Chapter 59: Occasional Gains
Liang Qu turned around and looked at his own house.
It is no more than ten meters long and wide, and only because of the low wall around it does it look a little bigger.
Several corners of the old tiled roof were covered with thatch to keep out the rain, and the soil on the ground was already bumpy.
Unexpectedly, after rejecting Xue Chengquan, I ended up coming back again after going around in circles.
Liang Qu didn't refuse again. At worst, he could go to the martial arts gym when he couldn't go home.
As for the chief priest, it was not a big deal and it was also a chance to show off, so he agreed.
After expressing their gratitude to the village elder Chen Zhaoan again, the group returned in a mighty manner.
After finally getting some free time, before Liang Qu could close the door to practice martial arts or check what he had gained, the door was knocked again.
When I opened the door, I saw that it was Uncle Chen who came back to divide the money after selling fish.
Chen Qingjiang looked excited. He took out a few silver beans from his bag and put them on the table. He talked about the fish sale with his hands dancing and excitement: "Five hundred and sixty-seven coins! When Lin Songbao heard that the fish was yours, he gave me five cents of silver. Five cents is half a tael! We made half a tael of silver in one day!"
Seeing Uncle Chen so excited, Liang Qu felt even better. He divided the silver on the table into two halves and pushed them apart: "Then let's go with our agreed fifty-fifty split. You get two cents and a half, and I get two cents and a half."
"No, no, that won't work. Two and a half cents is too much. I can't take it. One cent is fine. I'll take one cent." Chen Qingjiang took out a pill from his half and put it back into his bag.
"Uncle Chen, didn't we agree to split the profits 50-50 at the beginning? Now you want me to break my promise? Isn't this putting me in an unfair position? Wouldn't it damage my reputation if the news got out?"
Liang Qu had figured out Uncle Chen's character, so he didn't try to be polite and just pressed him with the righteousness.
Two cents and five cents a day, I can save at least two cents every day, and the money owed to Uncle Chen's clinic can be paid back in four or five days.
As expected, Chen Qingjiang fell for it and his face wrinkled. He had never read books, but he had heard a lot of stories, most of which were about people sacrificing their own lives for justice and those who were willing to die for the greater good. He was immediately frightened and had to accept it.
"I'm so sorry, but it's time for dinner, Uncle Chen, can you let me have dinner at your house?"
"Okay, okay, I'll ask my wife to cook some more dishes."
Early the next morning.
Liang Qu saw Xue Chengquan sending people to set up a simple porridge stall at the pier.
The thick vegetable porridge was steaming in the cold wind, and people lined up, shivering as they got their share of the porridge.
There were the children, women, a lame old man, and a toothless old lady that they had seen in the alley before. There were also many people who smeared dust on their clothes and tried to sneak in, but were driven out by Lin Songbao who was standing nearby.
He came to help, and Lin Songbao knew exactly who was truly poor and who was pretending to be poor in the town.
"Damn it, you come here to eat and drink for free, do you know whose stall this is? Brother Shui! Liang Qu! Who is that? Master Yang Wu's personal disciple, the future master! If you are not afraid of death, come here. If you can hide it from your Master Lin, I think you are this!"
Lin Songbao raised his thumbs high and shouted to the crowd.
Liang Qu laughed out loud when he heard this, but he didn't come closer. After taking a few glances, he chose to leave.
In the afternoon, Liang Qu put on his badge and arm guards, found some clean clothes to put on, and followed the convoy to Shanghu Academy. Through the old man he had registered to meet the day before, he found his teacher. He started by learning to recognize words, and learned things like "The Rules for Being a Good Pupil and Child" and "Three Character Classic".
Sitting in his seat, Liang Qu looked around at a group of children who were only seven or eight years old, and the oldest was no more than twelve or thirteen, and felt quite helpless.
As he is learning to read at this age, he is considered an "advanced student".
Fortunately, Liang Qu, who had received systematic education and was admitted to a prestigious university, had a strong learning ability. In addition, the characters in this world had many similarities, so he learned to read very quickly, so fast that his teachers couldn't believe it.
