137. Chapter 137

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Zhao'er didn't finish the rest of the words, and Shen Ping also understood.

He laughed a little, but he actually appreciated Zhao'er's frankness in not wanting to take advantage of others: "These were resold to garment shops or embroidery workshops, and the price was the same. Regardless of the large quantity, in fact, there are not many good ones that can be sold at high prices. They have been picked out long ago."

Zhao'er thought about it, the people in the county naturally have different opinions than the people in the country, let alone a big pawn shop like this. What they think is not good is actually good for the people in the country.

She breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I want this package of clothes from Shopkeeper Shen, and I'll give you the money right now."

"Are you rich now?"

Of course she has money, Zhao'er now has more than two taels of silver in total, and Sulan just gave her another five taels, which is naturally enough.

At the same time, Shen Ping laughed a little, "Well, I forgot that you came here to see her, so she wouldn't take advantage of me." The words were very low, almost mumbling, and Zhao'er only cared. I had to look at the clothes and didn't hear clearly.

"I'll find a guy to call a car for you. Even a little girl like you can't transport these things."

"Thank you, Shopkeeper Shen."

After sending Zhao'er away, Shen Ping turned around and entered the pawn shop.

Although he is named the third shopkeeper, he is not the third shopkeeper of this store, but the third shopkeeper of the entire 'He Rongsheng'. It is only at his deliberate request that he will be permanently stationed in Xia County.

Shen Ping is a son of the Shen family. His father is the chief manager of the Shen Mansion, and he has been working with the third young master Shen Fu as a boy since he was a child. When he reached adulthood, he was released and became a shopkeeper.

"If she comes again next time, just do as I told you before."

"Yes, shopkeeper."

*

Just after noon, the waiter Ah Cai came to deliver food to Xue Tingyan.

Boss Chen said it was a simple meal, but in fact the food was not bad, with meat and vegetables, and a soup. Xue Tingyan knew that Boss Chen was taking care of him deliberately. How could anyone hire someone to copy books and take care of tea and meals, and the wages they paid were not low.

It was because he knew in his heart that he didn't refuse verbally. In this case, refusing still preserved his character, but it seemed too petty and pretentious.

It can only be repayment in the future, Xue Tingyan thought lightly in her heart.

After eating, when the waiter came to clear away the dishes, he said he could rest for an hour. There is a royal couch available in this room. Of course, you can also go to the front and read a book to pass the time.

In fact, the last sentence is the key point. Xue Tingyan was not pretentious. After cleaning her hands, she went forward.

This store may not seem big, but it has a lot of books of all kinds, ranging from rural novels to books about the imperial examination. Among them, there are many books about the imperial examination.

Starting from the previous dynasty, the eight-legged essay was used as the standard style for the imperial examinations. The regulations were strict and even restricted the length of sentences, the number of words, the rhymes, and even the range of topics.

The title of the eight-part essay comes from the Four Books and Five Classics. It consists of eight parts: breaking the topic, carrying the topic, starting to talk, starting, starting the part, middle part, back part, and closing part. It seems rigid and rigid, but in fact it is not easy to write an eight-part essay well. If you really think that just reading the Four Books and Five Classics is enough, you are wrong. Not only do you need to know astronomy and geography, but you must at least be involved in all aspects before you can write a good article that is colorful and meaningful.

In that dream, Xue Tingyan won the Jinshi with the 21st place in the second class, and then passed the imperial examination and was admitted to the Hanlin Academy. He was supposed to rise steadily from then on, but unexpectedly, because he offended someone, a high-ranking Hanlin Academy was demoted. That kind of official position is the kind of place where a bird has nothing to do.

Xue Tingyan pursed his lips slightly, feeling that he had thought too much. After all, he was not even a child now, so he should think about the present.

Then, without thinking too much, he took out a book from the bookcase and started reading it quietly.

During this period, customers came to the bookstore to sell some pens, inks, paper and inkstones, or to buy books, which always interrupted Xue Tingyan's reading.

Boss Chen saw this and said: "Brother Xue, you can take the book to the back and read it."

Xue Tingyan looked at him in surprise: "This..."

"It doesn't matter, I won't miss this volume of yours."

Xue Tingyan was silent, bowed deeply as a courtesy, and then went back.

At this glance, he lost track of time. When Xue Tingyan woke up, he heard Boss Chen talking outside, and at the same time, he heard Zhao'er's voice.

"Where did you get this big bag of stuff?" Boss Chen looked at Zhao'er in surprise, asking for the bag at her feet that was much bigger than her.

Zhao'er was sweating profusely and said: "Uncle Chen, I got it from the county, and the guy from the car dealership also helped me drop him off at the intersection, and then dropped me off. I originally wanted to drag him to the car dealership. But I think my brother is still here..."

Boss Chen laughed and called the waiter: "Ah Cai, come and help little brother Zhao'er carry the things in." Then he said to Zhao'er: "Come in, have a drink of tea and rest before leaving."

"Uncle Chen, how can you be so embarrassed?"

