Chapter 535: Prefecture City (Seeking Monthly Votes!)

The weather is gradually turning cold.

Although the water of Taize Lake does not freeze in winter, it is bone-chillingly cold.

And with the backward medical conditions of ancient times, a cold or flu could easily kill a person...

In winter, the fishermen of Taize Lake often seek out shoals and deserted islands, lashing their boats together to form "boat islands" or "boat villages," huddling together for warmth and drying their fishing nets, and so on...

However, the price of fish is high during the New Year period, so many fishermen still risk going out onto the lake to fish.

After the first light snow of winter fell, Aaron moored his boat alongside those of Lao Yutou and Lao Chutou, asked them to look after it, and then headed toward Taize Prefecture City with most of his copper coins.

There were only some ordinary household items on the Black-Awning Boat, and the book pages he had seized after killing Lali Liu had been re-wrapped and buried in the reed marsh.

Having seen so many Westerners with blonde hair and blue eyes, seeing this kind of Eastern market inexplicably gave Aaron a sense of familiarity.

"High-grade dregs" are just broken tea leaves; the stall owner is a coolie who carries tea for the tea house, and these are just the fine, broken leaves he collected in his daily work.

If Aaron were here, he would certainly recognize him as the lackey who often followed behind Hu Ye.

This city has bungalows of varying heights on both sides, and the roads are not particularly wide.

"Hmm... this must be 'Taize Prefecture'... learned something new, learned something new..."

The cured meat is wild boar meat hunted by mountain hunters themselves; they couldn't bear to eat it after air-drying and curing it, so they brought it to trade for money.

For example, the character "Rice" is hung outside the rice shop.

Moreover, it is still a question of whether those aloof scholars would even be willing to accept his "tuition fee."

Aaron looked at his tattered hemp shirt and shrugged his shoulders.

People come and go among the shops on both sides, and signs are hung outside.

The soldier cursed and took a sip of hot tea.

There are all kinds of tea mixed together; it is a bit poor, but the taste is not bad.

Perhaps because everyone is rushing to the market for the New Year, farmers from all over the countryside have gathered here, hawking some handicrafts they made themselves.

Bamboo baskets, stools... and bamboo horses and grass dragonflies for children to play with...

"A poor ghost, can't even afford a bolt of cloth."

Aaron does not go to those large firms with arrogant servants and thugs; just by being thick-skinned, he has managed to learn quite a few things.

After firmly memorizing the shape and pronunciation of the characters, he curiously glanced at the portraits.

With so many plaques and shops... by asking and looking... one can learn quite a lot.

"This must be the Qingshan Martial Arts Hall, right? The master, Xue Qingshan, was a famous Fist Master back in the day, and he is still vigorous in his old age now..."

After all, he is not a child, and his learning ability and subjective initiative are both very strong.

As for the martial artists of the Jianghu in fine clothes and spirited horses, wearing swords and carrying blades, they naturally do not need to queue, and the city guards even have to bow and scrape to curry favor as they see them off.

He slowly passed by the martial arts hall and saw Huichun Hall, which was opened right next to it.

"This martial arts hall only opens its doors wide during the New Year to show off and attract people to apprentice and learn martial arts; usually, the doors are tightly shut, and if you dare to peek, they will beat you up, saying you are stealing their martial arts..."

"There is a criminal named Ma Qian, who killed two people and is on the run... seven feet tall, with three moles on his left face... anyone who captures him will be rewarded with five hundred coins!"

At the same time, he raised his head and saw the huge plaque on the city gate tower, with three large characters written in a bold, flowing style.

As for Bai Yu Shu?

There was absolutely no portrait; they didn't even know if it was a man or a woman, or how old they were.

After all, this body can also get sick, and might even die from illness.

The tea house has the character "Tea" hung up.

There was also a minor official specifically reciting loudly on the side, clearly for the sake of those who could not read, and he immediately became interested.

"And here I thought he might have something good since he entered the city alone."

Aaron stood in front of Huichun Hall for much longer than he did at the martial arts hall.

Aaron queued at the end of the line and waited patiently.

As it turned out, Ma Qian's portrait was quite clear, with a sketch-like style, completely different from the messy scribbles Aaron had expected of ancient times.

Aaron looked at the text on the notice, trying hard to match it one by one with the words spoken by the minor official.

Although he complained in his heart that this hindered commercial development, Aaron said nothing and obediently paid the fee to enter Taize Prefecture City.

