In the morning, Song Cheng was sleeping comfortably after a tiring day yesterday. Suddenly he felt the quilt being lifted off, and a cold bamboo stick was stretched around his neck.
"Hiss~~"
Song Cheng shuddered and suddenly woke up. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Ye Ming was poking him with a bamboo stick.
"Mr. Yang, it's so early, what can I do?"
Song Cheng was still a little confused.
"How long do you want to sleep? Get up."
Ye Ming hit Song Cheng on the chest with a bamboo stick, which made him feel burning pain in his chest.
"Why are you up so early~~"
Song Cheng, who was a little annoyed to get out of bed, quickly put on his clothes and straightened his square scarf and hat.
Ye Ming pointed outside with a bamboo stick:
"The sun is coming up, it's time for us to go."
"Are you leaving now without saying goodbye to the master?"
"What's the point of saying goodbye? Do you still want someone to give you a thousand pieces of gold as a reward?"
Ye Ming slapped Song Cheng unceremoniously again, knocking him awake completely.
When the two of them arrived at the yard, Ye Ming got on the donkey and left with Song Cheng.
"You're going to go straight out of town without having breakfast?"
"Are you rich? Can you afford breakfast?"
"It's not like you have to leave early. If you ask that family for a few taels of silver, you won't be hungry in the morning."
"You are hungry, not me.
Besides, you didn’t put in much effort. "
"Who said that, in order to save people, my hands were pricked with pinholes. Besides, saving the master's life only costs a few taels of silver, isn't it too much?"
Song Cheng was a little unconvinced.
Ye Ming seemed to suddenly remember something:
"I forgot to mention that although you are a person with great blessings, every time you help others, you will lose part of your blessings. If you lose too much blessings, your wealth will be ruined."
"Is there anything else going on?"
Song Cheng was shocked.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"I just remembered it."
Hearing that he would lose his good fortune, Song Cheng suddenly felt a little scared. He looked left and right, fearing that he might accidentally do something to help others. Wouldn't that mean that he would lose his good fortune in vain?
After leaving the town, we passed a ditch.
Ye Ming pointed to a wide wooden board beside the road and said:
"Build a bridge to make it easier to cross."
Song Cheng did as he was told and moved the planks and placed them on the ditch.
Ye Mingyouya passed by on a donkey, and Song Cheng followed suit.
After crossing the ditch, Song Cheng thought for a while, then took the wooden board away and placed it on the roadside.
I thought: If others don’t walk across the bridge I built, then I can’t do good deeds, right?
In this way, Song Cheng felt relieved, showed a smile, felt that he had preserved his good fortune, and continued walking with Ye Ming.
After walking for a while, they passed by a ruined temple. Ye Ming rode a donkey and wanted to go into the ruined temple to have a rest.
Song Cheng also took a rest, cleaned an old dusty chair, and sat down to rest for a while.
Then, Ye Ming set out again.
Seeing that Song Cheng was about to leave again, he looked at the cleaned chairs, considered it briefly, picked up the ashes from the ground, and sprinkled it on the chairs.
In this way, even if someone comes to sit here again, they have to clean the chair themselves.
After scattering the ashes, I found that Ye Ming had already walked a certain distance, so I hurried to catch up...
At noon, Song Cheng felt tired and hungry. He regretted that he had gone to eat last night and didn't hide a few steamed buns on his body. Finally, he arrived at a village. Ye Ming began to set up a stall and tell fortunes, asking Song Cheng to help shout.
Song Cheng, who had never been fond of divination and fortune-telling, was now still counting on the great wealth that Ye Ming was going to give him. Even though he was hungry and thirsty, he shouted loudly.
Now that the autumn harvest has come early and the weather is getting colder, most villagers have no farm work to do. When they heard that a fortune teller was coming to the village entrance, they all came to join in the fun.
After Ye Ming opened, every calculation was accurate, and the villagers spent money to tell fortunes.
On the side, Song Cheng saw that Ye Ming's fortune telling was so accurate, and he immediately looked forward to his upcoming blessings.
Unknowingly, there was a bit of compliment towards Ye Ming's attitude.
