The place to bet is in an inconspicuous alley near the Yaowang Temple.
At first glance, it is not conspicuous, but in fact, what people want is to be inconspicuous. If you should know where it is, you will naturally know it, and if you shouldn't know it, you don't need to know it.
As far as Xue Tingxiang knew, there were no less than five big bookmakers who opened this kind of bet, and there were countless small bookmakers.
In order to hide from the public, these dealers will ask many people to cast their nets around before the start of each meeting. Regardless of whether it is a gambler or not, it doesn't matter what identity it is, as long as you bring someone with you, the banker will offer you a hard fee when you leave.
Because the dealer is generous enough, many people are willing to do this job. From some candidates to take the test, down to the common people, and even local local snakes, beggars, carts and horses, etc., there are their people everywhere.
This kind of atmosphere, coupled with the fact that the people involved are wide enough, can be regarded as a gamble for the whole people.
Don't care how much or how little, you will buy as many bets as you want. If you hit it, you will hit it. Of course, this is only for normal people. In fact, there are filth and dirt inside, and I don't know how many pickled things are hidden.
The reason why Xue Tingxiang knew about it was because he paid special attention to these after returning to Beijing. He even used this to overthrow his opponents and seek benefits for himself.
Unbearable to look back on the past, Xue Tingxiang did not think much, and followed Mao Badou and Li Datian into a house in the alley.
The house is also inconspicuous. There are people guarding the door, and when it gets close, someone takes the initiative to open the door.
Once inside, the scenery changed drastically.
The outside is extremely deserted, and you can't see it at all, but the inside is magnificent, and people who don't know it think that this is a casino.
The sky is clear, but the lights are bright inside.
The venue is very large, divided into upper and lower floors.
There are three walls facing each other, and on the center wall are many hanging signs with red letters on a black background, all of which have their names written on them. A lot of papers were posted on the west wall. When I got closer, I realized that they were all posted on the deeds of those who were listed on the wall. This is for people's reference.
As for the wall to the east, more than half of it is still empty now, and the ones hanging on this wall are all relatively unpopular. But once someone buys their bet, the dealer's side will put the card on the wall.
There are many people coming and going in the field, and people come in from outside every now and then.
There are people in all kinds of clothes, old and young, literati-like people, Juren dressed as scholars, ordinary people, and inevitably those who look like wealthy businessmen. There is also a local ruffian who looks like a local snake, and sometimes some exposed prostitutes, only you can't think of it, there is no one you can't see here.
It can be seen that this place is not open for a day or two, and the dealer has a very large background, and there is a word that the Tongdu of Rongsheng ticket number is actually there.
Having this word also means that as long as it is the ticket note issued here, once you win, you can go directly to the Rongsheng ticket number to exchange money without going through the dealer.
This is also a means for some dealers to win over people. The government does not guarantee this kind of betting. Buyers are naturally afraid of the dealer's blackmail, but it is different after passing the ticket number. To a large extent, the privacy of the bettor is also guaranteed. In the end, this is under the heel of the emperor. According to Xue Tingxiang's knowledge, there are many high-ranking officials who also order people to bet in private, and there are not many such people.
Xue Tingxiang's eyes darkened, and he looked around the huge venue.
It was very crowded and noisy inside, and many people were standing in twos and threes, talking about something. These streams of sound come together into a humming sound.
"Courtyard."
It was Mao Badou calling him, Xue Tingxiang looked over.
"How do you see it? Shall we go and buy a few bets first?"
The environment can easily affect a person. Looking at this kind of scene, everyone can't help but be eager to try.
"If you want to buy it, it's not impossible. If you make a small bet and buy a few bets, it's just for fun."
Mao Badou complained: "You make me want to buy more and I don't have any money, you know that Yan Ran can take care of me, and she looks like a decent master, but her purse is empty, and she doesn't have more than 12 taels of silver in her pocket. "
He complained in his mouth, but this fellow's face didn't mean to complain at all, on the contrary, it made people feel a little sweet, and people wanted to hit him when they looked at him.
Li Datian had this kind of urge, because Mao Badou was used to Lin Yanran in everything, so that Tao'er used to be a virtuous person, but now he is also in charge of him. It's not that he didn't want Tao'er to take care of him, or that this fellow was so angry that he harmed his brother for the sake of women.
While talking, the three of them went to bet together.
The place to place bets is under the wall in the middle. There are two long bills, and a few people are sitting behind the bills.
Approaching the front, the most striking thing is the hanging signs in the top row on the wall in the center. Not only is it larger than the listing below, but the words on it are many times larger, so people can see it at a glance.
There are five listings, and it is the few scholars who are the most popular in this exhibition.
