Chapter 176 City Streets 76

Chapter 176: City Life in the Prefecture, Part 76

By late October, the weather had grown noticeably colder. The townsfolk once again donned their heavy padded coats, their breath forming white plumes with every word.

"Young master, we've arrived!"

As the carriage pulled up to the city gate, the young page boy was the first to leap out, pulling back the curtain to call inside.

Seated within were Xie Baozhu and Li Anyuan. Xie Baozhu, it turned out, had not yet passed the county-level imperial examination; he was accompanying Li Anyuan to the prefectural city this time. Both were scholars, and just as Qin Rongshi was preparing for the provincial examination, Li Anyuan was also eligible to take it.

However, Li Anyuan's academic foundation was somewhat weaker. His teacher had advised him to consolidate his studies for another three years before attempting the exam again.

Yet, the Li family's fortunes had changed. They now owned a shop in town, had renovated their village home, purchased more farmland, and accumulated a good deal of savings. The family encouraged Li Anyuan to sit for the exam anyway—not necessarily to pass, but to experience the atmosphere, understand the differences between the provincial and county-level examinations, and thus avoid any apprehension in future attempts.

"Wow... Qin Rongshi was certainly right—the prefectural city is much colder than our Fushui Town!"

Xie Baozhu rubbed his hands together as he jumped down from the carriage, then turned to look at Li Anyuan, who was still huddled inside. "It's truly cold out here! Your exposed neck will surely turn red from the chill. Don't you want to wrap a scarf around it?"

Li Anyuan straightened his collar and quickly followed, immediately shivering as the cold wind hit him. But he exhaled, putting on a composed expression that declared, "I'm not cold, not cold at all. A scholar must maintain proper attire—what would people think if I bundled up like a bear?"

Xie Baozhu tucked his hands into his sleeves, pursed his lips, and shot him a sidelong glance. "So fastidious... Go ahead and put on airs. If you fall ill, it's not my exam that will be delayed."

Li Anyuan: "..."

Despite his words, Xie Baozhu still gestured with his lips towards the page boy, Feicui. Feicui immediately grinned, retrieved a brass hand warmer, and pressed it into Li Anyuan's hands. "Young Master Li, please hold this for now. Once we're settled in the prefectural city, it won't be so cold."

Xie Baozhu added, "Let's go, first to Heyan Street... Hey, Rongshi's letter said his house was on Heyan Street, right? Where exactly?"

Li Anyuan made an "oh" sound and pulled a folded, aged piece of paper from his sleeve. Unfolding it, he read, "Heyan Street... Guozixiang, the courtyard with the cherry tree."

Xie Baozhu: "Oh, right! But Yuan Yuan... What does a cherry tree look like?"

Li Anyuan: "...Just follow me."

The two walked ahead while Feicui directed the porter to push the luggage behind them as they made their way to Heyan Street.

However, once they entered the alley, Li Anyuan, who had been so confident earlier, fell silent. The reason was simple—he couldn't spot any courtyard with a cherry tree.

The cherry tree was, of course, still there, but with the cold weather, its leaves had all fallen, leaving only bare branches. Every courtyard had bare-branched trees, making it impossible to identify the cherry tree.

Xie Baozhu: "Li Yuan Yuan..."

Li Anyuan: "...Don't say anything, let me look again."

Xie Baozhu chuckled and exclaimed, "These bare trees—who could possibly tell them apart? It's impossible!"

Li Anyuan: "..."

Just then, a mother and daughter approached from farther down the alley. It was the Qin family's new neighbor, Madame Qi, returning from grocery shopping with her daughter, a vegetable basket hanging from her arm.

Spotting unfamiliar faces in the alley, she watched them warily from a distance. As she drew closer, she noticed two of them wearing long gowns and square scarves—the attire of scholars.

This put Madame Qi at ease. Standing a few steps away, she asked, "Gentlemen... Are you looking for someone?"

Finally, someone had asked! Xie Baozhu grinned and stepped forward, first complimenting the woman's daughter on her lovely, jade-like beauty, then asking, "Ma'am, do you know where the Qin family lives?"

The Qin family?

Madame Qi asked again, "Which Qin family?"

Qin was a common surname, and there was more than one Qin household in Guozixiang.

Standing nearby, Li Anyuan quickly added, "The Qin family has four members, and there's a scholar in the household... Oh, right, they also run a sweets shop!"

With that explanation, Madame Qi immediately understood.

She took another look at their attire and smiled in realization. "Oh! You're looking for Scholar Qin and Boss Liu! Judging by your dress, are you classmates of Scholar Qin?"

Hearing her tone, which suggested she knew the Qin family, Xie Baozhu and Li Anyuan both nodded.

The woman smiled again and said, "What a coincidence! Their house is right next to mine. Let me take you there."

