The next day, Zhao Hao got up before dawn and went to the kitchen to heat up the leftovers from last night.

Then he prepared water for Zhao Shouzheng to wash his face, and prepared toothbrushes and soap, and then called him to get up.

Zhao Shouzheng, who was hungover, rubbed his swollen head and could not remember what he said last night.

"Father, you should drink less in the future." Zhao Hao advised him as he served him food: "Your brain is not very smart to begin with, and if you drink too much, you will have no chance of passing the imperial examination."

"Uh..." Zhao Shouzheng was speechless. After a long while, he nodded and said, "Okay."

After the father and son finished their breakfast, they threw their bowls and chopsticks into the basin, and Zhao Hao couldn't wait to pull Zhao Shouzheng out.

The two of them were no longer in the mood to stroll leisurely today, and they walked quickly, and in more than half an hour they arrived at the street outside the Drum Tower.

"There are several shops on this street where you can buy brown sugar." Zhao Shouzheng wiped the sweat off his face with the towel around his neck.

Zhao Hao shook his head. "We can't buy it here. Let's go farther away."

"Be cautious." Zhao Shouzheng praised: "Being cautious can strengthen one's will, and being cautious in words can enhance one's virtue. My son will become a great man."

Zhao Hao rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, you know all the truths, but you forget them all when you do something...

However, he had important things to do today, and he didn't want to waste time complaining, so he pulled Zhao Shouzheng straight across the Drum Tower Outer Street, passed the Square in front of the Drum Tower, and came to the Fish Market Street, which was also prosperous and had a complete range of department stores.

The father and son went to four shops and bought a total of 50 kilograms of brown sugar. Then they carried the sugar to Beimen Bridge and repeated the same trick again, buying another 50 kilograms of brown sugar from four shops.

Zhao Hao once again spent all the money he had...

Naturally, he had no money to hire a porter, so Zhao Shouzheng carried the load and walked towards Caijia Lane, more than ten miles away.

Zhao Hao originally wanted to take turns carrying the load with him, but Zhao Shouzheng refused.

"My son still needs to grow up, so he can't be crushed."

Zhao Hao couldn't win the fight, so he had to fan him with his hat to encourage Zhao Shouzheng spiritually.

But Zhao Shouzheng was too weak to carry anything on his shoulders or hands. His shaky, shaky appearance, walking and stopping, attracted many laughs from the citizens along the way.

You have to know that in that era, working people could carry a load of two or three hundred kilograms, and even women and children would not be weighed down by such a small weight.

"Ignore them." Zhao Hao raised his thumbs and encouraged him with admiration: "Father is the best! Come on, come on!"

Although Zhao Shouzheng didn't know what "Come on" meant, he was still very excited. He yelled and rushed out with his load on his shoulder.

Unexpectedly, before he rushed out ten feet, his legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground. If Zhao Hao hadn't been on guard against this move and quickly caught the pole, he would have spilled all the candy on the ground.

"I can't do it anymore. I want to kill the enemy, but I'm exhausted." Zhao Shouzheng sat down under the shade of the tree, panting heavily and said, "Let me rest for a while, then I'll go into battle again."

~~

Zhao Hao hurried to the well nearby, fetched a ladle of well water, and added brown sugar to the water.

Zhao Shouzheng gulped down the drink and felt like he was alive again.

"The road ahead is long and arduous, so keep going."

Zhao Shouzheng held onto the tree trunk and tried hard to get up.

At this moment, a surprised call suddenly sounded out of nowhere.

"Hey, isn't this my brother?"

The father and son looked in the direction of the sound and saw a tall man wearing a black gauze scarf and a half-new blue shirt with white edges, running towards them from a distance with a happy face.

"Ah, it's you, brother!"

When the man came closer, Zhao Hao saw that he looked pretty good, but his prominent ears were quite funny. He had dark circles under his eyes, and there were some conspicuous oil stains on his collar. He exuded a sense of dejection, which could be felt from a few feet away.

When Zhao Shouzheng saw the person coming, he immediately smiled, stood up and bowed to the other person, saying: "My dear brother, my dear brother, it is better to come at the right time than to come early."

"Really?" The man blinked in surprise and asked expectantly, "Brother, do you have a meal?"

"Of course there is." Zhao Shouzheng pointed at the load and said with a happy smile: "But you have to help me carry it home first."

"No problem, brother, if you ask me, I will go through fire and water for you."

The man looked at the two cloth bags tied to the two ends of the pole and felt that they were not very big, so he patted his chest loudly. After he finished speaking, he noticed Zhao Hao standing beside him and said with a smile: "Is this my nephew? He has grown so big."

Zhao Hao was a little confused by this self-familiar guy. He just forced a smile as a greeting.

"This child doesn't like to talk much." The visitor didn't take it seriously. He bent down, picked up the shoulder pole and was about to stand up.

"Ouch, it's so heavy..." The man looked quite big, but it was just a silver-plated spear head. He looked at Zhao Shouzheng for help and said, "Brother, help me fire a shot."

Zhao Shouzheng helped him lift the burden, and then led his son in front to lead the way.

The man had no choice but to carry the load and follow behind with a grunt.

After moving a little further away, Zhao Hao finally couldn't help but whispered, "Who is this?"

"He was my classmate in the Imperial College, named Fan Datong. The five taels before were borrowed by this guy. I have no idea how much money I gave him before." Zhao Shouzheng whispered to Zhao Hao.

Zhao Hao suddenly realized that he had finally caught a coolie...

But Fan Datong was also a loser. He started to complain of being tired after only walking a few hundred steps.

"Brother, how about we take over?" Fan Datong looked at Zhao Shouzheng eagerly, knowing that he was always soft-hearted.

"Pay back the money!" Zhao Hao glared at him angrily. He thought to himself that this guy was so shameless. He knew that my father was in poverty, but he still wanted to borrow money from him.

"Nephew, are you kidding?" Fan Datong blinked and looked at Zhao Hao, who had a tender face but a cruel heart.

"When the pole falls, return the money immediately." Zhao Hao stretched out his hand to him and insisted, "Return the five taels from yesterday first."

"Huh?" Fan Datong was stunned and looked at Zhao Shouzheng.

Zhao Shouzheng shrugged, indicating that he could do nothing to help.

"My dear brother, you may not know that my son is now the head of my family, and my words as a father are no longer effective."

"I didn't say I won't pick." Fan Datong immediately realized the situation and said with energy, "My dear nephew, believe it or not, I can pick your house in one go!"

"Believe." Zhao Hao curled his lips and didn't want to pay attention to him.

Fan Datong had no choice but to continue carrying the burden forward, and lamented to Zhao Shouzheng: "Brother, your son's temper is not like yours."

"My son is a hundred times stronger than me." Zhao Shouzheng was very proud when he heard this, and then asked about his purpose of coming.

"I forgot to ask you about your new address the day before yesterday, and was worried about how to meet you. I didn't expect to meet you today. It can be said that 'fate brings us together.'" Fan Datong answered seriously. In fact, he had been wandering around the north of the city these two days just to find Zhao Shouzheng.

"Really? That's not bad." Zhao Shouzheng felt warm at heart when he heard that, and laughed at himself, "It means I'm not such a complete failure as a person."

Zhao Hao rolled his eyes when he heard this, thinking: "Does she value you as a person? Does she value your money?"

ps. It’s a new day. Please recommend and comment~~~~~