Fang Jian followed Mei Xianzhang all the way out of Yanlai Lake and came to a small village west of Bailu City.
This small village is called "Lu'er Village". Because the village is built on mountains and rivers and looks like a deer's ear, it is called Lu'er Village.
Luer Village has a population of just over two hundred and is an affiliated village of Bailu City. It is not surprising that affiliated villages like this kind of city are common, and the larger the city, the more affiliated villages there are.
Mei Xianzhang's father used to live in Bailu City, but after his home was confiscated, he moved out of the city and lived in Lu'er Village.
When she reached the small bridge outside the village, Mei Xianzhang stopped. She turned around and looked at Fang Jian with a pair of bright eyes, and Fang Jian also stopped and looked at her.
The two people, one big and one small, stared at each other for a while, and then she sat down on the stone steps of the bridge.
She was wearing light clothes that were fully patched, and her feet were also old cloth shoes that were fully patched.
Although his clothes were very shabby, they were not dirty at all. However, from the moment he left Qingxia Temple, Mei Xianzhang had been pressing his stomach with his left hand.
At this moment, she sat down on the stone steps of the small bridge, her left hand still pressed on her stomach, and her small body leaned forward slightly, so that her entire chest and abdomen were tightly pressed against her thighs.
Despite this, her eyes were still staring straight at Fang Jian, even though cold sweat was flowing on her forehead.
Fang Jian patted the third prince and motioned him to wait where he was.
Then Fang Jian stepped onto the bridge himself, walked to the step where Mei Xianzhang was sitting, and sat down side by side with her.
Then, Fang Jian spoke, "I'm looking for a man named Mei Qing. Do you know him?"
Mei Xianzhang said nothing, but there was a trace of doubt in her eyes when she looked at Fang Jian.
Fang Jian looked at her and continued: "That was five years ago. I went to Beijing to take the exam, but I was so good at eating that I spent all my money on the way. At that time, I was penniless, hungry and skinny, and I was about to die. When I was about to starve to death, a man named Mei Qing gave me ten taels of silver."
"Although I didn't pass the exam later, I still remember his kindness. When we parted ways, I made a promise to him that when we meet again, we will kill chickens and burn yellow paper to express our gratitude, and we will be married in the peach garden of Yanlai Lake outside Bailu City. Golden Orchid.”
"But I didn't find him in Bailu City. I heard that he moved out of Bailu City and lived in Luer Village. Do you know him?"
After that, Fang Jian took out a healing elixir from his sleeve and said, "As long as you tell me where he is, I will give you this candy."
After Fang Jian finished speaking, Mei Xianzhang did not look at the candy in Fang Jian's hand. Instead, he withdrew his gaze and let out painful snorts and groans from his nose.
Immediately afterwards, Mei Xianzhang's back almost bent, his face turned pale, and he was sweating profusely.
Fang Jian gently pressed Mei Xianzhang's back with one hand, and then asked, "Stomach hurt?"
"Hmm..." Mei Xianzhang responded weakly.
A flash of inspiration flashed in Fang Jian's hand, and Mei Xianzhang suddenly felt warm in his body, and then a wave of sleepiness suddenly came over him.
"Go to sleep, you'll be fine after a good nap." Fang Jian said slowly.
Mei Xianzhang closed his eyes, leaned slightly, leaned against Fang Jian and fell asleep.
Fang Jian stood up and held Mei Xianzhang in his arms, and then took the third prince into Mei Xianzhang's home in Lu'er Village.
Mei Xianzhang's home is a house built with rammed earth walls. It has only three rooms, a main room, a bedroom, a kitchen, and of course, there is a dry toilet behind the house...
"Sworn brothers!"
Fang Jian hugged Mei Xianzhang and faced repeated inquiries from the villagers of Luer Village. He immediately replied: "Yes, yes, Mei Qing and I are sworn brothers. Where are we? Taoyuan!"
"No, since Mei Qing and I are sworn brothers, then his daughter is my little niece."
"I found her at Qingxia Temple. She seemed to have been beaten."
"Eh? Why did you say 'went to Qingxia Temple again'?"
After going back and forth and having several conversations, Fang Jian made his identity clear and eliminated the suspicion of the villagers.
Then Fang Jian carried Mei Xianzhang into the bedroom, placed him gently on the bed, and then fed Mei Xianzhang the healing elixir to eat.
Mei Xianzhang has a mortal body and cannot withstand the power of the elixir, so she can only use the elixir to heal her injuries.
Fang Jian came to Nanzhou this time because of Mei Xianzhang, because he had made some calculations very early and found that Nanzhou Mei Xianzhang and him were destined to be masters and disciples.