"Liang Qu, you really haven't been to a private school before?" "Yes, sir. I have been a fisherman since I was a child and have never been to school. However, I often read the words when I passed by various shops, and I can recognize some words. For example, the word Wufangzhai, I memorized it after passing by it several times."
The teacher labeled Liang Qu as a studious person and said with emotion: "If you gave up martial arts and took the imperial examination, you might have achieved something."
The little kids nearby all looked at him with admiration, making Liang Qu feel awkward.
This is not the way to show off your prowess in front of others. It doesn't give you a sense of accomplishment.
"You are a warrior, so you have additional learning tasks. Since you have a good foundation, maybe you can try reading these two books. If you don't understand, you can ask me."
The teacher handed over two stacks of books, one was "Haomutang Miscellaneous Notes and Annotations", which had six volumes, and the other was "My Thoughts on the Cultivation of Nature and Life", which had two volumes.
Dashun was a country founded on military power. Even scholars who had never practiced martial arts had a deep understanding of martial arts. There was even a story of a great scholar who was so weak that he could barely lift a chicken and enlightened a martial arts master on the spot.
Liang Qu took the book with both hands and briefly looked through the table of contents.
Both books are works by warriors in the Zhenxiang realm. The former is a compilation of what the author and his friends have seen and heard in their lifetime. It mainly talks about the characteristics of various spirits, herbal medicine identification, and encounters with spiritual treasures. Because it is an experience from a personal perspective, it is quite interesting to read.
The latter is not much different, except that this warrior lived in an earlier era and told many stories about battlefields, as well as his understanding of warrior training, and his descriptions of some realms were more accurate and to the point.
For example, at the Galloping Horse Realm, one can pull back dozens of galloping horses without letting them move. What kind of horse is this?
Are they all good horses, or all inferior horses? Are they big horses or small horses?
In fact, it is a very vague adjective.
"These two books are just for beginners. There are many more books to read. Most of the records about spirits, monsters and demons in them are correct. For those that are not correct, there are annotations left by later generations. They are all the experience of the predecessors and are very precious.
You can try to read it first and take it back to read, but remember not to damage it, otherwise you will not only have to pay the original price, but also pay for the disrespect to the book, because it is handwritten, and each volume costs one tael of silver. "
Liang Qu nodded seriously, thinking that being a warrior is not easy. Without some culture, one can't get along anywhere. He can't understand martial arts secrets, and he won't know how to recognize rare treasures. If he's unlucky, he might encounter some strange monsters and don't know how to deal with them, so he might just give up.
For several days, Liang Qu traveled between Pingyang Town and Yixing City, reading and practicing calligraphy.
He didn't go to the martial arts gym, and the twenty-day breakthrough time was shortened to less than five days, which was too exaggerated. It would be better to wait for two days before going.
In the town, the incident of Lu Shaohui gradually faded away, as if the mountain ghost had disappeared, and the emotions of the townspeople gradually calmed down.
The only strange thing is that Liang Qu found relevant records about the mountain ghost when he was studying "Haomutang Miscellaneous Notes and Annotations". It said that this monster usually eats once every two days, so it should not have been silent for so long.
But no matter what, it's always a good thing that no one died.
Liangqu is not built under a dangerous wall, so people travel between the two places by land as much as possible and take boats instead.
Pingyang Town is not near the Jianghuai Lake, but the waterways of the two places are connected.
There is a winding river tributary that runs through the entire town. It is seven or eight meters wide and more than ten meters deep. It is the river in front of the entrance of Langyun Tower and has the Nanshi Bridge.
According to the older generation, it was caused by a giant dragon crossing the river, and the route is extremely winding, causing the waterway to be longer than the land route. In addition, there is a fishing station at the pier in the town, so if you want to go into the town to sell fish, you have to pay a river crossing fee first. For this reason, fishermen rarely go there.
For safety reasons, Liang Qu would rather pay a little more toll.
During this period, he also went out on two boat trips, following the two beasts to search for other treasures and precious plants hidden near the waters of Yixing City, but unfortunately, he found nothing.
Perhaps if you keep thinking about something, it will have a result. On this day, Liang Qu was copying a calligraphy piece and turning his wrist, when he received a message on the link that he couldn't move.
(End of this chapter)
