The Road to the Imperial Examinations of Farmers in Ancient Times

July [-]th is the Qiqiao Festival. According to folklore, it is the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet on the magpie bridge.Every day on this day, countless loving men and women in the capital will go up the mountain to the Yuelao Temple to worship and burn incense, praying for marriage, so on this day, the capital is very lively, and there are more merchants and hawkers in the city than in the past.

Since there were no officials and bullies in the city to collect "protection fees", there have been more and more peddlers selling things in the city, and the hawkers on the street are constantly shouting.

The carriages and sedan chairs in the city went to the Yuelao Temple one after another, and there were beautifully dressed ladies and ladies sitting inside.Young men from rich families wore the most popular new clothes with wide sleeves and large swings in the capital, with sachets and jade pendants on their waists, and they went to Yuelao Temple in groups to see the beautiful lady. It is rare to see each other in the boudoir, and only on such days can they have a chance to take a peek.

"Is Yi'er going back to the house today?" Went to say hello to her mother-in-law this morning, and the big house Mrs. Huo deliberately mentioned her son's marriage in front of her mother-in-law, implying that her son's fate is hard, The mother-in-law accused her, as a mother, of not caring about her son's marriage and not finding a good marriage for her son.

Why didn't she look for a marriage for her son!When it comes to this matter, Mrs. Wang is full of anger and grievance.

Over the years, the mother-in-law has always been partial to the eldest family, saying that the eldest family Huo's husband died at a young age, and became a widow.Could it be that her man is not dead?She deserved to give way to Da Fang and allow Mrs. Huo to trample her under her feet, right?

Bah, bah... Her family's man will not die!

The old lady who was waiting beside him replied, "Reporting to Madam, the eldest young master went out this morning and has not returned to the house yet."

"This kid doesn't stay home all day. He's so busy that I, as a mother, can't even see him." Wang sighed. The couple of marriages that her son talked about earlier failed. As soon as the family heard that it was their general's mansion who proposed marriage, they all refused in every possible way.

Now she has slightly lowered the requirements for finding a daughter-in-law, and does not require the other party to be the same as the general's family, as long as the family background is passable, filial and sensible.In fact, it's not that no one wants to climb up to their general's mansion and marry their daughter into their family, but...it's really not that lucky...

It was rumored that her son was a lonely star and killed his wife, why didn't she kill her mother?Are there nothing wrong with their closest relatives?These rumors are pure nonsense, someone deliberately slandered their second wife!It's not that Mrs. Wang doesn't know where these rumors spread, it's just that she doesn't want to have conflicts with her family, so she can bear it as long as she can.

It's just that my son is busy with military affairs all day long, and he doesn't even care about his own life-long affairs. Mrs. Wang hates iron and steel, "This child, I don't know what day it is today, and I don't know how to go out for a walk. Maybe I will meet you." See you right now, don't you?"

Is the old lady serving next to her the dowry of the Wang family? The one who followed the Wang family all the way is Wang's confidant old slave.The madam's life in the general's mansion these years has not been so satisfactory. I don't know what the old madam thinks. Their wife gave birth to two sons for the general. Helping the big house to bully their second house, these things are all seen by the maids and servants who serve by Wang's side.

Knowing that their wife was concerned about the young master's marriage, Madam Wu hesitated, and said, "Ma'am, there is something that I don't know if I should say it or not."

"Oh, what's the matter?" Wang asked.

Wu Ma glanced around and saw that the people in the room were all her own people, so she leaned over and whispered something in their wife's ear.Mrs. Wang looked thoughtful, thought for a while, and asked, "Is no one in the other yards aware of this? This matter... When Yi'er comes back, I will ask him." Having said this, Mrs. Wang also discovered the elder son's It's not right, if you say you're busy, you're so busy that you don't come home all day, it's really unreasonable, "You all keep your mouths shut, and don't go out and mess around if you shouldn't say anything."

"Yes, ma'am." The old lady replied.

The youngest child was conceived when the husband and wife shared the same room in the year when the husband returned to Beijing to report on his work. So her stomach is already very competitive. She conceived the eldest son not long after the wedding, and then she and her husband had the same room for two years. Come back, I have a stomach again.No wonder Mrs. Huo hated her so much, you didn't live up to your expectations and couldn't give birth to a son, so why blame someone else for having a son?

After all, Mrs. Wang is not a vicious person. Thinking of Mrs. Huo who is now a widow guarding a yard, sister Hui has married to someone else's house, it's not like her two sons are by her side, and her husband is still alive. He is much happier than Huo Shi.The power of the head of the family is in the hands of the Huo family. The servants in the general's mansion know who is the real head of the family, so what if the Huo family is let go?She doesn't need to take care of the family affairs, she still has more time to spend with her son

Asking about Xiao'er, knowing that Xiao'er was studying with the invited husband, Mrs. Wang didn't bother her, and asked the maid who was serving her to bring a book of poems over, she lay on a chair and read it, but she was a little absent-minded.

