54. Immortal Picking Beans

After resting in Bailu Village for a few days, Zhou Yuan from Pangjia Village in Nanyuan came to Bailu Village and invited them to go to Xi'an Mansion together so that they could have company on the way. read

Coming with Zhou Yuan was not only the driver, but also a little girl of eleven or twelve years old. She was young and beautiful, and her feet were not bound. This should be related to the Zhou family's business in the city.

The three of them agreed and packed their bags together.

Before leaving home, Bai Youde was a little reluctant to leave. He touched Bai Gui's smooth forehead and said nothing more.

When a few people walked downstairs, Bai Gui was quite surprised that Lu Zilin and Liu Mouer rushed over and gave him the half-sized black horse that he had been raising in the stable, saying that he was used to raising it. The newly hired groom could not produce the fat he had produced at that time. If he hadn't seen a dark horse that was even stronger than a few months ago, Bai Gui might have believed this nonsense.

A carriage, followed by several strong horses.

Going to a higher education institution to study is not just about teaching Western learning. People from wealthy families will saddle up their horses, and there will be teachers to teach them how to ride horses when they arrive at the institution. Speaking of horse riding, it is also one of the six Confucian arts, including etiquette, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics.

This can be regarded as a characteristic of the northwest. It is located in a border area and has experienced constant wars for thousands of years. Basically, wealthy households with a little wealth in the Guanzhong area can ride horses.

"Is this your third girl?"

Bai Xiaowen sat on the carriage shaft, leaning against the carriage door, and said while suppressing a smile. He still remembered that during the spring outing, Zhou Yuan said that he would betroth his sister to Bai Gui as his wife.

However, he also knew some etiquette. Men and women were not allowed to be intimate. Although the feudal ethics at this time were not as strong as in the past, it would not be a good thing if gossip ruined the chastity of a daughter's family.

So he spoke in code.

Only a few men present knew about this.

"My sister originally hired Mr. Xi to teach at home, but a few days ago I went home and told my dad about the government examination. My dad felt that times have changed now, and my daughter can't stay at home all day. At home..."

"So I have inquired about the girls' schools in the city, and I am going to send my sister to Yage Girls' School to prevent her future husband's family from thinking she is uneducated."

Zhou Yuan said after considering his words. He is going to Xi'an to study. He has to get rid of the habit of always speaking in dialect, otherwise the students in the higher education institution will laugh at him.

Dialects, if spoken occasionally, will enhance nostalgia. But if you keep talking, you will inevitably be looked down upon.

Yage Girls' School is the first private girls' school opened in Qin Province five years ago.

After the defeat of the two crows, missionaries came to China to preach. In order to facilitate preaching, they often established missionary schools. For example, the first girls' school in the Qing Dynasty was the Ningbo Girls' School founded by the English female missionary Edward in Ningbo.

For example, the seventh stipulation in the 1868 Continuation Treaty between the Qing government and Amei-Ken was that Amei-Ken people could establish schools in places where Chinese Westerners lived.

The uneducated people here in Zhou Yuan should also be put in quotation marks. Knowing some of the Four Books and Five Classics does not seem to be considered literate now.

"Isn't it considered cultured to ask a teacher to study?"

Bai Xiaowen was surprised.

Put this way, he seems to be almost illiterate.

"It's different!"

Bai Gui, who was learning to ride a horse on the side, shook his head, "Many international students who have returned from studying abroad are unwilling to get married by their families. The families of those girls who are engaged may not be uneducated, but they are not Western cultures, so we can't chat with them. Go, brother Zhou and his father must have thought the same way. Nowadays, anyone with a little wealth will send their children to study abroad. After they come back..."

He paused, "High status! Quick promotion!"

For example, in 1871, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang proposed in the "Regulations on the Selection of Young Children to Study in the United States": "After fifteen years, thirty people will return to China every year, and the overseas committee members will list individual directors. , and after listening to them, they will be assigned to give rewards to their senior officials, official ranks, and errands..."

There are also the 1904 "Regulations on Rewarding Graduates from Study Tours" and so on, which have given great convenience to these international students who have returned from studying abroad. They only need to pass certain assessments to be appointed as officials.

Therefore, if conditions permit, we will work hard to send our children to study abroad in the West. At this time, studying abroad in the European powers was the first class, studying in Kenya was the second class, and studying in Japan was the third class.

"Yes, my father also has this consideration."

"That's why we let him go to Yage Girls' School to study."

Zhou Yuan paused and said thoughtfully.

On the one hand, he didn't say that he wanted his sister to marry a good husband. Going to a women's school will undoubtedly add a new resume. When talking about marriage in the future, the threshold will be much higher.

After some girls learn it, they become a preparatory school for official wives.

As soon as I graduated, I was robbed!

Any handsome man who doesn't marry a female student is like being a head shorter than others in his life.

"I heard from my dad that there have been several cases of abandoned marriages in the city. The families of those girls whose marriages were regretted couldn't bear the accusations from others, so they died!"

"The reason why you go with me is so that I can take care of her."

Zhou Yuan sighed.

"I'm not sure who will take care of whom!"

The girl Wednesday who was in the carriage had her head pop out from the curtain, her cheeks flushed, she gritted her teeth and looked at Zhou Yuan and said.

Several people burst into laughter.

There are several roads to go to Xi'an City from Bailu Village, but now everyone is taking the road to Chang'an County. Chang'an County is in the south of Xi'an City. It is the cultural and educational center of Xi'an Prefecture. Most of the higher education schools, such as Xi'an Prefecture School, Guanzhong Academy, Chang'an County School, Xianning County School, and Confucian Temple are on the southwest side.

In the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an County and Wannian County were attached counties of Chang'an.

The current Wannian County was called Xianning County. It was abolished in later generations. Most of it is the Forest of Steles District. The Forest of Steles is the Confucian Temple of Xi'an Prefecture.

The Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty basically included Chang'an County and Wannian County, with Zhuque Street as the dividing line. However, at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Zhaozong was taken to Luoyang by Zhu Wen, and the Tang Chang'an City was also demolished by the stationed Jiedushi, and most of the residents were moved to the Tang Imperial City.

The current Ming City Wall was built separately based on the Tang Imperial City. The inside is the rammed earth of the Tang Imperial City Wall, and the outside is the Ming Dynasty brick.

With a carriage, it is much faster than walking.

After walking for more than two hours, we arrived at the Yongning Gate of Xi'an City.

Yongning Gate is located in the south of Xi'an City.

After the population explosion since the Kangxi and Qianlong periods, the originally small Xi'an City can no longer accommodate so many residents, so buildings are also built outside the city wall.

Everywhere you look, there are dazzling things.

There are peddlers and vendors everywhere, and some are juggling skills, the most common of which is breaking stones on the chest, swallowing swords, and some Western toys, such as peep shows.

There are also magicians, holding two coarse porcelain bowls, holding a bamboo chopstick in the right hand, and touching the peas on the red silk table. In an instant, the peas disappear. This is the immortal picking beans.