The few clerks who came out of the pen and ink shop still turned away people.
The shopkeeper looked very ugly. Regardless of whether the person who just shouted was true or false, shouting at the door of their shop would always affect the business of the shop.
The shopkeeper angrily scolded the man: "Even if Zhang Yuan has something to do, what does it have to do with us? If you keep talking nonsense, be careful that the police will take you to the government office."
Upon hearing this, the man immediately looked around, fearing that there were indeed patrol patrols.
"I mean well," the man said, "I asked you to make preparations in advance to avoid being implicated by Zhang Yuan. Who told you to only buy books with Zhang Yuan's annotations?"
"You still think Zhang Yuan will be able to pass the imperial examination in the future? Zhang Yuan is not the only one in the entire northwest."
The people watching the excitement also understood a little at this time. The person shouting should also be a scholar, and he was definitely not as good as Zhang Yuan on weekdays. Now that something happened to Zhang Yuan, he couldn't wait to spread it everywhere.
Such people are not uncommon.
There were also people in the crowd who knew Zhang Yuan.
Zhao Luoyang listened to their whispers.
"It's the very famous Zhang Xiucai. I heard he is the number one student in the northwest."
"Several universities are vying for him to apply for the exam."
"Yes, the book annotated by Zhang Xiucai is also very good. My brother read that book and passed the scholar examination this year."
"A few days ago, I passed by a government school and saw Zhang Xiucai followed by many people. Who among us scholars here doesn't recognize Zhang Yuan? They also said that he had something to do this year and was unable to catch up with the provincial examination, otherwise he would definitely be a candidate for the exam now.
.”
"Zhang Xiucai knows how to kill people?"
"You're lying! Didn't you say that Zhang Yuan was kind-hearted and gave the money from selling books to scholars who were rushing to take exams to pay for their expenses? He also worked as a teacher for a few children, but he just collected some coarse grains to make repairs."
"That's not necessarily true. I don't know whether the rumors are true or not. Maybe Zhang Yuan did this just to become famous. Who knows what he is thinking?"
"He dares to even care about the female relatives in the village? If the people in the village find out, how can he still have a good son? I'm afraid that before the government office investigates, he will..."
The speakers looked at each other with a bit of fear in their eyes and did not say all the rest.
Zhao Luoyang understood what he heard and said to Shi Jiu in his mind: "It seems that Ah Shu's case has made progress again."
Shi Jiu said: "I wonder where that Zhang Yuan is? Even if there are portraits and clothes of the village's children, Ah Shu's death is not necessarily related to him. If he is still there, it shouldn't be difficult to find out."
Zhao Luoyang said: "You mean, this Zhang Yuan might..."
Shi Jiu said: "The man said that Zhang Yuan was admitted to the government school, but the people who came from the government school failed to find Zhang Yuan, so they entered Zhang Yuan's home."
Zhao Luoyang said: "If he hadn't been unable to find anyone anywhere, he wouldn't have broken open the door easily. Moreover, Zhang Yuan also knew that Fu Xue had recently released results. He should wait for the news at home."
If an unusual situation occurs, there may be a problem.
"Let's go." The shopkeeper couldn't bear it anymore. He stepped forward and snatched the book back from the man's hand, and then motioned to the waiter to drive the man away.
The shop assistants came around. The man rolled his eyes and immediately took two steps back. When he saw that the assistants were not chasing him, he shouted again: "Just wait for the news, maybe the government officials will come looking for you again."
When the man walked away, the crowd gradually dispersed.
The shopkeeper frowned and led the waiter into the shop.
Zhao Luoyang and Shi Jiu said, "Let's go in and take a look."
Originally she was going to buy pens, ink and other things, but now that she had encountered such a thing, she couldn't let it go.
The shopkeeper walked into the shop and ordered the clerk to tidy up everything that the man had messed up. Then he looked at the book annotated by Zhang Yuan in his hand and couldn't help but sigh. He hadn't seen Zhang Yuan for several days and didn't know who the man was.
What you say is true or not.
The clerk stepped forward and said, "Why don't you go find Zhang Xiucai and ask?"
"He often goes to just those few places. Everyone who is familiar with him knows that people from the government school must have been there." The shopkeeper smoothed out the wrinkled books of the man, "You go and do your work. I will go and take a look later.
.”
As soon as the shopkeeper finished saying this, he heard a voice saying: "Shopkeeper, are you from Jiangnan?"
The shopkeeper raised his head and saw a girl of fifteen or sixteen years old.
The girl was accompanied by two half-year-old boys.
"I am," the shopkeeper said subconsciously, "Are you... from Jiangnan?"
Zhao Luoyang shook his head and smiled with his dimples: "No, on the way to Taozhou, we met a medicinal materials shop. The shopkeeper inside is also from Jiangnan. He spoke very nicely, and I remembered it immediately."
The last half of Zhao Luoyang's sentence was still spoken in a Jiangnan accent. It didn't sound very stiff, but it made the shopkeeper laugh.
"What you said does sound a bit like it," the shopkeeper continued, "What are you here to buy?"
Zhao Luoyang nodded: "We are immigrants. We were naturalized in Taozhou. When we go to the city, we need to buy some books, pens and ink, etc. We don't know much about them, so long as they are cheap and easy to use."
After saying this, Zhao Luoyang took Zhao Yuanrang and Zhao Yuanji to salute the shopkeeper.
