61-70

Chapter 61 - The exam is over

After a night, there is a thin layer of snow on the ground outside.

Today is already the fourth day of the exam. In the blink of an eye, the time is almost halfway over. Candidates were being carried out of the exam room early in the morning.

When he woke up in the morning, he couldn't open his eyes. Li Wen used his hands to dig out the eye droppings from the corners of his eyes. Not to mention not taking a shower for a few days, he hadn't even washed his face in the past few days, and his eyes were so thick with eye droppings that he couldn't open them. .

Someone next door was carried out in the morning, but Li Wen didn't feel much shock about this.

Knowing that it might still be cold in February, I came in for the exam without even preparing thick bedding and clothes. Who can blame me? I can only say that I don't have the chance to pass the imperial examination.

The temperature difference on this day was so big that Li Wen was worried that he would catch a cold, so he boiled a large bowl of ginger soup and drank it while holding his nose. Fortunately, he brought ginger in. Drinking a bowl of ginger soup today can also prevent colds, treat illnesses when you are sick, and protect yourself when you are not sick.

People in this world only sell ginger as a medicinal ingredient. They don't eat ginger as a condiment like in modern times. They still send people to pharmacies to buy ginger.

In the morning, he cooked food as usual. Today he cooked rice, and the rice and vegetables were cooked in one pot. He now cooks just to fill his stomach, and to save time and speed.

There is not much time left for him to answer the paper, and he will have to set aside two or three days to write the article. But no matter which task, he must treat it with 120,000 concentration.

After dinner that day, Li Wen took out his paper and started working on the questions.

At noon, Li Wen noticed something was wrong with the boy opposite him. Usually the boy would sit on a small stool for a while, watching him answer papers or watching him eat. People would sit there and stare at him. After playing with the little eyes for a while, Li Wen regarded the boy as the only adjustment in the examination room, and he thought the boy was quite funny.

After these few days, Li Wen was certain that the boy was not here for the exam. Since you didn't come in just for the exam, why did you come in and suffer this? It is really not an easy thing to stay in this examination room for so many days.

It seems that from yesterday afternoon to now, he has not seen the young man opposite him again. He seems to be nestled in the bed. Nothing will happen to that boy, right? Li Wen felt a little worried for no reason. But it's useless for him to worry. Even if something happens in this examination room, it's not his turn to take care of it. Moreover, the officers and soldiers in charge of the examination room will not let the candidates die here. They will just drag out the fallen ones. .

After getting up from a nap at noon, Li Wen subconsciously looked across the way and saw that the person hunched over on the bed seemed to be gone. He took a closer look to make sure that the person was really gone.

The dormitory opposite was empty, and everything inside had been packed away.

Maybe it was when he was sleeping at noon that the boy opposite was carried out? He thought in his mind. That was fine, even if it was a stranger, Li Wen didn't want the other person to really die in front of him.

After taking a nap, Li Wen woke up full of energy and wrote the answers on the paper without any distractions.

On this day, there was a commotion in the Zhongyuan Hou Mansion. From the moment Situ Yu was carried back by his slaves, his whole body was burned and he lost consciousness, and the sound of crying could be heard in the Hou Mansion. When the old lady of the Hou Mansion saw her grandson being carried back, she was so angry that she almost beat her own son with a cane. "I, I... something will happen to my grandson, and I'm not done with you." The old lady wiped it with a handkerchief. Tears, eyes red.

"Mom, please calm down and don't get so angry. I will ask someone to go to the palace and ask the imperial doctor to come over." Master Hou obviously did not expect such a thing to happen. When he saw his son who came back and was completely unconscious, Master Hou said The father also felt uncomfortable.

It's just that Mr. Marquis, a father, didn't express his love for his son. He just did this to make his son a little more motivated. Who would have thought that his son would be like this when he came back.

When her son came back, Mrs. Hou Ye burst into tears.

"What are you doing standing here? Why don't you go to the palace and ask the imperial doctor to come over!" The Marquis asked the servant to take his token and go to the palace to ask the imperial doctor to come over.

"Yes, yes, I'll go right away." The steward took the token and hurriedly went to the palace to ask for the imperial doctor.

