Zhong Wen held the chicken quill pen in his hand and stared at the base stone in front of him. A large number of characters flashed in his mind, and he compared it with the characters in front of him.

"This character looks a bit like the character Tian, ​​but why is half of it missing? Well, it seems I can only copy it first and then study it carefully when I have time."

Zhong Wen muttered something in his mouth and was absorbed in it, but he did not know that a Taoist not far behind him was walking over gently at this time.

"Little Zhong kid, what are you doing? Is there any use in copying these characters?"

The Taoist approached Zhong Wen and asked Zhong Wen. His voice was not very loud, but it still shocked Zhong Wen.

"Hello, Mr. Chen. I'm just curious about these characters and want to copy them down and take a look."

Zhong Wen came back to his senses and saw the Taoist priest from Longquan Temple standing behind him, hurriedly getting up from the ground. At this moment, Zhong Wen seemed to have been caught as a thief, and he was a little at a loss.

"Little Zhong family, these characters are hard to read. We don't recognize many of them, and there are quite a lot of them that are incomplete. What's the use of copying them? You can't read."

The Taoist looked at the wood chips in the basket next to Zhong Wen, and then picked up a piece of wood and looked at it.

"Daozhang Chen, I'm bored. The injury on my head is not healed, and I can't help with the work. I can only find something to do. Although I don't recognize these characters, as long as I read the book in the future, I think it will be possible.

We know each other."

Zhong Wen stood aside, waiting quietly for Daochang Chen to blast him away. Of course, he still hoped that Daochang Chen would be accommodating so that he could finish transcribing the remaining characters.

"When you start studying and you don't know what year it is, it's good to copy some Taoist characters. Even if you don't know how to read them, it will still be good for you to take a long look at the Taoist scriptures and so on."

Although Daochang Chen did not look down on Zhong Wen in his heart, he was very clear about the current situation in the village. Whose child could possibly study? They all came from poor families, and who could afford to study.

"Thank you, Taoist Master Chen, for your teachings."

Zhong Wen realized that this Taoist Chen would not blow him away, and his heart suddenly dropped. As long as he didn't blow him away, he would be able to finish transcribing the remaining characters.

"You can copy it, I'll go and get busy first. However, don't disturb the Taoist monarchs in the palace, and be respectful."

After Chen Daozhang finished speaking, he left the side hall and went about his business, leaving a dumbfounded Zhong Wenzhen standing on the spot.

This Taoist priest, whose real name is Chen Feng, has a son and two daughters. His wife passed away early, leaving Chen Feng and his son and two daughters to live in the temple.

Several other Taoists in Longquan Temple basically have their own families, some have one daughter, and some like Chen Feng have three children.

Taoist priest Li Daochang, the master of Longquan Temple, is an outlier among them. He has always been alone. He is also the oldest, but he is also in the best health. He does not know what Taoism he has practiced.

The children of other Taoists are similar in age to Zhong Wen and the others, but they rarely go to play in the villages down the mountain, so they are not very familiar with Zhong Wen and the others.

According to rumors, this Taoist priest Chen was a general many years ago. He brought his wife to Longquan Temple to join Taoist Li, and he seemed to be quite familiar with Taoist Li. As for whether this was true, Zhong Wen only heard the rumors from the villagers in the village.

The exact root is unknown.

Daochang Chen appears to be in his forties or fifties, but Zhong Wen doesn't know exactly how old he is. Looking at his son and two daughters, he seems to be quite old. His eldest son is fifteen or sixteen this year.

The second daughter is older than Zhong Wen, while the third daughter is younger than Zhong Wen.

Zhong Wen touched his nose, wondering why he was so fond of this Taoist priest. Although he had met this Taoist priest many times, he rarely spoke to him.

It seems that Taoist Chen mistakenly thought that he was willing to practice Taoism, so he was more respectful. If it were other Taoists, he would have driven him away, right?

In Longquan Temple, except for the main hall, which cannot be entered at will, it is okay to visit other side halls.

In the past, Zhong Wen had entered the main hall once because he was curious about it, but was kicked out by a Taoist priest in the temple, who even scolded him a few times.

Zhong Wen no longer thought about Taoist Chen, sat down again, and began to copy characters.

After a few quarters of an hour, he finished transcribing the characters in this side hall. Zhong Wen took a long breath and looked at the wood chips in the basket beside him. He felt as if he had accomplished something extraordinary.

Just as easy.

"Brother, have you finished copying? It's time for us to go home."

Before Zhong Wen could rest for a moment, Xiao Hua trotted over from outside the hall, talking to Zhong Wen in a low voice, not forgetting to help Zhong Wen carry the basket.

"Okay, don't carry it. The basket is a bit heavy. I just finished copying it and was about to take a rest when you came over. Okay, let's go home."

Zhong Wen quickly stopped Xiaohua who was carrying the basket. The basket was not heavy, but the wood chips were quite heavy. With Xiaohua's body, it was impossible to carry it home while carrying it.

The wood chips were wet wood chips, and they were heavy. Sixteen wood chips weighed at least twenty or thirty kilograms. Not to mention the small flowers, even Zhong Wen had some difficulty carrying them.

