Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination

Zhang Zhaichang has good intentions and is willing to accompany him to buy spices. How can Cui Xie refuse? After leaving school in the evening, he greeted the teaching assistant and no longer left to make up classes, but asked Zhang Zhaichang to accompany him to go shopping.

He came on a horse, but Zhang Zhaichang could not ride a horse. It was troublesome to get a car home, so Cui Xie had to hire two sedan chairs. Zhang Zhai pressed his arm and said, "Don't take the sedan chair. These small sedan chairs are so stuffy and swaying. How about we go by ourselves. There are many shops in these hutongs before and after the Guoxue, and we will arrive in a few steps."

Although Zhang Zhaichang is a native of Hejian, he has studied in Guozijian for five years, and even his family moved to Beijing. The road near Guoxue is more familiar than Cui Xie, who is hundreds of years later. As he walked, he pointed to major restaurants and wenwan shops outside of Guoxue. Which cooks are good, which cooks are genuine, where they sell real antiquities, and where are the fakes that are polished, are all treasures.

It is even clearer for spices and medicinal materials.

Cui Xie said a few things to buy, and he said: "These are all whitening medicinal materials. You don't need to go to the incense shop. The Yongniantang at the back has them. Their medicine is okay. I used to get cold and fever by asking him The doctor in the sitting room came to see and prescribed real things, just a few pairs of medicines."

With him, Choi Xie has more confidence.

When the two of them arrived at the drugstore, Cui Xie asked someone for Baizhi, Bailixiang, Baifuzi...each one cost only one dollar and two dollars, so you could see the shape of the slice clearly, and asked someone to weigh it face-to-face, and it was written on the paper bag. first name. Those who bought enough to make scented soap, remembered that in the future, other medicines might be used to make Yurong ointment, sesame seeds, and freckle removers, and they would all be equal when Zhang Zhai was here.

Zhang Luan was watching the medicine for him, pinching up a piece of chopped medicinal material from time to time, watching the color and smell, and sometimes putting it in his mouth for chewing. A group of famous doctors commented on whether the medicine was good or bad, and told him how to distinguish a few similar ones. Medicinal herbs.

Cui Xie grabbed half of the medicine on the counter, and asked for a pestle and a copper grinder to grind the medicine, and then he satisfactorily closed his hands, drained a few pieces of money, and asked the buddy to take a bamboo basket for him. The guy said eagerly: "The two sons are students of Guoxue at first glance. This small medicine store will deliver it to the room number for you, right?"

As soon as Cui Xie reached out, he picked up the basket, squeezed it, and smiled: "No, we'll take it away. If the medicinal materials are good, I will come to visit you later."

Zhang Zhaichang saw him by the side and picked up the basket of medicine. He smiled and sighed: "Good strength, it's not a loss that I can write while standing on my wrist every day. If you want to buy it, you can buy it all? I am here too. It's useless, so I'll go back to the outhouse first."

Cui Xie said: "Where can I go back like this! Please take me to the restaurant across the street, and let me be grateful."

Zhang Luan wanted to refuse, looking at his sincere look, but he moved in his heart, and said with a smile: "Then I won't be polite to you. It's just that the restaurant at the corner of the street is not good. I will show you to a local Suzhou cuisine restaurant. Little restaurant."

The small restaurant is hidden deep in the alley, not easily found by the diners. There are stalls selling fake paintings along the road, and there are several long scrolls depicting Cui Xie’s Three Kingdoms figures.

Cui Xie quietly glanced at the imitations, and shook his head with a sense of superiority—the imitations were not as good as the authentic ones he painted, and the beauty didn't even paint the eyelashes.

Zhang Luan also looked at it with interest, and shook his head: "It's far less than the two hanging at the back of the Ju'anzhai shop. Isn't their owner released from your house? Do you know that his big picture can't sell? Sell? If you can really buy one, it will be worth the extra money."

Cui Xie said: "You can also buy it, but you have to wait after Qixi..."

A gleam of stars flashed in Zhang Zhaichang's eyes, and he stared at him closely: "Is it after the selection of the Three Kingdoms and Five Beauties organized by Ju'anzhai? I heard that Zhirong Bookstore had organized the election of the Four Beauties, but I was in Beijing. Don’t participate. Later, the bookstore asked a master who didn’t understand Lianxiangxiyu to donate..."

Cui Xie coughed slightly and told him he was still standing here.

Zhang Zhaichang said apologetically: "For a while, I forgot that you are the one who donated the bookstore. But we readers in Beijing have always thought that it is hard to see the original prosperity, even if there are imitations, they will not be as good as they are. , But I don’t want this Ju'anzhai to be opened by his family. Everything looks like this. Even this conference has been learned--"

He glanced at Cui Xie, and asked suspiciously, "This beauty pageant method is not what you think of as a kindness?"

