Four more, seeking 430 plus

  ****

  Zongzi? Li Xia's mind turned slightly: Today, only Xiatu sent zongzi to Lishan Chang. He accompanied Xiatu to find Xiashucai and then thought about going out for lunch with Xiatu at noon, worried that he wouldn't be able to eat zongzi when he got back, so later he went back to grab a few more zongzi. After returning to Xiashucai's place, he saw Xiatu and three others being surrounded by everyone.

  Zongzi was sent by Xia Zhi, but his father's servant Ping An asked him instead. Li Xia secretly gave Xia Zhi a signal to keep quiet for the time being.

  Li Xia carefully inquired about Di Ping'an's safety. Only after this inquiry did she finally understand what had happened.

  Originally, Li Xia spread the word, and many masters in the academy went to find Li Shan Chang. Li Shan Chang asked briefly and knew what was going on. Although he didn't quite understand why Li Xia did this, as a father, he had no choice but to help his son come up with an excuse.

  The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and Li Shanzhang also plans to visit the teachers in the academy. It was then noon, time to eat. Most of the teachers had left, but a few who were particularly close to Li Shanzhang stayed behind.

  They refused to leave and wanted to have a meal at the mountain inn.

  Li Shan Chang naturally couldn't be stingy either, so he kept these few old friends in his own courtyard to eat. According to his previous instructions, the servants heated up the zongzi sent by Xia Zhi and brought them to the table.

  Such exquisite and good-looking zongzi, it's also a suitable food for the Dragon Boat Festival. Everyone expressed their desire to try one. The white rice dumplings and sweet glutinous rice dumplings were okay, even if the summer solstice ones were particularly delicious, but they could be found in Beizhen Prefecture all year round. The salty meat zongzi amazed several gentlemen greatly.

  The students in the academy come from all over the world, and so do the teachers. The ones who like to eat salted meat dumplings the most are Mr. Qian from Jiaxing and Mr. Zong from Shaoxing.

  "The two gentlemen have been coming to the academy for many years, but they've never gone back. They said it's been several years since they last had this salty rice dumpling, and now that they're finally having it again, they're almost in tears of joy."

  Apart from these two gentlemen, the others were not so excited, but they also thought that several zongzi were very good and had a high acceptance of salted meat zongzi. So Li Shanzhang sent Ping'an to find Li Xia.

  Li Xia initially thought that his father had discovered the hidden zongzi, but later thought that his father wouldn't be so petty. It was only then that he understood the true circumstances.

  Xiatill, who was sitting on one side, also understood.

  She goes to Xishi Street every day, and today she came over and saw the food street of Wenshan Book House in Dongshi Street. There are already people selling zongzi, but there aren't many sellers, and they only sell white glutinous rice dumplings and sweet glutinous rice dumplings, no salty meat dumplings.

  Bei Town doesn't have a popular salted meat zongzi.

  However, Wenshan Academy has many gentlemen and students from the south who have a demand for Xian Rou Zong. Moreover, among them, only a few people brought their own cooks to serve them.

  To eat zongzi, they have to buy them from outside.

  Apart from Wenshan Academy, Beizheng Government also has many stranded southern merchants who have a demand for zongzi, especially salted meat zongzi.

  Xia Zhi wanted to understand these things, so she made a decision. "If you want to eat salty rice dumplings, they should be available in two days."

  Li Xiaofei quickly glanced at Xiazhi, didn't immediately ask her what she meant, but instead repeated the words to Ping'an and let him go back.

  Then Li Xia asked Xia Zhi: "Sixteen, do you have any plans?"

  "Yes." Xia Zhi said she indeed had plans. "I won't pawn these 400 taels for now." She wanted to use this silver as capital, package zongzi and sell them.

  The business of zongzi has a strong time sensitivity, roughly half a month before and after the Dragon Boat Festival. With nothing better to do, she decided to try her hand at this business since she still had some money on hand. By benefiting everyone, she could also earn some extra cash.

  "It won't take much capital to sell zongzi." Li Xia said that he felt Xia Zhi seemed to want to expand this business.

  But as for Xia Zhi, she planned a small business. Because there was a plan, Xia Zhi couldn't wait any longer.

  Li Xia asked if there was anything he could help with. Xia Zhi thought for a moment, this matter shouldn't need Li Xia's help yet. "Later on, we should be selling zongzi outside the academy..."

  "No problem, I'll definitely go and buy it." Li Xia said with a smile.

  Xia Zhi also smiled and didn't say anything. If her zongzi needed Li Xia to bring people to buy in order to sell, then she wouldn't need to do this business either. But if Li Xia were to make an appearance, it would definitely be a great promotion.

  "Li Xia, you'd better review your books well, isn't there still a college exam in June?" Xiazhi said again.

  "Yes." Mentioning the exam and getting first place, Li Xia's attitude was quite calm.

  Xia Zhi also understood his temper in this matter, and didn't advise him much. He just took out something to give to Li Xia: "Li Xia, this is a congratulatory gift from me and my uncle for your two first-place cases."

  The gift that Xia Zhi took out was a large agate stone, as big as a goose egg, with a bright red color and a smooth texture, which was very pleasing to the eye, but it had not been carved. Li Xia's eyes lit up, and he hastily took the agate in his hand, turning it over and admiring it for a while.