Even the emperor in the palace knew that the young prince of the Zhongyuan Hou Mansion was carried out of the examination room. Emperor Zhaozong said, "What a nonsense." He sent a famous imperial doctor from the Imperial Hospital to the Hou Mansion to treat the young prince. The prince sees a doctor.

"Your Majesty, I see that the young prince also wants to pass the scientific examination and obtain a meritorious service to serve the emperor. Who would have thought that he was carried out from inside before he even finished the examination." Concubine Dong Gui knew about this, The first part of the sentence is to praise the young prince for being sensible and knowing how to obtain merit and serve the imperial court. The second half of the sentence is to say that the young prince treats the scientific examination as a joke.

When Emperor Zhaozong heard this, his face darkened, and he said in a deep voice, "That child has such a heart, he has grown up." The emperor watched the young prince grow up, and the young prince was older than the sons before him. I'm still young, a little

playful , but not bad-tempered.

As for what happened next, the emperor automatically ignored it.

Three years ago, Situ Xue, the legitimate daughter of the Zhongyuan Hou Mansion, was accused of becoming the crown princess to the crown prince Yang Shaomu. This marriage was an imperial decree issued by Emperor Zhaozong. Zhongyuanhou Mansion is located in the position of a prince and is loyal to the royal family. However, Zhongyuanhou Mansion does not have much real power in his hands. The daughter-in-law of Zhongyuanhou Mansion marries the prince and becomes the crown prince, which is considered a good match.

In fact, the reason why the emperor pointed out the legitimate daughter of Zhongyuan Hou Mansion to the prince was because he wanted to control the power in the prince's hands and did not want the power in the prince's hands to grow too much.

Even for his own son, the emperor was not necessarily relieved.

The Crown Princess Situ Xue who was in the East Palace knew that something had happened to her younger brother, and she couldn't help but blame her father for forcing her younger brother to take the science test, which was why such a thing happened. Her natal family is in the capital, but as the Crown Princess, Situ Xue cannot go back to her natal family often. Knowing that something happened to her younger brother, Situ Xue could only ask people to send many high-quality medicinal materials back, and sent her youngest brother back to greet her. The father said to his mother, and by the way, he also checked on his younger brother and told her when he came back.

"If you're worried, why don't you go back and have a look?" Yang Shaomu, who came back from outside, also heard about what happened to Situ Yu. All the imperial doctors in the palace went to the Zhongyuan Marquis Mansion in two batches. go. It was difficult for Yang Shaomu to even think about it. When he came back and saw the Crown Princess looking worried, he said.

Yang Shaomu was not dissatisfied with his princess. Situ Xue was good-looking and had a gentle temper. Not long after they got married, Situ Xue got pregnant and gave birth to his legitimate son. He is now over a year old and calls him daddy when she sees him.

Seeing His Highness coming, Situ Xue asked someone to bring the child over. Hearing His Highness's words, Situ Xue shook her head and said, "I am afraid that everyone in the Hou Mansion is busy with Yu'er's affairs now. I am afraid that I will go back now." It will cause trouble to the Hou family. After some time, when Yu'er is better, I can go back and take a look."

"Dad," the child, who was just over one year old, had just learned to walk and was carried over.

"Well, that's fine. If you want to go back, you can always go back and have a look." Seeing the child being carried over, Yang Shaomu took the child. He loved his child very much. This was his The first child is his eldest son. If one day he takes that position, this child will be his prince.

The child has inherited the good looks of his parents. He has grown very well at a young age, and his eyes are crooked when he smiles.

The child is no stranger to seeing his father. He hasn't seen his father for several days. The child is clinging to his father's neck and shouting "Daddy." It makes people feel soft. Yang Shaomu holds the child and looks at it. The child is well-behaved and beautiful, with a smile on his face.

In the evening, Yang Shaomu stayed to have dinner with the Crown Princess and the children.

