Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 48
Fan Ning won the first place in the annual examination and won a generous prize of 20 taels of silver.

When Fan Ning put 20 taels of silver in front of his mother, Zhang Sanniang was uncharacteristically holding her son and crying bitterly.

She thought of those sarcasm eyes, those harsh words, and the persuasion of her neighbors and friends when she sent her son to elementary school on the first day, persuading her not to waste money.

Even the father-in-law slapped the table and scolded her for being a prodigal. After the son went to school, he was the last in every exam and was ridiculed.

The overwhelming sarcasm and ridicule made their family breathless, and she endured all the humiliation and grievances silently, but she still sent her son to school without hesitation, preferring to eat chaff by herself, and save every penny for her son Pay tuition.

She believes that her son will be successful in the future.

Today, her son took the No. 1 exam in the entire school, and Zhang Sanniang's heart was flooded with years of grievances, so how could she not have mixed feelings.

After Fan Tiezhou persuaded his wife for a long time, Zhang Sanniang finally calmed down and wiped away her tears. The humiliation in her heart had disappeared, and joy began to occupy her heart.

Zhang Sanniang repeatedly read Fan Ning's No.1 commendation book. Although she was not very literate, she still knew the word 'No.1' on it, and she couldn't close her mouth from laughing.

"Ning'er, show it to your grandpa and grandma later!"

"Mom, give me the 20 taels of silver!" Fan Ning struck while the iron was hot, wanting to get the 20 taels of silver reward.

"You child, you will seize the opportunity, children, what do you want so much money for?"

Zhang Sanniang stroked her son's head and said: "Ning'er, be good, save these silver coins for you to marry a wife."

Although Zhang Sanniang was very soft and weak in her heart at this time, she never gave in on issues of principle.

Fan Tiezhou next to him saw his son's dejected expression, so he said something nice for him, "Lady, Chinese New Year is coming soon, give the child some pocket money!"

Fan Tiezhou has made good money in the past two months, and his status in the family has also improved slightly.

Zhang Sanniang pinched her son's pitiful little face, and said with a smile: "Okay! Since your father has spoken, I will give you five hundred coins, which is your reward for being the first in this exam."

20. The taels of silver became five hundred Wen, a full forty-fold reduction. Fortunately, Fan Ning was mentally prepared, knowing that his mother belonged to Pixiu, and she would never get the money back out of her hands.

It is a great mercy for the old lady to give herself five hundred Wen.

. . . . . .
After lunch, Fan Ning went back to his room and lay on the bed worrying. He was in short supply now. Last time he sold the jade pendant and got four liang of silver. He bought the Thousand Cave Stone for one liang of silver, and later bought the top-grade spirit stone for Zhu Pei. Bishi cost him two pens and five hundred Wen.

Seeing the end of the year, all vendors have to collect funds, and there will be some unpacked goods in Qishi Lane. Some time ago, I didn’t have time to prepare for the annual exam. After the exam, Fan Ning wanted to go to Qishi Lane today to try my luck.

The problem is, he only has five hundred coins left in his hand, what should he do if he has no capital?
By the way, don't you still have a jade pendant?He remembered that it seemed to have fallen in the corner of the bed. At that time, he was in a hurry to go to school, so he didn't find it in time, and then he forgot it.

Fan Ning turned over, lifted all the quilts, rummaged on the bed for a long time, and finally found another piece of jade pendant in the crack of the bed.

"Great, I have money again!"

Fan Ning was so happy that he kissed Yu Pei heavily.

"Ning'er, do you have any dirty clothes, take them off quickly." Zhang Sanniang yelled downstairs.

"coming!"

Fan Ning quickly went downstairs with two dirty clothes. At this time, Fan Tiezhou was going to the hospital after lunch.

"Ning'er!"

Fan Tiezhou stopped his son, and when he saw that his wife was not there, he secretly gave him a silver ingot, about one or two weights.

"Hide it, and don't let your mother find it again."

"Thank you Daddy!"

Fan Ning was overjoyed, his father was a timely help!
Fan Tiezhou asked with a smile, "Are you going to wash stones?"

Fanning smiled, his father still knew him well.

"You go! I'm going to the hospital too."

Fan Tiezhou walked a few steps, then remembered something, turned to his son and said, "Do you remember the last time you asked me to help you find a stone?"

If his father didn't say anything, Fan Ning almost forgot about it. He quickly asked, "Is there any news?"

Fan Tiezhou nodded, "Two days ago, Second Uncle Wang from the village brought his mother to the clinic for medical treatment. He said that he had several stones there specially reserved for you so that you could have a look at them when you have time."

