Wang Ping'an shook his head and said, "Brother Zhao, don't joke about this. The imperial examination is a grand affair, how can it be decided by fortune-telling? If national affairs could be resolved through divination, wouldn't the imperial court be filled with people counting on their fingers?"

  Zhao Bi and Lu Xiu burst out laughing together, Zhao Bi laughed and said: "If the bigwigs on the imperial court each counted their fingers, it would be quite fun!"

  Lu Xiuzhi laughed a few times, then said: "It seems that Wang Xian-di really only understands medicine and doesn't care about other subjects. In fact, the number of people taking the divination exam is much more than those taking the medical exam, it all depends on luck! And this luck, it's just a matter of how much money you're willing to spend, it's not testing me, but testing my dad!"

  Wang Ping'an finally understood, nodding his head: "Brother Lu said that, I understand now. If it's like you said, then Bo Ke is actually easier to test! Anyway, just come up with a topic and let everyone make something up. Whoever makes the most sense will pass the test. No wonder so many people are taking the test!"

  Zhao Bi said, "That's not necessarily true. To make sure the cheat sheet is reliable, it's best to guess the topic in advance, and to guess the topic, you have to spend money, so everyone compares whose family has more money, so the one who enters the examination hall is Young Master Lu, but the one who answers the questions is Old Master Lu!"

  Lu Xiu didn't show a hint of embarrassment, instead nodded and said: "Not bad, that's exactly right!"

  Wang Ping An thought to himself: "So it seems that Bo Ke is guessing the unknown, and wanting to successfully guess the unknown relies on money. Money is indeed a good thing!" He finally understood that these two were super rich kids with incredibly strong family backgrounds.

  He asked: "Brother Lu, what does your family do? For such a big thing as guessing the exam questions, you need to have connections in Chang'an. Just having money is useless; the money has to be able to be sent out to be effective!"

  Lu Xiu's face showed a proud expression, saying: "My younger brother is from a good family and mainly engages in managing the estate. However, my father also does some small business to supplement our household expenses!"

  "Modesty, you're so modest that it's almost fake!" Zhao Bi teased and said to Wang Ping'an: "The court rules, those who participate in the imperial examination must be from a good family. With this rule, everyone has to pretend to be virtuous, but if you want to get rich, just relying on farming is not enough, you have to do some business. Lu's family business is not ordinary!" He paused for a moment, waiting for Wang Ping'an's attention, before saying: "They sell iron!"

  "Ah, the Lu family is actually in the iron business, this is unbelievable! Commodities like salt and iron have always been state monopolies in feudal society. If a merchant can do these two businesses, their background must be extremely powerful!"

  "Wang Ping'an said: 'I apologize, I apologize. So Lu brother's family is so wealthy and noble. Why bother with the imperial examination? Wouldn't it be better to rely on your ancestors' influence?'"

  Lu Xiuzhi sighed and said, "Of course it's good to rely on the ancestors' prestige, but the problem is that my family's ancestors' prestige doesn't cover me! My dad is rich enough, but if you want to talk about nobility, you have to look at this generation of mine!"

  It's not something worth hiding, and Lu Xiuzhi also intentionally showed off, so he casually talked about his family's business. His family sold pig iron to the imperial court, and they made a lot of money from it, but at most, it was just doing some odd jobs for the government. There were many merchants like this, and their status wasn't particularly high either. Anyway, no matter what kind of business you did, as long as you lived in this era, you couldn't rise up high. If officials wanted to use you, they would use you; if not, they would just replace you!

  The Lu family does business for the government, and the money they make is naturally taken by the government. In nature, the Lu family belongs to the money-making rake, and the government is the money-controlling box! And the money-making rake looks glamorous, but it's actually very dangerous. If the government doesn't change people, it's fine. Once changed, it must be a reversal, and the house will be destroyed, which is a common occurrence. In modern words, it means to raise fat and then kill, which happens in every dynasty, not surprising at all!

  There are two things that the Lu family can do. One is to curry favor with a certain big shot in the imperial court, it's good to take advantage of the shade under a big tree, but this is not the most secure way. The most secure way is to have one of their own family members enter the officialdom and become one of the imperial court's own people, that would be the best! So Lu Xiuzhi had to participate in the imperial examination, what kind of subject he takes doesn't matter, what matters is that as long as he passes, Lu Laojie's money can get him assigned to the government office where he "should" go.

  Wang Ping'an sighed and said, "I really don't understand these things very well. If it weren't for you guys telling me, I wouldn't know anything about them. By the way, Brother Zhao, your family is in the medicine business, which pharmacy do you own?"

  Zhaobi smiled and said, "It's just a small business, earning some pocket money. My family only has a warehouse, not a pharmacy, we collect the medicinal materials and then resell them to pharmacies, not only in Xuzhou but also in Chang'an!" The first sentence was somewhat humble, but the second sentence was boastful!

  Wang Ping'an nodded and smiled: "So to speak, Brother Zhao is also a noble family, and his medical skills must be excellent!"

  Zhao Bi shook his head and said, "Since I was a child, my father has been forcing me to study medicine, but the more he forces me, the less I want to learn. My father can't do anything about me, and he doesn't care about me anymore!"

