Traveling through books: Traveling through time with a golden finger to become a soft rice man

The juggler who had been explaining the material of the stone to everyone saw Yang Yuanzu looking at his hammer, and hurriedly explained that the hammer in his hand was also real. Afraid that people would not believe him, he even showed the hammer to the guest sitting in the front row for inspection.

The guests in the front row felt that the hammer was heavy in their hands. If it weren't for the juggler holding it up, the hammer would have fallen to the ground in their hands, which would have been so embarrassing.

The juggler knew that the gentlemen present were all people who valued their reputation, and he was afraid that the hammer would fall to the ground and injure the guests' feet, so he held the hammer in his hand all the time, and even when he was showing it to the spectators in the front row, it never really left his hand.

The guests in the back row, including Yang Yuanzu and the arithmetic officer, also stood up and ran to the front row to watch the fun. Seeing this, the painted-faced man handed the hammer to Yang Yuanzu for inspection.

Yang Yuanzu tried it out and found that the hammer was indeed heavy, but it seemed very light in the hand. He felt that the painted-faced man was a hidden martial arts master.

The juggler with the hammer returned to the stage with the hammer only after everyone had finished checking. He stood next to the bench with a calm face, holding the hammer but not dropping it immediately.

The audiences who had never seen it before were all watching the performance on stage with bated breath. Yang Yuanzu wondered in his mind whether he could also perform if he could control the strength of hitting the hammer well. But no matter how much he thought about it, Yang Yuanzu would not go up and try it.

The hammer paused in the air for a few seconds, attracting enough attention before it fell down, and the stone slab broke as expected.

There were two stone slabs placed next to them. The painted-faced man paused his performance for a while and asked for tips from the audience, saying that if the tips filled the small wooden basin in their hands, they would then perform the act of breaking two large stones on their chests.

Upon hearing this, the spectators threw copper coins into the small wooden basin. Yang Yuanzu also took out the copper coins from his purse and threw them into the basin.

The arithmetic officer fumbled around and took out a penny from his sleeve. After hesitating for a while, he reluctantly threw it into the wooden tray. Finally, he said, "Brother Yang is really generous."

No, it’s not that I’m too generous, it’s that you’re too poor.

He only threw seven or eight copper coins.

Yang Yuanzu hung the purse back on his waist and asked, "Brother, your salary is not too low, why are you living in such a tight spot?"

The arithmetic officer sighed and said, "The housing prices in the inner city are high. I owed some debt when I bought the house. Now I am saving money to pay it off."

Yang Yuanzu understood. No wonder the arithmetic official was so poor. It turned out that he was paying off his mortgage.

After collecting enough tips, the painted-faced man returned to the stage and began to perform an advanced version of the chest-breaking stone move.

Yang Yuanzu, who had already seen the broken rocks, lost interest and picked up the melon seeds from the plate out of boredom and started eating them.

He looked around and saw a few people from the Hanlin Academy in the private rooms on the second floor.

My goodness! In order to come to the city to play in the afternoon, they worked during the lunch break. They finally squeezed out half a day of rest, but when they got here, they saw that the people from the Hanlin Academy were sitting upstairs leisurely drinking tea.

Moreover, the private rooms were one or two taels of silver more expensive than theirs.

The total cost for the two of them to buy melon seeds and tea in the lobby was only forty cents.

The Hanlin Academy was notoriously idle, while their Agricultural Department was notoriously busy. Yang Yuanzu thought that the emperor might have thought that he was better at farming so he arranged him to work in the Agricultural Department, but compared to the Agricultural Department, he preferred the Hanlin Academy to spend his retirement.

The stone-breaking performance on the stage was finally over. This time, the painted-faced man was asking for tips from the crowd. Yang Yuanzu had already given him money once, so it was naturally difficult for him to give him money again. Besides, he had no change. The arithmetic official had to pay his mortgage, so naturally he would not give him any money.

After the stone-breaking duo asked for their reward and left, it would take some time before the next program started. The next program was bowl-balancing. Yang Yuanzu really wanted to stay and watch, but time was a bit tight.

In the past, he watched these programs on TV, which was very different from watching them in real life. He felt that the experience of watching them live was better, and he could also interact with the actors.

The arithmetic officer had come here with great difficulty, so naturally he wanted to enjoy the sights to his heart's content before leaving. Besides, his home was in the inner city, so he was in no hurry.

One minute on stage, the audience was exhausted. A juggler ran out with a bowl on his forehead, and behind him followed a guy carrying the props. The guy put the props down and left quickly.

The juggler had a scarf wrapped around his forehead. Yang Yuanzu guessed that it might be used to protect his head.

He was seen walking around the stage with a bowl on his head, and then putting another bowl on his forehead. Cheers and shouts came from the theater, and the audience threw money onto the stage to ask the juggler to add more bowls.

Yang Yuanzu was amazed at the other party's balance after watching him add more than ten bowls in a row and jumping around on the stage. The jugglers here would ask for tips from time to time during the performance. He had already given out his change during the first performance, so he just sat in his seat and watched honestly.

He did have a large silver note of fifty taels on him, but he was reluctant to give it away. No one with money could give a reward of fifty taels!

Changing coins was impossible as he was too lazy to go out and find a place to do it and waste his precious afternoon time.

Thinking of the time, Yang Yuanzu looked at the sky and guessed that it should be getting late, so he asked a waiter, "What time is it now?"

People often asked about the time in the theater. When the waiter came out, he had looked at the sundial and clepsydra, and knew the time very well. He then answered skillfully, "Sir, it's a quarter to seven o'clock."

When Yang Yuanzu heard that it was getting late, he stood up and said goodbye to the arithmetic official. Anyway, he had watched the performance to the end.

The performance ended at 7:30 and the curfew began at 8 o'clock. At this time, several spectators who lived far away also left.

The arithmetic official's house was not far away, so he could watch the performance and then go back. After saying goodbye to the other party, Yang Yuanzu drove the carriage out of the city. When he left, the theater was still bustling with applause coming from inside.

On the second day, Yang Yuanzu and the arithmetic officer were again sent to measure the land. Because the head of agriculture knew that the two of them had gone to the theater in the afternoon, he added more tasks for them. This time, they had no chance of leaving their duty early.

The arithmetic official sat on the edge of the field without any image, slapped his thigh and complained: "It must be those people from the Hanlin Academy who reported it. They were the only ones we saw when we went to the theater yesterday!"

Yang Yuanzu said, "Don't talk nonsense without evidence. Just be careful next time." He paused and added, "If you want to go out and play in the future, you'd better wait until the holiday!"

The arithmetic officer held his head in distress: "Brother Yang, you don't understand!" He shook his head painfully and added, "I have to be busy taking care of the children at home when I am on leave."

Yang Yuanzu was deeply surprised. The arithmetic official was the first person he had seen in this era who would help take care of the children at home. The others left all the housework to their wives.