That afternoon, Shen Yi found a carpenter's shop on Dongshi Street and bought a bed that someone else had ordered but didn't want.
In this era, most furniture is custom-made, and carpenters will only start work after receiving the order. If you want to buy the finished product directly, you can only buy something that someone else ordered and then returned.
The bed is not very expensive, and the cost of hiring a laborer to deliver it will only cost about four taels of silver.
After buying the bed, Shen Yi bought them a small cabinet to store clothes. He also bought it in a carpenter's shop. Together with the bed he bought later, it cost Shen Yi five taels of silver in total.
Of course, although the quality of the furniture bought at this price is decent, it cannot be made of precious wood and can only be described as ordinary furniture.
After working hard all afternoon, Shen Yi made the beds for the two little girls. In the evening, Shen Yi took the two little girls to a restaurant on the roadside for a meal and asked the two little girls about it. The origin of.
The two little girls are both from Gyeonggi Province. Although their homes are not in Jiankang, they are not far from Jiankang. They both ran for the palace together when the palace was selecting maids a year and a half ago. One of their homes is in the suburbs of Beijing. , the other one is a little further away, in Runzhou Prefecture, which is only a few dozen miles away from Shen Yi's hometown of Jiangdu Prefecture, and is considered half of Shen Yi's hometown.
The two little girls were not from very good family backgrounds, so they were sent to Jiankang to participate in the selection of palace maidens. On the one hand, they found a way out, and on the other hand, they also subsidized the family.
Because the maids in the palace are paid.
Depending on the level of seniority, the monthly salary is about one to seven taels of silver. Even in Jiankang City, this income is not very low. The palace provides food and accommodation, and there is still some money left to support the family.
Shen Yi asked the two people in detail about their specific income. These two little girls had just entered the palace not long ago. In theory, they could earn one or two and a half coins a month, but because they were "newcomers", most of these people could not get it themselves. In the first few years, most of it would be taken away by the maids who took care of them. It usually takes three to five years after entering the palace before these maids can become financially independent and start to support their families.
After asking about the wages of the two people, Shen Yi set a salary of twenty taels a year for the two people during dinner that night, and allowed them to come and go freely, and they could go home when they wanted.
The two palace ladies were so happy that they almost kowtowed to Shen Yi.
Because they did not work in the palace, theoretically they had no freedom in life. If the emperor rewarded them, they would most likely become domestic servants. But Shen Yi's current attitude does not treat them as servants, but as servants. Became a long-term worker.
There are many rules in the palace, and if you don't do things carefully, you may lose your life. Now that they can leave the palace, their income will rise instead of falling, so the two of them are naturally happy.
After the three of them had a meal, they went home together. Shen Yi organized and finished writing three policy papers in his room. After reading them from beginning to end, he went back to bed and fell asleep.
Early the next morning, when it was getting dark, there was a knock on the door of Shen Yi's room, and the maid Qing'er called Shen Yi to get up and eat in a soft voice.
There are no entertainment tools in this era. Shen Yi is also used to going to bed early and getting up early. After saying yes, he got up from the bed and found that two little girls had prepared three or four side dishes and filled Shen Yi with hot water, ready to serve him. .
Shen felt uncomfortable all over. After washing up, he sat at the dining table.
The two little girls stood nearby, looking at Shen Yi quietly, not daring to sit down.
Shen Yi moved two chairs by himself and said: "From now on, when there are no outsiders in our house, we don't have to worry too much about the distinction between superiority and inferiority. We can sit down and eat together after cooking."
The two little girls were reluctant to sit down at the same table with Shen Yi at first, but Shen Yi was resolute, so the two little girls sat down and ate carefully.
After finishing breakfast, Shen Yi told the two little girls that he was going out, and then ran all the way to Dayifang with his own strategy.
At this time, Shen Yi already knew Mr. Gu's temper. He bought a whole jar of old wine from a winery in front of Dayifang and held it in his arms. Then he came to the door of Mr. Gu's private school and knocked on the door. After the private school's courtyard door, it didn't take long for Mr. Gu to come in person and open the door for Shen Yi.
Seeing Shen Yi holding a large jar of wine, Old Man Gu smiled happily and said with a smile: "I didn't realize it, but you are quite generous."
Shen Yi also showed a smile and said, "I didn't bring wine to my husband twice before, so I made up for it this time."
After Shen Yi entered the private school, he found that there was no one in the private school. After asking, he found out that Mr. Gu's private school had two days of rest every ten days, which means six days of leave a month. Today was the day of rest.
Mr. Gu was very happy to see a large jar of wine. He led Shen Yi directly to his study room and took the three policy papers from Shen Yi.
Compared with essays, these three policy papers are longer in word count. Old Man Gu was stroking his beard while reading them. He read them for nearly half an hour before reading all three policy papers. The old man nodded slightly and smiled. : "Yes, it can be seen that it was written with great care, but the allusions used are inaccurate in some places, and the wrong allusions are used in one or two places."
The old man pointed at the errors and omissions in Shen Yi's article, corrected them one by one, and continued: "Shen Qi, using allusions for policy discussions and showing off knowledge can sometimes please the examiner, but if there are some allusions that are not accurate, I would rather not use them. Don’t write randomly.”
Shen Yi nodded: "The students have memorized Mr.'s teachings."
After the little old man finished correcting Shen Yi's policy, he took out his writing brush and took a piece of white paper from the table. Shen Yi was very discerning and immediately sharpened the ink for the old man.
Old Man Gu's handwriting was very beautiful, vigorous and unconventional. After a while, he wrote a dense piece of paper. After Shen Yi glanced at it, he realized that everything written on the paper was... the title of the book.
After filling up a piece of paper, the old man stopped writing, looked up at Shen Yi, and said: "There are still more than four months until the provincial examination. In these four months, you should try your best to read all these books. In four months, every time you come to see me, I will give you a policy topic. When you finish writing it, when you come to see me again, I will give you another policy topic."
Old Man Gu said quietly: "It's best to write one policy review a day, and write essays and the like along with it."
More than four months, more than 100 days, that is, more than 100 policy papers.
Shen Yi's scalp went numb when he heard it.
To be honest, these three policy papers have already killed many of his brain cells.
but…
Having the guidance of a famous teacher is something that other scholars dream of.
Shen Qilang took a deep breath and lowered his head deeply: "The student has written down what the teacher said. The student will try his best to complete the strategy assigned by the teacher."
"Um."
Old Man Gu looked at Shen Yi and said calmly: "If you follow my method, there is no guarantee that you will win the Jieyuan test, but there is at least a 70-80% chance of winning the test in Qiu Wei this year. You are young and have not accumulated enough knowledge. , if you want to pass the pilot test this year, there is only one way."
He said earnestly and thoughtfully: "Four months is too short. If you slack off for one day, you may fail the exam."
Shen Qilang made up his mind and slowly lowered his head.
"Don't worry, sir, students will never slack off!"
