She is different from the empress in the history books

Chapter 123
Erniu was a child sold by her parents, but she was not the first one in her family to be sold, first her sister who was one year older than her, and then her and her younger brother.

My mother said that all the grain had been eaten by locusts and she could no longer afford to pay taxes, so she had to flee the famine.Dad said that the eldest brother is the root of the family and must be kept. If they are sold, they can save some travel expenses for the eldest brother.

But mother also said that they can't be sold to Liangya people. He lost his conscience and sold good-looking boys and girls to dirty places.So she and her younger brother were sold to Tian Yaren.

The price given by the Tianya people was even lower, especially since there were too many sellers in their hometown, some of them sold their children for a bag of food, so Erniu's parents didn't actually get much money.

Tian Yaren is a good person.He said that Erniu looked smart, knew how to protect food, benevolent and righteous, and protected his younger brother, so when he brought a group of children who were about to be sold to Chengyang County, he brought Erniu and younger brother to the steward of the princess mansion.

The weather was already very cold. When Erniu came to Chengyang County, there was already a lot of snow on the ground. She was wearing mother-made straw sandals. When she walked to the door of the princess's house, her feet were already frozen.

She knew she had to stay, because the Yaman said that it was too cold and it cost money to feed them, so she had to sell them quickly, and if he couldn't sell them, he would sell them to other Yamen cheaply.

By then, Erniu wouldn't know where she and her brother would be sold.

……

"These are the newly bought children? It's so cold, they don't wear too much clothes, they are easy to freeze."

Cheng Fei, wrapped in a thick fox fur and holding a small heater in her hand, came to the outer courtyard to see the new child bought by the steward.

This group of children is going to teach them to read, so the manager is also very careful when buying things, not only to see if they are healthy, but also to chat with them one by one to see if they are quick-witted, and if any of them happen to know a few words Yes, it is even more necessary to stay.

However, there are not many such children. Families that are able to support their children to read and write now, even if there are temporary accidents or natural disasters, there are always relatives and friends who can help, and they will not be sold to the point of selling their children.

Therefore, the children bought by the steward are basically like Erniu. Ordinary peasant families have too many children to feed. If the family is in debt, they can only sell the children, or there is a sudden natural disaster or man-made disaster, and the family and the children are sold. Each has a way to survive.

Cheng Fei came here to select these children again. After all, the opportunity to study is precious. Some of them seem inappropriate. It is better to let them be ordinary servants and leave the opportunity to children who can create more value.

Cheng Fei casually asked about each other's situation, and wrote a few words in Jixue for them to remember. After a while, they would erase them, rewrite them in a random order, and let them recognize them.

These are children who have not received any education at all, so whether they can quickly memorize unfamiliar square words will most likely reflect their memory and concentration, both of which are important manifestations of IQ.

Erniu was very concerned about this opportunity, so when Cheng Fei taught them how to read, she carefully repeated the pronunciation of these words and forced herself to make associations. For example, the left side of this word looked like a pool of water. Below that word looks like a person...

This kind of concentration made Er Niu quickly memorize these words. She didn't even pay attention to envy Cheng Fei's beautiful warm velvet clothes like some children did, because she was trying to ensure that she would not be caught. After being eliminated, Er Niu had to find a way to teach her younger brother.

Her younger brother Erzhu is two years younger than her, and unlike her sister who has already recognized the situation, he is actually a little ignorant.

At home, because parents dote on Erzhu more, although the degree of love is limited due to family circumstances, it is nothing more than the degree of not having to hunt pigweed and eating an extra spoonful of porridge, but children are very clever, and Erzhu is not at home. He is willing to listen to his older brothers and sisters, and even tricks Er Niu into helping him with work.

However, since he was sold by his parents, he has become very dependent on his sister.

In fact, the same is true for Erniu, her sister has been separated, her parents and elder brother don't know where to flee, and only their siblings are left.Er Niu also felt panic in her heart, so whether it was for the purpose of taking care of her brother or because she wanted to have someone to accompany her, she wanted to keep her brother.

Erniu taught her brother a few words in a low voice, and imitated asking him twice, but found that he still didn't remember it thoroughly, so she couldn't help but pat him a few times.

