With the "disappearance" of Song Xi'er, Huaiyang Tower collapsed, and the situation in Fuzhou City suddenly became tense.

Zi Qian thought that after Song Xi'er fell, she would inevitably take over Song Xi'er's position, but because Song Xi'er was "hijacked by the Japanese invaders", Fang Guan did not understand Zi Qian's overtures.

At this time, in addition to asking Ma Jiu to secretly let the Tingzhou Chamber of Commerce seize the territory, he himself was preparing for the exam with all his might, because it was already the end of July at this time, and it was only ten days before the township examination on the ninth day of August began.

On July 28, four days after Song Xi'er's "disappearance," Shen Xi received a letter from the Tingzhou government.

There are three letters in total, the first letter was written by Shen Mingjun and his wife, the second letter was written by Shen Yongzhuo in Ninghua by the Li family in Ninghua to greet him and Shen Mingwen for peace, and the third letter was written by Hui Niang.

In addition to Li's letter, the other two letters were addressed to Shen Xi alone, and Shen Xi was not ready to show it, so he took it to the room and looked at it himself. Shen Mingwen was a little dissatisfied with this, thinking that Shen Xi should not hide it from him, of course, the most important thing was that he thought that maybe Shen Mingjun and his wife would quietly give Shen Xi money, but he didn't.

Shen Xi returned to the room, bolted the door, and then walked to the desk and carefully read the letters from his parents and Hui Niang.

Although it was not a war period, and the family letter was not worth 10,000 dollars, in the face of the family's concern and earnest entrustment, Shen Xi still felt that he was not alone.

Zhou's instructions are a lot, when to rest, when to eat, when to go out for a walk and relax every day, all of them are clear and clear, and they are afraid that Shen Xi will be in the provincial capital because no one controls him and has no intention of studying, and even becomes bad, so he brought a few threatening words.

In the past, the last thing Shen Xi wanted to hear was Zhou's nagging, counting and swearing, but now when he saw these words written and sent to his family, he felt a little warm after reading them.

A loving mother has many defeated children, in fact, Zhou does not love him, but wants to supervise and educate him more. I hope that he will be successful in the future, but he is limited by his cultural level, so every time he says it, he becomes a little tasteless.

As for Hui Niang's letter, it is much simpler. Or Hui Niang didn't know how to express it, and told him to take care of his body like Zhou in the letter, and then explained the situation at home, saying that everything was fine, and asked him not to worry.

When Hui Niang wrote a letter. Shen Xi hadn't taken the risk of designing to get rid of Song Xi'er, if Hui Niang learned about the dangerous situation here, it is estimated that she would be a little worried.

After reading the letter, Shen Xi lost his mind for a long time, and when Yin Wen came into the room, he remembered that the most important thing at the moment was to study and prepare for the exam......

At lunchtime, Shen Mingwen meant that he would write a reply, obviously worried that Shen Xi would tell Li about his stumbling and falling down the stairs in Huaiyang Tower.

Shen Xi didn't want to pay attention to it, so he responded casually. The excuse is that there is not enough pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and I need to go out.

Shen Mingwen read it and went back to the room to consider his family letter, but he didn't think much about it, and only after Shen Xi left did he react: "Didn't this kid go out to eat and drink behind my back, right?" "I didn't have time to chase after it, so I had to ask Shopkeeper Yin for three taels of wine and a plate of fragrant beans and go upstairs and pour myself a drink.

Indeed, as Shen Mingwen speculated, Shen Xi was invited by Su Tong to participate in a small literary meeting. When they arrived at the teahouse agreed with Su Tong, Su Tong people had already arrived and saw Shen Xi. In addition to being happy, he also felt a little apologetic: "I thought that Brother Shen, you hated me for not doing anything in Huaiyang Building that day, so I didn't come out to see my brother." ”

Shen Xi said: "How come? I admire Brother Su's courage to take on the responsibility, and I am really about to take the township test. Don't dare to be distracted. ”

Su Tong smiled, and then introduced the people present to Shen Xi.

Unlike the scholars I saw last time, the people who attended the meeting this time were only some candidates with ordinary knowledge, and Su Tong was not the initiator this time.

