In addition to the elderly people at the toilet door, Zhuge Liang also likes to enter residential areas and interact with people.
The residential area that impressed him most was called Deguanfang.
When he was visiting Deguanfang, he fell in love with a wonton shop. He was very interested in wontons, so he went into the shop and ate a bowl of wontons.
It was not a meal time and there was no one in the store. After the merchant finished making wontons and served them to Zhuge Liang, he saw that Zhuge Liang liked them, so he chatted with Zhuge Liang by the way.
At that time, Zhuge Liang heard that there was no such district before the expansion of Luoyang City. Before the Zhenguan Year, except for the small inner city of Luoyang, a large area of ordinary people lived outside Luoyang City.
There is no city wall for protection, there are no easy roads, and it is difficult to have clean water and sufficient food. Hygiene and other things are just tolerable. Even if there are some violations of law and discipline, the officials will rarely pay attention to them, unless those
The thief is not very discerning and spoils the interest of the important people in the city.
"Where were there such houses, streets, and city walls at that time? There were none, none of them. They only existed after the emperor came to the throne. It was he who built that wall and protected us all.
, and also built many houses for us.
This house, as well as the houses on our entire street, were all repaired in the third year of Zhenguan and given to us to live in. Each household only paid a dozen copper coins, and they all moved in.
At that time, everyone thought it was a fake and the imperial court was going to take it back. Only when I got the deed of the house later did I feel relieved."
The store owner lamented: "The days seven or eight years ago are completely different from the days we live now. Seven or eight years ago, we were so nervous that we didn't know where the next meal would be. If there was a military disaster, we would be in trouble."
If there is a war in the sun, then one day of life will be counted as one more day.
It was not until the Zhenguan Year that we had a peaceful life and could think about how to live a good life. To be honest, this shop borrowed money from the court and learned the craftsmanship from the court.
It was just opened, otherwise it wouldn’t have been able to open.”
Zhuge Liang was very interested.
"Borrowed money from the imperial court? Learned the imperial craftsmanship?"
"Ah, in the fourth year of Zhenguan, the imperial court issued an order. People who wanted to open a shop could borrow some money from the imperial court, learn some crafts, and open a food shop. They wouldn't make much money, but they could make a small amount of money to live on.
It’s still okay to have a small life.”
The shopkeeper said with a smile: "You are a foreigner. You don't know that these wontons, steamed buns, dumplings and other things are all passed down from the imperial palace. At first, they were not available in Luoyang City. At first, there were only various kinds.
Plant cakes, soup cakes, Hu cakes, steamed cakes.
I just heard about these wontons, but I don’t know if it’s true. It’s said that these wontons were created for the first time in our day, and they were first given to the soldiers in the army. After the soldiers ate them, they agreed and put them in the imperial dining hall for the senior officials.
We eat it, and if the officials say yes, the court will release these things to us.
I didn't believe it at first, but then I heard from my brother-in-law who was working in the palace that it was true and that I could try it, so I went to the government to sign up. Later I learned that it is not difficult to make these things. If you really want to learn how to make them, you can do them in three or two.
Yue also learned that the trouble is that opening a store requires a lot of preparations.
As a result, do you know that the imperial court has prepared everything for us? As long as you go and learn, as long as you want to open a shop, the imperial court will prepare everything for you and lend you money. You can buy tools directly from the imperial court and the imperial court will help you with the raw materials.
It’s very convenient to connect with the surrounding farms and go directly to the collective farms to pick up the goods!”
"Does the court charge interest for borrowing money?"
"Yes, why not?"
The store owner smiled and said: "But the interest rate is very low. When we were desperate, we borrowed money before, and the monthly interest rate was 20%, 30%, 40%, and I even heard of 50%. But you know how much the court wanted?
Interest?"
"Is it low?"
Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Looking at you being so happy, you are obviously not high-minded."
"It's really not high. The monthly interest rate is one cent, but the original one is twenty times higher than this!"
The shop owner raised two fingers: "Do you believe it? Who would have believed it seven or eight years ago? To put it bluntly, the court has always asked us for money. When did we start doing good things? Who would have believed it in the beginning?
Everyone couldn’t believe it, and it took more than a year for them to gradually believe it.”
Zhuge Liang nodded slowly while eating the slippery wontons.
