Chapter 4 The Ancient Scholar Used as Cannon Fodder (Part 4) Lin You, based on...
Adhering to the modern idea of not asking about exam results beforehand and not putting psychological pressure on the candidates, Lin You did not ask Chu Nanfeng how the exam went, but only told him to go to bed early.
He lives too far from the examination hall, so he'll have to get up early tomorrow to queue.
It's strange, really. Back in modern times, her older sisters would take her to the college entrance exam, but now she's the one waiting outside the exam hall.
Chu Nanfeng obediently finished his porridge, packed up his dry rations, and went to bed to rest. However, he was a little puzzled. The female ghost's tone seemed strange, like his mother's.
Lin You was unaware that in the mind of the person she was tasked with, she was still regarded as a female ghost. After Chu Nanfeng fell asleep, she floated to the roof to look at the stars and keep watch at night.
Anyway, once she becomes a system, she won't need to sleep anymore. Who knows if that transmigrator will come back to harm people again? Besides, there are no alarm clocks in ancient times. If Chu Nanfeng oversleeps, she can remind him.
The night passed peacefully, and Chu Nanfeng got up before Lin You could call him. Lin You glanced at the time displayed on the system page; it was only 3:30 a.m.
Chu Nanfeng washed his face, soaked some flatbread in hot water for breakfast, carefully checked the examination basket, tied the lid with a rope, and then set off for the examination hall.
Lin You looked at the extremely simple breakfast and wanted to sigh. There should at least be an egg; this is so lacking in nutrition.
When they met Han Qige at the entrance of the examination hall, neither of them showed any unusual expression and they chatted for a while, as if nothing had happened yesterday.
Han Qige then very affectionately gave Chu Nanfeng a sachet, saying that it contained a specially prepared fragrance powder that could remove odors and refresh the mind.
Chu Nanfeng accepted the sachet with a gentle smile, patted his shoulder affectionately, and said some encouraging words. Only after he left did he discreetly discard the sachet.
"What is this guy up to now? Chu Nanfeng, you have to be careful! Don't touch anything he gives you, and stay away from him!" Lin You became a little nervous when she saw the sachet.
In the palace dramas she watched, weren't the things that were often used to harm people usually sachets or incense?
This Han Qige also traveled from the modern era, so her thought process should be similar to hers.
Chu Nanfeng, however, took out a handkerchief and wiped the hand that had taken the sachet without a care. He reassured Lin You, "It's alright. If it were something truly dangerous, he wouldn't dare to take it himself. We've known each other for so long, and this is all he's capable of."
That confident tone left Lin You speechless. Wow, this mission target has such a powerful aura!
Chu Nanfeng calmly walked into the examination hall. Lin You's words calmed his mood, which had been affected by Han Qige.
Lin You didn't accompany Chu Nanfeng into the examination hall. She told him she would come to pick him up in three days and then wandered off to play on the street.
There weren't many forms of entertainment in ancient times, but the gossip was quite fascinating. Lin You wandered around the streets for a while before stopping at a restaurant with a lot of customers.
The storyteller in the building told his supernatural tales with great enthusiasm and rhythm, drawing gasps of surprise from those around him every now and then. Lin You listened with great interest.
This storyteller can even do ventriloquism! He can imitate the sounds of wind and rain, birdsong and cicada chirps with incredible realism. His ghostly, ethereal, and melancholic singing voice is especially chilling, giving listeners goosebumps.
The story is just too cliché: either a scholar elopes with a young lady from a wealthy family, and after gaining power, he returns to his wife's family to show off and humiliate them.
Alternatively, a wealthy man might have a keen eye for talent and take a liking to a scholar, providing him with money, effort, and even marrying off his daughter. After the scholar passes the imperial examination with top honors and marries a new, wealthy, and powerful wife, the wealthy man's daughter would willingly become his concubine.
Interspersed throughout are various encounters with beautiful women, making it even more outrageous than modern harem novels.
Lin Youdong wandered around for three days, observing the everyday lives of ordinary people and the gossip of the town, and visiting many shops, becoming increasingly familiar with the town's information.
After the second exam went smoothly, perhaps seeing that Chu Nanfeng was still alright, Han Qige brought him a hearty meal, saying it was to help him recover.
The food looked fine; it was delivered directly from a fancy restaurant. There was crispy roast chicken, braised beef, braised pork knuckle with rock sugar, and braised pork ribs—all generous portions of juicy meat that looked like they cost a lot of money.