  "I like this gift." Actually, as long as it was given by Xia Zhi, he would have liked anything. He hadn't expected Xia Zhi to give him a gift, what a pleasant surprise. "Sixteen, Old Uncle, where did you get this agate from? It's really beautiful."

  Xia Zhi then told the origin of the agate. She actually liked this stone very much, so she didn't buy it. Usually placed on her hand edge, often admiring and stroking it.

  This time in Fucheng, she also brought this stone with her. Yesterday, knowing that Li Xia had won two cases, she decided to give the stone to Li Xia.

  "This is interesting." Li Xia listened with relish as Xia Zhi finished speaking, "Next time I have free time, I'll go take a look too."

  Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei Yu Er certainly welcome him to go play with them.

  Li Xia smiled and put away the agate, then let out a sigh. Xia Zhi asked him what was wrong, why he suddenly sighed.

  "I'm thinking, after receiving such a gift from you, I won't be able to slack off during the exam." Li Xia made a worried and troubled expression.

  "You'd better study hard then." Xia Zhi said bluntly, "Li Xia, it's not me saying this. Since you have this talent, you should make good use of it. Think about those who couldn't get in even after becoming white-haired." The idiom '皓首穷经' (studying till one becomes old and white-haired) was a bloody and tearful phrase to Xia Zhi.

  Li Xia was stunned for a moment, and after a while, he slowly said: "What kind of heavenly luck is this? I've been very hardworking since I was young."

  "All the more can't let you down, otherwise wouldn't you have suffered so much in vain?" Xia Zhi said immediately.

  But those bitter heads were not what he wanted to eat voluntarily. Li Xia didn't make a sound anymore. However, Xia Zhi still saw his meaning, she could imagine that boys from families like Li Xia's must have started their education early, being watched by their family members as they read and did their homework.

  In those years when she took the high school entrance exam, she also suffered a lot on that single-plank bridge.

  "Li Xia, I think it's fine as long as you do your best. If there's anything you can't figure out, it's not too late to think about it after the exam." Xiazhi advised Li Xia again. Li Xia is still young, and she has a lot of time ahead of her.

  "Li Xia, if you don't work hard when you're young, you'll regret it when you're old." Suddenly said the little black fish.

  Li Xia and Dou turned their heads to look at the little black fish. It turned out that Old Man Xia had already taught him to recite this poem. This is a famous poem of exhortation to study! But Little Black Fish, who was not yet a school-age child and couldn't sit still, did he really have the qualifications to use this poem to advise Li Xia?

  "Li Xia, you and your uncle will work together."

  It seems that it won't work, Li Xia looked at Xia Zhi and then at the little black fish, the exam thing seemed to have become smaller: "I will try my best." Li Xia made a somewhat exaggerated statement.

  This will make Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei laugh again.

  "It's better to be a young man who doesn't work hard and suffers in old age than to have another song."

  A young man is prone to aging, and it's hard to accomplish learning; every moment of time cannot be taken lightly.

  Unaware of the spring grass dreams by the pond, the wutong leaves in front of the steps have already made autumn sounds.

  Xia Zhi thinks this poem has a better atmosphere and is more subtle, which is her favorite tone.

  Li Xia fell silent, her dark eyes fixed on Xia Zhi.

  Xia Zhi smiled, she thought these poems of advice were not only for students and their studies, but also applied to people from all walks of life. In short, time flies, so cherish it and strive early.

  Just as Old Man Xia often says, a lifetime is but a single autumn of grass and trees. Life is short, there really isn't time to get bogged down in things. That's the most wasteful thing for life.

  "Sixteen, you're right. I've read so many books, but I still haven't figured it out like you have." Li Xia suddenly smiled at Xia Zhi, revealing a mouthful of neat and tidy glutinous rice teeth.

  Xia Zhi sized up Li Xia and said: "Young Master Feng Huang, I think you might be lacking in physical labor training."

  "What?" Li Xia didn't quite understand.

  "Hah!" Xia Zhi laughed and refused to say anything more.

  Three people walked out. Xiao Hei Yu suddenly asked Li Xia: "Li Xia, your nickname is quite interesting. Who gave it to you, called Feng Huang Er."

  "Our family's old master." Li Xia chuckled twice, his face a bit awkward. His father Li Shan Chang and his mother had been married for many years without having children. Until he was born, not only were Li Shan Chang and his mother extremely happy, but his grandfather Li Lao Tai Ye was even more overjoyed, holding him as if he had picked up a phoenix egg.

  This was said by an old friend of Old Man Li, who was also the maternal grandfather of Li Xia. The old man's degree of joy was not one bit less than that of Old Man Li, but seeing his old friend beaming with joy as he held his grandson, he couldn't help but tease him with this sentence.

  The two old friends always had to get together and tease each other a bit. But that time, Old Master Li was unusually calm and didn't argue with his friend as usual. He simply went along with what his friend said and decided on a nickname for Li Xia, calling her Feng Huang Er (Phoenix Girl).

  Li Xia was treated like a precious treasure by her family, it's truly a phoenix egg treatment.

  He used to like this nickname when he was young, but after growing up and understanding things, he became annoyed and eccentric. This is something that can't be said to Xia Zhi.

  "My grandfather gave it to me." Li Xia only told Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei Yu, "It's just like the leftover dog eggs in your countryside."

  It's fine, isn't it? Xia Zhi glanced at Li Xia and thought he was bullying the little black fish, a country bumpkin who didn't know Phoenix.

  (。)