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

"Anyway, I have already registered at the Imperial College, and classes will not start for another five or six days. I will inquire around in the next two days and then make a decision," said Zhang Pingan.

It's just that the timing is wrong now and time is too tight. Otherwise, I can wait until he takes the imperial examination in February next year and see the test results before telling Sixth Sister about it. If by chance he can pass, he will have more choices.

Everything else about the Yu family is easy to deal with, except that the population is too complicated, and I’m afraid Sixth Sister won’t be able to handle it.

The next morning, Zhang Ping'an got up early, said goodbye to Xu and went out. He didn't take a car, but strolled all the way to the Ministry of Works in the east of the city.

There are many stalls selling breakfast near the yamen, and most of the customers are people on duty in the Ministry of Works, especially bachelors.

This era was different from the modern era. The population mobility was very low, and the mobility of people working in the government office was even lower. They basically worked there for their entire lives.

The small vendors also have good memories. They have only a few regular customers and know their names and what jobs they do in the government office.

Zhang Ping'an chose a stall with the fewest people and sat down, ordering a bowl of yellow croaker noodles and two fried dough sticks.

The stall owner is a middle-aged couple with a son. The man rolls the noodles, the son fries the dough sticks, and the woman is responsible for collecting money and clearing the table.

The noodles were quickly served on the table, sprinkled with chopped green onions, and smelled very fragrant.

Zhang Ping'an picked up a piece of soup with chopsticks and tasted it. It tasted good. The soup base was very thick and had the delicious taste of yellow croaker. However, it was probably not suitable for the taste of Lin'an people as it was too light.

This may be the reason why this stall’s business is not as good as others.

People kept coming to the stall. Zhang Pingan ate slowly and was not in a hurry.

The male boss was busy at work but he kept talking, chatting a lot with every customer.

In between rolling noodles, he chatted with Zhang Pingan: "Sir, you look a little unfamiliar. I haven't seen you before!"

"Well, this is my first time here too," Zhang Pingan said with a smile.

"I think I know almost all the people on duty at the Ministry of Works. You look unfamiliar and you eat slowly, so you definitely don't work there," the boss said cheerfully.

"Oh, I'm here to look for someone. My grandparents are old and have difficulty walking. I want to make a wheelchair for them. I heard that there is a skilled craftsman in the Ministry of Works who is good at this, so I came here specifically to look for him," Zhang Ping'an said slowly.

The boss was curious and asked, "Who is it? The Construction Department has many skilled craftsmen, but hiring them for private work is not cheap. After all, they are paid by the government."

"His surname is Yu and his name is Shi Qi. Have you heard of him, boss?" Zhang Pingan asked.

"Oh, it's him," the boss said without hesitation, "He's a regular customer of mine. He often comes here for breakfast. I heard he likes to do some hammering work, but he's not an ordinary craftsman. His grandfather is a seventh-rank official. They are considered an official family, so naturally they want to ensure a good future for their children and grandchildren. He works in the Ducui Office, a civil servant. The work is easy and the salary is good. I haven't heard that he takes private jobs outside!"

"I came here because of his reputation. I don't know if he is on duty. Boss, could you point him out to me in private later so I can talk to him. If not, I'll find someone else," Zhang Ping'an pleaded.

After saying that, he paid for the noodles and packed up more than twenty fried dough sticks.

I originally wanted to give a few more coins, but then I thought it was inappropriate. The business here is all repeat customers, and the boss has a good relationship with the customers. If I give money to ask about it, others will think I have ulterior motives. It is better to buy more things. The boss will feel at ease when he earns this money and will be happier.

Sure enough, the boss smiled at the customer's generosity, his eyes narrowed. "What's the big deal? It's still early, and he hasn't come on duty yet. I'll show you the guy later, but he's quite honest. I don't think he's the right person for you. Maybe the guy who introduced you was just fooling you."

"It's okay, let's take a look first," Zhang Pingan shook his head.

About fifteen minutes later, a young man of about sixteen or seventeen came to the stall and asked for two fried dough sticks. His voice was low, but the youthful crispness that had not yet faded could be heard. "Boss, two fried dough sticks, I want them crispier."

"Or take away?" asked the boss.

"Take it away," the boy nodded.

"Okay," the boss replied, then winked at Zhang Ping'an.