After eating, Yang Shaomu went to the study room, where someone was already waiting for him. The day's answer sheet

for the water notebook

was over. Li Wen hung the bag with the test paper on the bedside, lifted the quilt and went to bed. As soon as he lay down under the quilt, he shivered from the cold. It was really cold at night. There was a layer of quilt underneath him and two layers of quilt on top. Even when he slept, he wore a lot of clothes. Even though he slept like this, he still felt a little cold.

The door and windows of the exam dormitory cannot be closed. It's strange that it's not cold to sleep in such a place at night.

At this time, Lu Zhishu also lay on the bed and pulled the quilt over him.

He was wearing the thin vest that Li Wen had given him. After putting this piece of clothing on, Lu Zhishu felt that such a thin piece of clothing was really warm. During the two days of exams, Lu Zhishu will also wear the gloves given to him by Li Wen. After putting them on, his hands will be warm, but they will not hinder his writing.

Thinking of the person who brought him something, Lu Zhishu had a slight smile on his face.

When the night passes, the day comes.

On the fifth day of the examination, Li Wen finished all the previous questions one day in advance, and there were still two policy questions left to write. Out of the three policy questions published, they only had to choose two to write. There were still four days left, which meant they could write one article in two days.

During normal training, he would write one article a day to train his own writing speed in order to cope with writing articles in the examination room. But now it would be better if he could set aside more time to write articles. There is no need to rush for time, and he can slowly think about it and write better.

The previous questions are all basic questions. The final decision on where he will be ranked in the examination depends on how well he writes the questions. Policy questions are the most important part of every exam, and Li Wen knew he had to write these two articles well.

When he got up in the morning and had breakfast, Li Wen spread the papers on the table and began to study the ink. While studying the ink, he analyzed the question in his mind.

It is difficult to write a good article, and it is even more difficult to write a good article. Li Wen calmed down and concentrated

on thinking about this person's purpose for asking such a question. How should he write this article to stand out among so many articles? While he wrote an article well, he also had to write steadily. .

It took him a day, after careful consideration word by word, to type out the rough draft of the article. Lying in bed at night, Li Wen was thinking about the article he wrote today. When he got up the next day, he spent another half a day refining and revising the article from beginning to end. It was only in the afternoon that he finished it. The answers are written on the paper.

If the exams in the previous few days made him feel very tired, then writing a policy paper on this day made him feel that his whole body was hollowed out.

I cooked rice for myself in the evening, and also made a bowl of ginger soup, egg sugar water, and drank a bowl of it, so that my bloated mind became clearer. Lying in bed at night to sleep, he would take himself away from the previous day's answers and try his best not to think about the previous answers.

The entrance examination requires nine days and eight nights. Such a long time is not something that can be passed easily. He must find ways to constantly adjust himself. First of all, getting a good night's sleep is the prerequisite for ensuring that he can answer the exam smoothly the next day, so no matter what, he must first ensure his sleep time and sleep state.

Unexpectedly, when I got up the next day, it had stopped raining for several days, and in the afternoon, the sun came out. Although the sun is short-lived, it is also a pleasant thing for them who have not seen the sun for several days.

Li Wen found that by this day, his condition was getting better and better. Maybe he thought that he would be able to pass the exam soon?

But no matter what, a good spirit and state will help him write good articles.

It was Ou who wrote the second article. Li Wen found that it was easier than when he wrote the first article, so it took him a day to finish the article, and he also thought about it twice.

Nine days is neither long nor short, but it passed in the blink of an eye.

On the morning of the ninth day, after checking that there were no problems with the article he wrote the day before and checking it carefully twice, Li Wen began to carefully copy the answers onto the paper word by word.

The last word has fallen, stop writing!

Thinking that he would finish the exam today and go out, Li Wen did not take a nap at noon.

At this point, Li Wen has finished all the papers and has written two articles for Ce Wen. In the afternoon, he checked the previous papers and found no problems. Then he put the papers into the bag, sealed it, and waited for the exam to end.

By the last day of the exam, some candidates had finished all the papers, and some candidates were struggling to write and had not finished answering...

"nt—nt—n$—"

The drum beat, which means that they will take the test. it's over. Regardless of whether you have finished the paper or not, you must stop writing, otherwise it will be regarded as cheating and will be dealt with as illegal cheating. Most of the people sealed the papers and waited for the officers and soldiers to come and collect them.