"So, it all happened after the Zhenguan year?"
"No, they are all after the Zhenguan year."
The store owner smiled and said: "So since then, every year during the New Year, our whole family gets together and we all say that before and after the Zhenguan Year, there are basically two different looks. Sometimes you can't believe it at all.
, these two complete appearances, just two years before and after."
The store owner became interested and chatted with Zhuge Liang about the changes in everyone's life in the past few years. Zhuge Liang ate slowly and listened carefully. After finishing a bowl of wontons, the store owner was about to get busy, so he greeted Zhuge Liang.
Let him come back to eat wontons.
Zhuge Liang took out his handkerchief and wiped his mouth, put down three copper coins, left the shop and walked into the street of Deguanfang.
On the streets, what he saw were scenes full of life.
Old people, children, and adults are either walking around, or hawking along the street, or gathering in twos and threes to chat, or busy soliciting customers in their own shops.
What he saw was a strong atmosphere of life, a scene he had rarely seen in Xuzhou and in his family's clan.
He knew that Luoyang, as the most benign place under the emperor's feet, was naturally the first place to change. If even Luoyang could not change, then naturally there would be no place in the world that could change.
And if Luoyang really undergoes changes that touch the bottom, then Zhuge Liang has reason to believe that the world is so big that sooner or later these changes that he likes will also happen.
After visiting Deguanfang, Zhuge Liang fell in love with wandering around Luoyang City.
As long as he can get into every village, he is willing to go in. He likes to talk to the residents in those villages and talk about things around them. He feels that in the future, whether he is an official or a scholar, he must learn from these places to make progress.
the power of.
Whether he is studying or taking exams, his ambition and dream are always to bring peace to the world.
The war-torn life in his early years and the panic of his elders left an indelible impact on him, so from that time on, Zhuge Liang was determined to make these chaotic days gone forever.
Now, Liu Bei helped him realize this wish in advance.
But he did not think that his ambitions needed to change.
He had read some history books in the past and knew that there were times of peace in the world, but more often it was chaos and disorder. Temporary peace did not mean eternal peace, and peace in one place did not mean overall peace.
Even peace at the top does not mean peace at the bottom.
The high-ranking officials were fighting to the death for power in Luoyang. This chaos and disorder spread to places like Xuzhou, which was a combination of war disasters. There were dead people and wars everywhere. Adults and older teenagers at home
They had to be armed, and there was a sense of precariousness.
Such an imprint lingers in Zhuge Liang's heart, making Zhuge Liang's understanding and pursuit of the word Taiping different from others.
He believes that only the most ordinary farmers can live a peaceful life, and can talk, laugh, and live leisurely. That is true peace. Peace for a small group of people is not peace. Peace for everyone is peace.
Only when he could see these people who worked hard and achieve peace could Zhuge Liang recognize from the bottom of his heart that this was true peace.
But this is not enough.
Walking on the streets of Luoyang, looking at the harmonious scene around him, Zhuge Liang was thinking, Luoyang is peaceful, but what about other places?
It may not necessarily be peaceful.
The inland is peaceful, but the border areas are not peaceful. The Central Plains is peaceful, but the Western Regions are not peaceful. Therefore, there is still a long way to go before the world is truly peaceful, and how to walk this road well may be what you want.
Things to consider.
In addition to such considerations, Zhuge Liang also had two happiest things during his trip to Luoyang.
First, I ate a lot of food that I couldn’t eat in Xuzhou. It is said that the delicacies were spread from the palace. The taste was really good, especially the fried chicken legs. The only food market in Beishi in Luoyang sold them, and
There is a daily limit.
The first time Zhuge Liang went to queue, he didn't get there, but he bought it the second time. The price was really not cheap, but the taste was really good, fragrant and crispy, so Zhuge Liang didn't forget to bring it to the four people in the dormitory.
One portion and everyone can enjoy the delicious food together.
Needless to say, the delicious fried chicken legs relieved the anxiety of the four people at that time to a certain extent.
The second happy thing is that Zhuge Liang met several new friends while visiting Luoyang City.
For example, I met Pang Tong from Nanjun, Jingzhou while eating steamed buns, Xu Fu and Shi Tao from Yingchuan, Yuzhou while eating dumplings, and Lu Yi, from Wujun, Yangzhou, I met while queuing up to buy fried chicken legs.
