With a splash, Zhang Rongfang poured the bath water in the bucket into the sewer at the entrance of the courtyard.
In the ditch, foamy water from the public bathhouse next door slowly flowed down.
He turned his head and glanced, and saw the two children sitting in front of the bathhouse again, washing buckets.
"We sell glutinous rice balls~~Meat stuffed with chopped green onion, golden cinnamon stuffed with bean paste, fried shrimp and scallops~~~"
The old man carrying the burden slowly turned down the street.
The heat in the load evaporates from the edge of the jar, and even if it is wrapped in a thick cloth, you can still smell the faint fragrance of glutinous rice flour.
"Two pounds, sir." Zhang Rongfang put down the bucket, touched the money on his body, and stepped forward to stop him.
"Zhang Guanren got up so late today?"
Mr. Tang Yuan passes by this street every day, and occasionally Zhang Rongfang takes care of his business.
So he also had a good impression of this young man who spoke softly to everyone.
"I was a little late practicing last night." Zhang Rongfang replied casually. "By the way, uncle, where can I buy used books and weird stuff in this city? I mostly lead the team around the neighborhood, and I really don't know about other places.
"
"Old books? Weird things?" The old man thought for a moment, "You should be able to find it if you go to Yanliu Lane. There are all these kinds of things over there."
"Yanliu Lane? Okay, thank you." Zhang Rongfang paid the money, returned to the yard with the glutinous rice balls, and carried the bathtub back.
After tidying up a little, he changed his clothes and went straight out towards Yanliu Lane.
He had passed by that place before, but had not gone in.
After passing through about half of the city, he found this somewhat hidden alley in another urban area.
Outside the alley, a big lookout was erected.
The so-called Wangzi is a long wooden stick with a piece of cloth hanging on the top, and various signs and advertisements are written on it.
At this time, it was written on the sign: The place where bulk tobacco and wine are shipped, the authentic one, the time-honored Tanyang brand, Liu Ji.
These paragraphs are scattered around a round copper coin pattern.
Zhang Rongfang looked at it carefully several times. On this ground, he still rarely saw such a modern advertisement.
At the entrance of the alley, donkey carts carrying goods were constantly coming and going.
Two shirtless dark men stood aside smoking cigarettes and chatting.
Zhang Rongfang straightened his clothes and strode into the alley.
As soon as you enter, there is a small shop on the left side of the alleyway entrance.
The store has no brand, no notices, and no Wangzi plaque.
Just a pink silk scarf hung on a bamboo pole at the door.
The shop door was half open, and a woman wearing a high-cut pink skirt was lazily leaning on the bed, looking out the door.
Seeing Zhang Rongfang looking at him, the woman suddenly showed a charming smile and waved to him.
"If jade is not polished, it cannot be used as a tool. If a person does not learn, he does not know righteousness."
As a son of a man, Fang Shaoshi. Close friends and teachers, learn etiquette..."
A faint sound of a child reciting came from deeper in the alley.
Zhang Rongfang withdrew his gaze and walked inside following the sound.
Unlisted prostitution shops are densely distributed on both sides of the alley.
And among these prostitute shops, you can occasionally hear the sounds of Meng Xue coming from simple houses.
After a while, he finally found the shop the old man mentioned.
A piece of triangular cloth washed white was hung on a bamboo pole outside the door. On the cloth was written: There is a path in the mountain of books.
The door of the shop is only large enough for one person to enter and exit, it is really like a path.
"Mother~~"
Suddenly, a kid with braids ran out of the shop, holding a somewhat damaged light yellow book with the Three-Character Sutra on the cover, and then he threw himself into the prostitute's shop on the side.
"Mom, can I buy another book?"
In the prostitute's shop, a woman in a blue dress with an impatient expression hurriedly came out and slammed the shop door shut.
"I told you not to come in while I was doing business! Why didn't you listen, you brat? Don't call me during the day, and don't let your classmates hear it..."
The voice slowly dropped.
"But you are my mother? If anyone says something about me, I will beat them!"
"Hit me, beat me, who can you beat? If you hurt someone, you can't apologize or give me money..."
The voices of mother and son gradually became lower.
Zhang Rongfang sighed in his heart and walked into the small shop with a path in Shushan.
The store is very dark, just a rectangular tube passage.
On the walls on both sides, there are rows of long grids, and a book is placed in the grids.
These books look very worn, and the title of the book on the cover has been bolded with neat ink.
"Three Character Classic", "Enlightenment of Rhythm", "The Classic of Filial Piety", "Erya"...
Confucian classics are scattered and arranged neatly one after another.
Looking at these familiar classics, Zhang Rongfang suddenly felt like he was back in his previous life.
Many places in Great Spirit were similar to the ancient world in his previous life. He sometimes suspected that this world might be another bifurcation of past history.
Passing through the rows of books, sitting on a small wooden stool that looked like pulp, there was an old man wearing one glasses.
The old man was wearing a gray gown, with a jade pendant woven from a rope hanging around his waist.
From a distance, it looks a bit like jade.
"Old store owner?" Zhang Rongfang asked softly.
The old man didn't say anything, but pointed to the bookshelf beside him and motioned for him to take a look.
Zhang Rongfang nodded, turned around and started searching along the wall.
This time he learned from the experience last time and opened the attribute bar in the blink of an eye.
The previous situation with Zhuyue Knife made him understand that the world was not as simple as he thought.
Glutinin
The attribute bar is not only used to observe yourself, but can also be used to observe external objects.
Books on the wall were constantly being scanned.
