When Wang Juan heard Zhang Xiaobao's words, she stopped writing and looked at the sky. It was time to light the lantern, and Xiaobei and the others were coming.
She rested her chin on her hand and said to Zhang Xiaobao, "Tell me, what did you dream of?"
"I dreamed that I suddenly returned to my hometown, Sanshui County. It was a dream …" Zhang Xiaobao was a little embarrassed.
"Did you suddenly return to your hometown in a dream at night?" Wang Juan helped.
"Don't interrupt. I first sighed about the glory and wealth of people. Then, I met an acquaintance," Zhang Xiaobao continued.
"Who? Which Zhuangzi? "Wang Juan asked.
Zhang Xiaobao glared at Wang Juan. "That's what it means. I got confused as I wrote. Can you remember the person in the dream?"
"Okay, continue."
"Yes! You're interrupting, old friend. When you saw me come with gifts, you were very happy. You warmed the stove and went to pick some vegetables. Winter vegetables. You kept me eating and drinking with me.
I asked if your family was doing well. He said it was okay. He built a new house and went to worship his ancestors.
As for me, I saw his hands. They were cold and his face was red. It's not easy to make money. He even gave me vegetables when they were valuable. I was thinking … "
Zhang Xiaobao drank a cup of water when he said this.
Wang Juan happened to finish the sentence and asked, "Was there a feeling of cutting spring leeks in the rain at night and yellow beams in the new kitchen? Then you drank ten big cups of wine, ten cups of wine in one go. "
Zhang Xiaobao put down his cup and waved his hand. "No, I'm not as stupid as Du Fu. I didn't ask Weibo to cook chives and cook rice."
"Stupid? It's nothing more than using home-made things to entertain friends. One is that you don't regard yourself as an outsider. The other is that you only have those things at home. It's simple and unpretentious. "
Wang Juan asked in confusion.
"It's obvious that you don't have a life. Have you forgotten that leeks can't be cut when it rains? After cutting them, the roots will rot. In spring, when the leek roots rot, won't you have to spend a lot of effort to plant them again? You'll miss the good seasons.
Huang Liang in the new kitchen. The new kitchen referred to the newly built stove. If you built a new stove, would you dare to light a fire to cook yellow rice when it was wet and rainy? Especially the word 'room', it's a verb for stirring. At that time, there were no red bricks. Let's try it tomorrow. I guarantee that the stove top will crack. If you use the spoon to stir, the stove top will have to be rebuilt. "
Zhang Xiaobao was mimicking the actions in Du Fu's poem.
Wang Juan was enlightened. "I remember now. I was only thinking about the artistic conception of the poem and forgot about the things in my life. How much wine did you drink?"
"Who knows? I was only focused on drinking. Anyway, a lot. I drank until I was confused. Yes, I told him to cultivate mushrooms next year. Those things are easy to cultivate. He was quite happy.
Later on, quite a number of people from our family's manor, the Ge family's manor and the Li family's manor came. We drank with them and only slept when the sun rose. "
Zhang Xiaobao described the feeling at that time.
"Oh, you fell asleep in your dream? Continue. "Wang Juan held back her laughter and signaled Zhang Xiaobao to continue.
Zhang Xiaobao rubbed his face with his hands as if he was reminiscing. "Then I fell asleep. In my dream, I flew and flew. One moment I went here, the next moment I went there. I flew to the school. In the morning, I ate in the school. They made wontons, which were wontons stuffed with water chestnuts, shark's fin, abalone, and monkey-head mushrooms."
"The children of our two families do this in the school? Don't they have milk and eggs for breakfast? "
"Didn't I say? In my dream, an old man suddenly appeared and praised our school. He said that the food was good. I just said a few words of modesty, and he said that it was good, but there were people who died.
At that time, I was frightened. I tried my best to calculate the mutual promotion and restriction of food. I suspected that if there was poison in the soup, and I was about to rush in and knock over the spoon or something. The old man said again, not our school, but somewhere else. The food at your school is good.
This made me angry. I thought, he said to ask, where is it? He said the line between Huaiyuan, Chizhou, and Mingsha, where the Yellow River is.
