Chapter 172 Lin Xian (two chapters in one)

Of course Zhao Tingxuan knew Zhu Yu. He didn't even leave the house, but he wanted to compensate Zhu Yu with 10,000 taels of silver.

When he heard the news that Zhu Yu was castrated, he was secretly happy. Later, when Zhu Yu died, he said countless times in his heart, "Evil will be punished."

But now, when he found out that this was this scumbag who almost became his brother-in-law, and that all this was caused by him, Zhao Tingxuan felt terrible.

His body felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds, his limbs and facial features became stiff and numb, he couldn't even open his mouth and speak, there was only one thought in his mind: if his sister married Zhu Yu, he would have to die to atone for his sin.

It wasn't until Zhao Shiqing slapped him hard on the shoulder that Zhao Tingxuan finally found his voice, as if he had unsealed himself: "Fortunately, Zhu Yu is dead..."

He wanted to say, "Fortunately, Zhu Yu died and my sister didn't jump into the fire pit," but he couldn't say the rest of the words. He was so ashamed that he finally realized that whether his sister married Zhu Yu or Yan Xia, it was all thanks to him!

Zhao Shiqing seemed to see through his thoughts and said quietly, "If it weren't for you, I could have chosen someone in Liangdi. The person I like must have good character and good looks. She could have lived in Liangdu, where she grew up, with her family, friends, and home.

But now my sister has to marry far away, leave her hometown and be away from her relatives. This separation may last a lifetime.

What's more, she had to marry a man she had never met and face a completely unfamiliar family.

More importantly, she is not only a woman who is marrying far away, she is also a hostage, our eldest sister. She will be a hostage in the capital in your place!

Not all families can treat their daughters-in-law who are hostages well, and not all men can treat their wives with respect under the pressure of imperial power.

Second brother, when you return to Liang, you can live your previous life again, and you will still be the noble Second Young Master.

But what about my sister? Will it be mountains of swords and seas of fire or beautiful mountains and clear waters? You don’t know, I don’t know, and she doesn’t know even more! "

Before Zhao Shiqing finished speaking, Zhao Tingxuan burst into tears.

Zhao Shiqing looked at him quietly for a long time, then turned and left.

Zhao Tingxuan cried uncontrollably and knelt down facing Liangdi.

......

Zhao Shiqing vented her emotions and felt much better.

She walked aimlessly on the street. Her sister's affairs had come to an end for the time being. What should she do next?

Leaving the capital?

Back to Liangdi?

Wait until your sister gets married, and then come back with her?

Because she was going to meet Zhao Tingxuan today, Zhao Shiqing wore men's clothes when she went out and disguised herself simply. Although she looked no different, if you didn't look closely, you couldn't tell that she was a woman.

Zhao Shiqing smelled a burnt aroma from afar and looked over, only to see a stall selling grilled fish.

It was the first time she saw someone selling grilled fish in the capital. In an instant, she threw all her worries behind her and ran over.

There were two teenagers setting up the stall. The older one was about seventeen or eighteen years old, and the younger one was about thirteen or fourteen years old. They looked somewhat similar and looked like a pair of brothers.

There were already two customers sitting at the stall, and compared to other stalls, this one was quite deserted.

Zhao Shiqing looked at the golden grilled fish on the rack, swallowed his saliva, pointed at a grass carp and said, "I want this one."

The younger of the two brothers looked at her curiously and asked, "Are you eating alone?"

Zhao Shiqing nodded: "Yes."

Little brother: "This fish weighs three pounds. You can't finish it by yourself."

Zhao Shiqing: "Don't underestimate me! I can finish even five kilograms of fish, not to mention three!"

The little brother didn't say anything else. He picked up the brush and smeared the seasoning on the fish. Zhao Shiqing picked a stool that looked the cleanest and sat down, waiting for her grilled fish with a smile.

Suddenly, a voice came from my ear: "Brother, are you from out of town too?"

Zhao Shiqing turned around and saw that the person speaking was a handsome young man.

Yes, Miss Zhao Er judges people by their appearance and looks at their faces first.

The young man was wearing a blue cloth scholar's robe that was neither new nor old. His hair was not tied with a hairpin, but with a blue cloth strip of the same color as the clothes. A few bamboo leaves were embroidered on the blue cloth strip, which showed that he had a clever and skillful mother or sister at home. Of course, it was also possible that he was married and this was embroidered by his wife.

There was a dusty bookcase next to the boy, and it was obvious that he had walked a long way.

Although he spoke Mandarin, he had an accent and it was obvious that he was from another place.