As the elixir entered her belly, wisps of spiritual light began to appear on Mei Xianzhang's small body. Although it was just a elixir, for a mortal, its medicinal power was enough to cure all the open wounds and hidden diseases on her body, and the remaining The medicinal power will also accumulate in her body, constantly nourishing her body.
'唏伦'
Not long after Fang Jian fed Mei Xianzhang the elixir, the third prince's neighing sound and a man's exclamation suddenly came from the yard outside.
Fang Jian quickly turned around and ran out, and then saw a man with a sinister look on his face lying on the ground, covering his chest and screaming.
"What's going on?" Fang Jian asked the villagers of Lu'er Village outside the yard.
But the villagers dispersed in a hurry, and those who stayed waved their hands to express that they did not know what happened.
Fang Jian glared at Santaizi, but the Third Prince blinked and said that he was wronged. Although the Third Prince could not speak, it was a Pegasus after all and could communicate with Fang Jian using his will.
After receiving the Third Prince's divine message, Fang Jian finally understood. It turned out that this guy thought that the Third Prince was a good horse, so he wanted to steal the Third Prince, but was frightened by the Third Prince's kick and rolled to the ground. In fact, The Third Prince didn't even kick him.
Fang Jian turned to the man and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Is everything okay?" The man lay on the ground and screamed in pain. Then he pointed at the Third Prince and said, "Your horse kicked me. You have to pay for it! Otherwise, I will sue the official and say that you let your horse hurt someone!"
Fang Jian smiled and said, "Oh, how much compensation do you want me to pay?" '
The man's eyes rolled around, and he first took a look at Fang Jian's clothes, and then at the third prince. He concluded that the man in front of him was definitely a rich or noble young man, so he said, "I want you to pay a small sum of money." One hundred taels, your horse kicked it too hard, I’m afraid it won’t be cured without one hundred taels of silver.”
Fang Jian thought for a while and decided not to argue with a mortal, so he asked for a hundred taels of silver to settle the matter.
But at this moment, a piece of broken tiles suddenly flew towards the man on the ground and hit him on the forehead with a 'snap'.
'Ouch.' In an instant, a blood bag swelled up on the man's forehead. The man turned over and stood up. He turned around and looked in the direction where the tiles were flying. When he saw it clearly, he immediately cursed: "You little kid." Bastard, how dare you hit your Grandpa Shao! See if I don’t peel off your skin!"
After saying that, he rolled up his sleeves and walked towards Mei Xianzhang, who was standing in front of the main door of the hall, but before he could take a few steps, a ray of silver blocked his way.
When he stopped and took a closer look, he saw that Fang Jian was holding a piece of silver in front of his eyes.
To be honest, although he wanted to blackmail Fang Jian for a hundred taels of silver, he had never seen such a large ingot of silver in his whole life, and he was stunned.
"Take the silver and leave here." Fang Jian raised his left hand and patted his shoulder.
Hearing Fang Jian's words, he raised his hand and took the silver from Fang Jian's hand without saying a word. The blood bag no longer hurt, and the anger in his heart disappeared without a trace.
"If you are wise, I will take this money to see a doctor first, and I will come to you later." After saying that, he put the money in his arms, turned around and ran out of the yard.
When the villagers outside saw Fang Jian easily taking out one hundred taels of silver to send Shao Lezi away, they all stared with wide eyes.
After Shao Leizi left, the villagers who had not dispersed wanted to enter the yard to say hello to Fang Jian.
But Mei Xianzhang was the first to say: "You are not welcome here, you are not allowed to come in."
Hearing Mei Xianzhang's words, the villagers were stunned outside with embarrassed faces. They could not go in or leave for a while.
Mei Xianzhang ignored them and turned into the kitchen and started to light a fire on the stove to cook.
Fang Jian smiled slightly, as his apprentice seemed to have a weird temper.
So Fang Jian sat down on a crooked and broken stool in the main room. After about a stick of incense, Mei Xianzhang prepared the meal and brought it to the table in the main room.
Fang Jian took a look and saw that Mei Xianzhang had cooked two dishes, one was stir-fried cabbage and the other was stir-fried mushrooms, but because there was too little oil, both dishes were a bit dark.
Mei Xianzhang only had one bowl of rice. The rice in the bowl was very thin and the grains were very small. At first glance, it looked like the worst quality rice he could buy.
"Won't you get me a bowl?" Fang Jian asked with a smile.
Mei Xianzhang took a mouthful of rice and said, "You have money to give to Shao Lezi, but don't you have money to eat?"
"Hahaha." Fang Jian laughed and said, "Why did you call him Shao Lezi?"
