Chapter 92

He Shui Town had been unusually humming with life these days. Many came to take the imperial exam from the neighboring towns, and therefore there were also a lot more people than usual here.

After a good night’s sleep, Xu Ran awoke feeling rested and refreshed, and he had breakfast with the shopkeeper before sauntering along the street.

He Shui Town had always been designated the place for the exam of the province, so there were many scholars and literati, which was also regarded as a cultural center.

Besides the pedestrians and traders on the street, there were only scholars in genteel dress. There were obvious differences between the scholars’ clothing and ordinary people’s in this world, so the scholars were easily recognized at first glance.

Xu Ran didn’t like the style of their clothing, so he dressed in the same clothes as usual.

The shopkeeper tugged at the corner of Xu Ran’s garment, “Xu Ran, look at them, then look at yourself. Don’t you think you look like a peasant?”

Xu Ran sniffed, “What’s wrong with peasants? Or do you look down on them, sir?”

The shopkeeper rolled his eyes at him, “You know that’s not what I mean. Since you’re here, you have to make a few friends. If you don’t change your clothes, who will know that you’re here to participate in the exam?”

Xu Ran thought he was right and said to the shopkeeper, “Then let’s go to buy a piece of clothing!”

As Xu Ran said, he began to look for a dress shop by the roadside. He thought the traders should be selling clothes these days if they were the businessmen. Although there were a lot of poor scholars, some of them also liked to keep up appearances .

After walking for a while, Xu Ran saw a dress shop called He Yue, and he immediately pulled the shopkeeper in.

“Is there any set of clothes in scholar’s style, sir?” Xu Ran called the merchant who was balancing the books after he entered.

The merchant thought Xu Ran was born with a silver spoon as he looked handsome with an old man like a servant next to him, so he immediately came out to greet him, “Hello! Are you here to participate in the exam? What style of dress do you want? Even though I do say it myself, we have the widest variety of styles of clothing suiting scholars around the whole He Shui Town… ”

Xu Ran strongly felt that all the merchants were talkative.

Looking at the merchant that was about to continue talking, Xu Ran stopped him in time, “Sir, give me a piece of clothing with the bamboo painted on the chest.”

‘The style of Gongsun Ce (the literary character who is kind-hearted and quick-witted in the dress of scholar’s style in a Chinese fiction)! How about putting on a hat? Maybe I could become a brilliant man like Gongsun Ce!’

Xu Ran just imagined it a wee bit and couldn’t stand the thought.

When the merchant heard Xu Ran’s words, he really found a piece of clothing painted with the bamboo on the chest. Xu Ran took it out of the merchant and looked at it. It was not very similar to the real bamboo, but it also looked nice.

He shook the clothes in his hand and asked the merchant, “Sir, is there a fitting room in your shop?”

“Yes, yes. Please come here,” the merchant hurriedly drew back the room flaps and let Xu Ran in, which humanized the process of shopping

Xu Ran went in and changed his clothes. Then he took the original ones in his hand. When he went out, he did a twirl in his new dress and asked, “Does this dress suit me?”

The two shopkeepers outside nodded frequently. Without a mirror, Xu Ran couldn’t surveyed himself. However, as they all nodded, Xu Ran felt that the dress shouldn’t be any worse, so he said to merchant of the dress shop, “Alright, I’ll take this one. How much is it?”

“Sir, I must say that you have a good taste. You look really good in such a proper dress. How about two taels of silver?”

The merchant said with the expression which seemed that he would suffer loses. Xu Ran turned his head to the shopkeeper who understood what Xu Ran meant and immediately stepped forward to bargain with the merchant. Both of them were experienced. In the end, the dress was paid one tael and three mace of silver by Xu Ran.

Before leaving the shop, Xu Ran saw the painful face of the merchant and felt a little funny.

As Xu Ran walked along the street in his clothes in scholar’s style, he suddenly attracted a lot more admiring glances than usual. but Xu Ran didn’t know why.

Xu Ran walked down the street, while the passers-by were staring at him as if he was a monkey. Not until his patience finally snapped did the shopkeeper told him that it was because of the clothes.

Xu Ran was not unattractive. Wearing the clothes in scholar’s style made him look mild-mannered with decorum. If such a charming person appeared on the street, even the guys should cast looks at him, apart from the Ge’ers.

Xu Ran pulled his clothes and felt that he should have been possessed by the soul of Mr. Gongsun, so he started to be pretentious, smiling with erect head and straight back, which charmed a lot of passers-by.