But there are still candidates who are holding on to the paper, with despair and pleading in their voices, "I haven't finished answering yet, let me finish answering the paper, let me finish answering the paper, I'm almost done..."

Like this The last candidate to have his answers for this exam invalidated. The official who collected the papers did not want his papers and dragged them out together with him.

Hearing the sound coming from not far away, Li Wen felt a sigh of relief.

Chapter 62: After the examination,

the gate of Gongyuan opened and the candidates went out in batches.

After nine days and eight nights in the examination room, each of the candidates looked as if they had been let out of a madhouse. They had disheveled hair, red eyes, and sunken cheeks. It can be imagined that these people all looked good-looking. Not going anywhere.

At the gate of the Gongyuan are waiting slaves, all waiting to pick up their master.

"Master, it's our master." The old slave who finally waited for their master to come out, with tears streaming down his face, directed the slaves to help their master into the carriage.

"Quick, quick, help the master get on the carriage."

Li Wen followed others out of the examination room. He looked better than most people. At least he could still walk normally and looked normal. . He finally walked out of this door. If he had to do it again, I don't know if he would have the courage to step into this door.

I hope I can pass the exam this time and never come back to this place again! Otherwise, he would never have the courage to walk through the door behind him again.

Thinking of the exams in the past nine days, it was so tough on people's will. Staying in such a small space for nine days and eight nights was enough to drive people crazy. Li Wen shook his head in his mind. Now that the exam is over, he should put this matter aside and stop thinking about the exam. He just wants to go home and take a shower, eat a full stomach and take a deep sleep. What? Don't even think about it.

"Master, Master, here." Li Tong stood guard at the door of Gongyuan. As soon as he saw their young master coming out, he shouted

. When he saw the people who came to pick him up, Li Wen showed a relaxed smile on his face.

"Master, I'll get it." Li Tong reached out to take the thing from their young master's hand. Seeing their young master's appearance, the young slave's eyes became wet. He had never seen their young master in such a miserable state.

Li Wen was indeed tired, so he handed everything to the boy to carry.

They walked over to the carriage and saw Lu Zhishu's servants waiting for him, but they hadn't seen Lu Zhishu come out yet. It didn't take long for the people to come out, so Li Wen said to the steward, "Let's wait for Zhishu, he should be coming soon." It was not too late, and we would go back together when everyone was ready.

At this time, the gate of Gongyuan was as lively as a vegetable market. There were many carriages parked at the gate, and many domestic slaves were picking up people. The carriages that picked up people left in a hurry.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the gate of Gongyuan.

After waiting for a while, Li Wen saw Lu Zhishu walking out with the flow of people. Lu Zhishu was dressed in a green shirt. His appearance was easy to recognize, and Li Wen recognized him at a glance. "Zhishu." Li Wen called out.

Hearing the familiar voice, Lu Zhishu followed the source of the sound and found Li Wen at a glance.

"Sir." The little slave ran forward to carry something for their young master.

Lu Zhishu walked towards Li Wen. His face was a little pale and his feet were swaying when he walked. Li Wen reached out to pick him up and said, "Come on, let's go back." Lu Zhishu hummed and got on the carriage. At this moment, he didn't even have the strength to speak.

The two people got into their own carriages, and the two carriages followed each other and left.

Food and hot water have been prepared at home. Li Jinwan knew that her brother would be back today, so she specially cooked a table of delicious food for her brother to come back to eat. "Why haven't you seen anyone yet?" Li Jinwan walked around the door and saw The carriage entered the alley.

Back, back, her brother is back.

"But" laj 〇As

soon as the carriage stopped, Li Wen heard the noise outside. As soon as he got out, he saw the little girl was about to rush towards her. He hurriedly raised his hand to stop her and said, "Don't touch me, I smell." Can it be tasteless? After staying in such a small place for nine days, he didn't even wash his face, let alone take a shower, and his body smelled bad even to himself.

