It feels good to be fully present and at peace.
By the time Zhu Ping'an finished writing an eight-part essay, it was already noon. Feeling a little hungry, Zhu Ping'an put away his pen, ink, paper and inkstone, washed his hands and went downstairs.
Walking downstairs, Zhu Pingan greeted the shopkeeper as usual, politely asked the waiter to make him two dishes, one meat and one vegetable, two steamed buns and a bowl of soup, and then sat at the empty table near the door. But for some reason, Zhu Pingan felt that the students sitting in the lobby looked at him strangely, as if they wanted to draw a line between themselves and him.
The inn served food very quickly. Not long after Zhu Ping'an sat down, the food he ordered was brought to him by the waiter.
Zhu Ping'an had just taken two bites when he heard a familiar pig-killing howl at the door. He looked up and saw the familiar figure of Pang, rushing towards the inn with a strange howl.
"Help, stop them quickly, stop them..." Fatty came over in panic, roaring.
Behind him was a vicious dog, chasing and barking at the fat man.
Zhu Ping'an was speechless. How come this guy attracted dogs again, just like the last time he went to Xiahe Village.
The panicked Fatty suddenly saw Zhu Pingan sitting in the inn, as if he saw a savior. He opened his mouth and shouted, tears almost coming out, "Brother Zhu, why are you still sitting here? Come on..."
Fatty rushed into the lobby of the inn in a panic, howling as he ran towards Zhu Ping'an, but he accidentally slipped and fell. The vicious dog, which was still a little distance behind him, rushed over barking wildly, and was about to have a wonderful encounter with Fatty's fat body.
Fat looked at the vicious dog rushing towards him with his eyes almost popping out of his head. At that moment, he had only one thought: my life is over.
At this critical moment, a chicken leg flew over Fatty's head, drawing a beautiful parabola and hitting a dog's face. Then, in an instant, the two dogs started to fight fiercely for the chicken leg, forgetting Fatty's whereabouts.
Fat turned his head and saw Zhu Ping'an throwing the chicken leg. He was immediately moved. Brother Zhu is really reliable.
"Don't forget to compensate me with a chicken leg." Zhu Ping'an said lightly.
"Don't even mention one, even one will do. Brother Zhu. Your hand is still useful." Fatty got up from the ground, clapped his hands, and in full view of everyone, he straightened his clothes, walked to Zhu Ping'an's table in a neat and tidy manner and sat down, as if the Fatty who had just fallen down in a mess was not him.
"Boss, please prepare four more dishes and a soup, our signature dishes." After sitting down, Fatty turned around and began to give instructions to the shopkeeper.
"Why did you go to provoke the dog again?" Zhu Ping'an glanced at Pang and asked lightly.
"You know I have been afraid of dogs since I was little. Last time, I was chased by a dog at the doorstep of your house. But I am a man like Pang, so how could I be scared by such a difficulty? I asked for advice from many people, and finally found a way to deal with vicious dogs. This vicious dog is soft-hearted and afraid of hard things. If you walk near it, it will want to bite you. The more afraid you are, the more excited it will be. If you encounter such a vicious dog, you just need to bend down and pretend to pick up a stone. It will definitely run away! So, I want to try..." Pang sat there and talked freely, and he talked about the trivial matter of chasing away dogs as if it were saving the universe.
The method is good, but if you want to try it, just find a dog. If you mess with one, you deserve to be chased by a dog all over the street!
Zhu Pingan was speechless at Pang's mindless and shitty behavior.
After the food that Pang ordered arrived, Pang invited Zhu Ping'an to eat with him while complaining to Zhu Ping'an.
"You don't know. Before I went home, my godmother said that my parents must miss me. After I went back, I found out that she was wrong. My father didn't miss me, he wanted to scold me. At home, he told me to get out; outside, he told me to get out; if I didn't read, he scolded me for my poor grades; if I read, he said I was wasting money; if I ate, he scolded me for my greed; if I didn't eat, he scolded me for my picky mouth; if I didn't talk, he scolded me for my dull feet that couldn't even fart; if I talked, he scolded me for talking too much... Whatever he wants, I doubt whether I am his biological child..."
After Fatty sat down, he never stopped complaining.
In response to this, Zhu Pingan could only laugh.
Zhu Ping'an ate a lot at lunch, but Fatty ate very little, as if he was worried about something.
"What's wrong? If you have anything that makes you unhappy, just say it out loud to cheer yourself up." Zhu Ping'an drank the last mouthful of porridge and asked with a smile on his face.
"Brother Zhu, you really are..." Pang shook his fat face and choked with laughter.
Zhu Ping'an's words are nothing in modern times, as everyone has heard them many times. However, this sentence was the first time it was said in ancient times, and the effect was very prominent.
But after laughing, Pang was still too embarrassed to speak.
Zhu Pingan glanced at Pang, thought for a moment, and asked, "Brother Xue, are you worried about the imperial examination?"
Upon hearing this, Pang looked up at Zhu Ping'an in disbelief, very surprised, and didn't know how Zhu Ping'an guessed it.
"Nonsense, you can even laugh and talk calmly when your father scolds you. As far as the current situation is concerned, this is the only scientific examination you can have." Zhu Ping'an curled his lips.
"Haha, Brother Zhu really deserves to be the top candidate, you are so meticulous. Alas, Fatty was still in high spirits when he left your house, but after returning home and being criticized by his father, he found that the imperial examination seemed to be much more difficult than the academy examination. The academy examination is just a competition between students for the position of scholar, and there are still dozens of vacancies, but this imperial examination is a competition between scholars, and there are more than half of the vacancies left. I didn't even pass the academy examination..." Fatty had a bitter face, and his usually energetic face was now sad.
"It was not too bad at first. My father went to great lengths and asked for help from many relatives and finally got in touch with the relatives who were in charge of the promotion. But in the end, the official was transferred to Sichuan. Lord Zhao from the capital was transferred here to be the official, and all the previous efforts went down the drain..." The fat man's face was as worried as a chrysanthemum.
"Lord Zhao?" Zhu Ping'an was stunned for a moment, thinking of the unreasonable fat man he met in the morning. It seemed that he was from Lord Zhao's house.
"Yes, Lord Zhao Hua, don't you know that your promotion has been changed?" The fat boy rolled his eyes.
Zhao Hua?!
Zhu Pingan suddenly smiled when he heard this, patted Fatty's shoulder, and said confidently: "."
After saying that, Zhu Pingan shook his head and walked upstairs with a smile, muttering to Zhao Hua, hehe...
"Hey, what do you mean?"
Fat scratched his head, followed Zhu Ping'an's footsteps, and went upstairs. (To be continued.)