To be honest, although Zhao Hao always told Zhao Shouzheng to concentrate on his studies and not to be distracted by other things, he had to drag his father around all day to make a living, and Zhao Shouzheng didn't have a single day to study peacefully.

Zhao Hao has not forgotten what the top priority for his family this year is. Now that the livelihood problem has been solved, Zhao Shouzheng will naturally not be distracted by anything.

That night, the father and son met again and decided to go all out for the autumn exam. In order to be eligible to enter the Imperial Examination Hall in August, they first had to pass the April exam.

It was already the end of February, and there were only about forty days left before the crucial qualification exam. It was really hard to predict, and the calculation was shocking. Even Zhao Shouzheng became nervous, and the next morning, he rushed to the Imperial College to take his place in prison without even having breakfast.

Before the imperial examination, Zhao Shouzheng had to at least make himself familiar to the crowd. Sitting in jail every day for more than a month was probably not enough, so how could he dare to skip classes again?

Zhao Hao was not so miserable. He slept until noon and only got up after he had enough sleep.

When Zhao Hao thought that Zhao Shouzheng should be sitting in a bright classroom at this moment, with his hands behind his back, listening to the doctors of the Imperial Academy talking about the heavenly book, he felt that his choice was absolutely correct.

Thinking about how Master Zhao was still working very hard at his age, Zhao Hao couldn't help but chuckle while brushing his teeth.

How can it be more comfortable to take the exam yourself than to let your father take it?

After washing up, he walked to the kitchen as usual to heat up the leftovers from last night. But just as he lit the lamp, he suddenly slapped his head and said to himself:

"I'm rich now, why should I eat leftovers?"

He blew out the lamp, pocketed the change he had brought back from buying wine and meat yesterday, locked the door, and swaggered out into the street.

He had originally planned to find a decent breakfast shop and enjoy a hearty breakfast, but when he saw the breakfast stall at the bridge head, he changed his mind.

"One should not forget one's roots." Zhao Hao thought so and walked straight to the bridgehead.

However, business was quiet, with only two sixty-year-old men there, eating porridge leisurely.

It's not surprising. It's already noon. Apart from the old man, who else would be the idler like him who hasn't had breakfast?

There was no business at the moment, so the stall owner had already sat down to rest. The woman was washing dishes by the river, leaving Qiaoqiao alone to look after the business.

The girl was fiddling with her hair out of boredom. When she saw Zhao Hao, she smiled and greeted him, "Did you remember to have breakfast today?"

Zhao Hao's face turned red when he heard this. After he and his son moved in, they had always been short of money and only came to buy breakfast once. The rest of the time, they either endured it or ate the leftovers from the previous night.

Then I thought about how even for the only breakfast I had, I broke the soup bowl and only ate a few dusty buns.

"My life is really hard..." Zhao Hao couldn't help but have red eyes, sighing for the difficult years he had gone through in the past.

The girl named Qiaoqiao stretched her neck across the steamer and approached Zhao Hao, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "No money for food again?"

"Who said that!" Zhao Hao blushed all the way to his neck and shouted, "I just forgot to bring money that day!"

As he spoke, he slapped a piece of silver worth four or five cents next to the steamer.

"I'll pay for the bowl and the buns! I'll return them all to you!"

"I can't make the change." The girl was surprised to see the silver and pouted unhappily: "It's a small business, I only accept copper coins!"

"You don't have to look for it. Just bring us the delicious food and drinks." Zhao Hao picked an empty table and sat down.

At this time, the stall owner was already alarmed. Seeing a rich man with unknown motives coming to his door, he was afraid that his daughter would offend him, so he immediately pulled Qiaoqiao aside and personally greeted Zhao Hao:

"Please forgive me, sir. It's late now and there aren't many ingredients left. Even if I give them all to you, I won't charge you a hundred coins."

"It's okay, I'll save the rest of the money first." Zhao Hao realized that he had scared the other person, so he waved his hands and said kindly, "Uncle, I'm a neighbor who's here for dinner, I can have whatever I want, I'm not picky."

As he was talking, an old man who was eating porridge nearby also spoke up: "Yes, Fang De, this is the young man who saved Gao the blacksmith. I saw Gao Wu kowtow to him in the street that day."

"Is that so..." The stall owner finally breathed a sigh of relief and went to prepare food for Zhao Hao.

Zhao Hao bowed to the old man and thanked him for explaining for him.

"It is a blessing for the neighbors that a great man like you lives in Caijia Lane." The two old men were very polite to him. As the saying goes, old people are afraid of death, and they were obviously attracted by his superb medical skills.

If they knew that Zhao Hao's medical skills were just a one-time deal, I wonder what they would think?

"It's just a blind cat catching a dead mouse. I don't deserve the title of master." Zhao Hao hurriedly relieved himself of the pressure and said, "I can't treat illnesses."

"You are too modest, sir. There are not many young men as modest as you."

"Yes, a full pot of water makes no sound, but a half-full pot makes a loud noise. The greater your ability, the more humble you will be!"

Unexpectedly, the two old men became more and more stubborn and wanted to imagine him as a humble young miracle doctor.

Zhao Hao was so overwhelmed by the compliments that he felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. Fortunately, Qiaoqiao brought him breakfast, which helped him out.

"Nanjian meatballs, Xiaolongbao, and the fried dough sticks and fried fruit you always miss. You can't leave until you finish them all."

Although Qiaoqiao is good at talking, her dough-like appearance really doesn't have any deterrent effect.

Zhao Hao laughed and said, "Who said I ate alone?"

As he spoke, he took out half of the food and said to Qiaoqiao, "Give it to the two old men."

"No need, I'm full."

"Yeah, I'm old and can't eat anything too oily."

"Pack it up and take it back for the children." Zhao Hao smiled and waved his hand, saying, "As the saying goes, a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor. The two old uncles will have to take care of the Han family in the future."

“Don’t worry, with me as the captain here, no one in Caijia Lane dares to bully your family.” The old man who spoke for him happily packed the dumplings.

Another old man packed up the fried fruit and said with a smile: "The captain has spoken. If you need any help in the future, just ask. There is nothing else in Caijia Lane. There are strong men everywhere."

Zhao Hao had never thought that he could get to know the head of the Jia here just by doing some favors. As a professional, he naturally knew that the Ming Dynasty had a baojia system, where ten households formed a Jia, and ten Jia formed a Bao. The baojia system was to sit together and watch over each other, stabilizing the grassroots people's order.

The head of a group is probably equivalent to the village leader in later generations.

However, even after he moved here for so long, no one asked him and his son to meet the head of the village and sign a mutual guarantee letter. It can be seen that after two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, this system has become a mere formality.

Zhao Hao finished his meal leisurely, then took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth and walked away leisurely.

The stall owner and his wife looked at his back and said in amazement, "I haven't seen anyone showing off at a roadside stall in all these years..."

"How can he have any money?" Qiaoqiao said disapprovingly, "He is just pretending to be rich."

"But he is a very presentable person. It seems that he is a wealthy man who has fallen on hard times." Upon hearing this, the stall owner sighed with sympathy and even felt a little self-pitying.

ps. The second update is here. Mr. Zhao's happy life has begun. Please give him recommendations, chapter reviews, and sponsorship~~~~

ps2. I have to go out during the day, so I posted the chapter for noon in advance.