This meal was originally what Chen Yan'an had promised to treat, so Qin Zhao naturally didn't need to be polite to him.

The two of them ordered three dishes, a soup and a plate of pastries, and spent more than a hundred coins in a blink of an eye.

Chen Yanan kept a tense expression and didn't show any fear, but his heart was in so much pain that it felt like it was bleeding.

In contrast, Qin Zhao looked calm. He not only ate more than just the cake himself, but also broke off a piece of cake and threw it to Xiaoyu at hand from time to time.

Chen Yanan knew that Qin Zhao was unwilling to feed the fish, so he pretended not to see it and said, "Brother Qin, actually, I invited you to dinner today because I have something to ask of you."

Qin Zhao didn't even raise his head: "If it's the annotations to the second half of that book, no."

"How do you know?" Chen Yan'an coughed lightly and patiently explained, "I was slow before. The teacher was almost at the second half of the book, and I had just finished memorizing the first half. At this rate, I still can't keep up with the teacher's teaching. Brother Qin, please help me."

Qin Zhao took a sip of his soup and said slowly, "You understand quickly, and you're not badly gifted. It's just that you didn't study hard enough in the past. Follow my instructions, put in more effort, and you'll catch up."

"The teacher in the private school speaks too fast. I can't keep up even if I want to." Chen Yan'an was dejected. "I think it's faster to learn from you than to go to a private school with a teacher. Hey, wait..."

Chen Yan'an's eyes lit up. "Why don't I just follow you and learn from you? The teacher praised your annotations as being more thorough than his own. Will you teach me?"

"...What nonsense are you talking about?" Qin Zhao looked at him helplessly. "I've never taken the imperial examination, and I don't have any official title. How can I possibly teach you?"

In this era, if you want to teach, you must at least be a scholar, that is, someone who has passed the Tongsheng exam but failed the provincial exam.

The teachers in the private schools and academies in the town, as well as the village chief of Linxi Village, were all scholars.

"How do you know you didn't pass the exam?" Chen Yan'an asked. "If you really didn't pass the exam, why are you so familiar with these books? I guess you must have passed the exam, maybe even became a juren, but you just don't remember it."

Chen Yan'an advised again, "Teaching is so good. The private school where I studied charged each student 200 coins per month, and they collected the tuition every six months. Even if you only taught five students, how much could you earn? That doesn't even include the rice and meat I had to send to the teacher every month!"

Two hundred wen for one student, one thousand wen for five students, and six thousand wen for half a year.

Jing Li almost choked on the pastry in his mouth.

Is it so profitable to be a teacher these days?

Qin Zhao did have some money on him, but that was because he hadn't even started building the house yet. Once construction officially began, the materials, labor, and even all the furniture in the house would all cost money.

The little money he has may not last long.

Neither collecting herbs nor copying books is a stable livelihood.

If I could really teach...

Qin Zhao was also thoughtful.

"Oh, this fish is so beautiful." The waiter came over to refill the tea and happened to see the small fish basket Qin Zhao had placed beside him. He asked, "Sir, are you also planning to send this fish to Qingshan Town?"

Qingshan Town is a big town, some distance away from here.

Qin Zhao: "No, why do you ask?"

"You don't know yet?" the waiter said, "It's been rumored lately that a koi carp, believed to bring good fortune, was lost from the home of an official in Qingshan Town, and a reward of a thousand strings of cash is being offered for its return. Fishermen in our town have been fishing in the river every day lately, and if they catch a red carp, they'll bring it to Qingshan Town to try their luck."

Qin Zhao: "..."

Jing Li: “???”

Jing Li raised his head blankly and met Qin Zhao's gaze.

The waiter said, "The notice is posted at the street corner. Why don't you go take a look later? I think the picture on it looks very similar to your fish!"

The chapter of "Becoming a Koi Husband" provided by the great god Chi Ling has been read to the end (please click on the next chapter to continue reading!)