Fan Ning happily said: "I'll go when the New Year's holiday is over!"

Fan Tiezhou had something to do in the hospital and left in a hurry. Fan Ning came to the outer yard with dirty clothes and saw his mother Zhang Sanniang sitting by the well washing clothes.

Fanning put the clothes beside his mother, seeing that her hands were red from the cold, he couldn't help feeling distressed.

"Mom, take it to the laundry shop! It's so cold, don't wash it yourself."

"The laundry shop is too expensive. It costs ten Wen to wash your long gown. Our family costs sixty Wen for one wash. You can buy two buckets of rice. Let me wash it myself!"

"How about I boil some hot water for you."

"Nonsense! Firewood is so expensive now, don't waste it on me."

Fan Ning scratched his head, "Didn't I earn you 20 taels of silver just now?"

"You! If you are not in charge of the family, you don't know how expensive firewood is. How can your 20 taels of silver be enough?"

Zhang Sanniang sighed, buying a load of firewood actually cost twenty Wen, and living in a town costs money for everything, thinking it's better to be in the countryside.

These days, Zhang Sanniang began to miss the life in the country. Except for oil, salt and daily necessities, she didn’t need to spend money on anything else. If she was a little frugal, the monthly money would be enough.

Now they live in the town, and they spend money on firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, rice, vegetables, meat and eggs, and the clothes, shoes and socks they wear should not be too rough, but should be a little more particular, and there are all kinds of daily necessities, almost Everything costs money to buy, even a drink of hot water is a luxury, three or four times a month is not enough to spend.

Fan Ning laughed and said, "Daddy earns a lot!"

His father, Fan Tiezhou, now goes out early and returns late to see a doctor. It is very hard work, and he can earn about [-] yuan a month, minus the monthly rent of five yuan for the pharmacy, two yuan for the cost of hiring pharmacists, and some expenses for the hospital. Necessary expenses, the monthly net income is about ten pennies.

Shiguanqian is definitely a high income in the countryside, but it can only be regarded as a middle-level family in the town, similar to Liu Kang's family.

"Mom, why don't we hire a maid for our family! Find a young and capable one, preferably without a family burden, to help you cook and wash, and reduce your burden."

Zhang Sanniang stared fiercely, "You can just say it clearly, marry your father as a concubine!"

Fan Ning was taken aback, and quickly changed his words, "Then...it's okay to hire a little maid, around ten years old, Liu Kang's family also has a little maid!"

Zhang Sanniang said with a smile: "Liu Kang's mother told me that Xiaoyu is an orphan, and she plans to be a concubine for her son in the future. Do you envy Liu Kang, so I asked my mother to find you a little maid, so that I can help her in the future?" Are you a companion?"

Fan Ning really didn't know what his old mother was thinking, and she always thought about it, which made him speechless.

Fan Ning didn't bother to say any more, so he stepped up and walked out.

"Where are you going to die?"

Fan Ning ran out quickly, and heard him shouting from a distance: "I'm going to Qishi Lane!"

Zhang Sanniang had no choice but to get up and throw her son's two dirty clothes into the basin.

"He's such a big kid, he's still like an urchin, he runs to see the stones at every turn, what's so interesting about a few broken stones."

Zhang Sanniang rambled about her son, but she forgot that the drastic changes in their family's life came from two stones.

At this time, a young lady's crisp voice came from outside the door, "Excuse me, is this Fanning's house?"

Zhang Sanniang stood up quickly, wiped the water from her hands on her body, and walked quickly to the door.

I saw a child of seven or eight years old standing at the door. Although she was dressed as Xiao Lang, Zhang Sanniang recognized her as a young lady at a glance.

She is gorgeously dressed, wearing a big leather hat, her eyebrows are like paintings, her eyes are so agile, and her small face is white, tender and delicate!She was a little beauty that Zhang Sanniang had never seen before.

Zhang Sanniang was overjoyed when such a delicate little beauty came to find her son.

"Fanning is my son, and you are..."

"So it's my aunt. I'm Fan Ning's classmate. My surname is Zhu."

Jupe's smiling face is extraordinarily cute and sweet.

Zhang Sanniang saw a frighteningly tall young woman standing at the entrance of the alley, and heard that the little lady's surname was Zhu. She remembered her husband's words, and suddenly realized.

"I see, you are Xiaoguan Zhu, and my family Ning'er often talks about you."

Zhang Sanniang hurriedly said: "Come in quickly! Come in quickly! It's cold outside, come and sit inside."

Zhu Pei nodded, walked into the yard, looked around and asked, "Is Fanning not there?"

"He went... to the bookstore. This kid likes to read, so he runs to the bookstore when he has nothing to do."

