Bringing the Railway to Daming

Late July, the sixth year of the Wenlong reign of the Ming Dynasty (1400).

Capital.

Although the summer heat had not subsided and the weather remained hot, it did not affect the prosperity of the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

On the main streets, vehicles flowed like water: four-wheeled carriages, two-wheeled carriages, three-wheeled bicycles, two-wheeled bicycles, and two-wheeled rickshaws, one after another, all following the latest traffic rules issued the year before last, each traveling in its own lane in an orderly manner.

The pedestrians on both sides of the street were also shoulder to shoulder.

There were officials in their official uniforms and students in their school uniforms, but most of them were tourists and ordinary people from the capital, dressed in either fine or plain clothes.

Among them, the students wearing the uniforms of Peking University were the most eye-catching—most of them were young and energetic, talking loudly and looking around as they walked along the street. There were even two or three female students who were followed by male students like stars around the moon.

Whether it's shopkeepers, shop assistants, or passersby, everyone who sees these students will smile knowingly.

Today is a school holiday, so it's not unusual for many students to be out and about.

Today, the capital of the Ming Dynasty had more than just one "Imperial University of Peking." There were also many other universities, such as the "Ming Military Academy," "Ming Naval Academy," "Ming Army Academy," "Imperial Medical College," "Imperial Science and Technology Academy," "Imperial Women's Academy," "Imperial College," "Imperial Engineering College," and "Imperial Commerce College."

As for middle schools and primary schools, there are dozens of them in total.

Even if we only consider universities, the total number of students is estimated to be in the tens of thousands. When these university students come out on their days off, they naturally add a beautiful scene to the capital and make it even more vibrant.

Three female students arrived at Linglong Pavilion, a well-known jewelry store in the capital. They were also wearing school uniforms that resembled both Confucian and Taoist robes but were more fitted, with alternating shades of moon white and pinkish-yellow, and skirts resembling horse-face skirts.

Therefore, although these three female students were mostly young, had unremarkable figures, and wore women's single buns, it did not affect their good looks at all.

"Ruoxue, shall we go to Linglong Pavilion?" A petite, round-faced, cute girl said to the girl in the lead.

Another girl with an oval face said, "I heard that things at Linglong Pavilion are very expensive. Shall we go somewhere else?"

The round-faced girl said, "I heard they also have some cheaper jewelry inside, the kind that costs no more than a string of cash. Besides, even if we don't buy anything, can't we just take a look? Ruoxue, what do you think?"

The girl with the oval face and a height of over 1.6 meters, who was leading the group, laughed and said, "The jewelry in Linglong Pavilion isn't actually that good, but if you want to see it, you can go in and take a look."

After saying that, he led his two companions into the Linglong Pavilion.

This is a three-story jewelry shop with a front building and a back yard. It occupies a large area on this street, with five large rooms on the ground floor facing the street.

As soon as the three entered, a well-dressed waitress who looked to be in her early twenties greeted them with a smile and asked, "Welcome to our humble establishment, ladies. What would you like to buy?"

The round-faced, oval-faced girl was momentarily at a loss for words.

The girl with the oval face said, "Show us around first."

The waitress smiled and said, "Please come this way, ladies. Here are all kinds of jewelry suitable for young ladies, made of gold, silver, jade, wood, and even glass, rubber, and porcelain. We have everything you could want."

As they spoke, he led the three to a row of product display cases on the west side. These display cases were made of transparent glass, so even jewelry placed inside could be clearly seen.

In addition, small lights were installed in the display cases, making all kinds of jewelry look exquisite under the light.

Both the round-faced and oval-faced girls were momentarily stunned.

But when they saw the prices marked below the jewelry, their expressions changed – the cheapest pieces cost more than ten strings of cash, and the most expensive ones were over a hundred strings!

These three girls are all students at the Imperial Women's Academy. Being able to be supported by their families to attend university at this age, even if it is a women's academy with relatively low requirements for college entrance examination scores, indicates that their families are well-off.

But round-faced girls and oval-faced girls only come from well-off families. Even if they can take out more than ten strings of cash from their pockets, they will still feel the pinch when it comes to buying a piece of jewelry.

As for the girl with the oval face, she mostly looked elsewhere after entering the store and didn't even glance at the "exquisite" jewelry in the display case.