With that, she led the way, holding her daughter's hand.

The little girl was young and lively, with three small pigtails tied on her head. She hopped and skipped along, trying to step on her own shadow.

Madame Qi walked ahead, chatting as they went. "Scholar Qin's family is full of capable people!"

She recounted how Qin Rongshi and Liu Guyu had received awards from the Prefect, and by the time she finished, they had arrived at the Qin family's gate.

"Here we are, this is the place."

Madame Qi held her child's hand as she spoke. Li Anyuan and Xie Baozhu thanked her, and Xie Baozhu even handed a packet of pastries to the little girl. Madame Qi tried to decline, but Xie Baozhu insisted.

After exchanging thanks, the woman led her child into the neighboring courtyard.

Li Anyuan stepped forward and gently knocked on the door knocker. Xie Baozhu, growing impatient, stepped up and rapped loudly on the door, muttering, "Knocking like that—if anyone's inside, they'd never hear you!"

Then he called through the crack in the door, "Anyone home? Auntie, Rongshi, are you there?"

A moment later, the door opened. It was Cui Lanfang, who smiled in pleasant surprise as she greeted them.

"Oh, it's you two! Erlang was just talking about you the other day—and here you are! Come in, come in."

She stepped aside to let them enter and said, "Please, come in and sit. Erlang isn't back from the academy yet, but he should be soon."

Only Cui Lanfang was home; the younger members were all busy with their own tasks. Xie Baozhu and Li Anyuan entered the courtyard, feeling somewhat awkward in the presence of their elder.

But Xie Baozhu was thick-skinned and soon broke into a smile. He called for Feicui to bring in their gifts and said, "Auntie, An Yuan and I brought you some gifts—some local specialties from Fushui Town. You've been away from home for so long; you must be missing the taste of hometown flavors!"

Cui Lanfang laughed happily, serving tea and setting out snacks and fruits, urging them to sit and rest. Then she returned to the kitchen to prepare the day's meal.

Li Anyuan and Xie Baozhu, however, couldn't let their elder handle everything alone while they idled. They quickly followed her into the kitchen to help.

The young master sat down in front of the stove, picked up a dry stick of firewood, and was about to poke it into the stove when suddenly, a fluffy black-and-yellow ball leaped out from inside, kicked off his knee, and disappeared in a flash.

"Whoa... A big yellow rat!"

Xie Baozhu was so startled he nearly fell off the small stool.

Cui Lanfang saw it and scolded the plump cat that had disappeared: "Aiya, sneaking into the stove again! Look at your fur—what a mess! If we're not careful, you'll singe all your fur and learn your lesson the hard way!"

Then she turned to Xie Baozhu to reassure him: "Oh dear, what a fright! Don't worry, don't worry—it's just the cat, our family cat!"

It was that timid orange-and-white cat.

Xie Baozhu was stunned, unsure whether from surprise or fear. It took him a while to glance down at the black paw print on his clothes.

"This... I've always heard cats are clean animals, so why would it crawl into the stove?"

Their household also had cats, quite a few of them, big and small, all treated like little royalty. But none of these little ancestors had a habit of crawling into the stove—in winter, they preferred burrowing under the covers.

Cui Lanfang was frustrated too. Among the three cats at home, only this orange-and-white one loved sneaking into the stove, singeing its fur, leaving it dry and scraggly, so the orange and white patches weren't pretty anymore.

They had even built a cozy bed for the cats, but this one insisted on ignoring it in favor of the stove.

After shooing the cat away, Cui Lanfang also shooed away the clumsy Xie Baozhu, who couldn't even light a fire properly. Xie Baozhu shrugged, picked up a bucket, and went to draw two pails of water from the well.

They worked for about half an hour before the rest of the household trickled back in.

Qin Rongshi was happy to see his two friends and caught up with them for a while before finally setting the table for the meal.

The meal that day was sumptuous: lotus root and pork rib soup slow-simmered in a pot, beef and potato stew—a rare treat in Fushui Town, so Cui Lanfang had specially gone out to buy a pound of beef and cooked it until it was fragrant. There was also stir-fried shredded pork with wild rice stems, a plate of garlic cabbage, and roasted bamboo shoots. The fresh winter bamboo shoots were tossed into a charcoal basin with their shells still on, covered with branches and dry firewood to cook in the embers. Once cooked, the shells were peeled off, and the tender shoots were shredded and dipped in sauce.

This roasted bamboo shoot dish even had an elegant name: *Bàng Lín Xiān* (By the Forest Freshness).

At the table, Li Anyuan remarked, "We had actually packed our bags and were ready to set off at the end of July, but Head Lü advised us to stay a bit longer. He said this year's floods were severe, and the exams would likely be postponed. He told us to wait a few more days—we could always leave later if the government hadn't posted any notices."

