Linxia

Chapter 55, Target

The next day, Fang Lin got up early. The light in the kitchen was on and there were people there. They were Fang Sun and Tian Xuan. They were cooking quietly for fear of waking up the father and son.

"Mom, Sister Xuan, why don't you get some sleep? I can go out and buy something to eat by myself." Fang Lin said.

"The food outside is not clean. My son, the rice is ready." Fang's mother said as she started to serve the rice.

"Yes, Brother Lin, it's not a big deal." Tian Xuan smiled and brought over a bowl of rice soup and two rice balls.

Fang Lin felt a warm feeling in his chest. He didn't say anything else and started eating.

As he was eating, he suddenly remembered something and said, "Mom, Sister Xuan, our place is a bit far from the store, and it's troublesome to go back and forth every day. I also want to learn to read during my off-work time, so I plan to come back once every ten days."

Mother Fang was silent for a while before she said, "Okay, my son, remember to take good care of yourself and eat every meal. If the food in the restaurant is not good, go out to eat by yourself and don't be reluctant to spend money..."

She kept talking on and on, feeling worried and wanting to tie herself to her son.

Tian Xuan did not take over the task of giving the instructions. She turned around silently, took out two sets of clothes and placed them next to Fang Lin so that he could take them with him when he left.

After dinner, it was just getting light. Fang's father got up when he heard the noise. The family sent Fang Lin out of the house and watched him until he disappeared before turning back.

……

Xuan Mo Zhai, working as usual, peaceful day after day.

There were not many guests this afternoon. Cheng Shiliang and Huang Di were resting and dozing off due to sleepiness. Chai Yiwei could not sit still and walked around sweeping the floor.

Fang Lin was reading a book, converting the simplified characters he remembered into traditional characters, and learning to read.

Huang Di came over, perhaps because they had become more familiar with each other in the past two days, and persuaded him: "Linzi, aren't you tired? Take a break! At our age, no matter how well we know how to read, we can't compare to those who have been studying since childhood. It's hard to pass the examination for Tongsheng!"

"Knowing more words will always be useful." Fang Lin said.

The work of a bookstore is respectable, but also hard and tiring. It is not as good as the best, but better than the worst. It won't make you rich, but you can save some money after eating and drinking and live a relatively comfortable life.

This kind of comfort is good, but at the same time, it will gradually erode a person's edges and spirituality, turning him or her into an ordinary member of the world.

'It is difficult to maintain fighting spirit in adversity, and it is even more difficult to maintain fighting spirit in a comfortable environment. ' Fang Lin immediately reminded himself not to forget his original intention, to live in this world, to live well with the people he cherishes, and this bookstore job is obviously far from enough, and it can even be said to be just a beginning.

In the past two days, he had confirmed a fact from indirect inquiries from Manager Liu and Master Ou: there were Tartars in Liaodong, north of Daxia. There was no doubt that his guess was correct. This was a time and space similar to the late Ming Dynasty!

"As an ordinary person, I don't have any great ambitions, nor do I have the ability to save the people from disaster, let alone dominate the world and rebuild the world!"

'The rich help the world, the poor take care of themselves. In the future, when the Tartars seize the sacred artifacts, the mountains and rivers are broken, the Chinese weep blood, and the people mourn, I just want to hide away, take my family away, and go overseas.'

Of course, in this era, the situation overseas is not peaceful either, it can only be said to be relatively better. If you want to live well and with dignity, you must control the gun!
Fang Lin understood the so-called gun as people and weapons: "At least tens of thousands of people should be organized as a trusted team, and then armed with foreign firearms. Then, in public, it is a merchant corps, but secretly it is an armed merchant corps. It would be best if there were overseas bases and military factories... But all this requires a huge resource mobilization capability."

