Rise From the Humble

"Yizhitang? Xu Wenchang? I really haven't heard of it." After thinking carefully for a moment, the shopkeeper shook his head with certainty and said truthfully, "Of course, it is also possible that the store is close to the street and the news is blocked, and I If you are ignorant, you can go inside and inquire."

"Thank you, shopkeeper." Zhu Ping'an cupped his hands and thanked him.

Next, Zhu Pingan and Liu Dadao searched along the Cultural Street and asked two stores one after another, but they both said they had never heard of Yizhitang Private School, nor Xu Wei Xu Wenchang.

"Was it wrong?"

Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but have some doubts, and then took out the half of the calligraphy and painting from his arms and confirmed the date of signing. It was indeed the day before yesterday. According to Chu Xiong's statement, Xu Wei distributed the calligraphy and painting the day before yesterday to promote Yizhitang Private School, and it must still be in Yingtian now. , it is impossible to leave so soon.

Zhu Ping'an thought for a while and felt that Xu Wei's fame was still limited to his hometown in Shaoxing and not so famous in Yingtian Mansion, otherwise he wouldn't have recruited students by distributing calligraphy and paintings. It is precisely because of their low reputation that these shopkeepers have never heard of Yiljitang Private School and Xu Wei.

"Da Dao, let's look for it more carefully."

So, Zhu Ping'an cheered up and took Liu Dadao to carefully look for Yizhitang and Xu Wei in Cultural Street.

Walked over and walked back.

Zhu Ping'an and Liu Dadao walked back and forth on Wenhua Street and carefully searched all the shops and houses on both sides of the street. They did not miss any of them. However, they still found no trace of Yizhidang Private School or Xu Wei. After asking many times No one has heard of Yizhitang Private School and Xu Wei.

It’s impossible for Xu Wei to disappear from the world! So there is a high probability that Chu Xiong made a mistake? !

Zhu Ping'an stood on the street of Cultural Street, stretched out his hand and rubbed his forehead, and reorganized his thoughts.

Maybe Chu Xiong didn't make a mistake, but he did.

Chu Xiong met Xu Wei in Wenhua Street and distributed calligraphy and paintings to promote Yizhitang Private School. This does not mean that Xu Wei opened Yizhitang Private School in Wenhua Street. Xu Wei may have opened a private school near Wenhua Street, but the flow of people in Wenhua Street was relatively large, and Xu Wei was I'm just here to distribute calligraphy and paintings for publicity.

Zhu Ping'an asked about the rent of shops in Wenhua Street. Since Wenhua Street is a mature street with prosperous business, the rent is nearly half higher than that of the streets on the left and right. For a shop of about 30 square meters, the annual rent is eight taels of silver. This does not include transfer fees and considerable taxes and so on. After understanding the cost of opening a store in Cultural Street, Zhu Pingan was able to confirm his idea. Xu Wei's Yizhitang private school was not opened on Wenhua Street, but on other nearby streets.

Zhu Ping'an understood Xu Wei's personality. Xu Wei was a proud man. After becoming a scholar at the age of twenty, he had been taking the provincial examination unremittingly, but he had never passed the examination. The reason why he opened a private school in Yingtianfu was because he made a compromise with life in order to make a living. Judging from his current economic conditions, he would definitely not choose such a high-cost cultural street, but choose a nearby place with cheap rent. street.

"Da Dao, let's go for a walk around the area."

Thinking of this, Zhu Pingan took Liu Dadao to the nearby streets to continue looking for Xu Wei and Xu Wenchang.

Zhu Ping'an's first choice was Pichai Street, which is adjacent to Wenhua Street. Unlike Wenhua Street, Pichai Street is a market street. Pichai Street is called Pichai Street because this street used to be a place where country people came to sell firewood from the east gate. Later, it gradually developed into a farmers' street selling firewood, agricultural products, vegetables, etc.

This street is noisy and chaotic, and the living environment is not as good as that of other streets such as Cultural Street. The residents are middle and lower classes. The rents of shops and houses on both sides of the street are more than half cheaper than those of Cultural Street.

Zhu Pingan inquired about it and found out that Pichai Street has the cheapest rental cost among the nearby streets. In addition, Xu Wei is now a scholar, and has failed in many provincial examinations. He is not well-known in Yingtian Mansion, and his private school can only attract people from the middle and lower classes.

Therefore, Zhu Ping'an deduced that Xu Wei's Yizhitang Private School was most likely located on this street.

Sure enough, Zhu Ping'an and Liu Dadao were looking for people on this street, and only halfway through they found out about Xu Wei's Yizhitang private school.

"What, you're looking for Yizhidang Private School. I wonder where I've heard of it." After being asked by Zhu Pingan, a hawker selling sesame oil in the streets scratched his head and started thinking, "Oh, I remembered, there is one in front of me." A new private school has recently opened in this dark alley, it seems to be called Yichitang."

"Thank you, little brother." Zhu Pingan was overjoyed when he heard this.

Following the instructions of the oil seller, Zhu Pingan took Liu Dadao to this dark alley.

The alley has no name.

To say it's dark is actually an exaggeration. It's just that the alley is relatively closed and narrow, and the light is worse than the main street.

Surprisingly, Zhu Ping'an and Liu Dadao walked into the alley and searched around, but they couldn't find Yizhitang Private School.

"Uncle, I'd like to ask you, is the Yiljidang Private School here?"

Zhu Ping'an met an old man in the alley and asked him about the Yizhidang private school.

"Yiljidang Private School is not far in front. It's the seventh house from here. There's a crooked-necked tree at the door. There's no plaque on it. It's a shared house. He rented two of the houses."

The old man answered Zhu Pingan's question.

"Thank you, uncle." Zhu Ping'an cupped his hands and thanked him.

"Young student, you don't want to send your child to Lao Shizi Yizhitang Private School for education, do you?" The old man saw that Zhu Ping'an knew etiquette, and thought of the things at Yizhitang Private School, he couldn't help asking kindly.

"Well." Before Zhu Ping'an could speak, the old man spoke again, "If you want to send your child to him for education, I would advise you to think about it carefully."

Well? !

From the old man's tone, it seems that he has a bad feeling about Iljidang Private School. Are you trying to dissuade yourself in good faith? !

Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but be stunned, "Old man, Yizhitang Private School"

"Young student, seeing that you know etiquette, I kindly remind you that it would be better not to give this away to Zhitang Private School."

The old man shook his head.

"Old man, I would like to hear the details." Zhu Pingan said with cupped hands.

"The master of this Zhitang private school, Erwulang, is not reliable." The old man waved his hand and reminded Zhu Ping'an.

Erwulang is the local dialect of Yingtianfu. It means bad-minded and neurotic. It means two hundred and five plus psychosis. Hearing the old man's description, Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but twitch his lips.

"Really, my house is not far from the house he rented, only one house away. The wife named Xu from Yijidang private school often screams and howls at night. It's really scary. A normal person would do such a thing. Ah. Also, he doesn’t look like a husband. The day before yesterday, I saw him sitting on the ground, chatting happily with a firewood seller. The two of them sat on the ground, eating fried soybeans and drinking wine, and they were very drunk. "

The old man was afraid that Zhu Pingan would not believe him, so he specifically cited two typical examples to prove that Xu Wei was abnormal.