good season

Chapter 172 Lin Xian (Two chapters combined)

Zhao Tingxuan certainly knew Zhu Yu; he hadn't even left his house yet, but he was already demanding 10,000 taels of silver in compensation from Zhu Yu.

He was secretly pleased when he heard the news that Zhu Yu had been castrated. After Zhu Yu died, he said countless times in his heart, "Evil will be punished."

But now, when he learned that this scumbag almost became his brother-in-law, and that it was all because of him, Zhao Tingxuan was completely devastated.

His body felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, his limbs and facial features became stiff and numb, he couldn't even open his mouth or speak, and there was only one thought in his mind: if his sister married Zhu Yu, then he could only atone with his death.

It was unclear how much time had passed, but when Zhao Shiqing slapped him hard on the shoulder, Zhao Tingxuan seemed to break free of a seal and finally found his voice: "Fortunately, Zhu Yu is dead."

He wanted to say, "Fortunately, Zhu Yu is dead, and my sister didn't jump into the fire pit," but he couldn't say the rest. He was so ashamed that he wanted to disappear. He finally realized that whether his sister married Zhu Yu or Yan Xia, it was all because of him!
Zhao Shiqing seemed to see right through him and said softly, "If it weren't for you, I could have chosen someone I liked in Liang. The person I would have chosen would be of good character and appearance. She could have lived in Liangdu, the place where she grew up, where her family, her friends, and her home are."

But now my sister has to marry far away, leaving her hometown and family behind. This separation may last a lifetime.

What's more, she was going to marry a complete stranger and face a completely unfamiliar family.

More importantly, she is not only a woman who has been married off to a distant place, but also a hostage. Our eldest sister is going to take your place as a hostage in the capital!

Not every family can treat their daughter-in-law, who is being held hostage, well, and not every man can live in harmony with his wife under the oppression of imperial authority.

Second brother, once you return to Liang, you can resume your former life; you will still be the esteemed Second Young Master.

But what about my sister? Whether she faces a mountain of knives and a sea of ​​fire or a beautiful paradise, you don't know, I don't know, and she knows even less!

Before Zhao Shiqing could finish speaking, Zhao Tingxuan was already sobbing uncontrollably.

Zhao Shiqing looked at him quietly for a long time before turning and leaving.

Zhao Tingxuan cried uncontrollably and knelt down facing the direction of Liangdi.

After venting her frustrations, Zhao Shiqing felt much better.

She wandered aimlessly through the streets. Her sister's matter was temporarily settled. What should she do next?
Leaving the capital?

Back to Liangdi?
When my sister gets married, will we come back together?
Because she was meeting Zhao Tingxuan today, Zhao Shiqing dressed in men's clothing and disguised herself simply. Although she didn't look completely different, you couldn't tell she was a woman unless you looked closely.

A faint aroma of roasting fish wafted from afar. Looking over, Zhao Shiqing saw a stall selling grilled fish.

It was the first time she had ever seen a grilled fish vendor in the capital. In an instant, she forgot all her worries and ran over there.

The stall was run by two teenagers, the older one was seventeen or eighteen years old, and the younger one was thirteen or fourteen years old. The two looked somewhat alike and resembled brothers.

There were already two customers sitting at the stall, making it relatively quiet compared to the other stalls.

Zhao Shiqing looked at the two golden-brown grilled fish on the rack, swallowed hard, and pointed to a grass carp, saying, "I want this one."

The younger brother glanced at her, somewhat curiously: "Are you eating alone?"

Zhao Shiqing nodded: "Yes."

Little brother: "This fish weighs three pounds, you can't finish it all by yourself."

Zhao Shiqing: "Don't underestimate me! I can eat five pounds of fish, let alone just three pounds!"

The younger brother didn't say anything more. He picked up a brush and applied seasoning to the fish. Zhao Shiqing chose the cleanest-looking stool, sat down, and waited with a smile for her grilled fish.

Suddenly, a voice came from beside me: "Hey buddy, are you from out of town too?"

Zhao Shiqing turned around to look, and the speaker was a handsome young man with delicate features.

Yes, Miss Zhao judges people by their appearance; she looks at a person's face first.

The boy was wearing a slightly worn blue scholar's robe. His hair was not tied up with a hairpin, but tied with a blue cloth strip of the same color as his clothes. Several bamboo leaves were embroidered on the blue cloth strip, which showed that there was a skillful mother or sister in the family. Of course, it is also possible that he was already married and that his wife embroidered it.

Beside the boy was a dusty book box, clearly indicating that he had traveled a long way.

Although he spoke Mandarin, it was accented, and he sounded like someone from out of town.

