The three of them stood in front of a Hu man's stall and saw a lot of coral ornaments and accessories on it. There were no fakes in this era, so these corals were all real.

Among them, there is a particularly beautiful red coral ornament. It has a naturally grown shape without any carving. It is not decorated with the common bronze or porcelain, but is supported by a large shell, which is quite wild and interesting.

The stall owner was a Hu man. He watched Wang Yu standing in front of the stall for a long time and said in his not very fluent Dali dialect: "If you like it, the price is negotiable. I have real goods here. This coral you are looking at is just this one."

Wang Yu nodded, and the more he looked at it, the more he liked it. "How much?"

The stall owner looked at Wang Yu and his friends, who were dressed very well, raised a finger, and said, "One hundred taels."

Cheng Chen's eyes widened. A hundred taels for such a small trinket? Wang Yu also thought it was a bit pricey. He thought the stall owner was taking advantage of him, but he really liked it.

"It's too expensive. I'll take fifty taels."

The stall owner saw that the man was still trying to haggle the price in half and became anxious. "Sir, you're joking. I'm the only one who has this coral ornament in the entire night market. It's rare even in Beijing. Ninety taels, no lower."

"Fifty-five taels. I know the price of coral, so you don't have to lie to me. Okay, I'll buy it."

The stall owner saw that this man was indeed not easy to fool, so he gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, it's not easy for us to do business in Dali, and it's not easy to transport coral here either. Sixty taels, no lower."

Wang Yu thought about it and said, okay, sixty taels is sixty taels. The commercial tax for foreigners coming to Dali to do business is still relatively high.

There were many small coral items on the stall. Wang Yu also saw a very cute carved coral pendant. The shape of the coral was like a cherry, and the base was made of cloisonné enamel. The whole pendant looked small and exquisite.

Wang Yu thought it suited Cheng Chen very well at first sight, so he bought it together and gave him five taels of silver. He picked it up and hung it on Cheng Chen's belt together with the sachet, saying, "It really suits you. You can change it to a gold bead necklace and wear it on your wrist someday."

Cheng Chen also liked it very much, not to mention that it was bought by her husband. She looked at Wang Yu with curved eyes. The lights on the street were reflected in his eyes, shining like stars.

If it wasn't the wrong occasion, Wang Yu really wanted to give him a kiss. He held the coral box in one hand and held Cheng Chen's hand with the other.

Looking down, I saw Dabao and felt that I couldn't show favoritism to Peter and bought him one as well. However, there was nothing suitable for him here. I looked around again, thinking that he would be going to school soon, and finally picked out an ivory pen holder for him.

The pen holder is also carved with exquisite patterns of flowers, plants and trees. Wang Yu took a closer look and found that it was hollow. The carving was indeed exquisite, but the price was also very high, almost catching up with the price of Wang Yu's coral ornaments.

I thought that Dabao was still young and it wouldn't be appropriate for him to use such an expensive thing, but since it was really pretty, I bought it first and would give it to him when he was older. In the end, I bought him a small clay figurine, but in Dabao's opinion, the clay figurine was probably much more fun than the pen holder.

When Wang Yu and his friends reached the end of the street, they actually found a stall selling wild game, such as flat rabbit. However, since they had just had a bowl of soup, they were not hungry yet. Wang Yu only ordered one portion and shared it among the three of them. The dish was rich in aroma and the meat was tender. It was really delicious. If the weather hadn't been so cold, he would have bought one portion to take home for his father and mother to try.

The three of them were very satisfied with their trip to the night market. They bought and ate a lot. When they got home, Wang Yu took the coral and pen holder and put them on the shelf in the study. After arranging them, he looked at them from left to right and thought they were really nice. He felt that he had good taste.

It snowed at the end of November and the weather was getting colder and colder. We had to put a stove in the carriage when we were on duty, otherwise it would be too cold and we couldn't bear it.

A few days later, Song Boyan handed him a visiting card with the three words "Lan Chonghua" written on it.

"Yesterday I talked to my teacher about the enlightenment of Shitou. The teacher gave me two visiting cards and asked us to go to Donglin Academy to take a look."

Wang Yu knew about Donglin Academy. It was said that the fame of Donglin Academy was second only to that of Imperial College. The academy had different classrooms for elementary school, primary school and university. In fact, Imperial College also had elementary school, but not everyone could enter Imperial College. However, Donglin Academy was also very good.

Wang Yu looked at the visiting card. It was from Mr. Lan, so it should be very useful. He said, "Okay, thank you, teacher, for me."

Mr. Zhilan had everything he needed, so Wang Yu didn't give him anything valuable to express his gratitude. He just asked the shop to make two sets of newly produced winter clothes and gave him two boxes of good tea.

It's just two days before my graduation, so I can go visit with Song Boyan and enroll in a good school early so I can go directly to school when school starts next year.

On the day of Mu Xiu, Wang Yu and Song Boyan got up early. Donglin Academy was in the outer city, and it took more than half an hour to get there by carriage from their home.

Donglin Academy was built on the east side of the outer city. One had to cross a lake to reach the main gate of the academy. There was a plaque on the door with the words "Donglin Academy" written on it. Wang Yu went forward and knocked on the door, handed over a visiting card and explained his purpose. The servant who opened the door saw the visiting card and led them inside.

Because the dean's office was at the very back of the academy, the three of them had to walk through the entire academy. After entering the first gate, they saw a large stone tablet in front of them, similar to the motto tablets of modern universities. It had the four characters "loyalty, filial piety, honesty and integrity" engraved in regular script, and a row of small characters below. Wang Yu didn't read it carefully. It vaguely said something like "Six Methods of Reading the Classics to Understand the Main Meaning" and then he was led to the second gate.

After passing through the second door, the lecture hall is right opposite, with corridors on both sides and a garden in the middle. The three of them entered the back of the academy through the door on the right side of the lecture hall. On the right side is the office area, and there is a two-story library in the front. This is all Wang Yu and his friends saw, but the academy must have more than just these buildings.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!