After collecting some copper coins, the two of them had a full meal at noon and set off again to the county town.
This time Song Cheng walked in front enthusiastically and held the donkey for Ye Ming with his own hands. Not to mention how kind his attitude was.
Seeing this, Ye Ming was very satisfied and told him that as long as he served him well, his good fortune would never escape.
Song Cheng was overjoyed when he received Ye Ming's assurance, and his attitude became increasingly humble.
Not long after entering the county town, Song Cheng met a somewhat familiar scholar named Chen.
The two took the Tongsheng Examination in the same year and have some friendship.
Chen Shusheng is also a scholar now. He works as an accountant for a large family in the county. He is living a pretty good life. When he meets Song Cheng, he invites him to a restaurant for a drink.
In the past, Song Cheng would have agreed immediately, but now, he subconsciously looked at Ye Ming and asked about Ye Ming's attitude.
Ye Ming smiled and nodded, saying it was no problem, and Song Cheng agreed.
Scholar Chen was a little confused about who Ye Ming was, and why Song Cheng had such an attitude.
But at this time, Song Cheng was afraid that someone would take away his good fortune from him, so he only argued that Ye Ming was an elder in his family, so he respected him.
Seeing that Ye Ming didn't expose him, Song Cheng was relieved and respected Ye Ming even more.
When the three of them arrived at the restaurant, Scholar Chen felt that since Ye Ming was Song Cheng's elder, he should also be considered his elder, so he invited Ye Ming to sit down.
Ye Ming was not polite and sat on top.
Seeing that Ye Ming seemed to have no intention of participating in their discussion, the two of them exchanged glasses and started chatting and laughing.
But whenever the wine glass was empty in Ye Ming, Song Cheng would immediately help him refill it, very attentively.
When Chen Shusheng saw this, he felt that Song Cheng was so respectful to an elder who was obviously very poor. He was really a gentleman worthy of friendship.
Scholars' chats inevitably involve political affairs. When it comes to current political affairs, both of them beat their chests and curse the corruption of today's officials. The court is full of people who are just trying to fawn over others and seek profit.
He also talked about how he had the world in mind, how upright he was, and how he would never follow the crowd.
Song Cheng said, and respectfully filled a glass for Ye Ming. He didn't feel that there was any conflict between his words and his actions.
A few people were chatting when they heard the sound of gongs and drums on the other side of the street. Yamen officials cleared the way and cleared the streets on both sides. Someone shouted, "The county magistrate has returned to the city, and the idle people should stay away."
"It should be that the county magistrate has returned from worshiping the river god."
Chen Shusheng was aware of some of the county magistrate's trends.
Song Cheng also followed and watched. The magistrate's pomp was not small. The government servants cleared the way and the two-horse carriage made many people envious.
"Brother Yan Hou, do you know that the magistrate of this county is not actually a Jinshi, but was promoted to fill a vacancy?"
"Recruiting people to fill the vacancies?"
Song Cheng curled his lips when he heard this.
"It turns out he's not a Jinshi."
Although he was just a scholar, he felt that it was because of his bad luck that he had never been elected, and he was quite disdainful of promoting people to official positions.
“I heard that this man spent a lot of money to make up for this shortfall.
After taking office, all kinds of taxes have been raised for obvious purposes. He is an out-and-out corrupt official! "
"Humph, these corrupt officials really deserve to be punished. It is because of the existence of these people that the court has become what it is today. If I were an official, I would work hard to eliminate the evils and bring peace to the world!"
Song Cheng said very angrily.
"Alas, the world is unfair. You and I are just a scholar so far. I don't know if I can win the imperial examination next time, let alone become a Jinshi."
Chen Shusheng shook his head and sighed, feeling that his fate was in trouble.
Song Cheng was convinced. The two of them toasted and drank another drink.
After drinking and eating, Chen Shusheng invited Song Cheng and Ye Ming to stay at his house for a night.
Song Cheng asked Ye Ming for instructions again, and Ye Ming nodded.
The place where Chen Shusheng lives is not big, with only one guest room.
Chen Shusheng introduced Song Cheng as a confidant and had a long talk with him.
While the two were talking animatedly, they suddenly heard a woman calling for help outside the house.
