Force a good concubine

Fuqing Building is not too far from Zhoujia Lane, and Gu Yan and others hadn't lighted the lights when they returned to the lower place.Taking advantage of the dawn, Gu Yan spread out a pen and paper at the small square table, spread out the borrowed Shiwen collection from the bookcase, and copied it page by page.

"Still copying?" Li Qing, who was in the same room as her, brought hot water from the stove, washed it in the cubicle, changed into a cloth, and came out, wiping her hair with a dry cloth, while watching her count her fingers, "from Since you came to Beijing, you have copied seven or eight volumes of current anthologies, and you have collected all the commentaries of the elders in the cabinet. I will do the math for you in private. A collection of three hundred texts, eight volumes a month, is two Two or four renminbi of silver, one or two and a half of the room fee, what to eat and drink, five renminbi of steamed buns with dried noodles at Jiekou, 450 renminbi per day, which is [-] renminbi, plus some side dishes, one and a half taels per month, and four and a half taels left in the end. Money—it’s said that pearls and rice pay off in Beijing, and you can earn some travel expenses to go back when you come to Beijing, that’s admirable.”

She and Gu Yan were classmates since they were young, and they had always talked freely, but Gu Yuan ignored them, and just kept writing and writing, and when it got dark, he stopped writing to rub his eyes and relax his muscles and bones.

"A Yuan," Li Qing had already taken a nap on the bamboo couch, and said to the cubicle without opening his eyes when he heard the sound of water, "My disguised clothes are still in the basin, be careful, don't Splashed water!"

Gu Yan promised, and after a while holding the wet long hair, he put the blue cloth skirt he washed in the yard to dry, and brought in a few bamboo poles, set up a shelf at the window, and put Li Qing's skirt on the ground. The light blue silk dress was carefully hung on the window.

"Ever since you wore a silk shirt, you have been afraid of being stolen day and night." She was busy with her hands and feet, but her expression didn't take it seriously. "We are here to rush for the exam, and we only talk about everything based on articles. Why do you have to be so pretentious and trouble yourself?"

"A good man also depends on his clothes," Li Qing retorted unconvinced, "If it weren't for this silk dress, we wouldn't be able to enter many places for papers—look at these people in Beijing, who doesn't judge people by clothes, or by clothes? The nose speaks?"

"The two ladies from the Lin family we met today are not." The old bamboo curtain rattled, and a sixteen or seventeen-year-old lady in scarlet clothes came in through the curtain, holding a lotus leaf bag in one hand, and stuffing water chestnuts into their hands with the other. , "It is said that it is newly picked in the water today, and it costs fifty yuan. How about you try it?"

"It doesn't taste bad," Li Qing peeled off one, and chewed it in his mouth solemnly, "It's just not as good as Fuqinglou's. The ice bowls, one tael of silver a bowl, are not seen by ordinary guests. In this big day, sit upstairs in the private room and order a bowl, the taste, hey, it’s incomparable!"

She squinted her eyes, with a look of contempt and meanness on her face, she imitated the look of that skinny landlord, before she finished speaking, Gu Yan and Xu Xi had already collapsed from laughter.

"It's really narrow!" Xu Xi smiled for a while, rubbed his eyes and said, "Be careful that week's iron rooster heard it, and will come over again to drive people away and raise our rent!"

Talented scholars from all over the world will gather in the capital, and every year of the Great Competition, some people in Beijing will move their families to the countryside and rent out the vacant houses to the candidates who are rushing to take the exam, which is called "catch up".

Gu Yuan and the others had bad luck. They took a grain ship from Haizhou to Beijing, but they caught up with a big case and were implicated for no reason. They stayed on the grain ship for nearly a month, and when they entered Beijing, [-]% of the talents who rushed for the exam arrived Ninety-nine percent, the few people have nowhere to vote. Fortunately, this family occasionally has something to go back to their hometown. Gu Yan talked about it, so he vacated the house and allowed them to live until August [-]th, but the rent is also first-class. One is expensive, and a half-separated side room costs four and a half full official silver a month, which is more than [-]% higher than others, but there is nothing to do. The poor family is out of the house, and one watt can cover the head. What is the point?

Gu Yan smiled for a while, picked the oil lamp, and picked up the pen again.Xu Xi sat across from Li Qing, counted out half of the water chestnut, wrapped it in lotus leaves and placed it next to Gu Yan's pillow: "To be honest, I'm not afraid of him driving people away. The two ladies of the Lin family look like extraordinary people. If they are willing to make a difference, we may live in a safe place—but although that Ninth Lady looks easy to talk to, but after all, we meet by chance, so we shouldn't speak rashly."

"It's not easy for you to open your mouth," Li Qing said with a pointed smile, "It's different when we Ah Yuan speaks!" Seeing Gu Yuan turning her head and glaring at herself, she smiled more meaningfully, "I Remember, Mrs. Lin said that Mrs. Gu's articles are like beautiful pearls and worth a thousand dollars. Since this is the case, Mrs. Gu will send a few collections of contemporary anthology to the past, not talking about thousands of gold, but only a hundred taels of silver, which is enough for us to buy this yard. Come down, you won’t have to worry about living until next year!”

