Chapter Fifteen: Either a Scoundrel or a Thief

  Hu Lao Da is the head of the line, and this little Ping is also the head of the line. However, the head of the line is different from the head of the line. Hu Lao Da's head of the line refers to the person in charge of the brothel, and the brothel also needs a person in charge. At first, this person in charge was also called the head of the line, but the meaning evolved over time, no longer referring to the person in charge, but specifically to the courtesan, just like "miss". By the Southern Song Dynasty, it could also be used to refer to the daughter of a good family, and gradually "daughter" was replaced by "miss".

  The prostitute has seen this face, which is quite broad, including the entertainers and prostitutes. There are some in the older sister's wine shop, and the common people in the river are poor. Adding to that, the prostitution industry in the capital city is well-developed, so some wives come to the older sister's wine shop to sell their singing, accompany drinking, perform boxing, earn customers' rewards or some commissions from the store. Some have good looks, take the first step and then take the second step, follow the customer back to spend the night, some still hold on to their dignity, but can't avoid encountering the customer's shallowness.

  Putting aside the surface, some prostitutes are actually kind-hearted and are good wives and mothers at home. However, relatively speaking, having been in this line for a long time, they have become accustomed to pretending and acting, making it difficult for them to be faithful in love. Therefore, there is a saying that "actors have no emotions" or "no loyalty". In this era, actors and prostitutes are the same. This includes Liu E, who later became famous, and was also considered a prostitute when she sold songs and drums.

  Whether there is a relationship with Song Jiu or not, he doesn't want to take one back as his wife or concubine. He just hasn't seen a true first-class courtesan before. Thinking that among the tens of thousands of courtesans in the capital city, those who can be called the "Flower Queen" shouldn't be too bad, but he still speaks the truth: "I have never seen your family's daughter."

  Xiaoyuan was extremely disappointed and hinted: "Jiulang Jun, if you remember my wife, you must come."

  Song Jiu was unfamiliar with this profession and hadn't heard of it, where is Bei Wa? In the north of the city, at the night market north of Beizhou Bridge, north of the old Fengqiu Gate, in short, at the northernmost part of the outer city. If the iron tower were built now, it would be not far from the Iron Tower Mountain. You're crazy to run so far just to take a stroll! He continued: "I really haven't been to Bei Wa."

  Xiaoyuan was resentful of him for not understanding romance and angrily walked away with a stamp of her foot.

  She left, and Song Jiu also went back.

  There was a leap in March, and the weather in April had truly warmed up. Song Jiu fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan as he walked home.

  Pushing open the door, as usual, many young people eager to learn something flooded into the house. Since there was no need for secrecy, Song Jiutian would open the door at dawn and close it at dusk, allowing them to come in and learn by observing. Some students even copied notes neatly and were sent out. As for blackboard chalk, that wasn't provided; those who wanted to learn made their own, while those who just came to see something new got nothing. Practical lessons weren't held at home but on the riverbank. Every day until dusk, Song Jiutian would take his students to the riverbank to review the day's accounts and teach them how to calculate and keep account books. He couldn't let go even in the midst of learning.

  However, this is not conducive to teaching, but Song Jiuxiao cannot decline politely. He and Zhu Sanxue have a good relationship, which is rare for scholars of this era, but he is still too young, with great affinity but lacking in awe-inspiring power.

  A mess at home.

  Inside, Zhu San is teaching his son to recognize and write characters.

  Song Jiuxi thought it was normal and was about to enter when he saw Liu Yue, accompanied by two men in their forties wearing Confucian hats and dressed as scholars.

  Seeing Liu Yue, Song Jiu's face was slightly unpleasant: "Liu Judge, what brings you to my humble abode again?"

  He stays in the river, with a low profile, news is not well-informed, but he will think.

  Thinking very darkly.