The same was true for Zhao Shiqing. The children of Prince Liang's Mansion had spoken Mandarin since childhood. Before coming to the capital, Zhao Shiqing always thought that she spoke standard Mandarin, but when she arrived in the capital, as soon as she opened her mouth, others knew that she was from another place.

She spoke with a Liang accent, while the young man in front of her was obviously from Wu.

Zhao Shiqing himself was from Wudi and grew up in Liangdi, so seeing someone from Wudi in the capital made him feel close to her. He spoke to the young man in a more cordial tone, "Yes, you are from Wudi? Where is Wudi?"

The young man hurriedly said, "I'm from Luzhou, what about you, little brother?"

Zhao Shiqing's eyes lit up. "Hey, you're from Luzhou, what a coincidence! My maternal family is also from Luzhou. Is yours in Luzhou city, or in the county below?"

The young man was surprised and delighted. "Your maternal family is from Luzhou. What a coincidence! My family is from Qinglu, but later my father went to Luzhou to open a shop, so we moved there. We only go back to worship our ancestors."

Zhao Shiqing slapped her thigh and said, "Isn't this a coincidence? My maternal family is also from Qinglu, Zhuxitang. Have you heard of this place?"

The young man said hurriedly, "Zhuxitang? Of course I've heard of it. I've even been there. My home is in Zhushan'ao. I had a classmate who used to live in Zhuxitang. Every time his family came to pick him up, I would take a ride on his mule cart. One time, it was so late that I even stayed at his house for a night and ate the braised pork made by his grandmother."

When the boy talked about braised pork, he swallowed subconsciously.

Zhao Shiqing felt that the roots of his hair stood up. Zhuxitang, classmates, mule cart, and braised pork!

"Could your classmate be surnamed Yang?" Zhao Shiqing subconsciously lowered his voice.

The young man became excited: "How did you know? Oh, that's right, he's the top scholar now, so many people must know about him!"

Zhao Shiqing rolled her eyes in her heart and thought, you’re overthinking it. She doesn’t want anyone to know that she once lived in Zhuxitang.

However, this young man actually rode on Yang Shengqiu's mule cart and ate braised pork!

Isn’t the one driving the mule cart my father, and isn’t the one making the braised pork my mother?

This young man stayed in Zhuxitang for one night and must have seen A Niang!

Zhao Shiqing was so jealous that she wanted to scratch someone. She had never seen them, but this young man had seen them, alive and well.

She decided to get close to the boy.

"Is your home in Zhushan'ao? Is it close to Zhuxitang?" This is an unfamiliar place, so Zhao Shiqing asked this question.

"It's very close, just over a mountain, so I took a ride on Yang Shengqiu's mule cart." The young man was very happy and proud that the top scholar was his classmate, and this was enough for him to brag about for the rest of his life.

Zhao Shiqing said, "It's so close. Hey, I went to Zhuxitang last year, how come I haven't heard anyone talk about this place?"

The young man smiled and explained, "You must have not been back for many years, so you don't know. There are only twenty households in our Zhushan'ao village, and the road to the village is difficult to walk to. It's not easy for people from the county government to go there, and there is no village head, so our village was assigned to Qingzhu Village. It's been six or seven years now, but people in our village are still used to saying they are from Zhushan'ao."

So that's how it is. Zhao Shiqing understood. Qingzhu Village was indeed very close to Zhuxitang, and it was a big village. As for how big it was, Zhao Shiqing had never known, but now it seemed really big. Zhushan'ao on the other side of Lianshan also belonged to Qingzhu Village.

Zhao Shiqing asked, "My last name is Zhen, what's yours?"

The boy introduced himself: "My last name is Lin, and my name is Lin Xian, but I don't have a courtesy name yet."

Zhao Shiqing looked at his bookcase and asked, "Are you in Beijing to prepare for the imperial examination next year? Is your registered residence in Northern Zhili?"

The provincial examination can only be taken in the place of household registration. Yang Shengqiu was able to come to the capital to take the provincial examination because he later followed his adoptive father to settle in Hancheng, which belonged to Northern Zhili. So he came to the capital to take the provincial examination and later stayed in the capital to take the metropolitan examination.

Although this year is not the year for the provincial examination, many scholars from wealthy families will come to the capital a year or two in advance. For example, the house next to Aunt Ji's house is rented to three scholars from other places. However, although their families are from other places, they are also from Northern Zhili, and Lin Xian is from Wu, so Zhao Shiqing asked this question.

Lin Xian rubbed his head a bit embarrassedly. "I'm not here to take part in the Autumn Examination. I failed last year. My cousin is studying at the Huiwen Academy in the capital, and I've made an arrangement with the academy so I can audit their classes. Actually, there's a very famous academy in Wu as well, but I can't get in."