He said that it was snowing and the road was blocked. He asked me if I had been an official for too long and forgot the people in other places. He asked me why I didn't send my deer, dogs, and eagles to help. "
Zhang Xiaobao said it as if it was true. Wang Juan was fascinated and asked, "Yes, why didn't you send them?"
"This year, there are very few places in Tang where it snows. Moreover, there is Chang Pingcang, so there is no need for it. I asked him, are you lying to me? Why didn't I see it when I was reading the news in the capital?
He was very angry, meaning that he didn't lie. He asked me to investigate, so I did. The radio signal was transmitted layer by layer. Soon, the reply was slow, and I found that something was wrong.
The reply almost made me die of anger. The official said that Chang Pingcang didn't have food. Don't blame them, blame natural disasters, blame the merchants for not paying taxes properly and defaulting.
Do you think they are joking with me? I believed them, so I sent troops to kill them all. I confiscated their property and exterminated their family. As I killed them, I turned around and saw that the people I just killed were alive again.
I was shocked and woke up. I was back in the house of the old friend I met earlier. I was so depressed that I shouted with all my strength. Just as I shouted, I woke up again and found that I was in the examination hall. It's over. "
Zhang Xiaobao spread his hands and looked at Wang Juan. He laughed first.
Wang Juan also laughed and nodded, "Good, Xiao Bao, you are good. You wrote blindly about things that didn't happen. You answered the questions in a dream. Next time, be more realistic."
"I don't like what you said. Who said that one can't dream? Did Tao Yuanming do it? Did Li Bai do it? Oh, he didn't do it now. There is no chance. Which great poet doesn't dream? "
Zhang Xiaobao defended himself, looking very angry.
Wang Juan patted Zhang Xiaobao's head, "Be good, don't be angry. You are right. Great poems all dream. Great brother still needs to cook. Quickly prepare, Xiao Bei and the rest are here."
Sure enough, Xiao Bei, Xiao Yuan, and the others came. They were probably afraid that it would be too tiring to come in, so they were still wearing their official robes. They walked with their little legs and looked around curiously.
"Someone come and help me hold down the papers. Let's eat first. Xiao Yuan, Xiao Zhu, come here. It's time to eat. After eating, look at the questions. In the future, you will have to do it too."
Zhang Xiaobao greeted the soldier and came out of the room with Wang Juan. They found an empty space and set up the stove to make hotpot.
Xiao Bei and the rest were obviously not thinking about eating. They looked at the room used for the examination and found it very interesting.
The lights in the examination hall were lit up. The electric lights were powered by a new small steam engine that burned coal to generate electricity. The examination hall was brightly lit.
The other examinees also had their meals delivered. They couldn't come out to eat together for fear of telling each other the questions. They were still in the room.
The restaurant that delivered the meals was very generous. They learned from Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan when they had lunch. Each person had a small pot with charcoal under it. The bottom of the pot was seafood, and the cut mutton was placed on a plate. They could choose from more than ten kinds of seasonings. The cost was not small.
"Just now, outside the door, we saw some examinees leaving." Xiao Bei took off the bits and pieces of decorations on his body and said.
Zhang Xiaobao expressed his understanding. "Basically, they gave up. Otherwise, they wouldn't have missed the time to eat dinner."
Xiao Hai, who usually didn't like to talk, would only speak in front of his brother and sister. He said to Zhang Xiaobao, "Brother, Shuiyun went to Savant's Restaurant. We went to the lakeside and heard that all eleven eagles had hatched. We wanted to go up and take a look, but it was too high and we didn't dare to climb."
"Yes! It's good that you don't climb. When an eagle hatches, it's about the size of a chicken. When we go back to Sanshui, you will see it. Pick one you like. "
Zhang Xiaobao patted Xiao Hai's head. Everyone started to eat.
As they ate, Wang Juan found that Zhang Xiaobao was absent-minded. She picked up an oyster, cooked it, and put it on Zhang Xiaobao's plate. She asked, "What are you thinking about?"
"Ling State." The Ling State that Zhang Xiaobao mentioned was the big states in Huaiyuan, Anjing, and other places that he had written.
