Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 151 Head of Case

The next day, before midnight, Mrs. Liu banged the door of Li An's room and called Li An up.

In Liu's words, go early to get a seat.

Li An didn't even have time to do his daily exercise. As soon as he finished washing, his father came over and urged him to eat quickly.

As a result, he ate a little in a hurry and went out at Mrs. Liu's urging.

Today, except for Zhang Qing, who has to take care of the children at home, the whole family is out, which is not much different from the day of taking the exam.

When I came out of the house, it was just dawn and there were not many people on the street.

"Mom, the list won't run. What's the difference if it's earlier or later? Besides, who would go so early." Li An said with a look of despair.

It's not that he is a sleepy man. Even if Mrs. Liu doesn't shout, he will get up after sleeping for a while.

But the time when the list was posted was at Chen Shizhong, which was around eight o'clock. It was too exaggerated to go out at early five o'clock.

Isn't it stupid to wait there for a few hours?

"What do you know? We have lived in Yangzhou City for several years before. Every time the list was posted, we would go there before dawn. There would be so many people around by then that we wouldn't be able to squeeze in if we went there late," said Liu.

"Wouldn't it be the same looking back?" Li An said.

"No, I didn't sleep all night last night. I can't wait." Liu said.

Li An: "..."

Li An still underestimated the importance that the ancients attached to the imperial examination.

The place where the exam papers were posted was right at the entrance of the examination room, but when they arrived, the entrance to the examination room was already crowded with people, more people than on the day of the county examination.

There were men, women, and children, and it looked like a whole family was here just like him.

"Look, it's too late," Liu said.

Li An was speechless now. Who knew it was like this in ancient times?

They had arrived early. These people must have been waiting here all night last night.

It’s not like he knows how to try, so what?

"I think Yang Tao from the Yang family must be the culprit. I bet three taels of silver on him."

"You've put so much pressure on me? If your mother-in-law knew, I'm afraid she wouldn't even let you get into bed."

"It would be better if you don't let me go to school. If I win the money, I can live in Yichun Tower."

"Even if I win, I'll lose ten taels for a loss of thirty taels. If I go to Yichun Tower twice, I'll be gone. If I win, I'll take a concubine, hehe!"

"You haven't said who you are betting on. The list will be published soon. Can you tell me?"

"I am also betting on Yang Tao."

……

The crowd was noisy. When Li An heard the words of two middle-aged men not far away, he understood why there were so many people.

After working on it for a long time, it turned out that they were all bets.

"Mom and Dad, I haven't eaten enough. You guys wait here while I buy some buns to eat." Li An said.

"Go and come back quickly." Mrs. Liu said.

"go!"

Li An pulled the stone pillar and left the crowd.

After finding a steamed bun shop and eating some steamed buns, the two returned to meet Liu and the others outside the examination room.

There were more people at this time, and the surrounding streets were blocked with water.

The two of them squeezed all the way through, their clothes soaked with sweat.

……

"I'm coming!"

Li An was dozing off against a tree when he suddenly heard a commotion and woke up instantly.

The crowd on the east side of the street was crowded, and a road opened in the middle. Several government officials walked over, surrounded by a small official carrying a wooden box.

The clerk came all the way to the bulletin board at the entrance of the examination room and directed the government officials to get busy.

After the yamen servants applied paste on the bulletin board, the clerk opened the wooden box, took out two pieces of red paper, and asked the yamen servants to post them on the bulletin boards on both sides.

The article on the list was very large, so the two government officials each held one side before posting the article on the list.

As soon as the announcement was posted, a crowd surged around.

After a while, crazy laughter and sad cries came from the crowd.

For a while, some people in the crowd shouted that I had been hit, while others cried bitterly and shouted about injustice. Li An and the others were far away, and even if he had good eyesight, he couldn't see the words clearly.

"Oh, if I had known I would have been waiting here last night!" Ms. Liu jumped anxiously.