The brother and sister walked briskly out of the gate of Longquan Temple and walked along the small mountain road towards the village.

At this time, Zhong Mugen and his wife had returned home from their farm work.

According to past times, Zhong Mugen and his wife would not come back at this point in time, but Zhong Mugen was worried that his children would not listen to his dissuasion and insisted on going to the mountains and forests. He was even more afraid that something would happen to the Zhong Wen brothers and sisters.

Return home early.

"His father, Xiao Wen and Xiao Hua are not at home. They won't go to the mountains and forests again, right? You should go and take a look quickly, but don't let anything happen."

Seeing that there were no traces of Zhong Wen and his sister at home, Xiu felt anxious, wondering what to do if something happened.

"I'll go right away. The basket at home is missing. It seems that Xiaowen and the others have really gone to the mountains and forests. It's up to me to break his legs."

Zhong Mugen looked at the kitchen at home and saw that a basket was missing. Thinking that Zhong Wen and his sister might have gone to the mountains and forests, he became anxious and ran towards the back mountain with his legs up.

"Abba, Abba."

When Zhong Wen and Xiao Hua were walking on the path down the mountain, Xiao Hua saw her father running from a distance and shouted loudly.

Zhong Wen looked at his father who was running over and thought to himself, in such a hurry, could something have happened?

"You guys, are you going to the mountains and forests again? See if I don't beat you to death."

Zhong Mugen came to Zhong Wen and the others, panting heavily, pointing at the brother and sister, feeling sad and raising his hands as if to hit them.

"Dad, we didn't go to the mountains and forests, we went to the temple."

When Xiaohua saw her father like this, if she didn't explain, she would really get beaten.

"Didn't you lie to Dad? Didn't you really go to the mountains and forests?"

Zhong Mugen looked at the brother and sister suspiciously, and then looked at the basket held by Zhong Wen. There were no rabbits, but there were some wood chips and boards, and he didn't know what they were.

"Dad, we didn't go to the mountains and forests, we just went to the temple."

Zhong Wen looked at his father in front of him and wondered whether this was a parent's worry? Or was it human nature? Perhaps this was the protective nature of animals, let alone humans.

"Okay, okay, as long as we don't go to the mountains and forests, let's go home. It's time for you mom to worry. Xiaowen, give me the basket."

Zhong Mugen looked at his children, who looked like they were not lying, and felt relieved.

After returning home, I explained to my mother for a long time, which saved me a lot of trouble. Otherwise, the beating that Zhong Wen and his sister received today would have been in vain.

"Xiaowen, what do you use this piece of wood for? There are many symbols painted on it."

Xiu looked at the wood chips in the basket, and there was a pottery bowl underneath. There was some gray-black liquid in the bowl, but she didn't know what it was for.

"Auntie, I know, I know. In the morning, my brother took me to the temple to copy characters. He said they were scriptures and so on."

Xiaohua raised her little hand, ran close to my mother, shook one of Xiu's arms, and talked about today's events loudly, which made Zhong Wen unable to stop even if he wanted to cover up the facts.

Zhong Mugen stood not far away, listening to Xiaohua's explanation, looked at Zhong Wen, then lowered his head and sighed.

Xiu touched Xiaohua's little head and stared at Zhong Wen for a long time, not knowing what to say.

At this time, Zhong Mugen and his wife were thinking that their son seemed to want to study and learn to read, but the current situation at home was that they couldn't even afford Shu Xiu's money, let alone pens, ink, paper and inkstones.

, how can I get the money to send my son to study and learn to read?

Zhong Mugen squatted aside, lowered his head, thinking to himself that no matter how poor his family was, he had to send his son to study no matter what, even if it cost him his life.

If Zhong Wen knew that his father had this idea, Zhong Wen would not even want to kill him. This is not a good idea, not to mention that the family is so dilapidated, why is he still reading a book? His stomach is not settled, reading

What's the use?

Reading may be extremely simple in the eyes of many people, but in ancient times, it was very difficult.

All dynasties and generations have given preferential treatment to scholars, and their status is high. If they read well and pass the imperial examination, it will be a matter of honor to their ancestors.

In the early Tang Dynasty, although the imperial examination existed, it was still based on the old system of selecting officials. Only with the recommendation of nobles from all over the country could you be appointed as an official. If not, you could also choose a civil servant or something.

Of course, it is basically very rare for a person from a poor family to want to become an official in the court. Unless the person has great talent, great influence, and is widely known, then the chance of becoming an official in the court is also quite high. If the above

If you don't have any of these, then you can only become a teacher.

For dinner, it was still porridge with wild vegetables, but with a little bit of rabbit meat added in. The wild vegetables accounted for more than half of the porridge.

Xiu looked at his children, who were drinking wild vegetable porridge, and then looked up at Zhong Mugen. At this time, Zhong Muji also looked at Xiu.

The two people's eyes met, and they immediately understood their respective thoughts, and nodded to each other, as if they were making a big decision.
Chapter completed!