Ye Xiangyang's father was furious: "Nonsense, our rent has been paid long ago, I don't owe a single grain of rice."
The man laughed grimly, stretched out his hand and took out a piece of paper, and with a trembling hand, he opened it and said, "Look carefully, this is the receipt for paying the rent. You have only paid half, and your fingerprint is on it!"
Ye Xiangyang and his family were dumbfounded. There were black words on the white paper, and the characters on it looked like hieroglyphics. They stared with their eyes wide open, unable to understand what was written on the paper.
"I'm telling you, pay the rent within ten days, or you'll be in trouble."
After saying that, they all walked away.
Ye Wentian and the others were so shocked that their eyes widened and they had no idea what was going on. They couldn't even recognize the words.
Ten days later, they helped the Ye family do hard labor for half a month, and they barely finished the rent thing. When it was over, those people grinned and said, "Hehehe, let me tell you, the Ye family let you go because you are all descendants of the Ye family. People should be grateful."
That night, Tang Wan'er burst into tears, Ye Wentian looked worried, and little Ye Xiangyang could only stare at them blankly, unable to speak.
A few days later, Tang Wan'er and Ye Wentian discussed and decided that they had to let their child go to school no matter what. They couldn't be blind like them and watch others bully them. There was nothing they could do.
Ye Xiangyang also had to go to school. When he arrived at the school, most of the children were from prominent families in the Ye family. Ye Xiangyang came to the school wearing tattered clothes.
When Ye Xiangyang first arrived at the school, the teacher was not there. When he came, a child shouted, "Haha, look, there's a beggar. Everyone come and see. He's dressed so shabbily."
The shout aroused everyone's interest. The children were not vicious, but they were not kind either. They pointed at Ye Xiangyang and said, "Look, there are five patches on his pants."
"Hahaha, his torn jacket was picked up from someone else. It can't be repaired. I saw it on the side of the road. There was a patch on the collar of the jacket."
"Poor boy, what are you doing here? What are you doing here? With your appearance, can you go to school?"
…
Ye Xiangyang looked at so many children who were several years older than him and dressed neatly and elegantly. They laughed at him without any scruples, laughing at his wishful thinking. With the way he looked, he still wanted to go to school. Wasn't this a huge joke
If Ye Xiangyang had not seen his parents being bullied for being illiterate, and being forced to work even though they had paid the rent, he would have slammed the door and left. But now he absolutely could not do that. His parents had fought hard for him to go to school, and he could not give up.
Ye Xiangyang said nothing. He knew that only children from families much better off than his own could enter the school and learn to read and write. His family was not qualified to enter the school. However, in order to prevent him from being humiliated, his parents begged and pleaded with everyone and gritted their teeth to send him to the school. How could he give up just because of a few cold words from others
Ye Xiangyang sat at the back silently.
"Oh, you have a bad temper, you don't even listen to us, stand up, there is no place for you to sit down in the school."
"Hey, hey, you bastard, you think you can sit down whenever you want. There is no place for dogs to squat in the school."
"That's right, kid. If you bring us some delicious food every day, I will forgive you, you know?"
Ye Xiangyang didn't say anything. He had just entered the school and he didn't want to be expelled by the teacher because of some trivial matter.
Just then, Mr. came in.
The teacher looked at the students, his face was a little gloomy and a little livid: "Xiaowu, Feiyu, if you bully others again and I find out, I will give you twenty spankings."
The two reckless guys who had threatened Ye Xiangyang fiercely just now restrained their breath at once. They were still very afraid of the gentleman.
Ye Xiangyang followed the route to school, knelt down to pay homage to the ancestors, and then sat in the group of new students.
After school, Xiaowu, Feiyu and a few others stopped Ye Xiangyang, just like when they were stopped that year. They asked Ye Xiangyang to bring them delicious food every day, and whenever they were on duty, Ye Xiangyang had to sweep the floor, wipe the table and do all the chores they were supposed to do.
Of course Ye Xiangyang disagreed, and then several of them started beating Ye Xiangyang.
Ye Xiangyang fought with them for his life, but Xiaowu and his men outnumbered him and even though Ye Xiangyang tried his best to resist, he was still beaten up badly.
After returning home, Ye Xiangyang did not dare to tell his parents.
The next day, Xiaowu ridiculed Ye Xiangyang again in the school.
Ye Xiangyang did not give them a chance to gather together. He punched Xiaowu in the nose. Bang! The punch hit Xiaowu's nose directly. Xiaowu felt a pain, his nose became hot, and blood flowed out.
Xiaowu was so scared that he burst into tears.
Feiyu and the others came up and beat Ye Xiangyang again.
That day, Ye Xiangyang was hit on the palm of his hand twenty times.
