"Doctor He mentioned the payment and said he wanted some paintings."
What he asked for was the painting by the author of "Spring Snow" that he requested last time.
Jiang Ling was a little curious, "Isn't that artist relatively unknown? Why does Doctor He seem to be so fond of his paintings?"
She couldn't help but guess: "Maybe the two of them have a close relationship."
Zhou Jingan smiled and said, "Ling'er is smart and clever, and her guess is correct."
As he said that, he asked Ye Song to bring over the paintings he had found.
Fortunately, Zhou Jing'an had collected "Spring Snow" before. After Ye Song told him the reward He Zui asked for, he went directly to find the person who had given him "Spring Snow" before. The person did not have his painting anymore, but knew the whereabouts of some other paintings, so he promised to help him find them.
During this period, Zhou Jing'an learned about the relationship between He Zui and the painter.
Zhou Jing'an unfolded the three paintings he had found and told Jiang Ling about them.
"The painter's name is Zhang Ye, and he's from the same hometown as Doctor He."
The two men came from a small mountain village. Zhang Ye was determined to take the imperial examination and wanted to become an official to benefit the people; He Zui loved medicine and wanted to be admitted to the Imperial Hospital to display his talents.
However, the two men came from ordinary families, and most of their assets had been spent on studying, calligraphy, and learning medicine. They did not bring much money with them when they came to Beijing, and they did not want to burden their families with hard work. They were determined to make a name for themselves and return home in glory.
It was the last few years of the Dashun Dynasty. The emperor was incompetent, corruption was rampant, and the officialdom was in a mess.
Zhang Ye was unwilling to associate with these villains and turned a blind eye to the olive branches extended by corrupt officials, which angered them. As a result, the name on the test paper he submitted was changed, and Zhang Ye failed.
Although he was furious, he could do nothing about it. He persuaded himself not to pretend to be nice to them anymore, as it would only make him look completely different in the end.
Things were not going well for He Zui either.
They added one more condition for admission to the Imperial Medical Service: each person was required to pay twenty taels of silver.
He Zui was so angry that he wanted to report to the authorities, but he was kicked out before he even got through. He wanted to rush up and fight the officials, but was stopped by Zhang Ye, who said he would help him collect the twenty taels.
Where did they get so much money? Zhang Ye painted and wrote poems day and night, and went out to set up stalls to sell paintings, which was quite popular among some literati and poets.
Zhang Ye told He Zui to just prepare for the exam and not worry about anything else. So when He Zui stepped into the examination room with the heavy twenty taels of silver in his pocket and was successfully admitted to the Imperial Hospital, Zhang Ye fell ill without a doubt.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com