Chapter 113: The Capital City 2/2

After registering, Zhu Xunmiao took Li Qingzhi and Xu Qifei to the Zhu family’s residence in the capital city.

Zhu Qian’s main base was in Chongcheng County, but he also had some business in the capital city. There was a Zhu family shop here, as well as a residence. This residence was a bit smaller than the one in Chongcheng County, but it was still decent. At least a few of them could live comfortably, and each person had a large room facing south.

That evening, Zhu Xunmiao treated them to dinner, and they went to a nearby restaurant.

“My dad said the food at this restaurant is especially delicious!” Zhu Xunmiao said as he led Li Qingzhi and the others into the restaurant.

The capital city was already bustling, and with the provincial examination approaching, many scholars had gathered in the capital city. As a result, even the restaurant’s business had improved significantly, and today, many scholars have gathered in this restaurant.

At this moment, several scholars were enthusiastically discussing the recent popular plays: “I really enjoyed the play based on Magistrate Zhang’s punishment of Sun Juren. Now, those plays related to the county magistrate of Chongcheng County are also quite good.”

“Yes, indeed! I never expected our Hexing Prefecture to have such a magistrate who is wholeheartedly dedicated to the people!”

“I’ve been to Chongcheng County, and indeed, it’s been managed quite well there.”

“In fact, before the plays, there were books. Have you read any of them?”

…

Li Qingzhi didn’t expect that the plays adapted from the stories he wrote had already garnered attention in the capital city.

Listening to them chat about those plays, Zhu Xunmiao was eager to join: “Shall we go watch a play tomorrow?”

Li Qingzhi responded, “The provincial examination is approaching, and you still want to go watch a play?” He believed in the importance of balancing work and leisure, but Zhu Xunmiao… He had always been someone who knew how to enjoy himself. He had already balanced “work and leisure” quite well.

Moreover, Zhu Xunmiao was easily influenced by his surroundings. After going to watch one play, he might feel the need to watch all the plays to feel satisfied, and then he wouldn’t be able to focus on studying for a long time.

Zhu Xunmiao pondered for a moment and said, “… Yeah…”

A scholar nearby heard Li Qingzhi’s words and immediately agreed, “Yes, with the provincial examination approaching, we shouldn’t be going to watch any plays!”

He then earnestly advised the people chatting, “Gentlemen, the imperial examination is more important than anything else. Don’t let the pursuit of pleasure delay your preparations for the examination…”

Li Qingzhi, upon hearing this, quickly pulled Zhu Xunmiao away to avoid being associated with such a sermonizing person.

No one likes someone who lectures others.

He told Zhu Xunmiao not to go watch the play because they were familiar with each other, but for this person to give unsolicited advice to a group of strangers, what was that about?

They found seats in a corner and sampled the specialty dishes of the capital city.

The food was delicious, or at least much better than Li Qingzhi’s cooking skills.

During the meal, Zhu Xunmiao asked Li Qingzhi about his plans for the next day.

Li Qingzhi replied, “I’m going to visit Magistrate Zhang.”

Chang Zhan had been in the county town for about ten days now.

During this time, Chang Zhan had sent a package through someone to greet Li Qingzhi, but other than that, they hadn’t had any other contact.

Li Qingzhi intended to go see him.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Xunmiao looked at Li Qingzhi with envy. Not only did Li Qingzhi have a good relationship with Magistrate Guo, but he also knew Magistrate Zhang!

As for Xu Qiwen and the other classmate, their situation was even worse. At least Zhu Xunmiao received some recognition from Magistrate Guo, but what about them? They hadn’t exchanged more than a few words with Magistrate Guo!

The disparity between people was truly significant.

Li Qingzhi was actually the one among them with the humblest background, but now his reputation was so great, and he even knew the magistrate!

But thinking about Li Qingzhi’s photographic memory, they felt reassured.

How many people in this world are as intelligent as Li Qingzhi?

Early the next morning, Li Qingzhi went to visit Magistrate Zhang’s residence.

During the ten days since Chang Zhan arrived, Magistrate Zhang had been networking everywhere, making many preparations, and also uncovering more information.

All of this made it difficult for him to sleep at night. He had already made up his mind to escalate the matter, was even prepared to confront King Jin head-on, and was even prepared for the possibility of losing his official hat because of this incident.

After another sleepless night, Magistrate Zhang felt a bit weary when he woke up in the morning.

The gatekeeper’s wife boiled a pot of hot water every morning, and Magistrate Zhang would throw a handful of black tea leaves into the teapot before going to the kitchen to make tea.

