Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 156

The next day, at the request of the three of Fan Ning, the passenger ship changed its sailing mode. Instead of sailing at night, it docked for the night. Although it took more than ten days to get to the capital, the advantage of slow travel is that it is not tiring. , a lot easier for passengers and boatmen.

After sailing for four days, the ship arrived in Runzhou. It was late autumn. Although there were still green trees on both sides of the bank, the desolation had already enveloped the land. The crops had been harvested, and flocks of birds foraging were everywhere in the bare fields. bird.

The biggest advantage of the five-hundred-stone passenger ship is that it has more cabins. There are four cabins in total. The boatmen use one cabin, and the three of them each have one cabin.

Although the cabins are small, only four or five square meters, each cabin has a small window and a table. Sitting on the table during the day, studying, or watching the scenery, this kind of travel is really comfortable and comfortable.

Fan Ning was sitting in front of the window reading a book. There were several villages on the shore, and people were coming and going, which seemed relatively lively.

At this time, the cabin door opened, and Su Liang walked in from the outside, and sat down cross-legged at the small table opposite Fan Ning.

"Jingkou County is ahead, do you think we should go down for a walk?"

Jingkou County is today's Zhenjiang. When they passed by Wujin County the day before yesterday, they also went down for a walk. Fan Ning thought for a while and asked, "Are you going for your birthday?"

Su Liang pouted and said, "That mad cow probably won't go anywhere!"

Su Liang thought it was very appropriate to describe Li Dashou as a mad cow. From the first day they boarded the ship, they rarely saw Li Dashou. He locked himself in the cabin and practiced calligraphy day and night. He heard his reciting aloud, and he only slept for two or three hours a day at most, and his eyes were red from the boil.

Although Li Dashou always said that he came to Beijing to experience the provincial imperial examinations, but he tasted the sweetness in solving the exams. Li Dashou also had a glimmer of hope for himself, and started to study like crazy as soon as he boarded the boat.

"Okay! Ask Dashou later, if he refuses to get off the boat, let's go for a walk."

The ship sailed into Jingkou County. Jingkou County was the last stop of the ship sailing into the Yangtze River. The shipping industry and warehousing industry here are very developed. Almost half of the houses are warehouses.

In addition to warehouses, there are various shops on the wharf, water and food supply stores, taverns, inns, brothels, Guanpu shops, snack bars, tea shops, grocery stores, etc., there are dozens of shops.

Sure enough, as Su Liang expected, Li Dashou rejected the suggestion of inviting him to go ashore for a walk. The goal he set for himself was to write [-] words a day. It can be said that he even had to eat while writing. Time to go out and play.

Fan Ning and Su Liang got on the bank and walked towards the county along the river bank. After passing the pier, the atmosphere in the county became obviously deserted. It was almost all residential buildings with few businesses. Compared with Wu County, Jingkou County, regardless of its size, The population, buildings, businesses, etc. were much inferior. After walking for less than two miles, the two of them lost interest in walking any further.

"That's Beigu Mountain over there, let's go and have a look?" Su Liang suggested, pointing to a hill a few miles away.

Beigu Mountain is the place where Liu Bei had a blind date in Soochow. There is Ganlu Temple on the mountain. Standing on the top of the mountain, you can overlook the Yangtze River.

Xin Qiji once climbed Beigu Mountain and wrote the famous sentence of "Where to look at Shenzhou, you can see the scenery of Beigu Tower".

Fan Ning looked at the sky and saw that it was almost noon, so he smiled and said, "Let's find a place to have lunch first, and then go up the mountain after lunch."

They had to come to the pier for lunch. There are seven or eight restaurants and restaurants gathered here. When the two walked to a restaurant called 'Bei Gu Lou', Fan Ning said with a smile, "Let's go to this one!"

A bartender graciously welcomed them into the restaurant. There were quite a few diners in the restaurant, and it was about [-]% full.

They actually found an empty table by the window on the second floor, where they could see their passenger ship.

"The two little officials want to eat something. The most famous signature dish of the shop is Jingkou Vinegar Fish. There are also several famous Jingkou dishes, such as steamed saury and grilled eel. If you don't want to eat fish, the shop also has mountain pork. , rabbit legs, roe deer and venison."

Both Fan Ning and Su Liang liked fish more. They ordered three portions of fish, and another portion of roasted wild mushrooms and braised mountain pork.

"What would you like to drink?" Fanning asked with a smile.

Su Liang thought for a while and asked, "What wine do you have?"

"The shop has rice wine and plum wine. The best one is Jingkou Niang, which is sake. The price is a bit more expensive. A pot of wine costs two hundred dollars."

"Then have a pot of sake!"

"Okay! The two little officials will be here soon."

The bartender went downstairs, Su Liang looked outside, smiled and said to Fan Ning: "Do you think there is a small road behind the hotel directly to Beigu Mountain?"

