Ziyuan shook his head.
Seeing that Zi Yuan was having difficulty walking, the considerate Lin Baiyang spoke: "Let me help you."
Ziyuan still shook his head and refused.
Looking at Uncle Xu on the side, and then at his friend Lin Baiyang, he said, "Help my dad."
Lin Baiyang didn't think too much and readily agreed: "Okay."
With Lin Baiyang's help, Chunxu didn't have much difficulty walking, and the pain on his body seemed to have been reduced by half.
Seeing Zi Yuan's sensible appearance, Chun Xu felt a little distressed, but he didn't want to tell him the truth, thinking that he would slowly see through the world on his own in the future.
Walking, we arrived at Xilai Inn.
As soon as he walked in, the shopkeeper of Xilai Inn looked at the strange man passing by in confusion.
When Chunxu left the government office, he was still the same as before, wearing a bamboo hat and a black veil, but he didn't have a backpack and wore a long knife on his waist.
Looking at the man's appearance, the shopkeeper could only guess in his mind, how dare he say it out loud, it would be better not to cause trouble.
Both Ziyuan and Chunxu arrived at the room smoothly. Once inside, Chunxu and Ziyuan both sat on the bed. When they were thinking about taking a rest, a pain came out from their buttocks, and the pain was so great that the two of them had to stood up.
Seeing them like this, Zi Yuan's friend Lin Baiyang said to himself with concern: "Who can beat you like this? They are so vicious."
After muttering to himself, Lin Baiyang looked at Ziyuan, who was seven years younger than him, took out the prepared gift from his sleeve and handed it to Chen Ziyuan.
At first glance, it turned out to be a stone, but this stone was quite special. It was in the shape of a sphere, half jade white and half emerald green, as if the paint had been spilled and reflected on it.
As soon as I took it in my hand, let alone it, it was quite smooth. The stone was neither big nor small.
Seeing Zi Yuan's likeness, Lin Baiyang said: "We were friends for the first time, so I didn't know what to give you, so I thought of this. I picked this up from a river behind my house. At that time, I thought this stone was pretty good. It looks good, so I collected it and kept it with me. I will give it to you today as a souvenir.”
Looking at such a beautiful stone, Chen Ziyuan couldn't bear to accept it.
"It looks good, but if you give it to me, wouldn't you lose it?" Zi Yuan said.
Listening to Zi Yuan's words, Lin Baiyang smiled slightly: "It's okay. Since we are friends, there is nothing unworthy to give to friends. Just accept it. Maybe I will go back and stay next to my house. You can still find it in the river."
Finally, Ziyuan accepted the stone.
Seeing Zi Yuan accept it, Lin Baiyang also felt happy: "Well, we'll see you again by fate. I thought I'd give it to you when I go back to the inn with you, but I waited so long to meet you. It's getting late. Now, I have to hurry home."
Hearing that Lin Baiyang was leaving, Ziyuan was a little reluctant to come.
Thinking about the first time I met Lin Baiyang, he didn't have a good pen and inkstone at that time. The hair on the front of the pen had been worn a lot, and the ink was not very thick, as if it had been mixed with water. If he didn't have an inkstone, he would use a bowl instead. .
Thinking of this and watching Lin Baiyang about to walk out, Zi Yuan called out: "Wait a minute, I have something to give you too."
After finishing speaking, Ziyuan walked towards the table placed in the inn, picked up the pen, ink, and inkstone placed on the table, and walked to Lin Baiyang.
"I don't know what to give you. Last time I saw your things were so rudimentary, I gave them to you. Don't dislike it."
I thought I wouldn't accept it, but how could I not feel moved when I looked at such a good pen, ink, and inkstone? Being able to use these was something I couldn't even imagine.
Before making a decision, Zi Yuan forcibly handed over the pen, ink, and inkstone: "Take it. Seeing that you are in a hurry, I will give this to you first. When we meet next time, I will definitely give you a better one. Yes, it must be a very new pen, ink, and inkstone."
Looking at the pen, ink, and inkstone in his hand, Lin Baiyang suddenly felt that he fell in love with reading, and nodded excitedly: "Yes. See you soon."
Then, looking at the injuries of Zi Yuan and Chun Xu, Lin Baiyang said: "That's good. Zi Yuan, uncle, take care of yourself, and I won't disturb you anymore."
As soon as he finished speaking and was about to leave, Chunxu, who was silent, came over, handed the two taels of silver left in his hand to Lin Baiyang, and said: "My child, uncle can't help you, look at it. You have such a good relationship with Ziyuan, this is my uncle’s leftover silver to buy some food and clothing on the way.”
Seeing so much money, Lin Baiyang declined: "Uncle, I can't take this money. This is your remaining money, I can't accept it."
Often in such a scenario, just force it.
