What is a middle school youth? It is an existence that is extremely self-righteous and does not know what giving up means. +,
The third son of the Li family was only depressed for a moment about his defeat, and then he continued to compete with Zhu Ping'an with high morale, throwing out questions that he thought were very difficult one by one to embarrass Zhu Ping'an.
Such as the riddle: "The top goes to the bottom, the bottom goes to the top. The two ends go to the middle, the middle goes to the two ends."
Zhu Ping'an had seen these riddles on the Internet a long time ago, so he could give the answers without even thinking about it.
"It's '至', because the top of '至' is the bottom of '去', and the bottom of '至' is the top of '去'. The middle of '至' is the two ends of '去', the two ends of '至' are the two ends of '去', and the two ends of '至' are the middle of '去'." Zhu Ping'an pretended to think for a moment before giving the answer calmly, and he also explained the answer again.
However, this was far beyond the expectations of the third son of the Li family, so he racked his brains to think of a few questions to embarrass Zhu Ping'an, but unfortunately, none of the questions could stump Zhu Ping'an.
Finally, the third son of the Li family had no choice but to come up with a rogue question: "If you jump into a big pit, it's very deep, and there's no one inside. The pit wall is very slippery and very solid. You can't scratch it with your hands, and you can't climb out with your hands. But you don't have any tools, ropes, knives, or anything else. There's no one outside the pit, and there's nothing inside the pit. What would you do?"
The third son of the Li family eliminated all conceivable advantages, and after saying this he looked at Zhu Ping'an with great complacency.
"Can we swim?" Zhu Ping'an asked calmly.
"There is no water in the pit. I just said it. There is nothing in the pit." The third son of the Li family emphasized again.
"I can use my hands to pinch a hole in my head to let the water flow out. Then I can swim and float, and then get out of the pit." Zhu Pingan said seriously.
The third son of the Li family shook his head like a rattle. "How can there be so much water in the head!"
"There's no water in my head, why should I jump down?" Zhu Ping'an glanced at the third son of the Li family and said lightly.
The third child of the Li family
In the end, it was the scheming girl Li Shu who used the name of the rich man Li to drive the third son of the Li family out of the study.
"Thank you Miss Li for helping me." Zhu Ping'an bowed to thank the sinister girl. If she hadn't kicked her brother out of the study, her brother would probably have come up with some weird things to embarrass him.
"Narcissistic, who helped you out? I was just afraid that my third brother would get angry and destroy my book, hum." The black-bellied girl looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle. At the end, she snorted arrogantly.
She's really a problem girl.
I borrowed two more books from the Li family. As the special examination was approaching, I put aside the idea of reading miscellaneous books. The two books I borrowed this time were both related to the provincial examination, to be precise, one was a policy essay and the other was an eight-legged essay.
Everyone in the family was excited about Enke’s news. As for whether Zhu Ping’an could pass the exam, that was not something the family members considered. They were just excited about Enke.
Early the next morning, Zhu Ping'an put on the clothes made by his teacher's wife and walked from home to his teacher's home in Shanghe Village.
The clothes made by the Master's wife fit her very well. They were made of black cloth with four slits and vermilion borders. They were wide and easy to move around in. There was no belt on the four slits. There were several straps on the two lapels, but they could be tied.
The master's wife also made a pair of shoes for him. The standard name for shoes is Cai Lu, which means colorful shoes. The shoes Zhu Ping'an wore were shoes with red edges. They looked a bit like embroidered shoes, but without the embroidery. It felt weird.
The villagers he met on the road looked at Zhu Ping'an with strange eyes when they greeted him. Zhu Ping'an explained that he was dressed like this because he was going to his master's house for the ceremony of wearing the cap.
The coming-of-age ceremony
The villagers don't understand, what is the ceremony of capping? People in our village don't care about this. Most of the villagers feel this way, so it's no wonder that Master Sun has to go to his house to perform the ceremony of capping himself.
Master Sun's house was the same as usual, with the doors left unlocked at night and the main door never closed, so Zhu Ping'an walked straight in.
