Early the next morning, Shen Cui went into the city.
There was definitely no need to look for 'Zhang Sheng'. When she was alone last night, she had already written a letter as 'him', saying that she couldn't let go of her hometown and relatives, and thanked Lao Buyu and others for their care over the past few days. She would go home immediately after the competition and would write to him regularly in the future.
But I do have to go to the Shen family.
The Shen family members knew that she was ill and must still be worried about her.
Moreover, my family has also participated in the college competition and achieved very good results, so I have to report the good news to them.
Shen Cui set out early, and when she arrived at Chahu Lane, the men of the Shen family had not yet gone out to work, and the family was having breakfast together.
The Shen family was naturally very happy to see him coming. Mrs. Li moved and took the initiative to make room for her.
Shen Cui went to the kitchen to get bowls and chopsticks and sat down next to Zheng.
While eating breakfast, Mr. Shen and Mrs. Zheng naturally asked about her health.
Chen Cui was indeed very tired before, but she was in good health. After putting the academy competition aside, she rested for the night and slept soundly. Although she got up early today, she looked much better than before.
Seeing that she had a good appetite, the Shen family finally felt relieved.
After they had all expressed their condolences, it was Shen Cui's turn to announce the good news.
Chen Cui first said, "I know that Dad and my brothers have to go to work and are busy, so why didn't Mom bring my sisters-in-law to watch the fun? I've been out several times and I was surprised when I didn't see you."
Only academy staff were allowed to enter the competition venue, and they were not allowed to bring their families. Even Zhou entered as a handyman for the academy. But as a participating academy, which has paid the registration fee in real money, it can at least reserve a few good seats for watching from the sidelines.
Zheng waved her hand and said, "We can't read a single word, why would we join in the fun? We will only make people laugh at us."
This is true, but how could this person not like to watch the fun? Especially since the academy competition also includes competitions on music, dance, and musical instruments. People in a small town have few entertainment activities, and it's rare for such a grand gathering to be held. How could they not want to go and watch it?
In fact, as early as the first day of the competition, Chen proposed to go and watch.
Zheng refused. She believed everything she heard and passed on what Chen's wife said to her daughter, which made her daughter so tired that she actually went to participate in the competition. She even fell ill because of it and felt very guilty.
Later, she inquired about a lot of information and learned that other academies had been preparing for this for two to three years, and that they could even use a human wave tactic in the initial examination to prevent anyone from performing poorly. My daughter's academy had only been established for less than half a year, and there were only a few people in it.
What better result can this produce?
So although Zheng was indeed concerned, she deliberately did not go to see it. Especially since Chen was there to see Shen Cui's joke, she did not allow other people in the family to go either.
If they lose a competition like this, no matter how ugly the loss is, everyone will just pretend not to know and save face for the daughter.
If Shen Cui hadn't mentioned it, Zheng would have continued to pretend that she didn't remember it.
But since Shen Cui mentioned it, Zheng knew the result would be better than she expected, and urged her to speak quickly.
Chen Cui did not keep anyone in suspense. She first said that her own academy passed the preliminary examination without any trouble, and unexpectedly won the appreciation of the old principal of Hongle Academy, and was recommended for the re-examination.
But later on, I couldn’t compare with others, so I withdrew from the competition.
After the result was announced, the Shen family was naturally happy. Zheng said happily, "My son is really promising. I heard that in previous years, except for Qingzhu Academy, other small academies in our county could not enter the re-examination!"
Only Chen was extremely jealous. Her nephew was studying with Mr. Huang, and she felt very proud of her family's success. However, Mr. Huang was not even qualified to participate in such a grand event as the Academy Competition.
Of course, if Mr. Huang really wanted to participate, he could just create a college name and pay the registration fee.
He has no future. It is purely a small-class private school. He can hardly accept all the students. He himself does not know the six arts of a gentleman, so why should he get involved in this?
But Chen didn't understand all this. She just felt jealous and sour. When she saw her son, he acted like a mouse seeing a cat when he heard the word "study". She even drank half a bowl of porridge less than usual for breakfast.
Shen Cuiben was not here to share her joy, so she ignored her. After breakfast, she sent Old Man Shen and her two brothers to work. She did not stay in the Shen family for long, as the time bonus of the academy could only be used if she was present.
After coming out of Shen's house, Shen Cui went to buy snacks.
According to the population, she bought a large bag of peach cakes for each of the three people, Lao Buyu, teacher and student.
There are twelve pieces of peach cake in a bag, which is enough to last for a few days.
This kind of fine food was not affordable by every household until the 1980s and 1990s in modern society. Three packs of it cost five or six cents of silver.
Besides, she would have to stay in the academy permanently in the future, so she didn't need to eat so finely. She could just buy some cheap things like steamed buns and sesame cakes, which she could heat up later to satisfy her hunger. It only cost a little over one cent.
Later she bought some more paper and a few pens, and spent even more money.
But these are indeed basic necessities in life and cannot be saved.
Shen Cui was carrying bags of things and walking home. Before she left the city, she realized something was wrong - the system was not so generous. It gave incredible rewards for the re-examination of the competition. In fact, it was also a trap!
