Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 133 Shen Mingting

When Song Ying had put all the winnowing baskets and sieves in place, Second Uncle Song got up and called Yang, who was busy in the kitchen, to carry the table to the yard together, and then carried out the large cattail basket and placed it on the table.

Fearing that the table would collapse and spill the wheat, he asked Song Ying to stand on it and use a rake to push the wheat away.

Although they were anxious, the Song family did not dry too much wheat at one time, and all the wheat was only spread out in a thin layer.

The key now is to dry the summer taxes to be paid first. If they are dried longer, you can pay less silver later.

As time went by and the sun rose higher, the morning glow became less and less, and finally disappeared completely in the back.

The sun began to become scorching, making the wet ground steamy.

After lunch, the family finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the sky was clear and cloudless and it certainly didn’t look like it was going to rain.

Originally, Song Ying was going to pick up wheat ears in the fields, but unexpectedly, Li asked him to catch two laying ducks and planned to take them to the city to sell.

Although the sky has cleared up, no one knows how long it will be sunny or whether there will be strong sunshine in the future. We must prepare some silver in advance to pay the summer tax later.

Seeing that Li only planned to take Song Ying with her, Song Tian and Song Yuan came over, hugged Li's arm and acted coquettishly: "Grandma, we want to go too."

"You don't know how to settle accounts, so what are you going to do?" Li refused without thinking.

"We haven't been to the city since the wheat harvest, and we want to go!" In the past, after the wheat harvest, Li would take them to the city. This year, it rained for seven consecutive days, which was much longer than in previous years.

"If everyone goes to the city, who will stay indoors to look after the wheat? What if it rains again?"

Song Tian said as a matter of course: "Aren't my parents in the house? They will be watching."

"Two people are not enough. If we really encounter a downpour like that day, more people should stay at home so that we can bring back an extra basket of wheat!"

"We want to go, Grandma! Grandma--" Song Tian and Song Yuan took out their trump card and began to shake Li's arm.

Unfortunately, this time Li seemed to have become hard-hearted and refused to give in at all.

In fact, Song Ying knew the real reason why Li disagreed. If the sun was shining brightly after the rain, the poisonous gas from the grass and trees on the roadside would be very strong. People with weak bodies would easily get sick if they were evaporated by the heat.

There are a lot of plants and trees along the way into the city, especially in some narrow sections, where the grass on both sides covers the path.

When they arrived in the city, Song Ying found that there were many farmers selling chickens and ducks in Zhuangyuanfang, and it seemed that they had the same idea as their family.

With too many people selling, the chickens and ducks could not be sold at a high price. Song Ying and Li tried their best to persuade them, repeatedly emphasizing that they could harvest duck eggs from the ducks they brought back. Only then did they reluctantly sell the ducks weighing more than 45 kilograms for 3 cents.

After selling the ducks, it was already late, but Li did not rush home. Instead, she took Song Ying to Shenming Pavilion in the county government office.

After the rainstorm, every household in the city was busy buying things, and there was no one in front of the Shenming Pavilion.

Li was a little disappointed, but she heard Song Ying next to her say, "It is said that the summer tax payment date is set at the beginning of June."

Li was stunned. "You recognize all the words on it?"

All in all, the grandson has only been in school for less than half a month, and he missed 7 days due to heavy rain; and the granddaughter had even more time to learn to read with her grandson.

Do you recognize all the words on this page?

Song Ying shook his head: "I don't recognize most of them, but I know the words like summer tax date."

Hearing her say this, Li felt that it was unreliable, "How can the meaning be correct if I only know a few words?"

At this time, a gentle voice sounded beside her, "Auntie, your granddaughter is right. The date set by the government for paying the summer tax is indeed the beginning of June."

Song Ying and Li turned around and saw a young man who had come over at some point. He was wearing a square scarf and a scholar's robe. Behind him was a young boy dressed as a book boy.

This was a garment that only people who passed the imperial examination could wear. Li suddenly became respectful and asked carefully, "My husband, are you a scholar?"

The young man smiled and said, "I guess so."

The book boy was a little unhappy: "What scholar? My master is a juren in the fourth year of Qianyuan. He will go to Beijing to take the spring examination next year!"

"It's you, Mr. Juren!" Li said even more respectfully, "Greetings to you, Mr. Juren."

Song Ying was also a little surprised. This man was so young, looking only in his twenties, but he was actually a juren!

In Daqian, the fame and status of scholars were closely linked. Only those who passed the examination for a scholar could be called a xianggong, and only those who passed the examination for a juren could be called a laoye.

Merchants like Mr. He are only called Mr. He in the village when the villagers try to curry favor with the He family. In fact, the correct name should be Mr. He.

There are no restrictions for the boy's examination, and anyone who can read can take the exam, but only 55 people are selected from each prefecture, which shows how difficult it is to pass the exam and become a scholar.

As for Juren, it was a competition among the scholars of a province, among whom there were many scholars who had failed in previous years. You can imagine how difficult it was!

"You're too talkative." The young man gently reprimanded the servant and said to Li with a smile, "Old lady, there's no need to be so polite."

He glanced at Song Ying and said, "As the saying goes, all scholars in the world are one family. Your family is also a farming and reading family, so there is no need to be so formal."

Li said awkwardly, "There has never been a scholar in my family. I only sent my two grandchildren to school to learn a few words."

The young man was surprised, "Who taught your granddaughter to write?"

Farmers are poor and it is difficult to send boys to school, let alone girls. Therefore, only those whose fathers or brothers have passed the imperial examination will teach girls to read.

"My grandson was sent to school at the end of last month. Every day when he came home, my granddaughter urged him to review. Gradually, he learned to recognize words."

"You don't need to be taught to recognize words. You can learn it just by looking at them?" The book boy couldn't believe it.

Song Ying said modestly, "It was only the first simple words that were like this. I asked my younger brother to teach me the complex words that followed, but he didn't understand the meaning either. I went to ask the teacher the next day."

After a pause, she added, "So far, I don't know many words, they are all common ones."

"So that's how it is." The servant felt that this explanation was acceptable and did not make him look stupid.

"Your granddaughter is so smart." The young scholar praised her, but the expression on his face became a little dull, and he no longer had the familiar attitude from before.

Li knew that this was because there was no real scholar in her family, so she held her breath. After the scholar and his book boy left, she said to Song Ying, "You must urge your younger brother to study hard in the future. I don't believe that my family can't cultivate a scholar!"

Although he knew that this was just Li's way of doing things when she was angry, Song Ying still agreed obediently.

She looked at the declaration booth and the notices on it. Suddenly, her eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar portrait on the wooden board next to it.