Zhao Shiqing has been in Beijing for some time, and this is the first time he has heard of this academy. He thinks it is a small and unknown academy.

She didn't ask why Lin Xian had traveled so far to choose a famous academy. Was there any need to ask? Famous academies were not open to anyone, and they certainly wouldn't allow auditions.

"Will the auditors at Huiwen Academy be accepted?" Zhao Shiqing asked.

Lin Xian nodded: "Yes, twenty taels per year."

Zhao Shiqing naturally changed the subject: "I think Yang Zhuangyuan is a candidate from Hancheng. Is he from Wudi?"

Lin Xian quickly explained: "I know this. Yang Shengqiu lived in Zhuxitang at that time. His family was quite wealthy. He had a little sister who was very cute, but unfortunately she was blind. Later, his family went to another place to take care of the little sister and never came back..."

At this point, Lin Xian looked around and lowered his voice: "By the way, a family in Zhuxitang was wiped out, and the bodies were only found last year. Have you heard about this?"

Zhao Shiqing felt a sharp pain in her heart, but her expression remained calm: "I haven't heard of it. Is this related to Yang Shengqiu?"

Lin Xian said, "That family's surname is Shi, so logically speaking, it has nothing to do with Yang Shengqiu. But I heard from my mother that they used to collect cloth. There was a blind little girl in the family who died with that family. There was also a doctor named Yang. I remember that Yang Shengqiu's family collected cloth. When his uncle came to pick him up, there was a whole roll of cloth on the mule cart, and he also said that his grandfather was a doctor."

Zhao Shiqing asked, "Have you told anyone about this?"

Lin Xian shook his head. "I mentioned this to my mother, and she said I must have remembered it wrongly. I failed the provincial examination last year, so I couldn't bear to go back. I haven't been back to my hometown in almost two years. I heard about the extermination of my family from my mother. She also heard it from the villagers when she went back for the New Year. We're not from the same village, and my mother doesn't know anyone in Zhuxitang."

"What happened next? His family never came back, and Yang Shengqiu was only eight or nine years old at the time. How did he survive?" Zhao Shiqing asked.

Lin Xian said, "At first, his clothes were torn, so I brought them home and asked my mother to mend them. My mother saw that he had grown taller but was still wearing clothes that were one size too small, so she made him a new set of clothes. Although my family was not rich at the time, it was not very poor either. My mother saw that he was good-looking and could read, so she discussed with my father and wanted to adopt him.

But my father didn't agree. He said that Yang Shengqiu was eight or nine years old and could not be tamed.

He is good at his studies. You don't know, he is a great student. Both teachers like him. Seeing that he is alone and helpless, they waived his tuition.

Later, my father followed my great-grandfather to Luzhou to open a shop, and our family moved to Luzhou, which was even farther away from Baifeng City. I transferred to Luzhou to go to school. Before leaving, I gave him all the New Year's money I had saved, and he gave me this.

Lin Xian took off a bamboo plaque from his waist. The bamboo plaque was polished very smoothly and had the word "peace" engraved on it.

"He said we are lifelong friends! In the future we will become scholars, juren and jinshi together!

It's a pity that he has already become the top scholar, while I am still a scholar."

Zhao Shiqing asked, "Have you always been in contact with him?"

Lin Xian nodded, then shook his head: "I am not studying in Baifeng City anymore. In the first few years, he and I kept in touch through letters. Later, Mr. Xu passed away and the private school was transferred. Mr. Xu took him to Hancheng, and we lost contact. However, I believe he will not forget the agreement we made. I also want to work hard. I want to become a Juren and a Jinshi!

When I settle down in the capital, I will go find him. He will never expect me to come to the capital. I want to give him a surprise!"

Zhao Shiqing looked at Lin Xian and saw that his eyes were clear and upright. She sighed silently in her heart, "I hope Yang Shengqiu still remembers your agreement, and I hope he still regards you as his friend."

Zhao Shiqing thought about it and still felt that he needed to give a reminder.

"When you see Yang Shengqiu, don't tell him about the family that was wiped out in Zhuxitang, and don't even mention that his grandfather was a doctor."

Lin Xian was puzzled: "Why? Those could be his family. After all these years, he must be wondering why his family members have disappeared and never returned."

Zhao Shiqing hurriedly said, "He's already the top scholar. How could he not know about such a big thing? If those are really his family members, he must be very sad. If you bring it up again, it will only make him sad again."

Lin Xian thought so too. Yang Shengqiu was already an official, so he must have known about it a long time ago. He was so smart and capable!