Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 157: Solution! (5k ha)
The exam didn’t start so quickly on the first day. We had to wait until everyone was settled before we could start distributing the papers, so it took a while.

Su Yun sat there waiting bored, but he had gotten up at three or four o'clock this morning and was busy until seven or eight o'clock. He was already very sleepy, and sitting there like this was even more unbearable. Su Yun simply spread out a thin blanket and lay down to catch up on his sleep.

After a while, he fell into a sound sleep, snoring loudly.

Several people around were anxiously waiting for the papers to be distributed. Suddenly, they heard snoring and immediately thought they had misheard: How could someone sleep at this time? How could he sleep? Wasn't he nervous?
Grass!
Su Yun didn't know how long he slept. Suddenly, there was a clang of a gong. He jumped up and heard a voice: "Prepare to distribute the papers. Candidates are not allowed to walk around at will. If anyone wants to go to the toilet, they must raise their hands and let the person in charge take them to the toilet. If you walk around at will, you will be treated as cheating!
No sound, no chatting, no asking questions, no…”

A series of "no"s were uttered in a strong voice, and Su Yun suddenly felt like he was back to the college entrance examination in his previous life.

After he finished speaking, the soldiers began distributing papers to each cubicle.

Su Yun received the Sutra scroll first, and after a quick glance at it, he knew it was safe.

The topic was indeed the one selected by Zhen Shi.

The next step is easy. Just copy down the answers you have memorized in your mind.

In that case, there's no need to rush.

Su Yun first followed others to start drafting, making an outline, then wrote a first draft, and then copied the first draft onto the test paper, just like an ordinary candidate, without missing a single step.

But even so, he finished it very quickly. Looking at each word with full handwriting, vigorous, and elegant style, he nodded with satisfaction. This was not an answer sheet, but a very good piece of calligraphy!

Su Yun has been practicing calligraphy for the past two years. He has copied the Book of Han several times, and also hand-wrote a copy of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms with nearly one million words. He also wrote a book called "Collected Commentaries on the Mencius". In his daily notes, there are sometimes millions of words. He has already practiced his calligraphy.

Now, even calligraphers like Su Zhe and Zhang Dun can't find any fault with this handwriting. Even when Su Shi wrote a letter to Su Yun, Su Shi praised Su Yun's calligraphy after reading it: the brushwork is steady and has a bit of unrestrained air, which is quite reminiscent of Xizhi's style.

Compared with the comment "too much craftsmanship" made when I first went to Huangzhou, this evaluation is much higher.

This shows that Su Yun's calligraphy has his own style, and he has entered the ranks of calligraphers.

Reading the whole answer sheet, one can feel a sense of continuity running through it, which is bound to make the reader feel relaxed and happy.

Well, I must give full marks on the paper!
As for the content, it was written by Su Che and revised several times. It reads well and every word is precious. It leaves a lingering taste in your mouth. Hehe, it shouldn't be difficult to get a first place in the imperial examination, right?
Then the papers on poetry, essays, and other topics were handed out one by one, and they were exactly the same as the real questions Su Yun had received.

Su Yun filled out the forms carefully one by one, fearing that he would write too fast. It was not because he was afraid of suspicion, but mainly because if he wrote too fast, the time afterwards would be too boring. If he just sat here doing nothing, the days would feel like years.

But even so, Su Yun still saved a lot of time.

It was fine at the beginning, I would go to sleep after finishing writing, but later I couldn’t fall asleep because I slept too much and could only endure it.

Those who have extremely leisurely jobs and cannot play with their phones or read books know how slowly time goes by while they wait for the end of get off work.

When another gong sounded, Su Yun was finally freed and followed the crowd out.

While the others looked tired, Su Yun's face was beaming with joy as he walked out with big strides. The full collagen in his face from adequate sleep was showing off his arrogance as a top student.

The people waiting outside saw the first person to come out, and immediately saw Su Yun. They all exclaimed, "Who is this person? Why is he so outstanding?"

Someone who knows the goods said, "Who else could it be? The person standing in front of you is Su Yun Su Ju, a master of classics, a dragon among ci, a man of the Song Dynasty, the author of Annotated Mencius, Linjiangxian, and Qingyu'an, known as Jiangyou Su Lang, a descendant of the Meishan Su family, and the nephew of Su Shi and Su Zizhan!"

