Chapter 635: Imperial Examination Promotion System (44)

This was just the meat and fish; there were even more pickled and dried vegetables: salted vegetables, kimchi, dried greens, mushrooms, dried bamboo shoots, cowpeas, radish strips, dried winter melon...

There were also fresh radishes, cabbage, green beans, eggplants, tomatoes, and crisp cucumbers... Even if crisp, tender vegetables wouldn't last many days, it was good to have them to eat for a few days on the boat.

As for those that store well, there were whole pumpkins, baskets of sweet potatoes and potatoes, and the bountiful corn harvest...

A few pounds of lotus seeds produced from the lotus pond were also packed.

A whole sack of various vegetable and grain seeds was packed away.

Although it would be nearly winter by the time they reached Jingcheng and nothing could be planted, wouldn't it be spring with flowers in bloom once the Spring Examination ended? They could open up a vegetable patch in front of and behind the house to grow seasonal vegetables. Firstly, they had many types of seeds from home, and secondly, they wouldn't have to go out and buy vegetables just to eat some greens, right?

Besides food, there were also clothes and daily necessities.

It was truly just like moving house.

Fortunately, this time there were the couple Yang Mu and his wife along, so Xie Yang booked two two-story suites; she and Song Yanqing had one, and Xiaohu's family had the other. Each had a spacious living room, so there was plenty of space to place luggage and items.

Heading north all the way, the weather grew colder day by day, and the clothes everyone wore became thicker day by day.

Fortunately, the weather was still quite good; it was either sunny or cloudy along the way, and they rarely encountered rainy days.

Therefore, whenever they reached a town wharf where they stopped, almost all the passengers on the boat would go down to stretch their legs.

Xie Yang and her group were no exception.

Every time they disembarked, she would slip Chun Niang a few pieces of broken Silver, telling her family to go explore on their own, just as long as they didn't miss the time to board the boat, and to buy some snacks or treats if they found anything interesting.

As for her, she would first accompany Song Yanqing to the local bookstore to sell the books he had copied over the past few days, exchanging them for some Silver to supplement their household expenses.

It must be said, this fellow was truly diligent! Aside from the nights when he would take the initiative to pull her into a hearty, interactive exercise, if she didn't pull him up during the day to go to the terrace to drink tea and soak up the sun, he would sit at the desk copying books and reviewing the whole time.

Could this be the reason the Imperial Examination Promotion System chose him? Not only was his talent good, but he was also diligent! Even without binding to this Sub-system, he would certainly succeed! It was merely a matter of time.

After coming out of the bookstore, it was his turn to accompany her to go shopping.

Every time they reached a town, Xie Yang would taste the local snacks and experience the local customs, while also buying a travelogue of mountains and rivers to take on the boat. When she got tired of crocheting gloves, socks, or scarves, she would crack melon seeds and read books; although the journey was tiring, it was still quite interesting and fulfilling.

A month later, the passenger boat finally arrived in Jingcheng and docked at the Tongyun Wharf, where ships from the north and south crisscrossed.

Yang Mu was the first to disembark and hired three porters at the wharf; including himself, the four of them carried four loads, and the others didn't carry any less luggage or bundles on their shoulders and in their hands.

After finding an inn to settle in, Xie Yang had Xiaohu accompany Song Yanqing to rest in the guest room, while she took Yang Mu and his wife out to inquire about housing prices in Jingcheng.

If they encountered a suitable property, she was internally more inclined to buy it outright in one go. Renting a house actually required investing quite a bit of Silver for renovations and furnishings. And besides, renting was only temporary.

Once he finished the Palace Examination, secured a position, and settled down in Jingcheng, given the mindset of the people, they would eventually have to return to buying a house. It would be better to buy one now, before the main force of Provincial Graduates arrived in Jingcheng this year and before housing prices rose in a frenzy.

If he were to rise high in the future and the Emperor rewarded him with a large mansion, they could just sell this one off.

The Metropolitan Examination was held every three years. As more and more Provincial Graduates entered the capital, and since capital officials rarely sold their houses even when demoted or sent away, always hoping to be promoted back to the capital, housing prices in Jingcheng would only rise year by year; they certainly wouldn't lose money.

