Driving from Shanghe Village to Qingyuan County, you will pass through Cangwu Town.
A corner of the carriage curtain was lifted, and Su Hua sat by the window, propping her head up with her hand, looking bored. It was around 9 a.m., and the morning mist was gradually dissipating. At the entrance of the town, which was built of bluestone, the morning market was bustling with activity.
Various stalls lined the streets one after another, and the vendors' shouts seemed even more enthusiastic than the food on the stalls.
"Selling steamed buns! Hot, big meat buns, only two coins each. Buying one is a steal!"
"Steamed buns! Soft and fluffy steamed buns, one coin each, one coin less than small meat buns, and more filling!"
"Selling mutton soup! Hot mutton soup so delicious it'll make your tongue tingle! Five coins a bowl, with meat, vegetables, and soup! More substantial than meat buns, tastier than steamed buns!"
"Bone broth hot pot! Delicious and fragrant bone broth hot pot! It's the same bone broth hot pot as the one outside Baichuan School in Qingshui County! Two skewers of vegetables for one cent, one skewer of meat for one cent. It's more affordable than steamed buns, mantou, or mutton soup..."
The girl, who was listening intently to the vendors pulling and stomping on each other, suddenly perked up.
Following the sound, they saw Widow Liu leading Liu Chunniu, Liu Xia Niu, and Liu Qiu Niu, shouting at the top of their lungs. It was still the same snail stall that Old Su's family had started with. However, this time, instead of bright red spicy stir-fried snail meat, there was a pot of bubbling pork bone soup.
Next to the pork bone soup were four large buckets filled with wooden skewers.
The meat skewers are pork skewers, while the vegetable skewers include spinach, cilantro, cabbage, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, bok choy skewers, pea shoots, and even oyster mushroom skewers. Except for offal and fish balls, the menu is almost exactly the same as homemade mala tang. Next to the skewers is a large bowl of chili oil, and there are also four side dishes: pickled cowpeas, pickled radishes, dried bracken fern, and spicy and sour vegetables, which customers can add for free.
The three Su brothers were also completely bewildered.
A few days ago, Hua'er said she wanted to see what new tricks the Liu family could come up with by following the mala tang trend. In just three days, the four of them actually came up with something. This so-called bone broth soup, apart from the soup base, is almost entirely based on mala tang.
Although business wasn't as booming as it was outside Baichuan Academy, there were still quite a few people gathered around the stalls, and the owners of the steamed buns, mantou, and mutton soup stalls next to the bone broth stalls all looked pale and ashen.
In just the short time the carriage had passed by, the Liu family mother and son had already completed three business deals.
Their ability to imitate was far superior to that of the stall owners they encountered in Qingshui County on the second day.
The three brothers on the carriage shaft were preoccupied with the bone broth hot pot, unaware that Liu Chunniu's gaze toward the carriage from the hot pot stall seemed so intense it could burn a hole through the carriage.
When the Su family's carriage arrived in Qingshui County, people waiting to eat spicy hot pot for breakfast had already lined up from the open space outside the school all the way to the entrance of the alley.
Su Hua and Su Dahu helped set up the stall and then headed towards the school's admissions office. Today was the day for Baichuan School's spring admissions. In preparation for today's admissions, Zhao had spent the last two days working late into the night to make a new outfit for Su Dahu.
The fabric was a dark blue fine cotton cloth that Qin Yucheng had chosen as a thank-you gift. Zhao was skilled, and the long dress she sewed was not much worse than the ready-made clothes in the cloth shop. In addition, Su Dahu was already tall and had handsome features. Wearing the dark blue long dress, he instantly gained a more elegant air.
Baichuan Academy in Qingshui County is divided into three classes: Earth, Heaven, and Human. The Earth and Heaven classes are mostly for students who have progressed from lower-level classes. Therefore, most of the students who come to enroll are for the Human class, ranging from five or six-year-old toddlers to young people in their twenties or thirties.
Many of them were regular customers of Su's Mala Tang stall.
The teacher in charge of admissions knew that Su Dahu had never attended school before, so he simply asked for his name, age, and place of origin before registering him in the thick register.
The tuition for the Human-shaped class was twelve taels of silver per year.
The twelve taels of silver included tuition, textbook fees, and the cost of two sets of student uniforms for spring and autumn. If a student wanted to live at Baichuan Academy, they would have to pay an additional three taels of silver for accommodation and meals.
The Su family has their own carriage, which travels back and forth between Qingshui County every day, so they don't need to stay overnight. Su Hua paid twelve taels of silver and saw the teacher put a checkmark on Su Dahu's name in the register.
Then he had Su Dahu follow the page into a room to the side.
When he came out again, he had three books and four sets of student uniforms in his hands.
The book on top is a copy of the Three Character Classic with a blue background and black characters.
Su Dahu caught Su Hua's gaze fixed on the book cover, his deep eyes shining with determination. "Hua'er, don't worry, your older brother will definitely study hard and will never let you down."
He will definitely make the Su family change their social status so that Hua'er won't have to rush ahead alone.
"Okay." Su Hua looked at the light in the man's eyes and nodded in agreement.
Tomorrow is the official start of school. After finishing the registration, Su Hua and her brother went to the calligraphy and painting shop in the alley next door and bought two sets of the Four Treasures of the Study, plus ten calligraphy brushes and a large stack of Xuan paper. The Four Treasures of the Study are for Su Dahu, while the calligraphy brushes and Xuan paper are for the rest of the Su family.
Since we're going to study, the whole family will participate in the literacy campaign.
She chose medium-grade writing implements: a set of the Four Treasures of the Study cost two taels of silver, a single brush cost ten coins, and a large sheet of Xuan paper cost two hundred coins, for a total cost of four taels and three mace.
After buying the paper and pens, Su Hua decided to take a look at the shop that Xiao Jinhan had given her the day before.
However, the further she walked, the more uneasy she felt.
Finally, they ended up walking directly to the opposite side of Meng's Noodle Shop.
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