Zhang Ruo slapped him, but Zhang Chi just shrank his head as if nothing had happened.

Well, the person who knew the value of the item just now was Zhang Ruo’s second brother, Zhang Chi.

"Ah, it's him!" everyone exclaimed.

Some people looked at each other, pushed through the crowd, and quietly surrounded Su Yun.

Zhang Ruo was on guard at first, and was startled when he saw this. He said, "Zhang Ze! Hurry up, someone is trying to find a son-in-law from the list!"

Zhang Ze was shocked and said, "The list hasn't come out yet, and someone wants to capture the son-in-law now?"

Zhang Yuan laughed happily and said, "Brother Yun is so handsome. Even if he doesn't make the list, it would be good to catch him and make him my son-in-law. My mother-in-law will definitely be very happy!"

Zhang Ruo said anxiously: "Why don't you go and protect Ah Yun!"

Zhang Ze did not dare to neglect and shouted, "Come on, follow me!"

Zhang Ze's move immediately attracted everyone's attention. Many people cast their eyes over to him. Some people suddenly realized: it is not necessary to wait until the results are announced to choose a son-in-law. A master of classics and poetry like Su Yun is still a gold nugget and a popular commodity even if he does not make the list!
Suddenly, a shout broke out from the crowd: "Catch that Su Yun, my master is offering a reward of a thousand gold! Remember, you must catch him alive! Alive! Not dead!"

Su Yun looked up in horror, then turned around, spread his long legs, and ran directly into the Imperial Examination Hall against the flow of people!
The soldiers in the Imperial Examination Hall also heard this. Suddenly, the gong sounded loudly, and the guarding officer of the Imperial Examination Hall shouted loudly: "The Imperial Examination Hall is a restricted area! Anyone who trespasses will be beheaded! Anyone who causes trouble will be killed without mercy, and three clans will be implicated! They will also be exiled a thousand miles away!"

The soldiers drew their swords and spears and surrounded the entrance to the Imperial Examination Hall.

But this did not scare the people who wanted to steal the bride.

Anyone who can come here to grab the bride must be from a wealthy family. How could they be frightened by such words? Some even shouted, "Xu Yasi, arrest Su Lang and hand him over to our Li family. You will be allowed to sit at the main table at the wedding!"

"Xu Yasi, I am from the Xu family. Su Lang is engaged to my daughter. You hand him over to me and I will take him home immediately!"

"Wu Na Ya Shi, let me pass. My daughter Wen is virtuous and kind, and is the perfect match for Su Lang. If this marriage is missed, it will be a loss for Su Lang and the Song Dynasty as well!"

"..."

Seeing that they could not resist the oncoming crowd, Xu Yasi shouted, "Hold on in front, quickly, close the gate!"

Xu Yasi pulled Su Yun back into the Imperial Examination Hall, and the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall slowly closed.

Xu Yasi breathed a sigh of relief, looked at Su Yun, and said with a smile: "It's safe."

Su Yun smiled bitterly, bowed to Xu Yashi, and thanked him: "Thank you, Xu Yashi, for your care."

Xu Yasi chuckled, revealing a ferocious smile, and said, "Su Lang, to be honest, my brother's family happens to have a niece of 27 years old, who is good-looking, well-mannered and virtuous, and is a perfect match...

Hey, Su Lang, don't run away! Listen to the conditions first!
My brother is very wealthy and owns tens of thousands of acres of fertile land in Chenliu. People call him Xu Bancheng!

If you marry my niece, I will give you 30% of my fortune! Hey, don't run away, half of it will do! ..."

Su Yun stretched out his long legs, kicked one foot against the wall of the Imperial Examination Hall, grabbed it with both hands, turned over and ran to the side.

Xu Yasi was furious and shouted at Su Yun's back: "Su Lang, you are a member of our Xu family in life and a ghost of our Xu family in death. You can't run away!"

Su Yun: ...

Su Yun didn't dare to go home through the main gate. He climbed over the side wall to enter the Su Mansion, said something to his aunt, then climbed out to the Zhang family, said something to the Zhang family again, climbed again, and sneaked back to the small courtyard next to the Fayun Temple.

