The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

"Where is it?" Guo Jia asked doubtfully.

"Give me money first," the little beggar said crisply, spreading his dark little hands upwards.

Guo Jia took out ten coins and handed them over.

The little beggar shook his head and said, "The message fee is 200 coins. After the purchase is completed, you can give me another 300 coins."

"Your information fee is too expensive," Guo Jia said with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

The little beggar was not afraid. He knew too well what kind of people he could deal with and what kind he should not. He explained, "There are so many people who want to buy the Sky Blue Cricket. My information fee is not expensive at all, and I won't get the money alone. If you don't want it, I will find someone else!"

Guo Jia was very clever. He thought about it and smiled, "But I'm probably the most suitable person for you. If you go looking for those high-ranking officials or those with bad intentions, even if they offer you a few taels of silver as information fee, they will be snatched away by you in the end. You won't get any good results."

The little beggar's eyes were more shrewd and worldly-wise than an adult's. He said frankly, "Yes, I've seen you come here many times. I know you're on duty at the post station ahead. I can tell that no matter how much I give you, as long as you agree, you will never have any crooked thoughts. You're a good person, so I came to you!"

"Hahaha, I'm a nice person?" Guo Jia bent down and laughed.

He shook his head and stopped talking to the little beggar. He took out 100 coins and handed it to him, saying, "Take me there. I'll give you 200 coins if you buy it. No more!"

The little beggar looked at the copper coins in his hand, grumbled a little unwillingly, then quickly put the money away carefully and waved, "Follow me!"

After saying this, he strode forward, leaning on his bamboo pole, to lead the way.

Guo Jia followed the little beggar through many twists and turns and came to the vegetable market near the city gate. It was not a formal large vegetable market like the East Market and the West Market, but just a stall with some people carrying loads on their shoulders, selling steamed cakes, tofu pudding, wontons and other snacks. There were also people from the villages outside the city who came to the city to sell vegetables and did not want to pay the stall fee.

However, if they see the patrol officers from the Street Department coming, they have to stand up quickly with their loads on their shoulders, and then come back and sit down again after they leave. To put it bluntly, it is a mobile stall.

The little beggar led Guo Jia to an old man's stall and stopped him. He said crisply, "He's selling!"

Guo Jia took a look and saw that the old man was in his fifties, with cloudy eyes. He was with a dark and thin boy of about eleven or twelve years old. They should be a grandfather and grandson. In the basket in front of them were some common vegetables such as radishes and cabbages, a small pile of wrinkled oranges, and a small pile of dried mushrooms. On both sides of the basket were tied with ropes a few new winnowing baskets and a string of cricket cages.

It seems that all the things in the house that can be sold have been picked out.

"Old man, do you have crickets for sale?" Guo Jia asked.

Seeing a customer coming, the old man quickly stood up with his grandson, bent down and replied: "Yes, my grandson caught it. I heard that people in the city like this, so I brought it here to see if I can sell it for some money."

"Please sit down and let me take a look at the goods," Guo Jia said as he squatted down.

"Hey, hey!" the old man responded repeatedly, sat back on the small stool, and untied the string of cricket cages on the basket.

Guo Jia looked at the cricket cages carefully. He had been to the insect market so many times that he had some understanding of crickets. The crickets in the cages above were mostly ordinary and nothing special.

Just when he was about to be disappointed, his eyes locked on a cricket in the corner. The cricket had a faint sky blue color all over its body, with clear patterns on its wings and a pleasant voice. It was exactly the sky blue color in the picture album that Zhang Ping'an had shown him before.

Guo Jia was secretly delighted, but remained calm as he continued to ask, "Old man, how much is this one?"

The old man scratched his head in a simple and honest manner: "These are all caught by my grandson outside. You can give them as you see fit, young master."

Now Guo Jia was in a dilemma. If he could sell the good quality Sky Blue to a rich family kid, he could get 10 to 20 taels of silver. Ordinary ones could be sold for 10 to 8 taels of silver in the insect market. Although he was getting a bargain, he didn't want to treat the grandfather and grandson too badly.

