You can go to the rice shop to inquire about the selling price of grain earlier, but how did Zhou Zixu know about the warehouses full of grain for disaster relief and the relegation of imperial officials.
Thinking of the teahouse he mentioned just now, Lin Yuanqiu quickly reacted, "Did you hear it from the teahouse?"
Zhou Zixu nodded hummingly, "What, I'm smart, right?"
It turned out that Zhou Zixu had been thinking about how to increase his knowledge since he said he wanted to be his teacher a few days ago.
Although he did not want to admit the general criticism given by Mr. Wu Jing, it was difficult to find evidence when he wrote the policy, but it was an indisputable fact.
Therefore, Zhou Zixu feels that for now, the most important thing for him to do is to collect more like Brother Lin, and being pragmatic is the key right now.
As for the source, in addition to getting it from Wei Mo Zhiyi and the policies and documents of previous rural examinations, Zhou Zixu suddenly thought of a place, that is, a teahouse, especially a teahouse near a busy dock, where people come and go every day. There are quite a few Jia Xingshang, and most of these people travel all over the world, so they naturally know everything about the world. If you go there often, you will definitely hear a lot of useful things.
So, taking advantage of today being a holiday, I hurriedly took the book and inkstone to the Bafang Teahouse at Beicheng Pier.
Before going out, Zhou Zixu originally wanted to call Lin Yuanqiu, but he was afraid that it would be different than what he expected, so he thought it would be better to go by himself first.
When the master and servant got there, they chose a seat near the window and sat down. They asked the waiter to serve tea, and then they ate their tea while pricking their ears.
Teahouses are different from restaurants. Here, as long as you have free time, even if you sit there all day with a tea bowl, the shopkeeper will not come to chase you, and the waiter will come over from time to time with a teapot to refill you with some tea.
But the prerequisite is that you have to spend money to order tea, otherwise you will definitely get a look from the shopkeeper just sitting there.
Just as Zhou Zixu expected, as a ship docked, more merchants came to the tea house to have tea.
Among them, apart from a small number of people who come here to discuss business, more of them come here to chat with people while unloading or loading goods.
They are all people who travel all over the country, and they must know a lot of things. When the conversation becomes interesting, they will naturally talk about what they have seen and heard in various places.
This made Zhou Zixu, whose ears were filled with excitement, so happy that he regretted not remembering to bring his pen, ink, paper and inkstone with him when he came here. Otherwise, there would be too much information in his head and it would be mixed into a pot of porridge.
In the end, he felt that he could no longer remember it in his mind, so he had no choice but to come back early. When he got to the dormitory, he picked up a pen and wrote down the information in the book, and then quickly came here to "show off".
Lin Yuanqiu greatly admired Zhou Zixu's smart mind. Maybe there was no such lobby-style place for chatting in his previous life, so Lin Yuanqiu had no idea of thinking about it.
Looking at the content written down by Zhou Zixu, it involves many aspects, including farming, people's livelihood, officialdom, etc. All of these are the current affairs they need to know most.
Seeing the admiration in Brother Lin's eyes, Zhou Zixu was excited. It was not easy to get a compliment from Brother Lin.
Lin Yuanqiu, who had found a good method, was no less excited than Zhou Zixu. People often say that when three people are walking together, there must be a teacher like me, but Lin Yuanqiu feels that when two people are walking together, there must be a teacher like me.
Thinking of the fact that I had made a lot of money from selling paintings in the morning, and now I had a good trick from Brother Zhou, two good things came together, so I should celebrate today.
Lin Yuanqiu waved his hand proudly, "Brother Zhou, I will cook lunch today. Let's go to Yuxiangju to eat braised fish now!"
Eat eat eat eat fish?
Zhou Zixu's eyes widened immediately. He had just eaten not long ago. Are you going again today?
So, can’t you survive this day?
Seeing the confusion on the other party's face, Lin Yuanqiu couldn't help laughing and said, "Come on, are you going or not?"
"Go, go, definitely go!"
Zhou Zixu was too lazy to worry about it. There was delicious braised fish to eat, so he would be a fool not to go.
Besides, after drinking a lot of tea, I really wanted to eat something delicious to calm my stomach.
…
After this day, Lin Yuanqiu and Zhou Zixu had one more place to go.
Almost every other day, the two of them would go to the Bafang Teahouse on the pier. Anyway, there are no lectures for half a day in the afternoon, so it is a cheaper arrangement.
Compared with the bustle in the morning, the teahouse in the afternoon can be described as packed. There were several times when neither Lin Yuanqiu nor Zhou Zixu got their turn.
