Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 27 The Pride of Scholars
Early the next morning, Zhang Juzheng and Yin Zhengmao took advantage of the cool autumn weather and went out to find a quiet place to read.Anyway, both of them have experience of failing the examination, and they are familiar with the city of Beijing.

Wang Daoqiu, on the other hand, slept until he woke up naturally. After getting dressed, he went out to wash up and saw Sister Qiu taking the little girl Sanniang, washing clothes by the well.

"Sister-in-law Qiu, it's cold this morning, please wash your clothes at noon." Seeing Sister-in-law Qiu washing clothes there, Wang Daoqiu said and walked over with toiletries.

When Sister Qiu saw Wang Daoqiu coming over with toiletries in his hand, she knew that Wang Daoqiu came here just to wash up.So she immediately stood up and went to help Wang Daoqiu fetch water. While fetching water, Mrs. Qiu replied to Wang Daoqiu: "Mr. Xie Yuan is kind-hearted and considerate of the servants! But it doesn't matter. Although the weather outside is a bit cold in the morning, the well The water is warm, so your hands won’t freeze. And if you wash it in the morning, the clothes will be dry as soon as the sun comes out at noon. But if you wash them at noon, then the clothes won’t be dry today.”

"It doesn't matter whether the clothes are dry today. Anyway, the four of us are not short of a change of clothes. Sister Qiu, you don't have to work so hard. Oh, by the way, Sister Qiu, are the three of them getting up?"

"Get up, get up, when did the three masters go out, the slave family doesn't know? Anyway, when the slave family came, the courtyard door was ajar, and the three masters' room was also empty. They might have gone out early to warm up. Book. To be honest, Mr. Jiang has become more diligent now that Mr. Jie Yuangong comes. He didn't get up so early two days ago. Every time, the slave family came to knock on the door, so he got up to open the courtyard door for the slave family. Mr. Xie Yuangong, Mr. Jiang likes to go out to have breakfast, so you have to go out to buy breakfast yourself, and don’t make it at home. Of course, if Xie Yuangong doesn’t want to go out, the slave family can also help Xie Yuangong go there. purchase."

For breakfast, the ones made at home are indeed not as good as those bought outside, and eating them at a food stall is indeed more atmospheric.It's just that winter is coming to Beijing...

Thinking of this, Wang Daoqiu said to Sister Qiu while washing up: "The weather is still warm now, so it's okay to go out to eat in the morning. But when winter comes, it's freezing and snowy outside, and the four of us may not be willing to go out anymore. By then, I’m going to trouble Sister Qiu to make breakfast.”

"No trouble, no trouble, that's right. Duke Xie Yuang and the three masters are all kind-hearted. One of the slaves works here, but Duke Xie Yuang and the three masters still take care of the food of the three children of the slave family. This kind of kindness can be In the city of Beijing, which master treats his servants so well! The slave family is so lucky..."

As Qiu Sao spoke, she began to praise Wang Daoqiu and the four of them again.For such a trivial matter, Mrs. Qiu was so grateful, but Wang Daoqiu was embarrassed.So he said a few perfunctory words to Sister Qiu, washed up quickly, pretended to hold a book, and went out.

When we came to the street, it was the time of the morning market at 90 or [-] in the morning. There were many stalls selling things and people carrying baskets to buy things, just like the streets we had in the [-]s and [-]s.

The bustling crowd, accompanied by the shouts of vendors and the bargaining sounds of buyers and sellers, is very lively and full of human fireworks!To join in the fun, Wang Daoqiu found a clean looking food stall where seven or eight diners were eating and drinking.

Wang Daoqiu was wearing a student uniform and a soft hat. At first glance, he looked like a well-established scholar.So as soon as he sat down, the food stall owner greeted him respectfully: "Young Master, what do you want to eat?"

"What do you have here?"

"Hey, the accent sounds like the young master is a foreigner! The young master came to Beijing in advance to prepare for the examination in February next year!"

It is difficult to travel in the ice and snow in the northern winter. In order not to miss the exam period, most candidates from other places will arrive in Beijing in advance.And there are tens of thousands of candidates participating in each Ming Dynasty test. Except for those not far from Beijing, there are at least seven or eight thousand candidates who come to Beijing in advance for each test.So now the owner of the food stall saw Wang Daoqiu wearing a student uniform and speaking with a foreign accent, so he guessed that Wang Daoqiu might be a foreign student who came to Beijing in advance for the examination in February next year.

When Wang Daoqiu saw that the food stall owner guessed his identity, he did not hide it and replied with a smile: "The store owner has such good eyesight! Xiaosheng is the Zhejiang scholar who came to the capital in advance for the exam next year."

