On the second day, when Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng got up and washed, Old Man Chen told them that Ji Yuan had already left by boat and said he would wait for them at Zhuangyuan Ferry.
Compared to taking them to Zhuangyuan Ferry by boat and then going to the other side, it is definitely more meaningful to meet them at Zhuangyuan Ferry and then take the ferry to the other side.
After having breakfast at Chen's house, Chen Jinghong, the son of old man Chen, took two scholars to Zhuangyuan Ferry. They originally wanted to drive a ox cart, but that speed was not even as fast as walking.
Chen Jinghong was originally a village man, and the two scholars had been trained in long-distance travel for imperial examinations, so the three of them were fast walkers and they finished the distance of more than ten miles in more than an hour.
The closer you get to Zhuangyuan Ferry, the more people there are. It seems like people from all directions are slowly converging here. It's not that they are all tribute scholars, but most of them come to the Jiangshen Temple to worship the Goddess of the River.
Before reaching Zhuangyuan Ferry, the Chen family man stopped and pointed to two places in front of him and said to the two scholars:
"The building with white walls and black tiles over there is the Tongtianjiang River Temple. Although it's not the largest temple on the entire river, it's one of the most popular temples. In particular, many scholars leave poems there. And this is Zhuangyuan Ferry. Mr. Ji must be at the small pier in the north. You can just look for him!"
After saying this, Chen Jinghong prepared to leave. He had nothing to do there, so there was no need to follow him.
"Thank you, Brother Chen, for seeing me off!" "Yes, thank you, Brother Chen. When I become an official in the future, I will definitely repay you!"
"Hehe, well then, I wish you both good luck in high school. I'm leaving now. Take care!"
Chen Jinghong smiled, and when he saw the two men bowing, he returned the greeting before turning and leaving. He had seen many scholars like this, and each of them dreamed of becoming the next number one scholar after crossing the number one scholar ferry.
Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng waited until Chen Jinghong left before they tightened their bookcases and walked towards Zhuangyuandu in the slightly cold wind. It was not that they did not want to see the Jiang Temple, but they did not want to keep Ji Yuan waiting for long.
Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng had both seen Chunhuifu Wharf. In their eyes, Zhuangyuan Ferry was naturally far inferior to Chunhuifu Wharf. But looking at the vaguely visible wharf on the opposite bank, that was the water transportation hub of Jinggi Prefecture, which was more magnificent than the outer port of Chunhuifu.
However, unlike Chunhui Prefecture where there are many cruise ships, that is a real cargo hub with very few flower boats. In addition, it is the middle of winter, so there are not many cargo ships, and only occasionally one will dock.
. . .
The Wupeng boat is parked next to a small pier in the north. Although the boats next to it are smaller than those in other places at the pier, they are still considered large ships compared to the Wupeng boat.
Ji Yuan sat at the bow of the boat, reading "Imperial Theory" by himself, while listening to the noise from the ferry terminal at the port.
It seemed that because the name of the ferry was Zhuangyuan Ferry, it also carried a sense of literary atmosphere. There were people selling study tools, calligraphy and paintings here. When Ji Yuan looked up occasionally while reading a book, he unexpectedly discovered that among the mixed auras there was a faint purple myrtle aura, which stood out like a crane among a flock of chickens.
"Could it be possible that there is a favored prince in this Zhuangyuan Ferry?"
Although this Ziwei Qi is very shallow, it appears to be very pure without too many other colors mixed in, which shows that the person's mind has at least not been contaminated by the stale and extravagant atmosphere of the court. At this time, the person born with Ziwei Qi can be regarded as "bright".
Ji Yuan frowned and thought for a moment, then looked in the direction of the dock.
Now comes the interesting thing, Yin Zhaoxian's righteous spirit is equally conspicuous, and the two energies seem to be connected as they rise.
"It seems that what the "Heterodox Biography" said is correct. Those with a 'bright' Ziwei Qi will attract wise ministers!"
Ji Yuan jumped from the bow of the boat onto the dock, ready to see if there would be an interesting encounter.
. . .
Next to a stationery stall in Zhuangyuandu, a man in his thirties who could be considered to be of divine appearance and good looks, accompanied by several followers, was walking and stopping, observing the surroundings.
One of the servants saw the man rubbing his hands and breathing out, and immediately spoke out with concern.
"Third Master, if you feel cold, we can go to the boat. There are heaters and fur coats inside..."
"Hey! You're here again, spoiling the fun!"
The man waved his hand to stop the servant from talking too much, and wandered forward again. He originally came to the Jiang Temple today to see if there were any new exquisite inscriptions, but he found nothing, so he came to take a look at the Zhuangyuan Ferry.
Among the scholars who came to Beijing to take the imperial examinations, the largest number of them gathered at this time. They were all people who passed the examinations from various states based on their talents. It was very interesting to see these so-called talents from various states looking at Zhuangyuan Ferry with an expression of pilgrimage. It would be even more interesting if you could find one or two interesting people.