  Dandan Ruo and Ke Lianwu walked over, seeing that Cheng Zhou had left, the other book boys all ran into the study hall, so they also came in. Ke Lianwu said: "Young master, I see them all copying books, do you need me to help you copy too?"

  Wang Ping'an hadn't spoken yet, but Lu Xiuzhi said: "What's the point of copying? What's good about copying? We're not taking the imperial examination, what's the meaning of copying books? Let's just stop wasting time here and go drink and have fun!"

  Zhao Bi also said: "Isn't that right? My dad asked me to copy books and I didn't, what is Old Man Cheng? He wants us to copy books but he himself ran away, no need to pay attention to him." He stood up and pulled Wang Ping'an: "Wang Xian Di, we meet again like old times, being able to study together is a good omen, we should celebrate properly. Come on, let's go have some fun at the wine house!"

  Wang Ping'an shook his head and said, "Not good, not good, I've had this for a whole day..."

  "Who cares? Enjoying life is what we should do, earning so much money for what? Isn't it just to spend it!" Lu Xiuzhi also came over and pulled Wang Ping'an up from his seat!

  Wang Ping'an glanced at the students next to him, except for a few who were listening to the teacher and quietly writing, the rest of the students had actually run away, leaving only some book boys on their seats, copying books for them!

  Wang Ping'an glanced at the two little maids and said, "On the first day of class, I already got Mr. angry, didn't do my homework, and wanted to skip class, and also drink wine, isn't this not too good? What do you think?" If the two little maids had spoken a few words of reason at that time, he would have taken advantage of the situation and refused Zhao Bi and Lu Xiu.

  Who would have thought that these two little girls' eyes lit up, as if Wang Ping'an's current actions were very great, very independent and unique, and needed strong support. They nodded in unison and said: "We will definitely not tell Master and Madam, so they won't worry!"

  Wang Ping'an burst out laughing and rushed to Zhao Bi and Lu Xiu, saying: "Since the words have been said to this point, if I still hesitate, it would seem that I'm not man enough! Alright, let's not say anything else, or we'll end up crying. Come on, let's go drink!"

  "That's right, that's what good brothers are for! Today our brother is treating us, and Wang Xian-di mustn't try to save money on us. Let's order the most expensive dishes, and after we finish eating, let's get drunk and smash up the wine shop!" Zhao Bi shouted.

  Ding Danruo and Ke Lianwu were so excited that their eyes shone brightly, clapping their hands and saying: "Set off another fire..."

  Wang Ping'an glared at them and said, "What's wrong with you two little girls, what are you making a fuss about?"

  Five people swaggered out of the school, met other students halfway, and asked them where they were going. Lu Xiuzhi said loudly: "Go to the wine building to smash it, and set a fire on the way!"

  They came out of the academy and walked towards the main street, chatting as they went.

  When Wang Ping'an mentioned that he had cured Qiu Wenpu's wind and cold, Zhao Bi exclaimed: "I thought it was Cheng Shen who cured him, but it turned out to be you, Wang Xian Di! Your medical skills are not bad. From now on, we should get closer. If you want to open a pharmacy, just look for me, and I'll give you all the medicine at cost price!"

  Ding Danru quickly told Zhao Bi and Lu Xiuzhi about how Wang Ping'an treated illnesses for poor people, and they both nodded in agreement, praising Wang Ping'an's kind heart. They said that good people will be rewarded, and who knows, maybe those poor patients will become successful in the future and repay him in ways that can't be measured by just a few coins for medicine.

  As they walked, they stopped in front of a three-story tall wine building, which was quite large. From far away, the waiter at the wine building saw them and shouted: "Zhao Gongzi, Lu Gongzi, it's been days since we've seen you!"

  －－－－

  Here is the translation:

  In addition: Peace thanks book friends Kaixin Boluo, Book friend Shu Yu 2, Book friend Yun Ceng KONG Jian, and Book friend Bian Xian for their enthusiastic and generous rewards. Peace also wants to thank ∞ Xiao Bai Chi for his generous reward. Thank you all for your support!

  Thank you for your support, if you think this book is okay, please add it to your bookshelf and read it slowly, it will get better and better later on. If you have a recommendation ticket, please take the trouble to cast one, thank you in advance!

  Sparrow's medicinal congee

  Source: "Taiping Shenghui Fang"

  Ingredients: 5 sparrows, 30-45g Schisandra chinensis, 10-15g Vaccinium vitis-idaea, 20-30g Lycium barbarum, 100g japonica rice, salt, scallion whites and ginger in appropriate amounts.

  Production: First, put the Cuscuta, Schisandra and Lycium barbarum into a sand pot to decoct the medicinal liquid, remove the dregs; then pluck the sparrows, wash them clean with wine, and stir-fry them. Then add glutinous rice and medicinal liquid with an appropriate amount of water to cook porridge. When it's almost cooked, add fine salt, scallions, and ginger, and cook into a thin porridge for food.

  Usage: Take twice a day, warm and hot food. 3-5 days as a course of treatment, winter is the best season to eat.

  Function: Tonifying Yang, supplementing essence and blood, benefiting liver and kidney, warming waist and knee. Suitable for impotence, premature ejaculation, nocturnal emission, waist and knee pain or cold pain, dizziness, blurred vision, tinnitus, deafness, frequent urination, urinary incontinence, and women's leukorrhea due to insufficient kidney Qi.