  On that day, Zhao Kuangyi saw the high platform and noticed it, but didn't take it seriously. However, he had a team with him, and Liu Yue might have been one of them. With many people coming up with ideas, they let Liu Yue come over to ask questions. To get the formula, they even paid 120 yuan as a deposit. But what's the use of getting the formula? Song Jiu still has the basic principles of making atomic bombs, but can he actually make one? This matter gradually faded away, and the result was that things came out and took effect. Zhao Kuangyi then used the excuse of borrowing books from Hu Lao Da to let Liu Yue come over and take a look. However, as a scholar himself and not a craftsman, it wasn't easy for him to force himself to hand over his techniques. Therefore, he again sent in secret agent 007008 to secretly observe from the shadows, so that he was clear about his own movements. Perhaps the disturbance among the people of Hebei was also intentionally instigated by Zhao Kuangyi's men from behind the scenes.

  The thing is out, the dog's head has been bowed, what else can be done?

  Liu Yue said: "Song Jiu, you are teaching incorrectly. Learning has a gradual process, so I brought dozens of 'Shuowen', 'Zilin' and 'Qianziwen'."

  In ancient China, there were three major enlightenment readings. One was the "Thousand Character Classic", two was the "Three Character Classic" and three was the "Hundred Family Surnames". The "Three Character Classic" and "Hundred Family Surnames" had not yet appeared, but the "Thousand Character Classic" already existed. The "Shuowen Jiezi" and "Zilin" were equivalent to the later "Xinhua Dictionary", also a must-read for scholars when they went to school.

  However, Song Jiu did not want that. These students were different from those who wanted to take the imperial examination. They were older and no longer young children, and the knowledge they learned was not for the imperial examination. Therefore, among the five subjects, mathematics took up one subject, accounting took up one subject, practical skills took up one subject, and moral character took up one subject. This is what is called "essence of learning". Learning essence is not about forcing students to memorize or fully understand, but rather to give them a general understanding, and in the process, they can also learn more characters.

  The first is the word of Confucius, and the second is a quick word, which is the word commonly used for accounting goods on the dock with Arabic numerals, so that it can be practical in the shortest time.

  If it's a regular school, then it's all over. Apart from the Nine Classics, Sayings and Writings, Character Forest, Thousand Character Classic, Three Rites, Erya, National Language, Kong Yingda's Correct Meaning of the Five Classics, Records of the Grand Historian, Book of Han, and Later Han, as well as books on phonetics, you might as well turn your own home into a university.

  But having these three books is better than having none.

  However, Song Jiuding stared at Liu Yue and asked: "Liu Judge, how can Kaifeng Prefecture have such a good heart? No, no, offering loyalty without reason is either deceitful or thieving."

  "You little scoundrel!" Liu Yan was so angry that he hit his head. He wasn't an ordinary judge, but a Langzhong from the Ministry of Works who served as a Kaifeng judge, a fifth-grade official with a national stipend. It was because of his connection to the Ministry of Works that he had come to deal with this little scoundrel time and again.

  "Could it be that the Kaifeng Prefecture had really acted out of kindness?"

  "Hey kiddo, don't get old man angry."

  "I then thanked the imperial court for its kindness."

  Liu Yue wanted to cover his ears, but couldn't, so he had to pretend not to hear. He pulled Song Jiu in front of the two men and said: "This is Zhang Shuda, a doctor from the Imperial Academy, and this is Yan Shirong, also a doctor from the Imperial Academy."

  "I have met Dr. Zhang and Dr. Yan before."

  Shu Da and Shi Zheng were just names, not titles. What was the title? Song Jiu didn't know, nor did he ask. They were outsiders, guests who had come. Song Jiu very respectfully bowed to them.

  Liu Yue continued: "You and Zhu Sanlang have taught so many students, it's too strenuous. The prefect takes pity on you and has intentionally sent two doctors to assist you in teaching. One is good at law and the other is good at arithmetic. Both are talents that the Imperial Academy cannot do without. I hope you will work together from now on and make contributions to changing the face of Hebei."

  Really good at speaking official jargon.

  "Magistrate Liu, I can no longer afford it... these students are studying for free..."

