Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 15

Fan Ning soaked comfortably in the big wooden barrel, and the scalding hot water washed away his fatigue from the journey. In the living room of the outer room, there were constant arguments between his parents.

"Lady, I'm going to visit my parents later to find some books for Ning'er to review, but it's not good to go empty-handed!"

"I knew there was a little something good at home, and you had to send it over!"

"Isn't this given to outsiders!"

"Hmph! I'd rather give it to outsiders."

After a moment of silence, my mother finally said, "Those pairs of cloth shoes are pretty good, with deer tendon soles, they will be very comfortable for the elderly, or give a pair to my mother-in-law."

"Then what can I give the fourth child? After all, I am asking him to borrow books."

"You don't need to give it to the fourth child. Give his wife a bottle of perfume. If it wasn't for borrowing books for Ning'er, I wouldn't be willing to give it up!"

"My lady, this... I'm not in good health recently, maybe I can't drink so much alcohol, look..."

"No one tells you to drink it all in one day. You can keep it and drink it slowly, but you are not allowed to give the wine to the old man."

"He is my father after all, can I just give you a bottle?"

"You have to send yourself to buy these wines. Ning'er carried them all the way back from the capital, so I won't allow you to send them!"

The mother ended the brief conversation with a non-negotiable attitude. As the mother's footsteps walked away, the heavy sigh of the father Fan Tiezhou came from the outer room.

It was only for the first time that Fanning realized that the mother was in charge of this family.

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After taking a bath, Fanning changed into clean clothes. Although the shorts were made of coarse cloth made by his mother, they were very clean and comfortable to wear.

"Ning'er, first go to Grandpa's place with Daddy, and Daddy will take you to school later."

"understood!"

What Fan Ning is looking forward to most now is to get into the bed and have a good sleep, but it seems that he can't escape, so he has no choice but to bite the bullet and agree.

The father and son went out, Fan Tiezhou was carrying some snacks in his hand, a pair of cloth shoes and a bottle of perfume in his pocket.

Fan Ning shook his head secretly. Those cloth shoes came from Li Baitai Shoe Store in Beijing, the No. [-] brand in the Song Dynasty. They were originally wrapped in paper and placed in an exquisite cloth bag.

But now the exquisite bag is gone, and the layer of fine linen paper on the outside is also gone, so it is just put in the pocket, what is the difference between this and a pair of shoes sold by a small shopkeeper for a few pennies?
There is also no carved perfume box, that is an ancient perfume!

The father didn't pay much attention to the gift giving, and the expensive luxury goods suddenly turned into street goods in his hands.

At this time, Fan Ning unexpectedly discovered that his father still had a bottle of wine tucked in his waistband.

Fan Tiezhou blushed, and quickly whispered: "Don't tell your mother!"

"Mother will find that there is a bottle missing."

"I know, if your mother finds out, you will say that you gave it to Grandpa, and she will have nothing to say."

Fanning rolled his eyes. His father was playing tricks.

Fan Ning knew that the conflict between mother and grandfather originated from the separation of families. In fact, they have not yet separated in name. The Song Dynasty law clearly stipulates that parents cannot be separated.

But the law is the law, and the reality is the reality. There are many sons in the family, and conflicts abound. The separation of the family is inevitable. It is enough not to file with the government. This situation abounds in the countryside.

A year ago, the matchmaker introduced a marriage to the fourth uncle. The woman was from Wujiang County, surnamed Liu, fair-skinned, and very blessed. Moreover, her father was an old Juren who worked as a post in the county government. The land property and the dowry for her daughter are also very generous.

The Liu family was much stronger than the Fan family in terms of reputation and wealth. In order to get involved in this marriage, the grandfather divided the eldest brother Fan Tiezhou, so that the real estate and land under his name were left to the fourth child.

The other party also agreed to the marriage because of this, but it was obviously unfair to the boss Fan Tiezhou. Although Fan Tiezhou was also dissatisfied, as the eldest son, he needed to shoulder the burden of family unity and harmony instead of splitting it. He chose to endure, but Zhang The third lady has been brooding.

Fanning always listened to his mother talking about it, and his ears could hear calluses.

As for after getting married, the Fan family didn't know what it meant to look very blessed, but it was too late.

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My grandfather's house is at the east end of the village, on a relatively high terrain, on a small hill, which is actually a depression, behind which is Yuanbao Mountain, surrounded by lush trees, with clear water at the foot of the mountain, the scenery is very good.

The two walked up the mountain along the path, and there was a flat land in front of them, about two acres, where the grandfather's house was.

There are two rows of blue brick and tile-roofed houses in the shape of a '', one facing south and the other facing east. The yard in the middle is half an acre in size, and the surrounding walls are about one person high. It looks pretty good.

Walking into the yard, I saw dozens of chickens raised in the yard, and an old country lady was sitting in front of the kitchen door picking vegetables.

"Mom!" Fan Tiezhou hurried up.

It turned out that the old lady was his grandmother. Fan Ning suddenly felt a little dazed. It had been two or three months since he took over from Fan Dada, and it was as if his grandmother had never existed.

It wasn't until today that her mother proposed to give her mother-in-law a pair of shoes that Fanning realized that she still had a grandmother.

Fan Ning looked at his grandmother carefully again, and saw that she was no different from the old country lady she usually saw, with her head wrapped in a handkerchief, and she was wearing a short cotton jacket with blue background and white spots, and a black cloth belt around her waist. .