Zhu Pei pursed his lips and smiled, it would be best if Fan Ah stayed away.

Zhu Pei handed a letter to Zhang Sanniang, "Auntie, this is a letter I left for Fan Ning. I have to go back to Wujiang. I'm afraid I won't be able to return until after the Lantern Festival."

Zhang Sanniang was a little surprised. The little lady left a letter for her son when she was going back to Wujiang. They have a very good relationship!

"You're too polite, please come in for a drink, little official."

"Thank you ma'am!"

Zhu Pei has a very sweet mouth, a cute smile, and is extremely handsome, which makes Zhang Sanniang, who has always wanted a daughter, very distressed.

She poured honey water for Jupe and went to look for refreshments.

"This brat, he ate up all the snacks for the guests at home!" Zhang Sanniang couldn't find the snacks, so she had to come back angrily.

"Ma'am, I'm not hungry. Did you just say that Fanning often mentioned me?"

Zhang Sanniang hurriedly said: "Yes! He often said that his classmate Zhu Xiaoguan has the best personality, gentle and lovely, kind-hearted, handsome, and very smart."

Zhu Pei blushed. This is not what Fan Ning said, it was clearly his mother praising her, but she was also very happy to hear it.

"Ma'am, I want to ask Fanning to borrow a book, okay?"

"Good! Good! I'll take you to his study."

Fanning lived in a small two-story building on the west side of the backyard. He lived on the second floor with four rooms above, two of which were closed, the other was a study, and the other was a bedroom.

Zhu Pei had long wanted to find out about Fan Ning's secrets, and it happened that he was not here today, so it was a good opportunity.

Zhu Pei is proud of himself, brat, I didn't expect this yamen to break into your lair!
Walking into the study, there is a majestic nave hanging in front of you, which says, "worry about the world's worries first, and enjoy the world's joys later." '

The following description is 'A Message to Grandson Fanning. '

It was signed by grandfather Fan Zhongyan.

Zhu Pei looked straight, and she gritted her teeth in hatred, "Stinky boy, you are so dumb, you actually hide such a good thing."

"This is what his third grandfather wrote to him, and he also encouraged him to study hard and be a responsible person in the future."

Zhang Sanniang explained, "The third grandfather likes my Ning'er the most, and often writes letters to encourage him."

"Oh!"

Zhu Pei felt a little lost, why didn't she have such a good third grandpa, her third grandpa was a big businessman who knew how to make money all day long.

Zhang Sanniang glanced at it, but suddenly found that her son's bed was as messy as a dog's bed. She was startled, and hurried over to clean it up.

Zhu Pei walked to Fan Ning's desk and saw thick calligraphy practice books piled up on the table. In fact, she also admired Fan Ning's hard work in calligraphy. It was not without reason that Fan Ning's calligraphy improved so quickly.

This time Zhu Pei was supposed to be fifth in the annual exam, but she couldn't accept it, and she refused to be on the list. In addition, she was only an auditor in the school, so Dean Liu stopped embarrassing her.

Zhu Pei went home and cried a lot. Seeing that she was in a bad mood, his grandfather Zhu Yuanfu decided to take her back to Wujiang to live for a while, just as the old mother also wanted to go back to Wujiang to visit relatives.

She will not be in Wu County for a long time, and today she came here to say goodbye to Fan Ning.

At this time, Zhu Pei found a thick stack of letters in the upper left corner of the table. She flipped through them, and found that most of them were letters from Fan Zhongyan, but there were three letters with very beautiful handwriting, which looked like they were written by girls.

The signature was actually Ouyang Qian from Bianliang.

Zhu Pei suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, but she was still young, and it was just a girl's nature to be uncomfortable, so Zhu Pei was more curious.

While Fan Ningniang was tidying up the bed in the house, she took out a letter from Ouyang Qian from the bottom, quickly opened it and glanced at it, but she soon lost interest, and she was nothing more than teaching him how to write. two pages.

Jupe stuffed the letter back again.

"Ma'am, I have all of Fanning's books, so I won't borrow them."

"Okay! Then let's go ahead and drink some water."

"Thank you ma'am, it's getting late, I'm going back, my grandpa will be worried."

"What a good boy, unlike my brat who ran out as soon as he got home."

Zhu Pei smiled sweetly, "Ma'am, I'm leaving."

Zhang Sanniang took Zhu Pei to the door all the way, watched her go, and sighed, "You are handsome, gentle, and well-educated. If only you could be my daughter-in-law!"

She also thought of how her son could actually make Daguan Zhu's granddaughter look at him differently, which showed that her son was still very promising.

(End of this chapter)