Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 11 Liu Yezhu

"Brother Taozi!!"

As soon as Liu Taozi opened her eyes, she saw Lu Qubing standing in front of her. He seemed to have been waiting for a long time.

"You guys are going to be fed! If you don't leave now it will be too late!"

Taozi got up, put on her clothes, and followed Lu Qubing out.

Lu Qubing started talking about what he had not finished talking about last night.

A huge wooden barrel was placed in the middle of the yard. It had been a long time since the barrel was cleaned, and the smell inside must have been unpleasant.

The old official guarding the gate stood beside the wooden barrel and scooped food for everyone.

Everyone lined up, and those people from yesterday stood at the front, looking arrogant.

The rest of the people tried to stay away from them and stood at the back.

These people were very thin, with dull eyes. They stood there quietly, as if in a daze.

As soon as Liu Taozi came out, those people saw this newcomer.

Liu Taozi stood behind those people indifferently, while Lu Qubing stood beside him, chattering incessantly.

The leader from yesterday took one look at him and said with a smile, "I thought this guy was very capable, but it turns out he's just a coward!"

"In order to avoid us, he even chose to live with Lu Diaodia!"

The lackey at the side was very disdainful: "There is no such thing as a brave warrior in the Touqianjiahan. Sooner or later he will be left alone!"

Finally it was Liu Taozi's turn. She took the bowl and chopsticks from the side. The wooden barrel was filled with rice soup and Liu Taozi could even see the miscellaneous leaves floating on it.

Liu Taozi asked for a bowl of soup expressionlessly, but Lu Qubing did not take it.

He seemed to have separate meals.

Many people eat here, without paying any attention to etiquette, and just squat on the ground to eat.

After eating, return the bowl and chopsticks and go back to the inner room.

"Do we need to go to class?"

When Taozi asked, Lu Qubing remembered the books he brought yesterday, and he handed the books to Liu Taozi.

"Look, the book we need to learn is Linzhi Xinge, but it was written by Emperor Xiaojing of the Later Wei during the Tianping Period..."

“You learned it by yourself?”

Liu Taozi interrupted him.

"Yes, I learned it by myself. We don't have a lecturer here. Of course, if you don't understand something, you can ask me."

Liu Taozi didn't speak for a long time.

Paying money to study means giving you a book and then locking yourself in a courtyard for forty days to study on your own?
"Then if I can finish reading it within a few days, I can take the exam with the previous batch of people?"

"How is that possible? Even if you want to finish reading all these, it's impossible to do so in just a few days. Besides, it's not easy to pass the exam."

"What if I could do that?"

"That won't work either. There are rules. You have to be at least full term before you can participate."

Liu Taozi stopped asking questions, picked up the book, sat on the bed and started reading.

He read it very seriously, while Lu Qubing on the side was still boasting about the advanced aspects of this law.

He seemed to know a lot of things.

He can comment on all the people who participated in writing the book one by one.

Liu Taozi read until the next mealtime, and Lu Qubing also talked about the next mealtime.

In the county school, they had two meals a day.

What they ate was probably leftovers. Taozi even saw some gnawed meat in the barrel, with clear bite marks on it.

But this did not dampen these people's appetites at all. Some Khitans even scrambled to take the pieces of meat.

They quarreled over the eaten meat and almost came to blows.

Looking at the way these people ate, even the old official looked disdainful.

"No wonder you can only study in the Law Office. Look at your appearance. The nobles in other schools are so dignified that they don't even show their teeth when eating meat!"

Lu Qubing sat next to Taozi, watching her wolf down the peaches, and explained, "The county school is actually very large, but there are family requirements. Some subjects can only be studied by children of large families. Only the law office is open to anyone. But children of the law office will not be recommended."

"What did Lu Lingshi study?"

"Me? Of course I study classics!"

When Lu Qubing talked about this, his face was full of pride. "Brother Taozi, you don't know that my family is a big family in Yangping. My ancestor was a wise man. He later served as a general and an official in the Han Dynasty. The study of classics has been passed down from generation to generation for nearly a thousand years."

"I am not talented. I was recommended three years ago and studied in Yecheng. Later, I honed my skills in the county. However, I have offended some people, so I can only waste my time here."

Inside the small house, a person was talking excitedly about something, chattering non-stop.

The other person sat on the bed indifferently, holding a yellowed book, without saying a word.

There was no wax in the house, so I couldn’t continue reading after dark.

The courtyard was quiet, and occasionally one could hear the sound of birds flapping their wings.

Suddenly a sharp scream was heard outside.