Originally, there were not many people in the mansion, but now halfway through the walk, there are only a few cooks and the house guards left in Nuo Da's mansion, and the whole Liuyuan mansion is suddenly quite deserted.

In July, summer is almost over, and now it is around the beginning of autumn, but the weather in the capital is still very hot.It wasn't until the sun went down that I didn't feel so hot. Li Wen asked the kitchen to cook some dishes, and brought a pot of good wine over by the way, and placed it here in the gazebo in the yard, and had a drink with Zhao Xiangyi, "Haha, Yuelao today I'm afraid it will be very busy, those of us who have already found a partner, there is no need to make trouble for Yuelao and his old man^"

Today, there was a lot of excitement outside the capital, but Li Wen didn't drag Zhao Xiangyi outside to join in the fun.

For those of them who have already found someone they like, there is no need to go to Yuelao Temple to pray for a good marriage. Those young masters who go to Yuelao Temple are all thinking of picking up girls.If they go out, just in case someone takes a fancy to them, it is still a troublesome thing to send a matchmaker to the door to talk about marriage.

However, some people in the capital have never given up asking matchmakers to come to their homes to say kisses. Every month, the concierge will stop the matchmakers from coming in several times. The owner is not at home, and the matchmakers can’t find the master to say kisses when they come.

"You're right, it would be nice for us to have a little wine here." Zhao Xiangyi picked up the wine glass in front of him and clinked it with the young man.

Zhao Xiangyi was not worried that he would be attracted by a woman. After all, he was known as a "wife restrainer", and people outside were afraid to avoid him, so why would he want to marry him.But the young man is different. The young man is now a celebrity around the emperor. The new dignitaries in the capital, although their family background is a little weak, but they have reached the official position from the fourth rank at a young age. The imperial court couldn't find a second one.

After another ten or twenty years, who can say for sure who will take the blame in this capital?

On weekdays, the young man would go out to join in the fun, but luckily he didn't drag him out today, Zhao Xiangyi wished he could hide him so that the young man would not be coveted by outsiders all day long.

At this moment, Li Wen didn't know what the man was thinking, so he clinked glasses with him.

"I don't know where Xiaobao and the others have returned." Half of the people in the house left, but there is another advantage that Li Wen doesn't have to worry about being discovered by his younger siblings that he has hidden a man in his courtyard. The guards, except Ah Chen and Ah Wu who were arranged for him by his teacher at the beginning, the rest were arranged by Zhao Xiangyi. On this point, he trusted Zhao Xiangyi very much.

Zhao Xiangyi came in and out of him, and the maids and servants below can hide it, but the guards in the mansion can't hide it. These people are to protect the safety of Liuyuan Mansion, which requires people to come over the wall every night If he didn't know at all, then he, the guard of Liuyuan Mansion, would have to be replaced.

Ah Chen and Ah Wu are his people now, they just know about it, and they will definitely not talk about it, and as for the person Zhao Xiangyi arranged to come, they will not.In fact, the main thing is to prevent outsiders from meeting him, otherwise General Zhao would come and go in and out of Liuyuan Mansion in the middle of the night, and he himself could not explain this clearly.

Now that the situation in the court is unclear, if the relationship between the two of them is exposed, it will not be of any benefit to them or to His Highness the Crown Prince.So from this point of view, the less people know about the relationship between the two of them, the better, but it doesn't matter if the trusted people around them know about it.

"It will be your birthday in a few days. Do you want any birthday gift?" Li Wen remembered that it would be Zhao Xiangyi's birthday in a few days. He couldn't think of any gift to give this person after thinking about it for several days.Zhao Xiangyi must have everything. He can't give away ordinary things, and he doesn't know what to give for unique things so that the other party will like them.

"Yes." Zhao Xiangyi stared at the young man in front of him, and the meaning in his eyes couldn't be more obvious.

Li asked, "..."

Seeing the meaning in the man's eyes, Li Wen's face turned red all of a sudden, and even the roots of his ears burned. This man... is really, really shameless!

"Eat the vegetables, eat the vegetables, drink and drink." Li Wen changed the subject, picked up the chopsticks and ate the vegetables.

The chopsticks in Zhao Xiangyi's hand followed Li Wen to pick up the same dish, but the dish was put into his mouth, and his smiling eyes were staring at the red-faced boy.Sure enough, his young man is smart, he understands everything at a glance, and he doesn't need to explain it too carefully.

