Don't say Lu Zhou was embarrassed, it would have been embarrassing for him.
Lu Wen remained silent, hoping for the first time that Yan Junqi would do well in the exam and give Lu Zhou some courage.
In the examination room, Yan Junqi answered the questions unhurriedly.
There was no draft paper. It was difficult to regret once you finished writing. Even after typing the draft, you had to be careful every step when writing. He didn't write very fast. He took a breath, recited a sentence silently, and then wrote another sentence steadily. Focused, tense, and unknowingly nerve-wracking.
The sun began to set in the west, and it was time to hand in the papers.
Yan Junqi tensed up his nerves to finish. The moment he put down the pen, he felt that his whole arm was sore. It's more tiring than copying half a book.
He exhaled a breath, silently checked the paper, stood up and signaled to hand it in.
After handing in the papers, Yan Junqi signaled to go to the toilet and fetched water to wash his face. On the way back to the examination booth, he saw someone being dragged out in front of him. He didn't know whether he fainted in the middle of the exam or was sick and couldn't hold on.
Yan Junqi's mouth was completely dry after not drinking any water all day. He took out the kettle and water bowl from the basket under the bed and drank slowly.
The hot water had already gone cold. After the test, Yan Junqi felt a little cold. When the candles were handed out at Youshi, it started to rain lightly.
Candidates who had not yet handed in their papers hurriedly covered themselves with rain. The heavy rain showed no signs of letting up. Yan Junqi's shoes got wet, and the examination room became chaotic. Even though the examiner who was patrolling the examination scolded the examinees who had wet their papers, there was no hope for them.
Yan Junqi held up an umbrella and put all the clothes and food under it. He took off his shoes and put them on the bed board. The dry soil was splashed by the rain, giving off a fishy smell of soil. The candidates' desperate cries could be heard from all directions. He couldn't help it. Looking at the examiner, I wonder if the papers I have handed in have been wet by the rain.
Fortunately, it rained late and most of the candidates had already handed in their papers.
Candles were distributed in the examination room at night, but the examination tent had no roof and it was raining continuously, so the candles were extinguished within a short time.
What's even more troublesome is that the candidates' clothes and bedding got wet. The exam is one day away, and many people have to spend the night in wet clothes.
Only a few people brought umbrellas, and those without umbrellas had to hold their clothes above their heads, which was better than nothing.
Lu Xu held an umbrella and ran outside the school grounds. All the soldiers guarding and patrolling were standing in the rain. No one could get close, and no one in a hurry could bring anything in.
Not long after he arrived, he saw soldiers dragging out a few candidates. The candidates were crying and laughing, looking crazy, which shocked Lu Xu.
After a while, he saw Ma Ruoqi's bookboy and boy running over. Lu Xu asked and found out that Ma Ruoqi didn't bring an umbrella and didn't know what his current condition was.
It rained for more than two hours, and everyone who was wandering outside the school grounds was driven back before the curfew. When Lu Xu and the Ma family's scholar waited until Xu Shi, they heard the gong sound of collecting papers in the examination room. No candidates came out anymore, so they were relieved.
At least they handed in the papers properly.
Early the next morning, Lu Xu waited outside the examination room.
There were quite a lot of people waiting, and the Ma family's boys and girls all came right after breakfast.
Before noon, cousin Ma Ruoqi came out crying. He had been caught in the rain last night and had been in a daze all morning. He accidentally knocked over the ink and soiled the paper. No matter how good his answer was yesterday, there was no chance.
In the afternoon, more and more candidates came out, some were coughing, sneezing, and many were sick.
When Ma Ruoqi came out, his face was extremely red. Lu Xu felt that he had a high fever and quickly asked the boy to carry him to the medical center for treatment first.
It’s all burned like this. Can you answer the questions well?
Lu Xu waited anxiously for Yan Junqi. He waited until the sun set in the west before Yan Junqi came out carrying a bag and a basket.
As soon as Yan Junqi raised his head, Lu Xu rushed in front of him before his eyes had even scanned half a circle. He pressed his hand on Yan Junqi's forehead first, knocking Yan Junqi unconscious.
"No fever!" Lu Xu was very happy. He took the basket and the baggage and found that the baggage was damp. It seemed that Yan Junqi's day and night had not been very comfortable, so he hurriedly asked: "Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?"
Yan Junqi shook his head: "I'm fine."
Lu Xu was still worried and took Yan Junqi to the hospital to have a look.
The medical center was overcrowded, including candidates and some from poor families who could not even afford medicine and could only drink a bowl of ginger soup.
However, their symptoms were the same, all caused by wind and cold. Even if it was not serious, they could survive it after drinking ginger soup. Lu Xu did not stay in the hospital longer and accompanied Yan Junqi back to put away her luggage.
The other three candidates also came back. The candidate from Wenqiu County saw Lu Xu buying an umbrella and bought one too. The two from Chongning County did not buy an umbrella. Fortunately, they handed in their papers early the day before and were in good health. They were rained in the middle of the night. , only had a slight cough, but still successfully completed the exam.
