Chapter 26 Knock on the door

Chapter 26 Knock on the door

Chapter 26 Knock on the door
"Why are you staring at me?" The girl saw Xu Qing suddenly staring at her intently. After all, she was still a girl, so she couldn't help blushing.

"I am reciting this contemporary article silently." Xu Qing said nonsense.

The girl asked suspiciously, "Really?"

Xu Qing: "How about I recite it to you?"

"Okay, this is a good opportunity to test your memory and see how much you can memorize."

Xu Qing smiled casually, and then recited the article in front of him word for word.

He originally had a strong spirit and a good memory, and when he was reading the article just now, he used the state of "absolute concentration", so he could memorize it at a glance with ease.

The girl was stunned and said to Feng Xifeng who was lying next to her sobering up: "Dad, this is also a person with a photographic memory."

Xu Qing's heart rang, "Also?"

Feng Xifeng came over and turned to the second article, which was about a thousand words long. "Recite another one."

Xu Qing naturally refused to show his weakness. Anyway, he was full of energy and it didn't take him long to read an article. It wouldn't take much energy for him to enter a state of "absolute concentration" to digest the article.

He read it once and memorized the second article. Not only did he not miss a word, but even the sentences were fluent. He could recite the boring eight-part essay with a hidden elegance and charm.

Feng Xifeng was shocked.

This kid not only memorized the article, but also had a good understanding of it.

He just read it once.

If these articles were not Feng Xifeng's private collection, one would have to suspect whether Xu Qing had studied them in advance.

Feng Xifeng sighed towards the girl: "Qing'er, this boy is more talented than you."

Girl: "Daddy, how about you take him in as your disciple?"

Feng Xifeng glanced at Xu Qing and sighed slightly: "I will definitely pass the provincial examination this year, and I will have to take part in the metropolitan examination next spring. I am afraid I will not have time to teach you anything."

He looked at the girl again and said, "Anyway, your attainments in eight-part essays are enough to pass the imperial examination, so you are qualified to teach him."

Xu Qing thought to himself: "Old Feng, you haven't even passed the imperial examination yet, how come the imperial examination is already in your pocket?"

Feng Xifeng seemed to have guessed what Xu Qing was thinking, and said, "I failed the provincial examinations in previous years because my essays were quite radical, and the examiners were conservative and ceremonial, so they naturally refused to accept my papers."

Xu Qing: "So Mr. Feng is planning to change the style of his articles?"

Feng Xifeng snorted, "You are not a good boy, don't test me. The chief examiner of this provincial examination is a reformist, he will definitely select my paper."

Xu Qing thought: "It seems that Old Feng is still in private contact with Prefect He and the new Commissioner of Education, otherwise how would he know so much about the court."

Since the beginning of the Reform Movement, the first priority has been to seize power, and to seize power one must employ people. The imperial examinations and provincial examinations are the places to recruit talents, because young officials who have just become officials are easy to use and are not afraid of making mistakes.

The old bureaucrats are all cunning and ruthless. They are good at fighting for power but not good at doing things.

Moreover, the new juren and jinshi often have gentry, powerful people, and big businessmen behind them. To win over these people is actually to win over the power behind them.

The young girl laughed and said, "Dad, it would be best if you don't teach me. I would rather you fail this exam. Three years later, he and you will take the same provincial exam. Then, we will see who ranks higher."

Feng Xifeng's face twitched and he continued to lie down and sleep.

But he was somewhat uneasy. What if he failed the provincial examination? Wouldn't he really have to compete with Xu Qing in the next exam? That would be so embarrassing.

Seeing Xu Qing's high talent, the girl felt like a craftsman seeing a rough jade and had to carve it. While reciting, she pointed out the difficulties to Xu Qing and gave him hints to guide him to solve them.

At this time, the essay questions became more and more difficult as they went on. Xu Qing entered a state of "absolute concentration". To solve these difficult questions, even with the girl's guidance, it took a lot of physical strength.

After learning only about one-third of the content, Xu Qing was already sweating all over. However, the amount he gained was beyond words.

He had prepared for two months before he could write that county exam essay under targeted training. Now he felt that as long as the topic was not too tricky or weird, he could write a good eight-part essay at any time. If he was lucky and in good shape, it was not impossible for him to write an essay that was slightly inferior to the first place in the exam that day.

As for surpassing him, it is indeed difficult, because in that essay, he copied some contents from Wang Yangming's essay in the palace examination.

Most of the articles in the world are plagiarized.

The main reason was that the topic at that time was too suitable for copying, and to be safe, I couldn't help myself.

