After the quiz was over, it was time for the assistant teachers to be busy marking the papers.
The Imperial College gave the students two days off.
In order to prepare for the quiz a few days ago, everyone was focused on their books. Now that they had finally been able to relax for two days, they were naturally very happy. Everyone made appointments for poetry gatherings or mountain climbing excursions.
Zhou Zixu also came over and called Lin Yuanqiu. He, Liu Qingan, Zhang Yuan, Qin Wenjie and others were planning to go to Yunju Temple with other classmates, and they also planned to hold a poetry meeting.
I have long heard that Yunju Temple has many mountains and beautiful scenery. It must be a lie to say that I don’t want to go there. However, Lin Yuanqiu finally shook his head and he might as well not go.
Finally having free time, Lin Yuanqiu wanted to visit Zhuangzi.
The persimmon saplings will be delivered soon, and he always wants to go and see how the tree pit is being dug.
Although the hot weather of July and August has not yet arrived, if we don’t plant the saplings in time, I am afraid that the roots and stems will be short of water for too long and will not be able to recover for a while.
When the temperature rises further, the survival rate of the saplings may be greatly reduced.
…
The next day, Lin Yuanqiu got up early. Before going to Zhuangzi, he planned to go to the West Market to see if there were any chickens for sale. In fact, the day he and Xu Laoshi went to the West Market, he wanted to buy a few, but unfortunately he didn't see any vendors selling chicks.
The reason why I came up with the idea of raising chickens was because of the three brothers Ping An and Ping Ping.
In Lin Yuanqiu's view, if there are chickens raised on the village, it will not be a problem for a few young ones to eat eggs in the future.
Also, he would have to go to the drug store later and buy several pairs of medicines to treat colds and fevers.
It is said that only by being prepared can you avoid danger. Zhuangzi was more than half an hour away from the capital. If you have medicinal herbs prepared, if you really have a headache or fever during the period, you don't have to rush around in a hurry.
In addition, some cloth for making clothes must be brought over today.
Lin Yuanqiu also saw that day. Xu Laoshi's family of five only had one baggage, and there were not many clothes in it that could be changed.
They were supposed to be given some clothes originally, but it was just because it was difficult to buy clothes for several children. So he just bought the cloth and let Xu Laoshi's wife make it by herself. There was no need to buy any good materials, just a simple coarse cloth.
By the way, remember to buy a set of sewing baskets.
Worried that he would forget something if he had too many things, Lin Yuanqiu took out a pen and paper and memorized everything.
…
Chapter 122 Accept
Lin Yuanqiu went to the car dealership to hire a carriage first, which would make it much more convenient when he went to the West Market to buy things.
This time of day is the busiest time in West Market. In addition to all kinds of earthenware products, villagers in the suburbs also brought over products from their own fields, such as peanuts, beans, fresh vegetables, and small wooden objects.
Among all things, eggs are the most common.
Farmers, if they don't do odd jobs, it will be difficult for them to make money throughout the year.
Because of this, many families will save eggs at home, and when enough eggs are saved, they will be sold in the city. The money earned can be used for daily needs.
This kind of operation is considered normal nowadays.
There were two stalls selling chickens. Lin Yuanqiu chose a larger chicken, which cost four cents each. Considering the survival rate, Lin Yuanqiu bought twenty of them, spending a total of eighty cents.
When chickens are small, it is difficult to tell the difference between male and female. Although Lin Yuanqiu asked the seller to help him choose as many females as possible, he will not know whether the chicken dealer has picked the right chicken until he grows older.
After buying the chickens, I also bought a bag of rice bran so that I can mix it with rice soup and feed it to the chickens. When the chickens are a little bigger, you can let them go to the grass to peck at insects on their own.
Since he was going to stay at Zhuangzi for a whole day today, Lin Yuanqiu bought some more vegetables to take with him. In addition to fish and meat, there was also a basket of eggs. As for fresh vegetables, you can buy them directly from the villagers’ homes.
By the time we came out of Buzhuang, it was almost time.
The coachman driving the horse was the same one from last time. They had met each other twice and they were quite familiar with each other.
So Lin Yuanqiu, who was sitting in the carriage, listened to the driver tell him about the new things happening along the way, some of which happened in the capital, some in Tongzhou, and most of them in other prefectures and counties.
