If you could marry this man, he must have done great things in his previous life.
The husband and wife talked all the way and walked for more than an hour before arriving at the county seat.
Tao Zhu wants to buy some fabrics to make bedding and clothes for Li Qiao to study in the county town next year.
If nothing unexpected happens, Li Qiao will go to the county town to study next year, and he needs to prepare the relevant clothes now.
After coming out of the cloth store, the two went to the bookstore.
Li Qiao has memorized the Four Books by heart these days, and he has almost memorized the annotated books recommended to him by Zhuang Wen last time.
So, he was going to start reading the Five Classics.
In addition to the Five Classics, you should also buy related commentaries, so that you can understand them while reading and deepen your memory.
In addition to the Five Classics, he also bought copybooks.
Now he has to write big characters every day. After practicing for so long, his writing speed has accelerated a lot, and his words are no longer soft.
However, the emperor today attaches great importance to calligraphy, so he must also pay attention to it. He does not need to be outstanding, but it cannot be lower than the average level of the candidates.
When the clerk at the bookstore saw that he bought more than ten books in one go and then bought copybooks, his smile almost reached behind his ears.
Big customers, big customers!
Today, the official font for the imperial examination is Taige style, which is a type of regular script. This font is characterized by its squareness, neatness, grandeur and beauty.
So the waiter took out several copybooks for Li Qiao to choose.
"The fonts written by these masters are the favorite among readers. Each one sells very well. It depends on which one you want."
Li Qiao spread these copybooks on the counter and looked at them one by one.
These copybooks are all in Taige style, with only slight differences.
After reading for a while, he finally chose the one with the least obvious features. If it was too distinctive, it would be difficult to imitate.
Pick one of the more mediocre ones, you can't go wrong with this one.
He does not intend to compete with the real ancients in calligraphy, as long as his calligraphy does not hold him back.
After buying a copybook, I would definitely buy a writing brush, paper, and ink ingots. So, when he came out of the bookstore, Tao Zhu's money bag was mostly empty.
A trip to the bookstore cost me fifty taels of silver!
But Tao Zhu didn't feel bad at all. He carefully put the books, papers, pen and ink into the book box, and then placed the book box between him and Li Qiao.
Then he looked at Li Qiao: "Shall we go to Wangyue Tower?"
"Well, the business is done, let's go to the restaurant." Li Qiao nodded with a smile.
So, the couple drove the ox cart to the backyard of Wangyue Tower.
After parking the ox cart, the two of them carried the book box and went to the front yard of Wangyue Tower to find Shopkeeper Wang.
It's not even eleven o'clock yet, but the lobby of Wangyue Tower is already full.
The private rooms on the second floor were almost full.
But Li Qiao wasn't worried. He asked Xiao Wu to greet Shopkeeper Wang yesterday, and Shopkeeper Wang gave him a private room.
Shopkeeper Wang knew that Li Qiao and Tao Zhu were coming, but he was too busy. He led Li Qiao and Tao Zhu to the private room on the second floor and left in a hurry without saying a few words.
Li Qiao and Tao Zhu didn't mind. They were all acquaintances, so Shopkeeper Wang didn't have to waste time entertaining them.
The private room reserved by Shopkeeper Wang is in a good location, by the window. When you open the window, you can see the street below.
Before the food was served, Li Qiao took Tao Zhu and opened the window to enjoy the street view.
After staying in the village for a long time, Li Qiao occasionally wanted to see the prosperity of the county.
"Eh? Why did the waiter from Wangyue Tower bring the stew to the teahouse opposite?" As soon as he opened the window, he saw a waiter carrying a tray into the teahouse opposite Wangyue Tower.
There were four bowls of stew on the tray, and he recognized them at a glance. They were dishes his family would eat every two days, and they were more popular than the big plate of chicken.
Tao Zhu also saw it. While Li Qiao was talking, another waiter entered the teahouse carrying four bowls of stew.
In the teahouse, the few tables they saw from their angle were already full of people.
Just at this time, a waiter came in with a teapot to serve tea to the couple. Li Qiao pointed to the teahouse opposite and asked what was going on.
After hearing what Li Qiao said, the waiter immediately laughed: "Brother Qiao, our business at Wangyue Tower is so good. Many diners have no place to sit, but they are unwilling to leave and insist on eating our Wangyue Tower's stew, so Yesterday the shopkeeper rented the teahouse opposite, and anyone who wants to eat braised dishes can go to the teahouse opposite."
Li Qiao: "..."
He knew that Wangyuelou's stews sold well, and diners were often willing to stand up with their bowls in hand to eat, but he didn't expect that it would become so popular that he could rent someone else's teahouse.
At this time, a rather childish voice came from the private room next to him.
"Cousin, is this stew delicious? Wangyuelou's is better. Jixianglou in Fucheng can't make it taste like this even if they buy vermicelli."
"Yeah." A slightly lower voice responded to this childish voice.
"Then you don't want to go back to Fucheng before the year. You can still study in Pingcheng, and you can come to Wangyuelou to eat every day. Braised vegetables, hot and sour noodles, fried vermicelli, cold vermicelli, vermicelli buns, vermicelli cakes, wow, every Everything tastes delicious.”