"Hey, you are still a master! You are so young, sir, just now I thought you were just a scholar! My eyes are dull, my eyes are dull, I am sorry to the master."

As he spoke, the food stall owner put down what he was doing and bowed to Wang Daoqiu.

Wang Daoqiu felt a little embarrassed when he saw the owner of a food stall in his 40s bending down and bowing to a young man like himself.He waved his hands and said, "It's okay, it's okay. What do you have to eat here, store?"

"Hey Master Juren, don't look at this small stall. It's not big, but there's a lot of food to eat. There are steamed buns, steamed buns, and glutinous rice on the stove. The pot can help you cook wontons and noodles. The little woman can even spread it with her hands. There are good cakes, including egg cakes and meat cakes. What do you think, Master Juren, what do you want to eat?"

It's not easy for such a small food stall to have so much food with just the owner and his wife working hard.Moreover, the food they sell is quite satisfactory, without the legendary dark dish, Beijing Bean Juice.

Don't think about those nonsense, about what to eat now, Wang Daoqiu thought for a while and said: "Just a bowl of wontons and two pancakes. Shopkeeper, can you put pickles in this pancake? I like to eat pickle pancakes."

"Okay, okay. There are pickles here, so the pickle patties are no problem."

After saying this to Wang Daoqiu, the food stall owner put wontons into the pot for Wang Daoqiu, and at the same time ordered the woman beside him to spread two pickle pancakes for Wang Daoqiu.

After a while, the food stall owner yelled for favors and placed a steaming bowl of wontons and two pickle pancakes in front of Wang Daoqiu.

The food, ingredients and craftsmanship of this era were all real, without the "high technology" of later generations.So when you eat it, the taste is not as delicious as the later ones, but it has a strong sense of simplicity, the grain has the aroma of grain, and the meat has the aroma of meat, rather than the fishy tofu dregs.

"Oops, the horse is frightened. Everyone, run away!"

"Oh, my food!"

"Kids, kids, my kids!"

…………

Enjoy eating this authentic, purely natural food.Wang Daoqiu is beautiful there, but at the same time he feels pity for the future generations who can only afford "high technology"!Suddenly the street turned into a mess, with people neighing and horses screaming, and the stalls collapsed into pieces. A frightened horse dragged a carriage and ran rampantly on the street.Seeing this crazy horse rushing toward him, Wang Daoqiu was so frightened that he hurriedly ran into a shop on the street.

Wang Daoqiu was alone, with only a book in his hand, and it was easy for him to get lost without any burden on him.He dodged, but the food stall he had just been sitting on was in bad luck. Under the impact of the Crazy Horse, it immediately became a mess. The stove fire that fell down even caused a fire, which attracted people around him to rush to put out the fire.

At this time, the crazy horse also lost his mind because of knocking over the pots and stoves on the food stall. The charcoal fire in the stove and the boiling water in the pot for steaming buns and cooking noodles and wontons made him lose his mind and hit him directly. He pointed at the door of the shop on the street.

At this moment, sparks hit the earth, the door panel of the store was shattered, and the crazy horse fell to the ground with a bloody head and foaming at the mouth.A riot subsided because of the fall of the crazy horse, but the matter was far from over.

At this moment, I saw a thin, middle-aged man in a long gown, panting, chasing after the carriage.When he got here, when he saw the horse lying on the ground with blood on its head and foaming at the mouth, he immediately became furious.He pointed at the shopkeeper who came to check on the damage to his assistant and asked him to pay for it, saying that his assistant had hit and killed his horse.

Wow, someone’s store assistant hit and killed his horse!Wang Daoqiu was also drunk by this logic.Wang Daoqiu thought that this middle-aged man in a long-sleeved shirt was so unreasonable. The assistant shopkeeper would probably greet his waiter and give him a good meal!

But what happened next surprised Wang Daoqiu.I saw that the shop assistant boss was so confused by the middle-aged man in a long shirt. Not only did he not get angry, but he let the dog bite.Instead, he put on a smile and said humbly: "Steward Xia, this matter has nothing to do with the shop. It's the stall selling snacks. It was the charcoal fire in their stove and the boiling water in the pot that scalded your horse. I was frightened and bumped into my shop assistant. This shop has also suffered a disaster!"

After the shopkeeper said these words loudly, he leaned into Butler Xia's ear and whispered softly: "Butler Xia, the owners of the shop are the British Zhang family. We are all here to help the master, so don't Use this little thing to bother the master."

After the shopkeeper said these words, he pointed at Butler Xia to the snack stall owner and his wife.The meaning is very clear. The owner of my store is the hereditary British Duke of Ming Dynasty. You can't extort money from me.If you want to extort money, go find those two weaklings.