With more people, there are naturally more topics to talk about, and most of the two of them "return with a full load" every time.
After returning to Fu Xue, I will sort out and classify them one by one.
In this way, only one month has passed, and the recorded current affairs information can already fit into a booklet.
…
After entering the winter months, the weather gradually became colder.
Because they were worried about their son who was studying abroad, Lin Sanzhu and Zhou Xing came to Fucheng together.
In addition to taking a look at their son, the two also sent him a newly made cotton-padded jacket. Children are at the age when they are growing up. How can you make a new coat?
No, if I wear last year’s cotton-padded jacket this year, the hem is almost as short as my knees.
Seeing that his dog's face had finally grown some flesh, Lin Sanzhu's mouth almost turned crooked with joy.
It's good to grow meat, so that the strong ones won't get sick, and they can withstand the cold better in the winter.
When he was about to return, Lin Sanzhu remembered that Chun Xiu had not yet announced his marriage, so he told Lin Yuanqiu about it. The man was the second son of the Shen family who had informed him in a letter before.
The Shen family has medical clinics in Hengxi Town and Zhoushan County. Considering their family background, they are pretty good.
…
Chapter 92 Writing a letter home
Entering the twelfth lunar month, there are a lot more pedestrians coming and going on the streets. As the New Year approaches, everyone is here to buy new year's goods.
The shops on the street are busy, and the dock where goods come and go must be much busier than before. Similarly, Bafang Tea House was even more packed.
However, Lin Yuanqiu and Zhou Zixu were not affected by the packed seats. Because during this period, even if the two of them came later, the Eight Immortals table near the door would be reserved for them.
It's not that the shopkeeper took special care of it, nor that Lin Yuanqiu and the others had paid the deposit, but that people came over every day to help look after it.
As for who is looking at the seats, of course they are the residents around the pier.
The old scholar who writes letters home hasn't set up a stall for more than half a month, but everyone is still waiting to send letters home to say everyone is safe. Now that they finally have someone to help write letters, they will naturally not miss it.
Therefore, nearby residents who wanted to write letters home would come to the teahouse early and sit down at the table next to the door, which meant that they had occupied a seat in advance. This way, when the two little scholars come over, they will have a place to write letters.
Seeing this, the teahouse owner and shop assistant didn't say much. After all, the two scholars would order tea and cakes when they came over, so they didn't delay the business in the building.
And these two little scholars, of course, refer to Lin Yuanqiu and Zhou Zixu.
It's funny to say that to this day, Lin Yuanqiu and Zhou Zixu have not figured out how they came to the tea house to drink tea and listen to others chatting, but they turned into writing letters for others.
I remember that I came to the teahouse a little late that day. When they saw that there was only an empty table next to the door, the two of them didn't mind it. They hurriedly pulled up a bench and sat down, and then asked the waiter to deliver it quickly as usual. Come over for refreshments.
When the tea and snacks were on the table, the two of them looked aside and found that there were indeed several merchants taking notes today, which made Lin Yuanqiu and Zhou Zixu secretly happy.
So the two of them put the pen and ink they brought on the table in a grand manner, poured some tea from the bowl into the inkstone, and then started grinding the ink as if nothing had happened.
Today is the first time that Lin Yuanqiu and the others have brought pens, ink and inkstones to the teahouse. There is nothing they can do. There is so much useful information in the past few days. If they don't write it down with pen and paper, they will definitely not be able to remember so much with their brains alone.
So the two of them thought that when they come here next time, they might as well bring pen, ink, paper and inkstone with them. Anyway, there are many merchants in the teahouse these days who are flipping through the ledgers and registering accounts, so the two of them are not out of the ordinary. Others who saw them must have thought that they were busy keeping accounts.
Lin Yuanqiu and Zhou Zixu, who were eager to memorize more useful information at this time, never thought that with the faces of two people who looked like scholars at first glance, how could others be stupid enough to mistake them for businessmen doing accounting.
No, as soon as the two of them finished grinding the ink and before they started writing, a ragged middle-aged man who looked like he was helping people carry goods at the dock poked his head in and said, "Little scholar, write a letter for me." .”
Before Lin Yuanqiu and Zhou Zixu could react, the middle-aged man quickly took out a few coins from his pocket, put them on the table, and began to describe what he wanted to write, "Father, mother, my son is already here. I have found a job to make money in Fucheng. I can earn sixty or seventy cents a day, and I can have enough to eat every day. You two don’t have to worry..."