Zhao Xuejing stood aside and listened without interrupting. He just smiled and nodded when the shopkeeper looked over.
The shopkeeper looked at these people, their clothes were all patched, it was obvious that their families were not well off, and it was not easy for them to buy these things.
The shopkeeper asked: "Is there a scholar in your family?"
Zhao Luoyang nodded: "My father, third uncle, and fourth uncle are all studying, and my brothers and I are also literate. We have elders at home to teach us. But we encountered something on the road and ran out of books and stuff. We first had to buy some to make do with it.
The shopkeeper helped us find some cheap ones. When our family situation gets better in the future, we will come back and buy more."
The shopkeeper knew that relocation was not easy. He saw many emigrants coming and going in the city, but this was the first time they came to buy things.
The shopkeeper immediately looked around and pointed to the pen and ink beside him: "These are good, they are not expensive, but they can be used."
"If you are buying paper, if you don't mind, there are some backlogged goods and the corners are not very good, but it won't be a problem after cutting."
"As for the books..."
The shopkeeper thought about the age of the child's family and that they were all studying for the imperial examination. On weekdays, he would take out books with Zhang Yuan's annotations. Zhang Yuan did not make much money from those manuscripts and sold them cheaply.
But now that Zhang Yuan's incident has happened, the shopkeeper can't bring it out anymore: "I'll look for it for you, and you can choose."
"Shopkeeper," Zhao Luoyang said, "we met a man on the way here and said that a famous scholar here is Zhang Xiucai. He asked me to come to you to buy Zhang Xiucai's books."
Zhao Xuejing blinked, didn't they just happen to come here? How could Sister Luo tell them that they found this shop on purpose?
Moreover, Zhao Yuanrang and Zhao Yuanji next to him nodded along.
What's going on?
What does Luo Jie'er want to do? To get the shopkeeper to lower the price, or to inquire about the case in Zhaizi? He is not stupid either. They found cloth on the Huang family farm before, and on the way here, Luo Jie'er saw Zhaizi again.
People obviously take this matter to heart.
The shopkeeper sighed: "Normally I would let you buy Zhang Yuan's books, but... didn't you hear what the man said just now? Zhang Xiucai doesn't know if something happened?"
Zhao Luoyang looked confused: "I heard it, but many people said that it must be a lie. Zhang Xiucai is kind-hearted and talented. He doesn't look like that kind of person."
These words touched the shopkeeper's heart.
The shopkeeper said: "I don't think Zhang Xiucai can do that kind of thing. The Zhang family has been in Taozhou for many years. Zhang Yuan's father worked as a scribe for Jiang Zhizhou. Later, Xu Shen succeeded Zhizhou and even invited Zhang Yuan's father.
.”
A flash occurred in Zhao Luoyang's mind. She had seen the name Xu Shen in Bai's introduction. She seemed to understand him. Jiang Zhizhou was the magistrate of Taozhou before Xu Shen.
After doing this calculation, Zhao Luoyang and Shi Jiu said: "When the people from the village moved to Taozhou, the governor of Taozhou at the time was most likely the governor Jiang."
Shi Jiu was very familiar with all the previous magistrates of Taozhou.
After Jiang Wei was appointed to Taozhou five or six years ago, and Jiang Wei became ill and retired from office four years ago, the post of governor of Taozhou fell to Xu Shen.
Later, Sun Ji discovered evidence of Xu Shen's corruption, and joined forces with others to pull Xu Shen down. Sun Ji even wanted to use this to ascend to the position of governor of Taozhou, and even wrote a letter to the palace for help.
He once asked people to check Sun Ji's person, but he looked down on his character and did not help him. So the governor of Taozhou fell on Zhang Ting.
Sun Ji was so unwilling that he lurked in Taozhou for many years and dealt with Zhang Ting again. This time he secretly climbed into the Feng family. Finally, after Zhang Ting was imprisoned, Sun Ji took Taozhou into his hands.
Therefore, in the past few years, Taozhou has had four governors.
Naturally, Shi Jiu couldn't tell Zhao Luoyang about these past events. He just said: "It should be."
The shopkeeper continued: "Zhang Yuan's father and mother passed away a few years ago, leaving Zhang Yuan alone in the Zhang family. In the past, I often sent pens and ink to the Zhang family, and I was relatively familiar with Zhang Yuan. It stands to reason...that the Zhang family is like that
Zhang Yuan will not do anything outrageous, not to mention that Zhang Yuan has a bright future."
"If it is true... then it really shouldn't be possible. He is only eighteen or nineteen years old."
The shopkeeper looked at the book in his hand and felt that he had said too much. He was also emotionally flustered in his heart, which is why he said this: "If you don't care about the truth or falsehood of those words, you can buy his book."
"This book has been folded. If you want, take away the five hundred coins!"
Zhao Luoyang naturally agreed. A book could be sold for at least 1,000 yuan. Five hundred yuan was already very little, and he could also get to know Zhang Yuan through the book.
"Thank you, shopkeeper. I want to buy something else," Zhao Luoyang said, "but I don't have any money at the moment, so I have to sell some things."
"I just wanted to ask you about who to sell the furs to. We met a servant from Liu's shop on the road and said that they charge the highest price. I don't know if that's true."
Zhao Xuejing understood. After asking about Zhang Yuan, her niece also wanted to ask about the Liu family. She had arranged this matter clearly.
I bought cheap books, could inquire about all kinds of news, and made the shopkeeper happy.