The shopkeeper's idea is undoubtedly a wise one, don't you pick the weak one!So after Butler Xia heard what the shopkeeper said, he stopped pestering the shopkeeper, rushed to the food stall and the couple, and shouted loudly: "You are so bold and unruly, how dare you harm the horses of the chief minister's family, how can you think so in your eyes?" Is there any royal law?"

"Chen Laosan, the horses and carriages today belong to Xia Shoufu's family. The man standing in front of you now is Xia Shoufu's nephew, and he is also the current butler of Xia Shoufu's family. Lao San ! You are also a gangster on the streets of this capital city, so you should be sensible, be sensible."

Immediately after Butler Xia shouted angrily, the store manager also spoke out to remind Chen Laosan, the food stall owner.He said that the horse and carriage belonged to Xia Shoufu's family. Butler Xia was not only the housekeeper of Shoufu's family, but also the nephew of Mr. Shoufang. Chen Laosan should be sensible.

As a small businessman on the ground in the capital, Chen Laosan, the food stall owner, certainly knows how to survive here.So after the shopkeeper reminded him, Chen Laosan suppressed the grievance in his heart, forced out a smile, and begged to Butler Xia: "Mr. Xia, I'm sorry, I surprised you by setting up a stall today." Ma, it's Xiao's fault, I can't forgive you, I apologize to you."

After saying these words, the food stall owner Chen Laosan first gave Butler Xia a [-]-degree bow, and then slapped himself loudly.At this time, Butler Xia didn't say anything. He stood in front of the food stall owner Chen Laosan, watching Chen Laosan slap him with a smug smile.

Today's incident, the melon-eating people gathered around to watch the excitement, all know what is going on.It was obviously Xia Shoufu's horse that was frightened, knocking over stalls along the street and injuring many people, and finally...

Logically speaking, it should be the butler of Xia Shoufu's family who should apologize to everyone, but now?Hey, the people who eat melons are angry in their hearts, but they dare not speak out!
Faced with this situation, Wang Daoqiu's heart was blazing with fire, but he held it back. He wanted to see how much this dog slave of Xia Shoufu's family could go too far.

Wang Daoqiu didn't let Wang Daoqiu wait long. After the food stall owner Chen Laosan slapped him in the mouth more than a dozen times, Butler Xia spoke leisurely. He said: "Okay, okay, I know you didn't mean it. This way. Come on! Seeing that it’s not easy for you to make a living by doing a small business, I won’t arrest you and your wife to see the officials today, just compensate for the loss today.”

"Okay, okay, how much do you have to pay?" Chen Laosan, who had his face swollen when he heard the offer, asked cautiously.

"How much compensation do you have to pay? Did you see the horse on the ground? It is a war horse in the army. Each one costs at least 70 taels. Also, the carriage was broken. You can pay another 100 taels for repairs. As for the goods in the carriage ? Forget it, forget it, I won’t tell you the detailed calculation, and you can’t afford to pay for it if it’s too much. Let’s just pay [-] taels of silver for what happened today.”

"You're so presumptuous, you're just too much of a bully. You little slave, do you still know that I, the Ming Dynasty, have kingly laws?"

Butler Xia wanted to blackmail the snack stall owner Chen Laosan for 100 taels of silver. As soon as he finished speaking, there was a loud roar from the crowd next to him.Then a short, lean middle-aged man walked out of the crowd.

As soon as the man walked out of the crowd, he glared at Butler Xia angrily and continued to scold: "You scumbag slave, you are so bully, does your Xia Shoufu know?"

"You, you, who are you? Whose belt is not fastened and you are exposed?"

The middle-aged man looked very fierce now, but when he saw the middle-aged man wearing a coarse cloth uniform and a square scarf on his head, Butler Xia knew that he was just a powerless scholar.So in the face of the middle-aged man's scolding, Butler Xia was not afraid at all and sarcastically said arrogantly.

The steward, even the steward of the first assistant family, is nothing more than a servant and a slave.How dare a slave be so arrogant, which made the middle-aged man angry.

So the middle-aged man's small universe exploded, and he rushed over and grabbed Butler Xia's collar. Without saying a word, he just slapped his bow left and right, and slapped the slave dog twice.

After slapping the dog slave's big mouth, the middle-aged man yelled at the frightened Butler Xia: "Dog slave, remember this, I am Shen Lian, the magistrate of Qingfeng County in Henan Province who was just appointed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. "

After yelling angrily, Shen Lian pushed the dog slave Butler Xia to the ground.With that kind of momentum, he is really ruthless and doesn’t talk much!

(End of this chapter)