The coachman travels a lot and comes into contact with many people, so he naturally knows a lot of things that others don't know.
Although many of these were hearsay and could not be true, but with the experience of collecting information in the teahouse, when Lin Yuanqiu heard these things now, he would not just treat them as insignificant trivia and be too lazy to listen.
As for these things mentioned, whether they are true or false, the impression you have in your mind will never be wrong.
The carriage quickly arrived at Zhuangzi.
The one who ran to open the door was Ping An. When he saw that his son was coming, he hurriedly called him, and then asked Ping Ming to call his father quickly.
After a while, Xu Laoshi ran over sweating. Looking at the mud on his trouser legs, it was obvious that he was busy digging a tree hole just now.
Seeing Lin Yuanqiu dragging the chicken coop and preparing to lift it under the car, Xu Laoshi hurriedly stepped forward to help, "Sir, let the younger one come."
Dozens of chickens were kept in cages and pushed all the way around. The excrement was all over the chicken cages, but the young master's clothes could not be soiled.
Soon Mrs. Yang also ran over and helped unload everything from the car. Ms. Yang was Xu Laoshi's wife, and the couple had not stopped digging tree holes during this period.
Therefore, when Lin Yuanqiu entered the yard, he saw that a lot of weeds on the hillside had been cleared away. When he got closer, he found that there were many pits dug on top, and they all looked like they were one foot square. The size of each pit is about ten meters apart.
This distance will definitely have no impact on the future growth of the persimmon tree.
It can be seen that Xu Laoshi really knows a lot about farming.
After agreeing with the coachman that Shen Shi would come to pick him up, Lin Yuanqiu started to circle around the village.
That day was so rushed that Lin Yuanqiu didn't have time to walk through the entire Zhuangzi. So, taking advantage of the ample time today, he naturally had to take a closer look.
Lin Yuanqiu was going to first take a look at the wall that he had always cared about. On the day he bought the house, he only saw the section near the house and didn't know what the scene was behind the hillside.
To be honest, this was the first time Lin Yuanqiu had encountered such a practice of building a wall around the entire Zhuangzi.
Under normal circumstances, isn't it just a small courtyard around the residential area, and the rest of the area is just like an ordinary field, with only a monument boundary set up.
Although one hundred and sixty acres of sloping land is not big, it is not small either. Otherwise, it would not be able to be used as a racecourse, so how many bricks would it take to surround it entirely?
Lin Yuanqiu said that the money Zhuangzi spent on building the fence alone was not a small amount, so his three hundred taels of silver were well spent.
Lin Yuanqiu knew that the reason why this family was eager to sell at a low price was because of taboos in their hearts.
But it is said that a gentleman does not stand on dangerous walls. Riding a horse on such uneven slopes is inherently dangerous, so it has nothing to do with good luck. The main reason is due to his own carelessness.
When they reached the back of the hillside, Lin Yuanqiu saw that the wall here was much higher. Looking at the five-meter-high wall, Lin Yuanqiu thought to himself that this was to prevent someone from climbing to this secluded place. Bar?
Although Lin Yuanqiu has no worries in this regard, having such a high wall built is a dream. This way, when the persimmon fruits grow in the future, he will be much more cautious when making persimmon cakes at home.
By the time Lin Yuanqiu came back from the hillside, Ping An had already led his younger siblings to look at the chickens in the simple chicken pen surrounding them.
"Sir, there are quite a few hares in our village. We often see them when we are digging these days. But these things are clever and it is not easy to catch them."
Xu Laoshi said while gesturing with his hands, looking very interested.
After digging for several days, it should be very tiring. But at this moment, Xu Laoshi looks very energetic, not only him, but also Ping An, Ping Bang and Xiaoya. Compared with before, the faces of the three siblings are much better now.
Also, without the worry of an uncertain future, plus eating well and sleeping well these days, everything will be fine.
There are seven houses in Zhuangzi, including three main rooms and two side rooms on the left and right. The woodshed and stove room are attached rooms and are not included in them.
Xu Laoshi's family lived in the west wing, while the east wing was temporarily vacant. As for the main room, it was naturally reserved for Lin Yuanqiu.
However, Lin Yuanqiu definitely doesn't live in Zhuangzi much now, so most of these rooms should be locked on weekdays.