He didn't know that the article almost broke Magistrate Wu's heart.

As for Yan Shan, his faith in Taoism had already collapsed.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have come to Feng Xifeng to cram for the exam in order to regain some confidence in the provincial examination.

It turned out that Yan Shan was the first to arrive, but...

Seeing Xu Qing's tiredness, the girl said softly, "Are you still okay? If not, come back tomorrow?"

Xu Qing wanted to say, "I'm OK."

The body was very honest, and when the words came to his lips, he said, "I think it's getting dark, let's come back tomorrow."

Feng Xifeng appeared beside Xu Qing quietly, his eyes seemed to say, you are smart, and then said: "Remember to bring some wine and meat tomorrow."

Xu Qing bowed and said, "I will never forget the gift from you, my teacher." The girl gave Xu Qing a cold look and said, "I am your teacher. Bring me a gift tomorrow."

At this point, she whispered, "Remember to bring some rouge and powder. Our family is poor, and Dad has spent all his money on wine and meat."

Feng Xifeng's face darkened, but he couldn't get angry because he was telling the truth. He then glared at Xu Qing and said, "If you don't leave, you won't get any food here."

Xu Qing then bowed to Feng Xifeng and the girl and prepared to leave.

The girl giggled and said, "I'll take you to the door."

Feng Xifeng didn't say anything about this, as if he didn't care much about his daughter's reputation.

Perhaps, it is his nature to have the urge to despise and trample on ethics and morals.

Anyway, Xu Qing felt that Feng Xifeng and his daughter had some strange secrets.

He didn't ask, because who doesn't have secrets?

He should be grateful if others can teach him, and shouldn't ask any other questions.

But when he reached the door, Xu Qing remembered something and couldn't help but speak out. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to sleep. He couldn't help but plot against someone. "Ms. Feng, Magistrate He and Mr. Feng are from the same school. Why did you take in Zhao Xiong?"

Girl: "My nickname is Qing'er, which is a single character 'Wu'. You can call me by my full name A Wu, Miss Feng, but it sounds strange and distant."

As expected, women have different ways of thinking. After talking for a long time, she still didn't get to the point that Xu Qing wanted to know, so Xu Qing didn't want to push her.

Old Feng urged, "Why don't you open the door for him and let him go."

The girl smiled and said, "I know."

Then he whispered to Xu Qing: "They don't get along."

Xu Qing: “…”

Could this also be a trap?

"But Uncle He and I have a good relationship. He was the one who gave me my name." The girl smiled playfully and pushed Xu Qing out of the door. With a click, the door closed.

"This girl is surprisingly strong." Xu Qing was secretly surprised and thought to himself that the background of the Feng father and daughter was really complicated, and they had never seen the girl's mother from beginning to end.

After he came out, he saw Yan Shan, but Master Qian had already left.

"Brother Xu, why did you come out just now?"

Xu Qing seemed to hear the sound of something breaking from Brother Yan, and consoled him, "Mr. Feng is unwilling to teach me knowledge."

Yan Shan immediately breathed a sigh of relief, "Mr. Feng does have a weird temper." He couldn't help but ask again, "Brother Xu, you have been in there for so long, what have you been doing with Mr. Feng?"

Xu Qing laughed and said, "These are all personal matters. It's hard to tell Brother Yan."

Yan Shan didn't want to ask any further questions, so he invited Xu Qing to his house for dinner.

Xu Qing politely declined.

He has enemies in Qingshui County, so it is not advisable for him to return too late to avoid being ambushed.

He then said goodbye to Yan Shan and rushed back to Li's house.

Zhou left some food for him. After Xu Qing had his meal, he chatted with his uncle and aunt about what happened during the day, and then went back to rest.

Before going to bed, Xu Qing silently recited what he had learned during the day.

Isn't it a pleasure to learn and practice it from time to time?
Before he knew it, Xu Qing fell into a deep sleep.

...

...

Boom boom boom!
In the middle of the night, Xu Qing was awakened by a strange sound.

It doesn't sound like the night watchman's knock.

Like something knocking at the door.

But when Xu Qing opened the window and looked out into the yard, it was unusually quiet.

He went back to bed and continued to sleep. After a while, he was awakened by the sound of "dong dong dong" again.

The result was the same as before, there was no movement outside.

"It's impossible that I'm hallucinating." Xu Qing simply kept his eyes open and stayed awake all night. As a result, he never heard the "dong dong dong" sound again.

He wondered if the ominous thing rumored about this house had finally appeared.

Where is it?

(End of this chapter)