Some of the books in his mind were very clear, but some were very blurry. However, Fang Yun felt that he could slowly recall the vague parts.
Fang Yun couldn't help but show a look of joy.
"I have a good chance of passing the examination!" Fang Yun shouted in his heart and clenched his fists tighter.
Soon, Fang Yun arrived at the door of his house. The earthen wall was more than one person high. Thirty or forty neighbors gathered at the gate of the yard, and some people were talking in the yard.
"Fang Yun didn't come back all night. He must have been killed by the thunder yesterday. Young lady, just obey our young master. Several young masters of the Liu family have to take the county exam. No one in the Liu family can leave, so the young master can't pick you up in person. Don't be angry. If you don't leave today, the young master will come to pick you up after the results are announced tomorrow."
"I am a member of the Fang family in life and a ghost of the Fang family in death! If Xiaoyun dies, I will be buried with him! Get out, get out now!"
"Okay, okay! Don't be impulsive, take the scissors away quickly. If you die, the Second Young Master will skin us alive!"
Fang Yun vaguely realized what was happening and shouted, "Get out of the way, let me in!"
The neighbors who were watching turned around and made way. Some of them avoided it quietly, while others looked like they were enjoying the show. However, most of them showed sympathy, and a few even cursed the Liu family's servants.
"Xiao Fang, how are you?"
"Fang Yun, you're back! They're too much of a bully. We must go to the government office and sue them!"
"They're trying to rob people in broad daylight. What kind of world is this?"
"People from Dayuan Prefecture can bully people from Ji County?"
"Xiao Fang, you seem to be seriously injured, go back to the house and rest."
Fang Yun did not respond and walked quickly to the gate of the courtyard. He saw four burly men looking at him in disbelief. Although the four men tried their best to conceal their expressions, they still showed a slight panic.
In the center of the yard, there stood a young girl. She was slender and delicate, and wore a blue coarse cloth dress. Her dress was extremely simple, but her appearance was absolutely beautiful. She was like a pure white orchid standing in the courtyard. Fang Yun had the illusion that she was the bright moon in the courtyard, and even the sun could not conceal her brilliance.
She looked a little tired, as if she had not slept well, but her body was clean and tidy. Although her eyes were bloodshot, the black and white were clear, her eyes were as clear as a lake, and her eyes were firm.
It was not until he saw Yang Yuhuan in person that Fang Yun realized that she was a hundred times more beautiful than in his memory. No wonder she was called the Xi Shi of Jiangzhou.
At this time, Yang Yuhuan held the scissors backwards, and the tip of the scissors had pierced into her fair neck, causing a little blood to flow out.
"Sister Yuhuan!" Fang Yun hurried forward.
"Xiao Yun!" Yang Yuhuan was surprised and happy. She threw down the scissors and ran towards Fang Yun.
Yang Yuhuan saw Fang Yun was covered in wounds, tears flowed down like a flood, crying and asking: "Why are you so badly injured? Who hurt you? Was it that beast Liu Zicheng? Come on, I'll help you go back to the house and sit down. Aunt Sun, can you go and ask the doctor at Cishengtang?"
"Yuhuan, don't panic, I'll go right away!" A woman in her forties turned and ran towards Ci Sheng Tang.
Fang Yun said hurriedly, "Don't! I have to take the county exam. It will be too late if I don't go now. Sister Yuhuan, please take out the things I prepared a few days ago and send me to the county academy. I want to take the exam!"
Yang Yuhuan wiped her tears and said, "You are already so injured, and you still want to take the county exam? I won't go!"
"No, as long as I am still alive, I will definitely take part in the county exam! Sister Yuhuan, I usually listen to you, but not today! I'm already grown up!"
Fang Yun imitated that Fang Yun's tone and looked at Yang Yuhuan calmly.
Yang Yuhuan stopped crying and looked at the somewhat unfamiliar Fang Yun in surprise. He was still the same person, but his temperament and eyes had changed drastically.
This Fang Yun has the world in his heart!
"I was beaten awake." Fang Yun seemed to be explaining or talking to himself, looking at the four men.
There were also four people who beat people last night, and they also had the Dayuanfu accent.
The four big men felt very guilty, and one of them pretended to be impatient and said, "What are you looking at? Get out of the way!" After that, the four men quickly left.
Yang Yuhuan looked at Fang Yun, wiped her tears and calmed down, saying: "Okay! I will listen to you today! But you have to wait for the doctor to come and apply medicine on your wounds, otherwise you will not make it through the county exam!"
Fang Yun knew that the county exam would take a whole day and was physically demanding. If he went there now, he might not be able to make it.
"Okay!" Fang Yun said, looking at Yang Yuhuan.
Yang Yuhuan found that Fang Yun's eyes looking at her were a little peculiar. It was not like the way a brother looked at his sister in the past, but like a man looking at a woman.
"Xiao Yun has really grown up." Yang Yuhuan's eyes flashed slightly, and she supported Fang Yun and walked into the house.
The doctor from Cishengtang came and frowned when he saw Fang Yun's wound. When he learned that Fang Yun insisted on taking the examination for the status of a student, he waived the consultation fee and only charged for the medicine.
While the doctor was treating the patient, Yang Yuhuan left the room and no one knew where she went.
After the doctor finished treating the wound, Yang Yuhuan came in, picked up Fang Yun's book box for the exam, and helped Fang Yun walk out the door.
Outside the door was parked an ox cart borrowed by Yang Yuhuan.
Fang Yun felt warm in his heart and whispered, "Thank you, Sister Yuhuan."
Yang Yuhuan was slightly startled, her eyes wandering, and she smiled and said, "Why are you being so polite to me, sister?"