Mrs. Yang had already prepared lunch and soon brought them out, including a bowl of scrambled eggs, a bowl of pork, fish pieces and tofu. There is a tofu maker in Hengkeng Village. Yang just went to Murakami to buy this tofu.
Lin Yuanqiu would definitely not be able to eat four bowls of food per person.
He asked Ping An to get two bowls, and then divided most of the scrambled eggs and pork into the bowls, and then asked Ping An to bring them to his parents, siblings, and others.
Ping An did not immediately pick up the eggs and pork on the table. Instead, he bowed and thanked them first, and then carefully picked up the vegetable bowl and walked out of the main hall.
Every move was done in a measured manner, which showed that he had learned the rules before.
Lin Yuanqiu was thoughtful, thinking that if he needed a servant in the future, it would be a good idea to have Ping An follow him.
The coachman drove the carriage to pick them up on time. Since it was a holiday, there was no need to rush back at the same time today. However, it was not early and it was too late. I was afraid that the horse would not be able to see the road clearly.
When leaving Zhuangzi, Lin Yuanqiu gave Xu Laoshi the cloth he bought and gave him another hundred copper coins.
When a servant works hard, he, as the master, should be rewarded appropriately.
The agreed hundred persimmon saplings were delivered to Zhuangzi the next day. In the afternoon, Lin Yuanqiu went to Zhuangzi again and saw that the saplings were neatly arranged and the top branches had branches, which showed that they were old enough.
Now that the hole has been dug, it will be easy to plant the tree.
By the time Lin Yuanqiu, who had been busy for a long time, was about to return to the Imperial College, almost half of the persimmon saplings had been planted. According to this speed, the planting should be completed in two days at most.
…
The results of the quiz were finally posted on the long notice board on the east side of Piyong Hall amid the anticipation and anxiety of the students.
Except for the top ten students who were posted together with their answer sheets, everyone else only had one name.
The copy from Guangye Hall is posted at the end of the notice board. When Lin Yuanqiu, Zhou Zixu, and Liu Qingan passed by, many people were already surrounding the notice board.
Lin Yuanqiu stood on tiptoe and was about to look at the notice board when he heard someone say loudly, "Brother Ding took the lead again in this quiz. He deserves to be a role model for us."
As soon as he finished speaking, many people in the crowd echoed: "Brother Cao is absolutely right!"
"What Brother Cao said is true!"
Immediately afterwards, Lin Yuanqiu saw Ding Dejin, who had an impression of being cold-tempered. He turned around and cupped his hands to the man named Brother Cao beside him and said, "It's just a fluke. Brother Cao and Brother Wei really don't deserve the praise they have received."
Looking at Ding Dejin's smiling face, he is completely different from his usual reluctance to talk to others.
As both students of Guangye Hall, Lin Yuanqiu knew about the family situation of "Brother Cao" and "Brother Wei". Naturally, we know that the grandfather of "brother Cao" is Cao Yancao, the second assistant to the cabinet, and the grandfather of brother Wei is Wei Xiang, the minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
Therefore, this person is not a cold-tempered person at all. He was unwilling to talk much before, probably because there was no one worthy of him speaking.
This kind of knowledge made Lin Yuanqiu not know what to say for a while.
But next, he had no time to distract from other things, because he heard Zhou Zixu's surprised voice, "Brother Lin, brother Lin, look, you got second place!"
second?
Upon hearing this, Lin Yuanqiu didn't bother to stand on tiptoe anymore, but took three steps and two steps at a time, and quickly squeezed into the crowd.
Then Lin Yuanqiu saw that the one on the right side of Ding Dejin was indeed his name.
It has to be said that this result was completely beyond Lin Yuanqiu's expectations.
Although he feels pretty good about himself in this quiz, there are more than 200 students in Guangye Hall, and with those who can come to the Imperial College, their abilities will naturally be good, so he has to be ranked among the more than 200 students. Being at the forefront is by no means an easy task.
Also, Lin Yuanqiu suddenly remembered that there were rewards for the top ten students, so he thought about the paper with the words Imperial College on it, and finally got it, so that he could use it to copy a set of four books for Chun Yan and Chun Cao. The Five Classics were used as dowry.
