The next day, it was early again. Yan Jingwen took Li Hao and rushed to Ming Academy for morning classes. This is the custom of Qingtan Academy. All academy students need to come in the morning and read articles aloud. Firstly, it is to develop good habits for students. Secondly, it is also to read classics aloud in the morning when the mind is clearest to review the past and learn new things.
After the morning class ended, Yan Jingwen took Li Hao to a table and introduced him: "This is Yan Fu, your senior brother." Then he said to Yan Fu: "This is Li Hao, the teacher's new disciple. He came to the academy just yesterday, and now he lives with me."
Yan Fu was a little surprised at first, but after hearing this, he replied: "So it's my junior brother. I heard about you when I visited the teacher before and said that you have photographic memory. Since we are classmates, if anything happens in the future , then you can come to me and my senior brother will help you solve it."
After hearing this, Li Hao replied: "Okay, senior brother." But at this time, Li Hao was only thinking about things in the academy and didn't care. But later I learned that Yan Fu was the son of Yan Jing, the current transfer envoy of Huainan East Road, and I realized that this senior brother could indeed solve many things. After all, this was a provincial cadre in later generations, and in this era he was considered a frontier official.
Yan Fu then stood up and said, "Let's go have breakfast together. After eating, we will go to the Jingzhai Hall to find the teacher."
Then the three of them went to the dining hall. The breakfast in the academy was also simple, almost the same as at Li Hao's home. During the meal, Li Hao also made a special observation. The basic clothes for eating in the dining hall were very simple. They should all be from poor families. Young men, like his eldest brother, who are rich and well-dressed, are almost never seen in the dining hall. But yes, they all have servants, and they should have bought food from outside, and they won't come to the canteen. Looking at it this way, it seemed that Yan Fu was a bit special. After finishing the meal, the three of them went to the Jingzhai Hall together.
In the Jingzhai Hall, Master Qin was already sitting high above, with three seats placed below, and pens, inks, paper and inkstones were placed on them. The three of them hurriedly said hello to the master, and then Yan Fu and Li Hao went over to sit down, and Li Hao went to the remaining seat and sat down.
After watching others sit firmly, Master Qin said: "Yan Fu, you are going to take the provincial examination this year. Today, you will choose one question from each of the four books and write four chapters on the classics and meanings. As for the Jingwen essay, you can take the children's examination next year. , it is not difficult for you to learn it with your talent. After passing the child examination, you have to prepare to take the next provincial examination, so in the next few days, in addition to doing scriptures and meanings, you can't let go of poems and verses."
Then he said to Li Hao: "You have a gift of photographic memory, and it will not be difficult for you to follow the scriptures. But you need to work hard to understand the meaning of the scriptures and make current policies and essays. Read the book a hundred times and you will see its meaning. Even if you can memorize it fluently, you should recite it often. Now that you are still young, you are not in a hurry to take the imperial examination, but to slowly understand the principles in the book. I will teach you the Filial Piety Classic in the next few days. "
Then he asked Yan Fu and Yan Jingwen to compose their essays, and then took out the book and explained the classics and principles in the book to Li Hao. Day after day, Master Qin would constantly adjust the teaching content for the three of them based on their different learning progress. In this way, Li Hao felt that he was constantly improving in his understanding of scriptures.
Ten days passed quickly, and Li Hao ushered in his first holiday. Yan Fu originally invited Yan Jingwen and Li Hao to go shopping in Yangzhou City and have a small gathering.
But Li Hao had made an appointment with his parents in advance, and at this time, he was obsessed with asking his parents about soap sales. However, Yan Jingwen saw that Li Hao was not going and did not want to go out, so he stayed in the academy to study.
On the day of Xiu Mu, Li Hao arrived at the gate of the academy early in the morning and happened to see Li Jian and Wei Shi waiting there.
Li Hao had not yet had time to learn. As soon as Mrs. Wei saw Li Hao, she said, "My son has lost weight again, but it is hard to study in the academy."
Li Hao looked down at himself and felt that the thinness in his parents' eyes was different from his own. But he could only comfort me by saying, "No, everything is fine in the academy. The two senior brothers also take good care of me. It's not hard."