They could live for free for a few years and still make a profit on the price difference; how could they pass up such a good investment? It just depended on whether they had enough Silver on hand.

Xie Yang calculated her visible savings—

The five hundred taels of dowry Silver had not been touched; the dividends from her maiden family's braised food stall had accumulated to one hundred and sixty taels over two years; her parents-in-law had gradually repaid her eighty taels since they started selling wine; the bulk of the earnings from Song Yanqing's book copying over the past two years had been given to her, but she had spent quite a bit of it, and the current balance was sixteen taels.

After some investigation and inquiry, the housing prices in Jingcheng for a residence in the inner city started at a minimum of one hundred and eighty taels.

The closer to the Imperial City, the more expensive it was.

However, there were differences in housing prices around the Imperial City; the east and south areas were wealthy districts, and there were no residences for less than a thousand taels.

By comparison, the northeast area, which was the residential area in the alleys around the Imperial Academy, was relatively more cost-effective, but a small three-section Heyuan still cost at least four hundred taels.

Yang Mu and his wife couldn't help but click their tongues in surprise as they listened to the broker's introduction.

Four hundred taels! In Qingfeng City, that could buy a large mansion with front and back gardens and several courtyards, and in Guixiang Town, it could buy a huge stretch of mountains, yet in Jingcheng, it could only buy a small, single-entry courtyard.

However, after Xie Yang took a carriage with the broker to tour the alleys around the Imperial Academy, she understood why scholars liked to choose this area to live in; the environment was indeed quiet and elegant.

After spending two or three days and visiting five or six places to look at houses, she finally felt that the two-entry Heyuan near the Imperial Academy was the most satisfying.

It was just a bit expensive; the broker asked for six hundred and fifty taels, and it was finally negotiated down to five hundred and ninety-eight taels. It was only because Xie Yang used the modern homophonic pun "I will prosper" that she coaxed the broker into agreeing.

Upon learning that his wife had almost emptied her dowry to purchase a two-entry residence, Song Yanqing secretly vowed to achieve brilliant results in the Metropolitan Examination, successfully advance to the Palace Examination, and strive to remain in Jingcheng as an official.

His wife was even counting on him to become a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet; if he couldn't even secure a minor official post in Jingcheng, wouldn't that disappoint her?

Thus, he became even more focused. Although he didn't go as far as hanging his hair from the ceiling or piercing his thigh with an awl, he rose early and slept late, immersing his consciousness in the System Library, with the posture of wanting to read and memorize every useful book on classics and Policy Essay in the library.

The Sub-system was gratified: 【Host, you're doing the right thing! But don't be reluctant to spend the points you've earned! I have various mock exams for the Metropolitan and Palace Examinations here, and you can even study the thinking of the monarch and emperor to set questions. Do you want to exchange for them?】

Points?

If the Sub-system hadn't mentioned it, Song Yanqing would have forgotten that after passing the Provincial Examination, the system had rewarded him with Wanyi points.

So he carefully browsed the point exchange Mall, and after a long while, he finally picked out a small item that pleased him—the Warm Jade Warm Fragrance Bracelet.

As soon as he saw this jade bracelet, the line "How to express our deep bond? A pair of bangles around the wrists" flashed through his mind.

Moreover, the benefits of the jade bracelet were indeed very suitable for a woman—

The jade itself was warm, moist, and delicate; wearing it on the wrist could nourish a woman's body. Long-term wear would not only make the skin increasingly lustrous like jade, but it also had the effect of regulating fertility and could ensure a smooth delivery and reduce pain during childbirth.

No wonder the points were so expensive.

Sub-system: 【...】

If it's so expensive, then don't spend it!

This spendthrift Host didn't even blink before spending Wanyi points to buy a bracelet for his wife, yet he complained that mock papers costing dozens or hundreds of points were expensive, and even criticized the question types as ordinary and not as good as his own review... What was it supposed to say!

It really didn't know how his brain worked! The rewards for his desperate studying to pass the imperial exams were all spent on his wife!

Why did it ever bind to such a Host!