I, the villainous eldest prince, will suppress everything!

Time flies, and half a month later.

"Young Master Liu, what brings you here?"

A young master riding a tall horse had just dismounted at the entrance of the rice shop.

The rice shopkeeper received the news and scurried out from behind the counter.

She fawned over the young master, rubbing her hands together incessantly.

The rice shop owner was a veteran of the capital, having lived there since childhood. There were practically no people he didn't know, except for a few with special status.

This young master surnamed Liu is the third son of the Vice Minister of Revenue. He is usually arrogant and domineering and loves gambling.

"Young Master Liu, if you want to buy rice, you could have just sent someone over. I would have delivered the rice to your residence myself. Why did you come all the way here?"

The rice shop manager led the way, guiding Young Master Liu into the rice shop.

Young Master Liu entered the rice shop, looked around, and waved his hand lightly in front of his nose, expressing his disdain for the environment.

However, he still said, "I'm not here to buy rice, but to find someone."

"people?"

The rice shopkeeper's forehead creased with a question mark as he asked, "Who are you looking for?"

These people are all honest and upright businessmen.

Moreover, there were orders from above not to have any conflicts with the sons of these officials; they were to be tolerant, back down, or yield whenever possible.

With a rustling sound, Young Master Liu unfolded his folding fan and gently fanned himself, saying, "You know my good brother Wang Yang, right?"

"I know, I know."

The rice shopkeeper nodded vigorously.

Wang Yang was also the son of an official and a close friend of this Mr. Liu. The two of them would always choose the same woman when they went to brothels.

Young Master Liu continued, "That kid Wang Yang got a great essay from you. After his father and I read it, we both thought he would pass the imperial examination with flying colors. So I've come today to ask for the essay."

"A good article?"

The rice shopkeeper frowned, utterly puzzled.

In their rice shop, apart from a few literate people, the other employees were completely illiterate. They had no trouble writing articles, let alone their own names.

Young Master Liu actually said that he received a good article from them. Isn't he joking?

However, when the shop assistant behind him whispered a reminder, the rice shop owner suddenly realized what was going on.

Some people can't write good articles, but others can.

Take, for example, the two brothers who live in their backyard warehouse right now.

The brothers Chen Shoutian and Chen Wangju both went to Beijing to participate in the imperial examinations.

Ten years of hard study have yielded a wealth of knowledge.

I reckon Wang Yang's article was written by the two of them.

Thinking of this, the rice shop manager quickly waved his hand and said, "Go quickly and call those two brothers over."

Unexpectedly, before the waiter could make a move, Young Master Liu raised his hand and said, "No need, I will go see them myself."

Soon, led by the rice shop manager, Young Master Liu arrived at the backyard of the rice shop.

The two brothers were chopping wood, sweating profusely from the effort.

Upon suddenly seeing so many people arrive, Chen Shoutian quickly stepped forward and said, "Boss, my brother and I haven't been slacking off."

The shopkeeper waved his hand and said, "I didn't say you two were slacking off. I'm asking you, didn't you write articles for someone a few days ago?"

Chen Shoutian nodded. "A few days ago, my brother and I were out on the street when we saw someone offering a large sum of money for an article. My brother couldn't resist the urge to offer, so he wrote one for him."

This explained everything the shopkeeper had in mind, and he quickly forced a smile and said to Young Master Liu beside him, "Young Master Liu is one of these two brothers."

Young Master Liu nodded, looked Chen Shoutian up and down, then glanced at Chen Wangju who was still chopping wood, and said, "Twenty taels for one article."

"Twenty taels?"

Chen Shoutian couldn't help but cry out.

Twenty taels of silver is not much money for people in the capital, but for the two brothers, it was a fortune.

The last time I wrote an article for that young master surnamed Wang, it only cost ten taels of silver.

Chen Shoutian quickly returned to Chen Wangju's side and whispered, "Wangju, how about it, are you going to write it or not?"

Chen Wangju put down his axe, raised his sleeve, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said, "Write! Why not write? The imperial examination is just around the corner, it's good to hone your writing skills, not to mention you can earn some money."

With a wave of his hand, the shopkeeper quickly brought over writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

After Chen Wangju sat down, he picked up the wolf-hair brush and looked at Young Master Liu, asking:

"May I ask, young master, what kind of essay do you require, and what is its theme?"

Young Master Liu casually suggested a name, and Chen Wangju, without a second thought, began to write.

Soon, an article was completed by Chen Wangju.

He blew on the ink stains, stood up, and handed the article to Young Master Liu.

Young Master Liu took it, glanced at it, nodded, and then put it away.

Actually, he couldn't tell whether the article was good or bad; he just wanted to get an article to take back and get his father's praise.

After throwing down twenty taels of silver, Young Master Liu turned and left without the slightest hesitation.

The rice shopkeeper quickly followed, saying, "Young Master Liu, please take care."

Soon, Young Master Liu and his entourage disappeared into the rice shop and rode away.

After Young Master Liu and his group left, the shop assistant approached the rice shop manager and whispered, "Manager, should we...?"

Before the shop assistant could finish speaking, the rice shop owner understood what he meant.

The article was written on his territory, so logically he should also get a share of the twenty taels of silver.

But the shopkeeper waved his hand and said, "This money isn't earned cleanly, so it's better if we don't take it. If we offend someone, we'll lose both our wife and our army."

The men nodded and went about their own business.

Late at night, the huge rice shop was left with only the Chen brothers and an old gatekeeper.

The cold wind howled in through the window, and the two brothers, wrapped in blankets, shivered with cold before finally falling asleep.

But then, with a creak, the warehouse door opened.

Chen Shoutian muttered a complaint and stood up to close the door.

It doesn't matter if he gets cold, but we absolutely cannot let his younger brother get cold.

The Chen family's hopes rest entirely on Chen Wangju.

But just as he reached the door to close it, a steel knife was thrust in from the outside.

Chen Shoutian was so scared he almost peed his pants, and he kept backing away.

He took a step back, and the steel knife advanced an inch.

Until the visitor entered the warehouse and closed the warehouse door.

Chen Wangju was drawn by the noise and woke up.

Seeing the scene at the door, I was so frightened that I almost screamed.

"Good, good sir! We are all poor scholars traveling to the capital for the imperial examinations. We have no money!"

Chen Shoutian stammered and almost knelt down to beg for mercy.

"No money?"

The masked, burly man in black, holding a knife, sneered and said, "Didn't I just earn twenty taels today?"

Cold sweat trickled down Chen Shoutian's forehead as he cursed inwardly: Who leaked the information?

"Wang Ju, give him the money. As long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood to burn."

Chen Shoutian quickly said.

Right now, survival is the top priority.

Everything else should be put on hold.

Just as Chen Wangju reached under his pillow for the money, the burly man in black put down his knife, sheathed it, and looked at the two of them, saying:

"No need, I'm not here to ask for money."

Chen Wangju paused in his act of taking the money, while Chen Shoutian asked, "What brings that hero here?"

The burly man in black said, "I've also come to ask for an article."

Upon hearing this, both Chen Shoutian and Chen Wangju breathed a sigh of relief.

It's good that they're not here for money; they have plenty of stories to tell.