Chapter 142

After reminding his younger brother several times to stay safe and avoid discussing national affairs, Shuiqing took Ling Ran and Fan Jiang back home.

Before leaving, they left behind a large piece of pork but took with them the cleaned pig intestines that Hu Wenhua had prepared.

On the other side, in Guangning Prefecture, Fan Jin, purchasing grains at the rice shop, pointed at different types of beans and said to the shopkeeper, “50 catties of red beans, 100 catties of mung beans, 150 catties of soybeans, and 100 catties of millet.”

Every time he visited the rice shop, he didn’t buy rice but various grains and beans.

Shuiqing bought rice at the market, which was tasty and cheap. However, it was strange that these beans and millet, labeled ‘organic,’ were even more expensive than rice!

In fact, they were several times more expensive!

Shuiqing said these so-called ‘organic’ ones were the same as theirs, so buying them in the prefectural city was fine.

Previously, he transported lime and other things back. A few days ago, during the mushroom season, he began transporting grains.

Shuiqing said red beans could make red bean soup or sweet red bean cakes, so they needed to buy them.

Mung beans were best for cooking mung bean soup to clear heat in summer, and they could also sprout mung bean sprouts, so they needed to buy more.

Soybeans could make tofu, soy milk, and other soy products, and they could also sprout soybean sprouts, so they needed to buy more.

There were many people in the family, so they drank millet and wolfberry porridge in the morning and made millet cakes when they had free time to pass the time and eat healthier, so they needed them.

When the shopkeeper heard that he was buying hundreds of catties, his face lit up, and he quickly bowed and said, “Alright, sir, you have great insight. Let me tell you secretly, many merchants in our prefectural city have already started hoarding grains.”

Fan Jin was slightly surprised, “People are already hoarding grains?”

The shopkeeper looked around cautiously, lowered his voice, and said, “Ah, grains are so important. Not to mention the unusually cold winter last year, but today this prince is captured, and tomorrow that one is demoted. Families with savings won’t they give themselves a good way out?

I’m not lying to sell grain, sir, you’re right to hoard some grain now! It won’t be long before the price of grains rises again!”

Fan Jin nodded and thought he should buy some peanuts, fava beans, and peas when he came tomorrow…

The shopkeeper swiftly loaded sacks of grain onto the ox cart, tied them securely with coarse hemp ropes, tested them for any looseness, and then led Fan Jin to the counter to pay.

Fan Jin, who had finished buying grain, didn’t dare delay and drove the ox cart back.

There was still much work to do when he returned: chopping firewood, storing fodder, drying vegetables, planting trees… and with only Shuiqing as the adult in the family and their children being young, he couldn’t rest assured…

Passing by a roadside tea shop, he heard familiar loud discussion.

Fan Jin didn’t look sideways and walked forward as if he hadn’t seen anything. The scholar in the tea shop waved his fan particularly vigorously, his voice high and spraying saliva as he commented on current events, not even sparing a glance at the people by the roadside.

After walking a short distance, Fan Jin hesitated slightly in his heart, “Just now, wasn’t that clearly Zheng Pingsheng and the others?

However, based on their self-proclaimed status in the past, they only dined at restaurants, especially the best Shanhai Tower in Guangning Prefecture.

Even if they weren’t at the best Shanhai Tower, they shouldn’t have fallen so low as to visit a roadside tea shop.

For the three of them in the past, wasn’t this a place that insulted their cultural standing? They always looked down on it.

“Make way! Make way!

Everyone else, move aside!”

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud shout. Fan Jin looked up and saw constables in official attire with swords at their waists, standing in two rows and marching forcefully towards the tea shop, raising a cloud of dust.

Fan Jin stopped in his tracks and looked towards the tea shop.

“What are you doing? What do you want?!” Zheng Pingsheng waved his sleeves, his face full of anger.

“What are we doing? You dared to discuss national politics recklessly. We’re taking you to the prison to sober up!” The head constable scolded.

Zhou Wenzhang pointed at Zheng Pingsheng and loudly questioned the lead constable, “Do you know who he is?

He is Mr. Xiucai! Even your lord doesn’t require him to kneel, and yet you dare to come and arrest us!”

The constable behind sneered, “Ha, what does it matter if he’s a Xiucai? We’re arresting you! Our master is an Imperial Scholar; he’s not as audacious as you to discuss state affairs.”

Zhang Qiang’s expression changed. He plastered on a smile and asked cautiously, “Is there a misunderstanding here? We were discussing earlier, and it was harmless. Besides, we didn’t say anything negative. We were praising the current emperor’s wisdom, just criticizing the princes.”

“The princes might not be good, but they are still princes! Is that something you can discuss?” the constable sneered coldly.

Another urged, “Enough talking! Come with us to the prison.”

The three men’s expressions changed several times.

Since the Lunar New Year, everything had been going wrong for them.

Not just for them; Zhao Fugui, who had long been able to foot their bills, saw his business plummet.

All the dirty deeds and scandals the Zhao family had done were exposed, one after another, for some unknown reason.

Properties were repeatedly sold off, but it did nothing to fill the holes.

Now the entire Zhao family squeezed into two dilapidated huts. Zhao Fugui couldn’t even afford to go to a restaurant anymore, reducing their meals from three to two a day.

In their current plight, Zhao Fugui refused to abandon the dignity of a scholar and refused to seek employment, so the Zhao family was still reliant on others.

Naturally, they couldn’t rely on Zhao Fugui to pay their debts anymore.

The three of them, who were originally teachers in official or private schools, were dismissed one by one!

With no stable income, the three men became desperate and turned to copying books, a job they had previously looked down on Fan Jin for.

But after asking all the bookstores, none were willing!

Whether they found their handwriting ugly or thought their prices were too high, nothing went their way.

“Sir, please reconsider! We’re all scholars; if we go to prison, how can we participate in the imperial examinations again?!” Zheng Pingsheng panicked and pleaded desperately.

The constable paid no attention.

The master had wanted to make an example of several scholars in the prefectural city and put a stop to the trend of reckless discussions about court matters!

As for why these three, someone had naturally mentioned them to the master, just as an incidental matter.

Blame it on their reckless tongues.

“Trouble comes from the mouth. I suppose you three are more aware than us. Let’s go, don’t waste time, or things might turn ugly later!”

Shoving, shouting, scolding, and the clinking of iron chains filled the air.

Fan Jin thought of what Shuiqing had said about avoiding places where national affairs were discussed to avoid trouble.

Shuiqing was right.

The path to the imperial examinations for Zheng Pingsheng, Zhou Wenzhang, and Zhang Qiang was now blocked.

They had been classmates once, and Fan Jin felt strangely not upset about it, even a little pleased.

He knew it wasn’t right, with a bit of Schadenfreude mixed in, and quickly suppressed it.

It turned out that all those insults, troubles, nitpicking, and humiliations… he hadn’t completely ignored them; they had hurt him too.

But now, he felt the pent-up resentment in his heart dissipate completely.

He looked ahead, exhaled deeply, and drove the ox cart towards home.