Chapter 64: Host

In the current situation, transportation is not very convenient, and the transmission of information is inevitably sluggish and blocked. In this environment, a good storyteller who wants to improve cannot just stay in one place; he must travel everywhere, go to various prefectures and roads to collect customs and ask about the past, so that he can be knowledgeable and accumulate a belly full of stories.

Guo Dongyang is over fifty years old and has been on the road all year round, like a diligent little bee, often going to various places to collect various anecdotes and interesting stories, which has achieved his storytelling ability.

If it were an ordinary person, it would be difficult to take Guo Dongyang's words. Even a scholar who has read through classics and history might not necessarily have such rich experience as him.

Fortunately, Xu Qing is not an ordinary person. Ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, all kinds of theories, he can speak them out at will.

The two talked about heaven and earth, ancient and modern, along the way.

It's just that as the conversation went on, it inevitably began to shift toward the direction of discussing heroes while boiling wine.

This seems to be the dead end that men are most likely to turn into when chatting and gossiping.

Guo Dongyang drank the fake wine brewed by wine bugs, and the whole person was as excited as if he were in heat.

Those ancient and modern celebrities were whipped by him, and he almost said that the heroes of the world are only Xu Jun and I...

Fortunately, there was only one living person in the carriage. No matter how fierce Guo Dongyang's words were, they wouldn't reach the ears of those who cared.

Otherwise, the outcome would be more miserable than Sima Gong.

In short, this old man is quite interesting. Not only is he knowledgeable, but he has also learned some self-defense techniques. He doesn't leave his sword when he goes out, and he has a free and easy feeling.

It's just that his mouth is too broken, and there hasn't been a moment of stopping along the way.

"Little Brother Xu, your wine is truly mellow, even comparable to the Pear Blossom Brew in the capital..."

Guo Dongyang, who had drunk too much fake wine, muttered a sentence, and the next moment he lay on his back in the carriage and fell into a deep sleep.

Xu Qing shook his head helplessly, then urged the horse to speed up and drove all the way to the prefectural city.

Jingcheng Prefecture is prosperous, and now it happens to be the spring exams, with talented scholars from all over the world gathered here, making Jingcheng Prefecture even more lively than usual.

When Guo Dongyang woke up, the carriage had already arrived at the city gate.

The city guards selected suspicious people based on intuition and checked the travel permits. Xu Qing felt that he looked kind, but he was also blocked by the soldiers and asked for a travel permit.

He felt that it must be Guo Dongyang's problem. The other party's face looked like a snuff bottle, and it didn't look like a serious person at first glance.

And he was completely implicated!

After entering the city, Guo Dongyang enthusiastically invited him, saying that he was very familiar with the Jingcheng area and was a guest of honor in major teahouses. Now that his brother had come, he had to treat him well.

Xu Qing knew it well. The two of them were chance acquaintances; where was there any friendship to talk about? The other party was so enthusiastic, nothing more than wanting to empty the stories in his belly.

Arriving at a teahouse, it was indeed as Guo Dongyang said. As soon as he appeared, the waiter in the teahouse looked like he had seen a relative he had been separated from for many years, and came up to ask about him.

The teahouse manager heard the news and ran down the teahouse, personally pouring tea and water for Guo Dongyang.

"I haven't seen Brother Dongyang for half a year. I think Brother Dongyang must have gained a lot of knowledge during this trip to the south..."

During the greetings, old tea guests who were familiar with Guo Dongyang in the teahouse also came up to greet him.

Xu Qing was amazed. This storyteller really didn't brag. Looking at this posture, even the famous actors in the theater might not have as much fame as him.

"Manager Wan, I have a favor to ask of you. Help me withdraw fifty taels of silver from the counter. I will stay here to tell stories for the next few days. When I earn the silver, I will return it to the manager."

"Easy to say, easy to say!"

The silver was taken, and Guo Dongyang handed it to Xu Qing.

"Ten taels is for the carriage fare, and the rest is for the wine you treat me to."

