After dressing as a widow

Early the next morning, Lin Zhen asked Lin Xiaoyao to watch the shop, and went to the market with Gu Shuanzi to buy a handful of celery, a pack of lotus seeds, a pack of red beans, a pack of dates, a pack of longan, two Lean strips.

Celery symbolizes diligence and studious, lotus seeds symbolize painstaking education, red beans symbolize good luck, jujubes symbolize Zaozao high school, longan symbolizes success in merit and virtue, and lean meat strips symbolize students’ love for their teachers.

In addition to these, there is Shuxiu's silver. Lin Zhen has already inquired from Zhong Yan that this talented gentleman, Mr. Xu, spends five taels of silver a year for Shuxiu, plus the cost of pen, ink, paper and inkstone, it is about a dozen taels of silver a year.

Now Xiaoshizhai's monthly turnover is more than 100 to 200 taels, which is more than enough for Gu Shuanzi to study.

The people living in the east of the town are small and well-off families, and the green brick and tile houses are next to each other. Lin Zhen took Gu Shuanzi to ask for directions to the outside of the courtyard of Mr. Xu’s house. Before he got close, he heard Lang Lang from inside The sound of reading.

Lin Zhen knocked on the door, and soon a young man in short brown stood at the door and looked at them: "What's the matter, you two?"

Lin Zhen clasped his fists at him: "Hi brother, I'm from Liyu Village, and I want to send my children to study here with Mr. Xu."

"Come in, sir is teaching, you wait in the side room first."

"Brother Xie." Lin Zhen led Gu Shuanzi behind the short-brown young man without looking sideways, and saw that Mr. Xu's house was already in the shape of a small courtyard.

There are wing rooms on both sides, facing a main room, and the wing room is connected to the back by a narrow passage, presumably it should be the place where the female family members live.

The teaching place is in the front left wing. Lin Zhen and the short-brown young man took a look as they passed by. There were about eight or nine students, the older ones were like Zhong Yan, and the younger ones were five or six years old.

The short-brown young man took him and Gu Shuanzi to the side room, and poured a cup of light tea for each of them. Before the cup of tea was finished, the sound of reading in the wing room stopped. A volume of books came in, and the slender robe was worn on the body, which made people feel different from most people in the town.

Lin Zhen and Gu Shuanzi got up from the stools, "Mr. Xu."

Xu Youda nodded and sat on the upper seat: "Ada has already told me that you want to send your child to learn from me."

"Then you must also know that there are three things I don't accept here. One, I don't accept those who can't memorize a thousand-character script. Second, I don't accept those who are over eight years old. Third, I don't accept merchants."

Xu Youda's eyes fell on Gu Shuanzi, who was taller than his peers: "I don't think your child is very suitable to study with me. You should find another famous teacher as soon as possible, so as not to delay him."

As soon as Lin Zhen heard his words, he knew that he was politely rejecting Gu Shuanzi, and he showed his arrogance to the fullest.

In the town, there are only three scholars who have the reputation of being a scholar, one is him, one is Zhong Yan, and the other is an old scholar in his fifties.

Zhong Yan was taught by him, whoever is not arrogant is arrogant, many people in the town want to send their children to him, but he has a high threshold for accepting students, blocking a large number of people outside the door.

Lin Zhen looked straight at the scholar with neither humility nor condescension: "Mr. Xu, this child in my family has never touched books before, and he has been growing up in the mountains. It was not until February and March this year that he thought of sending him to school."

"I heard that the students accepted by Mr. must memorize the thousand-character prose, so I bought a copy and went back to teach him. Although it has only been more than two months now, he has already memorized it fluently."

Xu Youda heard that Gu Shuanzi had memorized the thousand-character prose in two months, so he took a high look at the child.

Most of the children in this age group are not qualitative, and reading is boring. If you can read it and understand it [-]-[-]%, it is good. A genius like Zhong Yan is hard to come by one in a thousand.

Gu Shuanzi, who had been quietly shaking hands since Xu Youda said that to Lin Zhen, bowed his hands to Xu Youda, who was seated above, when Lin Zhen had just finished speaking, with a blank expression on his face: "It's okay, the assistant said. Waiting for the foolishness of dreams, hearing the widows and solitary. Looking around and wandering, with a stern bow. The temple corridor looks down, leading the steps..."

Xu Youda didn't realize what Gu Shuanzi was reciting at first, but after a while he realized that it was a thousand-character prose written backwards. The first word of the word is carried down.

Thousand-Character Essay is the most common enlightenment book, but Gu Shuanzi is the first one who can recite so many tricks, and it is within two months.

He raised his hand to call for a stop, looking at the child with sculpted eyebrows and thin lips, so that he had a somewhat unsympathetic face: "How old are you this year?"

"Eight years old." Gu Da died last year, he was just eight years old, and his ninth birthday this year has not yet come.

Xu Youda nodded, his age was not bad, within the range he stipulated.

He asked Lin Zhen again: "I don't know what happened to Fulang's family?"

Scholars, farmers, businessmen, and merchants are the most treacherous and cunning. They make a living by stealing other people's money, and they are looked down upon by the world.

Naturally, Lin Zhen would not hide it, and said: "I was originally from Liyu Village, and I just came to the town to open a restaurant to sell some food, so I can't count as a business."

Xu Youda frowned, a little displeased.

