The fourth prince felt energetic all over his body. He had never been so energetic in his life.
Xiao Cheng, who was forcibly pulled out of the classroom by him, had an unhappy face, while Xiao Peanut was relieved that he was no longer forced to study. However, when the two of them heard Zhang Shou briefly explain the reason for the incident, they returned to Chapter Nine.
They were giving a class, and then the fourth prince started talking loudly and talking about all kinds of details. Their expressions suddenly changed, and their initial dissatisfaction was wiped away.
Xiao Cheng had lived a good life for a while, but he had also been in embarrassment, especially after he lost his father and his mother. Liu Zhiyuan and Zhu Tingfang left Beijing one after another. Even though people like Hua Qi secretly fed him, he still
Live like a ghost - a real ghost!
Not to mention Little Peanut, both Lao Xianyu and Xian Yunhe are people who starve if they don’t work for a day, so he has helped with various tasks since he was a child. Therefore, after hearing these words, Little Peanut
First of all, he asked: "Then what are we going to check? Are we going to Gusu Xiaoguan to find out if they really accept apprentices?"
"No, it's easy to go to Gusu Inn directly. It's easy to alert the snake. I thought, we can go to these three people's homes quietly first. Well, don't use the teacher's name first, just use the name of the classmate to visit them, and then we'd better send them
Order something."
The fourth prince is a brat. He rolled his eyes and the idea came out of his mouth: "Let's dress more casually so that we won't be too conspicuous when we go there. Then we will tell the teacher that the intermediate class has been arranged."
Chief, we are here to express condolences to our classmates. Buy some eggs, tofu or something, so that it will be very respectable for us to visit you."
Little Peanut watched the whole process of the fourth prince racking his brains and trying to get along with the children in the same class these past few days. In view of the solid camp and the smooth flow of soldiers, there were seven intermediate classes in total, and they changed every day. Even if he stayed there for so long, he didn't
Being able to remember all one hundred and twenty classmates, the Fourth Prince was able to name most of the people in the three classes in three days. He really had to admire him.
For example, at this time, the fourth prince actually thought that when he went to visit his classmates, he should buy eggs and tofu, which are common things that people use to improve their meals, instead of meat like roasted chicken and mutton... Of course, the most amazing thing is that the fourth prince actually thought
He even declared himself a faster!
He glanced at Xiao Cheng and saw that he was nodding vigorously there, and realized that this boy had been fooled by the fourth prince. But he racked his brains and thought about it, and realized that he was specially sent by Zhang Shou to the fourth prince.
As an assistant, he knew that it wouldn't work to perform opposite roles, so he could only ask helplessly: "Do you really want to go now? It's still class time, right?"
"Of course we have to go while they are still in public school and can't go back. Otherwise, if they see us, won't they become gangsters? Besides, those things in the intermediate class should be very simple for you, little peanut. Really
If you miss a class, I will make up for you what you don’t understand! You have to believe me, I’m very good at it!”
The fourth prince couldn't help but clapped his hands and said loudly, "Okay, okay, it's settled. We'll go find Brother Six and ask him to escort us there! By the way, where they live, it depends on Brother Six's guidance."
People say that if he stamps his foot on the road, the outer city will tremble. It would be great to have him as a local snake!"
It was not difficult for the three little guys to convince Ah Liu. After all, the fourth prince was confident that it was Zhang Shou's order. In addition, with Xiao Huahua and Xiao Cheng as witnesses, Ah Liu would not think that they were using chicken feathers as pawns.
Command arrow.
So Ah Liu went to the public office to check the student status information cards of the three students in person - this was a system modeled on the Imperial College student roster. In addition to the names of the students, their parents' names, occupations, and their place of origin and address, there was also an on-site investigation of the students.
It can be said that Lu Wan directly used his own followers to complete the last item, which can be said to have closed the last gap.
The fourth prince, who was peeking aside, couldn't help but be greatly admired. After getting in the car, when he talked about the matter with Xiao Huahua and Xiao Cheng, he couldn't help but flatter Zhang Shou and Lu Wan. What a foresight.
, Jian Wei Zhi Zhu, all kinds of idioms popped out of his mouth one by one. In the end, even Ah Liu, who was driving outside, couldn't stand listening anymore.
"We'll talk about it later!" Although he sounded very happy, he didn't know that the fourth prince was deliberately trying to please him!
The fourth prince who was talking endlessly suddenly stopped. But Xiao Huahua breathed a sigh of relief - he was a very talkative person, so he always disliked Xiao Cheng for being too boring, but now he realized how Xiao Cheng felt when he faced him in the past.
Helpless, because the fourth prince is truly a curious baby and a talkative person. He has too many questions and too many words to add!