At noon, Xu Ran went to the restaurant with the shopkeeper. There were a lot of people in the dress of scholar’s style. They should all be here to take part in the exam. When they saw Xu Ran come in, they were a little shocked. But they quickly recovered their composure. Anyway, as scholars, it was necessary for them to keep reserved.

The restaurant was filled to overflowing that there was no spare table in it. The shopkeeper intended to let Xu Ran cultivate these scholars, so he didn’t ask for a private room.

Xu Ran also felt that it was no big deal to eat with others, so he found a table with only two people and walked over. He knocked on the table. When he saw the two of them looking up at him, he made a bow and said, “May I have lunch with you, gentlemen? There are only my uncle and me.”

The two of them were also dressed in the clothes of scholar’s style. They looked at Xu Ran in the similar dress with the shopkeeper standing beside him and nodded assent, “Please sit here, gentlemen!”

Xu Ran thanked them and sat down with the shopkeeper. After the waiter saw the two of them sitting down, he deftly stepped forward to ask them what they were going to eat.

Xu Ran had never been to this restaurant and there was no menu that he needed to recite, so Xu Ran was hesitating about the choice. Looking at the two people eating silently opposite him, Xu Ran whispered, “Gentlemen, is there any delicious dish you can recommend me? I don’t quite know about it for it’s my first time here.”

The two of them originally wanted to ignore Xu Ran, but they had to answer him now that he had asked them. They told a few dishes that they thought were good. Xu Ran nodded and thanked. Then he told the dishes to the waiter who quickly ran away after remembering the menu.

Now that they were all sitting at the same table, it was not proper for him to keep silent. Xu Ran started to talk with them, including where they came from, if they were here to take the exam and how long they had been here. Anyway, Xu Ran asked everything he could possibly think of.

One of the two was fine, while the other was extremely talkative. When Xu Ran talked with them, the talkative one went into a long monologue with him.

In a short while, there was little for him to talk anymore. The talkative one was called Lin Hua, while the other was Zhao Chen. Both of them were the natives of He Shui Town who often dined at the restaurant.

Because of being uneducated, the two were forced to go to school. Their exams had been delayed for a few years, and they couldn’t delay anymore this year. So they had to prepare for the exam of the province.

The two of them had also got married, but they had no children yet.

Xu Ran regarded them for a moment but didn’t think that they were uneducated.

Lin Hua explained, “My father instead of ourselves said we are uneducated. Apart from being good-for-nothing and hating going to school, there is nothing bad with us.”

Xu Ran understood it. Maybe all the elders thought about the children who were poor performers at school this way. He said to Lin Hua, “It’s really not easy for you to be misunderstood.”

Zhao Chen also nodded rarely.

In a short while, the dishes that Xu Ran ordered were served. It was no big deal to have a meal together since they had revealed everything to him. The two of them also didn’t regard Xu Ran as an outsider, so they started to have the dishes that had just been served.

They were chatting as they ate. With these two natives, Xu Ran quickly became familiar with He Shui Town. After lunch, the three of them seemed to have a sympathetic feeling for each other.

Xu Ran looked at the two in front of him and an idea suddenly floated into his mind. Although they were not really cut out for studying, they must have broad connections at their home. It shouldn’t be difficult to do business with them, and Xu Ran was just currently short of money.

Xu Ran rubbed his chin and felt that he needed to think it over.

After lunch, Xu Ran took leave of them and said that he wanted to go back to review the books. As soon as the two heard Xu Ran was going to review, they immediately told him to leave quickly, not even letting him ask for the bill.

Xu Ran smiled and left with the shopkeeper.

After they left, the shopkeeper asked Xu Ran, “Xu Ran, are you still going to saunter?”

Xu Ran shook his head. “No, let’s go back to the inn first. I really want to review.”

Xu Ran really wanted to review the books because he knew that he would be distracted no matter what he was thinking. So he decided not to think about anything. After the exam, it was also not late to think about it. Anyway, there were only a few days before the exam.

Xu Ran hadn’t gone out ever since he came back. When he was hungry, he asked the waiter to serve him with food in the room, and he spent the rest of the time reading the books in the room.

Instead, the shopkeeper lived happily; he sauntered around the town alone and was familiar with all the roads.

Time marched on and it was February 9th of the Chinese lunar calendar now. Xu Ran, who was cramming for the exam, also had learnt something in his mind. With the knowledge learnt in modern times, it was estimated that he should have no problem passing the exam.

Xu Ran got up early and rushed to the examination hall led by the shopkeeper.

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