Xu Xi giggled and responded: "I'm afraid that once A Yuan goes, the money will come back, but the person will not come back!"

Li Qing was even happier: "Isn't this better? The two of us don't have to take the exam, and we can share the money back home. I'll do the math—the mulberry field at home is five taels and one mu. Let's buy fifteen mu and just sell mulberry leaves and Those weavers, when they get the money, they will build a silkworm house, and in their free time, they will set up a few looms, and the family business will start!"

The three of them are all from Wuzhou. Although they are from different prefectures, they can be regarded as fellow villagers. Together they took a grain boat from Haizhou to Beijing, and they ate steamed buns and slept on planks along the way.Of the three, Gu Yuan was the oldest, and was used to being coquettish and foolishly dependent on them, so he gave the two of them an annoyed look, and said, "Keep your voice down, it's not good to be heard. They all say that the people in Beijing speak well, then The two ladies are not ordinary people, if they offend the nobleman, disaster will be imminent."

"It is because those two are not mortals that we persuade you to take care of them." Li Qing withdrew his smile and said seriously, "A Yuan, you are a good learner, good character, good tolerance, but just such a lukewarm temper How many things have been missed! Back then, if you flattered the teachings and promoted the child prodigy, you might have entered the Luanyi Division and became the emperor's attendant. Why did you still mess with us? Now it is so easy to meet One and a half nobles, you can't easily miss it!"

"Fame and wealth have their own destiny," Gu Yan shook his head, "It's better to get it straight than to ask for it."

Although her voice was calm, both of them could hear the rejection, they looked at each other and didn't mention it anymore.Hearing the sound of the clapper on the second watch outside the wall, Xu Xi packed up the water chestnuts and went back to the room. Li Qing only tossed and turned on the couch for a while, then fell into a trance. Before going to sleep, he still reminded Gu Yan: " Even if you take it straight, don't worry too much, the smell of the oil lamp is on your nose and it's easy to damage your eyes."

Gu Yan responded, and turned around to see that Li Qing was already fast asleep. He put down his pen and stood up to tuck the quilt for Li Qing in a funny way. Then he sat back and picked up his pen to copy the book. Slowed down a stroke.

If I had passed the child prodigy test six years ago—not to mention whether I had the blessing of being a ceremonial minister, as long as I got the same fame as a co-examiner, I would be able to exempt my family from taxes and be able to go to a girls' school as a teacher for my family. If you share your worries, my father will not die of hard work so early, and my mother will not be so difficult, and even my younger brother Gu Yang can be enlightened earlier—every time Ye Jing thinks about this more deeply, Gu Yuan's heart will faintly twitch. pain.

It's just a pity that people in the world don't know that the decree praised her at the beginning, not because of her own article, but because of her face—— Gu Yan bit her lip and laughed at herself silently. She still remembers the shock and humiliation when she heard those words , 15-year-old Gu Yan never knew that a woman could bully a woman like that when she gained power. She almost left the room as if she was fleeing. When her father passed away, she propped up the house.

With this experience, she is more sensitive to other people's eyes. That Lin Jiuniang looks bright and generous, but her admiration is only on the corner of her mouth.Gu Yan could see that although Lin Jiuniang had the mastery of the eldest sister, she put all her attention on her eleventh younger sister, as if the eleventh sister could be the master, and even the few entourages were clear. On the surface, she should be with Lin Jiuniang, but in fact she is dominated by Lin Jiuniang, and that Lin Jiuniang——

The name floated up from the bottom of my heart, and the pen in Gu Yan's hand paused: The girl hid her thoughts very well, but every time Gu Yuan raised her head from the desk, she could always meet the eyes that silently stared at her.

No one has ever looked at Gu Yan with such eyes. The long eyelashes are slightly drooping, half-hiding the owner's thoughts, as if they are indifferent and magnanimous, and seem to be probing. When Gu Yuan couldn't help but look back carefully, he found that those two eyes The black and clear eyes seemed to be focused on only my own reflection - obviously it was only a child of thirteen or fourteen years old, but when those eyes were paired, the article in Gu Yan's heart that was supposed to be completed in one go was like the handwriting at this moment, chaotic up.

No matter what, it was just the fate of meeting the paper by chance. Gu Yan was in a daze for a while, looking at the piece of paper he had written and wasted.She reached out and tore the piece of paper aside, picked up the pen and licked the ink, and continued to write for more than half an hour. It was not until the middle of the night that she was so tired that she stopped and went to the bamboo couch.

Tiredness surpassed the holy hand's calming soup. Gu Yuan slept without a dream until dawn. Li Qing was fully dressed when he got up. He stood in front of the old bronze mirror on the table and looked left and right. One side said: "There is hot water in the pot for you, why don't you wash up quickly, and follow my wife to the street to find nobles?"

Gu Yan responded, and then tied the belt of the skirt, but there was a commotion at the door. Xu Xi argued a few words at the door, as if extremely angry, and suddenly raised his voice: "Moving out before noon today?! It's you Are you willing to ask for the rent, but where do you want us to hide in a hurry? Where in the world is there such a deceptive store, it is really unreasonable!"