However, Ah Liu did not drive the carriage directly to the door of the house. Instead, he took them to buy the eggs, tofu and other condolence items mentioned by the fourth prince. Xiao Peanut also specially bought a pack of malt candies.
.Finally, Ah Liu drove to a stop in front of a tavern on a familiar road. After depositing the carriage, he led the three of them into a narrow alley.
The Fourth Prince who was following behind was very interested at first, but as he walked, he found that the ground was uneven and he almost stumbled several times. So he did not dare to look around anymore, but lowered his head to carefully inspect the miserable ground.
Finally, he couldn't help but ask: "Brother Six, how long will we have to go?"
Ah Liu kept walking and said without looking back, "At least for a quarter of an hour."
Hearing the exaggerated inhalation sound coming from behind, Ah Liu turned to look at the fourth prince and saw that he had a grimace on his face. Xiao Cheng and Xiao Huahua had normal expressions on their faces, and he explained calmly: "Many people are...
Officials' families can't afford carriages, so they go to the horse and carriage house to borrow them when needed. If you go there by carriage, no matter how ordinary you dress, it will be in vain. People will know at a glance that you are not ordinary."
"Also, if I don't go in with you, there are too many people in the outer city who know me."
The fourth prince suddenly understood, but when he heard that Ah Liu actually refused to send them in, he couldn't help but be shocked, and subconsciously asked: "Then how can we find that place?"
Going in and out of the capital, he has discovered a very troublesome problem, that is, there are rows of houses everywhere, and unlike every palace in the palace that has a courtyard gate, after entering, whether it is a side hall or a main hall,
, plaques are often hung to indicate where this place is; in the inner and outer cities, except for those official residences that have plaques, there are no others at all!
Especially in alleys where ordinary people’s homes gather, many houses don’t even have walls, and many have broken fences! Unless you’re an acquaintance, you won’t know whose door you’re walking into even if you walk in front of it!
Seeing the bitter expression on the fourth prince's face, Little Peanut finally understood why Zhang Shou asked him and Xiao Cheng to follow him. Because this grandson who was born in the imperial palace in front of him simply lacks common sense! Of course, people are better than those who grew up in a deep palace.
Most of the people in Jinzhiyuye are already much better. After all, they often go out of the palace, but when it comes to doing things, people are blind.
Therefore, seeing that the fourth prince, who was originally full of fighting spirit, suddenly withered, he could only interrupt and said: "Okay, don't worry, Xiao Cheng and I will help to ask for directions! Don't you think that after asking all the way to the door, then
Does it seem more normal?"
The fourth prince wanted to refute it. If they searched all the way, the three families would have to find them. But under the gaze of Ah Liu, he finally did not dare to say anything. After passing through this dirty, dark and deserted alley,
When he entered the alley, he saw a mess of low-rise houses in front of him, which was completely different from the neat horizontal and vertical alleys in the inner city.
His scalp suddenly became numb. How could he find someone?
But Ah Liu did not leave the alley, but stopped there. He pursed his lips toward the house and said lightly: "Looking at the student status information, the three of them all live in this area, you can go find someone yourself.
"
Unlike Xiao Cheng, who was completely dumbfounded by the fourth prince, who was looking around curiously, little Peanut seemed to be doing it with ease. When he saw several four or five-year-old children chasing and beating him, he stepped forward to greet him with a smile on his face.
When I bought egg tofu, the pack of caramel sugar I bought came in handy immediately.
In a place like the outer city, parents and elders have no time to teach their children not to eat outside food. In addition, candy is really a luxury for ordinary children. The sweetness easily overwhelms the suspicion. When the little peanut pointed at the fourth prince and
Xiao Cheng told several children that he was Chen San's classmate and that his trip was for a visit. The children became even more excited and agreed to lead the way.
Of course, they also legitimately asked for payment for leading the way!
So, the fourth prince was dumbfounded to see that Little Peanut easily paid each of them two pieces of candy and asked them to lead the way to three families. He paid one piece first and then paid the second piece after leading the way.
When a child ran very fast on his short legs with a piece of candy in his mouth, and turned around to wave to them, he couldn't help but stare at the packet of candy.
How could this kind of candy be so effective? Out of curiosity, he immediately asked Little Peanut for a piece, but as soon as he tasted it in his mouth, his cheeks immediately bulged up. How delicious is this? It's not sweet.
Other flavors!
Although the imperial dining room in the palace was unsatisfactory in the past, there were at least a few people in the small kitchen of Qianqing Palace who were good at making desserts, not to mention now. Moreover, Song Juren would send dessert recipes to the palace from time to time, and then a certain person designated by the emperor would
An imperial chef makes it himself, so his mouth has long been trained to be naughty. Things like maltose have no appeal to him.