Cui Xie pursed his lips and said solemnly, "How did Brother Zhang ask this! After I knew that his family was a female family who rented my yard, I hadn't even stepped into the bookstore. Brother Zhang shouldn't question my character. "

Zhang Luan asked if this meeting was what he wanted, but did not ask the last time. But seeing him denying so solemnly and firmly, even with a bit of unbearable anger, he forgot what he was going to say, so he first calmed him and said, "Brother Yu had this intention. I just felt that his Qixi Festival pageant voted for it. It must be interesting, just ask if you know..."

Cui Xie’s righteous anger was pretending, so he naturally said, "The little brother is not really angry, but the family has rented it to a woman after all. I am a dignified man and I always want to avoid suspicion."

…You didn’t have a hair growing up, and you were a child prodigy two years ago. It’s still a few years away from a dignified man.

Zhang Zhaichang did not freeze for a moment, and laughed out loud. I was afraid that he would be very embarrassed and angry. After thinking about it, I found an excuse to coax him: "I just remembered a good thing. Didn't you ask me to find a female husband? There is such a person in my home county. I have also studied for a few years. A few years ago, the man went and did not give birth to a boy and a half girl. The uncle’s family wanted to occupy their property and forced her to marry. She refused to remarry, so she returned to the clan. She was taught to make a living by female students, and my family had invited her before. She was a decent and decent person.

"I wrote for you a few days ago and asked her if she would like to come to Beijing for a visit, but I haven't waited for a reply. It just happens that there is such a lively Qixi Festival in Beijing, and I plan to bring my relatives into Beijing for a visit. By the way, ask them to bring someone over. Ask her to teach at your home for two days first. If it doesn’t work, then follow my family back. If two times are right, how about you keep her?"

He originally said that it would take a few months to get news, and Cui Xie really thought it was at least the end of the year. Now that I have heard that people from Qixi Festival can come over, I am overjoyed, and thanked him: "The people recommended by Zhaichang are naturally good, and there is nothing inappropriate!"

The two of them joked and went to the small shop for a meal. Zhang Zhaichang asked how many female students his family had, whether he only taught one girl, or if he had a cousin who was staying at his house.

Cui Xie smiled and said: "There is only one girl. Although there are several sisters in my grandfather's family, they are all in Shaanxi with their parents and will not come to my home to study."

Zhang Zhaichang lowered his eyes and smiled: "You are open, and you are willing to ask someone to teach your concubine to study. Most people pay attention to the virtue of a woman without talent, and even her relatives do not ask her to study."

He still had something to say, but he refused to say any more. He shook his head and said, "I will call that Mr. Song into Beijing around the Qixi Festival. Wait a minute."

The two didn't drink much, they parted before it was too late and went back separately.

After Cui Xie arrived home, he took the medicine basket to the study, and then rushed to the room to visit his grandparents. On the one hand, he passed the news of the female husband to his sister, and on the other hand, he had to see how effective his essential oils were.

Unexpectedly, when they arrived at the room, the old lady and the two girls sighed and said, "I don't know who broke the flower dew! You were still in a fragrant body when you came in this morning. How can you tell Xiao Songyan to bring the flower dew in? When they put it on, it turns into a strange, bitter and astringent smell!"

Cui Xie said in surprise: "Not fragrant?"

Doesn’t it mean that floral lotions and essential oils are both fragrant? He smelled it last night... Yes, it wasn't too fragrant last night. The real smell was the flowers in his courtyard and the steam that came out of him when he steamed the flowers!

A girl brought the flower dew, and Cui Xie sniffed it. It was really not scented. The astringent smell of grass was not like steamed from such fragrant gardenia.

Is it because his steaming method is wrong, so that the essential oil in the flowers can't be steamed when the flowers are piled on the grate and steamed? But he obviously watched the thin layer of oil floating on the water...or was the smell too strong and could only smell after being diluted?

Is it better to dilute with water or alcohol?

He designed several experiments in his mind, smelling the smell that is not very offensive, and in turn comforted his family: "This is not something that was broken in the middle. I am afraid that I have done a bad way. Don't wrong people. It’s okay if you don’t do it well this time, try a few more times, there will always be a good time."

This is light and light, he can use it as a men's perfume. He put away the perfume, told the old lady that he was looking for a female husband for his younger sister, and said a few words with the two elders, then after returning, he grabbed Cui Liang and tried again.

Cui Liang knew that the perfume was going bad early in the morning, and when he went back, he suffered a lot from his father. He waited timidly for him in the small courtyard at night, afraid that he would blame himself. Who thought Cui Xie didn't blame him at all. When they met, he said, "Maybe you shouldn't have steamed flowers in water yesterday. Let's steam them in water again."

Cui Liang felt relieved and patted his heart to say: "The little one must watch the fire well today, and never let it steam out again!"

Cui Xie is a pure liberal arts student, and he also relies on Meng to make essential oils, not much better than him. Think about how he stared at fire and exposed dew yesterday. He also knew that he was staring at releasing ice. In fact, he understood the whole process, so he patted his shoulder and said, "Then you stare the whole process today, I have to do other things. Slowly we have to withdraw. Let’s try a few more times. If it doesn’t work, we will change to other flowers. There will always be a time to make it. Relax, there is nothing difficult in the world, I’m afraid there are people who are interested."