They are Yang Guangzhi from Shaoxing, Qi Zhengwen from Hangzhou, Zhao Pinhe from Jiaxing, Wang Xiu from Fujian, and Zhuo Hejun from Suzhou. The odds of these five people are the lowest, almost reaching a ratio of one to one, that is to say, if you buy one or two, you will also pay one or two, and you hardly make any money.
But these people are also the most bought, because the odds are low, which means that many people are optimistic about these people. Although not making money, at least not losing money, many people have this mentality.
The odds also change from time to time depending on how much you bet. Xue Tingxiang took a look. The lowest one was in the top row, and the further down he went, the higher the odds.
The lowest price is 1 to 1, the highest is 4 to 1, and on the east wall, because there are some unpopular moves hanging on it, the odds are at most 80 to 1.
Mao Badou took out the money and bought some surnames first, that is, betting on surnames.
Because Li is a big surname, he is not included in the guessing game, but Mao and Xue are small surnames, so he suppressed them a bit. In particular, Xue's surname was the most pressing. He collected a total of 12 taels of silver, one tael and one bet. He bought himself and bought three taels, but bought 'Xue' and bought seven taels.
The manager of the banker also joked with him, saying that Xue was a small surname, why did he think about suppressing Xue.
Mao Badou winked at Xue Tingxiang, and replied, "This is a red fortune character that I specially drew from the temple. I have burned incense and opened it, cut off the chicken's head and worshipped the handle, and Xue definitely won it."
The steward laughed and said nothing. As far as he knew, there were not many people named Xue who ended up this time, and there were no popular figures. However, if a fool comes to send money, he will naturally not turn him away.
In fact, there are many such fools. In order to seek a good omen, they bought their own surname before the exam, and the manager even guessed whether this person was named Xue.
Just thinking about this, a piece of silver was handed over and said, "I will press Xue twenty taels."
It was Li Datian.
He said this, and raised his eyebrows at Mao Badou, which was clearly meant to say, look, you are not as generous as I am. Although my family Tao'er is in charge of me, she is also the one who loves me the most. I am more than you.
Mao Badou was so angry that he fell on his back. Before he could speak, Xue Tingxiang spoke up.
He smiled, took out a silver note from his sleeve and said, "Since you guys bought 'Xue', then I'll buy some too. If I don't buy too much, I'll buy one hundred taels."
On a piece of paper with the big seal of the banker and the big seal of Rongsheng's ticket number, the steward wrote down the bets made by several people, filled in the odds, and then printed a small seal on it.
The small seal is engraved with four big characters, prosperous for wealth. After that, it was handed over to Xue Tingxiang and others.
According to the rules, he said something that could be exchanged at the Rongsheng ticket number if he won.
Because Mao Badou and Li Datian took Xue Tingxiang aside in a state of hostage.
"Why do you have so much money?" Mao Badou's eyes turned red with jealousy.
He knew that the three of them were all hands-off shopkeepers. The so-called hands-off shopkeepers meant that they didn't care about the money, they used the money to ask their daughter-in-law for it. Before he left, he only exchanged 10 taels of silver, and Li Datian exchanged 20 taels. How could Xue Tingxiang have so many 100 taels.
"Don't you know about your family?"
Mao Badou secretly thought about whether Xue Tingxiang was hiding a private room behind his back, and how could he stab Zhao'er. Who told this kid to slander him at the beginning, speak ill of him behind his back, and pass it on to Yanran's ears through Zhao'er's mouth. If it wasn't for his deep skills and tricks, Yanran would definitely not be good to him.
He has been looking for opportunities to seek revenge, but unfortunately he did not find a suitable opportunity. He was excited when he thought that he would be able to take revenge immediately, and that Xue Tingxiang would be scolded by Zhao'er with his ears twisted.
This guy is too much, so Lin Yanran's way of cleaning up his methods is now on Xue Tingyan's head.
How could Xue Tingxiang not know what Mao Badou was thinking, and said calmly: "Zhao'er said, these people look down on people, let me not be soft, and I won't lose if I lose, so I stuffed me when I went out. The purse doesn't have much money in it, so I'll just hold a few hundred taels."
Hundreds of taels!
Not to mention Mao Badou, even Li Datian is jealous.
But there's nothing to be done if they are jealous. Whoever told a few people to rely on their daughter-in-law to support them now is naturally guilty and short-hearted when they ask for money from their daughter-in-law.
"You must have stepped on shit in your last life, and you can only marry Zhao'er in this life."
Xue Tingxiang's eyes darkened, and he said, "Do you mean that Yanran is not good?"
Mao Badou hurriedly said, "I didn't say that, don't misinterpret what I mean."