Li Q: Your eyes have betrayed your heart, I still don't know what you are thinking? !

Tonight, the moon sky is clear and the sky is full of stars. A Milky Way runs across the north and south. On the east and west banks of the Milky Way, there is a shining star on each side. They are Altair and Vega.The well-fed young man rested his head on the man's lap, looking at the Cowherd and Vega in the sky, with a slight smile on his face, talking to the man...

2 Zero—Chapter spending money like running water

The comprehensive trade market in the North District is under construction, and a lot of manpower and material resources have been invested in it. The initial investment is a huge amount, and a lot of money has been invested in it.Now the project has just started, and it is time to spend money, and I don't know how much silver will be invested in it later.

Every time Li Wen saw the bill presented and saw the huge expenditure on the bill, he would cover his heart, spending a lot of money, and his heart ached, "This is like burning money!"

Su Yuan sent the account books over, and he was responsible for managing the entry and exit of these accounts. No one knew better than him how much money was spent in the West District every day, and how much manpower was invested in it.

At the beginning, in order to recruit more people to do the work, the wages were still paid in a day!

"It's not enough for us to open a bank!" Li Wen flipped through the ledger, covered the ledger, or don't read it, the little heart can't stand it, so don't read it.Now he finally understands that real estate is the investment that burns the most money, and they are running a small comprehensive market here, and the speed of burning money is almost as fast as a rocket going up to the sky.

"Sit down, let's discuss this matter carefully." Li Wen asked someone to pour two cups of tea.

Su Yuan sat down on the vacant chair, and took a sip of the tea at hand. The tea was good tea with a delicate fragrance.

He also has a box of tea from Li Wen. I heard that Li Wen got it from His Royal Highness. This kind of tribute tea is usually only available in the palace, and it cannot be bought with money, so Li Wen gave it to him. Tea, he accepted it with a blunt smile.Usually, he grabs a handful to soak himself, and he doesn't want to waste it.

"Let's talk about the money." Li Wen was calculating their income and expenditure in his heart, and the income was far behind the speed of expenditure.He put his mind on increasing the number of tickets, "The tickets at the ticket office should be almost sold out, right? There are still many people outside who can't buy tickets. Let's add a little more tickets later."

This is their original plan, not a temporary idea.

"En." Su Yuan nodded, agreeing with this approach.

But this increase ticket must not increase indefinitely, it will be worthless if there are too many, it is necessary to control it at that rate.Li Wen said, "I'm thinking whether to increase the number of people on both sides, or just increase the number of people on the business conference side."

"The purpose of our business conference is to allow representative businessmen from all over the country to discuss how to better develop business, formulate some related regulations and some issues in the plan. The business conference is simpler, mainly to sell the west side For the former, it should be okay to add a little more tickets, but for the Merchants Conference, I think it can be increased or not, after all, our shops are limited, and there are not so many shops for sale.”

Now that he has already mentioned the theme of this conference, many businessmen must be willing to spend 100 taels of silver to participate in this game of formulating business rules.Of course, he also wanted to let these businessmen realize that it was worth the money, and they would come to support the business conference next year.

These businessmen are far smarter than them. If these businessmen feel that it is not worth the money, they will not come next year, and their next business conference will be a fart!It must be for these merchants to taste the sweetness, so they are willing to come every year. Li Wen is not thinking of making a fortune and quitting, he wants these merchants to rush to come every year.

"My personal idea is that we can add some to both sides. If there is excess, it doesn't matter to deal with the rest at that time." Su Yuan said.

"Add one hundred to each side?"

"almost."

"It's just... this small amount of money is probably a drop in the bucket." Adding two hundred tickets means an extra 2 taels of silver, which is far from enough.Li Wen roughly calculated this number in his heart, and was very distressed, "You can estimate, can the silver in our account last until then?"

"It's hard to say." Su Yuan has already made a budget in his heart. According to the current speed of spending money like water, the money in their account may not be able to last until then.

They all know that once the funds are cut off, the construction of the West End will face the danger of stopping work.Li Wen said, "Our plan is to hold a business conference after August [-]th, followed by a business promotion conference. At that time, we must build up the comprehensive market before we can officially sell.

Our side will at least wait until after the investment promotion conference before the second large amount of funds comes in. "So it's not that there is no money, it's that the second tranche of funds will come later, but before that they need a large amount of money to invest.

The comprehensive market they built is actually a bit similar to the wholesale market of later generations. Li Wen wanted to gather more merchants in this place, so as to provide a platform for merchants to cooperate with each other.The government plays a role of guidance and management in this, and at the same time, it will provide some discounts and conveniences for the merchants. They currently use this

These preferential policies and policies have attracted many merchants.

