Li Yu has been to Donglaishun Restaurant several times. The mutton cooked in the classic copper pot is unforgettable, and his skill in making sauces is also outstanding, whether it is the sesame sauce and chive style in the north or the sesame oil style in the south. Can create a great taste.
He personally served as the "perfumer" when having meals with his classmates, which can be said to be very effective in alleviating the contradiction between the North and the South!
It's a pity that he still can't make effective checks and balances in the field of sweet tofu and salty tofu.
After everyone else in front of the stall sat down, Li Yu went over and asked, "Boss Ding, why don't you see the mutton-boiled meat?"
Ding Deshan wiped his sweat with a towel: "Master, you are really kidding me. Look at how my little stall has the conditions to do that!"
"You can do it!" Li Yu said, but he said in his heart: "Because I am still waiting."
Ding Deshan was filled with questions: "Why don't you...eat a bowl of noodles first?"
"Ding ding!"
Li Yu dropped 8 copper coins and said, "A bowl of mutton mixed noodles. I'll also try Boss Ding's craftsmanship."
Ding Deshan was full of confidence: "Don't worry, in half a city to the east, you can't get mutton noodles as good as mine!"
Ding Deshan’s craftsmanship is unparalleled and the quantity is huge. After eating a bowl of noodles, Li Yu felt full.
While it was still early, Li Yu walked around the street again. The items sold at the street stalls were not expensive, ranging from a few pennies to more than ten pennies, but there were not many varieties.
Ordinary people who eat and buy things are also very simple. For example, a bowl of noodles in Ding Deshan sells for four cents, but many people still have to shop around, often hesitating for a long time between noodles that cost four cents and steamed buns that cost three cents. After all, for them, a full stomach is enough!
The vast majority of people in the late Qing Dynasty lived on or above the subsistence line, and their daily expenses basically did not exceed 20 yuan. Today, it is almost four or five yuan.
But it's different for those powerful people, who don't mind spending huge sums of money. Therefore, the society in the late Qing Dynasty was definitely full of wine and meat!
Just as he was about to walk back, Li Yu saw a foreigner walking out of a door. This foreigner is not young, almost sixty or seventy years old, but he is in good spirits.
The people inside bowed to him, and the foreigner returned the bow, then put on his hat and walked away with an indifferent expression.
It was quite rare to see a foreigner at this time, so Li Yu followed him.
The foreigner walked a few steps and stopped beside a ragged old beggar. He knelt down and said, "Old man, why are you begging in the capital?"
This foreigner speaks Chinese quite well.
The old beggar did not expect that the foreigner would take the initiative to talk to him. He was stunned for a long time before replying: "Master Foreigner, you must not understand our business. We can only get enough dry food in the city!"
The foreigner nodded, feeling that this question was indeed a bit unnecessary, so he took out a silver dollar from his pocket and threw it to him.
When the old beggar heard the crisp sound in the bowl, his eyes were stunned. He held the silver dollar in his hands and couldn't help but feel grateful: "Thank you, Mr. Foreigner, and I wish you a long life! No, it's long live, long live, long live!"
The foreigner said: "You are wrong. Your 'Long Live' is for the Emperor and the Queen Mother."
The old beggar didn't seem to care about that and asked directly: "Why don't you foreigners destroy the Qing Dynasty?"
The foreigner did not answer, but asked: "Do you think we can destroy it?"
"Of course!" The old beggar pointed to a wire in the distance, "Whoever invents that wire can overthrow the Qing Dynasty!"
The foreigner smiled bitterly, stood up and walked away without comment.
A beggar can say such things. It seems that the people of the Qing Dynasty are almost out of control!
Li Yu remembered Fan Xiren's invitation yesterday and immediately returned to the Tongwen Library and found that he had read yesterday's mathematics textbook again.
"Brother Fan came very early!" Li Yu said.
Fan Xiren put away the book and said: "Hello, brother Li!"
Li Yu said: "How is the research going?"
Fan Xiren smiled bitterly and said: "It's really inscrutable, there are too many to understand!"
Calculus was really difficult to understand for a while, so Li Yu had no choice but to resort to the method of his math teacher back then: "Let me draw you some more pictures, maybe they can help you."
"That's perfect. I just brought a good ink today." Fan Xiren has seen many mathematical figures in books, but he still has only a partial understanding of them. He has already learned the rectangular coordinate system, but it is limited to elementary algebra.
Fan Xiren took out a small box from his arms with "First Grade Hui Ink" written on it.
Li Yu had practiced soft-pen calligraphy when he was young, and his writing was passable, but compared with such Qing Dynasty officials, it was only a little bit worse, so let's not waste other people's good things! He said: "There should be a classroom here. How about we find a blackboard?"
Fan Xiren suddenly said: "Wonderful! This gives me the feeling of teaching."
Fan Xiren was also familiar with the interior of Tongwen Hall, and the two of them walked to the teaching area in the front yard together.
Li Yu asked: "By the way, Brother Fan, I heard that there will be an exam in Tongwen Hall soon. I wonder what the exam will be about?"
Fan Xiren said: "It is not the Tongwenkan exam, but the Capital University School is about to resume school again, and there will be an admissions exam in a few months."
Capital University!
Li Yu was shocked, his alma mater!
As early as 1898 during the Reform Movement of 1898, the Capital University was founded. However, it was only opened for two years when it encountered the Eight-Power Allied Forces and was suspended for two years.
The Reform Movement of 1898 was definitely a pain in Empress Lafayette's heart, because in her view, it was Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others who bewitched Emperor Guangxu, which led to the current discord between mother and son.
Most of the measures in the reform were also repealed, with the exception of the University Hall.
Fan Xiren continued: "This admissions meeting is more stringent, and students will have the opportunity to be sent to study abroad in the West. Everyone wants to learn from Westerners, and also wants to visit the West to see how powerful they are!"
"So, you should take advantage of these few months of free time to review more and prepare for the exam." Li Yu thought to himself, this seems to be no different from the exam he once took.
Fan Xiren nodded and said: "Yes, the content of the exam is very complicated. Western subjects such as English, mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, zoology, botany, history, etc. will all be involved."
Good guy, it turns out that the "Old Nine Schools" started torturing candidates more than a hundred years ago!
Li Yu said: "Then you really need to be well prepared."
"Of course! I must be admitted to the Capital University! Then I will go to Western countries. It would be best if I can continue to study there for a few years. When I return from my studies in the future, I will definitely make the Qing Dynasty powerful. I will never be able to Lose the battle!”
Fan Xiren became more and more excited as he spoke, with an inexplicable perseverance in his eyes.
There is no shortage of passionate young people like this in any era!
He was in sharp contrast to the old beggar he met today. This was a very normal situation in the late Qing Dynasty. The building was about to collapse, and thousands of people in the country had too many different opinions.
The reformers, constitutionalists, revolutionaries, and royalists all had good intentions, but the darkness before dawn was so dark that everyone at the time could not see clearly.
While talking, the two walked outside the classroom, where two foreigners were doing calculations on the blackboard. When they walked in, one of them was the very old foreigner Li Yu saw.
Fan Xiren next to him said in surprise: "This... is Mr. Ding Hailiang, the former chief instructor!"