After the three of them gag for a while, they looked around again. During this period, Mao Badou also met a few who were familiar with Zhuzi and talked with people for a while.
While Mao Badou was talking to people, Xue Tingxiang went to buy some more bets.
These bets were picked from the east wall, but he did not place his own bets.
After leaving here, Mao Badou was still curiously asking him if he wanted to get rid of himself.
Xue Tingxiang said that now is not the time.
In fact, Xue Tingxiang still had some hidden worries in his heart, but he did not say these worries.
On the sixth day of the second lunar month, the examiner for the examination of the unilateral examination was finally awarded.
In addition to the two chief executive officers, there are also eighteen room examiners, which are no different from the township exam. There are also internal and external curtain officials. The selection of these officials will not be disclosed in advance, and will only be known on the day when the decree is announced.
Someone had been guarding the street outside the Meridian Gate for a long time, and they saw teams of guards rushing out of the palace, heading straight to the mansion of the officials listed in the imperial edict.
These officials hurriedly put on their official uniforms, took the luggage prepared by their families, and hurriedly took them outside the Meridian Gate to listen to the propaganda. After thanking him, he was not allowed to stay, and was sent to the Gongyuan by the Janissaries. People who didn't know it thought it was escorting prisoners.
During the period, the streets along the road were full of people. Besides ordinary people, these people naturally had to take the test.
When this group of people passed by, the crowd dispersed, and the news flowed into the various houses at an extremely fast speed. Of course, these were all things hidden under the table.
On the seventh day of the second lunar month, Xue Tingxiang and Mao Badou deliberately went to the gambling place again.
Compared with before, it is more popular here. The number of people responsible for accepting bets has expanded from four to five to a dozen. From time to time, people dressed in ordinary clothes rush in and leave in a hurry after placing a bet. People who don’t know they think they are rushing to do something.
This time, Xue Tingxiang still didn't make a bet.
Out of the gate, he looked at the gray-white sky, and the layer of worry in his heart became heavier.
Until night, it was dark outside, and he went out again, this time alone, without calling Mao Badou and Li Datian.
After more than half an hour, he came back from outside and Zhao'er greeted him. Looking at him a little worriedly, he asked, "What's wrong with you? Why are you so lost, where have you been?"
"Go out and get some air."
Zhao'er didn't ask any more questions, and said, "Then hurry up and rest, Hong'er is already asleep, you have to get up early tomorrow,"
On the eighth day of February, before the third watch, Xue Tingxiang and the others started.
After a while of busy washing and eating breakfast, the luggage was prepared in advance, and the carriage was hired in advance. Loading all the luggage into the car, the group hurried to the Gongyuan.
Both Li Datian and Mao Badou have been here, and they are all familiar with the way. Although Xue Tingxiang had never been there before, but he had been there in his dream, and there were two people leading the way, so there was no strange feeling.
When the carriage came to a point where it could not go, the three got out of the carriage.
This time, having the experience of Mao Badou before, when Lin Yanran prepared a pole for Mao Badou, Zhao'er and Xue Tao'er also prepared them for their respective men. With a pole, you are not afraid of not being able to carry this large pile of luggage.
The three men said goodbye to their daughter-in-law, carried their luggage on a pole, and continued to advance to the Gongyuan. During the period, Mao Badou, in order to retaliate for his previous scornful remarks, also deliberately said that this time it was three sand monks. The three of them laughed and scolded for a while, and they didn't need to go into details.
Arriving at the Gongyuan, the roll call, body search, and entry into the Dragon Gate are the same as those in the township exam. After all the candidates had entered the hall, the gate of the Gongyuan was closed again, and the general examination of the Jiyou subjects in the ninth year of Jiacheng began from then on.
The process of the general examination is roughly the same as that of the township examination. There are three consecutive exams, one for three days.
The first day of admission, the next day, the second day, and so on.
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, a few people in Zhao'er didn't even do business, so they hired a carriage to wait. Xue Tingxiang appeared first, then Li Datian, and finally Mao Badou.
Without saying much, the group hurried home, the three of them had a good meal and fell asleep. After waking up, still eat, eat and then sleep, there is almost no extra time to chat. On the second day, just like the eighth day of the new year, I went to the examination room again.
After these three exams, let alone Xue Tingxiang and the three of them lost their skin, even Zhao'er and the others were tired. Fortunately, the exam is finally over, and we only have to wait for the results to be released in March.
In the days that followed, the students who took the exam entered an unprecedented stage of relaxation. It is also a variety of tea parties, poetry parties, and drinking parties, especially the fireworks place in Bada Hutong, which is indispensable to linger.
Unlike before, this time, Xue Tingxiang's rare enthusiasm was actually pulling Mao Badou two out every day.