After a long while, having looked through almost all the jewelry in the west display case, the round-faced girl finally came to her senses and mustered up her courage to ask, "Don't you have any jewelry that's cheaper here?"

Just as the waitress was about to answer with a smile, a sarcastic female voice came from the side, "Coming to Linglong Pavilion to buy cheap jewelry, as expected of you, Zhao Minglan."

The group looked over at the sound and saw that a young girl dressed in a trendy, brightly colored outfit had entered the pavilion, accompanied by a maid. The round-faced girl glared at the girl and said, "Zhou Baizhi, what I buy is none of your business!"

The bright-eyed girl sized up the three girls and snorted, "It's one thing for you three to buy cheap clothes from Linglong Pavilion, but you insist on wearing our school uniforms. Aren't you just bringing shame to our Capital Girls' Academy? How can I ignore something like this?"

It turns out that Bai Zhi, Zhao Min'er, and the other two girls were all students at the Capital Women's Academy, and they were classmates but didn't get along.

Zhao Min'er already felt embarrassed to ask if there was a low price for cleaning, and upon hearing this, she was both ashamed and angry. Her cute round face turned red, but she didn't know how to retort.

At this moment, the oval-faced girl next to her said calmly, "Is this a disgrace to the academy? What about someone who is unmarried and secretly meets with a man, even throwing herself into his arms?"

The bright and beautiful girl immediately shrieked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on: "Liu Ruoxue! What nonsense are you talking about!"

The egg-shaped girl laughed, "Getting impatient? Or am I right?"

"You!" This time, Zhou Baizhi was so angry she couldn't speak.

She wanted to argue further, but seeing Liu Ruoxue's ambiguous smile made her a little scared, worried that the other party would find out more of her dirty secrets and reveal them. So she could only snort, turn around and leave with her maid.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Min'er immediately asked gossipily, "Did Zhou Baizhi really have a secret rendezvous with a man, and even throw herself into his arms?"

Liu Ruoxue said, "I was just guessing."

"Then you must have guessed correctly. You're amazing, Ruoxue."

After exchanging a few jokes, Zhao Min'er prepared to leave.

Liu Ruoxue asked, "Aren't you buying jewelry?"

"They're all so expensive, how could I afford them?"

The girl with the oval face nodded in agreement, "It is indeed too expensive—I saw a place called 'Shuyu Zhai' on the street before, and it seemed to have quite a lot of jewelry. Why don't we go there and take a look?"

"Alright."

After leaving Linglong Pavilion, the three of them went to Shuyuzhai, a shop not far away on the same street, and each bought a piece of jewelry. The price was several strings of cash, which was quite expensive for ordinary people, but acceptable for Zhao Min'er and the oval-faced girl.

The three hadn't gone far from Shuyuzhai when they saw two men who, although dressed in imitation school uniforms (the popular attire for young people in the Ming Dynasty at the time), looked anything but respectable.

As the two walked towards each other, one of them deliberately bumped into Zhao Min'er, causing her to fall backward. Fortunately, Liu Ruoyue caught her around the waist, preventing her from falling.

But the man who bumped into him fell down, and at the same time, the celadon bottle he was holding fell to the ground and shattered on the spot.

The man immediately exclaimed, "Oh my, it's my family's heirloom Ru porcelain!"

Another man stepped forward and shouted, "You broke my cousin's heirloom Ru porcelain, don't even think about getting away!"

As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed the still-shaken Zhao Min'er.

However, before he could grab Zhao Min'er, Liu Ruoxue kicked him. She didn't kick his groin, but rather, as if stabbing him, she kicked his shin.

The man lost his balance and fell to the ground.

The man shouted first, then yelled, "Look at this! These two wicked women broke things and beat people! Is there no law under the emperor's nose?!"

There were quite a few pedestrians around. Some people glanced at it and left, but many others stood around watching.

Seeing this, both Zhao Min'er and the girl with the oval face became very nervous and flustered. Zhao Min'er involuntarily grabbed Liu Ruoxue's arm.

"Ruoxue, what should I do? I think I've gotten myself into big trouble."

Liu Ruoxue ignored the man she had kicked down, instead looking at the shattered pieces of celadon porcelain on the ground, frowning slightly, before bending down to pick one up. (End of Chapter)