The corners of Gu Shuanzi's lips have become straight. He has never liked reading, and he doesn't like this master either.He has learned a lot these days by Lin Zhen's side. Even if he doesn't study in this school, he can do some business by himself and support Uncle Lin.

After a while, Xu Youda still couldn't let go of the good seedling Gu Shuanzi, he said: "I accept this child, but for him, Fu Lang must not be fooled by money, and become a businessman."

Business registration is easy to get in but difficult to get out, but if you don't get business registration, small shops like Zhenyouwei Xiaoshizhai not only have to pay head tax and food tax, but also pay [-]% more tax than business registration.

If the money earned exceeds the scope stipulated by the government, they will be forced to be included in the business registration.

Xu Youda didn't want to bother teaching Gu Shuanzi himself, but in the end Gu Shuanzi couldn't take the imperial examination because of Lin Zhen's business, wasting his energy.

But Lin Zhen really didn't think so deeply. He sent Gu Shuanzi to study here with Xu Youda, but he felt that the child's temperament had become a bit fierce due to the influence of Ma Shi and Zhou Tao, and he wanted him to be polite and avoid detours.

But just now Gu Shuanzi memorized the thousand-character essay in different ways, and Xu Youda's attitude made him think, what if Gu Shuanzi takes the imperial examination in the future and his business is bigger than it is now?

Within three generations of Shang nationality, it is absolutely not allowed to participate in the imperial examination.

Lin Zhen pressed down the thought in his heart, and felt that he was thinking too far. Gu Shuanzi is only eight years old now, and even if he wants to take the entrance examination, it will be two or three or four years later. Maybe he will still study Not until then.

He had already discovered that this child was not interested in reading and writing.

On the spot, Gu Shuanzi gave Xu Youda a teacher's ceremony, and put all the Shuxiu he brought into Xu Youda's hands, and then Xu Youda helped him up from the ground, said some words of encouragement, and told him to go home and come to class tomorrow .

Coming out of Xu's house, Lin Zhen turned around and glanced at the courtyard door which was slowly closing behind him, lowered his head and said to Gu Shuanzi, "I'll send you here for a few days, and when you get familiar with the way, you can go to and from school by yourself. Bar?"

The houses here in the east of the city are clean and tidy. At this time, you can already see the servants and maids coming out to buy things from the master's house, or pouring sewage into the gutters, which is a lively scene.

Gu Shuanzi has a good memory, and he has memorized all the forks in this trip with him, and even knows how many steps he has taken, but he nodded and was about to speak, when he suddenly saw a man who hadn't seen him for a long time in the corner of his eye. Seeing the figure, his gaze instantly turned cold, and he clasped his hands together.

Lin Zhen noticed his abnormality, followed his gaze, and saw a crooked figure in the alley not far away, it turned out to be Ma Shi's eldest son.

The kid also saw them, and instead of avoiding them, he walked towards them step by step.

"Shuanzi, why are you here?"

"Yo, my aunt is here too. I heard that you have opened a shop and the business is very good. Why don't you lend me some money and pay you back in two days."

A boy of twelve or thirteen years old is about the same age as Zhong Yan, but Ma Shi's eldest son is as boneless as a puddle of mud.The clothes on her body hadn't been washed for an unknown amount of time, exuding an indescribable stench, her hair was greasy and shiny, and she didn't know what to do with her fairly straight face, it was bruised and purple.

When Gu Shuanzi saw him, he couldn't help the violence in his heart, kicked Ma's eldest son in the stomach, and greeted him with no energy left.

The eldest son of the Ma family was fooling around outside for several days. He lost all his money and hadn’t eaten several meals. He was not Gu Shuanzi’s opponent at all. Master Guan, let you pay me money!"

Gu Shuanzi's eyes gradually turned red. He was wearing a gentle and elegant robe, and the strength under his hands was getting heavier and heavier. At first, Ma's eldest son still had the strength to play tricks, but gradually his voice became smaller and smaller.

Lin Zhen realized that something was wrong and quickly hugged Gu Shuanzi's waist from behind, pulling him off Ma's eldest son: "Shuanzi! It's done!"

Gu Shuanzi was still struggling while being hugged by him, his eyes fixed on Ma Shi's eldest son who was on the ground.

Ma's eldest son just accidentally discovered Gu Shuanzi and Lin Zhen, and wanted to extort some money from them, but he didn't expect Gu Shuanzi to be so ruthless, and he was afraid.

Gu Shuanzi was hugged by Lin Zhen, he clutched his stomach and yelled, "Your son beat me up like this, if you don't pay me back, I'll go to the government and sue him right away, and let him go to jail and be punished!"

Lin Zhen looked at this ex-relative with a swollen nose and a greedy face, and raised his eyebrows: "The gates of the government are open every day, if you want to sue, you can sue, but let me tell you, don't think that what happened before is just like that. It's over, if you pursue it, what your family did can't escape."

Ma's eldest son stared at Lin Zhen dumbfounded. He had deceived many people with the idea of ​​going to the government. Ordinary people would be afraid when they heard the word "government", and wished they could go to the government to eliminate the disaster immediately.

Lin Zhen picked up Gu Shuanzi, put one arm around his waist and the other around his hip, and walked away without looking.

When he used the government to scare people, he didn't know where he was, and he was playing big swords in front of Guan Gong.