Ancient Imperial Examination Daily

Chapter 19 Let's go to the county
Du Fangfei's marriage was resolved, and Chen and Du Fangfei's faces were filled with joy, and the dinner in the evening was also more sumptuous.Although there is no rice to eat, no meat, and the food is still corn mush, but the radish and cabbage are cooked twice, which can be regarded as a celebration.

However, Niu was angry, and was instigated by Yao, and came to Sanfang to scold him.But the people in the third room are all used to being scolded by her, and a few more words of scolding are irrelevant, and it doesn't affect their mood in the slightest.

On the second day, Mrs. Chen saw that Du Jinning was fine, so she wanted to take her to the field.But Du Jinning still wants to write novels at home, so why would he want to follow?And because of her thin body and lack of strength, even if she went to the field with her, she would not be of much help, so she flatly refused.

It was too cold in the field, and Mrs. Chen didn't force it. After a few words of advice, she took her daughters to work.

Du Jinning ate the porridge on the table with pickles, then closed the doors and windows tightly, took out the book Du Yinsheng gave her, and flipped through the words on it.Although she can't write many traditional characters, she can recognize them.With these three books as a reference, those words that she can't write can be solved.

There are not many words in the three books, so I finished reading them in a while.She read it carefully several times, and spent a whole morning memorizing all the writing methods on it in her heart.After Du Fanghui came back to see her at noon, he rubbed his ink and continued to write novels.

Knowing how to write those words, without having to think about the plot and wording and the structure of the words at the same time, Du Jinning's progress will be much faster.But even so, it took two days before Du Jinning finished writing and transcribing the novel.

"A Bao" in Pu Songling's "Strange Tales from a Liaozhai Studio" is only a little over two thousand characters.In order to save paper and ink, Du Jinning also tried his best to write in a classical Chinese style.She has a solid foundation in ancient prose, and writing classical Chinese is no problem.In the end, this novel was written into a length of more than 4000 words.

One day, when Mrs. Chen and the others came back, Du Jinning asked her, "Mother, have you ever been to the county?"

"County?" A look of nostalgia appeared on Chen's face, but then it dimmed, "I used to go there often when your father was around, but I haven't been there since he's gone."

Seeing that Du Jinning caused Chen's bad memory, Du Fangling immediately glared at her, and said, "What are you asking? Mother has been tired all day, so you can't let her rest well."

Du Jinning blinked and fell silent.

Mrs. Chen thought she was angry, and quickly scolded Du Fangling: "Why are you staring at your brother? Is there anyone like you who is an older sister? Look at your sister and your younger sister, both of them are more sensible than you."

Du Fangling pouted, turned her head and went out.

Mrs. Chen turned her head and was about to comfort Du Jinning, but Du Jinning hurriedly smiled and said, "Mother, it's okay, I know Third Sister loves you."

"You are more sensible than your third sister." Chen smiled and asked again, "What do you ask the county to do?"

Du Jinning hesitated for a moment, walked over to close the door, and opened part of the windows on both sides to see the situation of the yard and prevent others from eavesdropping.After finishing these, she took out two pieces of paper from under the mattress and handed them to Mrs. Chen: "Mother, I wrote a story, and I want to take it to the county and sell it to bookstores."

If you use your feet to go to the county, it will take a day to go back and forth.Given how nervous Chen was to her, she definitely couldn't hide it from her.Otherwise, if Du Fanghui didn't see her when he came back at noon, he didn't know what would happen.Moreover, if the novel can be sold, then the source of the money must be explained to Mrs. Chen.

In Du Jinning's memory, the third family of the Du family was so poor that they had no money, but the Chen family disciplined them very strictly.When Du Fangling was a child, he stole food from other people's fields to eat because of hunger. When Chen found out about it, he beat him severely.If she took out a few taels of silver and gave it to Mrs. Chen, Mrs. Chen might think she stole it from someone else.There is going to be a commotion, this matter is not clear.It would be better not to hide it from Mrs. Chen from the beginning.

Anyway, she showed her "extraordinary" in front of Du Yinsheng, so it would be nothing if she was smarter and "extraordinary".

"What?" Mrs. Chen was really surprised, took a look at the two pieces of paper, raised her head and asked Du Jinning, "You wrote this?"

Du Jinning nodded.

Chen Shi looked at Du Jinning, but still couldn't believe it.Du Jinning never went to school, how could he be able to write.And a ten-year-old child who has never seen the world, what kind of stories can he make up?But Du Jinning's temperament, she is clear.This kid has always been honest and never lied. He said that he wrote the story, so it is really possible.

Seeing that she had doubts, Du Jinning hurriedly took out the three books from under the mattress and handed them to Mrs. Chen: "This is from my uncle. I went to the school to eavesdrop and saw them learn these three books. They I can recite everything I read, and I can also write the words on it. If you don’t believe me, ask your uncle, I have recited the book for him. I heard my uncle said that those scholars not only like to read the Four Books and Five Classics, but also like to read stories. I made this up and wanted to exchange some money.”

In order to divert Chen's attention, she said provocatively: "Mother, I don't want you to work so hard, and I don't want to exchange my elder sister's marriage when I am sick. If we had money in our hands, when I was sick, elder sister Your marriage will not be promised. Moreover, if the house is short of oil, salt or other things, you don’t have to go to the mountains to help people carry logs.”

Sure enough, when Mrs. Chen heard this, she couldn't help but burst into tears.She touched Du Jinning's head, choked up and said, "Good boy..."

"Mom, why don't I read the story to you, can you listen to it, can I sell it for money?" Du Jinning said, and was about to pick up the paper in Mrs. Chen's hand.

Chen shunned her hands, wiped away tears and said with a smile: "You underestimate my mother, but my mother can read."

"Mom, are you literate?" Du Jinning was taken aback.

"Well, your father taught it." Chen said, looking a little disappointed.

Du Jinning fell silent.

Speaking of her deceased husband, Chen was a little sad at first, but seeing Du Jinning's reverent eyes, she couldn't help laughing: "What's the matter? Mother is far behind you. Mother has studied for a long time before she can know some words." Said Then, she lowered her head to read the novel written by Du Jinning.

Du Jinning had some expectations.

Pu Songling's novels are of course nothing to say, they are definitely good enough, but she still wants to know the views of people of this era.

After reading only a few lines, Mrs. Chen raised her head and looked at Du Jinning in surprise: "Brother Ning, tell mother the truth, did you really write this?"

Du Jinning had been prepared for a long time, nodded calmly, and then showed doubts: "What's wrong? Mother, is it bad? Or..." She bit her lip, "Those words are not right?"

(End of this chapter)