At this moment, the man saw Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng who just walked into the dock carrying book boxes. Seeing that their hands and faces were red from the cold, it seemed that they had walked here completely by themselves
The nearest market is thirty miles away from Zhuangyuandu, and the nearest village is twenty miles away. Today, they are the first two scholars to walk such a long distance in the cold wind early in the morning.
The man pointed at the two scholars and asked the others, "Do you think these two came here on foot or in a carriage?"
The servant next to him looked closely at the scholar not far away, and after a moment he answered:
"Reporting to the Third Young Master, although the two men's steps were relatively steady, their steps were weak. They must have walked a long way and were already showing signs of fatigue."
The man said "Oh" and found that the two people were also walking towards this side. He took the opportunity to look at the calligraphy and paintings displayed in the stalls next to him, but he did not stop.
Just as he was about to pass by the man, Yin Zhaoxian suddenly stopped and looked at him, then unexpectedly took a few steps forward and reached a dangerous area, causing several servants around the man to narrow their eyes.
Several fierce-looking men focused their attention here, which made Shi Yusheng panic, and he hurried to pull Yin Zhaoxian.
"Sir, is there something on my face?"
The man asked Yin Zhaoxian questions, and with Shi Yusheng's pulling, he seemed to wake up from a dream and apologized repeatedly.
"Please forgive me, I was distracted just now. When I saw this young man, I felt that he looked very familiar, but I had definitely never seen him before. I just felt that it was very strange..."
Yin Zhaoxian lowered his voice and found that the other party actually had two servants standing behind him and Shi Yusheng. Two others suddenly grabbed their arms, and the person behind them directly opened the bookcase and searched inside.
"What are you doing? Stop it! Stop it!"
Shi Yusheng shouted in panic. Yin Zhaoxian was calmer but his face was not looking good either. He thought he had caused trouble by looking at people a few more times. His eyes kept wandering around the dock searching for him. He knew that Mr. Ji must be nearby, so he was not panicked at all.
The vendors and other bystanders around them obviously had the attitude of minding their own business and guessed that the two scholars must have offended some powerful person. This kind of thing was not uncommon in Zhuangyuandu.
After searching the two bookcases and the body, no murder weapon was found. A servant handed two official documents to the third young master, who opened them, took a look, and asked the two men.
"Who is Yin Zhaoxian?"
"I am!"
After Yin Zhaoxian responded, the third young master looked him up and down with interest.
"It's actually the Jizhou Jieyuan? Interesting... Let them go!"
Upon hearing this, the servant untied the hands that were locked around the two men. The first thing the two scholars did was to rub their arms quickly, and the second thing they did was to put down their bookcases and pick up the books that had just fallen to the ground.
The third young master glanced at the books on the ground and saw some books with strange titles, so he squatted down out of curiosity.
"What kind of famous book is this? I've never seen it before!"
Yin Zhaoxian saw where he was pointing and answered:
"On Birds and Knowing the Meaning are my humble works, not books by famous authors."
The third young master picked up a book directly from the ground. The cover had "On Birds - The Boy's Answer" written in beautiful calligraphy. Looking at the other three books, they were "On Birds - Night Tour", "On Birds - Young Adult's Book Dialogue" and "On Birds - Phoenix Singing in the Wutong Tree". It looked like a series.
Flipping through a few pages of the book at random, my first impression is that the handwriting is clear and the calligraphy is exquisite, and then I find the content very novel and interesting.
"Yin Jieyuan from Jizhou, how about you sell these books to me?"
The Third Young Master spoke to Yin Zhaoxian very seriously, and the latter and Shi Yusheng were stunned for a moment.
"Uh...how much copper coins do you want to pay?"
Yin Zhaoxian can write a few more copies of this book at any time. Now the two of them are short of money, so it would be great if they could sell them.
The Third Young Master beckoned to the servant, who immediately took out two silver ingots from his purse. Judging from their size, each ingot should weigh at least four or five taels.
"Are these enough?"
"That's a bit too much..."
"Enough is enough, enough is enough!"
Before Yin Zhaoxian finished speaking, Shi Yusheng answered him. The man smiled, took the silver from the servant and put it on Yin Zhaoxian's book box, then reached out to him. The latter reacted and quickly handed over the other three volumes of "On Birds" and one volume of "To Know Righteousness" to him.
When those people left, Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng still felt a sense of unreality. These books might have been sold for ten taels of silver, which made the winter in the capital much easier.
Ji Yuan stood in the crowd far away like any other person watching the excitement from afar, but when others saw that no conflict arose, they dispersed, while he kept looking in the direction where the prince left.
When the "Third Young Master" took over the book written by Master Yin, the purple myrtle energy above his head slightly surged. Although the change was not obvious, it was still powerful.