Chapter 174 Enrollment and Before Qixi Festival [Thank You for Your Support! Goodbye! ]

July, Mao Shi

The sky was already bright,

The breakfast shops on Imperial Street were no longer busy with the officials who came to the court.

And fortunately, the sun had not risen yet, and the air was still somewhat cool.

Because it rains a lot in summer,

Xu Zaijing and his brother did not ride horses, but chose to take a carriage.

After getting off the carriage, he saw Qi Heng yawning and getting off the carriage with the help of Buwei.

"Brother Zhang, Brother Jing."

Because it was the first day of school, Changbai and Changfeng were waiting at the door early. After seeing the three classmates arrive, they led them to the school together.

Xu Zaijing followed his brother and walked into the courtyard.

When he came before, Xu Zaijing knew that the Sheng family's house had five entrances,

and the school did not reach the second gate, but was about in a courtyard of the second entrance.

Xu Zaijing entered the courtyard and was greeted by a lecture hall with "wind leaks on three sides". There was a row of green bamboo and several Podocarpus near the gate of the lecture hall, and there was dew condensed on them last night.

There were a few strange stones placed next to it, and in the corner of the yard there was a phoenix tree that was so old that two people could hug it.

Changbai stopped on the steps in front of the lecture hall and pointed to a road paved with blue bricks and planted with bamboos on the left side of the crowd and said: "This road leads to the yard where Zhuang Xuejiu lives."

As he said that, everyone followed Changbai into the lecture hall.

In the lecture hall, there were nine tables in three rows and three lines. Hualan was now locked in the boudoir embroidering her dowry.

"Grandmother and father ordered that my sisters at home also follow Xuejiu to open their minds and read books to understand reason."

As they talked, there was a chattering at the gate of the yard, and the three Lans of the Sheng family came to the lecture hall.

Zai Zhang refused Changbai's request to arrange seats and said: "Brother Bai, Xiaowu and I are originally borrowing to study, how can we take over the job. It's better for you to arrange it."

Hearing this, Changbai cupped his hands.

The three Lans of the Sheng family were not seated according to the order of birth, but according to the order of seniority, with Molan in the first place, Rulan in the second place, and Minglan in the last place.

Changbai wanted to give up the middle place on the other side, but was declined by Xu Zai Zhang.

In the end, Changbai was in the first place in the middle, Qiheng in the second place, and Changfeng in the last place.

Zai Zhang was in the first place on the side, Gu Tingye in the second place, and Xu Zai Jing in the last place.

At the end of the crowd were their respective servants and maids.

Xu Zai Jing sat at the desk with his hands behind his back, and he had a panoramic view of the lecture hall.

In his previous life, such a position would have been a paradise for bad students/bad boys.

Looking at the back of Changfeng's head, Xu Zai Jing nodded: bad student.

Looking at Minglan, who looked confused in the distance, Xu Zai Jing nodded: a bad student for the time being.

He looked at himself again: a handsome boy.

At this time, a cough was heard outside the lecture hall. An old man with white hair and beard walked into the lecture hall slowly with a folding fan. Everyone hurriedly stood up and saluted, saying, "Hello, scholar."

"Well, everyone is here, sit down."

Student Zhuang sat on the Luohan chair in the front, gently waving his fan and looking at the nine students in the lecture hall. The three Lans were just there to join in the fun and listen to the lecture. He only needed to teach them some knowledge about being a human being, writing, and poetry.

The other six boys were the focus of his teaching.

Student Zhuang did not hold a book, but just fanned himself with a few questions and he had already felt the general level of the six boys.

The best ones were Zai Zhang and Chang Bai, who were the oldest in their respective families and had passed the county exam.

The next best ones were Gu Tingye and Xu Zaijing, who were still a little immature.

Qi Heng and Chang Feng were both a little inadequate because of their age, but Qi Heng was obviously better than Chang Feng.

What impressed Zhuang Xuejiu deeply was Xu Zaijing's memory. He casually asked a few words from the Four Books and Five Classics, and Xu Zaijing answered them almost without thinking.

With a general outline of the students' situation, Zhuang Xuejiu began to teach them in accordance with their aptitude in the next few days.

Because Zai Zhang and Chang Bai were facing the next provincial examination, Zhuang Xuejiu mostly gave them questions from previous provincial examinations and asked them to do them first;

Then he gave them the "standard answers" that won the top five scores in previous years and commented on them;

After letting them do it again, Zhuang Xuejiu always extended his explanation to the imperial examination, and they also took up the most class time.