He forcibly poured a bowl of chicken soup to Cui Liang, redesigned the experiment, asked him to soak the flowers in cold water and boil it, and made a new bottle.

This time it smelled...not like gardenia.

Cui Xie had a failure experience and couldn't believe the noses of the two of them. Before night was over, he ran to the guest house and asked Cui Qi to get up and smell it for himself.

Cui Qigang sent his dad back from Tongzhou, because he heard that his elder brother was making perfume at home, so he didn't dare to disturb him, so he kept drawing pictures in his house at night. Suddenly I saw him rushing in with incense, thinking that he was sprinkling a new set of incense, sniffing and sniffing it, and said with joy, "This incense smells so good, brother really can do whatever he wants. Even the foreign incense steamed out in one breath? Congratulations, big brother."

Cui Xie waved his hand: "Where is it, this foreign stuff is difficult to do..." He hated that he was a complete liberal arts student at the beginning, and he returned chemistry to the teacher after the exam was over, otherwise it would be so strenuous now!

He handed the flower dew to Cui Qi and said: "My brother Xiao Liang and I are both fragrant. You can't smell the flower dew. You smell it."

He avoided the room, Cui Qi exposed the incense, went to the wind to blow the fragrance on his body, then unplugged the cork from the bottle and smelled it carefully.

Huh... why doesn't it smell?

He smelled and smelled, and looked for water to wash his nose, and finally had to admit that he had something bad that day, even the wizard and omnipotent elder brother.

He squatted outside the courtyard for a long time before he got up and went back to tell Cui Xie the bad news. But I don't want Cui Xie not to take it seriously, and drew a few pictures for him, just shook his head: "If you do anything easily, you can succeed. If it's a big deal, just sprinkle it yourself, and the smell is not bad."

The flowers of several ounces of silver were steamed and became bitter water. Not to mention selling them, they could not even be given away as gifts, and he felt it a pity. But science is about investment. Where can the gains come from?

You have to grab ideas from elsewhere...make money for it!

Cui Xie made up his mind and returned to the room with some flowers. Cui Liang was still boiling distilled water in the small kitchen to wash the steamed retort, so he hid in the study, took out the medicinal materials bought at noon, took out the pen, ink and paint, and drew fine realistic pictures based on the prepared sliced ​​medicinal materials, and marked the name, The taste is organized into a medicinal material illustration book.

Smell... Don't care about it at this time.

The drawn pictures and texts are automatically generated in PDF in his mind. In this way, he will be able to identify the medicinal materials against the documents in his brain in the future even if he does not have medicines at hand.

Fragrant soap is much simpler to make than toilet water. Facing the medicinal materials with names, he identified the medicinal materials sent by Cui Ting, marked the names on each paper bag, and weighed them out.

Brother Xiao Liang was steaming flower dew with cigarettes in the kitchen, from gardenias to roses, from flowers to dried flowers, from water to steaming to wine... He asked Cui Liangdong to find some young men to develop medicinal powder for him , I closed the door and boiled the sugar water in a small wind furnace, and secretly mashed the palace soap of Chongzhennian.

The prepared medicinal materials are mixed with a pound and a half of saponaria powder, and the thick brown sugar water is used to make big honey balls. He is a martial artist again, his hands are stronger, and the soap **** that he rubs out are stronger and rounder than those sold outside, and they are shining brightly, and then he string them up and hang them under the eaves to dry.

After the scented soap was dry and it felt almost the same as the one sold outside, Cui Xie first washed his hands with it.

The taste of the palace soap is better than that of the outside sellers, and it will not stain a pot of white muddy soup after washing. Perhaps because of the whitening drug, he seemed to feel a little bit white in his hands-this drug effect must be written in the propaganda draft!

But the market is full of round soap balls. The shape of these **** is too ordinary to show the high quality of their palace soap. Cui Xie tried it for a few times and determined that it was comfortable to use and not easy to disperse, so it could be sold out, so he gave a pill each to his family and asked Cui Qi to come over and ask him to find the engraver A few molds.

There are rectangles, squares, and mooncake-shaped ones. They are all the size of mooncakes, and are carved with concave and convex fine lines around them, just like delicate dim sum molds. He drew pictures of beauties with thicker lines on the soap, and asked them to sculpt inscribed figures on the inner surface.

Those craftsmen who are accustomed to engraving patterns are easy to engrave. Cui Qi glanced at it and said with a smile: "Such a thing, you can get it in a day or two. Don't worry, brother, I will be staring at this, and I will definitely tell them to do it quickly and well."

Cui Xie laughed and said, "It's not a dessert mold, it's a scented soap mold. Different soaps are placed in different molds. When I look back, I will draw some pictures of beauties and ask them to print out the soap wrapped in colored paper, and then add photos. Isn’t the lining tin soap box a decent quality goods?"