Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 10 Sooner or later, I will be dragged to death by this nerd

Looking further ahead, the green-tiled and wooden buildings are scattered on the hillside in the setting sun.

He walked through the bustling streets and came to a quiet alley at the west end of the town. The courtyard walls on both sides were low and covered with honeysuckle ivy. A few peach blossoms poked out of the walls, looking particularly beautiful in the twilight.

A little girl with two buns and a little boy with a runny nose were playing in the alley.

When she saw Lu Beigu, the little girl immediately ran out and threw herself into his arms like a happy little deer.

"Uncle!"

Lu Beigu caught her subconsciously, and even lifted her up and turned her around out of habit, feeling a sense of intimacy.

This is his niece, Lu Yuchi.

"oops!"

Lu Yanqi, who was following behind Lu Yuchi, also walked towards him with his little hands outstretched, but he was too young to have a sense of balance when walking, and suddenly fell into a small pit on the ground in the alley.

Lu Beigu grabbed him, took out a handkerchief and wiped his nose.

In my previous life’s memory, my family lived in Kaifeng when I was a child, but later for some unknown reason, we moved back to our hometown.

There are three brothers and sisters in the family. Only the elder sister Lu Nanzhi got married and stayed in Kaifeng. We have not been in contact for many years.

His parents passed away very early, so he had been taken care of by his eldest brother and sister-in-law since he was old enough to understand. A few years ago, his eldest brother unfortunately passed away due to illness, leaving his sister-in-law Pei Yan alone to support the family.

The people in the clan are very cold and indifferent, so life at home has not been easy in recent years.

However, although the family was very poor, they were not too unhappy.

At this time, a white tabby cat jumped down from the top of the wall, punched Lu Beigu as a greeting, and then disappeared at lightning speed.

"Tofu!"

Lu Yuchi shouted in an angry tone.

Afterwards, Lu Beigu took his niece and nephew to the deepest part of the alley. When they reached the door and were about to push it open, they suddenly heard whispers coming from the yard.

He paused and stopped in front of the half-open gate.

"Madam Pei, I'm not saying anything bad about you." A rough female voice came through the crack in the door, "Your brother-in-law has studied for all these years, but has he made any mark? He always ranks last in the county school. It would be better for him to come back and help the family."

Lu Beigu's hand, which was pushing the door, was suspended in mid-air. Lu Yuchi seemed to sense that the atmosphere was not right and kept his mouth shut.

"Aunt Wang, you're joking." Sister-in-law Pei Yan's voice was gentle but firm. "Bei Gu, if you work hard, you'll definitely have a bright future."

"Diligent?" Aunt Wang sneered. "If diligence were useful, everyone would have been the top scorer in the imperial examination! You're also foolish. You don't think about yourself, and you don't think about your children. Yanqi is still young, and Yuchi is already seven. In a few years, they should be getting married."

Aunt Wang's voice grew increasingly harsh. "You're a widow with two children. You work hard embroidering for a whole year and only earn a few cents? You have to support a useless scholar. How will you provide Yu Chi with a dowry in the future?"

There was a rustling sound of fabric rubbing against each other in the yard. It must be my sister-in-law Pei Yan fiddling with the hem of her skirt. This was a little movement she made when she was nervous.

After a while, Pei Yan spoke.

"I appreciate your kindness, Aunt Wang. Since Bei Gu has chosen the path of studying, as his sister-in-law, I have no reason to let him give up halfway, regardless of whether I can support him or not."

"You!" Aunt Wang sighed in frustration, "Sooner or later, you'll be dragged down to death by this nerd! Yu Chi is such a good girl, if..."

"Squeak-"

Lu Beigu pushed open the door.

Aunt Wang in the yard was still holding some iron coins picked out from the money string in her hand, and a look of embarrassment flashed across her face.

"Mother." The little niece slipped away from Lu Beigu and threw herself beside Pei Yan's thighs.

Pei Yan was wearing a plain skirt and only a wooden hairpin in her hair.

Seeing Lu Beigu, his eyes instantly filled with surprise, but then quickly covered with a layer of worry: "What's wrong with your forehead?" Lu Beigu touched the scabbed wound and said lightly: "I accidentally bumped it while walking and reading, it's nothing serious."

"The Lu family's young master is back?"

Aunt Wang smiled awkwardly and stood up: "It's just right, I've paid Madam Pei all the money for this month, and I have some soup cooking at home, I have to go back and check it out."

After the gate was closed, Pei Yan immediately pulled him to sit down, fetched some clean water and wiped the dust off the edge of his wound.

Her fingertips were slightly cool, but her movements were as gentle as a spring breeze brushing against flower petals.

Lu Beigu lowered his head and saw the iron coins and account books on the stone table in the yard.

Copper coins were extremely scarce in Shu, and iron coins were not only heavy but also needed to be discounted. Therefore, for ordinary people, they would use iron coins whenever possible in daily transactions and were reluctant to spend copper coins. Of course, merchants generally had the opposite idea.

My sister-in-law has to do three jobs on weekdays. She goes to the mountains to pick herbs before dawn, comes back to the stream in the morning to wash clothes for people, and does some embroidery in the afternoon.

The account book clearly stated how much money was required to enter the mountains, how much was spent on washing clothes and soap nuts, and how much was distributed to the embroidery agent.

Oh, that Aunt Wang is the pawnbroker in town. She takes 20% of my sister-in-law’s embroidery income every month. Otherwise, no matter how skilled she is, her embroidery will not sell.

"Sister-in-law, just now..."

"Are you hungry?"

Pei Yan interrupted him and turned to add firewood to the kitchen. "I figured you'd be back tonight, so I made this crucian carp with spiced broccoli."

In the coarse porcelain bowl, tender green patchouli leaves floated on the milky white soup of crucian carp. I guess the patchouli of this season must have been specially picked by my sister-in-law at the foot of the mountain.

"How did you do on the policy essay exam?"

Pei Yan asked while making a fire, her tone as relaxed as if she was asking about the weather today, but her lips were involuntarily clenched after asking the question.

The burden on the family was too heavy. Even if she wanted to support her brother-in-law's schooling, she could only afford it for the last year.

If my results don't improve, I'm afraid I'll have no hope of passing this year's county exam, although the county exam is just the first stop on this long road to examinations.

But if I fail the county exam, what will happen in the future?

On the contrary, if one can pass the county examination and enter the provincial school, then he will have a real hope of becoming a juren. For this hope, in fact, both clansmen and friends are willing to lend money to help.

Lu Beigu put down his chopsticks and took out the original manuscript of the policy paper with the comments from his bag. It had already been posted on the wall.

"A-middle."

"Clap."

Pei Yan dropped the wooden spoon in her hand. She picked it up and stared blankly at the "Summer Protection Strategy." Her lips trembled slightly, and after a long while, she managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Really?"

"It's absolutely true." Lu Beigu said softly.

Pei Yan suddenly turned her back, her shoulders shaking almost imperceptibly. The firewood in the stove crackled, making her ears red.

Lu Yanqi came over curiously: "Uncle, is Jiazhong really that powerful?"

"Yeah, very impressive." Lu Beigu rubbed the top of his head. "When your uncle passes the imperial examination, I'll buy you a candy figurine and Yu Chi a flower ornament. I'll buy..."

"I don't want any money." Lu Yuchi next to him suddenly pouted, "I just want my uncle to be well."

The room suddenly became quiet, and Lu Beigu felt mixed emotions.

To be honest, he never thought that he would have a poor but fully supportive and caring family.

This feeling even made him feel a little overwhelmed.

(End of this chapter)