For a fisherman to go and learn to read and write is simply too conspicuous.

There was a long queue at the city gate, mostly honest farmers and small merchants.

Aaron's plan was to rely on slow, gradual accumulation and learn in secret.

The city guard deliberately tore open his parcel to inspect it, saw the cured meat and tea leaves inside, muttered a curse about him being a poor ghost, and then waved him away.

Aaron shook his head in secret, slowly following the queue forward, and saw a notice at the city gate, which seemed to be a wanted poster or something similar.

Aaron acted like a country bumpkin entering the city, walking and stopping along the way, asking questions here and there but buying nothing, which made countless merchants secretly call him a poor ghost.

The hunter looked big and sturdy, but his smile was quite honest, saying he wanted to save enough money to buy cloth for his wife and children to make a set of new clothes.

If he could find a copy of the Thousand Character Classic for young children, that would be even better.

Aaron didn't mind and reached the city gate.

Aaron was in no hurry anyway; his nominal reason for entering the city this time was to buy New Year goods, but in reality, it was to look around, get a feel for the situation, and learn characters on the side.

To survive, one must find a good doctor and take medicine!

'I must pay attention to this in the future; hmm, it would be best to teach myself some medicine...'

Aaron memorized this in his heart.

Moreover, he also managed to buy half a catty of the cheapest "high-grade dregs" and a strip of cured meat from a stall that offered the best value, to serve as New Year goods.

After walking along the official road for an hour, a stretch of blue-black city walls built of brick and stone appeared before Aaron.

Having wandered for half a day and learned a bellyful of common characters, he only waited to return and silently digest them.

He even got a free storytelling session inside the city, and it was not until dusk that Aaron left the city through the same gate he had arrived by.

However, business people value welcoming guests from all directions, and since it was the New Year, this courtesy and formality still could not be discarded.

The member of the Golden Fish Gang pouring the tea accompanied it with a fawning smile: "Sorry to trouble you, but Hu Ye has given orders; these people who are Fishing are all very shrewd. Don't let them bypass the Fish Market during the New Year to bring precious catches into the city to sell; everyone must keep a close watch..."

Anyway, there was still plenty of material, such as the large coin in his hand, which he later heard called "Dingyuan Currency" at Yuyang Restaurant, while the reverse side said "One Qian"... that was another six characters!

Pictographic characters naturally have a certain logic; the more one learns, the faster one can guess and infer as one goes along.

After Aaron's back disappeared, that city-guarding soldier came to rest under a nearby shed.

"No, no... buying books is still too flashy, I shall not take them..."

Since ancient times, medicine and Wu have not been separated; next to a Wuguan, there are often buildings like medical clinics or pharmacies, and they are very experienced in treating injuries from falls and strikes.

Overall, it left Aaron greatly disappointed.

Just walking and looking like this, when he passed by a large mansion with a high gate, through the open doors, he could see a huge plaza inside where dozens of sturdy men were lifting stone locks and practicing martial arts, causing Aaron to stop in his tracks.

Therefore, he was not afraid at all that anyone would discover any clues.

Anyway, he had no money to buy new clothes for the New Year.

"The great bandit Bai Yu Shu... robbed over a dozen households by night... heinous crimes... if there are any clues... the government offers a heavy reward, plus one hundred taels of silver raised by thirteen families in the city..."

Pedestrians all around were discussing it heatedly; Aaron looked at the two Martial Masters guarding the front of the Wuguan and felt their muscles were quite developed, though he couldn't tell anything more than that.

There were also salt firms, pawnshops, cloth shops, gold and silver shops, restaurants, teahouses, rouge shops...

It was not until he walked to the East Market, where trade took place, that he felt it was slightly more lively.

In the shed, there was also a man with a face full of smiles who immediately came over to pour him tea and asked with a laugh: "Officer, how is it?"

The city-guarding soldier glanced at him, smelled the fishy odor, and his expression turned unpleasant: "The entry fee is one large coin!"

After finishing, he said with some regret: "In the past, we had Laili Liu as an informant, so we could know about any disturbances in advance, but who knows where that wretch died recently... sigh, it's a pity, his tribute was quite generous..."

"Heh, men, they either die in a gambling den or on a woman's belly... as for informants, isn't that simple? If one is gone, just replace him!" The soldier took another sip of hot tea: "With the influence of your Golden Fish Gang, just threaten them a little, and how could those water-legs not obediently submit?"

(End of this chapter)