Ye Xiangyang did not give in. Two days later, he clashed with Feiyu again and beat Feiyu so hard that he dared not raise his head.
From that day on, no one bullied Ye Xiangyang in school, even though he was dressed in rags and all alone, but no one bullied him.
Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, it has been more than ten years. Ye Xiangyang has read all the books and it is time for him to take part in the imperial examination.
Ye Xiangyang carried a pen, a box of ink, an inkstone and a bundle of paper on his shoulders and set out for the capital to take the imperial examination.
The Jiuzhou Empire had undergone a tremendous change. The King of Zhenxi slaughtered his nephew and seized the country. The entire Jiuzhou Empire was full of disasters, locusts passed through the border, and the people were living in misery.
Ye Xiangyang begged for food, ate wild vegetables, painted and sold calligraphy along the way, and headed towards the capital of the Kyushu Empire.
Along the way, he saw the misery of the world. Some farmers sat on the roadside and put straw tags on their children's heads. They sold their children and wives for very low prices. There was even cannibalism and paper clothes. Many people had no clothes.
Ye Xiangyang was heartbroken. He had never imagined that there were so many sufferings in the world. He had never imagined that there were so many disasters in the world. The world was simply a hell.
He vowed to change the world with his own hands.
When he saw the gray imperial capital, an unprecedented impulse surged in his heart. When he arrived in the capital, he could not live in a shop, so he lived in an ancient temple, where he could survive.
Every day, he would look for a place on the streets of the capital to sell his paintings and calligraphy, hoping to earn some money to support his life.
That day was great. His calligraphy and paintings were sold for three strings of cash. Ye Xiangyang rolled up his calligraphy and paintings and was going to return to the temple where he was staying.
He saw an old man who had fallen ill on the street, foaming at the mouth and convulsing all over.
Someone asked the girl to treat her old father. The girl said that she would marry whoever could help her father get well.
Ye Xiangyang weighed the three strings of cash in his hand and gave them to the girl.
Someone chuckled: "Oh, that bitch didn't tie her belt properly, so you poor scholar jumped out. I said that anyone who has mercy on them is against us. Come and beat them up..."
A group of vicious slaves rushed over like wolves and tigers, surrounded Ye Xiangyang and started beating him up.
Which girl cried like a pear blossom in the rain: "Please, don't hit him, don't hit him, even if I am wrong, let me take the responsibility for it, don't hit him, I agree."
The evil slave laughed hideously, "Haha, I knew you were a bitch, I have to beat you, all right, don't beat you to death."
The girl knelt down in front of Ye Xiangyang. When she knelt down, the ground was shaking: "My benefactor, I have implicated you."
Having said this, he was taken away by that group of evil slaves.
Ye Xiangyang staggered back to the ancient temple, and after half a month of recuperation, he finally recovered.
When I entered the examination room, I saw three essays written about flowers in profusion.
The time for the results announcement has come. Ye Xiangyang has made it to the top of the list and has been admitted to the Jiuzhou Empire as the third place.
When he wanted to receive the voucher, he had to pay five thousand taels of money for grinding ink according to the rules. Ye Xiangyang smiled bitterly: "Sir, let alone five thousand, I don't even have five cents."
As a result, Ye Xiangyang was assigned to the remote southwestern region to serve as the magistrate of a small mountain town.
Ye Xiangyang took the credentials to take up the post, and after three years of traveling through mountains and rivers, he finally arrived at a small county town. Ye Xiangyang settled down in the small county town.
He led the people to build water conservancy projects, expand planting, and grow fruits, and finally the management of the mountain city improved somewhat.
At this moment, the inspector from the Jiuzhou Empire arrived. When the inspector came, he asked him to prepare ten thousand taels of silver.
Ye Xiangyang was stunned at the time. He came to the mountain city with ten thousand taels of silver. He worked hard with the people in the mountain city to expand production, but he didn't even save up a hundred taels of silver.
The inspector chuckled and reported to Ye Xiangyang: Digging three feet into the ground is extremely greedy.
Two months later, an imperial decree came down to arrest Ye Xiangyang and bring him to the capital.
When the news came out, countless people in the mountain city were stunned. They had been waiting and waiting, and finally a caring official came. Who would have thought that the caring official was imprisoned. They said that Ye Xiangyang dug three feet into the ground and was extremely greedy. They asked him to calculate whether his county government office was worth one hundred taels of silver.
The people were all angry. They surrounded the government office and did not allow people in the capital to come out. They shouted, "Lord Ye Xiangyang is an honest official. We are the great master."
"Yes, I have never seen an official more honest than Lord Ye Xiangyang. You cannot wrongly accuse him."
"What a bullshit law! Lord Ye Xiangyang is definitely a good official."
None of them let Ye Xiangyang go.