Because of the weather and the secret conversation, I kept the windows and doors closed for a long time, and I felt stuffy and almost breathless.
After Yu Lu and Fang Xi finished discussing today's gains, Fang Xi felt tight in her chest, so she opened the window and looked outside. The rain had almost stopped, only sporadic rain was falling, and the wind blew in like mist, giving it a slight chill.
.
"Man, are you there?" Fang Xi opened the door and called.
The people who live in the big shops at the back are all humble guests, and the people who live upstairs are the wealthy ones. When the waiter heard this, he hurriedly came up to greet him, his eyes narrowed with a smile, and he said, "What are your orders, sir?"
"Get some food and wine for us to use later, and a bottle of wine..."
"Can I have a pot of Nanchun old mash?"
"Okay, just one pot. We have something to do tomorrow, so we can't eat more. Do you understand?"
"Yes!" the waiter agreed: "The stove will wait for a while, I will serve you a pot of tea first."
The waiter brought tea and rewarded him to leave. The door was closed again. The two sat opposite each other, drinking tea. They should have been hungry, but they had no desire to eat at all. This shows that today's harvest was little.
It was really a bit of a shock.
"What should we do next? Should we continue to investigate in this county, or go to other places to investigate?" Fang Xi asked: "Several rice stores in the county have been inspected. Tomorrow, we will still be inspecting rice stores, and it is very likely that they will still be inspected.
I found nothing. I think the key is not the rice store, but the channel to buy rice."
Fang Xi just has no experience, not no brains. Anyone who can win the Jinshi is an idiot. Now he understands.
"But it is appropriate for us to ask about the price of rice, but it is inappropriate to ask about the purchase channel - who wants to ask about the channel when buying rice?"
"At most, ask if it's new rice."
"If you continue to ask questions, even an individual will feel that something is wrong."
"And the store owner won't tell you. The purchase channel of each store is the biggest secret." Yu Lu frowned: "I'm afraid it will be the same if I go to a rice store in other places. I can't ask."
"Then what should we do?" Fang Xi had no idea what to do after hearing this.
But even if there is no way, we still have to find a way.
This was their first time on an errand. They were trusted by the emperor so much. If they couldn't handle the errand well, wouldn't they be letting down the people they trusted?
This was the last thing the two newcomers to the officialdom wanted to see. The two sat there, frowning, trying to think of another solution.
"If you ask about channels, the only one is public authority. If your identity is revealed, you can access official files or even directly ask the government to cooperate."
"But the flow of rice grains is controlled by the government, so thieves can catch thieves?" Even Fang Xi shook his head.
Yu Lu frowned. The tea was good and the aroma was overflowing, but he had no intention of tasting it.
Yu Lu actually has some secret concerns.
At that time, all three of them were students in Linhua County. Su Zi was actually at the bottom regardless of his status and academic status. Later, he made rapid progress and became a scholar, a scholar, a champion, and even a marquis, a duke, a king, and a grandson.
He didn't dare to comment on the bloodline of the emperor, but he felt that he could compete with him for his talent - Taisun had made military and political achievements back then, but he didn't recognize them!
If your grandson can do it, why can’t you?
But now, the first step of the investigation has stumped me.
Is there such a big gap between myself and my grandson?
Yu Lu felt a faint sense of powerlessness.
At this moment, a sharp shout suddenly came from downstairs. Although it was a man shouting, it was extremely sharp and obviously extremely angry.
Even if the window is not open, you can still hear it on the second floor, let alone if the window is open?
Yu Lu and Fang Xi, who were thinking of a solution, were immediately shocked, but neither of them immediately got up to look, they just pricked up their ears at the same time.
"Oh...God is unfair...unfair!"
"Why! Why do you let me... suffer like this, hiccup!"
"God is unfair...I studied hard for more than ten years...I couldn't pass the exam...I couldn't pass the exam..."
"The government...is the government...the government is unfair..."
After listening carefully, I found that except for the first one, which was extremely sharp and shocking, the following words were a little more ambiguous. The person yelling was obviously drunk and swearing madly. Some of the curses could not be heard at all, but some could be heard clearly.
It's just a scolding of the government.
From what I heard, this was a scholar who failed to pass the examination. This kind of thing happens almost every year. Yu Lufangxi just listened to it for a while and didn't take it seriously.
Fang Xi also asked: "How about closing the window?"
If the people below continue to be drunk and crazy, it will be really noisy.
Yu Lu thought for a while and was about to agree, but at this moment, he heard the person below continued to scold: "Why are you laughing at me? Do you think I... hiccup! I'm talking nonsense? No! They are.
Being greedy and cruel is unfair, otherwise, those rice, those rice will not..."
rice?
This word was said twice by the people below, and when it was spoken most clearly, Fang Xi, who was standing up to close the window, was startled, then suddenly turned his head and looked at Yu Lu who was still sitting there: "
rice!"
Yes, rice!
The two of them were worrying about not being able to dig out any clues, and when they fell asleep, someone came to deliver pillows! Such a thing happened to them!
The two of them immediately opened the door and looked down the stairs. Sure enough, they saw a man in the hall, drunk and mad at the people who gathered around him. Looking at his clothes, he turned out to be a scholar!
"Let's go down quickly!" Yu Lu said.
Knowing that this was a rare opportunity, the two quickly left the room and went downstairs.
When I walked quickly to the lobby on the first floor, the waiter on the first floor of the inn was looking sad, trying to persuade the husband to go back, or at least say a few words, so as not to block the inn's business.