Fang Lin could only imagine two paths. One was to become an official through the imperial examination, and to become an official with real power; the other was to become a big capitalist, or a so-called wealthy businessman. To become an official through the imperial examination, one had to pass the examinations step by step, passing the levels of Tongsheng, Xiucai, Juren, and Jinshi. Then, without family support, one had to be granted an official position with real power, and then become an official with real power. It was too difficult and took too long, so he didn't give up. Learning to read was just laying the foundation.

'It is equally difficult to be a big capitalist or a wealthy businessman, but in this period of the embryonic stage of capitalism, it is more feasible. However, if you want to be a big capitalist, you must first accumulate capital and become a small capitalist. At the same time, you must not forget one thing, your connections! '

Fang Lin remembered deeply that this land, which had been based on officialdom since ancient times, would be swallowed up without the support of power, no matter how great the wealth was.

'So, what I have to do now is, first, learn to write; second, observe carefully, find a way to make money and accumulate the first pot of gold; third, use my own set of methods to find opportunities in life and build a network of relationships.'

There is no order of priority among the three and they can be carried out simultaneously.

'For learning calligraphy, I will stay at Xuanmozhai to eat and live, and try to find more time. I am already practicing. For the first pot of gold, I don't have any ideas yet. I need to get in touch with the outside world more and find a way in. As for connections? I have some ideas. I will start preparing little by little after the next day off.'

Huang Di didn't know that because of his words, in this small Xuan Mo Zhai, in just a short moment, Fang Lin had already gone over the future destiny of this country in his mind, and further clarified his goal in his heart and began to put it into practice.

At this time, Cheng Shiliang yawned, stretched, stood up and said, "Linzi, I'm going to relieve myself, can you help me?"

"Okay." Fang Lin agreed.

Coincidentally, just after Cheng Shiliang left, a customer came and he collected money and kept accounts on his behalf.

Shopkeeper Liu came over, wanting to fill in the gaps and give Fang Lin some pointers, but after taking a look, he was slightly surprised: "Fang Lin, you learn calligraphy very quickly. There is not a single mistake in these characters. What's more, your handwriting is clear and sharp, which can be considered good handwriting."

"In the village, Cunzheng wrote couplets. I saw him practicing blindly." This was naturally an excuse. Although Qiao Cunzheng knew how to read, Fang Lin had indeed seen some of his couplets, but this was a skill he had acquired in his previous life: "As for learning characters, I can recognize and write simple ones, but I always make mistakes with complex ones."

In fact, it is not a spelling mistake, but it is confused with simplified characters. Habits are not so easy to change.

"Just by learning and practicing, you can reach such a level. Your Muramasa must be a great talent left behind in the countryside!"

Shopkeeper Liu obviously misunderstood, thinking that "a good teacher produces a good student", but he didn't know that Fang Lin's nominal teacher was not that good. He still regretted that he couldn't meet him. After sighing for a while, he said to Fang Lin: "You are learning characters very quickly, and your progress is so fast that you can be called smart. Unfortunately, if you had entered school at a young age, I think it would be no problem for you to pass the examination for a scholar, and you could even try for a juren."

The regret was evident in his words.

In addition, don't think that he only mentioned "scholars" and "juren" to despise Fang Lin. This is definitely a great compliment. In this era, the only way to success is the imperial examination. Who among the scholars who have achieved fame is not smart? Who is not hardworking? Even scholars are one in a thousand or ten thousand, not to mention juren!
"Linzi, OK!"

When Huang Di heard Manager Liu's praise, he was surprised, felt sour and a little jealous. But when he understood the deeper meaning, that it was a little late for Fang Lin to start studying now, he felt calmer.

He quickly realized that he shouldn't think like that, and quickly suppressed these distracting thoughts and changed the subject: "Boss, Brother Cheng and I are going to Wengtang to take a bath this afternoon, so we want to go early."

"You have to go earlier." Shopkeeper Liu nodded and looked at Fang Lin: "Fang Lin, how about you go and see it too? I'll just watch over the store."

"Okay, thank you for your help, boss." Fang Lin also wanted to go and take a look.

……

(End of this chapter)