"Haha, brother, I don't dislike you." After hearing what her brother said, Li Jinwan could smell that the smell coming from her brother was indeed unpleasant. She laughed and said, "Brother, hurry up. Come in, I've boiled a large pot of hot water for you to take a bath in the kitchen, and I'll have it brought to your house."

Li Wen stepped into the house, feeling relaxed both physically and mentally.

The hot water in the room was quickly prepared. Li Wen took off his clothes and sat in the tub. He put his hands on the edge of the tub and let the child behind him take care of him. He was too tired to move his fingers.

The hot water made me feel drowsy, but my stomach was so hungry that I didn't know when I would sleep until I lay down. I must fill my stomach first before going to sleep.

"Master, clothes."

After taking a shower, the unpleasant smell disappeared from his body, and Li Wen's brows relaxed.

After buying this house, it was adjusted according to the layout he was used to. Past the hall was the dining room, and a fireplace was installed in the house. Now the fire in the fireplace was burning, and the whole house was very warm. The spring cold in February is no better than the weather in the twelfth lunar month. Although there is no snow, the weather is cold to the bones.

Li Wen walked to the dining room. Hot food was already placed on the table. Li Jinwan saw her brother coming over, "Brother, sit down." Li Jinwan hurriedly served soup for her brother, put it in front of her brother, and said, " Brother, this is the chicken soup I made for you. It has been simmering for a long time. You have a bowl to warm your stomach first. "

"Well, you can sit down and eat together. I can't finish all the dishes by myself." He asked the little girl to sit down and eat with him. Hearing this, Li Jinwan sat down, still staring at her brother, picking up food for her brother from time to time

. Li Wen dozed off while eating, feeling very sleepy.

With his stomach half full, Li Wen couldn't even open his eyes. "You eat slowly, I'm going to bed. Don't call me even if the sky falls." At this moment, he didn't care about not being able to lie down immediately after eating. If you want to go to bed, give him a bed and he can sleep until the end of the world.

"Brother, go to sleep. I won't let anyone wake you up." Li Jinwan stood up and escorted her brother back to the door of the room. Li Tong followed their young master in. Li Wen pushed himself back to the room and fell down as soon as he saw the bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep almost instantly.

Li Tong covered their young master with a quilt before going out of the house.

The light rain continued to fall, and the sky in the entire capital was gloomy.

After the exam, the entire capital became quiet. The candidates who stayed in the restaurants and inns all slept in their rooms when they returned. Except for having meals delivered to their rooms, there were not many people in the lobby.

It can be seen that this exam has exhausted everyone.

After waking up, Li Wen didn't know how long he had slept. When he woke up, he still felt very tired. He lay in bed and didn't want to move, let alone get up.

After a while, there was a buzzing sound of the door opening. Li Wen heard the sound of someone coming in, but didn't think about it. Li Tong was worried about their young master and would come over to take a look from time to time. The previous times he came here, he saw people still sleeping. This time, Li Tong came and saw that their young master had woken up.

Li Tong's eyes showed surprise. He approached the bed and asked in a low voice, "Master, are you awake?"

"Yes." Li Wen responded, stretched out on the bed and asked, "Yes. "What time is it?"

Li Tong replied, "Master, it's the end of Shen Shi."

"Oh." It turned out to be so late. Li Wen thought it was morning, but it turned out to be already afternoon. He didn't know that he was like this. Can sleep.

Their young master had slept all day and night since he came back. Li Tong knew that his young master must be exhausted this time. He had never seen his young master so tired before. Li Tong went to bring hot water, twisted a towel and wiped the young master's face, and brought water to rinse the young master's mouth.

Li Wen got up from the bed, sat on the edge of the bed, rinsed his mouth with water, and let the child help him get dressed. He had slept for more than twenty hours, and when he got up, he still felt very tired, and his physical and mental energy were completely exhausted.

I didn't feel it when I was taking the exam. Once I came out and relaxed, I was so tired that I didn't want to move.

Li Tong was busy dressing his young master and asked, "Master, are you hungry? But it's time to eat. The soups in the kitchen are all hot in the pot. I'm just waiting for you to get up, young master." Eat."

"Well, let's go eat." Li Wen wiped his face. He hadn't eaten for so long, and he didn't even feel hungry. He was already numb.

