"Xiao... Mai, mai... Miao, Huang... Dou..."

    Beside a field outside Shangli village, Morin was holding a branch, writing and painting on the ground, and chanting words in his mouth.

    "Bo Jue, Da Ren, Shang, he, Ling -"

    "-- torio!" as toriobi was practising on the ground, facing the pamphlet on his left hand, a cry suddenly spread behind him.

    "What''s the matter, Evan!" Morin shouted, turning his head.

    "You guy," Evan ran to Morin, clutching his knees with both hands and gasping heavily, "don''t you say... Speaking of weeding here, you secretly... Practice calligraphy here, if your mother knows..."

    "Don''t breathe like an old cow. Sit down and say, what''s the matter?"

    Ivan is in poor health. Morin hopes he can finish his words quickly and practice calligraphy by himself.

    It''s still early now. He can wait until noon so that he can practice all the words in the booklet.

    Ivan sat directly on the ridge and complained to Morin, "you guy, you''re lazy here. You''re not enough friends!"

    "Asshole, I''m not lazy. If you don''t believe it, you can see for yourself!" Morin waved his stick and pointed to the wheat field ahead.

    One of them is lame and the other is weak and ill since childhood. Although they can''t do too heavy farm work, they never lazy.

    Stretching his neck, Ivan looked carefully at the wheat field in front of him and saw that the weeds were pulled out of the ground.

    "Well, I wronged you," Evan said. "But why are you sitting here? You don''t want to be lazy and practice calligraphy."

    "What''s the matter? I don''t have time to accompany you. It''s my mother. What''s the matter?"

    "No, no, they are busy about the feces." Evan waved his hand and gasped. "I haven''t seen anyone so precious feces before. Now they rush to the town."

    "Did you argue with them again?" Morrison said grimly.

    Some time ago, they had a quarrel in the three villages because they competed for the feces of the public toilets in the town. If the three village heads hadn''t arrived in time, dozens of people would have started!

    According to him, in the future, each should pull his own excrement and use his own excrement, so as not to argue with others for competing for excrement.

    "It''s not the matter," said Ivan with a smile when he saw Morrison''s serious face. "I heard my uncle say that Lord Gustav is going to have someone measure the land and say what homestead he is going to make for me."

    "Homestead..." Morrison wondered, "what''s the use? Does the count want to build the wall?"

    "What Wall is around the land we cultivate!" Evan immediately denied.

    In fact, he didn''t know what the homestead was for, but his uncle said something casually.

    Looking at Morin, Ivan raised his chin as if he knew something great secret: "tell you, according to my uncle, this homestead is for us. It seems that we are allowed to build our own house on it! We can dig our own dung pit!"

    "Really!?"

    "Of course it''s true, my uncle said! My uncle works under Lord Gustav."

    "But how do we build a house? Are we allowed to build it ourselves?" although it''s not clear how much it will cost to build a house, Morrison knows that his family can''t afford it, because his family has no money at all.

    "This... I don''t know."

    After hesitating for a while, Ivan immediately said, "but there''s always a way. We don''t have money now, and we''ll have it in the future! The town recruits people everywhere to work. As long as we are willing to work, we can get money, and we can certainly build a house!"

    "But we can''t do anything..." Morrison fell down and then threw the branch out of his hand.

    He fell lame and was unable to move. The people in the town saw that he was still a child and didn''t use him at all.

    Once upon a time, in the farm, he was always bullied by the youngest son of sangze housekeeper, saying that he was a lame waste and could only be with livestock all his life.

    He doesn''t want to be a waste. He dreams of becoming a knight, a powerful Knight! A knight as powerful as the knight next to Lord Arthur!

    If only I hadn''t broken my leg, I would be able to become Lord Arthur''s soldier with Bree and them. I don''t know, Bree. How are they? Morin thought with a low look.

    As he loosened his grip on his lame hand, Morin stood up and swayed towards the wheat field ahead.

    He''s going to pick up the branches he threw away. Lord Arthur said that in the future, as long as you work hard, everyone will have a chance.

    Although he fell lame and could not become Lord Arthur''s Knight all his life, he could still read.

    Everyone in the village said that as long as he could read, the mayor of Gustav would give him a good job, neither mining nor carrying heavy objects. Even a lame man like him would be competent!

    "Are you still going to stay here? I won''t talk with you." picking up the branches, Morin gently spread out his pamphlet and prepared to continue practicing calligraphy.

    "Hey, I haven''t said anything yet!" Evan shouted discontentedly.

    "What else did you say?"

    "What did you say? You asked me just now."

    "Then you hurry up and I''ll listen." holding the branch, Morin began to write and draw on the ground again.

    If only there were a broken quill pen, thought Morin. He worried that he would not get the job offered by Mayor Gustav because he could not write with a quill pen.

    "Write what you write, don''t write!"

    Seeing that Morin ignored himself, Ivan shouted, "I tell you, many bachelors came to us a few days ago. It is said that the Lord Earl asked them to come!"

    "Bachelor?" Morin was stunned, then immediately turned around and asked, "where are they and how many people?"

    When he heard many bachelors coming, Morin was in a panic.

    Bachelors are the most learned people. They know all the words. No matter how hard they try, they probably can''t compare with them, not to mention their bad legs.

    Morin was at a loss.

    Ivan didn''t notice the loss of his companion and thought that Morrison was shocked by his exclusive news.

    "It is said that there are forty or fifty people, all living in the bachelor''s community now." Ivan looked proud.

    "Do you know the bachelor''s community? My father built the roof there, and I''ve been there! I tell you, it''s really beautiful. There are gray brick walls, orange roofs, and fruit trees in the yard outside the door!"

    Ivan proudly showed off his knowledge, but he didn''t wait for his friends'' praise and surprise.

    "Maureen, what''s the matter with you? Are you uncomfortable?" Ivan noticed his friend''s bad face.

    "I..." Maureen was so frustrated that he squeezed the literacy booklet tightly and hit it directly on the ground.

    "What are you doing!"

    Ivan was startled by Morin''s action and immediately jumped to pick up the literacy book full of folds on the ground.

    Looking at his friend, Ivan said discontentedly, "this thing will be useful when we go to school. Why do you throw it away! Maybe the bachelors will test us with it!"

    Evan patted the dirt on the literacy book. Each family only got one such literacy test.

    "Going to school? You said the bachelor''s degree would test us?" Morin stopped his tears and stared at his friend.

    "Yes," said Ivan, "the village head of sangze has informed us to go to the new school in the town tomorrow. He said it was the order of the count, and no one can disobey it. Those bachelors were invited by the count to teach us how to study. What''s the matter with you, Morin?"

    Morin stood up, pointed to Evan and shouted, "you, you guy, why didn''t you say it earlier! I almost cried!"

    "Why didn''t you say it earlier? I''ll inform you as soon as I get the news!" Ivan replied discontentedly.

    Morin was stunned, took back his literacy book, smoothed out the folds on it, and whispered, "who made you so wordy, I won''t, thank you."

    ……