Su Yun has already bought this courtyard.

Ah Hui and the others were not there. They were probably either selling stuffed pancakes or going to the Imperial Examination Hall to pick me up.

It's so scary.

The people of Bian Jing are too crazy.

Su Yun decided to stay out of the spotlight for the time being. As for checking the rankings or anything like that, he was determined not to go.

He could even say something like "as long as he's alive". Could it be that there had ever been a candidate who tried to catch a son-in-law from under the list and was beaten to death?
After a while, Ah Hui and his friends came back as expected, and Ah Hu, Baldy and others followed them.

Ah Hui came back and saw Su Yun, heaved a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "Sir, you are so popular."

Su Yun smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "Have you eaten it?"

Ah Hui smiled and said, "No, I booked a banquet for you at the restaurant. I wanted to wait for you to come out to celebrate."

Su Yun waved his hand and said, "You can't go." Ah Hui smiled and said, "You can't go. I have asked someone to go to the restaurant to order a banquet and send it over here. I guess you should be back."

Sure enough, the restaurant delivered the banquet soon. Su Yun had been very quiet these days.

Ah Hui was fine. Ah Hu and the others hadn't seen Su Yun for some time and were very excited to see him.

Su Yun ate most of the food before he had the heart to look at Ah Hu and the others.

After not seeing each other for a long time, Ah Hu and the others have changed a lot.

It is normal to have some changes in clothing. After all, those who can sit here basically have dozens of stalls under them. It is easy for them to earn seven or eight thousand strings of cash a year, so it is normal to buy a few nice clothes.

But what made Su Yun most curious was that their temperament had also changed. The gangster temperament they had before was gone, and now each of them had the capable temperament of a businessman.

To put it in the words of later generations, each of them was a business elite. After all, each of them had hundreds of people under them, and they had to arrange things and manage people every day. Over time, their temperament naturally changed.

However, the fierceness in their eyes and brows increased instead of decreased, but it was different from before. The fierce temperament before was that of a street thug who would fight to the death if I didn't obey him, but now it was, if you want to infringe on my interests, I will also fight to the death with you.

The difference between these two temperaments is that one is a gangster and the other is a gangster boss.

Su Yun smiled and asked, "Have you been fighting recently?"

Ah Hu nodded and said, "I'm still fighting. Before, I fought with the ruffians, and now I'm fighting with the local bullies in the south and east of the city."

Su Yun nodded and asked, "Are there any casualties?"

Speaking of this, Ah Hu and others looked at each other.

Ah Hui nodded and said, "Yes, but most of them are injured. But don't worry, whether they are injured or dead, we have pensions and will visit them to take care of them."

Su Yun nodded and didn't say anything like don't fight. If you want to do business on the street, you have to risk your life.

"The pension must be generous so that the brothers under my command will not have any doubts."

Ah Hu nodded and said, "Don't worry, our approach is to give a pension first, and then give a sum every month. In other words, the amount this brother received every month before will be the amount he will receive in the future. This money will be paid from the commissions of those of us who took the lead."

Su Yun nodded and said, "Very good, but we must try to reduce casualties as much as possible. Every time we fight, we must have a plan and strategy.

We must ensure that in every fight we have more people and better equipment than the enemy, and we get to choose the location.

Don't fight a battle you're not prepared for, don't fall into the enemy's trap, and no matter how many battles you fight, there probably won't be too many casualties."

Ah Hu, Ah Hui and others quickly took notes. Su Yun only gave a casual reminder, but it hit the nail on the head for them these days.

It was fine for them to fight with the gangsters, because they always had more people than the other side and they wouldn't suffer much loss.

But Zuodihu's level has become much higher. In recent days, many of their fights have been passive. They had to fight because the opponent bullied them. As a result, many people were injured and even died for the first time.

What Su Yun said seemed simple, but it really gave them a new way of thinking.

Seeing that they remembered it seriously, Su Yun became interested and said with a smile: "Since you have a conflict with these tigers, and it is inevitable, then you must take the initiative to fight, fight strategically, and understand diplomacy.

From what you just said, you fought against several sitting tigers at the same time?"