"Hurry up and write it down! Otherwise, you will be taken away by the gangster, sold to a bad place, beaten every day, starved of food, and never see me again, do you want this?"

Er Zhu was so frightened that he cried, but he also knew what was going on, and while wiping his tears and snot, he muttered:
"I remember, I remember, Second Sister, don't want me. The one on the left that looks like water is the river, and the one with people below is the sky..."

Cheng Fei happened to be approaching Erniu when he heard the cry of a child and couldn't help but look over.

She paced over and saw the younger boy muttering and crying, and the older girl holding his hand. Seeing Cheng Fei coming over, she froze for a moment, but she still pretended to be calm and talked with Cheng Fei. Look at each other.

And in the corner where no one cares, Er Niu's toes are tucked together, stepping on the rough straw sandals, her skin and flesh are already blue and red from the cold.

"This is your brother? What is he talking about?"

"Miss,"

Erniu suddenly thought of the name of the steward, and said again:
"Ms. Cheng, it's my younger brother. He is memorizing characters. I think the left side of the first character looks like water, so it is a river. The bottom of the second character looks like a person. We live under the sky, so this is the sky." .”

Only then did Cheng Fei take a serious look at Er Niu. For a child who has never learned characters, being able to memorize characters using this method of associating characters, not to mention how high the IQ is, the imagination must be pretty good.

"Then let me test you to see if you can remember these six words."

Er Niu shook hands, although it was cold, her palms were already sweating.

"Yes, yes, you have remembered it all, but can you do the math? For example, your family raised a chicken and laid one egg on the first day and three on the second day. How many eggs are there in total?"

Erzhu stopped crying. He was often the one picking up their eggs, so he knew the situation of hens laying eggs very well. He retorted in a low voice beside him:

"A chicken cannot lay eggs every day, nor can it lay three eggs."

"you shut up."

Erniu scolded.

Cheng Fei smiled.

"It's okay, I just said it casually, it may be different from your family's situation, you just do what I say. There is more,"

Cheng Fei knelt down and said to Erzhu:
"Kid, I don't know if a chicken can lay three eggs, but if it is raised well, it can lay eggs every day."

"Really? How to raise it?"

"Uh... I don't know either, but someone knows that if you pass my exam, you can learn from someone who can raise chickens."

Erzhu thought blankly that if they laid eggs every day, their family would have a lot of eggs.

Er Niu was also very excited, her chest heaved even more violently with excitement, is it so good here that she even taught them how to raise chickens?
Er Niu counted silently in her heart, one egg, two eggs, three eggs...

"It's four, Mrs. Cheng, it's four!"

"Then what if two more eggs were laid on the third day, how many eggs were there in total this time?"

Er Niu continued to add more.

"Six eggs!"

"If you eat one of these six eggs and your brother eats two, how many are left?"

Er Niu slowed down for a while, lowered her head to read the number of eggs silently, then raised her head, looking at Cheng Fei with bright eyes:

"Three!"

Cheng Fei thought the child was quite smart, but she had never been a teacher and didn't know the arithmetic level of children of this age, so she pulled a child next to her who was about the same height as Er Niu and asked a few questions, which were also simple ones. Number addition and subtraction.

Unfortunately, he didn't figure it out.

Cheng Fei handed the heater to the maid behind her, touched Erniu's face with her warm hands, and asked with a smile:
"I think you are very smart, so you were selected. And I happen to be short of someone to serve me. Do you want to follow me?"

In fact, Cheng Fei thinks that Erniu is better at arithmetic than she needs a seven or eight-year-old child to serve her. The arithmetic teaching in the school must be slow and basic. She thinks Erniu can learn it completely. A little deeper.

Er Niu's eye sockets were red with excitement, and she kept nodding.

She understood what Cheng Fei meant, she could stay, and this Mrs. Cheng seemed to like her very much, which meant that she might live a better life than other children.

But, soon, the warmth from her hands calmed her down again. Yes, her brother didn't know if he could stay.

Erniu looked down at her brother and asked him:
"Have you learned all the words my sister taught you? You can learn it without making any mistakes."

Erzhu nodded hesitantly.

