my grandmother

Chapter 21 Trial II
"Li Xiucai." Huang Xianzun looked at Li Xuedong.

Li Xuedong didn't react.

Mr. Gao hastily stepped forward and pushed Li Xuedong, "I'm calling you."

"Yes, boy..."

"Wrong, wrong!" Mr. Gao quickly slapped Li Xuedong on the back.

"Yes, student..." Li Xuedong quickly changed his words.

On the way here, Mr. Gao taught him how to answer and how to be polite, but he was too nervous and scared.

"Give Li Xiucai a chair. Li Xiucai, sit down and talk." Huang Xianzun ordered, then smiled and pointed at Li Xuedong, motioning him to sit down and talk, then looked at Mr. Yao and said with a smile: "Look , is still a child."

"That's right, during the county examination, didn't the county lord say that if his birth month can be a month later, our county will produce a child prodigy." Mr. Yao laughed loudly.

"Li Xiucai, did you hear clearly the report of your uncle Li Wencai?" Huang Xianzun watched Li Xuedong sit on the chair, and asked with a very casual tone and expression.

"Yes." Li Xuedong was tense and stiff, and his back was covered in cold sweat.

"Is this report in your expectation, or is it unexpected?" Huang Xianzun shook the report and smiled, as if he was not trying the case, but chatting with Li Xuedong while drinking tea.

Li Xuedong was taken aback by Huang Xianzun's question, and subconsciously looked at the elder sister Li Jinzhu, Li Jinzhu hurriedly raised his chin and pouted at him, motioning him to answer Huang Xianzun's question.

"Returning to Xianzun, I thought of it, but I didn't think of it." Li Xuedong turned his head to look at Huang Xianzun, seeing Huang Xianzun's kind smile, he calmed down a little, and replied in a trembling voice.

"Think of it?" Huang Xianzun raised his voice, his expression of surprise was exaggerated, "You actually thought of it? Why? Tell me carefully."

"Boy, no, the students study day and night, desperately trying to pass the exam, because of uncle Santang, because if they fail the exam, the student will not be able to survive, and the student's family will not be able to survive." Li Xuedong's throat choked, Tears came down.

"Pour a cup of tea for Li Xiucai, don't worry, speak slowly." Huang Xianzun ordered in a gentle voice.

Mr. Yao poured a cup of tea himself, and brought it to Li Xuedong himself, and said with a warm smile, "Have a sip of tea, don't worry, speak slowly."

Li Xuedong drank the tea in one breath, calmed down a little, and continued:
"Three years ago in the autumn, the student's father took the cow raised by the student's family and Santangbo's family to Caojiabu for breeding. On the way back, there was a heavy rain, and the father covered the cow with rain-shielding things. When I got home, the cow was fine, and my father had a persistent high fever. After three days of suffering, he couldn't make it through.

"Father left a message when he left. There is no need for funerals, and there is no need to buy another coffin. Just open Auntie's coffin and put him and Aunt together. But Uncle Santang insisted on making a big deal. Uncle Santang got a lot of copper cash from Father's funeral, but the savings of the student's family were wiped out.

"When Father was leaving, Eldest Sister combed her hair in front of Father and vowed not to marry. Zhang's family, who was engaged to Eldest Sister, agreed to withdraw the marriage, but the third cousin stood in the way, and the third uncle said that Eldest Sister retired It was just that the reputation of the Li family was ruined. The elder sister took a gold-and-silver hairpin left by A-Niang, plus half a penny, and gave it to the third aunt, and the third uncle didn't stop her anymore.

"When the cow that father took his life was pregnant with a calf, uncle Santang said that the cow's belly was big because of illness, and uncle Santang also said that the illness of the cow was caused by father. Please incite the artisan to get the copper money from our family to take the medicine. He said that the copper money to cure the cow is more expensive than the cow. Let our family give him the copper money for half a cow. We don’t have copper money. The cattle belonged to their family.

"It was raining when my father was going to funeral. The third uncle said that a filial son should kneel on the grave. The third uncle held an umbrella and watched the student kneeling in front of the father's grave for more than three hours. The student was already weak and drenched. After soaking through the rain, he fell ill when he got home.

"The student has been sick for more than a year, and just recovered. When he walked out of the house on the first day, he bumped into his cousins ​​Li Xuefu and Li Xueshou, and was beaten by them. Fortunately, the third elder sister protected me desperately, and the eldest elder sister and second elder sister rushed to the hospital in time. came back.

"After that, about half a month later, one night, when Ah Nan went to watch the moon at the edge of the bamboo grove behind the house, she was hit on the head with a stick by her cousins ​​Li Xuefu and Li Xueshou, and she passed out for two days and two nights before waking up.

"Anan was beaten because she was wearing a student's long jacket."

Gu Yan raised his eyebrows when Li Xuedong said that Ah Nan was looking at the moon by the bamboo forest.

Luxiu likes admiring the moon the most, and the moon in the bamboo forest the most. She said that the bamboo forest is swaying, and the clear light is mottled, which has the meaning of being out of the dust.

He felt that the bamboo forest in the cold moon was so cloudy that she could only enjoy the moon with flowers.

What day was it when Ah Nan was beaten until she passed out?I have to find out.

"The third aunt also took someone to see Ah Nan, she is a child, and said that Ah Nan can sell for ten taels of silver.

"The eldest sister said that the third uncle is determined to eat up our family's 30 acres of paddy fields, as well as the value of my daughter's silver, and the eldest sister and the second elder sister can also sell it for three or five taels of silver.

"Later, the elder sister said that students have to go to this school. This is the only way for our family to survive. We don't ask students to pass the exam, even if they can go to the school attached to the county school..."

Li Xuedong's words stopped abruptly, and he looked at Mr. Gao.

On the way, when he told Mr. Gao that if he could go to the attached county school, he would be able to meet the children of the county yatou family and the Liangshu family. OK, don't talk.

"I understand. I know why you go to school. You can continue to talk about it." Huang Xianzun answered clearly.

"Yes, last autumn, when it was time to pay the rations, the eldest sister did not follow the third uncle to pay the rations like in previous years. It was the students, the eldest aunt and the second aunt who paid the rations. This autumn trip to pay the rations , We saved more than 300 copper coins, used the copper coins to pay the tuition fees for the students, and sent the students back to the Gaojia School.

"Students in Gao's Academy are not studying, but fighting for their lives, fighting for themselves, the eldest sister, the second sister, the third sister, and the aunt. Students..."

Li Xuedong's throat choked again and he couldn't continue.

Mr. Huang Xianzun had already wiped away his tears one by one, and Mr. Yao followed suit. The servants standing in two rows hurriedly followed, some of them sniffed violently from time to time, and some kept following Huang Xianzun's rhythm. raised his hand to wipe his tears.

Huang Xianzun pressed his face with a handkerchief, blew his nose vigorously, coughed again, and raised his voice to ask, "Have Li Xuefu and Li Xueshou come?"

"Here we come." Yatou replied, walked a few steps quickly, grabbed Li Xuefu and Li Xueshou with each hand, pushed them to the middle of the two rows of yamen servants, and then knelt down on their knees.

Huang Xianzun looked at the two of them carefully, pointed at Li Xueshou, who was staring blankly with two bull's eyes, and asked, "Tell me, have you ever beaten your cousin?"

Li Xueshou glared at Li Xuedong following Huang Xianzun's fingers, and immediately nodded, "Beat it."

"Why did you beat him?" Huang Xianzun then asked.

"Auntie told me that if you kill him, you can eat meat every day!" Li Xueshou stared straight at the bull's-eye, and told the truth directly.

(End of this chapter)