Whenever the witch made noises on the bed and wouldn't let anyone quiet down, Zhu Ping'an would throw out a brain teaser, so that he wouldn't hear the witch's laughter for the rest of the day, and it seemed as if he was not feeling well.
Why can't he answer any of the questions, but every time he gives the answer, it always makes people feel enlightened. After a few questions in a row, I began to doubt my life.
The witch on the bed leaned sideways, looking at the young man who was writing furiously in the afterglow of the setting sun, and had an indescribable feeling.
As the sun sets, Zhu Ping'an finally finishes writing a policy essay and an eight-part essay on the Four Books. He blows the ink dry and places them on the corner of the table, together with similar eight-part essays from the Qing Dynasty that he copied from memory, leaving them for comparison and study in the evening, studying the strengths of the eight-part essays and carefully examining his own shortcomings, in order to improve his eight-part essay writing ability. With his current level, it is probably no problem to pass the boy's exam, but if he wants to pass the provincial exam, it may still be a bit difficult, so he has to continue to work hard to improve.
In the evening, Zhu Ping'an left the room and brought back some fried dishes and pancakes. After returning to the room, he divided the fried dishes and pancakes into two portions, one for himself and the other for the witch.
"Why is there no wine?" The girl looked at the food that Zhu Ping'an handed over, curled her lips, and casually flipped the stir-fried vegetables with chopsticks, but didn't find any meat. She curled her lips even more, looked up at Zhu Ping'an, and said sadly, "Why is there not even a piece of meat? Is this how you treat a patient?"
"It's good to have something to eat. All those medicines of yours have almost drained my wallet." Zhu Ping'an glanced at her and replied lightly, then lowered his head and continued to eat his meal with relish.
A female thief is still complaining about this and that, thinking herself as a lady from a wealthy family.
Zhu Ping'an ate three pancakes with the fried dishes with gusto. The girl ate for a long time and still had one pancake and most of the dishes left.
The cakes and dishes were all bought with his own money. In line with the principle of not wasting, Zhu Ping'an ate the cake left by the witch with the leftover dishes. At the end, he burped, poured another cup of hot tea, blew it along the edge of the cup and drank it.
"Hehehe, you really can eat a lot. You must be born in the Year of the Pig." The girl held her chin and looked at Zhu Ping'an with a smile.
"I don't dare to compete with you for the same zodiac sign." Zhu Ping'an replied indifferently.
Without paying attention to the girl's next reaction, Zhu Pingan put the dishes on the table back into the lunch box and carried it to the lobby. When he came back, Zhu Pingan brought back another quilt.
The girl blushed slightly when she saw this. Although she had been in the world for many years, this was the first time she slept in the same room with a man. Even though the other party was still a teenager who had not even grown all his hair, the girl still blushed.
"You, you go sleep on the floor." The girl said and sat on the bed first.
"Why else do you think I took the quilt?"
Zhu Ping'an didn't even look at the girl who was trying to grab the bed, and he just spread the bedding on the wooden floor. Fortunately, this was on the second floor and there was a wooden floor, otherwise he would not be able to stand the humidity in early spring.
After laying out the bedding, Zhu Pingan sat at the desk by the window, lit the oil lamp, lifted the wick with a needle, and placed it on the corner of the table. Then, he spread out a policy essay and an eight-part essay written by himself on the table, and picked up a copy of an eight-part essay written by a top scholar in the Qing Dynasty, and studied it with great interest in front of the oil lamp.
After comparing and studying for a while, he began to circle, dot, write and draw on his own essays and the Four Books and Eight-Legged Essays, recording his insights for future use.
The girl on the bed slept with her clothes on. She would occasionally open her eyes to glance at the boy who was reading by lamplight. The hand hidden in the cup tightly grasped the dagger...
She was still a little weak, and because she had just taken medicine, she fell asleep soon after.
When she was startled by the rustling sound of clothes, the girl on the bed opened her dark eyes vigilantly, thinking that someone was trying to do something to her while she was sleeping. She held the dagger tightly in her hand, ready to strike, secretly blaming herself for being blinded by the boy's politeness in making the bed on the floor and his diligence in reading by lamplight at night, and why she didn't see the man's hypocritical character.
What caught the girl's eyes was Zhu Ping'an, who was dressed neatly and was putting on a cross-body schoolbag. He was methodically stuffing the books on the desk and a simple brush into the schoolbag. He also had a tattered black wooden board tucked between his arms. From the look of him, it seemed that he had done this kind of thing countless times.
It seemed as if dawn had just broken outside the window, and through the window one could see the ink-like sky dotted with a few sparse remaining stars.
"Where are you going?" The girl's voice was hoarse from just waking up, making it even more alluring.
"Morning exercise." Zhu Ping'an didn't even raise his head, but concentrated on checking his schoolbag. He only replied after making sure that nothing was left behind.
This guy didn't even turn his head. He is such a blockhead. He made me nervous all night for nothing.
The girl watched Zhu Ping'an disappear into the room with his schoolbag slung over his shoulder and the black wooden board between his legs. She pouted at the closed door, then closed her eyes and fell asleep again.
In the early spring morning, the temperature is still a little chilly. The sky in the east is just beginning to turn pale, and the air is full of the scent of morning light. Everything is so pure that it makes people feel relaxed and happy, as if it is a light ink painting filled with the pleasant fragrance of morning light.
Not far from the inn, Zhu Ping'an saw three or five people supporting each other and stumbling towards him from a distance. A pungent smell of alcohol could be smelled from a distance.
Damn, I was wondering why there was a nice smell on the street, it turned out to be the smell of wine! Zhu Ping'an looked very upset.
"That slender waist of Xiao Cuihong last night."
"The song is good and the life is good."
A few drunks walked in crab steps, mumbling some itchy words.
When the three or five people came closer, Zhu Ping'an was slightly surprised to find that he knew them all. The one walking with crab steps was his uncle Zhu Shouren, and the pool of meat almost piled on the ground on the other side was his uncle's fat friend, who seemed to be drunk at the moment. The other three were all students from his hometown, and they were also staggering and drunk at the moment.
"Good morning, uncle. Good morning, uncles." Zhu Ping'an bowed.
"Hey, this... isn't this Zhu'er? Where are you going?" Uncle Zhu Shouren asked incoherently with his tongue sticking out.
Another villager who was traveling with him laughed without waiting for Zhu Ping'an to answer, "I know, well, haha, I saw Ping'anlang going out the night before yesterday. When I got up and went outside to find something to eat, I saw Ping'anlang eating at a stall. Haha, I'm afraid Ping'anlang is greedy again."
"Haha..." The other drunks burst into laughter when they heard this.
The pungent smell of alcohol mixed with cheap rouge and powder was so unpleasant that Zhu Pingan took two steps back.
"Angel, I'm shy, haha..."
A few drunks walked around Zhu Ping'an with crab steps, staggering and stumbling, and walked towards the inn with laughter.
Zhu Ping'an looked at their staggering figures, his face full of sorrow and pain, feeling sorry for their families.