Er Niu took the initiative to say to Cheng Fei:

"Ms. Cheng, then you should test my brother."

Cheng Fei raised her eyebrows, she was very curious, if Erniu's younger brother did not pass, what would she choose, would she choose to give up this opportunity?
She thought so, so she asked.

Er Niu was silent for a while, then replied:
"If he fails, I will ask Mrs. Cheng if I can teach him on one side and let him memorize it for a while. If he still can't do it,"

Erniu looked at the steward who was bending down behind Cheng Fei, mustered up her courage and said:

"I know, the steward has already bought us, so we won't be abandoned. Even if my brother and I are in different places, I can find out where he is, so I won't refuse Mrs. Cheng just to accompany him arranged."

Cheng Fei was very satisfied with her answer. She didn't want Erniu to be someone who would easily sacrifice herself for family affection, but she also didn't want her to be someone who didn't think about her younger brother at all. Such an answer was already very satisfactory, and she also considered The fact that the manager will not give them away easily after buying them shows that he is indeed not stupid.

Er Zhu is not as clever as his sister, but he passed Cheng Fei's assessment under strong pressure, and both siblings can be assigned to the school.

In this batch of children, a total of 43 people can enter the school.

The number of students initially planned for the school is 200. In addition to this group of bought children, there are also children who were born as slaves and some children from Buqu families.

They occupy more places, which is normal, after all, they play for Pei Peng, if the children don't get a certain number of places, it will inevitably be chilling.

The assessment of these children was more difficult than that of Erniu and the others. Pei Peng had originally arranged for literate servants to enlighten these children.

Moreover, their own parents, due to work needs, have a higher probability of literacy than ordinary farmers, and they will teach their children some at home.

In short, it took about half a month, the number of students has been set, but the teacher has not yet fully filled in,
But there is no rush, because the school has not been fully built, but the building of the house and the wood used for the tables, chairs and beds have allowed the villagers near the school to earn a fortune in this slack winter. The news of opening the school in the spring of next year has also spread in several nearby villages.

County Magistrate Zhou also heard about this. He didn't know it from the villagers, but from some wealthy people in the city. They didn't know that almost all the students in the school run by Pei Peng were slaves. Thinking that she was like other powerful people who opened a college to win over promising young people.

Although the purpose is very clear, it is indeed very attractive. After all, the teachers provided by the princess of a country are not comparable to their small county families. If they can give their children a better development, so what if they rely on Pei Peng?Anyway, they can't reach higher forces.

County Magistrate Zhou was also a little interested. He also had two sons at home. During the period of temporary residence at the Princess Mansion, they all studied with Mr. Wu for a period of time.

It's just that Mr. Wu is the princess's husband after all, and he is not too young, so it is impossible for him to care so much about the children of officials and eunuchs.

But despite this, Magistrate Zhou also felt from his son's conversation that Mr. Wu was indeed more proficient in knowledge and could bring greater progress to his son.

There is a high probability that the school run by Pei Peng will not be taught by Mr. Wu, but as long as he has half of his ability, it will not be a loss to send his son to study for a few years.

With his own thoughts, Magistrate Zhou took a thick fur hat from the cabinet and put it on his head, braved the wind and snow, rode a donkey and went out.

It was snowing heavily today, and Pei Peng was cooking wine around the stove in his room. He added some sugar to the sour wine and some sweet preserved fruits, so he was very leisurely.

At this time, the news of County Magistrate Zhou's visit came, Pei Peng glanced at the heavy snow outside, and remained silent, what an urgent matter, let a not-so-young man, County Magistrate Zhou, visit in the snow.

She quickly called for Magistrate Zhou to come in, and asked for extra drinking utensils.

"What? You want to send your son to school?"

Magistrate Zhou put his hand over the glass warmed by the hot wine in embarrassment, and nodded cheekily.

Pei Peng found it a little funny, because of the ridiculous rumors spread outside, but at the same time he was a little touched, because of Magistrate Zhou's love for his son.

However, she still had to refuse, because the school she wanted to run was obviously not suitable for a family like County Magistrate Zhou, and even those rich families in the county would not flock to the school if they really understood the identity of the school's students.

　Thank you susu susu for the monthly pass

　　
　
(End of this chapter)