You are unlucky and I am tough

After paying the bill, Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang sent Lu Yinyin back upstairs. After thanking Mr. and Mrs. Lu, they left the restaurant with their younger brother and sister-in-law.

There were fewer people in the square. The two sisters bought incense and candles from the vendors and went to worship the Weaver Girl. Cheng Shuang did not kneel down to pray, but just burned the incense three times and then put the incense into the big incense burner.

Cheng Pan and Wei Xinyi followed the others' lead and knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and then closed their eyes to pray devoutly.

After the worship, we went to pick up our two younger brothers. Mingde Academy was not far from the square. The family registered at the back door of the academy and told the person in charge that they wanted to take the children to worship Kuixing. Half an hour was not enough and it would take at least two hours.

The person in charge said that today is Chinese Valentine's Day, and most of the children have been picked up from their homes to worship Kuixing, so there are no classes in the academy in the afternoon and they can come back later.

The two younger brothers were quickly led out, both wearing the academy's student robes. Although they had only been home for two days at the end of June, they were still happy to see their family. One rushed to Cheng Shuang and the other rushed to Wei Qinglang.

"Have you eaten?" Cheng Shuang pinched Xiao Si's face.

They both said they had eaten and wanted to go out and play.

There were many people on the street, so Wei Nanxing let Xiao Si ride on his neck. Then Cheng Shuang took Wei Xinyi by the hand, and Wei Qinglang took Cheng Chen by the hand. The family went to Kuixing Temple while shopping, and bought all the things needed to worship Kuixing on the way.

Kuixing Temple is located in the north of the city, in a relatively remote location. Usually there are few people here, but today it is crowded everywhere. It is just the opposite of the place where people worship the Weaver Girl. Most of the people here are men, and scholars can be seen everywhere.

The streets are lined with stalls selling pens, ink, paper, inkstones, calligraphy and paintings, antiques, fine wine, folding fans, zithers, flutes, and various small items. Anything that a scholar likes can be bought there.

"Number One Scholar Pen, I'm selling it. Buy it and pray to Kuixing (the star of fortune) to win the first place in the imperial examination."

"Splendid ink, when you use it, your writing will be as if divinely inspired, painting a brilliant future."

"Ruyi paper, come and take a look at Ruyi paper. Ruyi paper can write good articles and bring you good luck."

The vendors were shouting all kinds of auspicious words, which made Cheng Shuang want to laugh. They would say anything to make money.

Wei Qinglang was suddenly stopped by a vendor. "Sir, would you like to come and take a look at the No. 1 Scholar Pen? If you buy one, you can pray to Kuixing Star and you can also take the No. 1 Scholar exam in the future."

Wei Qinglang teased him, "Really? I can't read. Can I win the first place in the imperial examination just by buying this money and praying?"

The stall owner's expression was very interesting. He let go of him with an awkward smile and went back to continue shouting, which made Cheng Shuang laugh out loud.

Kuixing Temple is located halfway up the mountain. To climb up, you have to climb 400 steps. This is also known as the test of Kuixing. Everyone must go up on foot. When you look up, you can see many people climbing up.

The weather was hot, and the frail scholar wiped the sweat off his face as he walked, stopping and starting.

This was the time when the temple was busiest. Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang took their younger brother and sister-in-law for a stroll at the foot of the mountain. When they were tired, they found a tea stall with empty seats to drink tea and took out two offerings to worship Kuixing.

Zhao Xiuwen helped write the sacrificial text. During the worship, the two younger brothers needed to open the sacrificial text and kneel in front of Kuixing to recite it. After reciting, it was burned. They were not allowed to hesitate or stutter during the process.

The two younger brothers didn’t know some of the characters yet, so Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang taught them one each, so that they could recognize all the characters and read them fluently.

Cheng Caijun and Hu Chunhua came into the city in the donkey cart of the village headman, while Cheng Wanpeng and his sister Cheng Jinxiu came in the family's horse carriage. Cheng Jinxiu also brought her lackey Qian Xifeng with her.

The two met when they went to worship the Weaver Girl, and then came to Kuixing Temple together. Thinking that there would be many people in the temple at that time, they started strolling at the foot of the mountain.

Cheng Wanpeng's family is rich, so he buys whatever he likes. He bought everything from the top scholar's brush, Ruyi paper, and Jinxiu ink, and also bought a calligraphy piece.

Hu Chunhua stood by and didn't dare to say a word, fearing that her son would also buy something.

Suddenly, someone shouted from the front, "Storybooks are on sale! Come and have a look! Liangshan Storybooks are on sale for a low price. One to ten copies are only 28 taels."

Cheng Caijun's eyes lit up when he heard this. Many people in the academy were reading this book. He also helped a playboy copy books in exchange for reading the first and second volumes. The plot was full of ups and downs and it was a rare masterpiece.

But this storybook costs four hundred coins per copy, and people in the academy buy different copies and share them. He can't afford it, but he is also too embarrassed to ask his classmates to read it for fear of being laughed at.

When they heard that ten volumes only cost 2.5 taels and 8 cents, less than 300 wen per volume, they immediately squeezed in front of the stall to take a look.

Cheng Wanpeng followed him in and looked through the several storybooks on the table. "The vendor must have had someone copy them out. The handwriting in each one is different."

