Hong Liangzhang was thirty-nine this year, a Scholar from the Jiaqing Bingchen year's imperial examination. He usually taught the children of the wealthier families in the village, a true teacher in demeanor.
After having his morning tea, he shuffled out of the door with his shoes half on, holding a dry tobacco pipe, and looked up to see a burly man with thick eyebrows dressed in a coarse cloth shirt entering the courtyard. His face straightened at once.
"Elder brother."
Hong Liangyu approached his brother and greeted him respectfully.
"Where did you run off to last night?"
"I was drinking with some old friends, we got carried away chatting and it got late, so I spent the night at a friend's house."
"Those were your old friends from your days working on the ships, right?"
Hong Liangyu stuttered for a long time, unable to form a complete sentence.
Hong Liangzhang sighed and pulled out several coins from his sleeve, handing them to Hong Liangyu, "Go buy some soapberries."