"Good morning, my teacher." Zhu Ping'an looked at Master Sun as soon as he entered the room and bowed to him from a distance.
"Well, not bad." Old Master Sun was tidying up the tables and chairs in the yard, arranging the tables and chairs, wine cups, hats, turbans, etc. When he saw Zhu Ping'an coming over early in the morning, he nodded with satisfaction.
Zhu Ping'an wanted to go forward to help, but was pulled into the room by the master's wife who came out after hearing the noise. Without saying anything, she changed Zhu Ping'an's hairstyle, uh, a very embarrassing topknot style. The master's wife drew two buns on both sides of his forehead in a ring shape, and also tied them into a "tie" with a scarlet brocade ribbon.
When the master's wife was changing Zhu Ping'an's hairstyle, guests came to Master Sun's house. They were all Master Sun's old friends, including the two students who had served as guarantors when Zhu Ping'an took the imperial examination. About seven or eight people came, bringing pens, ink, paper, and inkstones as gifts for Zhu Ping'an's coming of age ceremony.
They were all invited by Master Sun to watch the ceremony.
Zhu Pingan was called by Master Sun to the gate, facing east, to greet Master Sun's friend. Master Sun smiled and greeted his friend, Zhu Pingan bowed and greeted him, Master Sun's friend looked at Zhu Pingan, nodded with satisfaction, then exchanged a few words with Master Sun at the gate, and followed Master Sun into the yard.
The master's wife brewed a pot of tea, placed it on the table outside the courtyard along with the teacups, and then returned to her room. Zhu Pingan picked up the teapot, poured tea into each cup, and placed them on the table.
When Master Sun's friend entered the yard, he washed his hands in a basin of water, and then sat down to watch the ceremony.
Zhu Ping'an's coming-of-age ceremony officially began.
"My student, Zhu Ping'an, the son of Zhu Shouyi from Xiahe Village, is growing up. I will put a crown on his head today. I respectfully..." Old Master Sun bowed to his friends who were watching the ceremony and spoke.
"Great." Master Sun's friend nodded in praise.
Then, Master Sun took the headscarf from the table, walked up to Zhu Ping'an, and said solemnly: "On this auspicious day and month, you are wearing your first clothes. Give up your childish ambitions, follow your virtues, and live a long and healthy life, and you will be blessed with good fortune."
"Thank you, Master." Zhu Ping'an knelt down to thank his master.
Master Sun put the headscarf on Zhu Ping'an's head, and then said to him in a gentle voice, "Go to the room and find your master's wife."
Zhu Ping'an nodded, stood up, bowed deeply to the people watching the ceremony, and walked into the room.
"Come here, go to the bedroom and change into these clothes." The master's wife smiled kindly and put a bag of clothes in Zhu Ping'an's hands.
"Thank you, Master's wife." Zhu Ping'an took it and expressed his gratitude to Master's wife with a naive smile.
"Silly child, why are you being so polite to your master's wife?" The master's wife smiled and urged Zhu Ping'an to go to the bedroom to change clothes.
The ceremony of coming of age was quite complicated, and the clothes needed to be changed frequently. When Zhu Ping'an arrived at the bedroom, he looked at the clothes given by his master's wife. It was a dark-colored suit with a brocade belt and a pair of black cloth shoes. Zhu Ping'an took off the four-slit shirt and changed into the suit given by his master's wife.
After changing his clothes and thanking his master's wife, Zhu Ping'an walked into the courtyard again.
Master Sun asked Zhu Ping'an to stand in the courtyard for a while before starting the next procedure. After Zhu Ping'an stood for a while, Master Sun took a hat from the table, walked up to Zhu Ping'an, and encouraged him again: "It is an auspicious month and a good time. You should wear the best clothes, be dignified, be virtuous, live a long life, and enjoy the blessings of the world."
Zhu Ping'an knelt down to thank his teacher. Master Sun put the hat on Zhu Ping'an and then asked Zhu Ping'an to go to the room to find his teacher's wife.
The coming-of-age ceremony is so troublesome, Zhu Pingan muttered to himself.
But I still followed my master's orders and walked towards the room again. (To be continued...)