Poor Family 1

  Chapter 145 Sharpening the Knife

  Xiangzhou Martial Arts Competition was held on January 20th. Compared with the large-scale Fajie Trial, the Martial Arts Trial was deserted and almost no one paid attention to it.

On the one hand, it was influenced by Song people’s ethos of emphasizing civility over martial arts, and on the other hand, the timing of the military election was a bit unfortunate. It happened to be the time when various lively festivals came one after another. At this time, people’s minds were on the Zhongyuan Lantern Festival. , Naturally, I have no interest in martial arts.

Yue Fei, Wang Gui, and Tang Huai left Tangyin and went north to Anyang County on the fifth day of the first lunar month. They needed to register for the exam and had to come early. Li Yanqing arrived in Anyang County on the tenth day of the first lunar month. It doesn't matter, he just came to cheer for his friends.

  Going north with Li Yanqing was Li Er, who was studying at Anyang Academy and was preparing to take the state entrance examination this fall. His father had placed great hopes in him, so he forced him to return to school early and study hard.

  After two months, Li Yanqing came to Tangji Inn again, and saw that the entrance of Tangyin Inn had a new look, with an elephant lantern hanging on the entrance, and four goldfish lanterns with unique shapes beside it.

  Although the weather is still cold and the snow in Anyang City has not yet melted, the whole Anyang City has already shown a strong atmosphere of the Shangyuan Lantern Festival. Even the "Guo San'er Snack Shop" diagonally opposite has hung more than a dozen bowl lanterns.

  The shopkeeper Wang of the inn was hanging lanterns under the eaves with two assistants, when one of the assistants suddenly saw Li Yanqing, he shouted excitedly, "Look who is here!"

   Shopkeeper Wang was so frightened that he almost fell off the ladder. He was so angry that he slapped the shopkeeper on the head, "Bastard! Are you trying to kill me? If I fall to my death, it won't be your turn to be the shopkeeper!"

  At this time, Shopkeeper Wang also saw Li Yanqing, and immediately turned his anger into joy. He smiled and jumped off the ladder to meet him, "My little official said that Li Jieyuan would be here today, and he really came. You are very welcome!"

  Wang Gui and Tang Huai rushed out of the inn in a gust of wind, "It's finally here!" Wang Gui ran forward and complained, "We've been waiting for you this morning, why are you here now?"

  Li Yanqing got off the horse, took off the horse bag, threw the reins to the waiter, and said apologetically to Wang Gui: "I came with Li Er, that kid can't run fast on a donkey."

   "Why are you traveling with that guy? We have been waiting for a long time in vain, and our necks are sore."

   While complaining, Tang Huai and Wang Gui took Li Yanqing into the inn. They rented a yard, and there were four rooms in the yard, exactly one for each person.

   "Master hasn't come yet?" Li Yanqing walked into the yard but didn't see Zhou Tong.

   "Master also came over these two days. He went to Daming Mansion. It seems that something happened to Lu Junyi?"

   "Oh! Where's Lao Yue? Why isn't he gone?"

"I'm here!"

  Li Yanqing turned his head and saw Yue Fei came in steaming from the outside carrying a big crossbow. He put the crossbow by the wall and said with a smile: "Going to practice the crossbow outside the city!"

   "Don't you practice riding and archery?" Li Yanqing asked with a smile.

"I am weak in riding and archery. There are regulations in the martial arts exam. If I choose to take the crossbow exam, I can get extra points, just to make up for the points I lost in riding and archery. If the literary exam is better, it will not be a big problem to get into the martial arts exam." gone."

  At this time, the shopkeeper asked them to eat, and the four of them sat in the lobby, drinking and telling Li Yanqing interesting stories about martial arts.

   "A total of thirty-five people participated in this martial arts examination, and a total of ten people were admitted. Only eleven people came from our county school. Except for the three of us, the rest are Huang An and his gang."

   "That's okay, one out of three and a half is accepted on average."

  Wang Gui sighed, "If only last year was better. Last year, only three candidates came, but there were ten places. Seven were wasted. I heard from the examiner that the number of places will be reduced next year. This year is the last chance."

   "Have you read your art of war?" Li Yanqing asked Wang Guidao.

   "Look! Look!"

  Wang Gui quickly said, "I've seen it three times."

   "Really?" Li Yanqing looked at him suspiciously.

   "Okay! To be honest, I only watched it once. Of course, I didn't finish it all, and I didn't watch a little more than half of it."

   "I guess you just read the beginning!"

Li Yanqing really knows Wang Gui very well. He is the kind of child who can't fight without being able to achieve success. He was strongly restrained by his master in the elementary school, and he was able to pass the ninth place in the county school. He was also strictly supervised by Zhou Tong when he learned martial arts. People asked him to learn the art of war, so he was just fooling around.

Li Yanqing stared into Wang Gui's eyes and said solemnly: "Listen to you, your riding and archery is mediocre, your archery skills are only good if you are lucky, your sword skills are not so good, and your weightlifting is not very outstanding. You are basically at the middle level." , if you are held back by the art of war again, then your martial arts will be in danger this time."

Wang Gui lowered his head without saying a word, Li Yanqing continued to press him: "Nominally ten people are recruited, but do you know how many places have been pre-determined? I guess at least half of them! Martial arts are not like examination papers." You can look it up, it’s just what the examiner said, if you don’t hurry up and learn the art of war, then you will definitely have no hope in martial arts in the capital, and next year the quota for solving the test will be reduced, what will you do in the future?”

