Chapter 4: Qingyang Academy
Cangshan Town, a town with only two streets, one horizontal and one vertical, is located in the southern part of Chu State, within the jurisdiction of Qingyang County. It's an obscure town among the dozens in Qingyang County.
The Wan family's leather goods store had its shopkeeper loudly announcing, "Insects eat, rats bite, bald fur shedswild wolf hide, fifty wen per piece."
Wang Hong gritted his teeth but chose not to engage in pointless argunt. He extended his hand and took the fifty wen.
All leather goods in Cangshan Town were monopolized by the Wan family, and the pricing of all leather goods was determined by the Wan family's word.
Those who intervened in the leather goods business mysteriously disappeared; so encountered thieves, leaving their families bereft. After such incidents, no one dared to touch the leather goods business again.
After leaving Wan's store, Wang Hong went to the pharmacy to sell dicinal herbs. Three Astragalus plants sold for seventy-five wen, Kudzu Root for one hundred and thirty wen, and other herbs collected earlier for more than twenty wen.
Walking on the street, Wang Hong occasionally reached into his pocket, feeling the weight of the copper coins. A sense of accomplishnt filled his heart.
Not far along, he saw a crowd gathered ahead, engaged in lively discussions.
Wang Hong approached and saw a large notice posted on the wall with a bright red official seal.
As for the specific contents, Er Gou Zi couldn't recognize a single character.
At the forefront of the crowd, a poorly dressed middle-aged scholar with a white face and a goat beard was loudly reciting.
Most of the onlookers couldn't read large characters, but at this mont, they were all ears, trying to listen.
Although the language was difficult to understand, Wang Hong roughly grasped the aning.
Qingyang Academy in the county town would expand its enrollnt next spring. As long as one was under fifteen years old and passed the entrance examination, they could enter the academy by paying ten taels of silver annually.
Before the age of twenty, those who passed the graduation examination had the opportunity to be recomnded as local officials or enter the military, with a chance to beco a military officer.
"I heard the County Magistrate graduated from Qingyang Academy."
"The County Magistrate studied liberal arts at Qingyang Academy. The most outstanding are the martial arts students. General Wu of the Northwest Army is also from Qingyang Academy."
"I regret being born a few years too early! Otherwise, I would definitely pass the examination and beco a general. Riding a tall horse, carrying a precious sword, charging into battlehow majestic!"
A young man in the crowd, with triangular eyes and protruding front teeth, was lanting.
"Forget it! Triangular Eyes, with your looks, you want to be a general? The real generals have broad shoulders and a strong waist. With your small fra, carrying a burning stick, standing in front of the formation. Here's Triangular Eyes. People might think that our great Chu State has no one." A dark-faced sturdy youth mocked.
Wang Hong ignored the noisy crowd and quietly left. He also began to formulate so plans in his mind.
"This is a good opportunity. The tuition is ten taels per person, so my little brother and I need twenty taels. We need to earn enough silver in the next few months."
"I have a piece of land, and ti flows more than twenty tis faster in this space. Wheat and rice can ripen in about half a year. One piece of land can yield twenty to thirty catties of grain each season. Even if we eat dry food every al, half a piece of land is enough."
"The other half of the land needs to be planted with more valuable crops. The first thing that cos to mind is planting ginseng. There are about five months left until the examination next year."
He went to the pharmacy and spent a hundred wen to buy a hundred and fifty ginseng seeds, as well as so wheat seeds, rice seeds, rice, and coarse salt, concluding his visit to Cangshan Town.
"Brother!"
He heard his little brother's shout from afar.
"Why did you just co back? I've already prepared the al."
"Little brother is really capable!" He took out an oil-paper package from his pocket and waved it in front of his little brother.
"Guess, guess right, and I'll give you this sugar figure."
"Hmm... Pig head at!" His little brother deliberately showed a sly expression.
"Brother! I'm already eight years old, not a three or four-year-old child. Don't play such childish gas with ."
Wang Yi reached out to grab the oil-paper package.
"Give
the sugar figure!"
Opening the oil-paper package revealed an exquisite sugar figure inside.
The two brothers walked ho with their arms around each other.
"Brother, it's so sweet. Take a bite."
Wang Hong glanced at the sugar figure, licked by saliva everywhere.
"I won't eat."
"Just take a bite, it's really sweet! I'm not lying to you."
"Crunch!" Wang Hong closed his eyes and took a bite.
"You bit its head off, I licked it for so long and couldn't bear to bite." His little brother, flushed, complained.
"I'll buy you another one next ti we go to town."
"Is your word reliable?"
"Of course! Your brother here is always true to his word." Wang Hong patted his ager chest.
Back ho, they had two bowls of wild vegetable porridge. Wang Hong thought, this porridge is thin enough that if spilled on the ground, not even a dog could catch up.
"Little brother, starting from tomorrow, we'll cook dry rice at ho."
"Every al?" His little brother was a bit surprised, not catching on.
"Of course, every day, every al." Wang Hong proudly patted the rice bag, confidently saying, "From now on, our family will eat well and spicy. We'll eat whatever the landlords eat!"
"Old Xu just ate chicken legs a few days ago. I went to their village to dig wild vegetables, saw that fool holding a chicken leg on the roadside, gnawing as if afraid others wouldn't know. Even his snot dripped onto the chicken leg, but he gnawed with such gusto." His little brother complained with a hint of envy.
"In a few days, we'll eat chicken too. By then, we'll squat at the village entrance and eat chicken legs." Wang Hong licked his lips.
"Others slaughter pigs for the New Year!"
"We will too!"
"Where's the pig?"
"We'll buy one!"
"Boasting! Brother! Boasting too often won't get you a wife." His little brother was thoroughly unconvinced. He had hardly eaten at from childhood to adulthood.
"Your brother here never boasts. Besides, we can do our own laundry and cooking. Why do we need to get married?"
His little brother suddenly realized, "Right! Don't marry. If you marry, your wife will snatch our chicken legs. Next door, Niu Dan married a wife, and they fight every night, screaming so loudly, it's frightening."
Wang Hong felt sothing was wrong, but for the mont, he couldn't figure it out.
The two brothers each held a bowl of porridge, sitting on a stone at the doorstep.
After dinner, they discussed the matter of going to the academy next spring. His little brother eagerly looked forward to it, dreaming of becoming a chivalrous hero wielding a sword.
At night, Wang Hong entered the space again. The Astragalus planted earlier had grown well. After planting wheat and rice, leaving half a piece of land, he planted ginseng seeds and found a small piece of land still vacant. Er Gou Zi pondered, thinking about finding so other herbs to plant in the empty space. As a farr, leaving land uncultivated was intolerable.
"Tomorrow, I'll go into the mountains and dig so other herbs to plant in the space."
The next morning, Wang Hong entered the space and found that the wheat and rice planted last night had grown a few inches tall. The rice was no worse than that grown in paddy fields, and the ginseng had sprouted green seedlings.
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