  "The cost of the two doctors won't come out of your pocket, and tomorrow the Kaifeng government will send someone over to break through another room in your house to make a study. Anyway, you have many empty rooms at home, so don't worry about it, this expense won't be yours either." Liu Yue said with a bitter tone, dealing with this kid was nothing else but when it came to Jian's affairs, the money had to be made clear. It was said that the Emperor had been hesitating to give him an official position, and Liu Yue was worried that once this kid became an official, he would probably become a big corrupt official."

  The house is really insignificant. In the past, Song Jiu rented out the house not only for money but also to facilitate his father's construction of a new house by the river. At that time, the area by the river was still quite desolate, so he built a large mansion with two gardens and over thirty rooms. One part was for himself to live in, one part was for the servants to live in, and he rented out the original servant's courtyard and house, which were empty anyway. Now, someone from Kaifeng Prefecture has come to deliver a book, a doctoral thesis on education, and investing in renovating the classroom is a good thing.

  However, Song Jiuxian was extremely suspicious and stared at Liu Yue: "Liu Judge, you really don't want to be corrupt or steal?"

  "You little scoundrel!" Liu Yue was furious, jumping up and down like thunder, spitting white foam, and left with two doctors. Song Jiu still felt that something was off, he hadn't taken this fifth-rank official seriously, which shouldn't have made him unhappy, but why did he feel that his eyes were flashing with uncertainty, what was the Kaifeng Prefecture trying to do?

  You can get along with anyone, but you can't get along with this Song Taizong. It's like Wei Xiaobao and Kangxi, if you gamble with him, it's a must-win gamble.

  How did Zhao Kuangyi get his eyes on him? Song Jiu was extremely depressed, and the students were delighted with the three new books. They're expensive, now that books are valuable. Legend has it that Ouyang Xiu collected over 30,000 volumes of books, which is a huge fortune, just the value of the books is at least over 20,000 yuan. Unless they're Buddhist scriptures, which are used to enlighten people, so they're cheaper. Ouyang Xiu wouldn't have collected many Buddhist scriptures. Song Jiu flipped through them and found that "Qian Wen" had annotations, "Shuo Wen" was also known as "Shuo Wen Jie Zi", which included nearly 10,000 characters, with annotations totaling nearly 200,000 characters, and "Zi Lin" had even more characters. These two books were considered to be large-scale books. Moreover, the judge from Kaifeng came to Song's house several times, indicating that the court attached great importance to it, and also sent two real doctoral students from the Imperial Academy, making it seem like a golden road was paved in front of them.

  Song Jiu looked at their excited eyes and shook his head involuntarily. He taught practical skills, Zhu San didn't care, listened to his own opinions and taught, but two Guozijian doctors came over, they were real Confucians, where would they lead the students?

  ……

  The sunset is in the west, in a luxurious mansion northwest of the Imperial City, several beautiful girls are watching swallows flying and dancing low. One of them teasingly sings to another girl: "After the dream, the tower is high and locked, after waking up, the curtain is low. The bridge of spring sorrow has come, fallen flowers stand alone, light rain, swallow pairs fly."

  "I still remember when we first met, you wore a dress with double hearts embroidered on it. The pipa strings spoke of our longing for each other, under the bright moonlight, and now I gaze at the colorful clouds returning."

  "Don't laugh at me, I'm going to find a few brothers." The girl said angrily.

  A few bosom friends is all the joy.

  The girl ran to the front yard and found her two elder brothers. She said: "Elder brother, second brother, people outside are all laughing at me."

  "Before Father left, he repeatedly instructed us not to cause any trouble in the capital."

  "Just stand by and watch as outsiders mock me."

  "Second sister, what do you want?"

  "Beat up that little kid."

  "Right, I'll knock out all that brat's teeth and see if he dares to speak nonsense again," the young girl's third brother said viciously from behind.

  "This doesn't seem right," Lao Da said hesitantly.

  "Big brother......" The young girl said softly: "These days everyone is laughing at me, I'm going crazy."