She is estimated to be less than 60 years old, but her back is obviously bent, and the hard work of life has drawn countless wrinkles on her face, but her cloudy eyes are full of kindness and kindness.

Fan Ning's grandmother, surnamed Yang, is from the same village. She looked up at her eldest son, but when she saw Fan Ning, her eyes lit up and a big smile appeared on her walnut-patterned face.

"My boy is here!"

She patted off the vegetable leaves on her body, walked forward quickly, and held Fan Ning with a pair of warm and rough hands, stroking Fan Ning's head in great pain, "My son is coming to see grandma!"

Fan Ning's heart was instantly melted by his grandmother's love, and he quickly saluted respectfully, "Hi, grandma!"

"My child is sensible, come quickly, grandma will give you an egg!"

She pulled Fan Ning to sit down, went into the kitchen and took a freshly boiled egg, and stuffed it for Fan Ning, "Eat slowly! Don't choke."

Fan Ning quickly took out the cloth shoes from his father's pocket and handed them to his grandmother, "These are the best cloth shoes I bought for my grandma in Beijing."

Yang was stunned for a moment, her turbid eyes were a little moist, she stroked Fan Ning's head, she couldn't close her mouth with a smile, "My child is sensible, and bought shoes for grandma."

"Why is this little red guy here?"

An uncoordinated voice came from the side, and Fan Dachuan came out of the living room with his hands behind his back, staring at Fan Ning with a pair of white and black eyes.

He learned from his young son in the morning that his grandson was going to serve Fan Zhongyan as a small tea boy for boiling water, and he didn't take Fan Zhongyan as his teacher, so he felt more at ease.

Otherwise, Fan Ning would not even be able to enter this door today.

But even so, he was still very dissatisfied with the eldest son in his heart, and the opportunity to curry favor with Fan Zhongyan was not left to his brother, but to his stupid son.

He was kicked back after only a month of working, so he was right!What can this little fool do?

Fan Tiezhou hurried forward and handed the wine to his father, "This is a good wine for Ning'er to respect grandpa!"

"Good wine?"

Fan Dachuan snorted, he took the wine bottle and looked at it, Fan Dachuan said disdainfully, but he was extremely shrewd in his heart.

This wine bottle is a good thing!It's actually Cizhou white glaze, and none of my best teapots have this glaze color.

On the bottle was written 'Thousand Days of Spring'. This was the famous wine of Zhongshan Garden in the capital. Fan Dachuan had heard of the name for a long time, but this was the first time he had seen it.

Gotta take it with me next time I go to a party in town and show the old guys a look.

Fan Dachuan immediately understood in his heart that it must have been sent by Fan Zhongyan.

Seeing the sake of the wine, Fan Dachuan's complexion improved a little, he nodded and said, "Then let's go after lunch!"

At this time, Fan Tongzhong came out from the opposite room, and said with a displeased face, "Daddy, what do you say about that?"

Rao Fan Dachuan usually dotes on his youngest son very much, but today he is also a little annoyed with him.

"If you are admitted to Juren, don't say five taels of silver, even if I sell the land and house, I will give you 100 taels of silver, but you still failed this time, so you have the nerve to ask me for money!"

The word 'failure' was like stepping on Fan Tongzhong's tail, he immediately jumped up and shouted, "I didn't fail the exam, I passed the exam this time, because my family has no money and power, so the place was topped by others." gone."

Fan Tiezhou frowned, "What's going on?"

Fan Tongzhong looked down on his elder brother from the bottom of his heart, and usually wouldn't say a word, but today he was a little short of breath and wanted his elder brother to support him.

"Brother, I went to the state to check the papers a few days ago. People said that I performed well this time and should be admitted, but unfortunately I was rejected by the rich and powerful, so I failed."

Fan Tiezhou was furious, "There is such a thing, why don't you complain?"

"Of course I complained, but it costs money to check the papers. Otherwise, no one would pay attention to you. I had to ask my classmates to borrow five taels of silver, and I arranged for the school superintendent in the state to check the papers for me. This is If you borrow money from a classmate, you have to pay it back.”

Fan Ning really admired his uncle, who obviously failed the ranking, and confidently pulled the rich and powerful children out of the blame.

With his mouth, he was talking nonsense in a serious manner, making the dead alive, and it would be a waste of talent not to be a litigator.

Fan Dachuan glared at his son fiercely, "You said you wanted to check the test paper before, but I have already given you five pennies, why do you want more money?"

"My child needs to eat, drink and stay in the state. It costs money to take a boat on the way. The Xuezheng in the county also went with us. Don't you spend money to treat guests to dinner? We also need to establish a good relationship with Xuezheng and buy some gifts. Five Where is enough money?
I still live frugally, live in the cheapest foot shop, people take the boat, I can only walk, just to save a few pennies for the boat ride, look at my feet, they are all covered with blisters, is it easy for me? "

At the end, Fan Tongzhong's eyes turned red, and tears rolled down his face.

Yang sighed, and said to her husband: "His father, don't blame Shiro, it's not easy for him!"

Fan Dachuan had no choice but to say: "You are not the only one who failed the exam. You should study hard and try to pass the exam next time. As for the five taels of silver, I don't have it at the moment. Let's talk about it later!"

Fan Tongzhong became anxious immediately, "That's the money I borrowed from others, I have to pay it back!"

Fan Dachuan was stumped. Although he still had a sum of money at the bottom of the box, he didn't want to touch that money. Fan Dachuan turned his eyes and looked at his eldest son, Fan Tiezhou.

(End of this chapter)