And there are some things that scholars can say, but our inn doesn’t dare to listen to them!
But unlike Midian, inns like theirs are mostly for the business of scholars. Although scholars are not as high-status as Juren, they are not easy to humiliate. The waiters do not dare to push around at will. If they make the scholars angry, then they will
Trouble.
So there was a confrontation here. The scholar was still yelling and cursing. He had already talked about government corruption, and also mentioned that a certain official had taken rice from the grain depot and resold it. However, because his words were unclear, he still yelled in anger,
Yu Lufang Xi didn't understand clearly who the official he was talking about was.
Don't let people yell at the gate. If you continue to listen like this, you may not get any useful information.
"Brother, are you telling the truth?" Fang Xi went up first, asked, and looked at it carefully.
It was a Confucian shirt only worn by scholars, but it was washed out and even a little transparent, showing that the family background was not very good.
Fang Xi's inquiry was like the person he was teasing finally met his followers. The drunken scholar immediately turned to look at Fang Xi.
"Yes, yes! Of course it's true!" The scholar said immediately: "You are also scholars and students? It's a bit strange!"
"We are students who are studying in Guajianyou." Yu Lu also came up at this time and said: "I am somewhat interested in what you are talking about. It is just lunch time and we have not eaten yet. If you don't mind,
Why don't you come and eat and chat with us?"
The scholar had obviously eaten and drank, but when he heard the invitation, he still nodded.
After all, Yu Lü and Fang Xi were all wearing the clothes of a scholar. He looked like a scholar at first glance. He was a scholar like him, so he was different from the onlookers.
Seeing that he agreed, Yu Lu and Fang Xi looked at each other, their expressions relaxed.
They built a relationship as scholars and treated the guests to drinks. This trick really worked. They sat down in the corner and served braised carp, pork ribs soup, cut pig ears, peanuts, four kinds of rice, and a pot of Nanchun old glutinous rice wine.
"It's Nanchun Laojiu!" Xiucai obviously loves wine, and his eyes immediately lit up.
"I am going on a study tour with a sword. It is a long time for me to have a long experience, so I would like to ask my friends for advice."
This friend is not an ordinary friend. Among scholars, a child student is a child friend. Even if he is eighty years old and cannot be admitted as a scholar, he is still a child friend, while a student student is a friend (old friend). Even if he is fifteen years old, he is still a friend (old friend).
The two of them mainly wanted to inquire about the scholar who had been invited here, but because they had just gotten to know each other, even though Fang Xi asked a few tentative questions to dig out more information, the scholar seemed to be on guard and kept repeating his words.
When talking about the content just now, the content was at most explained in detail, but the useful information was not even uttered out in a daze.
When talking about the latter part, the scholar became more nagging, and kept saying that he had been enlightened since he was six years old, and had been admitted to the imperial examination at the age of fifteen. He had been studying hard every day for more than ten years, but so far he had not been able to pass the examination.
Talking about the unfairness of this world, people's hearts are so evil...
The two of them were not discouraged. They raised their glasses to the man and asked him to drink. They smiled and said, "It is a great fate that we can share the table with friends. Come on, let's have another drink."
Glass after glass of wine was poured down like this.
This scholar refused to accept anyone who came, and this time he was really drunk. He lay down on the table, but he couldn't help but murmured the word "unfair" and refused to reveal any other information.
Seeing this, Yu and Lu could only sigh.
"What to do now?" Fang Xi asked.
"Send him back to his room first and let's talk after he wakes up." Yu Lu said, and smiled dumbly: "This is normal. If this person really reveals his heart to a stranger and says it directly, I would still be a little suspicious.
"
"Let's settle it first, and then I'll find out more about this friend."
With that said, Yu Lu called a waiter and asked, "Who is this person? Do you know him?"
"He's the boss of a merchant in Chengdongfang. Don't worry, husband. He's drunk and will be late. Of course, his family will come looking for him." The waiter obviously knew him.
"What's wrong with this man? He's so drunk?"
"You can't pass the examination, sir!" the clerk stopped talking.
"Tell me carefully." Yu Lu threw a broken piece of silver. When the clerk took it and looked at it, he saw that it was a piece of one or two pieces of silver. He bit it, and immediately smiled and bowed: "Thank you, my husband. Thank you!
Mr. Xianggong."
Tell everything you know right now.
It turned out that this man was the boss of a businessman. He was enlightened at the age of six and could recite poems and poems at the age of nine. At that time, the county magistrate went to see him in person and inspected him. He admired him very much. After he was selected as a scholar at the age of fifteen, he married his daughter.
But after that, his talents were exhausted, and he failed to pass the imperial examination at the age of 28, so he became an alcoholic, full of cynicism, and complained about the injustice of the government every day.
"Fortunately, the government didn't care, otherwise..." The waiter shook his head.
"That's it!" Yu Lu nodded his head repeatedly, which was not surprising. He had been there, especially under the guidance of the grandson, so he naturally knew the secrets of the imperial examination of one article, two etiquette, and three stances.
Many scholars have passed the test of being proficient in literature and calligraphy very early, and have passed the scholar examination, but if they do not know the "etiquette", they cannot be successful in the examination. Occasionally, some literary talents are really too good, and if they pass the examination, they cannot go further.
At the moment, he just said: "Ok this friend a room, and when he sobers up, we can talk over wine and persuade this friend."
After saying that, Yu, Lu and Fang Xi looked at each other and smiled, thinking that God helped me, I wanted to fall asleep, so I brought a pillow.