"You were not polite when you were bargaining with me, but now you are more polite." Boss Chen pretended to stare.

Overall, Boss Chen is an elegant yet humorous person.

Xue Tingyan also came out to help and asked: "What's in it? Why is it so heavy? Where did you get it?"

Not to mention how heavy it was, Ah Cai tried several times but failed to lift it, so it could only be carried by three people.

"I got it from the pawn shop. If I can sell this bag, I will have enough money to send you to Qinghe Academy."

Zhao'er hadn't realized that he had let slip the truth, but Xue Tingyan had discovered it. He glanced at Boss Chen. Zhao'er also understood what he said at this time, and looked at Boss Chen with some guilt: "Uncle Chen, I will explain to you later."

She was a little anxious, so she picked up the big bag and put it on her shoulders without letting the two of them help. The big bag weighed her down, but she managed to stand still, and she quickly carried the things inside.

Ah Cai praised: "Look, she's not strong either, but she's so powerful."

Here, Xue Tingyan looked at the back and tightened the corners of his mouth, while Boss Chen's eyes darkened.

Xue Tingyan looked up at Boss Chen and walked towards him.

…

Zhao'er found a place to put down his big bag, then went to wash his hands and face and tidy up before being led by Ah Cai to see Boss Chen.

Seeing Boss Chen, Zhaoer felt a little guilty. But she didn't plan to continue to lie to Boss Chen, because Boss Chen was a good person. Not to mention the benefits he had given her before, Zhao'er couldn't continue to deceive her because he asked the little man to copy books for such a high price, and he also asked him to read here and take care of the food at noon.

In fact, Zhao'er didn't lie, it was just that she concealed her gender, and the so-called work was just collecting some vegetables to sell and make purses.

"Uncle Chen..."

Boss Chen sighed and waved his hand: "Okay, you don't have to say it anymore. It's really difficult for a girl like you."

Zhao'er looked surprised, his round eyes widening.

Boss Chen laughed a little and said, "Your little husband has already told me everything."

"He, what did he say..." Zhao'er stammered, still a little unbelievable. Because she knew that the little man always cared about face and had a lot of things on his mind. He didn't like to mention that she was his child bride and the Xue family's troubles in front of outsiders.

"I've said everything that needs to be said." After a pause, Boss Chen asked, "Looking at how surprised you are, is this still a secret?"

Zhao'er laughed awkwardly and hesitated: "Not really, it's just that he is young, and the people in our village are very annoying. There are always people who make fun of him by saying that I am older than him, and that my wife coaxes men."

The same sentence has different feelings in different people's hearts.

Boss Chen couldn't help but want to laugh, but Xue Tingyan outside had mixed feelings in her heart.

That's why she always calls herself sister, so in the dream she doesn't want to marry him when he reaches his age. Or did he ignore her wishes and marry her by force on the orders of her parents?

She actually understood her awkward mentality. He told herself not to care about other people's words, but she cared about them in her heart. Therefore, even if the two of them got married, they would not be able to treat each other as equals.

She actually knows everything, but she relies on him for everything! Follow him!

While his mind was churning, the topic changed inside.

"I just heard you say that you plan to save money to send him to Qinghe Academy?"

Zhao'er nodded, and seeing a strange look on Boss Chen's face, she couldn't help but ask, "Is that school not good?"

"We are following the path of opportunism and it will not last long."

Although Zhao'er didn't quite understand what he said, he knew it wasn't a good word.

"If you want to help him find a good book school, I have one that I can recommend. But..." Boss Chen suddenly sighed: "Come on, you don't understand even if I tell you, let's talk about this later."

Zhao'er nodded somewhat blankly.

Later, they saw that it was already getting late, and the two planned to return to Yuqing Village.

Because the big bag of clothes was too much and it would attract people's attention when taking it back, Boss Chen asked Zhao'er to put the things in his store temporarily. There were a few empty rooms at the back of the shop anyway, so he could just find a place to put them.

The two of them took a car back to the village. Because time had passed and only the ox cart could be used, they sat on the ox cart and bumped back.

Halfway down the road, a mule cart was driving towards us.

The driver was a man, dark-skinned and tall. As I got closer, I could see his appearance clearly, and I saw that he had thick eyebrows, a straight nose, and a very heroic look. His sleeves were half rolled up above his elbows, showing the muscles in his arms, which made him look powerful at first glance.

Xue Tingyan saw the person coming as soon as he passed by, and his pupils immediately shrank.

He glanced at Zhao'er beside him and felt relieved when he saw her head half lowered.

But the visitor still saw them, his eyes lit up, and he shouted: "Zhao'er."

Zhao'er looked over and smiled immediately: "Brother Jiang Wu, where are you?"

Jiang Wu tightened the reins and stopped the mule cart.

"I'm going to town, are you going back? Get off the car, I'll take you off."

Zhao'er hesitated and said, "Don't you still want to go to town? Anyway, we are already in the car, so you should go and do your own business."

