It was clearly her fault, but she still stood at the commanding heights.
Zheng Ruqian pursed his lips tightly and faced everything with his head lowered and silence.
Seeing my aunt, I was about to pat my thigh anxiously.
Jiang Sheng hurried over from the dilapidated temple, hugged Zheng Ruqian's arm, and whispered to him, "Second brother, why should we be angry with ordinary people? We don't do business just to make money. As long as we can make money, we don't care about his past grudges."
At present, they are unilaterally carrying food from Yunshui County to Xieyang County. When they go there, the trucks are empty, which is somewhat wasteful.
If we can transport some of Xieyang County's specialties to Yunshui County, we can make some money.
As soon as Jiang Sheng finished speaking, Zheng Ruqian thought of it.
He suppressed his anger and said as calmly as possible, "Take it, but it's one penny and three pounds."
Today is different from the past. In the past, Zheng Ruqian begged his grandfather and grandma to collect vegetables, so he only paid one penny or two pounds and did not dare to lower the price.
Nowadays, he is not short of vegetables. On the contrary, if the villagers want to exchange vegetables for some money, they can only accept being priced down.
The woman was not convinced and wanted to yell.
Zheng Ruqian turned around and said, "My aunt doesn't want to sell it, just forget it."
He is not willing to accept much yet.
The woman was defeated and muttered, throwing the vegetables in her arms into the donkey cart.
The New Year has just passed, and everyone is in short supply. Rice seeds have to be harvested in less than two months. Money is everywhere. If you can’t eat the vegetables, you have to throw them away. It’s better to exchange some money to spend.
Pang Pang Shan very colorfully brought the weights and put them on top to weigh them.
Three cabbages, a total of six pounds.
Jiang Sheng took out two cents, put it into the woman's hand, and said with a smile, "Auntie, go slowly."
With this beginning, the remaining women hurriedly stuffed the dishes over, while others ran home in hopes of bringing more dishes.
Zheng Ruqian's donkey cart was full and couldn't hold much. He looked at Jiang Sheng and said, "I'll leave this to you."
Jiang Sheng patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, I'll keep it and settle the accounts."
Zheng Ruqian took Pang Pangshan to deliver two carts of vegetables to Youranju.
After settling the account, he took out one hundred coins and handed it to Pang Pangshan, "This is the cost of one trip."
Pang Pangshan stretched out his hands and took it reverently.
I have been a beggar for ten years. I have robbed, stolen, and received alms, but I have never made any money with my own hands.
In Zheng Ruqian's eyes, this was only a hundred cents, which was not enough for him to collect half a cart of groceries.
But in Pang Pangshan's eyes, this is the hope for the future and the key to keeping his brothers fed and clothed.
"I'm going to buy something."
After leaving Youranju, Pang Pangshan went straight to the clothing store.
He originally had two younger brothers, but later he picked up three children. One of them, Zhang Yan, was picked up by Jiang Sheng, and two were left, making a total of four younger brothers.
Gray cotton-padded jackets cost fifteen cents each. After buying four of them, I only had forty cents left in my hand.
But Pang Pangshan was not afraid at all. He ran to buy four candied haws and four pastries. In the end, only ten copper coins were left in the palm of his hand.
Zheng Ruqian smiled and said nothing.
Once upon a time, the brothers and sisters were like this. They spent every penny excitedly and carefully, trying to use it as wisely as possible, putting food and clothing first.
Fortunately, they all worked hard enough and were lucky enough to make it all the way to where they are now.
"When will we go to Yunshui County to collect vegetables again?" Pang Pangshan asked eagerly after returning the things to the cave.
It seems that because of the love and support of his younger brothers, he began to desire to make more money.
Zheng Ruqian smiled, "Put away the dishes and leave."
The reason why I agreed to accept the vegetables from my aunts was not the radish and cabbage, but the specialty of Xieyang County.
The scientific name of this dish is pickled cabbage. It is a dish produced during the bumper harvest in late September and early October. After the new year, fresh pickles can no longer be found. But the biggest feature of pickled pickled cabbage is that it is more delicious after being dried.
The freshly picked pickles are first dried in the sun until the leaves turn yellow, and then pressed tightly with a bamboo curtain and left for more than a month. When the leaves completely turn brown, the pickles are dried, which are easy to store and are flexible and elastic.
Some people use it to make stuffing, some use it for stir-frying, and some use it with meat. No matter how you make it, it is extremely delicious.
Zheng Ruqian has been selling vegetables for more than half a year. Even if there is no big restaurant in Yunshui County that regularly sells vegetables like Youranju, he is confident that he can sell the dried pickled vegetables.
In this way, after spending five days and collecting two loads of pickled vegetables, Zheng Ruqian set out for Yunshui County again.
Jiang Sheng jumped behind him and shouted, "Second brother, you have to come back early, the eldest brother is going to take the county examination."
It's February, and it's time for children to take their first exam - the county exam.
Xu Mo had already mentioned to his master about taking the Tongsheng test. The master was worried that he had not accumulated enough and that failure would affect his character. It would be better to accumulate more and wait for the next year to be more stable.
But Xu Mo couldn't wait.
Although Magistrate Pang acquiesced to Pang Pangshan's impersonation of nephew and granted them asylum, he was far away in Yunshui County after all, and could not quench his thirst for nearby people.