"My wine is not worth forty taels."

Guo Dongyang leaned close to Xu Qing upon hearing this, his somewhat unserious old face with a hint of fawning smile, saying: "It doesn't matter, the extra is for me to ask you for storytelling money. I don't have any other hobbies, I just like this in my life."

Xu Qing remained silent.

I don't know what happened recently. He kept running into these things of apprenticeship and learning along the way. Yesterday, a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy wanted to learn skills from him, and now the fifty-year-old old vegetable in front of him also wants to learn from him.

When did he become so popular?

Facing Guo Dongyang's humble request for advice, Xu Qing didn't refuse.

On the way to the prefectural city, the other party told him many interesting stories from all over the world. These messages that were not easy to contact on weekdays, on the contrary, gave him, a zombie who was unfamiliar with the place, a general outline of the outside world.

As a return, telling a few stories and a few scripts for the other party was nothing.

After making up his mind, Xu Qing asked the teahouse waiter for a bag of persimmon cakes and snacks, recorded it on Guo Dongyang's account, and then said: "When I have time later, I will naturally write down those stories for you."

Then he left the teahouse without looking back.

In place, Guo Dongyang's old face bloomed with joy, pointing at the waiter and ordering: "Prepare the case, I'm going to start talking now!"

The waiter asked curiously: "Which one is Master Guo going to tell today?"

Guo Dongyang chuckled: "Today I'm going to tell something fresh. The title is two words—'Corpse Transformation'!"

Here Xu Qing left the teahouse and asked all the way to the prefectural government office.

The day after tomorrow is the day of the prefectural exam. According to the convention, all child students must provide identity proof and guarantee documents written by guarantors according to the requirements.

Only after multiple layers of review, confirming that the family background is clean and there is no suspicion of impersonation, can they obtain the exam permit to participate in the prefectural exam.

Xu Qing had no relatives or friends, but fortunately, he had Wang Lingyuan and Secretary Tang Zhou acting as his family and friends group to issue guarantee letters for him.

Therefore, he was not afraid of not passing the qualification review.

After finishing the exam permit, the sky was already late.

Xu Qing strolled along the prosperous streets of the prefectural city for half an hour, feeling that the scenery here was just like that. Compared with Linhe Ward, except for being larger, there was no difference.

Strolling to the flower and bird street, the sky was already dark. Xu Qing caught the last flower and bird vendor who was closing the stall and bought dozens of fresh bird eggs.

This thing is good. It just happened that he was tired of eating raw chicken eggs, so he just changed his taste.

Seeing that everything that could be strolled had been strolled, Xu Qing thought about it. The Wu brothers left half a day earlier than him, and he didn't know which inn they were resting in now.

Last time he tested the shoe-throwing and road-asking method, he went to the Book Phoenix Pavilion one step ahead of the Wu brothers. I don't know if this metaphysics magic worked, or if the two groups of people just happened to meet together...

Now that there was no one around, it was possible to verify it again.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing took off his shoes, barefooted, and began to ask for directions.

If you want to ask him why he didn't prepare an extra pair of shoes specifically to use as a magic tool for asking for directions?

If you really want to talk about it, this matter is really not Xu Qing's lack of consideration.

Some magic requires performing rituals and preparing various foreplays, and the road-asking method is no exception.

The ritual sense of this magic lies in taking off shoes and throwing shoes. Every time you ask for directions, the caster must put on and take off the shoes. Only in this way can the thrown one have the most spirit.

Xu Qing even once suspected that the metaphysical driving force of the shoe-throwing and road-asking method was his own foot odor...

At this time, there were few pedestrians on the street. Xu Qing threw shoes all the way, walked seven or eight miles around, and only then arrived at the place finally indicated by the shoes.

It was still the Jinglou archway with two big red lanterns hanging high.

It's just that the plaque reflected by the red lanterns no longer said Book Phoenix Pavilion, but "Jade Shadow Pavilion."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 65 =====