Ancient Imperial Examination Daily

Chapter 32 Reading
"Okay, Mr. Zhang." Mrs. Zhang agreed softly, turned her head and smiled at Du Jinning, "Brother Ning, go quickly, your fourth uncle is waiting for you."

"Thank you, Fourth Aunt." Du Jinning replied politely, and entered the gate of the West Wing.

The west chamber was specially reserved for Du Yunchang to study in the big room. There was a desk, a bookshelf, and calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall. Although the decoration was simple, it was considered elegant.However, there are not many books on the bookshelf, but only a few more than 20 books.Thinking about the cost and scarcity of ancient books, Du Jinning can understand.

She took out the two story books from her bosom and put them on the desk: "Fourth Uncle, I have finished reading these two books, so I return them to you."

Du Yunchang was taken aback for a moment: "Is that the end?"

Du Jinning nodded.

Subconsciously, Du Yunchang wanted to test Du Jinning in the school, but after thinking about it, the scriptures are not the Four Books and Five Classics, but just for entertainment, and there are some dealings between gifted scholars and beautiful women in it, which is not suitable for a child like Du Jinning to study more, so he Let it go.

Du Jinning poked his head on the bookshelf: "Fourth Uncle, do you have any history books here? I want to borrow them."

Du Yunchang was taken aback, and asked, "Why do you want to read this kind of book?"

Du Jinning scratched his head: "I just want to see it."

Du Yunchang really didn't understand what was going on in Du Jinning's little mind.Children who have just learned to read can read whatever books their husband gives them, at most they just read some scriptures.Even he himself, if he hadn't quoted classics when writing articles, involved history, and used this knowledge when discussing policy, he would not have read such books related to history and current affairs.

Moreover, with Du Jinning's level, can he understand those history books?Although he wrote a very wonderful storybook, history books are not that straightforward. The words are profound and there are too many allusions. Just a sentence is a big obstacle. Without a certain foundation and the teacher's teaching, how can you read Understand?Even Du Yunchang himself was still confused.

He frowned: "I have a copy of "Historical Records" here, but I borrowed it from my classmate two days ago, and I promised to return it to him after copying. I can't lend you this book. You want to read it , read the transcript after I finish copying it."

At this time, Du Jinning had already seen the "Historical Mirror" on the bookshelf. It looked quite thick, and he couldn't finish copying it in ten days and a half months.

"You don't need it now, right? I'll just look through it here, and don't take it away. If I don't understand it, I won't read it." She pointed at the book and smiled.

Du Yunchang could only nod his head.

It's not that he's stingy, it's that books are precious. If Du Jinning soiled and ruined this book, it would be difficult for him to compensate others;

Du Jinning obviously knew this too.She first showed Du Yunchang the palm of her hand: "My hands are very clean." Then she picked up the book and sat down on a chair next to her.

Du Yunchang's desk was not too big, with the Four Treasures of the Study and an open book on it, there was no more space, and Du Jinning didn't want to disturb Du Yunchang, so he didn't move over.

The chair is a bit high, and she has short legs and can't reach the ground, so the book can't be placed on her lap.She simply took off her shoes, sat cross-legged on the chair, laid the book flat, and flipped through it.

Seeing Du Jinning's actions, Du Yunchang raised his eyebrows, both novel and funny.But seeing Du Jinning carefully turning the pages of the book and reading it intently, obviously really reading and cherishing the book, Du Yunchang was relieved and lowered his head to continue today's homework.

Du Jinning originally wanted to read the table of contents so that she could know the changes of the times and the history of history, but it was a handwritten copy, and there was no table of contents on it, and as soon as she opened it, she went straight to the text, so she had to read it patiently.

There is a charcoal basin in Du Yunchang's room, and the windows are tightly covered, leaving only some gaps in the cotton curtains for ventilation. It is very warm and much more comfortable than Du Jinning staying in the room over there.As soon as she saw it, she was fascinated.Du Jinning didn't realize it was noon until he heard Du Yinsheng's voice in the yard.

"I didn't expect it to be so late." Du Jinning hurriedly closed the book and wanted to get off the chair, but he didn't want to sit cross-legged for so long, his legs were so numb that he lost consciousness.

"Hiss..." The sore and numb feeling came from the soles of her feet, and she immediately gasped.

"Slow down, don't rush." ​​Du Yunchang said hurriedly, got up and came to help her.

Du Yinsheng had already lifted the curtain and came in. When he saw Du Jinning, he was surprised, and then he smiled and said, "Brother Ning, why are you here?"

"I'm here to borrow books from my fourth uncle." The discomfort in Du Jinning's legs eased a lot, she moved her legs on the spot, and said to Du Yunchang, "Fourth uncle, I'm fine."

Only then did Du Yunchang put down his arms, and explained to his father: "Brother Ning said that he wanted to read history books. I happen to have a copy of "Historical Records" that I borrowed the day before yesterday, and she read it all morning."

"Oh?" Du Yinsheng was very surprised. He put down the cloth bag and the stove, came over to take the book in Du Jinning's hand, flipped through two pages, raised his head and asked Du Jinning, "Can you recite it?"

Du Jinning shook his head: "I just flipped through it, and didn't remember it on purpose. And... I don't know many words, so I don't understand much."

In fact, when she thinks back, she basically remembers the contents of the book, and it is not difficult to recite it.It's just that she didn't want to appear too monstrous. The uncommon words and esoteric expressions above were not something a ten-year-old like her could understand.

Du Yunchang raised his eyebrows.

This morning, he didn't pay much attention to reading, so he had to observe Du Jinning from time to time.He watched the child turn a page of the book every once in a while, with her eyes moving at a constant speed from top to bottom, from right to left. Judging by the speed and concentration of reading, she had read the book.

After reading it so intently all morning, he didn't even know that his legs were numb, and he said he couldn't understand it, and he expressed deep doubts.

"Try it, try it." Du Yinsheng was very interested.

Du Jinning had no choice but to memorize it stutteringly. Whenever she encountered a word that did not appear in "Three Hundred Thousand", she would jump over it and stop at random.There were quite a lot of uncommon characters in the "Historical Records", and when she read it like this, it suddenly became messy.

She recited seven or eight sentences, then stopped, scratched her head, and said shyly, "I can't remember."

"It's amazing, it's amazing." Du Yinsheng didn't expect that she could memorize it like this, his expression was very excited, he took the book and walked around the room a few times, and then asked Du Jinning, "Have you read that "Poetry"? "

Du Jinning blushed and lowered his head: "I read a few pages, but I didn't understand many words and didn't know what they meant, so I stopped reading."

Du Yinsheng's look of anticipation froze, thinking of the sixteen characters in the first poem "Guanju" in "Poetry", five or six of them were not in "Three Hundred Thousand".He also didn't teach Du Jinning to read. It's normal for Du Jinning not to know these characters.

Moreover, these poems have profound meanings, how can Du Jinning understand them by himself? In "Guanguan Jujiu, in the continent of the river. My fair maiden, a gentleman likes a bird", even Du Yinsheng himself didn't know what Jujiu was. He only knew that his husband told him that it was a kind with a crest and feathers on its head. Bird; as for "My Fair Lady, Gentlemen Love You", can he expect a ten-year-old kid to understand?

(End of this chapter)