Because he had to rush to carry the goods, the middle-aged man spoke a little fast. But when he saw that the two people opposite him were still in a daze and had not started writing, he thought that he must have spoken in a hurry, so he stopped hurriedly, and then started talking from the beginning word by word. When he spoke again, the man's tone of voice The speed is much slower.
Then, Zhou Zixu saw Brother Lin, who was sitting opposite him, dipping his pen in ink and starting to write a letter on the paper according to the man's description.
The man in front of him reminded Lin Yuanqiu of the time when his father went to the dock to carry goods, so he just helped if he could. It was just a matter of effort.
I thought this was just an example, but not long after the middle-aged man left with the written letter home, several more people who wanted to write letters soon came over.
The clothes are also wrinkled and the fingers are cracked. At first glance, he looks like someone who has been working hard at the dock to support his family all year round.
Lin Yuanqiu also learned in recent days that most of the residents in Beicheng came from other places.
These people can endure hardship better than people in Fucheng and are stronger, so merchants like to hire them to do work.
If you can earn money, you will naturally be able to retain people. Gradually, many foreigners have settled here, making a living by transporting goods at the dock for many years.
As the Chinese New Year approaches, it is the time for them to send money and letters home. Maybe it was because the weather was too cold. The old scholar who wrote letters for others hadn't come back these days. Everyone was anxious. When they heard Li Erniu said that there were people who wrote letters for others in the teahouse, naturally, They all ran over as if they were flying.
Facing such a group of people, Lin Yuanqiu and Zhou Zixu couldn't say anything if they refused. In the end, they had to pick up their pens and write letters for them one by one. Lin Yuanqiu also gave Shuyan some silver and asked him to go to the bookstore to buy some. It's better to bring the envelope for the letter than to just let people hold the letter paper like this.
As for the money for writing letters for others, the two of them discussed it and finally decided to do the same as others, charging five to ten yuan depending on the length of the words.
Originally, it was not easy for them to earn money through hard work. Zhou Zixu wanted to not charge a penny, but Lin Yuanqiu did not agree.
It's not that he is reluctant to part with these few pennies of income, but that they can't disrupt the market.
If they write letters for people for free today, what will they do when the old scholar comes out to set up a stall again? They may make a living from this income.
When Zhou Zixu heard this, he couldn't help but stick out his tongue, thinking that his idea was indeed inappropriate. Just like Brother Lin said, this world is not easy for everyone, and they can't affect other people's livelihoods because of their temporary kindness.
Speaking of not being easy, Zhou Zixu thought of himself and Brother Lin at this time. You see, they were sitting at the door on a very cold day. Although there was a thick curtain to block the wind, every time someone came in, they would bring their The cold wind came in, and several of Brother Lin's fingers began to develop frostbite.
I heard from Brother Lin that when he puts his hands under the quilt at night when sleeping, the frostbitten areas will feel painful and itchy, which is very uncomfortable.
Zhou Zixu has never had chilblains before, so he has never experienced what it feels like to be itchy and painful.
But it must be quite uncomfortable to see Brother Lin gritting his teeth every time he talks about frostbite.
At this time, Lin Yuanqiu looked at his fingers, which were much thicker than before. He really didn't know what to say. He had only been well for a year, but he didn't expect them to grow again this year.
Lin Yuanqiu discovered that as long as chilblains occur once, they will easily grow again every winter.
Fortunately, my frostbite didn't break the skin, otherwise the taste would have been even more sour.
…
Writing letters for others lasted until the sixteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. When almost no one came over, Lin Yuanqiu and Zhou Zixu took a break from going to the teahouse.
In two days' time, it will be the annual holiday for the government school. The two of them wanted to go out on the street to buy some things for their families.
Although it is said to be a family member, in fact not everyone will buy it. Apart from the grandparents, the rest are a few little ones, two nieces, a nephew, and a little nephew.
As for spring swallows and spring grass, it goes without saying that Lin Yuanqiu would buy them gifts every time. Sometimes they had flowers, sometimes fabrics, and fans, etc. They all picked the most fashionable styles at the moment.
When buying things for his two younger sisters, Lin Yuanqiu would also bring something to Chunxiu. Now that there were only three sisters in the family, the second sister would not be missing.
Thinking of how excited they were when they received the hair flowers last time, Lin Yuanqiu planned to buy them hair flowers again this time, as did his two little nieces.
Choosing gifts for girls is not Lin Yuanqiu's strong point. Anyway, you can't go wrong by following the crowd.
Seeing that Brother Lin bought two small flowers with beads for each of his two little nieces, Zhou Zixu hurriedly picked two flowers as well.