Not to mention that the buff has strict conditions for taking effect. If she wants to use it for a long time, she will need to buy some props to improve her concentration. The expenses on food, drink, writing brushes, inkstones, etc. will also increase exponentially!
The previous academy was responsible for the food, drink and study expenses of a family of three. Now, isn’t it equivalent to doubling it? That’s like supporting six people!
This will definitely disrupt the college's balance of income and expenditure!
[There is always gain and loss.] 】The system spoke to comfort her,【This reward is so generous, in the host's words, it is "against the will of heaven". How can you expect the horse to run but not eat grass? There is a saying in this era that "time is money". According to this ratio, the price paid by the host is not worth mentioning. 】
Chen Cui told him to stop showing off his knowledge to her, [It's really not worth mentioning, he just wants to kill me! 】
As they were chatting, she passed by a study.
There is a notice board in front of the study, on which is posted a red paper notice which reads "Mr. Shanye's new work "West Lake Delight" has just arrived. Hurry to buy it!"
The business of this study is indeed better than others, with guests coming in an endless stream.
While Shen Cui was standing there reading the notice, the study attendant came up to her and said, "Madam, you look like you can read and understand. Would you like to come in and read the storybook?"
Chen Cui followed him in, and with the help of the waiter, she picked out two of the most fashionable storybooks.
Although this storybook has many words, the requirements for copying are not high. It does not need to be like enlightenment reading materials such as "Three Character Classic", where each word has to be of the same size, the layout must be reasonable, and the paper binding must be better. Therefore, the overall price is similar, two books cost one or two taels of silver.
After hearing the price, before Shen Cui could answer, the system imitated Shen Cui's previous tone and said coldly: [One tael of silver, isn't this asking for my host's life! 】
Chen Cui cursed him in her mind with amusement, [Go to hell, my life is only worth one or two ounces? 】
Seeing that she didn't say anything, the waiter guessed that the price was too high. After all, ordinary people in this county town didn't have much money and would not easily spend a month's salary to buy such entertainment items.
So he took Chen Cui to the desk next to him which was not in such a good position.
That place is where they collect used books. Their conditions and prices vary, but they are definitely cheaper than new books. Of course, there would be no new storybooks that would be popular on the market.
Chen Cui didn't bother to choose the most popular books at the time, so she asked the waiter to pick out two once popular storybooks and spent half a tael of silver.
She also asked the clerk if the old book could be sold again. The clerk said yes, but the recycling price would naturally be lower, and at most she could get another two cents.
That is to say, if she read two storybooks and then sold them back, she would have to pay three taels of silver.
Shen Cui quickly paid the money and returned to the village.
On the way back, the system did not forget to tease her: [The host actually spends money on entertainment? Although it is a small amount of money, it seems that the host has made a lot of progress compared to the past. 】
Who said I was entertaining? I call this an upfront investment. 】
[Well, although the host has learned to write, it is still a long way to go to the point where he can copy books to supplement the family income. 】
Chen Cui ignored him and went straight to the academy after returning to the village. She first gave everyone Zhang Sheng's farewell letter, distributed the things she bought, and then turned on the time gain, sat at her temporary desk, and began to practice calligraphy.
But what disappointed Shen Cui was that even though she had talked to Zhou yesterday, she still didn't come to class today.
It was not until the evening when everyone had finished dinner that Zhou washed the dishes. Seeing that Chen Cui did not return home early as usual, she came over hesitantly.
The main room was quiet, with only the sound of Lao Buyu lecturing Mu Erpang.
Chen Cui smiled and waved at her, letting half of the desk go, and took out another piece of paper for her to use, and then whispered to her: "Today we will learn to write the Thousand Character Classic, this sentence 'The sky and the earth are dark yellow, the universe is vast and boundless'. You follow me first, and I will tell you the rest after you finish this."
She used to stay in the academy every day, listened to the morning reading for a long time, and also practiced calligraphy with Mu Erpang and Wei Xi during her daily tutoring. It was normal for her to memorize the contents of the simplest and most obvious enlightenment reading materials and know how to write those words, which would not arouse suspicion.
In fact, Zhou was still thinking about what Shen Cui said to her yesterday the whole day. Although what Shen Cui said did make sense, Zhou thought she had no talent. She didn't know how much time it would take and how much work she would have to stop doing to write letters and copy books for others.
But she really wanted to read and learn to read. She had been thinking about it long before Shen Cui said those words, so she came over to take a look.
Unexpectedly, Shen Cui did not persuade her at all. After arranging the "learning task" for her, she stuffed the brush into her hand, pressed her hand to teach her how to hold the brush, and then started writing her own work.
Zhou immediately stopped thinking about other things and carefully wrote down the order in which she wrote down the words and started practicing on the paper in front of her.
Chen Cui looked at the concentration value of Zhou's Q-version figurine on the screen with satisfaction, which began to rise from the passing line.
Zhou was indeed not stupid. After watching Chen Cui write the eight characters once, she completely memorized the stroke order. She quickly wrote them once again, blushing slightly as she whispered, "My hand is too clumsy. It seems to be different from what you wrote... It's not quite right."
"It's okay, it's always like this at the beginning." Shen Cui said, her eyes fell on the paper in front of Zhou - wasn't it different from what she wrote? The words Zhou wrote for the first time were much better than her scribbles!
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