"What's so interesting about Beigu Mountain? There's nothing there. It's just a barren grass mountain!"

It was not the bartender who spoke, but another drinker next to him. Fan Ning glanced at this drinker, and saw that he was also dressed as a scholar, and he was not very old, around sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a gauze hat and a loose blue shirt. A satin scholar's suit, a leather belt around the waist, and a folding fan in his hand,
But his physical appearance is really unflattering. He has a fat round face, small nose and small eyes, and a big round belly. However, he has a sincere face and looks naive.

Fan Ning asked with a smile, "Is Xiongtai a local?"

The fat scholar shook his head, "I'm not a local, I'm from Yangzhou on the north bank of the river. I just finished the solution test and came here for a few days. I went to Beigu Mountain in the morning."

"What scenery does Beigu Mountain have?" Su Liang asked.

"Hey! Don't mention it, I'm so angry!"

Fan Ning and Su Liang looked at each other, Fan Ning said with a smile: "This brother might as well sit here, let's talk together."

"Okay!"

The fat man hastily moved his five or six dishes over, all of which were top-quality meat dishes, and his wine was also a bottle of sake. It seemed that he was from a good family.

The fat gentleman unfolded his folding fan, pretending to fan the wind gracefully, raised his stubby brows and said, "Let me introduce first, my surname is Cheng, and my name is Cheng Ze. name?"

Fan Ning smiled slightly and said: "We are all from Pingjiang Mansion, next to Fan Ning, this is my good friend Su Liang, who is passing through Runzhou on his way to the capital."

"Are you going to the capital to take the exam?" Cheng Ze suddenly asked excitedly.

Fan Ning hesitated, but nodded, "Almost! Let's take the Children's Department."

"I see. It looks like you guys are not very old. I also passed the exam this year and plan to go to Beijing in a few days."

Both Fan Ning and Su Liang couldn't help but secretly sighed in their hearts, they are really unbelievable!Such a fat scholar is actually a Juren, and the two quickly got up and saluted, "It turns out that Xiongtai is a Juren, I'm disrespectful!"

Cheng Ze waved his hand triumphantly, "What is a meager man? With my family's financial resources, there is no problem in being admitted to Jinshi."

This remark made people frown a little. What does it have to do with financial resources to be admitted to Juren? Could it be that his Juren was bought with money, how is it possible?

Cheng Ze also found a loophole in his words, and quickly explained, "I mean, if the family is rich, you can hire a better husband. Like this Yangzhou solution test, my master bet on the discussion and countermeasure questions, and I was lucky enough to take the test." Intermediate test."

"So that's it! Brother Cheng's going to Beigu Mountain today is a disappointment?" Su Liang was still a little unwilling, and turned the topic back to Beigu Mountain.

"Little brother, let me tell you this! There are no buildings on the mountain. I haven't seen any of the Ganlu Temple or Beigu Building. There is only grass one person tall, and the wind on the top of the mountain is very strong, making me shiver. I advise you not to go, you will be disappointed."

At this time, the bartender brought the food and drinks, and he also smiled and said: "Beigu Mountain is really not interesting, just go up the mountain to see the river view, why not go to Jinshan Temple for fun."

Su Liang asked Fan Ning in a low voice, "How are you going?"

Fan Ning poured wine for the three of them with a smile, "Eat first, let's talk after eating."

Li Dashou is sweating profusely in the cabin to practice calligraphy. Although he is serious about his work, his comprehension is a little poor, so he can only put in more effort than others. Although he was lucky enough to pass the solution test this time, Li Dashou knows in his heart that it is only because of the countermeasures. Because of his outstanding performance, the examiner didn't study his calligraphy deeply.

But the provincial test failed. Talented people from all the prefectures of the Song Dynasty gathered together. How could a seemingly mediocre calligraphy be favored by the examiners.

Moreover, calligraphy is a process of accumulation over many years. He only has three months now. If he does not put in thousands of times of effort, his calligraphy will not improve.

Having recognized this death principle, he seized all the time, wishing he could not even sleep, and practiced calligraphy frantically and hard regardless of everything.

In the more than an hour when Fan Ning and Su Liang went ashore, he had already written more than [-] words.

At this time, he suddenly heard Fan Ning calling himself, "Big birthday! Big birthday!"

He can ignore others, but Fan Ning is his senior brother, Li Dashou quickly put down his pen and walked out of the cabin.

"Senior brother, do you have anything to do with me?"

Seeing three people standing on the deck, besides Fan Ning and Su Liang, there was also a chubby man, Li Dashou couldn't help being stunned for a moment.

"Who is this?"

Fan Ning introduced him with a smile, "This is Cheng Ze, a Jinke Yangzhou Juren, who will take our boat to Yangzhou, and we just want to take a look at Yangzhou by the way."

(End of this chapter)