An eight-year-old kid emptied his scumbag father's warehouse and followed his grandparents into

Chapter 722 Xiaolian Wants to Go to Jian'an County

In the study of Qingshan Villa, candles were brightly lit, and the same situation had occurred for the second time.

The mysterious couplet lay spread out on the sandalwood desk, its edges slightly roughened from repeated unrolling. However, the number of onlookers this time was nearly double that of the last time, increasing from the initial three to seven or eight. This was already the third wave of people to come and study it tonight.

The study was filled with the faint scent of ink and the warm atmosphere of a gathered crowd. The ice flowers on the window frames sparkled with crystal light in the candlelight.

When Jing Chunxi returned home that night, he didn't even have time to take off his cloak before he hurriedly asked Tang Shuang to call his mother and father.

Her fair cheeks were red from the cold wind, and the pearl flowers in her hair were askew, but they could not hide the anxiety in her eyes.

She first recounted the story of how she composed the couplet in Prince Jing's mansion and decided that the other half should be "sheltered from the rain", even not missing the tone of the conversation between Prince Jing, Princess Jing and Ling'er.

Jing Qiurong and Jing Yi had no objection after hearing this. They looked at each other and nodded at the same time, agreeing that these were indeed the two words.

They both carefully reviewed the couplet. Jing Yi used his left hand, adorned with a jade ring, to gently smooth out the wrinkles on the rice paper, while Jing Qiurong used a crystal lens to carefully examine the flow of each stroke.

At first, he spread it out on the sandalwood desk to read, then asked Ziyi to bring a hook and hung it on the pink wall, examining it for a long time. Sometimes Jingyi would step back and squint his eyes from a distance, sometimes he would get close enough to almost touch the paper with his nose, but in the end, he still saw nothing and could only shake his head and sigh.

The second wave of people included Ah Qi, Chong San, and Xiao Man. Ah Qi's sturdy fingers carefully marked the characters on the couplet, fearing that his calloused fingers would scratch the precious rice paper.

Chongsan tilted his head and looked left and right, his thick eyebrows almost twisted into knots. He didn't know many words to begin with, and looking at them gave him a headache. He was even more concerned about the wooden strips on the scroll;

Xiao Man stood on tiptoe, her dark eyes following the words on the couplet. They stared at each other, unable to discern the mystery within the words.

If Jing Chunxi had not stopped him in time, the impatient Chongsan would have almost drawn the dagger from his waist and wanted to split the scroll in half to see what was inside.

"Tomorrow, let Pu find a few smart classmates to come over, and I will call the two teachers over as well." Jing Yi leaned on the table and pondered, his fingers tapping the edge of the desk unconsciously.

It was too late at night and the copper clock had already passed three o'clock. Jing Chunxi rushed back and was very tired. He was yawning with his hands covering his mouth, and tears welled up in his almond-shaped eyes.

Seeing this, Jing Yi hurriedly asked Ah Qi and the others to go back with lanterns. The smartest people on the mountain had already been found, so they could only hope for tomorrow's child and teacher.

Jing Chunxi slept very soundly that night.

He was wrapped tightly in a brocade quilt embroidered with lotus flowers, and he didn't even notice his mistress twice adding charcoal to the fire. By the time he got up in the morning to wash up, the hot water in the copper basin had been changed three times.

Rubbing her eyes, she left her boudoir and saw the two masters and their three children already exiting the main gate. Master Song's blue cotton robe was stained with morning dew, while Master Wen wiped his tortoise-shell glasses with a handkerchief as he walked.

The person following closely behind the teacher was Pu Ge'er. His brand new royal blue cotton robe was particularly eye-catching in the morning light, and the jade pendant hanging around his waist swayed gently with his steps.

The other two were Jing Congxin and Jing Congyu, both of whom still looked sleepy from waking up in the morning.

Finally, Xiaolian came out of the study with her mother. Her lilac-colored jacket was a little pale from washing, but her hair was combed smooth and neat.

"Xi'er, good morning!" This clear greeting made Jing Chunxi feel a little embarrassed. The sun's shadow outside the window had already slanted down to the east wall, and the sun was indeed shining on his buttocks.

"Aunt Xiaolian, you haven't had breakfast yet, right? If you have nothing to do, eat with me before going back." Jing Chunxi noticed that Xiaolian had grown a lot taller and was almost as tall as his mother.

"Okay!" Xiaolian answered decisively, but her fingers were unconsciously twisting the corners of her clothes, as if she was a little nervous.

In fact, she had already picked up her children's food at the practice field cafeteria early that morning and had eaten with them before coming here. She and her siblings sat around the rough wooden table, enjoying golden corn porridge, perfectly pickled vegetables, and steaming steamed buns.

But now it has been an hour, so it is okay to eat a little more, mainly because she wants to stay and talk to her cousin.

"Xi'er, can I work as an accountant in Jian'an County? Just counting is fine." Xiaolian took a few bites of her sweet osmanthus cake and put down her chopsticks. The porcelain spoon made a crisp sound against the rim of the blue and white bowl. She mustered up the courage to speak out the thoughts she had buried for over a year, her palms already sweating.

The idea of ​​becoming an accountant had occurred to her in the late autumn of the year before last, when she saw her cousin go to Jian'an Commandery and bring back a clever young boy. Although the child wore coarse clothes, his eyes shone like stars, and his fingers fluttered like butterflies when he counted.

She heard the maids talking behind her back, saying that the eldest son was bought to be trained as an accountant, so from that moment on, the seed was planted in her heart. She studied very hard and often practiced calligraphy under the oil lamp until three o'clock in the morning.

Most of the lessons learned in class were pedantic and repetitive, with the math teacher providing only a cursory introduction to addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Beyond learning to read and understand the principles of life, they didn't offer much in the way of accounting; even the most basic ledger format wasn't taught.

But with this determination, she still studied very hard, and read the "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art" borrowed from Pu Ge'er until the edges were curled.

Over the past year, she not only sought advice from the teacher, but also went to the mansion more often, and she didn't feel tired running back and forth.

At first, she only dared to ask Aunt Mi and her two aunts for help, so all she learned were simple counting and handling household affairs.

As more and more people came, Aunt Mi and the two maids would occasionally mention it in front of Jing Qiurong, saying, "That girl is very good at calculating with her abacus, and she helped to sort out the firewood accounts for half a year yesterday."

"Well, she seems to be serious about it. Anyway, there is no good marriage for her now, so it is better for her to stay for two more years. Next time Uncle Liu or the old housekeeper comes, I will ask them to take her to the shop to learn." Jing Qiurong said casually while checking the accounts one day, marking on the book with the red pen in her hand.

Half a month later, Xiaolian was brought to the capital by Uncle Liu. Traveling with her were three boys from the other two families, all over eleven years old. They stood beside the carriage with blue cloth bags on their backs, their eyes filled with both anticipation and fear.

The children had ideas and wanted to do things, so Jing Qiurong specifically asked the teacher about it.