Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 394 Reading

Song Ying hesitated for a moment and said, "Then wait until I come back from reciting the book, or maybe now is fine."

"I was busy at the time, I'm afraid I don't have time. Forget it, we're all busy in the morning, let's wait for you to come back in the afternoon. That's it, I won't delay your memorization, I also have to hurry to steam the buns, the students in the academy will go to school soon."

Aunt Zhang's steamed bun shop was also located in a remote area. She and her husband, one of them sold the buns in the shop while the other carried them to the entrance of the academy.

Song Ying nodded, turned around and called Tangtang: "Let's go."

Tangtang stood up immediately and ran to the lake behind Willow Lane as if she was familiar with the route. Her four legs were running in a mess, and she was turning in the same direction, losing all the majestic air she had just had.

"Slow down, wait for me!" Song Ying hurriedly trotted to catch up. Along the way, he met many uncles and aunts who got up early to fetch water. Song Ying was not surprised by this situation, and greeted them familiarly.

After entering the willow grove, the slight bustle outside disappeared and everything was silent.

As we got closer to the lake, we could hear the sound of people reading books, which came with the sound of the wind, and we could also see faint flickering lights.

After passing through a willow tree, the view ahead suddenly opens up, with vast expanses of mist and waves stretching as far as the eye can see.

There was a fire burning on the open space near the lake. A young man in blue clothes was sitting beside the fire, holding a book and reading it attentively. The fire flickered, making his face bright and dark.

In the grass next to them, there were two fishing rods placed side by side, both of which were set up and thrown into the lake, waiting for the fish to bite.

Hearing the footsteps, the boy stopped reading, stood up and looked over with a smile, "You're here."

Song Ying kept moving, but her cheeks were slightly hot. It had been three years, and although it was like this every time she came, she was still not used to it, and always felt like she was having a tryst.

She walked over and saw two fish in the small puddle she had dug nearby. She couldn't help but be surprised: "Did you catch fish so quickly today?"

"Maybe he was starving all night, so he bit the earthworms when he saw them."

"Haha, then I can eat fish again today!" Song Ying couldn't help but be happy. After the coming of winter, even fish became difficult to catch. He didn't catch any in the past two days.

Tangtang was also very happy. She went straight to the puddle, squatted beside it and played with the fish. From time to time, she stretched out her claws to grab the fish, which scared the fish so much that they swam rapidly and tried to escape. Unfortunately, the puddle was so small that the fish could not escape Tangtang's clutches.

"Read first, maybe you can catch something later."

After saying that, Yuan Qing sat down again and continued reading. Today he was reading Collected Works of Eight Great Writers. After three years of hard study, he had already memorized the Four Books and the Classics. He was adept at solving problems, and the articles he wrote had logic, but lacked in terms of diction and spirit.

Under the guidance of his teacher Wu Tixue, he now reads Tang and Song dynasty articles every two days, reviews classics every two days, and writes two contemporary essays every day.

What Song Ying was reading today was "Lingshu". She had memorized this book the year before. Now that she had made some progress in her studies, she reviewed it again and noticed some details that she had not noticed before. It was very rewarding.

As they read, both of them were absorbed in reading. Although they walked back and forth from time to time, they did not notice the two fishing rods placed next to them with trembling fishing lines, nor did they notice the ripples on the water surface where the fish hooks were.

Tangtang noticed the fishing rod trembling, so she tiptoed over and stared at it. When it trembled again, she slapped it, causing the ripples on the water to become more violent. Tangtang ran to the lake and meowed anxiously at the rippling water.

However, the two people who were so engrossed in reading did not understand its thoughts at all. Hearing its cry, Song Ying looked up, went over to pick it up from the water, said, "I've told you many times, you can't go to the water", and then continued reading.

Tangtang flapped the trembling fishing rod for a while. It was not known whether it thought it was prey and wanted to drag it away, or because it had seen Song Ying and Yuan Qing collect their fishing rods many times in the past, so it bit the fishing rod very familiarly and dragged it into the willow forest.

Fortunately, the fishhook hooked the fish firmly, and it didn't break free after a long struggle. Then a big fish was dragged ashore.

Song Ying was reading a book when he heard two meows and then felt a chill on the back of his feet.

She hissed and looked down, only to see a big fish, as long as her forearm, lying on the back of her feet, and Tangtang sitting next to it, looking up at her proudly.

"Why did you move the fishing rod again? Ouch, let me see if the mouth is hooked?"

Yuan Qing looked over when he heard the sound. He was not surprised by this situation. Half a year ago, Tangtang couldn't wait and dragged the fishing rod to catch the fish himself.

Of course, in most cases, the fish had already broken free from the hook and escaped. The result was that they had finished reading and were ready to see if there was any fish taking the bait, only to find the hook was on the shore.

He looked at the fish and consoled it: "Probably not, the hook is still in the fish's mouth."

Song Ying checked and confirmed that there was no injury in Tangtang's mouth, so he was relieved and looked at the fish. "This is a white fish. It has many bones and it takes time to eat. I won't read it anymore. Let's grill the fish."

Yuan Qing nodded, took out a dagger, grabbed the fish and went to the lake to cut it open. Song Ying went to the nearby area to pick up some dry firewood to make the fire burn more vigorously.

Soon, the three fish were skewered on wooden sticks and placed on the fire.

While waiting for the fish to be cooked, the two chatted as usual, "Yesterday when I went to Shen's house, I met Wu Tixue's wife going to say goodbye to Shun'an County Master. Has your teacher decided on the time of departure?"

Unexpectedly, Yuan Qing said, "The teacher left yesterday morning, and the mistress will leave a few days later."

"Wu Tixue has left?" Song Ying was surprised. "How come he left so soon? The county exam hasn't even started yet. He went to southern Yunnan to preside over the college exam, right? It's still a few months away."

The county examination was presided over by the magistrate of each county, the prefectural examination was presided over by the prefect. Only the last stage, the academy examination, was presided over by the inspector of education. In order to prevent officials from cheating and abusing their power and obstructing the imperial examination, the inspector of education was transferred every three years, which was basically synchronized with the three-year imperial examination.

Each superintendent of education presided over the imperial examinations for that year and was transferred to another place three years later. All the relationships built up during that period would be invalidated, thus effectively putting an end to corruption and malpractice in the imperial examinations.

"You forgot that the school supervisor has other responsibilities. If he goes there early, he can also test the academic atmosphere there. It's better for the teacher to leave early to avoid suspicion."

After his reminder, Song Ying also remembered that when Wu Tixue first came, he went to the community school in Wutong Village to observe the work style and encourage the study style, and he also reacted.

After hearing his next words, I couldn't help but smile and joke: "It seems that you are very confident in yourself."

Logically speaking, all the scholars who passed the examination of Wuti Academy were his disciples, but in the past three years, the only disciple he had formally accepted and taught seriously was Yuan Qing.

Yuan Qing's so-called avoidance of suspicion means that he is certain that he will pass the exam this time!