After eating that day, he ran back to bed and went to sleep.

After sleeping for three days and three nights in a row, Li Wen felt better after waking up in the morning of the third day and regained all the energy he had lost.

Li Wen didn't know. He was already doing well. Many candidates would lie on the bed and not move as soon as they returned. They would eat, drink, and defecate while lying on the bed and being served by their slaves. At least he could still wake up. I got up and ate my meal before crawling back to sleep.

The business of major medical clinics in the capital has been very good these days. People are queuing up to see doctors and get medicines. They are so busy.

"Brother, are you feeling better?" When her brother came out that day, Li Jinwan looked at her brother's spirit. Much better than the previous two days. Li Wen took a bowl of hot ginseng chicken soup and took a sip. He felt his whole body sublime and said, "Okay, it's great. Do you think your brother is bad?"

"Haha." Li Jinwan She thought to herself, that's what you looked like if you didn't look at yourself in the mirror a few days ago. It

didn't look very good, and she was very worried. If the steward hadn't told her to wait until her brother had had enough sleep, she would have wanted to ask the doctor to come over and take a look at her brother.

"Why are you laughing? You look like you don't mean what you say." Li Wen asked the little girl to sit down and have a meal with him. After feeling better, he could bully the little girl.

"No, I don't have one." Li Jinwan pursed her lips and smiled, looking at her brother with a pair of smiling eyes.

During this time, thanks to the little girl who was responsible for three meals a day, the family did not hire a cook for the time being, so this girl was responsible for all the meals at home. Since arriving in the capital, Li Wen has not had time to take care of this girl. He brought him to the capital, so he couldn't let this girl keep cooking for his housekeeper in this yard, right?

You will be a little energetic now. Taking advantage of this moment, Li Wen could ask this girl clearly what plans she has for her future, "Si Ya, tell me, if you follow me to the capital, do you have a plan?" What are your plans? Or are you just saying that you want to follow me to the capital? Now that you have arrived in the capital, what do you want to do next? "

"If nothing happens along the way, your brother and I will probably have a long relationship in the future. It's time to stay in the capital, but that's not certain. It's possible that they will be transferred to other places instead of staying in the capital. "There

are so many people participating in this exam, so the evaluation will not be completed too quickly, at least. It will take half a month to finish the examination and then release the results. The first 300 Gongshi will be admitted to the imperial examination, and only the Gongshi will be eligible to participate in the subsequent palace examination.

Li Wen mentally commented on his answer sheet this time. He would definitely be able to get into the top 300, so he would have to take part in a palace examination later. After the palace examination, the specific rankings can be determined. The top three in the first class are likely to stay in the capital, and the top two in the second class are also likely to stay in the capital. But for those in the future, most of them will be transferred to the capital. Go to work as a minor official in another place.

Although he is more confident about his results, he is more likely to stay in the capital. But once he enters the court as an official, whether he stays in the capital or is transferred to other places depends on the words of the people above him. Sometimes he cannot make the decision himself, so this is why Li Wen hesitated to bring his sister here. A consideration in Beijing:

Li Wen is not so sure about his own future, let alone the future of others.

"This..." Li Jinwan obviously didn't expect that her brother would suddenly ask her this question. She just wanted to follow her brother to the capital. She didn't think so much about the future, let alone her brother. Maybe not in the capital, but somewhere else.

Another reason why Li Wen asked Li Jinwan this question was that the little girl was only one year younger than him. He was sixteen this year, and the little girl was fifteen, so she was old enough to marry. Girls in this world start dating at the age of twelve or thirteen and get married at the age of fifteen or sixteen.

Although Li Wen didn't agree with girls marrying so early, he couldn't use his modern standards to ask people of this era. This will keep the girl until she is old. If she really cannot get married in the future, the girl will blame her brother for not helping her arrange a marriage at that time.

"You are fifteen this year, and you are old enough to get married. Or did you want to follow your brother to the capital and let him help you get married?" Li Wen said, "What are you thinking in your heart? Tell me the truth. That's it. We can't afford to live in a wealthy family for the time being, but I can do it by finding one who can live a prosperous life."

