The sky had just brightened when Li Yao brought a large group of people and rode in three large carriages on the way to Yizhou Prefecture.
Baichuan County was more than two hundred li from Yizhou Prefecture. It would take half a day by carriage.
After leaving the borders of Baichuan County, the roads became bumpy.
Although the carriages of Li Yao's family were different, with rubber tires on the wheels, they still felt very jolting. Those carriages using wooden wheels must have been even worse.
Everyone felt a bit carsick, with the possible exception of Little Yanran.
She was happy as a little pig, eating and sleeping all along the way.
Song Zhe and the wife of the county magistrate were also traveling together.
Although Song Zhe was uncertain about passing the provincial examination, missing it this year meant he would have to wait until next year to try again, so he still wanted to attempt it.
As dusk approached, the two families finally arrived at Yizhou Prefecture.
In contrast to Baichuan County, the city walls of Yizhou Prefecture were built with stone blocks, about three or four meters high.
The thick city gates were like a portal to a different world.
Outside the gates, dozens of well-armed city guards stared closely at the flow of people coming and going. If they saw anything suspicious, they would send someone to question them.
"It's the afternoon now, so there aren't as many people going in and out of the city," Song Zhe volunteered as a tour guide, explaining to everyone. "If it's morning going into the city, everyone has to be checked, and goods being transported into the city are taxed."
Collecting taxes at the city gates was indeed the style of this world.
Doing so would maximize tax leakage, but without strict control of the city guards, it was also prone to corruption.
"Wang Er, take note of this and mention it to the Prince of Yizhou later."
"Yes, Mother."
Song Zhe explained their identity and purpose to the guard captain. Upon hearing that the Li family had come from Baichuan County, the guards immediately showed great respect.
Because of the fireworks show, Li Yao already had some reputation in Yizhou Prefecture. In addition, there were rumors that the newly titled Prince of Yizhou was on very good private terms with the Li family, so without even asking, they were let through directly.
"Mother," said Wang Xiao Si, opening the carriage curtain and looking curiously at everything on the street. "Are we going to find Liu Yun or stay at an inn?"
"Stay at an inn."
"If we stay at an inn, I know which one is the best!"
Song Zhe eagerly led the convoy to the largest and best inn in Yizhou Prefecture—Tianran Residence.
Seeing this name, Li Yao had to sigh. Indeed, these two characters tian ran (which means natural or heaven-made) were still good to use anywhere.
However, unlike inns in her hometown, there was no poetic couplet at the entrance here for guests to respond to.
A young waiter smiled and came to greet them as soon as they walked in the door. "Where have the honored guests come from? Would you like dinner or lodging?"
"Lodging."
"Our inn has upper, middle and lower grade rooms. Which kind would you like? How many rooms?"
"How much is an upper room per day?"
"An upper room is 800 wen per day."
"Then we need six upper rooms."
Wanting six upper rooms all at once, the waiter knew these were wealthy guests. The owner behind the counter hurried over to personally lead Li Yao's group to the third floor.
As expected of the best inn in Yizhou Prefecture, the decor was very exquisite. The walls and pillars were very smooth, painted with fresh lacquer, and the furnishings in the rooms were very complete.
But having lived in houses with green bricks and wooden floors at home, they didn't find it to be anything special.
And the prices really were expensive. Six rooms cost nearly five taels of silver per day. Staying for several days would be enough to buy a decent small house in Baichuan County.
After a tiring day of travel, everyone was tired and didn't have the heart to go out and find food. So they ordered a table of dishes to eat at the inn.
Chatting while eating dinner, they unknowingly started talking about houses in Yizhou Prefecture.
"Houses here are also quite expensive," said the county magistrate's wife. "Even the cheapest five-section house in a good location costs over two thousand taels of silver, and I heard the most expensive ones cost several tens of thousands of taels—not much different from those in the capital."
Li Yao actually felt the prices were quite fair.
After all, as the provincial capital, it was the administrative center of the entire Yizhou province. To use modern terms, it was a first-tier city.
"Mother," said Wang Er, "Xiao Hui and I plan to open a private school, so we need a location."
"Alright, we'll go take a look tomorrow," said Li Yao. "And let's buy a house for ourselves too."
"Buy a house here?" asked the county magistrate's wife, quite surprised.
"That's right," said Li Yao. "Wang Er is taking the provincial exam, which will take at least half a month before he can go back when all is said and done. If we keep staying at the inn and paying for meals every day, plus other expenses, it will cost at least 150 taels. That's not worth it. We might as well buy a place of our own. It gives us a foothold when taking care of things in Yizhou Prefecture, and if we don't want it later we can sell it."
The county magistrate's wife sincerely admired this as the lifestyle of wealthy people—bringing the whole family to the exam city and even buying a house, just for one exam.
"Mother," asked Wang Xiao Si, "can I go play with Zhe after dinner?"
"Go ahead, you can all go," said Li Yao, knowing they must be curious coming to a new place for the first time. "Just be careful and don't get lost."
"Don't worry, Auntie, I'm quite familiar with Yizhou Prefecture."
So after dinner, everyone went back to their rooms to change into clean clothes, then left the inn in groups of three or two.
The streets of Yizhou Prefecture were very flat, with the main roads paved with blue stone slabs. On both sides were all kinds of shops, still brightly lit even at night.
There were also quite a few pedestrians, many of them wearing gold and silver, looking much better off than Baichuan County.
Song Zhe took Wang Xiao Si to play, while Da Zhuang and his family went to browse fabric and rouge shops. Wang Er and Du Xiao Hui walked into a store selling the four treasures of the study, one after the other.
Li Yao and the county magistrate’s wife were left behind by the children and could only stroll slowly along the flat streets to aid digestion.
...
Wang Er made some inquiries about the prices of the four treasures of the study. As expected, the same quality items cost at least double the price of those in Baichuan County!
Books were even more expensive.
For hand-copied books of the same version,
"Wang Er," said Du Xiao Hui, "actually we could just buy one copy of each book and then have someone make copies. That would be much cheaper."
"You're right, but I'll need books to study these days, so I'll have to trouble you."
"No trouble at all."
Du Xiao Hui smiled sweetly. Just thinking that she could open a private school and do something meaningful together with Wang Er made her feel inexplicably happy.
"Then let's pick out books first."
Wang Er bought one copy of almost every book in the store and was waiting for the owner to tally the cost when a familiar voice came over. "Isn't this Brother Wang Er?"
Wang Er looked up to see Xu Shiyou, with whom he had competed vigorously in poetry at their last meeting.
"Brother Xu, long time no see."