Liu Taozi stood up suddenly. He looked outside the courtyard and heard chaotic footsteps and crying from outside the door.

Lu Qubing had also stood up. He curled up in the darkness and his face could not be seen clearly.

"Brother Taozi, don't worry, this is not our school's business."

"Are there any women in the county school?"

"Maybe it's the family of a student."

Lu Qubing lowered his voice and said helplessly: "Just ignore it and pretend you didn't hear anything."

"There is a forest outside our school, and students often come here to play and have fun. When I first came here, I suffered a great loss."

Before he could finish, Liu Taozi lay down again.

Listening to the snoring coming from the side, Lu Qubing pulled the quilt to his ears, curled up, and closed his eyes.

The next day, when Taozi was getting her meal, she saw a few people sweeping the floor outside the door.

There were a few spots of bright red on the ground.

But no one mentioned this matter.

Taozi accelerated his learning progress and almost reached the point where he never put down his book. Lu Qubing had never thought that this rough guy was so studious.

"It is no use just memorizing the law."

Looking at Taozi who was studying hard, Lu Qubing could not help but say, "When taking the exam for a minor official, it is not about memorizing the law, there are rules."

Taozi looked up at him, "What rules?"

"I can't tell you. It's a secret."

Taozi lowered her head and continued reading.

Lu Qubing persisted for a moment, and finally said helplessly: "Forget it, I'll just tell you, please don't spread it to others!"

"That's right. There will be eight questions. Three are about catching thieves, three are about document reporting, one is about etiquette, and one is about martial arts."

"It's actually very simple. Anyone who can read can go. However, in recent years, the government has imposed more corvée labor and built a lot of buildings. Many people are willing to be officials. The county government provides salaries and they don't have to go out to perform corvée labor, so more and more people are participating."

"There are many traitors in the court today. They have deceived Your Majesty into doing many bad things."

"If we talk about the years after your majesty ascended the throne, that was the peak of our great Qi's civil and military achievements. However, the current crown prince is a kind and wise saint."

Lu Qubing missed the past very much, but he was also looking forward to the future.

Within a few days, Liu Taozi became familiar with this law school.

This is a pigsty.

Anyone can come in as long as they pay three hundred coins and provide proof of identity. There are no lecturers here, and there is not even enough space to fit a complete case in the ten shabby little houses next to each other.

There is no toilet here, and the yard is overgrown with weeds. It is a shared open-air toilet that has not been cleaned in who knows how long. A foul smell permeates the air from morning to night, which is disgusting.

Every day someone would come with leftovers to feed them. Everyone would squat on the ground, sticking their butts out and digging their teeth into the trough.

Lu Qubing, the clerk, basically had nothing to do, unless there were new piglets, in which case he would arrange accommodation for them.

No one cared about the situation in the pigsty. The Khitans huddled together to exploit the newly arrived piglets, squeezing out the last bit of food they brought from home in the name of etiquette.

The door of the courtyard was open, but no one dared to step out.

Occasionally someone comes here to find a way to get rid of the disease. Those people are delicate, bright, beautiful and fair-skinned. When they come here, they always cover their noses elegantly and complain loudly.

I despise these piglets for having no dignity, not knowing how to wash and groom themselves, and not knowing how to be clean, and for throwing away their precious dignity to fight for leftovers.

The sun is blinding.

Liu Taoziji was sitting in the courtyard.

The stench gathering from all around made it almost impossible to breathe.

Everyone squatted on the ground and ate heartily, not caring about anything else.

The front door was wide open.

Directly opposite was a forest garden where men and women were chasing each other with laughter. If they caught up with each other, they would take off their skirts and start having sex.

They didn't mind being seen by the people on the opposite side.

When people are enjoying themselves, why would they care about the pigs watching them?

No one dared to look up, looking embarrassed, they could only lower their heads and focus their attention on the bowls in their hands.

Liu Taozi stood up.

Everyone paused and looked at him.

Liu Taozi walked quickly towards the door.

Lu Qubing noticed this and he shouted.

But before he could catch up, Liu Taozi walked out of the pigpen gate.

At this moment, the men and women in the garden opposite screamed, and someone was seen pulling up his pants and skirt, shouting and running away from there.

Domestic pigs are not scary.

Wild boars eat people.

ps: The number of collections has exceeded 20,000. I’m in a good mood, so I posted one more chapter. I can’t update every day before it’s put on the shelves, but it’s still okay to celebrate the achievements occasionally and update from time to time!
thanks for your support!
(End of this chapter)