Lin You looked at the exquisitely presented and temptingly colored food, and couldn't help but sniff and swallow. Unfortunately, she couldn't even smell it, let alone taste it.
Chu Nanfeng remained unmoved by the table full of delicious-looking meat dishes, calmly pouring the food into the wooden bucket. Even if Han Qige hadn't tampered with the food, and since he had no oil in his stomach, he still wouldn't be able to digest it.
If an exam is missed due to stomach upset, then it's his own fault for being greedy, and he can't blame anyone else.
Outside the door, Han Qige, hiding in the alley around the corner, watched as the hotel's errand boy retrieved a stack of empty plates from inside before turning away with satisfaction.
Chu Nanfeng saw the familiar figure through the crack in the door and couldn't help but smile bitterly. He didn't give the contents of the wooden bucket to anyone else. He waited until it got dark before quietly taking it out to throw it away.
If he hadn't known that Han Qige had framed him before, and given her seemingly harmless behavior, even if he sensed something was wrong, he would most likely have assumed that she was just too young and inexperienced in doing things.
After sending Chu Nanfeng into the examination hall again, Lin You continued to stroll around the streets. She had taken to browsing various food stalls, even though she couldn't eat them, just looking at them was quite nice.
Ancient snacks may not have been as varied as modern ones, but they were made with high-quality ingredients. Even meat buns were filled with meat, unlike modern buns which are mostly filled with vermicelli and vegetables.
Lin You walked familiarly to the food street, but before she even went in, she stopped in front of a candy stall and couldn't move.
In a huge wok of oil, the fried sweet beans rolled around. The chubby boss stirred the oil in the wok a few times with a slotted spoon, then deftly scooped out the puffed-up sweet beans and poured them into the crystal-clear syrup.
Watching the crescent-shaped fried dough sticks soak up the syrup, then be scooped out, tossed around, and rolled in icing sugar, the surrounding children couldn't help but drool.
Lin You's throat bobbed as well. She loved sweets, and this looked so sweet! It must taste delicious!
She lingered by the stall for a while, and when she finally left, she turned around and squatted down next to a fried noodle stall before she had even taken two steps.
The owner of the fried noodles tossed the wok with one hand and wielded the spatula with the other, his movements swift and skillful. The white noodles quickly turned a dark brown color in the wok.
It was lunchtime, and there was a long line in front of this stall, with people all talking about how delicious the fried noodles were. Lin You's mouth watered even more.
Chu Nanfeng diligently took the exams at the Imperial Examination Hall for three days, while Lin You squatted in the snack street, only able to look but not eat, drooling for three whole days.
Fortunately, she remembered that she had a task to complete and didn't forget to pick up Chu Nanfeng from the exam hall.
Back at his residence, Chu Nanfeng only told Lin You that he was fine before collapsing into bed without eating a single bite.
Lin You was initially startled, but she was relieved when she noticed that the two people next door looked even worse, and that the man surnamed Liu was even drinking herbal medicine.
Whether out of sheer audacity or overconfidence, Han Qige continued to approach Chu Nanfeng, trying to elicit information from him in a friendly manner. Chu Nanfeng, not intending to confront him directly for the time being, responded without any change in expression.
Han Qige had worked his way up in the entertainment industry and was well aware of the power of image and public opinion. He always claimed to be Chu Nanfeng's best confidant, sending him things to help him from time to time, making sure everyone knew about it each time.
If Chu Nanfeng were to sever ties with him for no apparent reason, he would likely be branded as heartless and ungrateful, which would be detrimental to him.
"I haven't done anything to wrong him, so why has he tried to frame me again and again?" After seeing off Han Qige, whose attempts to probe had failed, Chu Nanfeng felt lost and dejected.
The two had known each other since childhood, were classmates for ten years, and spent more time together than their families. They were close friends.
Lin You hesitated for a moment and checked the system's confidentiality rules for mission targets. Fortunately, as long as the detailed plot details were not revealed, the system did not have any confidentiality clauses regarding the transmigrators' information.
Therefore, Lin You readily told Chu Nanfeng about Han Qige's identity as a time traveler, so that he would have a better understanding of the situation.
"You're saying that Han Qige is from hundreds of years in the future, and instead of being reincarnated after his death, he crossed time and space to be reborn here?!"