"Mom, don't worry, you'll be able to see the person in front after they leave." Li An comforted.

However, Li An felt that he might not be able to squeeze in for a while. Many of these people had made bets, and those who lost money would probably cry for a while.

"Who is Li An! Why is he the leader of the case?"

"There must be something wrong with this county examination. I have never heard of Li An. How can he be the first to be named?"

At this moment, there was a burst of angry questioning.

Li An behind him was stunned, he was actually the leader of the crime?

Mrs. Liu turned to look at Li An in disbelief and exclaimed: "Aniu, are you the head of the case?"

Li An came back to his senses and said: "Mom, I don't know, it may be the same name. You have to look at the seat number to know whether it is."

As soon as Li An finished speaking, he saw people around him looking at him.

The eyes of these people were very strange, as if they wanted to swallow him.

Li An was stunned for a moment. Could it be that these people all bet and lost their money and it was my fault?

"Mom, dad, brother, let's go back quickly!" Li An pulled his mother and said to Shi Zhu, "Zhu Zhu, protect my father and brother, let's go back quickly."

Shi Zhu listened to Li An's words. He didn't ask anything after hearing the words, and took Li Nan and Li Ping away.

"Aniu, I haven't looked at the list yet, why go?" Liu said struggling.

"Mom, I'll tell you later."

After Li An waited outside the examination room for so long, the most talked about was about Yang Tao.

It seems that many people pressured him to win the title of the case.

Although he is still not sure whether the Li An those people were talking about just now is him, he is almost certain.

After all, there are only more than 500 candidates, so there is no such thing as a coincidence.

Although he didn't sympathize with the gamblers who lost money, who knew if those people would go crazy and blame him for this.

When they were far away from the crowd, Li An expressed his worries, and Mrs. Liu was still a little disapproving.

But Li Nan agreed and said: "A Niu is right to worry. During this time, I heard many people talking about Yang Tao, saying that he is likely to win the case. There must be many people betting on Yang Tao. These people lost money and were angry. Who knows what will happen next.”

"Mom, dad is right, let's go back first." Li Ping also advised.

"What about the list? We haven't determined yet whether A Niu is the head of the case." Liu said.

"Mom, don't worry about this. I'll just ask Niu Jing to come out and inquire about it when we get back." Li Ping said.

Hearing this, Ms. Liu could only reluctantly agree.

After returning home, Li Ping asked Niu Jing to go out and inquire about the news.

When Zhang Qing learned that they were back, he came to the front hall with his child in his arms. He wanted to ask, but he quickly stopped when he saw that several people's faces looked a little strange. He comforted: "Mom and Dad, my brother-in-law is still young, so it's normal that he failed this time. He can just take the test again next year."

Zhang Qing's two brothers are both studying, so she knows more about the county examination than Liu and the others.

Generally speaking, not many people at Li An's age pass the exam. Those who fail the provincial exam need to retake the county exam before they can take the provincial exam again.

Many of those who take the county examination are those who have passed the county examination multiple times.

The reason why Yang Tao's voice is so high is because he almost passed the provincial examination last time.

"It's not that I failed the exam."

Li Ping took his wife to sit down and explained it to her.

After hearing this, Zhang Qing glanced at Li An in surprise.

Although there is no practical benefit to the case head, there is only one case head per county.

The title of the case in the Yangzhou County Examination is more valuable. Basically, the person who wins the title of the case can pass the township examination every time.

Because they were still unsure, Liu and the others were a little worried about gains and losses.

Zhang Qing originally wanted to congratulate Li An, but he was afraid that he would make a mistake.

Li An didn't think about it, he picked up his nephew and started teasing him.

After waiting for nearly half an hour, Niu Jing came back with two pieces of news.

One is that the head of the case is indeed Ang Lee.

Another reason is that many people think there is something wrong with the list, saying that there is fraud in the imperial examination, and they all go to Tongsuan Yamen to cause trouble.

(End of this chapter)