While others were discussing knowledge, Su Tong whispered: "Brother Shen, it is said that a strange thing has indeed happened in the city in the past few days. The Xiniang of Huaiyang Lou, who was embarrassed by us last month, actually disappeared, and the three sects and nine streams in the city were in chaos. But it's also retribution, who let her offend you and me, it seems that the wicked have their own wicked grinding. ”

Shen Xi said: "That's a rare thing. ”

Su Tong said again: "Regardless of her, this time I asked Brother Shen to come out, in fact, there is something I want to remind you." In this year's township examination, I don't know who is the main exam, but in terms of the outer curtain official, if nothing else, it is still the political envoy and the person who is the inspector, and the candidates of the previous township examination must be sent to school in advance, if there is negligence, it may affect the final admission of you and me. ”

Shen Xi nodded, and when the exam began, the matter of "learning bribes" was finally brought up by Zhengda Guangming.

Nominally, it is the same as the examination fee, but there is no specific amount, the township test is different from the hospital test, because there are many candidates, a large amount of questions, and they are locked in the examination shed, and the exam questions can not be announced in the way of patrolling, so it can not be done by sending a few blank pieces of paper to seal it like the college test, but each test paper needs to be specially printed, and the cost is large when there are many candidates, so the candidates have to pay for the printing of the test papers.

Originally, a few pieces of paper, even if some scratch paper is added, it is enough to calculate more than a dozen dollars, but the bribes of each township examination are as little as 100 papers, as many as hundreds of dollars or even a few taels of silver, which is equivalent to giving the curtain official the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity to make money.

After all, Su Tong had a relationship in the yamen, and he inquired clearly in advance, as for how much it was appropriate to pay in terms of Xuegong, he knew in his heart, and he was afraid that Shen Xi would not understand these ways when he went to the exam for the first time, so he specially called Shen Xi out to explain clearly.

Shen Xi asked, "Then Brother Su thinks how much Xue Gong is appropriate?" ”

Su Tong thought for a while and said, "Four times the money is almost enough." If there is more, it is easy to be criticized by the imperial history, and this money is not more or less...... If Brother Shen doesn't have enough money, he can lend it to you. ”

Shen Xi didn't expect Su Tong to be so generous, borrowing four taels of silver at a time without even frowning, you must know that a student's annual silver is only four taels, if the candidate is asked to pay four taels of silver to learn bribes, it is equivalent to a student has to drink the northwest wind for a year.

Shen Xi thought to himself, no wonder there are candidates who are unwilling to pay the bribe and finally brush it off, they really can't afford to pay the money.

Although Shen Xi spent all the fifteen taels of exam funds allocated to him and Shen Mingwen by the old lady on weekdays, he had a lot of savings on his own, and before leaving, Hui Niang secretly stuffed him with a few silver tickets, four taels of silver was nothing to him, but he felt that it was a bit too much to pay for nothing.

Shen Xi said: "I have thanked Brother Su for his kindness, and I still have the money." ”

Su Tong nodded and smiled: "That's good, I will pay the tribute in a few days." Don't delay, although there is a base, and there is no fixed number, but the amount will be recorded truthfully. Before the curtain official releases the list, someone will compare the number of students who have been recruited, if it is less...... Brother Shen should understand. ”

If you pay less, you will be brushed down, and the results are not open and transparent anyway, even if you are brushed down, you will have no problem.

This is the imperial examination. It is the imperial court that sets the rules, saying that it is open, fair and equal, but there are many cats that make you unguardable, if you meet a black-hearted curtain official, see that you are unhappy, just don't let you be in it, what can you do?

Shen Xi knew very well that Chen Chen "did not pay bribes" and failed in this Fujian Township Examination, and he did not dare to slack off in the slightest, since the money must be paid. Then go with the flow. As for Shen Mingwen's share, he didn't bother to pay attention to it, and there was no reason why he had to wronged himself for Shen Mingwen's example.

……

……

The fourth day of August is the deadline for registration for the township examination. The next two days are the days when the candidates hand in their academic tribute.