Chu Nanfeng rarely showed a look of surprise. There really were ghosts in this world, and he had actually spent so much time with one!
Lin You blinked. "Little one, your perspective is a bit unusual. Shouldn't the focus be on whether you'll become a high-ranking official and be remembered for eternity?"
Chu Nanfeng was both surprised and curious, and couldn't help but ask many questions about things from later generations. Lin You studied the system's rules for a while before choosing some things that were not within the scope of confidentiality to tell him.
For example, there are many different kinds of jobs. Even the most ordinary one can earn enough for a day's wages to buy a warm and beautiful winter outfit.
For example, grains yielding a thousand catties per mu, pigs that can grow to three or four hundred catties, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables, so that everyone can eat their fill.
For example, smooth and flat roads, cars that travel thousands of miles a day, airplanes that fly in the sky, and large ships that sail on the water.
Of course, there are also those dozens of stories high buildings, electric lights that are as bright as day at night, and mortgages that many ordinary people have to bear for most of their lives.
Secrecy targets the main worldviews and development processes in order to prevent them from affecting the current civilization of the world.
Even these superficial things amazed Chu Nanfeng, who regretted that he was born too early to see them with his own eyes.
After witnessing the wonders of another world, Chu Nanfeng finally stopped feeling sad. Since Han Qige had a purpose in befriending him, he figured he might as well not have this friend.
With more than ten days until the results were released, Chu Nanfeng didn't go out to make friends with his classmates or participate in activities like poetry gatherings, since going out would cost money, and he was short of cash.
Of course, he could also shamelessly freeload like that scholar surnamed Liu across from him, but such behavior would be looked down upon by many, and Chu Nanfeng was unwilling to ruin his reputation for a small gain.
During this period, apart from chatting with Lin You about things in the future and broadening his horizons, he spent most of his time copying books to earn money.
Lin You was also curious about the content of ancient novels. After glancing at them, she found that they were all stories of talented scholars and beautiful women, which were quite melodramatic. They were written in classical Chinese without any punctuation, which made her dizzy.
Chu Nanfeng mostly copied vernacular stories, because copying vernacular stories was more profitable than copying the Four Books and Five Classics.
Woodblock printing already exists, but the cost of woodblock printing is too high. Many vernacular novels and other popular novels are mostly sold in handwritten copies. However, the Four Books and Five Classics have fixed woodblock originals. With more printing plates available, the price of handwritten copies becomes cheaper.
Chu Nanfeng writes quickly, with neat and clean handwriting, and can also draw illustrations, making him very popular with bookstore owners. He can earn more than a hundred coins a day by copying.
As for the idea that novels can influence a person's temperament, Chu Nanfeng is not a bookworm who is oblivious to the world around him. Since his father's accidental death six years ago, his mother struggled to give birth to his younger sister after hearing the bad news, and has been ill ever since.
At the tender age of eleven, he shouldered the responsibility of supporting his family, not only caring for his frail mother and younger sister but also ensuring he didn't neglect his studies. Having witnessed the harsh realities of life, how could the trivial complaints in a mere storybook possibly affect him?
Lin You also wanted to help him make money, but after thinking for a long time, she realized that she was a complete waste of talent and couldn't do anything.
The essential skills for time travelers in novels include making soap, glass, and cement. She only remembered learning the theoretical knowledge in chemistry class, but since it wasn't a topic that would be tested, she didn't remember the specific proportions and methods at all.
She did remember the □□, but that thing was too dangerous; she didn't know whether it would bring good or bad fortune, so she absolutely couldn't take it out.
As for games like poker and mahjong, she had never played poker and didn't remember the rules at all, let alone mahjong; she didn't even know what tiles were in mahjong.
Lin You sighed helplessly, watching as her task subject spent every day copying books until his wrists were swollen from writing.
On the third night, as Chu Nanfeng massaged his swollen wrists again, Lin You finally couldn't help but ask him, "Chu Nanfeng, aren't you good at painting? Why don't you go sell your paintings?"
She remembered that the character information stated that Chu Nanfeng's specialties included playing the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Painting was a technical skill, and it should be more lucrative than copying books.
Chu Nanfeng shook his head and chuckled after hearing this, "If you want to sell paintings, you have to spend money to buy paints and paper. I am good at painting landscapes, but I have never seen mountains and seas with my own eyes. The scenery in this small town is not particularly outstanding."
A note from the author:
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