Fang Jian turned to the man and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Are you okay?" The man cried out in pain as he lay on the ground. Then he pointed at the Third Prince and said, "Your horse kicked me. You must compensate me! Otherwise, I will sue you and accuse you of causing harm by letting your horse hurt me!"

Fang Jian laughed and said, "Oh, then how much compensation do you want from me?"

The man's eyes darted around, first glancing at Fang Jian's clothes, then glancing at the Third Prince. He concluded that the man before him was definitely a young master of either wealth or nobility, so he said, "I want you to pay me a hundred taels. Your horse kicked you so hard, I'm afraid it won't heal you without a hundred taels of silver."

Fang Jian thought about it and decided not to argue with a mortal, so he took out a hundred taels of silver to settle the matter.

But at this moment, a piece of broken tile suddenly flew towards the man on the ground and hit him on the forehead with a "bang".

"Ouch!" In an instant, a bloody lump appeared on the man's forehead. He stood up and turned to look in the direction where the tile came from. After seeing clearly, he cursed: "You little bastard, how dare you hit your Grandpa Shao! I will peel off your skin!"

After saying that, he rolled up his sleeves and walked towards Mei Xianzhang who was standing in front of the main door of the hall, but before he could take a few steps, a flash of silver light blocked his way.

When he stopped and took a closer look, he saw Fang Jian holding a silver ingot in his hand and placing it in front of him.

To be honest, although he wanted to extort a hundred taels of silver from Fang Jian, he had never seen such a big ingot of silver in his life, and he was stunned for a moment.

"Take the silver and leave here." Fang Jian raised his left hand and patted his shoulder and said.

Hearing Fang Jian's words, he raised his hand and snatched the silver from Fang Jian's hand without saying a word. He no longer felt any pain when he threw the bloody bag, and the anger in his heart disappeared without a trace.

"You're sensible. I'll use this silver to see a doctor first, and I'll come to see you later." After saying that, he put the silver in his arms, turned around and ran out of the yard.

The villagers outside all stared with wide eyes when they saw Fang Jian easily take out a hundred taels of silver to send Shao Laizi away.

After Shao Laizi left, the villagers who had not yet dispersed wanted to enter the yard to greet Fang Jian.

But Mei Xianzhang spoke first, "You are not welcome here. You are not allowed to come in."

After hearing what Mei Xianzhang said, the villagers were stunned and stood outside with embarrassed faces. They didn't know whether to go in or leave.

Mei Xianzhang ignored them and turned into the kitchen, starting to make a fire under the stove and cook.

Fang Jian smiled slightly. It seemed that his disciple had a somewhat strange temper.

So Fang Jian sat down on a crooked, broken stool in the main hall. About an incense stick of time later, Mei Xianzhang prepared the meal and brought it to the table in the main hall.

Fang Jian took a look and saw that Mei Xianzhang had made two dishes, one was stir-fried cabbage and the other was stir-fried mushrooms, but because there was too little oil, both dishes were stir-fried a little black.

Mei Xianzhang only got a bowl of rice. The rice in the bowl was very watery, and the grains were broken and small. It was obvious that the rice he bought was of the worst quality.

"Won't you make me a bowl?" Fang Jian asked with a smile.

Mei Xianzhang took a mouthful of rice and said, "You have money to give to Shao Laizi, but don't you have money to eat?"

"Hahaha." Fang Jian laughed, "Why do you call him Shao Laizi?"

Mei Xianzhang said, "He's a scoundrel from Lu'er Village and a thug for the Black Dragon Gang in Bailu City. Don't you see how scared the villagers are of him? You gave him a hundred taels this time, but next time he'll dare ask you for a thousand. He'll keep trying to keep on giving you money."

Fang Jian said, "Aren't you afraid of him? You just hit him with a tile."

Mei Xianzhang said, "Haven't I been beaten often enough? But they just couldn't kill me, otherwise I would have died long ago."

Fang Jian couldn't help but sigh when he heard this. They couldn't kill you because you were destined to be my apprentice. How could you die so easily?

"Don't say such irrelevant things. Are you really my father's sworn brother?" Mei Xianzhang asked Fang Jian, "He never told me that."

Fang Jian said: "This is not important. What is important is that I will be your elder from now on."

Mei Xianzhang paused for a moment after hearing this, then said, "We'll talk about this later. Right now, I just want the Kuixing Inkstone back."

Fang Jian asked, "What about when we get back? Can you come with me?"

"No," Mei Xianzhang said, "After Kuixing Inkstone comes back, I have to take the imperial examination to fulfill my father's last wish."

"Examining the imperial examination?" Fang Jian looked slightly surprised. "But you're a woman?"

Mei Xianzhang said, "There's always a way. I heard the storyteller tell a story about a female imperial consort. The female imperial consort in that story was a woman who disguised herself as a man to take the imperial examination."

Upon hearing this, Fang Jian immediately said to Mei Xianzhang, "If a woman disguises herself as a man to take the imperial examination, she will be beheaded if she is caught."

Mei Xianzhang picked out a small stone from the rice in his mouth, threw it away and continued eating.

After eating several mouthfuls, Mei Xianzhang finally said, "That's not the problem."

"What's the problem?" Fang Jian asked.

Mei Xianzhang said, "The problem is that I can't read. Shao Erlangzi from the east end of the village told me a trick."

"What's the secret?" Fang Jian asked.

Mei Xianzhang hesitated for a moment, then took a few more bites of his meal. Finally, he said, "You cured my stomachache. I can tell you, but you can't tell anyone else."

Fang Jian smiled and said, "Okay."

Then Mei Xianzhang said, "Shao Erlangzi said that if you can read and write, it will be easier to pass the imperial examination, but if you can't read and write, it will be harder."

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