The market must be up and running before October at the latest, so that merchants can start to make money, and the second batch of shops will be opened at that time. As long as the response is good, there is no fear that no merchants will not come to buy.

Li Wen's idea is that if this comprehensive market operates smoothly and successfully, they can start the next project, which can open up and revitalize the entire Dacheng merchants in the shortest time, and the more money the merchants make, naturally The more taxes you pay, the less you have to worry about running out of money in the treasury.

"Actually, I have an idea here." Su Yuan said.

Li Wen signaled Su Yuan to continue talking. There was no outsider here, so Du Ruoheng went out to guard the door.

Su Yuan slightly mentioned the fact that some people outside bought tickets and sold them privately, and Li Wen understood that now many scalpers outside the capital are deliberately raising the ticket prices, and the ticket prices outside are higher than their ticket outlets. The price is more than three times, and some merchants who can't buy tickets don't care about the money, so they are naturally willing to spend that money to buy 0 tickets.

It's not that they can't make a fuss about it...

Why do they work so hard to make the scalpers outside crazy?They earn a hard fee.

"If you don't mention it, I almost forgot about it." Li Wen smiled slightly, already knowing in his heart how to get some money next.

"It's just on this account?" I'm afraid it's not easy to do, right?

"Aren't I here?" Su Yuan said with a slight smile.

"Hehe..." That's true!Li Wen felt relieved.

Both of them are smart people, and with the tacit understanding for many years, there is no need to talk about some issues, just mention them briefly, and both parties will understand.Su Yuan drank a cup of tea with Li Wen, and the two talked about some things about the conference, so Su Yuan went out to get busy first.

The following things are proceeding smoothly according to their plan.

Our

In July and a half, the Ghost Festival is also known as the "Ghost Festival" by the people. In some places, there are customs such as worshiping ancestors, burning paper money, jumping sky lanterns and releasing river lanterns.

Here in the capital, on this day, those who have deceased relatives at home will burn paper money outside the door.

Li Wen remembered that this day was Zhao Xiangyi's birthday. A man's birthday is a special day. Last year today was his birthday with Zhao Xiangyi, so this year he naturally remembered that today is a man's birthday.At this time last year, they hadn't formally confirmed their relationship, they just celebrated Zhao Xiangyi's birthday as friends.special operations group

Of course, he never thought that the relationship with Zhao Xiangyi would develop into what it is today. After all, he never liked a man in his last life.Maybe I didn't find that I like men, or is it because the people I met were not the one I liked?It has little to do with whether the object is a man or a woman.

At first, when he found out that he fell in love with a man, he had a little entanglement in his heart, but this little tangle disappeared instantly when he found out that the other person happened to like him too.There is no one in this world who likes you more than you, and the other person just likes you too, which makes people happy. It's not too early or too late, it's just right, and the two of them will be together naturally.

The year before last, they hadn't moved to Liuyuan Mansion, they still lived in the original small courtyard, where the place was small and the whole family lived together. He celebrated Zhao Xiangyi's birthday in a small restaurant outside.

But this year Li Wen planned to celebrate the man's birthday at the mansion, and called Xie Yunfei and Zhang Mingyu to come over for a meal together. These people are Zhao Xiangyi's brothers who were born and died, and they are all his own people, so don't care about the formalities.Everyone is just looking for an opportunity to sit down and have a drink and a meal together, it's as simple as that.

It just so happened that the imperial court was on vacation today, and the officials had a day off.

Zhao Xiangyi went back from him early in the morning. The two agreed that the man would come over later, so Li Wen went into the kitchen, intending to prepare a bowl of longevity noodles for the man himself.

How can a birthday be without longevity noodles?But he has no plans to make cakes. First, making cakes is too much work and too troublesome. Second, Zhao Xiangyi doesn’t like sweets very much. People here don’t pay much attention to eating cakes for their birthdays. Instead, they just eat a bowl of longevity noodles. So he planned to make a bowl of longevity noodles.

The cook Wu's face turned pale with fright when she saw their adults come into the kitchen, and she wished she could kneel down and beg their master to go out quickly, "Master, tell us what you want to eat, and we will make it for you. Why don't you run away yourself?" Are you in the kitchen?"

^ Li Wen has a cheerful face, he doesn’t think that men can’t go to the kitchen anymore, some things have to be made by themselves to show sincerity, don’t they? "It's okay, a few friends came over for dinner today, so I have to ask Aunt Wu to prepare a few more dishes."

He reported the names of a few dishes, and Mrs. Wu said it was all right.

Seeing that their master insisted on staying here in the kitchen, Mrs. Wu had no choice but to follow their master and give the master

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