Speaking of which, Zhuge Liang never thought that he was a very social person, but perhaps it was his helpful character that enabled him to always get to know many people. All the friends he made after coming to Luoyang were made friends with him after being helped by him.
He knew it.
For example, my acquaintance with Pang Tong was that Pang Tong realized that he forgot to bring money when he was buying steamed buns. He was embarrassed there. Zhuge Liang, who was queuing behind him, saw Pang Tong's embarrassment, so he stepped forward to help Pang Tong buy the buns.
steamed stuffed bun.
The two got to know each other and learned each other's identity as a candidate. When they reported their names, Pang Tong was very surprised.
"Is this the leader of Xuzhou, Zhuge Liang?"
"Have you ever heard of my name?"
"I know the names of the leaders of each state."
Pang Tong smiled and said: "I am Pang Tong, whose courtesy name is Shiyuan. He is from Nanjun, Jingzhou. He also ranked first in the Jingzhou state examination this time, but he is not as good as me. I heard that he got full marks in the state examination. Even if he is the leader of the Fourteenth State, he is also the best."
Number one."
Zhuge Liang suddenly became more interested in such an ordinary-looking Pang Tong.
"I am so ignorant that I don't know the names of the leaders of other states."
So while eating steamed buns, the two of them talked about the previous state exams and this time's selection exams, as well as cheating incidents, etc. Because they got along so well, they chatted from afternoon to night and still felt they hadn't talked enough, so they made an appointment.
After dinner, we chatted for a long time before returning to the student dormitory together.
Then Zhuge Liang realized that Pang Tong had given him another dinner.
As for Xu Fu and Shi Tao, when they were eating dumplings, Zhuge Liang heard the two arguing about a difficult math question in the exam. He couldn't bear the wrong thinking of the two, so he interrupted and said something,
That's how I got to know these two people.
It is also interesting to talk about. The main reason is that Xu Fu and Shi Tao are both top students in Yuzhou Prefectural School. Zhuge Liang suddenly interrupted and said an idea for solving the problem that they had not thought of. They were a little dissatisfied at first and started arguing with Zhuge Liang.
They feel that their ideas for solving the problem are correct.
Zhuge Liang had no choice but to ask for pen and paper from the store. He reconstructed the math problem for them on the dumpling table and analyzed the problem and solution ideas for them from beginning to end. On the spot, he attracted three or four people around him.
A candidate is also eating dumplings.
A group of people gathered around a table, and those who didn't know it thought they were doing something strange.
After Zhuge Liang completely restored and solved the math problem, everyone was convinced that they were wrong and Zhuge Liang was right.
Then Xu Fu and Shi Tao apologized to Zhuge Liang with embarrassed looks on their faces, and were worried about their own test scores.
This big question is worth fifteen points. If you get it wrong, your fifteen points will be lost. It is not a good sign to lose fifteen points all of a sudden in such a fiercely competitive exam.
Zhuge Liang smiled slightly after hearing this.
"It doesn't matter, this question is one of the last three big questions. Although the score is high, it is so difficult that not many people can solve it correctly. If it is right, it is the icing on the cake, and if it is wrong, it will not be full.
Everyone loses, you two don’t need to worry.”
This was said very skillfully. Xu Fu and Shi Tao immediately thought that Zhuge Liang was a player with a higher rank than them. They quickly asked Zhuge Liang's name. After asking, they learned that the guy in front of them was suspected of being a show-off.
He is actually a true scholar.
The leader of Xuzhou, the only perfect scorer in this national state examination, Zhuge Kongming.
So Xu Fu and Shi Tao were sure that Zhuge Liang was definitely not a pretender, and he didn't need to pretend at all.
"Am I famous?"
Zhuge Liang had previously learned from Pang Tong that Pang Tong knew his name. He didn't think it was a big deal. He just thought Pang Tong was a bit of a gossip. But now Xu Fu and Shi Tao also knew it, and the few candidates and students around him obviously knew it too, which made him
I feel very strange.
He felt that he was just an ordinary Xuzhou leader. Even if he was famous, he was still among the Xuzhou students. How come he was known to so many people in Luoyang?