Chapter 6: The Zhao Family of Handan

  Yang Zilu can only hope that his clothes will sell for a good price, although this set was originally bought with just two red bulls and he should have known better than to buy expensive silk. But if he had known about the time-travel, Yang Zilu would have made preparations earlier, bringing along "Zizhi Tongjian" (a historical book), gunpowder formulas, a map of China's mineral resources, and diagrams for making firelocks.

  Thinking of this, Yang Zilu couldn't help but feel a sense of despair, but now she had to do something about it. She had to make some mosquito coils and get rid of these damned mosquitoes. Otherwise, she might become the first person in history to die from mosquito bites after crossing over into ancient times. But why were these mosquitoes so huge?! Were things in ancient times all unusually ferocious or what?

  In the midst of daydreaming and mosquito-fighting (which was actually a one-sided battle), Yang Zilu fell asleep in a daze, and when he woke up it was already time for breakfast on the second day. It was still the quiet little kid Xiao San who called him to get up. As for why it wasn't Zheng Dan, probably she was still angry about yesterday's events.

  "Good morning, Uncle Zheng! Good morning, Auntie Zheng!" Yang Zilu greeted Zheng Datian and his wife, who couldn't help but exclaim: "Indeed a noble upbringing, this child is so polite." However, upon seeing Zheng Dan, Yang Zilu felt a bit awkward, paused for a moment, and with a slightly red face, continued to greet him: "Ah-Dan, good morning!"

  Zheng Dan glared at Yang Zilu with a fierce gaze, probably still angry about yesterday's events. She lowered her head and ate the millet porridge in front of her in big mouthfuls. For some reason, Yang Zilu had the feeling that Zheng Dan wasn't eating millet porridge, but rather something else entirely.

  In fact, Zheng Dan was so angry because in her heart, Yang Zilu was more perfect and had been influenced by the likes of saints who liked to travel around the world. In Zheng Dan's mind, Yang Zilu had already become a reserve sage. It was as if she had extremely admired a star, only to suddenly discover his very dirty private life, leaving her fans unable to accept it for a while.

  Zheng Dan doesn't have much admiration for Yang Zilu, otherwise it wouldn't be impossible to stab Yang Zilu with a knife.

  After finishing breakfast, Zheng Datian went out to chop firewood, while Zheng Dan and Zheng Dajie went out to wash clothes. This has a elegant name, Huansha. That's the origin of the name of Huansha Creek.

  The last little kid, Xiao San, actually went to school. Don't be mistaken, it's really going to school. Yang Zilu was stunned, wasn't ancient knowledge extremely scarce? After inquiring, he found out that this was a fallen noble. Originally, no one knew where he came from or what his background was. But as time passed, he also revealed the secrets hidden in his heart: he was a member of the Zhao clan, one of the six nobles of Jin State. However, six years ago, due to the distribution of 500 households of commoners who were tributes from Wei State, a dispute broke out.

  The head of the Zhao clan killed Zhao Wu, a great officer of Handan and nephew of the head of the Zhonghang clan. The Zhonghang clan was also related to the Fan clan by marriage. Anyway, the relationships between these aristocratic families were like a complex web. Perhaps taking advantage of the situation or avenging their nephew, the Fan and Zhonghang clans, along with the Zhao clan of Handan, rose up in arms, occupying Handan and opposing the Zhao clan. The Zhao clan, however, received help from three other dukes, the Han, Wei, and Zhi clans, and ultimately defeated the Zhonghang and Fan clans, which then occupied Chao Ge to continue their resistance.

  But the Zhao family of Handan is not as wealthy as the Fan and Zhonghang families, after all, they are just a branch of the Zhao family, and their leader is only a high-ranking official, not a noble! Moreover, some members of the Zhao family were already in conflict with the main house, and now that they have lost the war, many people chose to flee, and naturally had to choose a reliable place to escape to.

  The Qin and Zhao states are of the same clan, both surnamed Zhao, and have always had a good relationship. The Chu and Jin states have a bad relationship, having fought for over a hundred years to contend for the position of hegemon, with Qi also having gone to war against Jin. As one of the six high-ranking officials, the Zhao family did not hesitate to kill enemy nobles on the battlefield. These rascals were easily bullied, and the various states in the Central Plains dared not offend the hegemonic state of Jin, which took them in. In the end, some of them went to Wu, while others went to Yue.

  After arriving in Yue, I only knew that the capital had moved to Kuaiji Mountain. Some people were unwilling to go and stayed locally, while others went to Kuaiji. This gentleman was one of those who stayed behind. As a noble by birth, he clearly did not want to do what he considered menial tasks such as farming or chopping firewood. But if you don't work, you'll starve to death, so he chose to teach, with each child paying three dou of millet per month.

  In ancient times, a person consumed about one and a half shi of grain per month. Teaching five students solved the food problem, and only taught for two hours a day. It was very cost-effective. Many wealthy households in the city sent their children to be taught by Mr. Zhao. It is said that there were more than 40 people attending classes every day. Yang Zilu saw Chen Zhen, who was one of the students sent by the wealthy households in the city to study with Mr. Zhao. Although there was no imperial examination at that time, everyone knew that only those who recognized characters could become officials, and if not, they could also become minor officials. Therefore, although the Zheng family was not rich, they still supported their youngest son to read books, hoping to make a name for themselves.

  "It seems I can also go to the school of learning!" Yang Zilu smiled and muttered, but in fact, Yang Zilu didn't have this idea at all. First of all, one must be able to read and write the characters of this era's country. The problem is that Yang Zilu doesn't know a single character. Simplified Chinese originated from cursive script, cursive script appeared at some unknown time, but Yang Zilu knew it definitely wasn't something from this era. How could this be written with bamboo slips when even brushes didn't exist in this era? (Actually, this era did have brushes, but Yang Zilu just didn't know.)

  Zheng Datian didn't know how to respond to Yang Zilu's words, and could only smile vaguely on one side.

  Yang Zilu thought that he wouldn't be able to cultivate the land himself, so he decided to go into the mountains to find some insect-repelling herbs. Otherwise, tomorrow he would either become a dried-up corpse or have his head wrapped in bandages. He also needed to make a crossbow and go hunting in the mountains. How could he bear to let Zheng's family cook meat for him every day? Besides, that little bit of meat wasn't enough for him to be self-sufficient and live a life of abundance. As for what would happen later, he'd think about it later!

  After thinking for a moment, Yang Zilu said to Zheng Datian: "Uncle Zheng, I'll give you this set of clothes. I won't go into the city with you. One more person entering the city means one more entry tax to pay. By the way, Uncle Zheng, do you have any spare clothes that I can borrow? Also, I'm thinking of going into the mountains, do you know any hunters?"

  Zheng Datian smiled and said, "Young master, you don't have to go to so much trouble. Later, the old man will still enter the mountain to cut firewood, and you can follow me into the mountain together. As for clothes, as long as the young master doesn't mind, it's fine!"

  Yang Zilu shook her head and smiled: "Everyone is about to starve to death, who still cares about so many etiquette?"

  "Alright, young master, follow me to the room to get some clothes." Zheng Datian said excitedly as soon as he saw that Yang Zilu didn't mind. In his opinion, a noble like Yang Zilu wearing his clothes was an honor for him, of course, this was just lending out the clothes, if he had to give away a set of clothes, it wouldn't be an honor but a painful loss.