Lu Xu saw that some of them were a little sick, so he bought a large piece of brown sugar from the proprietress, asked for a large piece of ginger, and ran to the kitchen to make ginger soup.
There was enough Luxu sugar and even more ginger. It was so spicy that the four of them stuck out their tongues. After eating vegetarian noodles at night, they all had a spicy ginger taste in their mouths.
The next day, several people's conditions improved, and it was time to say goodbye. Lu Xu planned to stay in the state capital for one more day, and made an appointment with the boatman to meet at the Huitang Town Pier at noon tomorrow. The other three people did not plan to waste money in the state capital anymore.
Several people changed their names and addresses and agreed to see each other at the government school, but they didn't know whether they could be admitted to the government school.
There are about 400 people who come to take the exam, and only 60 are admitted. Only the top 20 are admitted. After several assessments, if they pass, they can continue to take the provincial exam next fall. The bottom 40 are supplementary admissions and enter the government. You have to pay money to study, you can't pass the examination, and you don't even qualify for the provincial examination.
Just after the exam, no one said anything depressing, they just cheered each other up and said goodbye.
After the exam, he always wanted to reward himself. Lu Xu first took Yan Junqi to the mutton shop to eat mutton, and then tried the delicious snacks he had discovered in the past two days, and then went to the bookstore in the state capital.
The bookstores in the prefecture are much larger than those in Guanyang. The bookstores are mainly located on two streets, one is next to Fuxue and the other is on the opposite street.
Lu Xu: "I've asked around. The books sold next to the mansion are all books by sages, and the ones sold in the opposite corner are all story books." Many of them are books that can't be seen in the library.
Yan Junqi was like a fish in water when he entered the bookstore. His happy expression when flipping through the books was happier than Lu Xu eating mutton. Lu Xu originally wanted to take him to read Xianshu, but looking at Yan Junqi's appearance, he knew that there was no need.
A top student would probably not be as addicted to storybooks as he was.
Lu Xu let him take the lead and strolled around slowly.
Yan Junqi was dazzled by the pile of sages' books. He touched the money bag in his sleeve and calculated carefully what he could buy.
The money Yan's mother saved from embroidery was enough for the family, and he took care of what he earned from copying books. Except for occasionally buying candy for Wen Zhen, he had almost no expenses. This time he took everything with him when he went out.
When they came out, Yan Jun paid for the boat fare and accommodation, and Lu Xu paid for all the money for food and odds and ends. He still had a few taels of silver in his pocket, and he couldn't afford to buy printed books, but he could buy two or three volumes of handwritten books.
Yan Junqi compared them carefully, and there were some that he had heard of but never read, so he simply read and memorized them in the bookstore.
They spent the whole afternoon in the bookstore. There was no one in the store. Lu Xu took some illustrated Mongolian books recommended by the waiter and asked Yan Junqi which one was better.
"I will choose two books for Lu Zhou, Lu Wen, and Shitou. You can see which one has more commonly used characters. You still need to write your name and keep accounts. You can't always draw horizontal and vertical lines on the paper."
Only then did Yan Junqi realize that the sky was getting dark.
Daqi has a special scripture calculation, which, like the law and calligraphy, was once a subject in the official examination. In addition to "Menglin" which has many commonly used words, Yan Junqi also chose a book called "Sushu Jing" for Lu Xu, but that book was expensive and boring.
Lu Xu paid without hesitation, "How can knowledge be too expensive? I think Lu Wen and Lu Zhou are very smart, as well as Lu Xuan, Han Lu, Xiao Man and Xiao Yu. Anyway, they like to play in the grocery store. You all should learn arithmetic and help my grandpa keep accounts."
Except for Lu Fu and Lu Yue, who are only five years old, and one-year-old Lu Rui, Lu Xu, his younger brothers and sisters, does not intend to let go of any of them.
If you don’t know anything else, you should be able to recognize names and commonly used words, you should be able to do the abacus, three-digit addition and subtraction, and the multiplication table!
In third-grade Chinese and mathematics, whoever can't learn will be beaten. The eldest brother is so kind.
Lu Xu happily selected the book and asked Yan Junqi which one he wanted to buy.
Yan Junqi only chose one book.
Lu Xu: "Do you want one?"
Yan Junqi nodded, "If you pass the exam, I'll take a look at the rest."
Lu Xu was startled, then laughed.
So confident!
It seems that Jun Qi is quite satisfied with the test.
After settling the bill, it was already getting late. Lu Xu had originally planned to visit nearby famous attractions, but had no choice but to give up.
He and Yan Junqi walked around the outer wall of the mansion as a way to familiarize themselves with the environment in advance.
If Yan Junqi passes the exam, he will go to the state capital to study. Lu Xu walked with his head down, feeling a little sad for a moment.
He was used to going home every day and going to Yan Junqi's study to chat for a while. He would discuss anything with Yan Junqi.
Lu Xu stroked the weeping willow branches above his head, stepped on the gravel road outside the mansion school, and sighed, "If you come to the state capital to study, I will definitely miss you."
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