happy event

Chapter 63
Dong Rong had just introduced Dong Ping and sister-in-law to meet each other, and when she turned her head and saw Xizi's appearance, she smiled and said, "I didn't prepare anything else for today, I only took four mooncakes. Brother Ping, feel free to send them to the gentlemen as a gift and keep them safe." I won't embarrass you. After the quiz the next day, my sister will cook for you and make a table for you to celebrate!"

As she spoke, she handed the bamboo tube that Sha Zhu was carrying to Dong Ping.Dong Ping only glanced at the patterns carved on the bamboo tube, and his eyes lit up.In the end, he bowed solemnly, "Eldest sister, younger brother will definitely live up to your expectations."

Dong Rong didn't want her younger brother to be under too much pressure, so she hurriedly said, "Don't be so serious, even if something goes wrong, we'll just take the exam next year. My sister doesn't need dozens or two of you now."

Dong Ping smiled and didn't respond, but his chest was pulled up even higher.The unique arrogance of young people, who is the only one in the world, instantly filled his brows, causing Dong Rong to sigh secretly.

The two siblings chatted a few more gossips before they left. Dong Ping walked towards his small courtyard with a bamboo tube in his hand, secretly thinking about which four gentlemen he would give the boxing gift to, but on the way he heard a few classmates talking about The gentlemen were composing poems and chatting in the garden, so they turned quietly.

Mr. Yang's long-term follower, Mr. Mo, is a companion who grew up with him since he was a child. He loves the house and loves Wu on weekdays, and is also very close to the disciples that Mr. Yang values.He was standing under the tree with his shoulders folded to serve him. When he saw Dong Ping coming from a distance, he smiled and said, "Mr. Cai just mentioned the young master. I don't think the young master came here by such a coincidence."

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and reported to the gazebo, "Sir, Mr. Dong's family pays his respects."

Mr. Yang was being embarrassed by his enemies who were always bickering on weekdays, when he heard this, he suddenly laughed and said, "Let him come up quickly."

Dong Ping gave Mo Bo a salute with a smile, and then walked steadily up the steps.When Mr. Yang saw his proud disciple, he smiled even more happily, but he still refused to relax, and asked, "Didn't I tell you to read the Analects again carefully? When Wei Xuejian in the state government questioned him, he liked to read the Analects from the Analects the most. Pick words. What are you doing here when you have nothing to do?"

Dong Ping bowed to all the gentlemen one by one, and then responded with a smile, "Sir, I will keep it in my heart. It's just that today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and my sister brought in a few rough dim sum. I'm afraid that I will be too greedy." Just like the last hospital exam, I broke my stomach. So I brought it over and tried to add some tea-like snacks for all the gentlemen, and I hope the gentlemen will not dislike it."

How could Mr. Yang not know that his disciple had changed his way to give him a gift. He glanced at the other colleagues who were full of envy, and he was so happy that he was about to bloom, but it was a pity that he continued to scold him, "Isn't that right?" Boy with a conscience, you are afraid that you will spoil your intestines, could it be that the old man’s intestines are made of iron..."

He was interrupted by several other gentlemen just after he finished speaking, "Brother Yang, don't take advantage of it and act like a good boy. If we had such a filial and polite disciple, we would have confessed it a long time ago. It's not like you In this way, we will be counted down when we meet."

"That's right, there are almost a dozen kinds of dim sum that I have eaten these days. When did you eat less than half a piece?"

Mr. Yang was exposed by his colleagues, his face flushed red with annoyance, and he hurriedly pushed Dong Ping back to review the book, lest he would not respect him as a gentleman after listening to a few more sentences.

After Dong Ping resigned and walked away, Mr. Yang complained bitterly to everyone, "I don't know how to save some face for me. It's really worthless for you to eat snacks!"

Everyone laughed, and one of the gentleman with three long beards raised his hand and picked up the bamboo tube on the table to look at it for a while, and then praised, "The craftsman who carved the bamboo tube is really good at making a pair of moon under the cold mountain." The picture is carved to perfection, and there is no craftsmanship at all."

After hearing the words, everyone took up bamboo tubes to comment on it, which seemed to stop hunger by looking at the picture.Later, it was a man with a great appetite who opened the lid of the bamboo tube first, and saw that the inside of the green bamboo tube was lined with ivory-colored muslin, and a golden moon cake the size of a child's palm was lying quietly in the center, which made people feel surprised. When you see it, you feel very elegant.

After peeling it off like this, a bamboo tube is actually divided into six layers, each layer has a piece of moon cake, and the fillings are not the same.All the gentlemen praised while tasting. Mr. Yang was very proud and said with a smile, "When the academy started that day, I saw that Dong's woman was very aggressive and rude. I didn't expect her to have a good skill in making dim sum. It can be seen The heart of heaven is the most merciful, and will always give a dead worm to a blind sparrow."

Everyone nodded one after another, inevitably talking about the refugees outside the city, and after discussing how to submit a letter to the imperial court after the court exam, they turned to the main topic.

Although the academy focuses on teaching and educating people, it is inevitable that people need to compromise on some things in life.In this college examination, more than [-] scholars took reference, but only ten people were selected as scholars.Among them, excluding the "distant relatives" who the county magistrate wanted to take care of and the school superintendent, there were only five places left, but there were six gentlemen present, and one of the proud disciples must return empty-handed.

Mr. Yang leaned on the back of the chair with an old spirit, and said, "I don't want to care about the rest. But Dong Juncheng must take it!"

Someone originally wanted to object, but when he looked down and saw the empty bamboo tube on the table, he closed his mouth again.Seeing this, Mr. Yang picked up the bamboo tube and threw it to Uncle Mo, then got up and left, leaving everyone to continue the verbal war.

