"I understand what you mean." Eleventh Lady moved the table on the kang next to the window and sat side by side with Xu Sijie. "Although your father and I have enough food and clothing, and your brother takes care of us, you still want to do your best."

"Yes, yes!" Xu Sijie nodded repeatedly, his eyes lit up, "That's what I mean!"

"Have you ever thought about what you can give to me and your father as a filial piety?" Eleventh Lady looked at him gently.

"So, I want to take the imperial examination." Xu Sijie said in a low voice, looking a little embarrassed, "In this way, I can find a job. With a job, I will have a salary. I can buy things for my mother."

If Xu Sijie studied hard and passed the imperial examination and became a juren or jinshi, even if he did not become an official, he would be a successful person in the eyes of the world. He would be able to meet officials on an equal footing and be exempted from taxes, which might not be a bad thing.

Eleventh Lady smiled slightly: "If you want to take the imperial examination and become an official, you have to pass the Jinshi exam. To pass the Jinshi exam, you have to pass the Juren exam first. If you pass the Juren exam, you have to take the Xiucai exam. For the Xiucai exam, you have to take three exams. The first one is called the county exam, the second one is called the prefectural exam, and the third one is called the academy exam. The county exam has four sections. The first and second sections both test one essay and one poem. The third section will test one fu and one poem. Sometimes, there will be a policy and an essay. The fourth section is a re-examination of three or four arts..." She told Xu Sijie about the examination process.

Xu Sijie became excited after hearing this: "Mother, as long as I learn poetry and prose well, I can pass the county exam?"

"Yes!" Eleventh Lady laughed, "Building a house also starts with laying the foundation, brick by brick. The same is true for the imperial examination. First, learn well for the county examination, and then we can take the prefecture examination and the academy examination."

"Yes!" Xu Sijie stood up excitedly and walked back and forth in front of Shiyi Niang. "This way, as long as I study hard according to the teacher's instructions, I can take part in the county exam!"

"Not bad!" Eleventh Lady smiled, "But, passing the county exam is not an easy thing..."

Before she finished her words, Xu Sijie turned around and pulled Shiyi Niang's sleeve: "Mother, don't worry, I will definitely work hard and endure hardships..."

Eleventh Lady laughed.

Although we don’t know what the outcome will be, since Xu Sijie is determined at this time, it’s better not to undermine his confidence for the time being.

"You should also talk to Mr. Zhao about this." She thought for a moment and reminded him, "Mr. Zhao has participated in imperial examinations and has experience. He knows your plan and can give you focused guidance on your studies. Then you will have a better chance of passing the county exam..."

While the mother and son were talking here, Jing'er had already finished tracing the red characters and was sitting there somewhat bored, flipping through a travel book that Shiyi Niang had left under the table on the kang, silently looking for words that he could recognize.

Ah Jin brought in cherries and said, "Sixth Master, what does this say?"

"Oh!" Jing'er said in a daze, "It's about a man who went to Mount Putuo to worship."

Seeing that he was in a bad mood, Ah Jin wanted to cheer him up. Seeing that he was flipping through a book, Ah Jin approached him and said, "About the incense burning! I heard from Madam Huang in the outer courtyard that there is a temple fair on the first and fifteenth day of every month. The women from small families will wear beautiful clothes and go to the temple to burn incense together. It's very lively. Since this person is talking about his experience at the temple fair, it must be some interesting things. Sixth Young Master, can you tell me what this person said?"

The words that Jin Ge'er knew were not enough for him to understand what was written in the book. Seeing Ah Jin looking at him eagerly, he felt a little uneasy, but he didn't want to show his ignorance in front of Ah Jin: "Oh, it's about him going to Putuo Mountain, the temple of Guanyin!" After saying that, he was afraid that Ah Jin would not believe it, so he quickly spread out the book and pointed to the words in it and said: "Look, it says 'Daxiong Hall' here, 'Namo Guanyin' here, and 'Lvyin Zadi' here... It means that in the summer, he burned incense to Guanyin Bodhisattva in Putuo Mountain!"

"Yes, yes." Seeing that Jing'er's words could be read continuously, Ah Jin looked at Jing'er with pride, "Young Master finally got his education from the teacher. He knows what such a thick book is about."

Jing'er avoided her gaze somewhat uncomfortably, turned around, picked up a cherry and put it into his mouth.

Ah Jin stared at the book and muttered, "Master, where is Mount Putuo? Why have I never heard of it? Is it farther away than Mount Xishan?" She had been working in the mansion since she was a child, and the farthest she had been was Mount Xishan.

Jing'er hasn't heard of it either.

"That's not necessarily true!" Jing'er's mind raced. "This guy said he went there on a donkey. If it was far, he should have taken a carriage or gone to Tongzhou to take a boat. So it's not very far." He guessed, "Maybe it's not famous, so we haven't heard of it."

"What the young master said makes sense." Ah Jin nodded seriously. "I heard from Madam Du that our Madam once went to Mount Huashan to burn incense. You often go out with Madam and Madam to see the world, but even you haven't heard of it. It shows that this Mount Putuo is not very famous."

Xu Lingyi, who had come to see Shiyi Niang for something, stood at the door and couldn't bear to listen any more.

What a mess this is.

Why does she speak in the same tone as those ignorant women in the streets?

He frowned slightly and coughed softly.

The people in the study heard the noise immediately.

“Daddy!”