"I don't have anything to do. I just went to Lao Li's place to have a look. Originally, my father said he would go tomorrow and buy some things on the way back. It doesn't matter whether we go or not. Come on down, this car is slow and bumpy. My cart is faster." Jiang Wu said to Zhao'er with a smile, but he didn't realize that the owner of the cart had a dark face.

Seeing this, Zhao'er jumped down from the cart without letting the owner of the cart stop. After taking two steps that way, I remembered that I had forgotten the person.

While she asked the owner of the oxcart to stop, she said to Xue Tingyan: "Come down quickly, let's go back in Brother Jiang Wu's car." With her beaming look, she was in a good mood.

Xue Tingyan's face looked a little ugly. He glanced at Zhao'er before slowly getting out of the car.

The two got on the mule cart, and Jiang Wu drove the cart to Yuqing Village.

"If I had known that you were coming to the county today, I would have asked you to help me get my things back. Brother Jiang Wu, let me tell you, I have found a business that can make a lot of money. I definitely can't do it alone. Why don't we partner up and pay half a cent?"

This is not the first time Jiang Wu has done business with Zhao'er. To be honest, Zhao'er used to collect vegetables and sell them in the town, and Jiang Wu helped her a lot.

Zhao'er could collect as much food as she could from another village by herself. Besides, she didn't have a car, so it was inconvenient to go back and forth. But the Jiang family has a car, and their ancestors were Orion hunters. With this unique craftsmanship, the Jiang family lives a very comfortable life.

Normally, the men of the Jiang family do not farm. All the more than 20 acres of land in the family are rented out, and they only make money by collecting rent and hunting with the men in the family. But hunting doesn't happen every day, so Jiang Wu has a lot of free time when he's not in the mountains, so he helps Zhao'er collect vegetables and so on. It's said that they will split it half and half, but Jiang Wu doesn't want to ask for the money every time. .

"But let me tell you first, if you don't pay for it, I won't do this business with you."

Jiang Wu looked helpless, but there was a smile in his eyes: "Okay, I can't listen to you, but it's fine if you split it half and half. After all, this is the deal you made, so I'll help out and run some errands. Twenty-eight, you are eight and I am two."

"How can we do it on the 28th? I will definitely use your car then. Your Daqing mule is not considered a labor force? Daqing, look, Brother Jiang Wu said that you are not a labor force, and even your rations will be deducted."

The mule named Daqing shook his head and snorted, which seemed to mean that if he dared to deduct my rations, I would slack off and let him carry it himself.

Zhao'er burst out laughing, pointed at Daqing and said, "Look, even Daqing protested."

Jiang Wu looked sideways at the girl who was smiling wantonly, with a strange light shining in her eyes. Fortunately, Daqing knew the road and was docile, otherwise he would have led a car of three people into a ditch beside the road.

Xue Tingyan, who was behind, saw this scene and his face was as dark as the bottom of a pot.

He was so upset and angry that he actually forgot about Jiang Wu.

In that dream, Jiang Wu had been coveting Zhao'er.

Jiang Wu was two years older than Zhao'er, but he never married. If Zhao'er hadn't been his child bride, the Jiang family would have come to propose marriage.

Even so, Jiang Wu never gave up. Once, he even came to him and told him that he wanted to marry Zhao'er, asking him not to be so selfish and letting Zhao'er free. He also said that he and Zhao'er would support him in his studies and treat him as his own brother. Only then did he find out about this.

He was shocked and angry. At the same time, he also remembered that Zhao'er had always been unwilling to marry him. He mistakenly thought that Zhao'er had an affair with Jiang Wu, so he took advantage of his parents' orders to marry her by force. Later, by chance, he married her. Then I realized that he had wrongly blamed her.

This incident has always been a scar between the two of them. Even though they never mentioned it again, there was still a gap. After that, he was busy with his career, while Zhao'er was busy with business. The two didn't see each other for a long time, and even if they did, they rarely talked until he went to Beijing to take the exam after winning the imperial examination.

The man in the dream once thought after Zhao'er died, if he had not been so despicable and forced it on his parents' orders, Zhao'er would not have died.

But this thought was like a dragonfly on water, just passing by in a flash. Thinking about it at this time, he was probably despicable in his heart. Even if he was not the Xue Tingyan in the dream, he never thought of letting Zhaoer go.

She was supposed to be his, but when he still seemed to understand, someone would always point at her and say, this is his future wife, right?

"Brother Jiang Wu, you'd better watch the road. This road is uneven. Don't lead us all into the ditch."

Xue Tingyan's voice successfully interrupted the chatter and laughter between Jiang Wu and Zhao'er, as if a very ignorant person suddenly appeared, causing the originally warm atmosphere to suddenly cool down.

Zhao'er laughed dryly: "Look at me, I was only talking to you about the business, and I forgot that you were still driving. Fortunately, Daqing was smart, otherwise he would have fallen."

Daqing shouted, looking very proud.

Jiang Wu subconsciously glanced back and met the young man's dark eyes. These eyes made him feel guilty for no reason, but he soon felt confident again.