Ah Hui quickly said, "Not really. We just had a few random fights, and each of our teams in each area fought on their own."

Su Yun nodded and said, "You can try to solve the problem one area at a time, appease the local tyrants in other areas first, or even give up some interests, concentrate your strength, and defeat the local tyrants in a certain area in one fell swoop!
Then, with the momentum of a great victory, turn around and defeat the local tigers in another area. After you defeat two or three local tigers, the local tigers in other areas will voluntarily return the benefits. "

Hearing this, Ah Hui, Ah Hu and the others became excited, and suddenly they felt as if the clouds had parted to reveal the bright moon.

Su Yun smiled and said, "The fight cannot be in vain, and people cannot die in vain. Since people have died in the fight, we must take back what we deserve.

The egg-filled pancake business originally belonged to us, so it doesn't count as taking it back. Since we have defeated these local bullies, we will just take over what they have.

We don’t want anything that is illegal, but mainly take over the resources from the vegetable markets and street shops that they control, especially the material transportation resources that they control.

From now on, we will have to deal with the water transport companies ourselves for our eggs, flour, etc. This will save us the trouble of being cheated by the local bullies, and our profits will increase significantly.

Previously, the profit of a stuffed pancake was only four cents. If we can snatch the supply resources of the street shops in the vegetable market from the local tiger, the profit can be increased by at least one cent.

Moreover, mastering this resource is a huge profit point in itself. If you can grab a few percent of the resources in each area, the profit may be several times more than that of egg-filled pancakes!"

After these words were spoken, Ah Hu and Ah Hui looked at each other and their breathing became heavier.

Su Yun smiled and said, "These local tyrants basically have people backing them up. It's useless to just defeat them. Instead, it will easily lead to official attacks.

I will block the official ones, so I will take half of the profits, and you can share the other half with your brothers, what do you think?"

Ah Hu thought for a moment and said, "Sir, you gave me too much. I have also been a street vendor before.

I used to follow a local tycoon who could only take 20% of the profits and had to give the rest to his superiors. You gave us half, which is too much.

We are not greedy. If you give us 30%, we will not be greedy either and will naturally take good care of our brothers."

Su Yun thought for a moment and said, "How about this, I'll take half, you take 30%, and the remaining 20% ​​will be used to set up a... um, Freemasonry fund.

This Freemasonry fund can be used for retirement, disability compensation, and medical treatment for serious illnesses when the brothers are no longer able to work. As for the specific regulations, you can formulate them yourselves. "

Ah Hu and others were overjoyed. If there was such a measure, then in the future when a fight broke out, who would be afraid of getting hurt or dying? Wouldn't they all rush forward roaring?

Su Yun pointed out a way for them and left it alone, but he still had to talk to Zhang Dun about the official matters.

This matter would be difficult to handle without Zhang Dun's support.

Don't think that those sitting on the ground tigers are just low-class people, but the people behind them are not small people. I don't know how many big sharks are hiding underwater and have not shown their heads.

But he needs to plan this matter carefully.

Zhang Dun was not easy to convince. Although he was called a traitor in history books and some people even believed that he should be held responsible for the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, no matter how much he was scolded, no one accused Zhang Dun of making money for himself and seeking official positions for his children.

Therefore, if you want to convince Zhang Dun to do this, you need some legitimate reasons.

Ah Hui, Ah Hu and the others were very happy. They started drinking and having a great time. Su Yun took chopsticks and drew on the table, thinking about a strategy.

At this moment, someone knocked on the door in the yard.

Ah Hui and his companions immediately became alert, stood up one after another, and some even picked up sticks.

Ah Hu nodded at the bald-headed man. The bald-headed man, with a sullen face, strode over to open the gate, only to see a young man in brocade clothes outside.

The bald-headed man asked, "Who are you looking for?"

The young man smiled and said, "I am the one who selected the candidates. You can tell Mr. Su about it and he will know it naturally."

The bald-headed man's expression changed, and he asked, "Who are you? How do you know that the young master is here?"

Baldy went outside and was shocked to see several burly men standing at the entrance of the alley.

He was about to sound the alarm, but saw Su Yun had already strode out, bowed to the young man in brocade clothes and said with a smile: "Zhen Zhonggui, why are you here?"

(End of this chapter)