Fang Yun thought to himself that she was indeed a peerless beauty, even the slightest of her movements had a natural charm.
As Yang Yuhuan spoke, she helped Fang Yun onto the cart. She sat behind the shaft, picked up the whip, and gently hit the ox.
"Moo..." The yellow cow let out a long cry, raised its hooves and walked forward.
Fang Yun looked at Yang Yuhuan quietly. She was already nineteen years old, which was the time of her beauty.
The blue cloth skirt she was wearing was washed a bit pale and had several patches on it. She was wearing cloth shoes she had made herself. Her shiny black hair was curled on her head, and a wooden hairpin she had carved herself was particularly eye-catching. Apart from the wooden hairpin that looked no different from a thin stick, she didn't have a single piece of jewelry on her body.
Fang Yun felt a pang in his heart, and fragments of memories about Yang Yuhuan emerged in his mind.
The year Fang Yun's parents died, Yang Yuhuan was twelve years old and Fang Yun was nine years old.
At that time, Yang Yuhuan was extremely beautiful. After Fang Yun's relatives helped hold Fang Yun's funeral, several families wanted to adopt Yang Yuhuan. However, Yang Yuhuan had a condition, which was to adopt Fang Yun as well and to support Fang Yun's education. So those relatives had to give up.
Most of those relatives were from ordinary families. It was not difficult for them to raise two children, but it was difficult for them to support Fang Yun's education. The wealthy families were afraid that they would have to divide the family property when their adopted sons grew up, but they did not need to divide the family property when their daughters grew up.
To study, you need to go to a private school, buy writing brushes, inkstones, and a lot of books. Even borrowing books costs money. If you want to pass the examination, you need to read too many books. There were no punctuation marks on the books at that time. Without a teacher to lead you to read, you couldn't understand even if you knew the characters. The scholars had to mark the punctuation marks themselves, which were equivalent to full stops.
Although those relatives did not support the two of them, they provided assistance to the siblings every now and then, which prevented them from starving to death in the past few years.
When Fang Yun was twelve years old and had regained strength, he could do work for others and no longer suffered from hunger. However, he still could not live well because the cost of studying was too high.
Yang Yuhuan took care of Fang Yun for seven years like both a mother and a sister, and never had any complaints. The neighbors nearby all liked Yang Yuhuan very much and wanted her to be their daughter-in-law.
Yang Yuhuan is now nineteen years old, which is considered old in Jing State. Most girls get married at the age of sixteen, and less than ten percent of girls are still unmarried at the age of nineteen.
It’s not that Fang Yun is not attracted to this fairy-like sister, he just feels that it would be unfair to marry her like this, and he vows to achieve fame and fortune before marrying her in a grand manner, so the two have not consummated their marriage yet and have been sleeping separately in the east and west wing rooms.
Yang Yuhuan treated Fang Yun like her own brother.
During the most difficult year, she only drank a bowl of porridge every day, but she told Fang Yun that she had eaten so that Fang Yun could have the porridge.
The eggs laid by the chickens at home were either sold to support Fang Yun's studies or used to nourish his body. In the five years of raising chickens, Yang Yuhuan had never eaten eggs on her own initiative, except when Fang Yun forced her to eat them on the Spring Festival every year.
Once, Fang Yun did not peel the egg shell thoroughly. When Yang Yuhuan was cleaning the table, she thought Fang Yun was not there, so she secretly picked the egg white from the egg shell and ate it, but was seen by Fang Yun.
Fang Yun silently returned to the kang and cried with her head covered. From then on, she became more sensible and respected her sister more.
Last year, both of them caught a severe cold at the same time, but Yang Yuhuan only bought medicine for Fang Yun. After Fang Yun recovered, she used the remaining medicine to boil and drink. When Fang Yun found out, she smiled and said that she was afraid of bitterness, and the medicine that had been boiled many times was not bitter, which was just right for her.
Those memories gradually merged together. Fang Yun's nose felt sore and he turned his head to look away. He waited until his emotions stabilized before turning back and looking at Yang Yuhuan carefully again.
Although she was dressed in rags, her natural beauty could not be concealed. Her neck was delicate, her skin was fair, and she had no flaws at all.
Fang Yun's eyes fell on her hands and he couldn't help but sigh. Her hands were rougher than Fang Yun's, slightly swollen, and many scars could be seen.
If you just look at this hand, no one would believe that the owner of this hand is a beauty who can be compared with Xi Shi and Diao Chan.
But in Fang Yun's eyes, Yang Yuhuan's hands were the most beautiful because she supported this family!
Yang Yuhuan looked at Xiang Fangyun, turned around and smiled charmingly, her eyes were like water, and her pupils were so black that they could reflect a person's shadow.
"Xiao Yun, you said that you would buy me a silver hairpin when you passed the imperial examination. Do you mean what you said?"
"Of course it counts, but it's too difficult to pass the examination to become a student." Fang Yun said helplessly.
"I believe our Xiaoyun can do it! Not only can he become a student, he can also pass the exam and become a scholar. Maybe he can even become a juren!"
Fang Yun was slightly stunned before he realized that Yang Yuhuan was not just making small talk, but was deliberately trying to comfort him after hearing him sigh just now.
Fang Yun couldn't let her worry, so he said with a smile: "If I can pass the exam, it must be Sister Yuhuan's credit. When that time comes, I will definitely support Sister Yuhuan, and let you eat and drink well every day, and then let you say every day that I can pass the exam. When I pass the exam, I will let you say every day that I can pass the exam!"
Yang Yuhuan couldn't help but laugh softly, revealing her white teeth.
"Xiao Yun, you seem like a different person." Yang Yuhuan looked at Fang Yun, feeling a little worried.