Before the seventeen-year-old Lin Baiyang could say any more words of refusal, Chun Xu directly forced it on him: "Just take it."
Seeing that the money was already in his hand, Lin Baiyang thanked him: "Thank you, uncle."
"Be careful on the road." Chunxu warned.
"Yes." In response, Lin Baiyang took another look at Zi Yuan's face, opened the door, and walked out.
Chunxu can have two taels of silver. This is a long story.
Well, let’s make a long story short.
In fact, these two taels of silver were part of the baggage found when they arrived. They were hidden in an unopened piece of clothing. It must have been that Li Xiran was worried that they didn't have enough money, so he quietly stuffed some money inside.
Ever since Ziyuan made friends like Lin Baiyang, he has shared his stories with Chunxu every time. Thinking that he was a child of a wealthy family and lived a common life these years, Chunxu can understand these very important things. The lives of people who are short of money.
"Dad, when are we going home?" Zi Yuan asked Chun Xu who was standing aside.
Chunxu looked at Ziyuan's injured state and said, "Let's stay a few more days, our injuries haven't healed yet. If you ride with an injury, your butt will not suffer."
Listening to Uncle Xu's words, Zi Yuan laughed happily.
After the Qiu Wei exam, many candidates from all over the world have already gone home. Only those children from wealthy families chose to stay in the city for a few more days.
For those students who rush home after taking the exams, staying in the city is a waste of their own money. It is better to go back home and stay locked up all day, looking at the dazzling array of goods but having no money to buy. No matter what, save whatever you can.
At night, voices came from the house where Chunxu had gone to take the exam.
"master."
A word came out and it turned out to be He Ergou, the guarantor who guaranteed Chunxu.
"What's the matter?"
Sitting on an old wooden chair, with a white ring on his right hand, a fat man with a beard and a round face, I guess he must be the master of He Ergou, and he can also be regarded as the leader in selling test questions in this city. .
"Master, today, Zhang Chunxu went to the government office." He Ergou said uneasily.
"Going to the government office?"
He Ergou nodded: "They went to report that there were test questions for sale in the city. Fortunately, the prefect was too lazy to deal with these noisy matters and gave them a few boards. Master, this...will we be in danger?"
After listening to He Ergou's words, the master smiled cheerfully: "The prefect is not too lazy to mind this nosy business. Think about it, one test question costs thirty taels of silver or even more, and three tests cost almost one hundred taels of silver. This Who makes more money?"
"Isn't this you, sir?" He Ergou said.
Upon hearing this, the master shook his head: "Our exam questions were given by the Minister of Rites. After making so much money, he is the biggest beneficiary. You forgot, when someone came to the door, we agreed that we would give 100% We get 30%, and we don’t pay a penny. We just help sell and get money.”
"For one hundred taels of silver, we get 30%, and 30% is thirty taels. The remaining 70% must be from the prefect."
Listening to the master's analysis, He Ergou understood a little better: "Master, you want to say that not only do we profit from this transaction, but also local officials and even officials from the imperial court benefit?"
The master smiled and nodded: "Think about it, isn't it the high-ranking officials of the imperial court who will benefit the most from these silver coins?"
He Ergou nodded and asked the question in his heart: "Master, are you greedy for so much money, aren't you afraid that the current emperor will know about it?"
This time, the master shook his head: "I don't know about this. I'm not an official. Just don't worry about what you said just now. The prefect will naturally not deal with this matter. At most, he will just accuse him randomly."
"The master is wise." He Ergou praised with a thumbs up.
The master smiled.
To say that the one who made the most profit was Ding Liu, the Minister of Rites.
He is the best at selling examination questions, and a few years ago he did so with Left Prime Minister Su Yunqi.
But that time, it was only the candidates in Jiangnan who were greedy. This time, the money of candidates across the country was greedy.
Although there are candidates everywhere who are aware of it, how can a poor man fight against an official? As long as the official says you are wrong, you are wrong.
And since the Mo Dynasty last used large-scale national food for disaster relief in Jianglai, the price of the remaining food in many places has increased. It can be said that the price has increased dramatically.
Seeing this, many people wanted to plant their own rice seeds so that they could make a fortune. However, in such a season, it was impossible to plant them in some places, which resulted in two crops a year. Or people in three-crop areas have actively planted rice, and they don't even care about the celestial phenomena, because most of these people are trying to make a fortune.
After recovering well, a few days later, Ziyuan and Chunxu got on the horses to go home. As soon as they returned to Xitong County, Qiuwei's examination was announced.
Chen Ziyuan's family, which makes a living from fields and business, no longer has to pay so much tax.
However, since he met his good friend Lin Baiyang, Chen Ziyuan seemed to study harder. He got up early every day before his teacher came, and he started to prepare for his homework. After his teacher left, Ziyuan began to consolidate his homework and read it thoroughly. I often fall asleep only when I am ugly.