"You're just writing nonsense. Do you really care about it?" Wang Juan was helpless.
"Why do you think I'm thinking about Ling State? Our family's business is not in Ling State but in Feng State. Our family's fleet only passed by Ling State when they traveled the Yellow River."
Zhang Xiaobao began to analyze his own psychological activities.
Wang Juan scooped a small piece of tofu and dipped it into the pot. She said, "Because it is indeed snowing in Ling State. According to the intelligence the day before yesterday, the Yellow River is expected to freeze earlier than usual. However, the inaction of the officials in your dream didn't happen."
Zhang Xiaobao looked at his brother and sister who were eating happily. He frowned and said, "It's better to prepare in advance. There is a lot of activity this year. All the powerful businessmen are going to Japan. I'm worried that we won't be able to react in time if something really happens.
Since the Yellow River hasn't frozen yet, we must move our daily necessities to a place in the northwest. Store up red deer, dog-pulled sled, and falcons. Prepare to be ready in case of an emergency. "
"I'll listen to you. We'll make arrangements after dinner. Let's eat first." Wang Juan also agreed with Zhang Xiaobao's suggestion. If they didn't suffer a disaster, they would only lose a part of their profits. It was better than a disaster that killed people.
Wang Juan preferred the current means of transportation, especially the sled dogs. After they were developed, their transportation ability would be terrifying and better than cars.
Xiaobei and the others listened while eating, but they didn't interrupt. This was a learning process.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan deliberately did this.
"In the Tang Empire, human lives are always more important than money. Even if we believe that the response of all parties is fast enough, we can't let our guard down. While we enjoy the beautiful things in life, we must respect the lives of others like us."
Zhang Xiaobao picked up a piece of paper from a specially made paper bag and wiped Xiao Bei's mouth as he said this.
Xiaobei waited for his brother to finish wiping and asked, "Does the Japanese count?"
"Japan? Japan … Not my race … Hmm … It's beyond my reach. "Zhang Xiaobao tried to figure out the language and replied.
"I understand. In fact, I love everyone. It's just that sometimes the Japanese don't trust me. I'm very sorry about this." Xiaobei said straightforwardly.
Wang Juan chuckled and rubbed Xiaobei's head. "You're so smart. Your brother's education is going to succeed."
When Zhang Xiaobao and the others finished dinner, the other examinees were already full. They stayed in the single room and drank the tea prepared by the restaurant.
Someone brought new bedding. After the examination, the bedding belonged to the examinees. No one cared whether they took it away or threw it away.
Xiaobei and the others gathered around to look at the questions. All the fill-in-the-blanks questions that required memorization were not a problem for Xiaoyuan. Xiaohai was responsible for all the math questions. As for the other questions, Xiaobei and the others thought hard.
In the end, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan came to the conclusion that the younger siblings would not be able to pass the imperial examination for the time being. They were stuck at the topic of policy. The ones who really showed their ability in the imperial examination were Xiaoyuan and Xiaohai.
"It seems that we still need to wait." Zhang Xiaobao concluded.
Xiaobei was very distressed. She found that she was not particularly smart. She looked at the current affairs policy questions one after another and did not know where to start.
She would rather be in charge of a county where all the officials listened to her. She could use the various models summarized by her family. Coupled with her own strong financial power, she was confident that she could manage a county well.
However, when she was faced with the examination questions, there were some words that she did not recognize and could not give a reason why.
Hiding behind the other children, Xiaobei lowered her head and pursed her lips tightly. She was angry with herself.
"Xiaobei, what fun things are you thinking about?" Wang Juan saw that the usually active Xiaobei was not, so she pulled her out from behind the others and asked.
Xiao Bei puffed up his cheeks and said sullenly, "I'm the stupidest. Both men and women know more words than I do. How am I supposed to know how to fix the road and where to fix it with all those messy questions?
I know why it needs to be fixed. It's to make it easier to walk. "
Wang Juan looked at Zhang Xiaobao and signaled with her eyes.
She meant, look, you asked them to come, and now you've dealt a blow to the children, right?