Zhao Shiqing was the same. The children of the Liang Prince's Mansion spoke Mandarin from a young age. Before coming to the capital, Zhao Shiqing always thought she spoke standard Mandarin. But once she arrived in the capital, as soon as she opened her mouth, people knew she was from out of town.

She spoke with a Liang accent, while the boy in front of her was clearly from the Wu region.

Zhao Shiqing herself was a native of Wu who grew up in Liang, so she felt a sense of kinship when she met someone from Wu in the capital. Her tone was more friendly as she spoke to the young man: "Yes, you're from Wu? Where in Wu?"

The young man quickly replied, "I'm from Luzhou, and you are, sir."

Zhao Shiqing's eyes lit up: "Oh, you're from Luzhou? What a coincidence, my maternal family is also from Luzhou. Is your family in Luzhou city or in a county below?"

The boy was both surprised and delighted. "Your maternal family is from Luzhou? What a coincidence! My family is from Qinglu, but later my father went to Luzhou to open a shop, so our family moved there. We only go back to Luzhou when we want to pay respects to our ancestors."

Zhao Shiqing slapped her thigh: "Isn't this a coincidence? My maternal family is also from Qinglu, Zhuxitang. Have you heard of this place?"

The boy hurriedly said, "Zhuxitang? Of course I've heard of it, and I've even been there. My home is in Zhushan'ao. I had a classmate who used to live in Zhuxitang. Whenever someone from his family came to pick him up, I would hitch a ride on his mule cart. Once, it was so late that I stayed at his house for the night and ate his grandmother's braised pork."

When the boy mentioned braised pork, he subconsciously swallowed.

Zhao Shiqing felt her hair stand on end. Zhuxitang, classmates, mule cart, braised pork!
"Your classmate wouldn't happen to have the surname Yang, would he?" Zhao Shiqing subconsciously lowered her voice.

The boy became excited: "How do you know? Oh, right, he's the top scholar now, so a lot of people must know about him!" Zhao Shiqing rolled her eyes inwardly. You're overthinking it. He doesn't want anyone to know that he once lived in Zhuxitang.

However, this boy had actually hitched a ride on Yang Shengqiu's mule cart and eaten braised pork!

The mule cart driver is none other than my own father, and the one making braised pork is none other than my mother.

This boy stayed one night in Zhuxitang, so he must have seen his mother!

Zhao Shiqing was so jealous she wanted to scratch someone. She had never even seen them, but this young man had seen them, the living, breathing people.

She decided to try and get closer to the boy.

"Is your home in Zhushan'ao? Is it close to Zhuxitang?" Zhao Shiqing asked this question because it was an unfamiliar place.

"It's very close, just over a mountain, that's why I hitched a ride on Yang Shengqiu's mule cart." The boy was very happy and proud. The top scholar was his classmate, and this was something he could brag about for the rest of his life.

Zhao Shiqing said, "It's so close! Hmm, I just went to Zhuxitang last year, how come I've never heard anyone mention this place?"

The boy smiled and explained, "You must not have been back for many years, so you don't know. Our Zhushan'ao only has 20 households, and the road into the village is difficult to travel. It is not easy for people from the county government to go there. There is no village head, so our village was assigned to Qingzhu Village. It has been six or seven years since then, but the people in our village still prefer to say that they are from Zhushan'ao."

So that's how it is. Zhao Shiqing understood. Qingzhu Village was indeed very close to Zhuxitang, and it was a large village. As for how big it was, Zhao Shiqing had never known, but now it seemed to be really big. Even Zhushan'ao on the other side of the mountain belonged to Qingzhu Village.

Zhao Shiqing asked, "My surname is Zhen, what's yours?"

The boy introduced himself: "My surname is Lin, and my given name is Lin Xian, but I don't have a courtesy name yet."

Zhao Shiqing looked at his book box and asked, "Are you here in the capital to prepare for the imperial examinations the year after next? Are you registered in Beizhili?"

The provincial examination could only be taken in the place of household registration. Yang Shengqiu was able to come to the capital to take the provincial examination because he later settled in Hancheng with his adoptive father. Hancheng belonged to Beizhili, so he came to the capital to take the provincial examination. Later, he stayed in the capital to take the metropolitan examination.

Although this year is not the year of the provincial examination, many well-off scholars will come to the capital one or two years in advance. For example, the house next to Aunt Ji's house is rented to three scholars from other places. However, although their families are from other places, they are from Beizhili, while Lin Xian is from Wu. That's why Zhao Shiqing asked this question.

Lin Xian scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly: "I'm not here to participate in the autumn imperial examination. I failed the exam last year. My cousin is studying at Huiwen Academy in the capital. I've made arrangements with the academy so I can audit classes there. Actually, there are also very famous academies in Wu, but I can't get in."