Shen Hua opened his hands and counted the vermicelli dishes at Wangyuelou. Even if there was a bowl of deluxe stew in front of him, he couldn't help but swallow his saliva.
And his cousin Xu Ying not only had a deluxe version of stew in front of him, but also a bowl of deluxe version of hot and sour noodles.
He was busy talking about his fans at this time, so he could only respond vaguely.
For so many vermicelli dishes, he is willing to stay in Pingcheng!
Whether it’s vermicelli in a stew or hot and sour vermicelli, pick up a pair of chopsticks and suck it gently, and the smooth and delicious vermicelli will enter your mouth.
This feeling is wonderful!
When Shen Hua got Xu Ying's answer, he clapped his hands happily: "Then buy a hundred kilograms of vermicelli from shopkeeper Wang later and send it to the Xu family with the letter. You can go back during the Chinese New Year."
Hehe, he hoped that even if the large and small restaurants in Fucheng had vermicelli, they would never be able to taste like Wangyuelou, so that his cousin could always stay in Pingcheng.
However, thinking of the popularity of vermicelli, he immediately hired a man.
On the first day Wangyuelou launched dry vermicelli, some sensitive businessmen smelled the smell of money. These businessmen knew that Pingcheng could only sell vermicelli from Wangyuelou, so they sold the vermicelli to Fucheng.
The city is so big and the vermicelli is so delicious, but Wangyue Tower can only provide a few hundred kilograms of vermicelli every day. Therefore, if he wants to prepare a hundred kilograms of vermicelli for the Xu family, he has to book it with Shopkeeper Wang in advance.
Li Qiao was forced to listen to the conversation between Shen Hua and Xu Ying. He couldn't help but said to Tao Zhu, "We really underestimated the charm of vermicelli."
They knew from Xiao Wu’s mouth that the vermicelli sold well.
But now it feels better to hear the words of the diners with my own ears than to hear them from Xiao Wu’s mouth.
"So you are awesome, you can come up with such a method."
Tao Zhu smiled slightly and looked at Li Qiao with sparkling eyes.
"Just so so." Li Qiao waved his hand to divert Tao Zhu's attention. Today is Tao Zhu's birthday, and Tao Zhu is the protagonist.
Li Qiao ordered all of Wangyuelou's specialties, and a variety of dishes, large and small, filled the entire table. The couple didn't drink, so they drank tea instead of wine, while slowly tasting the food and talking about trivial matters.
Although the home-cooked meal is delicious, it is not as lively and fresh as when going to a restaurant.
Therefore, Tao Zhu was extremely satisfied with this meal.
The two of them packed up the unfinished food and took it away, when shopkeeper Wang finally appeared.
Now not only diners come to him to buy vermicelli, but also some small vendors come to him. He is so busy every day that he wishes there were ten of him to deal with various things.
He showed up at this time not just to give away Li Qiao and Tao Zhu. He also hoped that Li Qiao could expand the production of several hundred kilograms of vermicelli every day. What would it mean in the vast markets of Pingcheng, Fucheng and surrounding counties?
Nothing counts.
Besides, the Chinese New Year is just around the corner. After the Chinese New Year, it will be difficult to store sweet potatoes. If the sweet potatoes are spoiled, you will have to wait until next year to eat vermicelli again.
This is not possible.
Not only is he unwilling, but so are the majority of diners.
The majority of diners urged him, so he came to urge Li Qiao.
After hearing this, Li Qiao could only respond with two words: try your best.
After leaving Wangyue Tower, the couple planned to go back to the village directly, but when they arrived at the city gate, they were stopped by the gatekeeper.
"Are you Li Qiao from Sanliu Village?"
The yamen servant who looked to be in his fifties looked at Li Qiao carefully and then asked.
"Master, Xiaosheng is indeed Li Qiao. I wonder why the master stopped Xiaosheng?"
Li Qiao was neither humble nor arrogant, and responded calmly.
"I'm not looking for you, it's the county magistrate who's looking for you. Come with me."
The old yamen servant motioned to Li Qiao to get on the bullock cart and follow him.
Li Qiao: "..."
The county magistrate is looking for him?
Tao Zhu, whose brain was a little white on the side, could only look at Li Qiao subconsciously. Why would the county magistrate look for Li Qiao?
Li Qiao didn't do anything.
"Don't be nervous. Our county magistrate is approachable. Although I don't know why I'm looking for you, it shouldn't be a bad thing."
The old yamen servant saw that the couple were stunned, especially Tao Zhu, who looked nervous, so he explained.
Hearing this, Li Qiao immediately put his heart in his stomach.
He first smiled at the old government officer, and then gently held Tao Zhu's hand: "Don't be afraid."
Li Qiao was not wearing gloves at this time. Tao Zhu felt the familiar touch and temperature, and his white brain could finally move.
He twitched the corners of his mouth and showed a somewhat stiff smile in response to Li Qiao.
Li Qiao felt relieved and used his other hand to lead the bullock cart.
Tao Zhu quickly let go of his hand. He couldn't pull and pull like this in front of the official.
The old government officer looked at this scene and felt strange.
In his aesthetic view, Tao Zhu was naturally considered ugly. He did not expect that Li Qiao, an outstanding scholar, would value Tao Zhu so much.
But this had nothing to do with him. He led Li Qiao and Tao Zhu to the county government office.