And Xu Zaijing, Gu Tingye and the other four had much simpler things: practicing calligraphy and doing questions.

But it was not easy at all, because sometimes Zhuang Xuejiu would let the four of them do the same questions as his two brothers.

After five or six days, Xu Zaijing was in the best condition, after all, he was not a nine-leaky fish in his previous life.

The second best was Gu Tingye, after all, there was Gu Tingyu, who ranked first in the second list of the palace examination, at home, so he could ask if he didn't understand anything.

The youngest Qi Heng and Chang Feng both had dark circles under their eyes.

On this day,

at noon,

Zhuang Xuejiu finished his last article and waved his fan, saying: "The day after tomorrow is the Qixi Festival. From this afternoon, the school will be closed for two days."

After that, when everyone finished their greetings, Zhuang Xuejiu leisurely left the lecture hall and walked towards the small courtyard where he lived. When he passed the Moon Gate, he listened to the disciples cheering in the lecture hall and smiled and shook his head.

In the lecture hall,

the maids and servants were tidying up the desks,

Changbai and Zai Zhang were exchanging their thoughts on the article just now.

The four people in the last two rows gathered together.

Xu Zaijing stretched his waist and said: "I heard from my second sister that the Mohele puppets on the east side of Panlou Street are well made, and there are also water floats and valley boards. Let's go and see them in the afternoon?"

Gu Tingye said with joy: "Wulang, I'll go, I'll go. I've been having a hard time these days. I've been dreaming about writing articles. Changfeng, Heng brother? Let's go?"

"Second brother Gu, fifth brother Xu, I'll go!" Changfeng nodded hurriedly.

The two who were discussing the article in front turned around and looked at him seriously. Changfeng was silent, and Gu Tingye was also a little embarrassed.

Xu Zaijing smiled and said: "Second brother, Changbai, are you going?"

The two people in front looked at each other and smiled: "Go."

Qi Heng said a little embarrassedly: "My mother asked me to go home immediately after the class, so I won't go."

"It's okay, it's okay."

Xu Zaijing smiled and patted his shoulder.

The three Lans on the side heard Xu Zaijing's words and showed hopeful looks on their faces.

At this time, a maid at the gate of the courtyard bowed and said, "My lords, the old lady said that if you have time, go to Shou'an Hall for dinner."

Xu Zaijing smiled and said, "Hey, I'm lucky today. Maybe it's Madam Fang who's cooking again."

Gu Tingye's eyes lit up. On the second day of coming to Sheng's house, he had tasted the food in Shou'an Hall. It was very good.

The maid got the number of people and hurried back to Shou'an Hall to report.

After saying goodbye at the gate of the courtyard, Changbai Rulan and Changfeng Molan returned to their own homes, while Qi Heng returned to Qi's home.

The other four walked towards Shou'an Hall. Looking at Minglan and Xiaotao, who were short and running fast in front of them, Xu Zaijing shouted, "Hey, little girl, why are you running so fast?"

"I'm going to tell Madam Fang that my fifth brother is coming to eat, and ask her to prepare more food." Minglan turned around and shouted, then turned a corner and disappeared at the second gate.

"What are you laughing at?" Xu Zaijing put his hand on Gu Tingye's shoulder.

"Uh, nothing."

Shou'an Hall,

Old Lady Sheng wiped the sweat off Minglan's forehead with the handkerchief in her hand and said, "Ming'er, why are you running so fast? It's so hot!"

"Grandma, if I don't run faster, I'm afraid that cousin Jing will come and I won't have food to eat."

Listening to Minglan's words, Xiaotao beside her also nodded.

"Hahaha" Hearing Minglan's words, everyone in Shou'an Hall laughed.

"You little monkey, you only know how to make fun of your cousin."

As they spoke, the second son of the Xu family and Gu Tingye came to the front hall of Shou'an Hall.

The old lady came out and showed her face: "Just treat it as your own home, don't be restrained."

The three of them bowed and said yes.

After the meal, they drank some drinks to help digestion and relieve heat, and took a two-quarter-hour lunch break.

While it was not yet the hottest time, the five of them rode horses and drove towards Panlou East Street.

The sun was already scorching when they arrived at Panlou.

