After such discussions, everyone basically decided on the items to be purchased. At this time, He Zhiyuan proposed: "In this case, let's go to the street to buy, and go to Daming Lake by the way." ”

Zhao Nai and Xu Feng readily agreed, only Wang Yun said with admiration: "You guys go first, I still have a cultural meeting today, so I won't be with you." ”

He Zhiyuan didn't want to be with him, but as soon as Wang Yun said this, He Zhiyuan immediately said: "Then let's go first, you go to the cultural meeting." ”

Zhao Nai opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but when he heard He Zhiyuan say this, he didn't say anything more in the end, but just glanced at Wang Yun suspiciously.

Subsequently, He Zhiyuan, Zhao Nai, and Xu Feng walked out of the hostel together. Walking outside the door, the coachman and Yin Lifu, who were waiting outside the door, saw He Zhiyuan coming out, Yin Lifu immediately stepped forward and said, "He Gongzi, where are we going?" ”

The two of them were a little embarrassed when they saw the carriage in front of the door. Both of them are not wealthy families, and they used to go out in a safe way. It is about five or six miles from here to Daming Lake, if He Zhiyuan also walks with them as a car, it is obviously not suitable, but when they rent a carriage, they are shy in their pockets, and when they are in trouble, He Zhiyuan has already called two carriages and said to the two of them: "You don't have to be embarrassed, all the expenses today are mine." ”

Zhao Nai and Xu Feng smiled awkwardly, and then thanked He Zhiyuan in unison.

Zhao Nai said to He Zhiyuan: "The two of us can ride in the same carriage, why bother with one more?" ”

"This time, we are going to buy test items, and it will be very crowded when we come back in the same carriage, which is not bad for this money." He Zhiyuan said generously.

Afterwards, several people got into the carriage and galloped towards the shore of Daming Lake.

In his previous life, He Zhiyuan had been to Daming Lake and Baotu Spring many times and was very familiar with this place. When he arrived at Daming Lake, He Zhiyuan found that Daming Lake in this era was not much different from the previous life, and it was not even as many attractions as in later generations, at least there were no attractions such as Tiegong Temple and Xiaocanglang.

At this time, the scenery of Daming Lake is beautiful, and the green willows on the shore are weeping and graceful; The blue waves in the lake are flooding, and the lotus flowers are like brocade; The boats on the water compete for the crossing, and the boats are slowly moving; There are also pavilions and pavilions, looming in the meantime. It is noon, the lakeside tourists are weaving, most of them are students who participate in the township examination of today, these students look at Daming Lake and sigh with emotion, and have the urge to write poems and lyrics, but they are all general, without that talent, they can only sigh and give up.

He Zhiyuan looked at Daming Lake and also sighed with emotion, and said loudly: "It is really worthy of 'lotus flowers on all sides and willows on three sides, a city with mountains and half a city lake'!" ”

When Zhao Nai and Xu Feng heard this, they praised it: "'Lotus flowers on all sides and willows on three sides, a city with mountains and half a city and a lake' are good couplets, good unions!" Brother Wen Yu is so talented, there is a horizontal batch in this couplet? ”

He Zhiyuan sweated violently, this is a couplet that everyone in later generations knows, he just chanted it casually, where do you remember that it is a horizontal criticism? So, he had no choice but to say: "I just feel it, you might as well add a horizontal criticism to this couplet." ”

Xu Feng thought for a while and said, "I think we can use 'Quancheng Range Rover' as a horizontal batch." ”

Zhao Nai shook his head and said, "I think it's more appropriate to use 'Canglang Range Rover'." ”

Xu Feng listened to it and couldn't help but praise: "It's better to be Brother Dongqiao's 'Range Rover'." ”

So, Xu Feng proposed: "This place is not far from the Zhenwu Temple, why don't we put this joint title on the temple wall for future generations to see." ”

Zhao Nai readily agreed when he heard this, He Zhiyuan didn't want to be so public, but for the sake of their face, he agreed. It was the three of them who came to the Zhenwu Temple, asked the host of the temple for pen and ink, and Zhao Nai wrote this couplet on the outer wall of the temple. This was a momentary move of scholars, but half a year later, the three of them won the spring at the same time, and this couplet was inscribed on both sides of the gate of the temple for later generations to see.

After swimming in Daming Lake, the three of them came to Bangpeng Street and began to buy exam items. Bangpeng Street is a street next to the Gongyuan, here is the place where the results of the imperial examination are posted in early September, and on the day of the release of the list, there are thousands of people crowded here, bustling and some people are happy and some are sad, so it is called Bangpeng Street. The street is about a mile long, and on both sides of the street are a number of shops, most of which are related to the imperial examinations.

And this season is the eve of the triennial autumn festival, and it is even more lively in the middle of the year, all the examination equipment is readily available, and students who come here to buy utensils can buy all the items they want to buy here.