Mei Xianzhang said: "He is a ruffian from Lu'er Village and a thug from the 'Black Dragon Gang' in Bailu City. Didn't you see that the people in the village are afraid of him? You gave him a hundred taels this time, and next time he will If he dares to ask you for a thousand taels, he will always rely on you."
Fang Jian said: "Then you are not afraid of him? You just slapped him with a tile."
Mei Xianzhang said: "Did I receive enough beatings? But they just couldn't beat me to death, otherwise I would have died long ago."
Fang Jian couldn't help but sigh when he heard this. They couldn't kill you because you were destined to be my apprentice. How could you die so easily?
"Don't say these irrelevant words. Are you really my father's sworn brother?" Mei Xianzhang asked Fang Jian, "He never told me that."
Fang Jian said: "This is not important. What is important is that I will be your elder from now on."
Mei Xianzhang paused slightly after hearing this, and then said: "We will discuss this matter later. Now I just want to get Kuixing Yan back first."
Fang Jian asked: "What happens when you come back? Can you come with me?"
"No." Mei Xianzhang said, "After Kui Xingyan comes back, I have to take the imperial examination to fulfill my father's last wish."
"Take the imperial examination?" Fang Jian looked slightly surprised, "But you are a woman?"
Mei Xianzhang said: "There is always a way. I heard that Mr. Shu talked about "Female Consort", in which the female consort was a woman who disguised herself as a man and took the imperial examination."
When Fang Jian heard this, he immediately said to Mei Xianzhang: "A woman disguised as a man to take the imperial examination will be beheaded if found out."
Mei Xianzhang picked out a pebble from the rice grains in his mouth, threw it away and continued eating.
After taking several bites, Mei Xianzhang said, "That's not the problem."
"What's the problem?" Fang Jian asked.
Mei Xianzhang said: "The problem is that I can't read. Shao Erluzi from the east of the village told me a trick."
"What's the trick?" Fang Jian asked.
Mei Xianzhang hesitated for a moment, then took a few more mouthfuls of food, and finally said: "You cured my stomachache. I can tell you, but you are not allowed to tell others."
Fang Jian smiled and said, "Okay."
Then I heard Mei Xianzhang say: "Shao Erluzi said that if you can read and write, it will be easier to take the imperial examination, but if you can't read and write, it will be difficult."
"..."
Fang Jian was stunned and didn't react for a long time. After he reacted, he sighed deeply.
Mei Xianzhang asked: "Why do you sigh?"
Fang Jian said: "I am feeling emotional that Shao Er, such a fool, has such intelligence. I really underestimate the world's heroes."
Mei Xianzhang ate all the rice at the bottom of the bowl. Not a grain of rice was left. The rice was as clean as if it had been washed. After Mei Xianzhang put down the bowl, he raised his head again and asked Fang Jian: "Can you read and write?" ?By the way, I remember you said that you had taken the imperial examination before?"
Fang Jian nodded and said, "Yes, I can."
When Mei Xianzhang heard this, she immediately jumped down from the chair that had been repaired many times, and ran back to her bedroom. When she came back, she was holding a dozen copper coins in her hand.
"I only have these seventeen coppers. Do you think this is enough? Can you teach me how to read and write?" Mei Xianzhang asked Fang Jian, holding seventeen copper plates in his baby-fat hands.
Fang Jian glanced at the copper coins in her hand, then smiled and said, "I'm not short of money, but if you want me to teach you how to read and write, you have to become your teacher."
"Okay." Mei Xianzhang said, "How to worship?"
"Kowtow three times and bring a cup of tea." Fang Jian said.
'Dong' 'Dong' 'Dong' As soon as Fang Jian finished speaking, Mei Xianzhang knelt down and kowtowed to him three times.
"..." Fang Jian was a little shocked. As his apprentice, he seemed to be too decisive...
After kowtowing, Mei Xianzhang knelt on the ground, raised his head and looked at Fang Jian, his eyes full of yearning for knowledge: "I don't have tea, can I have water?"
"Okay." Fang Jian said.
Mei Xianzhang stood up immediately, ran to the kitchen, scooped out a bowl of water, handed it to Fang Jian and knelt down: "Master, drink water."
"Ahem." Fang Jian coughed, first stood up and helped Mei Xianzhang up, and while helping her pat the dust on her knees, he said: "Now that you have worshiped me as your master, I am your master, master, master." , I will be both your teacher and your father from now on, do you understand?"
Then he took the bowl of water from her hand and took a sip. Mei Xianzhang nodded solemnly and said, "I understand, dad."
"puff!"