Zhang Xiaobao was a little regretful. He had always let his younger siblings develop a kind of confidence that they were not afraid of difficulties and that no matter how big the world was, they could do it.
Therefore, the things that he arranged for his younger siblings were things that they could do after they worked hard. When Li Longji sent Xiaobei to Hongnong, he was worried about it.
However, his younger siblings did very well. He and Wang Juan were very pleased.
"This, Xiaobei, come here. Come to Big Brother's side. Don't be afraid when we encounter difficulties, right?" Zhang Xiaobao carried his sister and said to her.
"That's right." Xiaobei still had not recovered. "If you ask me to do things, I'm not afraid. If you give me a county, I'll manage it. If I ask the people to plant things, I won't be afraid if the plants are bad and there's no output.
I can compensate them. Then, I'll remember that if the environment is similar, they can't plant the same things. I'll spend my own money to teach them a lesson. "
Xiaobei hugged her brother's neck and said her thoughts. Suddenly, she pouted. "But what's this? I don't understand what you're asking. Fixing roads costs money. Why do you have to ask why and how to spend it?"
"That's right. Our Xiaobei is right. Do you still remember our family's ranch in Feng Zhou?" Zhang Xiaobao felt that the pressure he was under was unprecedentedly great.
He would not stupidly tell his sister about the details of fixing roads. Otherwise, it would be useless even if she memorized it. That was a way of thinking.
Therefore, what he had to do was to temporarily let his sister forget about the current situation and relax. He had to guide her according to her intelligence and experience with words that she could understand.
Wang Juan watched from the side. The other eight children were also listening to their brother.
When Xiaobei heard her brother's question, she suddenly smiled and said, "I know, I know. We even went to catch the Tujue together. What's his name again? Prince Xian of the Left.
When we came back to Feng Zhou, our dog pulled the sleigh and couldn't see the end of it. At that time, he was scared silly. Hehe. "
"Ah, our Xiaobei is so awesome. I almost forgot that you still have to ride the dog. The dog ran away when it saw you." Zhang Xiaobao played along and pretended to be surprised.
"Bad dog." Xiaobei gave a definition of a dog.
"Then we saw the river, the Yellow River. Do you still remember it?" Zhang Xiaobao asked.
Xiaobei looked up at the sky and thought. "I know. It's winter, but I don't see the trackers. When will we go again?"
"Wait until next spring. When the ice melts, we can take a boat, okay?" Zhang Xiaobao made a rowing gesture.
"Okay, pinky promise." Xiaobei stuck out her pinky finger.
Zhang Xiaobao also stuck out his pinky finger, and the two of them came to an agreement.
Wang Juan listened in puzzlement. She wanted to see how Zhang Xiaobao would solve the problem.
Zhang Xiaobao continued, "When the river just turns around the bend, it's turbulent, and it's hard to pull the cable. There's a rich merchant who has his own fleet, so he wrote a letter to me. When was it? The day before yesterday? Was it the day before yesterday? "
Zhang Xiaobao looked at Wang Juan as he spoke. Wang Juan understood. "It was the night before yesterday. The merchant asked you to judge whether his idea was good or not."
"That's right. Two nights ago, he told me to buy some gunpowder and blow it up along the tracker's path. So, it's not this wide." Zhang Xiaobao gestured with his hands to show a one-meter wide gap.
"He said that he wanted to blow up the path three times wide and blow up the place where the trackers used to climb. This way, he could use horses to pull the cable. It would be faster, and the horses would have more strength. I thought about it and realized that this person …"
"Is he stupid?" Xiaobei was finally brought to the topic by her brother, so she interjected.
Zhang Xiaobao pretended to be deep in thought. "I also feel that something is missing. Something is not right."
"Do you still need to think about it? That path can't be blown inwards. There's no place to support it, and there's a mountain on one side. If he blew up such a wide path at the bottom, the soil on the top would fall down.
Then, he would spend money to remove the fallen rocks and plant new trees. Otherwise, the top side of the mountain would be completely bald. When it rains, the soil and rocks would roll down.
If he planted the trees, would he guarantee that they would survive? If he wasted time, the others wouldn't sail and wait for him? "
Xiaobei let go of her brother's neck and waved her little fists.