The Xieyang County magistrate and his wife must be secretly planning something, and they may even be watching them, ready to strike with thunder at any time.
Xu Mo was so eager to grow up, to become stronger, to be capable, and to... unravel the cause of his parents' death.
For the county examination in February, he worked tirelessly, even putting aside copying books, and studied carefully every day, even frowning when he read.
There are twelve hours in a day, except four hours for sleeping and one hour for eating. Xu Mo spends the remaining seven hours studying.
Jiang Sheng couldn't stand it anymore, so she hugged his arm and said coquettishly, "Brother, you will be exhausted if you do this. You'd better rest."
Xu Mo shook his head.
Jiang Sheng gritted his teeth, "Then your eyes will be exhausted in the future. Do you plan to become a blind scholar? Can a blind scholar still get preferential treatment? Can he still take the exam? Can he still have a future?"
Five questions were thrown out in a row, and Xu Mo couldn't laugh or cry.
"Brother, let's take a rest." Fang Heng advised.
Wen Zhiyun also said, "From a medical point of view, eyes should not be used for a long time. Over time, vision will become blurred, which is a terminal disease that cannot be saved."
Xu Mo was still thinking.
Chang Yan, who had been silent all this time, slowly spoke.
But it's not an exhortation, but an explanation from another angle, "Brother will always be upset and angry if he sits and reads all the time. It's better to go outside and take a look. Maybe you can gain a different understanding."
Although the world in books is huge, it always stays in books, that is, talking on paper.
There are many things that you still need to see with your own eyes and observe down-to-earth.
Xu Mo figured it out, quickly stood up, picked up two books and left the ruined temple.
He is studying people's livelihood, grains, and farmland.
The book can only describe it roughly, but there are really fields at the entrance of the village.
The New Year has just passed and February has arrived. The originally steep cold wind has become milder, and the wheat seedlings buried deep in the grass valley have gradually sprouted and stretched out their slim bodies.
In a month or two, the people will turn the excrement into fertilizer, crush it and dry it into fine powder, and sprinkle it evenly on the wheat fields. They are just waiting for the spring to warm and the flowers to bloom, and the wheat seedlings to grow to sky-high heights and bloom gracefully. Wheat flower.
The people planted wheat, the wheat grew ears, and there was wheat in the ears. The wheat fed the people, and the people excreted excrement, and the excrement retting into waste, covered the wheat again.
The so-called cycle is nothing more than that.
Xu Mo took a deep breath of the fragrance of the spring breeze and turned back to the ruined temple. His thoughts surged and he wrote as if he was inspired.
Jiang Sheng, as an illiterate person who was not very literate, was speechless as he watched.
Soon, mid-February.
The intense county examination began.
Fang Heng untied the old donkey early in the morning and moved the fed horse onto the flatbed cart.
"The horse is done." He patted the red-maned horse's butt.
Jiang Sheng pursed his lips, feeling that he should also say something auspicious, so he held it in for a long time and finally said, "Success will come soon."
What kind of auspicious words are these?
The brothers burst into laughter.
Xu Mo patted Jiang Sheng's little head and said, "Don't worry, it will definitely succeed."
Several people got on the donkey cart.
Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it a carriage, but the horse's butt is decorated with a flat carriage, which is quite nondescript.
Jiang Sheng began to check the items Xu Mo needed for the exam.
As the name suggests, the county examination is held in the Gongyuan of the county where it is located. It is open to students from the entire county. They enter before dawn every day, sit there for the whole day, and can only leave at night.
The weather was February, with ice blades wrapped in the spring breeze. It felt cold even lying down, not to mention being in the cold Gongyuan with no fire, food or hot water.
To be sure, Jiang Sheng went to Youranju to ask shopkeeper Bai, and started to tidy up after returning.
According to shopkeeper Bai, there was a scandal involving cheating in the imperial examination during the late Emperor's reign. After that, the baggage that students brought into the examination room was transformed into hollow bamboo baskets.
Even the brush rod inside the pen, ink, paper and inkstone must be hollowed out, and hair ties are prohibited.
If the exam time hadn't been so cold, the students would probably have stripped naked to take the exam.
Jiang Sheng smacked his tongue while preparing a hollow bamboo basket with a writing brush, a pot of water, and two pieces of dry food for Xu Mo.
There is also a chamber pot. Candidates are not allowed to use the toilet after entering the examination room. If they want to solve the problem, they can only use it on the spot.
The last thing is a piece of identification.
Xu Mo's name, place of origin, age, and physical characteristics were recorded on this thin piece of paper. It was the only certificate for him to enter the examination room, and it was also the method used by the Dayu Dynasty to prevent others from preparing for the examination.
Jiang Sheng examined the piece of paper one last time, and kept mumbling in his heart that he couldn't throw it away.
Needless to say, it went very fast all the way.
On the way, Chang Yan used curiosity as an excuse to take Xu Mo's identity certificate from Jiang Sheng's arms. After observing it repeatedly for a while, he returned it.
Jiang Sheng quickly put it into a small bamboo basket and said, "We can't look at it anymore. We must put it away and don't lose it."
But in this world, we are afraid of whatever comes.
As soon as he arrived at the gate of Gongyuan, Jiang Sheng was accidentally bumped into.
When I got up, the ID card in the basket was gone.
At the gate of Gongyuan, the county examination is about to take place, and Xu Mo’s crucial ticket is gone! ! !