Early in the morning on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Shen Mingwen asked Shen Mingtang for 300 wen, saying that he was paying tribute to Xue, but in fact, he had already planned to pay only 100 wen, and the remaining 200 wen could be used to be chic.

Shen Xi was going to go with Shen Mingwen. But Shen Mingwen deliberately avoided Shen Xi.

When Shen Xi came back after paying the tribute, he knew that Shen Mingwen had not returned, and after waiting for more than two hours, he still didn't see Shen Mingwen. Shen Mingtang couldn't help but be a little anxious, and began to blame himself for not personally accompanying Shen Mingwen to pay tribute.

"Third uncle, don't worry, maybe Uncle is just looking for a place to have a cup of tea?"

Shen Xi said this, and even he didn't believe it.

Shen Mingwen has money in his hands, will he keep to himself?

Don't be the same as the last township exam, when he returns to his hometown after the exam and says that he didn't do well in the exam, but in fact, there are doubts about whether he took the exam or not. After all, if you don't get the list in the township exam, the candidate's family will not get a special notice.

waited until the lights were on, but Shen Mingwen still didn't come back, and it happened that Ma Jiu came to find Shen Xi for something.

"Uncle, he hasn't come back yet? Isn't it ......" Ma Jiu was about to say whether it would be revenge by Song Xi'er's people, but when he found that Shen Mingtang was present, he quickly stopped talking.

Shen Xi said: "Uncle is also keeping to himself during this time, maybe he meets some old friends, sits down to have a cup of tea together, or rushes to the literary meeting." Uncle San, you go back first, and I'll let you know as soon as there is news. ”

Because Shen Mingtang had to go back to the warehouse at night to keep vigil, he had no choice but to leave the inn and go to work in fear.

When the people left, Shen Xi said: "Brother Jiu, please find someone to go out and inquire, what are the private prostitution halls and prostitutes in this city, and send more people to these places to have a look." ”

Ma Jiuyi was a little surprised when he heard this: "The eldest master won't go to this kind of place, right?" ”

Shen Xixin said: "It's strange if you don't go, he doesn't have much knowledge, where else can he go except for this kind of place?" ”

Ma Jiu hurriedly went back and sent someone to find him, and he came back in less than an hour, and he came back with Shen Mingwen, who was beaten all over his body.

It turned out that Shen Mingwen really went to the private prostitution hall, saying that he would be an "old lover", but his old lover washed his hands a year ago, and he made a big noise outside the private prostitution hall, and was beaten up by someone.

"Is Uncle alright?" Shen Xi brought a basin of hot water over and beckoned, "If you haven't eaten, let Shopkeeper Yin heat the food for you." ”

"Bang-"

Shen Mingwen slapped the table angrily and shouted, "Don't eat!" What the hell is it, when I wait for the reader to bully me? Pushing me downstairs didn't mean to say, and now they are beating me in public, waiting for me to come to high school...... Hey, Xiao Jiu, you lighten up, my face hurts badly, master. ”

Shen Mingwen is not yet in high school, and he already calls himself "master". It was also Ma Jiu who gave Shen Xi face, if it was someone else, Ma Jiu would not hand over a towel, but a knife.

"Sir, you too, that kind of place is not clean, there must be something wrong with those women." Ma Jiu persuaded hard.

Shen Mingwen was not happy when he heard it: "What place?" Don't talk nonsense, I'm just going to find a friend......"

is also a friend, Shen Xi understands, anyway, Shen Mingwen will not admit that he is a prostitute, otherwise he is afraid that Shen Xi will write a letter to tell Ninghua's family.

Shen Xi said: "Uncle, the three hundred dollars ......?"

Shen Mingwen said: "I've paid tribute, and I don't have a penny on me now." ”

When Ma Jiu first came back, he quietly told Shen Xi that those people not only beat Shen Mingwen, but also robbed Shen Mingwen of the money, which was almost two hundred yuan.

If you want to say that you are in a private prostitution hall these days, two hundred yuan can indeed be used as an uncle!

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PS: The second update is sent!

It's about to be tested in the township, how is Shen Xi playing? If you want to know, let's have a wave of subscriptions and monthly pass encouragement! (To be continued.) )