It's just that the situation like the last time with the Moon Chaser Knife has never happened again.
Zhang Rongfang quickly scanned the books on both sides of the wall, and none of the books could make the attribute bar react.
"Seller, do you have any other old things here?" Zhang Rongfang recalled that the things inside the Zhuyue Knife seemed to be parts.
The old man adjusted his glasses and looked at Zhang Rongfang.
"If you walk a little further inside, there are several shops selling Western gadgets. But there are a lot of fakes."
"Thank you." Zhang Rongfang nodded and cupped his hands.
He turned around and walked out, but halfway there, he suddenly stopped.
"Old man, can I ask you a question?"
"What are you talking about?" The old man raised his eyes and looked at him in confusion.
Zhang Rongfang was silent for a moment.
"Do you think everyone is doing well in today's Great Spirit?"
In Daling, there are freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and a lot of people discussing the current dynasty. As long as they don't cause trouble, there are no restrictions in this regard.
So his issue is not considered sensitive.
The old shopkeeper thought for a while.
"Young people think it's hard for us to stay here, right?" He laughed.
"Isn't it?" Zhang Rongfang asked.
The old shopkeeper stood up and slowly shook his head.
"Actually, although the current Ling Emperor classifies us Confucian scholars into the lower category, he does not cause any difficulties for us."
"Do you know why?" He looked at Zhang Rongfang.
"Why?"
"Because we are Confucian scholars." The old man said with a smile, "We are just Confucian scholars."
He took a book from the bookshelf and gently touched the writing on the cover. There were three big characters written on the book: History of Lingyue.
"Speaking of which, many people have misunderstood us. When they saw many Confucian scholars dressed in poverty, they thought that the Lingting Court was persecuting us. In fact, this is not the case."
He was very energetic and seemed to be in a good mood.
"Except for canceling the imperial examinations, the Lingting actually has no restrictions on Confucianism. Many of us still have land. Even if we pay exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, many people still have enough food and clothing."
"Except for the small number of Confucian people who came from poor backgrounds and had to engage in the dilemma of writing miscellaneous plays and selling music and lyrics, many Confucian people mostly put on a layer of Taoism and Buddhism and traveled around, drinking and singing."
Zhang Rongfang looked at him slightly surprised, not knowing whether these words were true or false.
"Don't look at me like that. Do you know that even if I can't take the imperial examination, I, a famous scholar from the Confucian sect, am still a learned man and the most popular famous teacher among all the sects in the world." The old man said with a smile.
"So, except that we can't be officials, we don't lack anything. We are very happy now."
He concluded.
"I don't need mercy, I just fell into a trough temporarily."
After looking at Zhang Rongfang who was a little stunned, the old man said again.
"Actually, in today's world, although military service is frequent, the lives of ordinary people are relatively easy. Take Tanyang City and the surrounding people, have you heard that there are people who starve to death and freeze to death?"
Zhang Rongfang was stunned for a moment and shook his head slightly.
"No."
"That's it." The old man said with a smile, "Da Ling attaches great importance to craftsmanship and farming. He has revised agricultural books several times and improved planting. Now the agricultural output has greatly increased. The efficiency of textiles has more than doubled due to improved tools."
"Once the sea transport opened, blue and white porcelain, glass murals, tea, wine, etc. were exported, and a large amount of money resources flowed in. Everyone, your life is becoming more and more prosperous."
Zhang Rongfang was speechless.
If you think about it carefully, there are obviously so many military services in Lingting, and there are uprisings everywhere, but they just can't become a climate.
In the two years since he came here, he has rarely heard of people starving to death or freezing to death.
In fact, if you think about it carefully, not many people died in military service... There are many families who returned after completing military service.
It is said that this is because when the Lingting army goes out for an expedition, it usually forcibly recruits people from the conquered areas to serve as vanguard cannon fodder.
The vanguard made these conquered people attack the city and wear it out. After the enemy army was exhausted, the main force pressed forward.
In addition, the Lingting army is extremely elite and has all kinds of sophisticated war machines, so the casualties are really not many.
"Common people, as long as they have food and clothing, and no worries about food and clothing, they can live an honest life." The old man sighed. "Today's imperial court... is the most powerful in the world. If you look around, any country that dares to block the country and retreat will have an army to attack it.
Sweep everything. Forcibly open the country.
Either trade, or conquest. With the flesh and blood of all races, we have made it possible for us to live and work in peace and contentment. Such a great cause... It's a pity... it's a pity..."
He did not continue speaking, but his eyes looked a little regretful.
Zhang Rongfang didn't ask again. He could see that the old man was not lying, but his sincere thoughts.
He cupped his hands and turned around silently to leave.
After leaving Shushan Youjing Store, he followed the old man's guidance and walked deeper into the alley.
After a while, the number of prostitutes' shops on both sides became less frequent.
A shop named Qi Qi Zhai appeared in front of him.
The shop door panel is old and the door is half open.
An old man with blond hair and blue eyes and curly hair was lowering his head and smiling, and whispering something flatteringly to several officials who came in for inspection.
After a while, he handed over a roll of banknotes in his sleeve and pleaded a few times.
It's a pity that the officials had wrinkled faces and still refused to leave. They looked around, as if they wanted to scratch some more trouble.
Zhang Rongfang walked forward with narrowed eyes.
"What's going on?" He asked casually with a straight face.
When several officials saw him, one of them's expression changed and he recognized him immediately.
"Hey, Captain Zhang! I saw you several times in the Prison Department not long ago."
He quickly stepped forward and saluted with his hands in hand.