"Yes, our Xiaobei is still the best. I'll scold him later and tell him that he can't pull the cable like before. What's the point of building a road?" Zhang Xiaobao affirmed his sister's words.
Xiaobei clenched her fists and thought for a while. Then, she said, "If he wants to transport goods from Feng Zhou to Yun Ling Zhou, he's willing to fork out a lot of money. Why don't he just blow up the cave and use cement to build the inside? He can just transport goods by land. "
"That's right. Our Xiaobei is still the best. Who said that she couldn't answer the current affairs question? I think that the other examinees will encounter the same problem. They can't compare to our Xiaobei at all. "
Zhang Xiaobao imitated his sister and waved his fists.
Xiaobei regained her usual vigor. "Hmph, the questions in the imperial examinations aren't specific enough. I don't know who came up with the questions, but we can't generalize. We need to analyze the problems in detail."
"Yes! I also object to this, so I decided not to answer the current affairs question. I just asked blindly. "Zhang Xiaobao was indignant.
"I think he hasn't stayed in a place before. He doesn't understand the situation of the people and lacks a foundation." Xiaobei evaluated as if she had made a lot of achievements in a place.
Zhang Xiaobao wouldn't correct his sister's mistake. It was fine as long as he achieved his goal.
"Xiaobei, it's late. Let's go back first. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll go to the lakeside and see Shuiyun and her family." Zhang Xiaobao gently wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Then, he sent away the nine younger siblings who had a lot of opinions about the current affairs of the imperial examinations. Only then did Zhang Xiaobao let out a long sigh of relief.
"Xiao Bao, you're amazing." Wang Juan praised Zhang Xiaobao with a smile.
"I didn't think that you would be able to use this kind of method. How did you know that Xiaobei would be able to answer?" Wang Juan was very curious.
"I've personally met Xiaobei three times when the topic of capturing the Tujue's Virtuous Prince of the Left was brought up. Thus, Xiaobei has a very deep impression of that place. Furthermore, she has been thinking about the problem of road construction. Even though she has temporarily diverted her attention, she is still subconsciously thinking about this problem.
Moreover, with Xiaobei's personality, if you ask her to make a comprehensive plan, she might not be able to make one, but she can always find flaws in other people's plans.
When we came back to take the train, we told them more than once to blow up a cave so that the train could pass through.
Children are different from adults in one respect. They can always think about things for a long time, but for them, they either forget or treat things from a long time ago as if they were just yesterday. "
Zhang Xiaobao explained to Wang Juan.
"So you're sure that she will definitely cooperate?"
"I'm not sure. I'm also betting. At most, she won't respond to the topic just now. Then, I'll think of another topic. I won't scold her and say things like 'You're so stupid. Do you want to be beaten? You can't even solve such a simple question. What have you been thinking about all day?'
I'll say to those adults who educate their children like this, 'You're so stupid. You can't even teach such a cute and smart child. Is there water in your brain? You can't even teach a child. What else can you do? '"
Zhang Xiaobao once again blamed the adults for the child's poor grades and looked down on them.
Wang Juan shook her head. "You're always thinking differently from normal people. I'll go back and continue writing. Are you going to write essays too?"
"No. I'll go back and think about the problem of opening a cave that Xiaobei mentioned. I'll find someone to look at the geographical environment. If it's feasible, I'll open one."
Zhang Xiaobao pointed in the direction of Lingzhou.
"You took it seriously. Xiaobei's words are full of loopholes."
"Why wouldn't I take it seriously? I can find someone to correct the mistakes. What a child says isn't necessarily wrong. In China, if a child says that he will find a way to fly, grow a pair of wings, and jump off a cliff, the adults will usually stop him from thinking about it.
Outside, even if the adults don't think it's feasible, they will still encourage it. Thus, the first foreigner to fly with artificial gliders appeared, and the first plane appeared in a foreign country.
We didn't restrict our younger siblings, so the first child who can grow on his or her own appeared. "
"Okay, you think about yours, and I'll write mine." Wang Juan didn't care what Zhang Xiaobao was going to do.
"Okay, I'll arrange the cloth and food first."
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