Wei wanted to say something else, but Li Jian said first: "Don't say it here for now. Hao'er definitely doesn't have anything good to eat in the academy. Let's find a restaurant for Hao'er to eat some good food."
Because the academy is located in a quiet area and there are no big restaurants around, the three of them walked to the market. On the way, Li Hao asked: "How are the sales of soap these days?"
Li Jian listened and smiled and replied: "The sales were very good. Your mother and I demonstrated it directly at the market. When others saw the effect, many people bought it. The more than two hundred yuan you made originally has been I sold them all, and later I made another batch and sold almost all of them. Your mother and I have roughly calculated that, excluding the cost, we have roughly earned six or seven taels of silver, which is less than half a year. And now I know There are more and more people, and we are selling more and more these days, and now we are making the third batch."
Li Hao listened and smiled and replied: "That's the case, we can actually expand production. My father has to do it all by himself and sell it in the city. It's okay now. I can barely keep busy. I'll wait for more people to use it in the future." If there are too many, you will definitely be busy. Then it is better to prepare in advance. As long as you have the remaining money in your hand, you can recruit some people to do the work and increase the production to prevent people from buying out the goods in the future. But confidentiality is also very important. The alkaline water and salt water inside must be prepared by my father in private first. If someone wants to do it, just give him the ready-made ones. This will ensure that others cannot learn the specific methods."
After Li Hao finished speaking, he thought for a while and said: "Another important thing is to buy a shop in the city. After all, if the business is big, it must have a front. You can't just set up a stall in the market all the time. And in the future We also need to make soap, which is to be sold to officials and wealthy households, so selling it in the market would be inappropriate."
After hearing this, Li Jian asked curiously: "What is soap? How is it different from soap?"
Li Hao replied: "Soap is an advanced product of soap. Soap is used for washing clothes, but soap is used for bathing and washing the body. After washing, the body is not only clean, but also scented. As for the method, it is not the same. It’s difficult. Once the sales of soap are completely increased, we can start making soap. Then I will give you the recipe and you can just follow it.”
Just as he was talking, after rounding a bend, he saw a bustling street several feet wide. There were shops, restaurants, teahouses and houses on the street. There was an endless stream of cars and horses, and there were many small stalls and hawkers shouting loudly. Minor tunes come and go, making it very noisy. At this time, Li Hao saw a restaurant, which happened to be the one where the oil was changed. So Li Hao said: "Why don't we just go into this restaurant." Li Jian and Wei had no objections, so the three of them walked in. It was still early and there weren't many people in the restaurant, so they ate in sporadically. There were two or three tables, and a waiter came to lead the way up to the second floor and led them to sit by the window on the second floor.
This was the first time Li Hao entered an ancient restaurant, so he looked around curiously. He saw that the restaurant was divided into three floors. The first and second floors were an ordinary lobby. There were thirty or forty tables, and the walls were covered with hangings. Calligraphy and painting. The middle of the second floor is empty, and you can see the stage in the middle of the first floor. It should be used by singers or storytellers. It must be very early at this time, so no one is there. On the third floor are private rooms that are partitioned off. I can’t see clearly what the layout is inside, but I think it must be much more gorgeous than the ones below.
At this moment, the waiter looked at the three of them carefully and asked, "I wonder what dishes the guests would like to order."
Li Hao then asked: "Do you have a menu here, or can you introduce to me what your specialty dishes are."
After hearing this, the waiter said: "As for the specialty dishes, our specialty is lion head and three sets of shelduck. The price is not expensive, it costs two taels of silver in total."
After listening, Li Hao thought to himself that he was trying to get some attention from me. He really only respected Luo Yi but not others. But he didn't reply. He just asked Wei and Li Jian what they wanted. Wei probably felt something, but Li Jian didn't hear it and said directly: "Then order both, and then serve two side dishes." That’s good.”
After hearing this, the waiter bowed and left. Li Hao then smiled and said, "Father, you are so generous this time. I am willing to give up even two taels of silver."
Li Jian replied: "Even if you can make money now, it is still appropriate for your mother and you to have a good meal occasionally."
These words made Li Hao feel a little emotional, and he immediately started to communicate with Li Jian about consumption concepts. After chatting for a while, Li Hao suddenly saw a familiar figure riding a horse and passing downstairs from the window.