A young man squatting nearby suddenly said, "Sir, do you have any extra food at home? If you can give us 50 kilograms of millet, we won't pay for this cricket."

Before Guo Jia could say anything, the little beggar next to him crossed his arms and spat, "What the hell are you dreaming of? The price of rice in Lin'an is sky-high right now. A pound of millet costs almost 20 coins. How can a cricket like yours be worth even a tael of silver? Is it made of real gold and silver?!"

He was sure that Guo Jia would just give him a few hundred coins to fool people. After all, the grandfather and grandson were not knowledgeable about the business. If he was not too young and had no one to rely on, he would have wanted to resell it to make a profit!

The old man also scolded him lightly: "Six, stop talking nonsense!"

After saying that, he turned to Guo Jia and said, "Sir, just give it to me as you see fit. It's not easy for us to catch them and bring them here to sell."

The boy's face flushed red after being spitted at. He mumbled, "Then... then thirty kilograms will do, coarse grains will do. We're out of food at home, and grandma has a bad stomach... I heard people say crickets are very valuable in the city!"

Guo Jia thought for a moment, then took out six hundred coins and handed them to the old man, saying, "Old man, I really like this cricket. I think your oranges are good too. I'll buy them all. You can use this money to buy some rice. It's a bit cheaper at Xiangji Rice Shop in the south of the city."

The old man was surprised and grateful when he took the money, and kept thanking him.

Guo Jia picked up the cage containing the sky-blue crickets and a bag of oranges and turned to leave. The little beggar hurriedly followed him and when he reached the corner, he came forward and stretched out his hand.

Guo Jia smiled and gave him another 200 coins: "Thanks to you this time."

The little beggar got the money, grinned, and ran away immediately.

Guo Jia happily took the sky-blue cricket to the provincial school and asked someone to go in and call Zhang Ping'an out.

"Ping'an, look what this is?" Guo Jia handed over the cage containing the sky blue crickets.

Zhang Ping'an's eyes lit up, and he said in surprise, "Brother Guo, you actually found this sky-blue cricket. Do you have enough money?"

"It's enough. It's a good bargain." Guo Jia didn't elaborate. He returned the banknote to Zhang Ping'an and said, "I didn't use the banknote. I only spent less than one or two taels of silver in total."

"It's so cheap, that's great," Zhang Ping'an was really surprised and gave the silver to Guo Jia.

Guo Jia took it and said with a smile, "I think your cricket is very useful, so I won't delay you any longer. Go quickly. We can have a drink together when you have time!"

"Thank you for your kindness!" Zhang Ping'an nodded with a smile.

Then he carried the cage to Lu Fuzi's study.

Mr. Lu was practicing calligraphy at this time, and he got a headache when he heard Zhang Ping'an coming.

But when he saw the sky blue cricket, his eyes lit up immediately and he couldn't let it go. When he learned that it was a gift for him, he accepted it without any hesitation. He also repeatedly praised Zhang Pingan for his thoughtfulness, and his tone and attitude were the best they had ever been.

As the saying goes, one should be grateful for what one has received, and one should be soft-hearted when one has eaten something from someone else. Zhang Pingan felt much more at ease after seeing this.

As the days passed, Master Lu was no longer so resistant when he came to ask for advice, and their relationship became much more harmonious.

Everything is moving in the right direction.

Zhang Pingan was on duty at the provincial school that day when his second brother-in-law Liu Husheng unexpectedly came to the school to look for him. Zhang Pingan was surprised when he came out: "Second brother-in-law, what happened?"

Liu Husheng was sweating profusely from anxiety. As soon as he opened his mouth, the cold wind of early February blew and he started coughing. After a while, he said anxiously, "Ping An, you should go back and take a look. Something big has happened at home. Your future fifth brother-in-law has been murdered!"