  Wang Gui's face turned pale, and after a while he asked Tang Huai in a low voice: "Old Tang, how many times have you read the Art of War?"

  Tang Huai showed three fingers, "At least three times!"

  Wang Gui's face became even paler. He couldn't eat any more, so he rushed to the backyard as soon as he pushed the bowl.

  Yue Fei sighed, "Lao Li, you hit him too hard like this."

  Li Yanqing shook his head, "He indulges himself like this because he lacks a blow. If you don't restrain him, he will really be hopeless."

   "But he only reads now, isn't it too late?"

  Li Yanqing did not say a word, as long as Wang Gui is willing to learn, there is always a way.

   After dinner, Yue Fei and Tang Huai went back to their room to study. Li Yanqing was really worried about Wang Gui, so he left the inn and walked towards the Gongyuan. He remembered that there was a bookstore opposite the Gongyuan, which sold all kinds of exam books.

   Not long after, Li Yanqing came to the bookstore, and saw the signboard saying, 'Gongshi Bookstore! '

   "What book do you want to buy, a petty official?"

  As soon as Li Yanqing walked into the bookstore, the clerk came out with a smile on his face. It is the off-season for exams, and there are not many scholars who buy books, so the clerk's attitude is particularly enthusiastic.

   "I want to buy books on martial arts, do you have any?"

   "You mean the Art of War?"

   "Yes! Are there any exam questions for Xiangzhou martial arts examinations in recent years?"

   "The petty official is the first one to buy the questions for the Art of War exam. Let me think about it!"

  The man thought about it for a long time, then suddenly smiled and said: "There is really a copy, but it's just a handwritten copy, it's a bit more expensive, do you want it for a petty official?"

   "Show me first."

The clerk went upstairs to look for books, Li Yanqing looked at the bookstore, he saw that the bookstore was quite large, filled with all kinds of books, and there were more than a dozen stacks of bestsellers on the table near the door, basically all kinds of popular books. Vernacular ghost novels, "Journey to the North", "Biography of Ten Kingdoms" and so on.

He suddenly saw an extremely familiar novel: "The Complete Biography of the Great Sage Catching Monsters", a total of five thick volumes, Li Yanqing picked it up, the author was still the kid from Lushan, and it was still printed by "Shilin Yuanshufang". Collection version.

   "Do you want to buy a set, petty official?"

Another clerk walked up quickly and said with a smile: "This set of books has been selling very well. A set of books only costs 500 Wen, which is much more cost-effective than the single book before, and there are only five sets left in the store." gone."

  Li Yanqing smiled and said, "Then buy a set!"

   "Okay! I'll wrap it up for the little official right away."

After a while, the previous buddy came forward with a few books and said: "There are not many books about martial arts, so I found two kinds. These three books are all the test questions of the provincial martial arts exams over the years, and the other is our Xiangzhou. There are only handwritten copies of the selection of questions for the martial arts exam, and too few people buy it, so it is not cost-effective to be rigid."

  Li Yanqing took the handwritten book and flipped through it. It was the book he wanted, and asked, "Is there any more Xiangzhou copy?"

   "I only copied two copies in total. I sold one the year before last and only this one is left. There are quite a few provincial exams. Do you want more?"

  Li Yanqing thought for a while and said, "I'll take this hand-copied copy, and I'll buy two more after trying it out."

   "Okay! Wait a minute, little official, I'll be here soon!" The man rushed upstairs.

   Not long after, Li Yanqing came out of the bookstore with two bundles of books and returned to the inn. ． ． ． ．

  At night, the light in Wang Gui's room was still on. He sat at the desk and concentrated on reading. Today Li Yanqing's words deeply stimulated him, and he began to read angrily.

  However, there are only eight days left before the martial arts test. He still has to practice swords and arrows during the day, and only study at night. I'm afraid it's too late.

  Although the literary test in the martial arts examination is the easiest, as long as you memorize Sun Tzu's art of war, you can basically pass the test, but the problem is that it takes time to memorize. What Wang Gui lacks most now is time.

  At this time, Li Yanqing appeared in front of his room, smiling and said, "It's hard work now!"

   "Don't bother me, I'm reading a book!" Wang Gui replied in a vicious voice.

  Although what Li Yanqing said during the day woke him up, it did hurt his self-esteem, and it really made him feel a little bit annoyed.

   "Let me help you, I have a shortcut for you, do you want it?"

   "Shortcut!"

  Wang Gui's eyes lit up, and he immediately cast the dissatisfaction in his heart out of the sky, and ran up Pidianpidian with a smile on his face, "Old Li, what's the shortcut?"

Li Yanqing sat down and gave him the handwritten copy he bought, "This is the solution to the last five Xiangzhou martial arts exams. I read it carefully just now, and I found that the questions are basically repetitive. Don't read the book, just write it down." If I read the questions I ticked twice, I guess I can pass the exam!"

  Wang Guizheng was dizzy and couldn't remember a word for a long time. Li Yanqing actually found a solution for him. He was overjoyed, grabbed the book and flipped it impatiently.

  Wang Gui became more and more excited as he looked at it, and couldn't help cheering. There were not only test questions, but also detailed answers. Wang Gui couldn't remember reading books, but if he looked at the questions and the answers, he could memorize them in one pass.

At this moment, Tang Huai, who lived next door, also rushed over after hearing the news. Seeing that Wang Gui had obtained the review questions, he immediately asked to participate in the sharing. The two quarreled fiercely. the scene.

  【Old Gao asks for a subscription, asks for a guaranteed monthly pass! 】

  (end of this chapter)