"My Lord!"

One ran over excitedly, and the other knelt and saluted.

"Why are you here?" Jing'er took Xu Lingyi's hand and walked into the study, pointing at the Shu brocade on the wall, "Is it beautiful? It's a birthday gift from my fourth brother to my mother."

"It looks great!" Xu Lingyi glanced at it and said perfunctorily, "What did you give your mother?" He then asked, "Where's your mother? Why did she leave you here alone? Didn't she say she was going to do red tracing in the afternoon?"

"I gave mother an ivory round fan!" Brother Jin smiled proudly, "Mother likes it very much and put it next to her pillow." Then he ran to show his red painting to his father, "I have already finished the red painting." He leaned into Xu Lingyi's arms affectionately, "Mother and Fifth Brother are talking next door!"

Seeing the neat handwriting, Xu Lingyi nodded slightly and asked, "Have you memorized the book that the teacher asked you to memorize?"

"I've memorized it a long time ago." Jing'er said, shaking his head as he recited the content to Xu Lingyi.

Very fluent.

Xu Lingyi asked a few questions.

The answer was clear and he also gave a lot of irrelevant comments.

It can be seen that the things Mr. Zhao taught him were easy for him to master.

"Since you have finished your homework, why don't you go out and play?" Xu Lingyi took a sip of the tea that Ajin had given him with satisfaction.

"Mom told me not to run around." Jing'er said a little depressed, "But Mom is talking to my fifth brother. I have to wait until they finish talking and then report to Mom." Then he became happy again, "Dad, I tell you, my dog ​​is going to give birth to puppies soon. When it gives birth, I will give one to my third cousin from the Yu family, one to Ji Ting, and one to Madam Gan..."

Xu Lingyi looked at his son's face, which lit up when he talked about something he liked, and thought of the way he had hung his head just now...

Ever since Eleventh Lady gave Jing'er a severe lesson, Jing'er has become very obedient, his temper has improved a lot, and he has become much more sensible. He is no longer as domineering as before, but he has also lost some of the sharpness that he used to admire.

In his mind, there appeared a gentle face like that of Miss Xu Sijie.

"Jin'er," he picked up his son, "Do you want to go horseback riding with Daddy?"

Jing'er's eyes lit up, but then he showed some hesitation.

"Dad," he glanced at Ah Jin standing beside him and whispered in Xu Lingyi's ear, "I don't want to go riding now. Can you tell me where Mount Putuo is?"

Xu Lingyi was stunned.

Then he burst into laughter.

"Okay!" He walked out with Jin Ge'er in his arms, and told A Jin and the others, "You don't have to follow me. If Madam asks, just say that the Sixth Young Master and I are in the study."

* * * * * *

Xu Lingyi took out a rosewood box from the warm room behind the study, carefully opened the "Kyushu Map" hidden in the box, and spread it on the large yellow pear wood desk.

"See? The thick black lines are rivers, the lighter thin lines are roads, the pointed ones are mountains, the cloud-like ones are lakes, and the scale-like ones are the sea... Look at this group of small islands on the coast, and Mount Putuo is among them. It is known as one of the four holy places of Zen Buddhism along with Mount Wutai, Mount Emei, and Mount Jiuhua..."

Jing'er's little face changed at that moment.

Xu Lingyi found it funny but didn't nod. He pointed to several other mountains for Jing'er to see.

"Putuo Mountain is in Zhoushan, Zhejiang..." He pointed to a small dot not far from Zhoushan, "That's Yuhang." At this point, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, "Your maternal grandfather's home is here. Your mother grew up here. She came to Beijing when she was thirteen years old..."

Brother Jin was amazed: "It's so small!"

"This is drawn at a scale of 1:100,000." Xu Lingyi smiled and compared with his fingers, "This is Yanjing, and this is Yuhang. But it takes more than a month to walk from Yanjing to Yuhang."

Jinger became excited: "Daddy, Daddy, where is Tongzhou?"

"Look for it yourself!" Xu Lingyi said with a smile, "Didn't I just tell you how to read the map?"

Jing'er lay on the big desk to look for it.

In this era, maps are treasures that cannot be bought even with money. Moreover, the map in Xu Lingyi's hand is a military map, which is more accurate and clearly marked than ordinary maps. He has always liked it. When he left office, he pretended not to know and did not hand it over. Naturally, the deputy generals pretended to be deaf and dumb. The military officials did not dare to say anything in front of Xu Lingyi, and they murmured in front of the deputy generals, but no one paid attention, and the matter was left unresolved. Xu Lingyi has always kept this map in his study.

"Dad," Jing'er quickly pointed to a small spot, "Tongzhou!"

Xu Lingyi was a little surprised.

"It only takes two days to get from Tongzhou to Yanjing," Jing'er said with a little pride, "Just look for it near Yanjing!"

"Not bad, not bad!" Xu Lingyi was very relieved.

Jinger gestured on the map: "It takes more than a month to get to Yuhang, and the distance from Yuhang to Zhoushan is this long... Then, from Yanjing to Putuo, it will take more than two months, right?"

Not everyone can read maps.

Xu Lingyi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and there was a hint of solemnity in his eyes as he looked at his son.

※

Post a draft first!

O(∩_∩)O~

PS: I have been writing for almost a year. I took a month off due to illness. Suddenly I realized that I didn’t do anything I should have done… Instead, I couldn’t write quietly…