Zhang Ping'an knew that this was the person he was looking for.

He turned his head and looked around casually. The man looked good, tall and thin. He was wearing clean fine cloth clothes and looked very well-groomed.

His brows were relaxed but his mouth was tightly pursed. You could tell at a glance that he had a stubborn temper.

The most striking of the facial features are the eyes, which are black like black pearls, round and bright, but they move very slowly and are not lively.

Most Chinese people's eyes are black with a hint of brown, and pure black is rare.

Zhang Ping'an looked at it and smiled. Without staying any longer, he went home with the bundle of wrapped fried dough sticks.

There was so much food that he couldn't finish it at home, and the boss used good ingredients. So he simply called a cart and went around to the south of the city to distribute it to his grandparents, aunt, eldest sister and second sister's families.

When they returned home, Xu was leading Mrs. Hu to clean the house.

Seeing his son coming back, he immediately went up to him and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"

"I only recognized this person and haven't spoken to him yet, but I have a feeling that this person is destined to be with our family," Zhang Pingan recounted what happened in the morning.

"How do you know he will go to that stall?" Xu wondered.

"Everyone describes him as being honest and not competitive. This kind of person generally hates trouble, doesn't care about food, and won't queue up at a crowded stall," Zhang Ping'an explained.

"Son, you are really smart," Mrs. Xu praised.

Then he asked, "What should we do next?"

"What's next? Of course, the next step is to use the dumbest but most effective method," Zhang Pingan said with a smile.

He had already inquired with his boss about the shift hours in the morning, and waited near the Ministry of Works in the afternoon when his shift was almost over.

After the shift was over, most of the people in the yamen left one after another before Yu Shiqi came out slowly.

Zhang Ping'an followed quietly from behind. He saw that the man first entered the bookstore, browsed around the first floor for a while, and quickly picked up a book and went to the counter to pay.

Then he walked slowly forward again, heading towards the north of the city. This time he entered a blacksmith shop. I don’t know what he said to the blacksmith, but he made him laugh out loud.

Yu Shiqi had no expression on his face and gave the blacksmith a small piece of silver, probably as a deposit for a custom-made item.

Zhang Ping'an stroked his chin with a bit of curiosity. There were many skilled craftsmen in the Ministry of Works, and he was a local resident, so why did he need to go outside to find someone to make things for him?

interesting!

After coming out of the blacksmith shop, Yu Shiqi went straight home.

Zhang Ping'an followed him for a few more days and found that this person's life was extremely regular, basically going between the government office and home. The first day Zhang Ping'an followed him was the day he traveled the most.

On the fifth day, Zhang Pingan stopped following because he was going to enroll in the Imperial College the day after tomorrow and didn't have much time.

He later went to the blacksmith's shop to ask the blacksmith what he wanted to make. After listening to the blacksmith's description, the more he listened, the more he felt it looked like a musket.

The blacksmith was a sturdy man, his muscles bulging, twice as strong as Zhang Ping'an. He finished his speech with a sneer, "You want to load gunpowder and a shell into such a thin and short iron tube, and then say that after ignition, the shell can be fired a hundred steps away. I have been working as a blacksmith for over thirty years and have never heard of this before. It is simply unheard of. The smallest thunder bomb produced in the previous dynasty was at least three meters long, and it took the most skilled craftsmen to make it."

He shook his head as he spoke.

Zhang Pingan was deeply shocked after hearing this. He knew that this was not just a fantasy, and that with the development of technology, the size could even be smaller and safer.

Anyone who can have such an idea is definitely not a fool, regardless of whether he can succeed in doing it in the end.

After getting to know each other for a few days, Zhang Ping'an felt more confident. During dinner, he told his family what he had seen and heard in the past few days, and also mentioned his concerns. The main one was that the Yu family was too complicated, which was very troublesome, and he could not leave his original family.

Xu's expression was as if she had expected this. She said, "How could a child who has been carefully nurtured since childhood be stupid? It's good for him to be honest. He has a job and a salary, so he won't have to worry about food and drink in the future. What a good family!"

After saying that, she patted him and said, "Silly boy, our Liu Ya is also smart and clever. How can she just stand there and wait for others to bully her? As long as the boy from the Yu family has good character and a kind heart, and the two of them support each other, there is nothing they can't handle. Besides, we have people in our family, and you have your sisters to back you up!"