Xie Baozhu chimed in, "That's right! Luckily, we waited two more days. Right after, the government posted the exam postponement notice, and then your letter arrived!"

Qin Rongshi asked, "Brother Anyuan, how are your preparations for this exam?"

At this, Li Anyuan sighed.

"Ah, the provincial exam is still a stretch. My teacher also said I should spend three more years building a stronger foundation. I didn't come this time expecting to pass—just to get a feel for the exam firsthand."

Li Anyuan didn't have high hopes of passing; he just wanted to test the waters and see how far he still had to go.

The group had been keeping in touch lately, and Qin Rongshi had seen the exam papers and essays Li Anyuan sent. He knew Li Anyuan still had some ground to cover but didn't want to pressure him too much. Instead, he said, "There are a few good bookstores in the prefectural city with large collections. After the exams, I'll take you all to check them out."

When they came to the prefectural city for the licentiate exams last time, they were unfamiliar with the place and didn't know much about these resources.

Li Anyuan said excitedly, "That sounds great."

Qin Rongshi asked further, "Have you found a place to stay? If not, my room is fairly spacious. We could squeeze in an extra cot, though it might not be very comfortable."

Li Anyuan replied, "It's all arranged. Bao Zhu had someone rent a courtyard in advance, and it's not too far from here."

Qin Rongshi nodded in relief.

Meanwhile, Xie Baozhu couldn't stop staring at Liu Guyu and asked, "Brother Liu, where are the best places to eat in the prefectural city? Which restaurant has the best food?"

Li Anyuan: "…"

Li Anyuan glared at him, but Xie Baozhu didn't even notice, still eagerly focused on Liu Guyu.

Liu Guyu found the two of them amusing and burst out laughing. "Which restaurant has the best food? Well… of course, it's my family's restaurant!"

Xie Baozhu went, "Huh?" and then nodded repeatedly. "Naturally! Naturally! I asked the wrong question! I should've asked which restaurant has the second-best food!"

Liu Guyu laughed again but still recommended a few affordable and tasty eateries.

Li Anyuan shook his head helplessly and glanced at Xie Baozhu, about to say something, when he suddenly felt a couple of tugs on his sleeve. He looked down and saw a calico cat sitting upright by his feet, tilting its head up with a pair of beautiful, gleaming green eyes.

"Meow—"

It was probably hungry.

Li Anyuan picked up a couple of shreds of meat with his chopsticks and bent down to feed the cat. But as he lowered his head, he spotted two hands clasped together under the table across from him.

Clasped hands.

Hands.

Huh?

Li Anyuan stiffly raised his head and looked at Qin Rongshi and Liu Guyu sitting opposite him.

Li Anyuan: "???"

Is this right?

Right?

*

Whether it was right or not didn't matter—the most important thing was still the exam.

Li Anyuan spent two days adjusting his mood and decided to wait until after the exams to have a heart-to-heart talk with Qin Rongshi.

Xie Baozhu, carefree and untroubled, didn't have to take the exams and truly didn't worry about anything. He carefully wrote down all the restaurants Liu Guyu recommended, even writing them on paper, saying he'd go with Li Anyuan to try each one after the exams.

Time flew, and soon it was exam day.

Just like during the licentiate exams, Cui Lanfang prepared all the food: various white flour flatbreads, steamed buns, scallion flower rolls… The weather had turned cold, so she also prepared thick quilts for both examinees.

There were many candidates for the provincial exams, young and old alike. Some were young men like Qin Rongshi and Li Anyuan, while others were elderly with graying hair and stooped postures, trembling as they waited at the exam hall entrance.

Before long, exam officials in black uniforms came out, struck a stone chime, and began inspecting the candidates.

A long, snake-like line of examinees formed in front of the exam hall, each undergoing checks before entering.

The officials meticulously inspected the exam baskets each candidate carried, even breaking open the flatbreads and steamed buns inside. They also searched their bodies, checking underarms, elbows, and thighs to make sure no one was smuggling anything in.

This was only the first round of inspections. Outside the exam hall, there were cloth barriers for further checks, where they had to undress.

These multiple layers of inspection took a considerable amount of time.

Liu Guyu, Cui Lanfang, and the others watched from the sidelines. They didn't leave until they saw the two enter the exam hall, though they kept glancing back as they left.

After what felt like a long time, three chimes echoed from within the exam hall, followed by a loud, clear shout:

"Silence!"

"The provincial exams begin now! Distribute the exam papers!"

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Author's Note: ①From: Lin Hong's *Shanjia Qinggong* (The Mountain Family's Simple Offerings). I've always been curious about how this dish tastes—the preparation method sounds quite interesting.