When he arrived in the kitchen, Chang Zhan was making noodles.

“You’re a guest; why do you come to the kitchen every day?” Magistrate Zhang asked.

“Master, my father is a cook, my brother is a cook, and I’m also a cook; our whole family is in the food business,” Chang Zhan replied.

The recipes of the Chang family were only passed down to the eldest son, and their restaurant was also managed by his brother. Therefore, Chang Zhan didn’t learn to cook when he was young; his father sent him to school, hoping he would become a scholar through the imperial examination.

But he didn’t show much talent in his studies. Instead, he had a knack for cooking… From a young age, he had a good palate, and he knew how to cook many dishes just by tasting them.

Seeing this, his father wanted to teach him some new dishes and hoped he would start his own business in the future.

Among these new dishes, the one his father thought about the most was braised dishes.

With a good braising sauce recipe, braised chicken and duck could be sold… The business would definitely thrive, and it would be easy to manage.

His father and brother had already planned to give him some money to open a braised food shop.

They even worked out the braising sauce recipe, which was the most delicious braised food he had ever tasted.

But who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, both his father and brother would run into trouble?

After their accident, his mother and sister-in-law had to do needlework to support the family, and since they had never cooked before, cooking became his job.

At that time, he couldn’t do anything else, so he could only take care of Cui Cui at home while figuring out how to cook home-cooked dishes deliciously.

Because he wanted to find a job in the kitchen of a restaurant or open a small shop selling food, he even practiced knife skills.

Chang Zhan’s cooking skills are quite good now, not inferior to those of some of the head chefs in restaurants.

Today, he got up early to make noodles.

Southerners don’t eat noodles very much, and most people in Hexing Mansion don’t know how to make noodles, but Chang Zhan can and even makes delicious toppings.

After Magistrate Zhang finished his tea, a bowl of pickled fish fillet noodles was brought to him. The fish fillets were made from black fish fillets and looked as thin as paper.

This kid is really capable, but his life is too hard… Magistrate Zhang sighed a little. At this time, the concierge came in from outside and told Magistrate Zhang that there was a young man named Li Qingzhi who asked to see him, and Magistrate Gou asked him to take him with him. Bring something over.

“Let him in,” Zhang Magistrate said, then glanced at Chang Zhan.

Chang Zhan looked expectant. He should know Li Qingzhi, so Zhang Magistrate didn’t ask him to leave.

Zhang Magistrate’s residence was quite small, not as large as the previous one owned by Zhu Qian. The reception hall and dining area were combined, so Li Qingzhi was brought directly in front of Zhang Magistrate, who was eating.

He also saw Chang Zhan standing beside Zhang Magistrate.

After ten days, Chang Zhan’s complexion had improved significantly, and he was obviously living well under Zhang Magistrate’s care.

From this, it could be seen that Zhang Magistrate was trustworthy.

Li Qingzhi stepped forward to bow, then took out two gifts.

Magistrate Zhang hadn’t asked him to bring any gifts, and these two gifts were prepared by Li Qingzhi himself.

He hadn’t prepared anything particularly valuable… He took two pairs of new shoes from Jin Xiaoye’s shop, along with a few summer clothes suitable for the season. Plus, he bought some pastries and snacks in the city yesterday, which made up the two gifts.

Zhang Magistrate looked at these items, feeling that they weren’t expensive, so he accepted them.

After exchanging pleasantries, Li Qingzhi said to Chang Zhan, “Xiao Zhang, your niece is no longer crying all day.”

“Good, that’s great…” Chang Zhan’s eyes were slightly red.

Zhang Magistrate asked Li Qingzhi, “Xiao Zhang’s niece is with you?”

“Yes, I happen to have two children about the same age as his niece, so he entrusted his niece to me for care,” Li Qingzhi replied, then told Chang Zhan about some details regarding Chang Cui.

He told Chang Zhan not to tell Zhang Magistrate about his previous experiences, fearing that Zhang Magistrate wouldn’t care about the situation in Linhu County and fearing retaliation if the news spread.

It was he who wrote to the Zhang Magistrate, prompting him to investigate Linhu County. It could be said that he was the one pushing everything forward.

If Jin Xiaoye’s people knew about this, Jin Xiaoye and others might be in danger, and his future would be doomed to hardships.

But it was fine to have Chang Zhan know. Looking at the current situation… If anything happened, Zhang Magistrate should attract all the hatred of King Jin.

He owed Zhang Magistrate a favor.