Dong Ping didn't know that he had been designated as a rookie by default, and he continued to eat, sleep and study as usual, while Dong Rong started a big purchase with his second sister Cao and the laborer Shazhu who carried the bag.

As the solar term enters autumn, the mountains begin to become cold in the morning and evening.When she first married into the Cao family, the Dong family did not accompany her with half a cotton padded coat. If she didn't prepare it as soon as possible, she would probably suffer from the cold.In addition, the two old beddings are cold and hard because they have been used for too many years. Now that they are not short of these few taels of silver, Dong Rong wants to change them again.

In this way, the two aunts and sisters-in-law went to the grocery store when they left the cloth shop, and went to the jewelry store after the grocery store.I bought bag after bag of things, and finally Shazhu couldn't carry it in his hands, so Dong Rong hired a carriage.Xu Shi was afraid of being trampled by horseshoes, so she went out of the city gate smoothly, and even at the gate of the house, Dong Rong remembered that there were steamed buns in the basket that had not been given away.

There is no girl who doesn't like fabric jewelry, and when Du Juan saw that Dong Rong had bought so many things, she also enthusiastically joined the ranks of tidying them up.

Seeing this, Wang Lu had no choice but to carry the steamed buns into the stove, planning to make a pot of rice porridge for a meal.Silly Zhu also couldn't hear the woman's noise, so he followed to the stove to help light the fire.After a while, Guanshi Zhang also hid in.The three men looked at each other and laughed helplessly.

The west wing room was completely dominated by women. Second Sister Cao held this hibiscus flower silver hairpin in her hand, and inserted it into her temple hair happily. She thought of a boy she liked, and her little face blushed suspiciously.Du Juan's sister-in-law envied her when she saw her, "It's good to be young, and you look good with any jewelry."

Dong Rong found a long box, took out a plum blossom hairpin and stuffed it for her, jokingly said, "Sister-in-law, don't blame me for being partial, this is for you!"

Du Juan picked up the hairpin and looked at it in surprise, and said with a smile, "Oh, I still have mine." Dong Rong picked up the last orchid hairpin and stuck it behind her head, and said, "Everyone has a share!"

After finishing speaking, he pulled Second Sister Cao to tidy up the cloth quickly, "Put away your dowry quickly, but a silver hairpin will make you smile crookedly, you are useless! When my sister-in-law makes a fortune, I will buy you a set of golden noodles Son, let you get married in a splendid manner!"

After hearing this, Second Sister Cao said, "I don't want it. My sister-in-law will give birth to a little nephew soon, and save the money for him to marry a wife."

Now it was Dong Rong's turn to blush. It was rare for Du Juan's sister-in-law to see this shrewd cousin-in-law deflated, holding her stomach and laughing non-stop.

Not to mention how lively the three women were, but only to say that on the day of the college exam, Dong Rong took Shazhu into the city early, and paid a high price to book a table in the teahouse opposite the gate of the academy, drinking tea while waiting nervously. Follow Dong Ping out.

Dong Xiucai heard the news from somewhere, and rushed over with Niu Shi.Niu's eyes were sharp, and when he saw Dong Rong lying behind the window of the tea house from afar, he dragged Dong Xiucai and ran over.Dong Rong secretly sighed that it was unlucky, but she had no choice but to stand up and give in.

Sitting by the window, Mrs. Niu yelled for Xiao Er to come forward, ordered seven or eight plates of snacks in one go, and finally complained that Dong Rong had no parents, so why didn't she send a letter to her family earlier.Dong Rong was worried about how her younger brother did in the exam, so she didn't want to pay attention to her at all.Niu was furious and wanted to say more, but Dong Xiucai became impatient and scolded, "Shut up if you want to stay, and go home if you don't want to stay."

Since being imprisoned last time and causing the family to lose all their savings, Niu has lost most of his prestige in front of Dong Xiucai. Even his two sons and daughters often complain that there is no good food at the dinner table and no jewelry when they go out.Therefore, when Dong Xiucai yelled, Niu immediately became more honest, except for occasionally gouging Dong Rong with his eyes, he didn't dare to say anything loudly.

Dong Rong could not care, but the silly Zhu who put her on the top of his heart was annoyed, and when he glanced over the creaking chair under the pressure of Niu's fat body, he smiled lightly... …

As the time approached, the teahouse was gradually filled with guests, including relatives of the test takers and idlers who came to watch the excitement after hearing the news.Everyone was talking about what the newly promoted young masters should look like. Those with daughters even joked that they should take a good look at them, and maybe recruit a good son-in-law.

After hearing this, Niu hurriedly turned his head to look, and seeing that the speaker was wearing eight gold rings on his ten fingers, he immediately laughed and drool like a bear seeing honey.

Dong Rong sneered and secretly rolled her eyes.

Soon, when the sun was high, the school supervisor who came from the state capital was accompanied by the county magistrate to Bailu Academy.In recent years, the dean, who seldom showed up due to his health, was rarely greeted at the door, so the school supervisor Wei and county magistrate Xu hurried forward to salute, and everyone entered the academy gate after a few polite words.

After drinking the tea for the guests, desks were set up in the largest room of the academy, and the test-takers sat quietly, waiting for the questions that the supervisor and the county magistrate had discussed together to come out, and then began to think hard and start answering.

Dong Ping studied hard and had a solid foundation. In less than half an hour, he composed a five-character quatrain that recited the harvest, wrote an essay silently, and drew a picture of golden autumn. .

(End of this chapter)