The three of them walked on Bangpeng Street, not in a hurry to buy, and slowly walked from east to west, comparing family by house. According to He Zhiyuan's idea, you don't have to work so hard, you can buy it if you are optimistic. But the two of them, especially Zhao Nai, are old in the imperial examination, not only have rich experience in the imperial examination, but also have a lot of experience in buying these examination tools. Therefore, a newcomer like He Zhiyuan has no right to speak, so he can only follow them and walk slowly.

After the three of them walked around for about an hour, they felt the price of various objects, and Zhao Nai said to them: "All kinds of examination tools this year are much more expensive than three years ago, and now they can only buy some necessary objects, and if they can't buy them, they won't buy them." ”

"Brother Dongqiao, you don't need to save, you can't miss the same things you should buy. I said a long time ago that all the expenses for today will be mine, and you don't have to worry about money. He Zhiyuan shook his head and said.

"How embarrassing! We hadn't met before, we had only met here. How can you let Brother Wen Yu break the bank. Xu Feng immediately shook his hand and said.

"The two of you don't have to be like this, although we haven't known each other for a long time, but I feel that we have similar temperaments, and there will be opportunities to get along in the future. It's nothing to me, you don't have to mind. He Zhiyuan said again.

As they walked and chatted, they came to a large examination supplies store.

When the guy in the store saw a guest coming, he immediately greeted him and asked with a smile: "Three guest officers, do you want to buy examination kits?" ”

"yes, you don't have all of them here?" Zhao Nai asked.

"Full! We have the most complete here! The guy replied crisply: "We are the largest test kit shop on this street, and we have high, medium and low-end test kits." Moreover, the store also has a new test box from the south of the Yangtze River, which is unique in the whole Jinan City, which is guaranteed to make the guest officials satisfied! ”

"Exam box?" He Zhiyuan asked in surprise: "I have never heard of this object, please take us to see it!" ”

The guy led the three of them to a large box with exquisite workmanship, pointed to this box and said: "This is the test box, this is the most high-end test kit in our store, as long as you buy this test box, you don't have to buy other test kits, this box already has all of them." ”

Xu Feng looked at the box and said, "Isn't this just an ordinary wooden box?" ”

"From the outside, it's an ordinary box, but when you open it, you'll see that there's something different inside." The guy said with some smugness.

Saying that, the guy opened the two doors of the box, and He Zhiyuan and the others found that the box was divided into four layers, three of which were large amps; drawers, with two smaller drawers on the middle floor. Zhao Nai said to this box: "Where is this box, it should be called a cupboard." ”

"Well, I also think it's more appropriate to call this object an exam cabinet." The guy hurriedly chimed in and said, "You can open the drawer and take a look, and when I finish introducing it to the guests, you will think it's wonderful." ”

As he spoke, the guy pressed the spring and opened the top layer, and everyone found that the entire drawer was a large food box. The food box is divided into many honeycomb-shaped grids, and each grid contains a variety of food, including moon cakes, dense orange cakes, longan meat, lotus rice, ginseng, ginger, roast chicken, eggs, dried noodles, etc., which are dazzling, enough for one person to eat for several days.

Seeing these foods, everyone exclaimed, this design is really exquisite! Most of them didn't think of it. Zhao Nai looked at this exam box and shook his head and said: "I didn't expect to be able to eat so well in the exam, needless to say anything else, just this ginseng is not something that ordinary candidates can afford!" ”

He Zhiyuan immediately said: "We are not ordinary candidates, if we want to buy, we have to buy the best." ”

In fact, as soon as the guy hit them and they entered the door, he found that He Zhiyuan was young, but he was dressed luxuriously, like a rich man. That's why this guy introduced this test box to them.

Then the guy opened the small drawer on the left side of the second floor, and everyone found that it contained pen, ink, paper, inkstone, and word circle candlesticks, all of which were the best and most expensive. Then I opened the small drawer on the side, and inside was a drawer of medicines. Xu Feng couldn't help but smile when he saw these bottles and cans and some strange-shaped herbs: "We're not going to practice medicine, why are we bringing so many medicines?" ”

"Of course it works." The guy said: "This is mosquito repellent, and there will be no mosquito and fly harassment if you smear it a little." This is for colds, this is for fever, and this is for stomach ...... These are all high-quality medicinal materials, which work quickly and do not affect the mind! ”

Zhao Nai smiled: "There are also medicines for stomach and digestion?" ”

"Yes, you think, if you don't eat well and don't move for three days, you will inevitably suffer from indigestion." The guy replied: "The exam every three years is a major life event for every talented man who takes the exam, no matter how you prepare for the exam, you can not be prepared." ”

Then the fellow opened the lowest drawer, and saw the same compartment, in which were placed a small charcoal stove, a small copper pot, and three rolled oilcloth shafts. The guys pointed to each other and said, "This roll is the door curtain, this Zheng is the top of the number, and this roll is the roll bag containing the roll." ”

Then the man took out a white rectangular cotton object slightly larger than a palm and said, "This is a square scarf with a tether, and there are three layers of muslin in it, which can be worn on the mouth and nose to block the odor but not affect the breathing." This is specially used to deal with the smelly number, if you are unfortunate enough to get a smelly number, you can bring this to block the smell, and you don't have to worry about affecting the exam. ”