"Hey, sir, your horse doesn't eat meat. It doesn't even look at it. Lie? ? Wen? ?"
The shop assistant walked into the store with a small piece of fat meat, looking unhappy, and complained to Zhu Pingan.
"Oh, forget it if you don't want to eat it." Zhu Ping'an nodded calmly, remaining calm and composed.
"ah?"
The shop assistant opened his mouth wide, then looked at Zhu Ping'an again, and saw that Zhu Ping'an was very calmly using a wooden stick to dry the clothes. He thought for a long time, and then looked at the six people who came to watch the fun but returned in vain, and then he said "Oh" with sudden realization.
The people who had just followed the shop assistant out of curiosity to watch horses eat meat, now came back, complaining and humiliating each other, such as "How can there be horses eating meat, what idiots", etc. However, when they came back and saw Zhu Ping'an drying clothes with a nonchalant look on his face, and some of them tried to squeeze in to warm themselves by the fire but couldn't, they realized what was happening.
The clothes were thin, so Zhu Pingan dried them after a while. The waiter brought the meal that Zhu Pingan had ordered. It was a great pleasure to have a hot meal in such a storm. He took out the pickled cucumbers that his mother Chen had prepared and ate them with great pleasure.
While Zhu Ping'an was eating, another person came into the store in the rain, also soaked. This person should be a peddler on the road, carrying two baskets of goods on a shoulder pole and hurried into the store. After entering the store, the peddler tried to squeeze by the fire to warm himself up. Clothes and especially the goods in the baskets needed to be dried to reduce the damage caused by the wet goods.
However, just like when Zhu Ping'an first came in, the peddler squeezed in several times but failed. It was windy and rainy that day, and the temperature was more than ten degrees lower than usual. People's clothes were as thin as usual, and it was rare to warm up by the fire pit, and no one was willing to give up their seats.
The peddler looked at the goods in the basket with distress.
dejected.
"Come here, my clothes are already baked." Zhu Ping'an, who was eating, appeared and stretched out his hand to the peddler.
"Thank you, sir." The peddler thanked Zhu Ping'an with joy.
"You're welcome. It's just a small favor." Zhu Ping'an smiled and shook his head. He packed up his things and went to an empty seat near the door.
The peddler thanked Zhu Ping'an repeatedly, and when he got to the fire, he took out the goods in the basket to dry. Fortunately, the goods were baked in time and the loss was within an acceptable range. He was extremely grateful to Zhu Ping'an.
The weather in May is like Monkey King's face, changing at any time. Zhu Ping'an had just finished his meal when he noticed that the rain outside was getting lighter and lighter. By the time Zhu Ping'an had sorted out his luggage and changed into dry clothes, the rain outside had stopped.
Good people are really rewarded. Zhu Pingan looked at the weather outside, curled his lips slightly, paid 28 coins for the meal, and then carried his luggage out of the store. He put the gift back on the horse's back, waited for the horse to drink enough water, and then set out on the road to the north again.
Riding at full speed, Zhu Ping'an arrived at the dock on the Yangtze River before sunset in the afternoon and caught the last passenger ship that dropped anchor and set sail from the dock.
There was a shed for livestock on the ship. Horses could also board the ship, but they had to pay an extra fare. Zhu Pingan paid two fare and led the horse aboard. The sailor led the horse to the livestock shed, and Zhu Pingan carried his luggage into the cabin. There was already one person in the cabin, an old man who was visiting relatives in Nanjing. Zhu Pingan came in to greet the old man and then put his luggage under the bed and settled it down.
We dropped anchor and set sail, drifting downstream. It had just rained, so the air was damp and slightly cool. A cool breeze blew, and it was so comfortable lying on the bed in the cabin.
It was already evening when we dropped anchor and set sail. Although it had just rained heavily, there had been little precipitation along the Yangtze River recently, and the water level was much lower than in previous years. Reefs in many places along the way had also emerged from the water or, although not emerging from the water, posed hidden dangers to the ship's navigation. Taking these circumstances into consideration, the ship's navigation speed was much slower than in previous years.
This also strengthened Zhu Ping'an's idea of riding a horse to Beijing after arriving in Nanjing.
After a short rest, the fatigue from riding all the way was swept away. Outside, except for the sound of water, it was very quiet. Zhu Pingan lit the oil lamp in the cabin and took out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone from his luggage. While riding on the road, Zhu Pingan reviewed the impeachment of killing innocent people and taking credit for his crimes. He also reviewed similar stories and documents he had seen in modern times and summarized the key points. Now, under the light of the oil lamp, Zhu Pingan put the summary on rice paper.
"Young man, are you going to Yingtian Prefecture to take part in the college entrance examination?" The old man in the same cabin asked in an affirmative tone as he watched Zhu Ping'an writing in front of the oil lamp.
"I..." Zhu Ping'an stopped writing and considered how to answer the old man.
"I have a nephew who is also going to Yingtian Prefecture to take the college entrance examination like you, but he left a few days ago." Without waiting for Zhu Ping'an to answer, the old man classified Zhu Ping'an as one of those who took the college entrance examination.
"Where are you from, young man?" the old man asked again.
"I'm from Anqing Prefecture." Zhu Ping'an replied.
"Anqing Prefecture is great. You have heard that there was a man who passed the imperial examination and became the top scholar. Right?" After hearing that Zhu Ping'an was from Anqing Prefecture, the old man nodded repeatedly.
"Yeah." What else could Zhu Ping'an say? He could only hum and nod.
"This is your first time taking the college entrance examination. It's a little late, but the first time you take the college entrance examination, you should mainly accumulate experience. This is my nephew's third time this year, and I have prepared all his luggage. (wwwukanshu.cm) Let me tell you, you have to prepare a hollow inkstone and a brush for the college entrance examination..." The old man was quite talkative and even gave Zhu Ping'an some experience in taking the college entrance examination.
Zhu Ping'an had no choice but to listen attentively, occasionally humming in agreement. The old man chatted animatedly until it was late at night and the moon was at its highest point in the sky. The talkative old man, who was too old to stay up late, finally fell asleep.
After the old man fell asleep, Zhu Ping'an continued to paint and organize and summarize relevant information until midnight when he blew out the oil lamp and went to sleep.
The next morning, around five or six o'clock, the passenger ship had already sailed to Dangtu County, Taiping Prefecture, and was only one or two hours away from Nanjing. After Zhu Pingan got up and washed up, he fed the horse with water and grass, returned to the cabin to pack his luggage, and prepared to disembark when the ship arrived in Yingtian Prefecture.
Zhu Ping'an had just finished cleaning up when he heard a commotion outside the boat, and soon the boat stopped by the river.
"The officials are investigating a case. Please excuse us. We can disembark at the shore and wait for them to finish their work before we continue on our journey." The owner of the passenger ship notified each cabin one by one to apologize.
When getting off the boat, Zhu Pingan heard that a murder case seemed to have occurred, and the county magistrate was leading the officials to investigate the case. (To be continued.)--( )