Upon hearing this, the two passionate scholars who boasted their ability to save the world and the people immediately stood up and ran straight out of the house.
At this time, there were three city gangsters surrounding a little nun outside the house. The little nun was forced into a corner, holding a kerosene can tightly in her arms.
Seeing that the three thugs were about to do something inappropriate to the little nun, Chen Shusheng shouted and tried to stop the three men.
If ordinary people saw two scholars wearing kerchiefs, they would respect them more and at least they would not confront them. However, these gangsters obviously didn't care about their identities and just told them to mind their own business.
At this moment, Chen Shusheng's blood was rising. When he saw the three rogues determined to take action, he shouted and rushed forward.
Seeing this, Song Cheng on the side also wanted to step forward to save people, but as soon as he took a step forward, he stopped again.
It wasn't that he was afraid of the three rogues, but he thought that if he took action now, he would be helping the little nun.
Then wouldn’t my blessings be divided?
When he thought of this, Song Cheng calmed down and chose to be a gentleman by talking but not by taking action.
Although Chen Shusheng was not a weakling, he could only fight one person at most. How could he be an opponent when he faced three thugs all at once?
Within a few seconds, he was knocked to the ground, beaten and kicked by the thugs.
"Brother Yanhou, come and help me!"
Chen Shusheng called for help from Song Cheng, but when Song Cheng saw this, he retreated further.
Seeing this, the three thugs became even more arrogant and beat Chen Shusheng severely.
Finally, the policeman on night patrol heard the noise and came to check.
A few scoundrels usually suffered a lot from the police officers and ran away in a hurry. When the police officers saw that they were familiar faces, they chased after them excitedly...
Song Cheng, Chen Shusheng, and the little nun were the only three people left at the scene, and the atmosphere seemed a little strange for a moment.
The little nun wanted to step forward to check on Chen Shusheng's injuries, but she was too scared to step forward.
Song Cheng looked ashamed and didn't know what to do.
At this time, Ye Ming walked out, stretched, yawned, and "looked" this way:
"What's going on? You guys stay up late at night and are wrestling here?"
Song Cheng was immediately embarrassed when he saw Ye Ming coming out. Fortunately, Ye Ming was "blind" and shouldn't be able to see Chen Shusheng.
Seeing Chen Shusheng lying on the ground moaning in pain and speechless after being beaten, Song Cheng had an idea and quickly stepped forward to help him and helped him into the house.
The little nun who had escaped saw the ruffian running away. When the two people returned to the house, she also hurried away.
Lei Ling appeared on the wall and rolled her eyes:
"You guys are really unkind and deceive a kind-hearted person into a selfish person."
Ye Ming shook his head and said with a smile:
"No, no, this is his own choice and has nothing to do with me."
Hearing this, Lei Ling snorted. This old devil killed people without repaying his life, and yet he is still here to get rid of the relationship. It is quite shameless.
Song Cheng helped Chen Shusheng into the room and applied some medicine to his wounds.
Chen Shusheng was in great pain and fell asleep in a daze.
Song Cheng took care of him for a while and saw that Scholar Chen was completely asleep and would not wake up for a while, so he quietly left and sneaked back into the guest room.
Seeing that Ye Ming had returned to the house and was sleeping on his side, he came to Ye Ming and said softly:
"Mr. Yang, it's getting late, we should go."
Ye Ming didn't respond and seemed to be sleeping deeply.
Seeing this, Song Cheng pushed Ye Ming gently, but he still didn't wake up.
He called several times in succession, but received no response.
"Slept so hard?"
Song Cheng was a little confused, so after thinking about it, he simply picked up Ye Ming, put it on his back, and went out.
When I got to the yard, I wanted to put Ye Ming on the back of the donkey and let the donkey carry it.
But for some reason, Donkey Gen just refused to cooperate and kept avoiding Song Cheng, leaving him helpless.
Not only was Donkey Gen uncooperative, but even the cat was too lazy to pay attention to him.
In desperation, Song Cheng gritted his teeth, led the donkey root, carried Ye Ming on his back, and left Chen Shusheng's house in the dark.
...
