Wang Xuecheng helped Yan Ci up from the ground.
Yan Ci's face was pale, and it was obvious that he had suffered a heavy blow.
There are many people like him around.
Wang Xuecheng could not understand Yan Ci's love for the novel. In his opinion, it was a waste of time.
He asked Yan Ci in a low voice, "What will Brother Yan do next?"
Yan Ci wiped his face and said, "Go back and practice. Brother Wang, you should also buy two exercise books and practice them every day like me. I'll ask someone for the answers. As long as you get 95% of them right, you will definitely be admitted to the academy."
Wang Xuecheng nodded repeatedly and, following Yan Ci's introduction, chose two exercise books.
"This is the third edition, which is most suitable for your current level. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me."
"Thank you, Brother Yan. Brother Yan, aren't you going to buy it?"
"Yes, of course. I want the fourth edition."
The two took the books and went to the counter to pay.
The shopkeeper saw that they bought three books, so he gave them a discount.
Wang Xuecheng spent one tael and five cents of silver in one go. He felt so distressed that his face turned green.
The cost of living in Xinmin County is not cheap, at least it is much more expensive than in rural towns.
He walked into the noodle shop and ate a bowl of noodles with soybean paste. There was not even a scrap of meat in it. When he saw the price, Wang Xuecheng became more determined to find a job as soon as possible.
Otherwise, you will either starve to death or be kicked out by the landlord.
After returning to the rental house, Wang Xuecheng said goodbye to Yan Ci and hurried to find Wang Xiaoxi.
Wang Xiaoxi was full and his mouth was full of oil, so he was picking his teeth.
When he saw Wang Xuecheng, he greeted him, "Have you eaten?"
Wang Xuecheng nodded and said, "Eat it!"
Wang Xiaoxi threw the toothpick and said, "Come on, I'll take you to find a job. I just thought about eating. You don't have a stove in your room, so you can borrow the landlord's stove to cook something. It's best to give the landlord some money to avoid gossip."
Wang Xuecheng said, "Do I have to pay for hot water?"
Wang Xiaoxi chuckled, "You pay the landlord thirty or forty cents a month, and the landlord takes care of all the hot water and coal briquettes for cooking."
"What do you think if I sell the stove and start my own fire?"
Wang Xiaoxi shook his head repeatedly. "It's not worth it. You're a scholar, and your time is precious. You can't light a fire every day, so you have to keep the stove burning. It's too expensive for one person to do this. Unless two people share one stove."
Wang Xuecheng thought of Yan Ci. Maybe he and Yan Ci could share a stove and share the cost.
Then he thought again, he had found a job and didn't have many opportunities to use the coal stove, so it seemed unfair to share the cost.
After much thought, I haven't made a decision yet.
He said, "I'll think about it."
Wang Xiaoxi said to him, "You have to remember that everyone in Xinmin County uses coal stoves. No one burns firewood anymore. So you shouldn't burn firewood either."
"Why?"
"The mountains are closed, so if you want to burn firewood, you have to buy it. Buying firewood is more expensive than using a coal stove. Do you understand?"
Wang Xuecheng looked at the mountain in the distance and asked, "Such a huge mountain, is it completely closed?"
"Yes! Ever since the academy was built up there, the entire mountain has been closed. I heard the scenery up there is amazing, but it's a pity I never had the chance to go up there. Once you're admitted to the academy, you can wander around the mountain as you please."
Wang Xuecheng was yearning in his heart, clenched his fists, and said seriously: "I will definitely be admitted to Shanhe Academy."
Wang Xiaoxi laughed heartily, "I'm optimistic about you. You'll definitely have something great."
Wang Xuecheng nodded heavily.
Wang Xiaoxi took Wang Xuecheng to the freight yard and said, "I wanted to find you a job as an accountant, but accountants need acquaintances. You just arrived, and they don't know your background, so they don't dare to use you as an accountant.
This freight yard needs a cargo registrar. Since you are an educated person, you will definitely have no problem doing this.
"Work four full hours a day, and the daily wage is thirty-five coins. You'll be paid every ten days. You can take three days off a month. What do you think?"
"Thirty-five cents a day?" Wang Xuecheng's mouth was dry and he could hardly speak.
Wang Xiaoxi was a little embarrassed. "Sanlang, don't think it's too little. You're a newcomer, so I have no choice but to take this wage. When you become more experienced, you can talk to the boss and raise the wage to fifty cents a day."
"No, no, no, I don't think it's too little."
He felt it was too much.
Why is it so easy to make money in Xinmin County?
It's incredible.
Just doing the registration work, without any hard work, you can earn thirty-five cents a day.
Wang Xiaoxi understood and laughed out loud, "When you pass the imperial examination and become a scholar, you can find a job in Xinmin County and earn at least 70 or 80 coins a day.
Even if you didn't pass the exam to become a scholar, as long as you studied at Shanhe Academy, bosses would be eager to hire you, and earning two or three taels of silver a month would be easy. If you save a little, in two years you can save enough for a down payment and get a loan to buy a house in the second phase."
Wang Xuecheng felt dizzy. It was too easy to make money here.
My family struggled mightily to earn a little money, and sometimes we worked so hard but didn't even earn a penny.
Even in a county town, it is extremely difficult to make money.
The high prices in Xinmin County hit Wang Xuecheng hard.
However, the income here overturned his cognition.
It turns out that making money is not as difficult as he thought.
