Struggle in Ancient Times

 At noon, those who were away from home returned. The honest big brother Liao was the first to come back. When he saw his little brother standing in the yard, he said loudly,

“Why didn’t er-di (second younger brother) study in the room today?”

Liao Tingyu looked at him, the big brother who was full of muscle but thin and shallow, he explained,

“I am tired from reading and my eyes hurt, so I came out to look at the sky. Da-ge (big brother), you have work hard. Let’s go inside and sit down, have a rest.”

Big brother Liao listened, seeing the gentle and polite little brother being concerned about him, he rubbed his own head,

“Okay, I will put the things down and sit for a while.” Turning around, he muttered softly noticing Liao Tingyu abnormality,

“What happen to my er-di today? He actually cares about me, could it be he has no money for poetry meeting and confused.”

Liao Tingyu wasn't too worried about being known as impostor. As long as he didn’t go out of the usual way, in this era people were very simple and didn’t dwell much about inexplicable things. Even if storytellers talk about strange ghost and evil, it’s still untouchable beings. As a farmer who dug the soil all day long, they all had limited knowledge. Not to mention, he still had the memory of original body.

“Da-ge, take a rest, let’s boil the water. Mom and dad will be back soon.” Liao Tingyu looked at his big brother who was sitting on a rock and fanning himself vigorously. After all, he didn’t know how to boil water with firewood.

“Well, okay you come in quickly, the sun is hot. The weather is very powerful.”

“I’m going back to my room now, da-ge, if dad and mom come back, please call me.” Liao Tingyu squinted his eyes, his skin was flushed red by the sun.

“Okay, go quickly. You are going to take an exam; our family is counting on you.” 

Big brother Liao nodded hastily. He sent Liao Tingyu back to his room, he was worried his little brother couldn’t take the exam if he was sunburned badly. Fortunately, it was just a little red. Not bad.

Liao Tingyu went back to his room, there were several books inside. There were some comments on it, the original handwriting was quite good. It could be seen that the master was really strict.

Liao Tingyu picked up a book and read it. Even though there were memory's of the original body, it wasn’t as good as learning himself. Now that he travelled here, whether he could go back in the future or not, he had to find a way for himself to survive here.

In fact, this kind of knowledge wasn’t difficult for him. The reason why it was so difficult to be a scholar in ancient times was because parents who weren’t a scholar couldn’t teach basic knowledge to their children. They had to learn everything from the scratch in school, not to mention money. It was really expensive to produce a scholar.

His first goal was to be a juren who can be an official. Even if it was only seventh rank official, it was also very good.

When he looked at Liao Village, the family was poor and couldn’t help him much. But if he became an official, it would convenient for him to do a lot of things.

As long as there was no accident or bad luck, when you became an official nothing bad would happen. In his memory, the prefect in this county belongs from a poor family and still in the same position for a decade.

Liao family members came back one of another. They sat down and took sip of cold water while listening to their eldest talked about his little brother.

“Let me tell you, er-di is a little strange. Today, he told me that it was hot outside and rest.”

The old mother Deng glanced at her smug eldest disdainfully and sighed,

“Oh stupid boy, don’t stand here, go see your wife.” She turned to Liao Ming and said,

“Now er-ye (second child) has grown up. He knows how to care about people.”

“Who said it wasn’t.” Liao Ming took a big sip of cold water and continued,

“Er-ye was the one who cares the most about people. We probably pushed him too hard and made him study in the room all day long. So, he is unsatisfied.”

“What can we do? Our whole family is counting on him, I hope God bless my son to enter college.” Mother Deng put her hands together and bowed to the sky.

“As long as my son in college, he can be student and tested as scholar. By then, our ten years hard work will be paid off.”

“I’ll go and see him, call him later when it’s time to eat. Let the daughter-in-law cook.” Liao Ming stood up and decided to take a look.

He walked slowly to his son’s room and saw him reading a book while writing something. He couldn’t see what was written but the gesture of writing made him feel satisfied. Mother Deng who was behind him pulled her husband and left quietly.

“Er-ye is working hard now. Old man, look at the posture of holding the pen, my son is promising. At the beginning, the master said that my son is smart, he can go to college.” Mother Deng said to Liao Ming.

“It’s up to you, my son is naturally the smartest. I thing I was good back then but it’s a pity the family didn’t have much money.” Liao Ming was very proud.

“If you were really powerful, I wouldn’t marry you. Now I have to really on my son to live a life like this.” Mother Deng didn’t listen to her husband nonsense, walked away to the kitchen.

“Daughter-in-law, is the meal ready? Today er-ye is study so hard, you can cook an egg for him.” Mother Deng walked into the kitchen and saw Wen Xiuer was lighting the fire, she ordered and snatched Wen Xiuer’s work.

“Okay mother, the meal is ready in the pot. Ah, I don’t have the key.” Wen Xiuer stood up and wiped her hands.

Mother Deng gave her the key on her waist, Wen Xiuer walked out of the kitchen touching her 4 months old belly quietly. Then she shook her head thinking there was nothing to complain about.

Although, mother-in-law dotes on her youngest the most, she didn’t treat her badly as other people do. However, brother-in-law had to study so the money in family was tight. Wen Xiuer rubbed her stomach,

“Son, mother will definitely let you study in the future. When your er-shu (second uncle) pass the exam, our family will be better and you can eat whatever you want.”