Zhao Shiqing had been in the capital for some time, but this was the first time she had heard of this academy. She figured it must be a little-known academy.

She didn't ask Lin Xian why he didn't choose a famous academy after traveling so far. Was there even a need to ask? Famous academies aren't places you can just walk into, and they certainly wouldn't allow you to audit classes.

"Does Huiwen Academy charge tuition for auditing classes?" Zhao Shiqing asked.

Lin Xian nodded: "Yes, we'll take it. Twenty taels a year."

Zhao Shiqing naturally changed the subject: "Isn't Scholar Yang a candidate from Hancheng? He's from Wu?"

Lin Xian quickly explained, "I know that. Yang Shengqiu lived in Zhuxitang back then, and his family was quite wealthy. He had a little sister who was very cute, but unfortunately she was blind. Later, his family went to another place to seek medical treatment for his little sister and never came back."

At this point, Lin Xian looked around and lowered his voice: "By the way, have you heard about the massacre of a family in Zhuxitang? Their bodies were only found last year."

Zhao Shiqing felt a sudden pang of pain in her heart, but her face remained impassive: "I haven't heard anything about this. Is it related to Yang Shengqiu?"

Lin Xian said, "That family's surname is Shi, so they shouldn't be related to Yang Shengqiu. But I heard my mother say that they used to be a cloth collector, and there was a blind little girl in the family. Also, a doctor surnamed Yang died with that family. I remember that Yang Shengqiu's family was a cloth collector. When his uncle came to pick him up, there were whole bolts of cloth on the mule cart. He also said that his grandfather was a doctor."

Zhao Shiqing asked, "Have you told anyone about this?"

Lin Xian shook his head: "I just mentioned it to my mother, and she said I must have remembered it wrong. I failed the provincial examination last year, so how could I go back? I haven't been back to my hometown for almost two years. I heard about the massacre of my family from my mother. She heard it from the villagers when she went back for the New Year. We're not from the same village, and my mother doesn't know anyone from Zhuxitang."

"And then what happened? His family never came back. Yang Shengqiu was only eight or nine years old at the time. How did he survive?" Zhao Shiqing asked.

Lin Xian said, "At first, his clothes were torn, so I took him home and had my mother mend them. My mother saw that he had grown taller, but was still wearing clothes that were a size too small, so she made him a new set of clothes. Although my family wasn't rich at that time, we weren't poor either. My mother saw that he was good-looking and good at studying, so she discussed with my father the idea of ​​adopting him."

But my father didn't agree. He said Yang Shengqiu was eight or nine years old and couldn't be tamed.

He's a good student, you wouldn't believe it. He's incredibly talented at studying. Both of his teachers like him very much, and seeing that he was all alone and destitute, they even waived his tuition fees.

Later, my father went to Luzhou with my great-grandfather to open a shop, and our whole family moved there too. It was even farther from Baifeng City, so I transferred to a school in Luzhou. Before I left, I gave him all the New Year's money I had saved, and he gave me this as a gift.

Lin Xian took a bamboo tag off his waist. The tag was polished very smoothly and had the words "Peace" engraved on it.

He said we'll be best friends for life! In the future, we'll become scholars, provincial graduates, and imperial examination graduates together!
It's a pity he's already the top scholar, while I'm still just a lowly scholar.

Zhao Shiqing asked, "Have you been in contact with him all along?"

Lin Xian nodded, then shook his head: "I'm not studying in Baifeng City anymore. For the first few years, he and I kept in touch through letters. Later, Mr. Xu passed away, the private school was transferred, and Mr. Xu took him to Hancheng. We lost contact. However, I believe he will never forget our promise. I will also work hard. I want to become a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examination) and then a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest-level imperial examination)!"

Once I've settled down in the capital, I'll go find him. He'll never expect me to come to the capital; I want to give him a surprise!

Zhao Shiqing looked at Lin Xian and saw that his eyes were clear and upright. She sighed inwardly, hoping that Yang Shengqiu still remembered their promise and that he still considered her his friend.

Zhao Shiqing thought about it and still felt she should remind her.

"When you meet Yang Shengqiu, do not mention the family that was wiped out in Zhuxitang, and do not mention that his grandfather was a doctor."

Lin Xian asked, puzzled, "Why? It's probably his family. After all these years, he must have wanted to know why his family members never returned."

Zhao Shiqing hurriedly said, "He's already the top scholar in the imperial examination. How could he not know about such a big thing? If it really is his family, he must be very sad. If you bring it up again, you'll only make him sad again."

Lin Xian thought about it and realized that Yang Shengqiu was already an official, so he must have known about it long ago. He was so smart and capable!