As long as you have an education, it is easy to support yourself in Xinmin County.
Wang Xuecheng followed Wang Xiaoxi to meet the manager of the freight yard.
The yard manager tested Wang Xuecheng and found him to be quite honest. He was a bit slow, but since he was new, that was understandable. He thought his speed would pick up after a few days.
The yard manager made the decision on the spot, "Report here promptly at 3:15 PM tomorrow morning. We're mainly busy in the morning and forenoon, so we'll be mostly idle after noon. You can go back to school at 2:15 PM. You have an exam at the end of the month, so remember to ask for leave in advance."
We provide two meals here: breakfast and lunch. Come tomorrow morning to pick up your work clothes. You can't take your work clothes home. You must wear them when you work. Otherwise, in the middle of the night, no one can recognize who you are. If you recognize the wrong person and something goes wrong, no one can be held responsible. Remember this?"
Wang Xuecheng nodded repeatedly, keeping the manager's words firmly in mind.
Finally, the yard manager took out a three-party employment contract and said, "Sign it for half a month first. After half a month, if there are no problems, we will sign a new one."
After Wang Xiaoxi’s explanation, Wang Xuecheng knew that in Xinmin County, whether working or renting a house, one had to sign a three-party contract and register it with the government office.
After completing the formalities, Wang Xuecheng felt relieved. He finally found a job and no longer had to worry about starving to death or being kicked out by the landlord.
Wang Xiaoxi took Wang Xuecheng out of the yard and said, "I see you don't have a seal. You need to hurry up and make one for yourself. Here in Xinmin County, seals are indispensable for everything. By the way, you can only get a seal made at the public housing in the market. Seals made elsewhere don't count. Don't worry about the price, it's very fair."
Wang Xuecheng remembered it clearly and thanked Wang Xiaoxi for his help again and again.
If Wang Xiaoxi hadn't led the way, he would have come to Xinmin County alone, and who knows how many setbacks he would have encountered and how much suffering he would have suffered before he could settle down successfully.
Moreover, without Wang Xiaoxi's guarantee, the yard manager would not have given the job of registrar to a stranger.
The landlord would not rent the house to him at a low price.
Wang Xiaoxi is definitely Wang Xuecheng's benefactor.
Wang Xuecheng silently made up his mind that after receiving his first salary, he would treat Wang Xiaoxi to a meal as a thank you.
In the evening, Wang Xuecheng reached an agreement with the landlord, paying thirty-five cents per month, which included hot water and coal briquettes for cooking.
I paid thirty-five cents at a time and had a simple dish for dinner.
Wang Xuecheng has officially settled down.
He learned to be strict, worked late into the night, and started to practice questions.
The result made me question my life.
Twelve men and seven women were staying at an inn. The next day, four men and three women left, and seven more men and five women moved in. The third day... the fourth day... the fifth day...
Ask how many male guests and female guests there are in the inn now?
Is this the question?
Is this the entrance exam question from previous years?
Wang Xuecheng once again suspected that he had read a fake book.
He took out the yellow paper and slowly calculated.
I finally figured out the correct answer, but a quarter of an hour had already passed.
Yan Ci: "Brother Wang, you can't do this! The entrance exam has a time limit of one and a half hours to complete all the questions. You actually spent a quarter of an hour on a simple numerology question. No, no, you won't be able to pass the exam like this. You must not only ensure that your answers are accurate, but also fast enough."
Wang Xuecheng: “…” Brother Yan, have you seen my face that looks like I have lost all hope in life?
He asked, "Why is there a time limit? Why only an hour and a half? Who can finish it? Isn't this rule going to keep all the students out?"
"Brother Wang, you underestimate the students in the world. I took the entrance exam four times, and each time there were thousands of people. Brother Wang, guess how many people passed each entrance exam?"
Wang Xuecheng asked in a daze, "How much?"
Yan Ci chuckled, "The first time, two hundred and twenty people were admitted, the second time, one hundred and eighty people were admitted, and the third time..."
Listening to Yan Ci reciting the statistics, Wang Xuecheng suddenly felt a surge of pressure. "So many people have been admitted to the academy. How many people are there in Shanhe Academy?"
"There are probably at least one or two thousand people. We have entrance exams here, and every month people from the academy return home to take the exams after finishing their studies. It's said that the academy is very large, enough to accommodate tens of thousands of students studying at the same time."
Wang Xuecheng was shocked.
"Tens of thousands of people reading together?"
Totally unimaginable.
Yan Ci patted Wang Xuecheng on the shoulder and said, "So in this life, no matter what, you must go to Shanhe Academy to gain more experience. Brother Wang, work hard! You still have a long way to go."
Wang Xuecheng: “…” Please, Brother Yan, don’t attack him anymore.
He has suffered too many blows today.
Bang!
There was a loud slam of a door downstairs.
Yan Ci and Wang Xuecheng walked out of the house together and looked downstairs.
A scholar named Xue, who lived in the same building, exclaimed, "Reliable news, absolutely reliable news, Wenqing Bookstore is about to publish a collection of the top-ranked students in all the entrance examinations."
"really?"
"Absolutely true. They say it will be officially released in five days, with paperback, softcover, and hardcover editions!"
"I must buy a copy."
"I want to see what the top scorers are really good at."
"It's a chance to see the first place, not bad, not bad."
Wang Xuecheng was infected by the crowd and became excited too. Buy, buy, buy, I must buy.
It just costs too much money.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