Under the guidance of the tea and wine doctor at the door, the five people entered the curtained Panlou. Ice cubes were placed at the door. When they entered the building, they did not feel hot, but felt cool.

They climbed up to the second floor of Panlou. The windows of the small room on the second floor were fixed with gauze. From the room, they could see the vendors walking and hawking on the street.

Xu Zaijing ordered ice cream and seven or eight other foods. The five people talked while eating ice cream to cool off.

Perhaps they knew that there were many nobles in the building. Although it was the hottest time in the afternoon, the hawking sounds were still coming from downstairs of Panlou.

From time to time, Gu Tingye asked Zhique and others who were standing at the door and eating ice cream to go downstairs to stop the vendors and take a few pottery, porcelain or wooden Mohele to check them out.

If they saw something good, they would ask the other four to buy a few.

Perhaps knowing that the nobleman in this small room liked it, just after buying a few Mohele, the tea and wine doctor respectfully said outside the door: "Dear nobles, there are a few people selling water floats outside our building. I checked and compared them and picked two that are good."

Xu Zaijing said: "Okay, let him in."

Chang Feng on the side said: "If I like it, I will definitely reward you."

"Yes."

After a while, two women carrying trays came to the door and entered the small room after being allowed.

In the small room, Xu Zaijing looked at the Da Zhou version of the little yellow duck and bought ten at a time.

He and several other people picked a few yellow wax ones that looked like fish and turtles and bought them.

After this group of people left, several more people selling grain boards were led in.

Xu Zaijing asked Chang Feng to help him pick a few, and he walked to the window seat of the small room and looked in the direction where Qingyun was staring blankly.

Xu Zaijing saw several children with dark skin, wearing shorts, bare backs and wet hair, covering their heads with lotus leaves and holding a few unopened lotus flowers in their arms, selling them under the scorching sun.

"What's wrong?"

Hearing Xu Zaijing's question, Qingyun quickly came back to his senses and said, "Sir, I remembered that I also sold lotus flowers on the street before."

"Buy a few, we will use some and give the rest away."

"Yes, sir."

Qingyun hurried downstairs happily.

After staying in Panlou for an hour, when the sun was not so strong, the five people went shopping in the shops near Panlou.

When it was getting dark at twilight, when there were more people on the street, the five people took their own cars back home.

Shou'an Hall,

Changbai and his servant Hanniu, who came home to pay their respects to their grandmother, were carrying a lot of things in their hands.

In the evening,

Two exquisite grain boards were placed on the table in the main hall of Shou'an Hall.

In the bedroom, Minglan and her grandmother sat at the table, watching the "floating water" in the basin on the table and laughing.

Mother Fang came in holding a tall vase with two unopened lotus flowers in it.

Today, Anzhai,

Xiaodie put the porcelain Mohele on the table in the room.

Wei Shuyi was coaxing his son in his arms, saying: "Xiaodie, replace the mosquito repellent bag sent by the Marquis's Mansion with a new one later, and put one by your bed."

Xiaodie smiled and glanced at the Mohele and replied yes.

At this time, a voice came from the gate of the yard: "Shuyi, is the child okay today?"

As soon as the voice fell, Dongrong lifted the curtain and Sheng Hong walked in with his head down.

The second day

Quyuan Street

Xu Zaijing, who got up early to exercise, finished his breakfast and thought he could rest.

But his mother assigned him a task: to deliver braised food and fruits to Jiying Lane.

The Xu family's in-laws, Qixi Festival is a festival, and they have to send gifts.

The eldest brother Xu Zaiduan will go to the Xie family to send, and the second brother will go to the Gu family to send the Xu family's return gift. Naturally, Xu Zaijing can only go to the Sheng family.

When Xu Zaijing came back, he brought the Sheng family's return gift on the carriage. Because they had not yet walked the open road, the return gift was ordinary things.

If the wedding date has been set, the return gift will also include Hualan's embroidery.

In the blink of an eye,

the Qixi Festival has arrived.

Mohele: a doll made of pottery, wood, porcelain or other materials, which means praying for a child.

Floating on the water: toys such as fish, turtles, and purple mandarin ducks in Huangla Diaocheng that are placed in water.

Guban: a piece of wood with soil and seeds sprinkled on it, and a wooden house, similar to modern miniatures or simulated manor toys.

Not in good condition,

or, I can't get into the state.

I sat in front of the computer for three hours and wrote a thousand words.

That's all for today.

I'm very sorry!