Every ten years, Wangjiacun will produce one or two people who can read. Although these people may not have great prospects, they have no problem supporting themselves.
And part of the money they earn every year is handed over to the ancestral hall, which is used to repair the ancestral hall and educate the children in the village.
The rules in the village are that each child is only allowed to take the child examination twice. If he fails to pass both times, he can only accept his fate and come back to find a job to make a living.
At this point, the education that no matter how hard it is, no matter how hard it is, has been implemented into practice.
Driven by this good atmosphere, the entire Wangjia Village people have become literate, and almost everyone can spit out a few lines of poetry.
Even sometimes when I get interested in farming, I can sing a poem with great enthusiasm, and the whole village has a unique elegance.
Just when the people of Wangjia Village thought they could become the best poetry and calligraphy village in history, an alien suddenly appeared.
That person was Wang Pengju, the youngest son of the village head Wang Youfang's family.
Wang Pengju is just fourteen years old this year. He has not liked reading since he was a child, but because all the children in the village regard reading as the highest career in life.
In order not to break away from the group, he could only patiently read with other children.
Wang Pengju was quite talented in studying. He was admitted to Tongsheng School early, but his parents couldn't force him to take the exam.
He claimed that he wanted to be a general, but he refused to continue studying even if he was beaten to death.
Wang Pengju naturally had his own considerations. First, the tuition fees after the child was born were borne by each family. He did not want his parents to be exhausted just to earn money for him to study.
Secondly, he has had enough of this kind of life of talking about words. What he wants is the feeling of wearing bright clothes and angry horses, and galloping on the battlefield.
In an era when literature was valued over martial arts, Wang Pengju's idea was tantamount to dropping a bombshell in Wangjia Village, which believed in the supremacy of poetry and calligraphy.
Not only were Wang Pengju’s parents unable to accept it, but even the patriarch of Wangjia Village personally came to persuade Wang Pengju.
Unexpectedly, Wang Pengju was as determined as if he had eaten a weight, gritting his teeth, unwilling to change his decision.
However, there were those who were interested in watching the excitement and had no other business. They bought a martial arts secret book from somewhere and gave it to him.
After Wang Pengju got it, he felt like he had found a treasure. Later, he cut his hair short and combed it like a martial artist.
After finishing his farm work every day, he would wave branches by the stream outside the village and claim that he wanted to practice swordsmanship.
Originally a child under fifteen years old, the more others told me not to do something, the more I had to do it.
Wang's parents were beaten and scolded, but in the end they could only follow Wang Pengju's own wishes.
Wang Pengju also had no expression. Every night when he went home for dinner, he would happily tell his parents how much strength he had gained today and what new moves he had learned.
It only made Wang's parents worried and lost a few more pounds.
Did their son know that seeing his self-defeating look made their hearts hurt as if they were being cut out with a knife?
Originally, the Wang family and his wife thought that this would be another day of mental torture for their son, but who would have thought that Wang Pengju would be very quiet today.
After the Wang couple put the food on the table, Wang Pengju held the bowl and ate without saying a word.
The Wang family's food was pretty good. Both Wang's father and son's bowls were filled with large bowls of dry rice, and Wang Pengju's bowl was even filled with an egg.
Seeing that their son, who usually showed off to them so happily, suddenly became taciturn, the Wang couple looked at each other. Apparently they noticed something was wrong with their son, but they did not dare to ask.
Something is really wrong with Wang Pengju now. Their whole village is full of scholars. On weekdays, he said he was practicing martial arts, but in fact he was holding a branch and making random strokes in the air.
But today, a man in tattered clothes but good-looking came to the village. The man seemed a little stupid. He held a bundle of firewood and asked if anyone in the village wanted to buy it.
Wang Pengju almost laughed out loud on the spot. Not to mention that the firewood in the man's hand was short and thin, just by looking at the branches that were still wet, he knew that this thing would not burn.
Who would have thought that when he told the man that no one in the village wanted firewood, the man asked him very frustratedly where there was a shortage of people to work, and he just wanted a bite to eat.
This man was Shen Jiwei who came out to look for something to eat.
Wang Pengju originally wanted to say that the most indispensable thing in the village is labor force, because they themselves are all generals who have enough to eat.
But when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back. He thought of a way to verify his martial arts skills.
So Wang Pengju found half a piece of corn pancake that he had forgotten a few days ago, and told Shen Jiwei: As long as Shen Jiwei practices with him, he will give this half piece of corn pancake to Shen Jiwei.
This tortilla was secretly given to him by his mother when he was starved by his father.
He only ate half of a piece and hid the stuff. Who knew that when he thought about it again, the tortilla was already moldy.
Since he was reluctant to waste food, he had never been willing to throw away the pancakes, and they just came in handy today.
After the two people reached a preliminary deal, Wang Pengju quickly grabbed his "weapon" and attacked Shen Jiwei.
Hearing Shen Jiwei's cry, Wang Pengju felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction in his heart.
At that moment, he felt like a general standing on the battlefield.
The more Wang Pengju thought about it, the more excited he became. The branch in his hand moved toward Shen Jiwei's face. Shen Jiwei screamed: "My eyes!" and then lay motionless on the ground.
Wang Pengju was so frightened that he suddenly realized that he might have gotten into trouble.
The previous overwhelming pride was like a flood, and all that was left was fear.
Although Wang Pengju wanted to run away, he restrained his fear and pulled Shen Jiwei up.
Who expected to see Shen Jiwei, whose mouth was full of blood, crying silently.
Wang Pengju also breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the person was not dead.
But seeing Shen Jiwei's miserable appearance, he was afraid that Shen Jiwei would complain to his parents.
So he found a broken bowl from home and gave it to Shen Jiwei along with the porridge and water he had saved at noon.
After reminding Shen Jiwei not to tell anyone about this, Wang Pengju finally sent Shen Jiwei away far away with confidence.
But today he was frightened after all. Wang Pengju was still sleepy until he was eating. It was so scary. At that moment, he really thought he had killed someone.
Jin Qing carried Shen Jiwei to the place where he fell that morning. Shen Jiwei pointed at the little blood stains and messy footprints left on the ground: "This is right here. He hit me. It hurts!"
As he spoke, two more tears brewed in Shen Jiwei's eyes, which kept rolling in his eyes.
But due to his "father's status", he could only hold back his tears.
Jin Qing turned away: too stupid to look at.
After gently sniffing the smell in the air, Jin Qing walked to the woods, found a branch, and brought it to Shen Jiwei: "Did he hit you with this thing?"
There is still the smell of Shen Jiwei's blood hanging on it.