At this time, he heard Xiao Cheng's voice coming from behind him: "Children from ordinary families have never eaten sweet things since they were young. Because let alone sugar, even salt can only be added in small amounts when cooking.
A little bit, because the price of salt is not cheap. This is still the virtue of Grandpa Taizu. The price of salt was made public to the world and written into the canon. It is said that the Ming Dynasty will not change forever, otherwise..."
"Otherwise, the price of salt will easily skyrocket." Little Peanut heard Xiao Cheng's words and casually continued. As he led the fourth prince to follow the children, he whispered to the fourth prince to popularize these common senses.
"Private salt is not rampant in this dynasty, because the price of official salt is not expensive, only six cents per catty. Therefore, salt can be afforded, and salt must be eaten. If you don't eat it, you will have no strength, but sugar is not
It’s the same, it doesn’t matter if you don’t eat it. In today’s market, maltose costs twenty cents per pack, brown sugar costs fifteen cents per pound, and white sugar is even more expensive.”
"Slightly yellow white sugar costs forty cents per catty. The whiter the color, the more expensive it is. The finest snowflake sugar is crystal clear and packed in exquisite porcelain jars. It is not sold by the catty.
, but sold by the can. I heard that rich people recognize this tune most, and the more expensive it is, the more they buy it. A can can be sold for 500 cents, and the smallest one even costs a thousand cents."
If Zhang Shouren were here, he would tell these three children that not only is it not expensive, the price of six cents per pound of salt, in any era of salt and iron monopoly in the past and present, is a very low price, which is history.
During certain periods of the Ming Dynasty, there were salt prices similar to this price.
In the Tang Dynasty, salt was sold by the bucket. A bucket of salt was once sold for a low price of 110 cash, but this was just a flash in the pan. Most of the time, a bucket of salt was sold for 250 to 300 cash. That was the norm.
Converted to that, twenty cents per catty is at least a minimum.
As for the Song Dynasty, most of the time the price was forty cents per catty, but occasionally the price of salt was as high as one hundred cents per catty. Well salt in Sichuan even sold for over one hundred and fifty cents... As for the Ming Dynasty in history,
It was not until the Chongzhen period that the price of salt was completely out of control, but it was only about fifty yuan per pound.
Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty in history, it was okay to live a well-off life through private salt dealers. If you wanted to get rich, you had to rebel in the late Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, you could not even think about it. Because private salt dealers could only sell salt at low prices.
Give it to the official salt dealer, otherwise you can still openly open a shop to sell it? As for sugar, this luxury product has a narrow audience, and it was only when the sugar industry developed in the Qing Dynasty that the price of rice dropped.
All in all, the fourth prince who originally proposed the implementation plan could only follow Little Peanut and watch the other party perform. He watched helplessly as Little Peanut took the caramel as bait and easily found Chen San's home.
When Chen's mother came out to ask questions after hearing the news, Xiao Huahua, who had seen the student status information card, knew that she was working as a tailor at home and making clothes. The next time she said she was an aunt, and when she met Chen's father, he said she was an uncle. That was called an uncle.
Attentive and kind.
After a few homely words, Little Peanut enthusiastically introduced the fourth prince as the class chief, who came to visit his classmates at his teacher's request, and then offered eggs and tofu as a token of condolences. The Chen family's parents and husband were obviously honest people, and they were mothers.
Upon seeing this, he immediately said with sincerity that his son was going to drop out of school and become an apprentice, and he would never take the job. The father sighed helplessly.
At this time, the fourth prince finally found a chance to speak. He quickly asked the question he had asked Chen San and others in the public school again: "But, don't you get paid as an apprentice?"
But just as he was about to say that studying secretly would not work, he was bumped by Little Peanut with his elbow, and his words suddenly choked him. At this moment, he suddenly remembered that he was here to visit pretending not to know anything.
, rather than knowing that he was going to drop out as an apprentice and come to find out the news. So, while he immediately shut up, he tried his best to show the most concerned expression.
The eldest among the three, Little Peanut, is not very old, and Xiao Cheng and the fourth prince are less than ten years old. People of the Chen family's age are naturally very easy to let down their guard in front of such a little older child.
In addition, Little Peanut had just kept saying that the fourth prince was a famous child prodigy in the public school, who could write and do math, and was neatly dressed, so they all relaxed their guard.
"This apprentice is different from other apprentices. His monthly wages are one thousand guan!" When Mother Chen said this, there was a trace of confusion on her face. "His eldest brother is about to graduate as a carpenter. If the third son goes there again,
Gusu Restaurant, his father can finally breathe a sigh of relief."