Cheng Wanpeng was somewhat disdainful. He had all eleven volumes, all of which were genuine copies with the Moxiang Bookstore seal. He also asked his servants to keep an eye on Moxiang Bookstore and buy the next volume as soon as it came out. He simply disdained these pirated copies.

However, seeing that Cheng Caijun seemed to want it very much, he rolled his eyes and immediately added fuel to the fire, "Brother Caijun, this is a rare opportunity."

If it weren't for his grandfather asking him to make friends with several scholars in the village, he wouldn't want to bother with Cheng Caijun at all. It was just because the one who passed the examination was one year younger than him. What was so great about that?

Now I encourage him to buy pirated novels, and then find someone to spread the word when he returns to the academy, so as to embarrass him.

Cheng Caijun turned back to look for Hu Chunhua and held out his hand, "Mom, give me three taels of silver to buy books."

Hu Chunhua almost fainted when she heard this. She had only brought out more than four taels of silver today, and she had to give away three taels now.

The family’s annual income was only a dozen or so taels from selling grain during the autumn harvest, which was not even enough to pay for the rent.

If Cheng Shuang's father had not left behind two hundred taels of silver after his death, his son would not have been able to pay his tuition for all these years. Now the money is almost gone, but his son's journey to the imperial examination has just begun.

That little bitch Cheng Shuang was unwilling to pay for his son's education. Now, even with the thirty taels of betrothal money given by the Feng family, she still had less than sixty taels.

But if his son's classmate didn't give him the money, it would definitely make him embarrassed. After thinking about it, he took out the money. His heart was bleeding as he handed over the money.

Cheng Caijun took the silver and immediately gave it to the stall owner. The stall owner smiled and gave him two hundred coins in change, then handed him ten volumes of storybooks bundled together.

Cheng Caijun put the money in his pocket and walked out of the crowd with the book in his arms. He was already imagining the scene when his classmates would all fawn over him and borrow storybooks from him when he returned to the academy.

Cheng Jinxiu was also there. Seeing that they had bought the books, she felt uneasy and said she wanted to find a place to sit down and have some tea.

After walking forward for a while, the group saw a tea stall. A table of people had just left, and there were some acquaintances among them.

Only Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang were left in the tea stall, teaching their two younger brothers to recite the funeral oration. The other three went shopping in front because they were bored sitting there.

The four of them were concentrating when suddenly someone sat down opposite them.

Cheng Wanpeng and his friends sat at the table next to them, and when Hu Chunhua saw Cheng Shuang, she immediately ran over with her son and sat down on the empty seat at the table, placing the book she was carrying for her son directly on the table.

Wei Qinglang took a quick look and found that it was the Liangshan storybook, so he raised his eyebrows.

Cheng Caijun stood at the side and bowed to Wei Qinglang, "Brother-in-law."

He called his brother-in-law, but ignored his sister Cheng Shuang.

Cheng Xu got scared when he saw Hu Chunhua and moved closer to Cheng Shuang. Cheng Shuang hugged him and looked at her with a frown, "Who told you to sit here?"

Although she knew that they were also coming to worship Kuixing, she thought she would not meet so many people. Unexpectedly, she was so unlucky that she still met them. Why didn't she step over the fire basin when she went out in the morning?

Hu Chunhua licked her cheeks. "Auntie and your brother Caijun are tired after walking for a long time. They also want to rest. We are all family, so what's wrong with sitting together?"

As she spoke, she reached out to take the teapot on the table and pour water for herself.

Cheng Shuang reached out and pressed the teapot, snatching it away. "If you want tea, order it yourself. Thirty cents a pot. Also, we don't share the table."

Cheng Caijun paused as he was about to sit down and looked at Wei Qinglang, wanting him, the head of the family, to speak.

Wei Qinglang repeated, "We don't share tables."

Cheng Caijun secretly clenched his fists, pulled the corners of his mouth and said sorry, then turned around and walked towards Cheng Wanpeng's table next to him without paying any attention to his mother.

Seeing that Hu Chunhua still refused to leave, Cheng Shuang called the tea stall owner, "Boss, there's someone trying to steal our tea from here. Can you do anything about it?"

The stall owner walked over, wiping the sweat off his shoulders with a towel. He could tell that these people probably knew each other but had some conflicts, but he was too lazy to care and just looked at Hu Chunhua.

"Auntie, aren't you sitting at the table next to you? This guest doesn't want to share the table, so please move your seat."

Hu Chunhua was almost mad with anger. She didn't expect that this little bitch wouldn't give her any face at all outside. But she couldn't make a scene and let people on the street watch. She gritted her teeth and stood up angrily and went to the next table.

The book on the table was forgotten to be taken away, and Cheng Shuang shouted, "Don't throw the garbage away, don't put it on my table."

After he finished speaking, he realized that the bundle of books was Liangshan Stories. He turned around and looked at Wei Qinglang, who tried to hold back his laughter.

Cheng Caijun stood up and came to get the book. He didn't care if he would offend Wei Qinglang. He glared at Cheng Shuang and said, "You actually said Mr. Wuming's masterpiece Liangshan is rubbish. You are indeed an ignorant village woman with no vision."

Cheng Shuang looked at him holding the book treasure and couldn't help laughing, "Oh, really? Then you should keep it well."