Li Wen didn't know that he would have to work as a matchmaker part-time when he came to this world. But there is no way, who made him the elder brother? Didn't he bring a younger sister out? She must be responsible for the rest of her life.

Chapter 63 Future Plans

"Brother!" Li Jinwan's eyes widened when she heard what her brother said, and she shouted in a loud voice, "I don't want to marry! Can you stop marrying me all the time?" It's about getting married!" She finally ran away from home because she didn't want her family to arrange her marriage. She didn't want to get married.

"Brother, I followed you all the way to the capital, not to find a family to marry. If I want to marry, I can just find a random man in our Lijia Village to get married. Why do I have to come so far away! "

Don't be excited, don't be excited." Didn't you just find a man? Can this man just marry anyone he finds? Li Wen complained in his mind.

Seeing that the little girl was getting angry, Li Wen quickly surrendered. There was a smile on his face that didn't deserve a beating. It was more important to calm her down first. After the little girl sat back in her seat, Li Wen said to the little girl, "Then tell yourself, what do you want to do? Do you want to start a career, or find a good family to marry? "

Or if you have someone you like, you can tell me and I can help you make up your mind."

"..." Li Jinwan glared at her brother and realized that treating her brother like this was disrespectful, so she had to endure it. He came down and said, "I don't have anyone I like, and I don't want to get married. Brother, I will follow you. I will go wherever you go. No matter where you go, don't get rid of me."

Hum, she She is determined to follow her brother!

Speaking of starting a big business...

"How about, brother, let me help you make money. I learned how to make soap from my aunt. Let's open a shop in the capital. We will continue to sell soap and I will help you make money." Li Jinwan works with her aunt. Others may not know the recipe for making soap, but Li Jinwan knows clearly. She knows how to boil spices and how to make soap.

"That, I learned from my aunt." So she didn't mean to steal the prescription. Li Jinwan blinked and stared at her brother, fearing that her brother would think she stole the prescription.

This was because Sun Yi felt at ease with Li Siya, so she took Li Siya by her side to learn this. He taught his own family better than bringing in outsiders.

"I know, it's a good thing that you can follow my mother-in-law to do things carefully." This idea is not bad. Li Wen touched his chin and said, "We can make soap. I thought of another way to make money." "

What? What's the solution?" Li Jinwan suddenly became interested, her eyes lit up, and she asked.

"A way to make more money than selling soap." Li Wen gave the little girl a mysterious smile. When the little girl asked him what the method was, Li Wen stopped talking. This made Li Jinwan want to open her brother's mouth. Let her brother speak.

Li Wen had thought about this before, but he was focused on reading and didn't have much time to mess with these things.

Now that he has taken the exam, he feels a little more relaxed and is in the mood to think about other things.

But there is still a palace examination later, at least he has to wait until the examination results are released, and then he takes part in the palace examination, and he can relax after the results are released. Then after the palace exam is over, there are other things. Thinking about it this way, why did he feel that even after finishing the exam, he would not be relaxed? Li Wen suddenly felt that his original thoughts were a bit naive.

"Let's not rush this matter. Let's get to know the situation here in the capital during this period. We can't open a shop casually. When I am sure that I will stay in the capital, we will talk about opening a shop." Now he He was not sure whether he would stay in the capital then, otherwise it would be a problem if no one would take care of so many things here. Thinking of this, Li Wen felt that there was no need to worry about this matter.

"Yeah, brother, what you said makes sense. Anyway, brother, no matter where you go, I will follow you. If you need someone, I can help you, right?" Li Jinwan has been studying and practicing calligraphy with her brother since she was a child. , she doesn't like to hold embroidery needles, but she has wanted to go out and see things outside since she was a child.

It would be best if she stayed with her brother and could help her brother.

Seeing that the little girl is still young now, it is best for the little girl to meet the right person when it comes to marriage. Otherwise, we can talk about it later. They have just arrived in the capital. If they want to live here in the future, they need to think about how to establish a foothold here.

"Okay, that's it. Wait two days to see if we can find a suitable cook and invite someone to come back to cook. We can't let you stay in the kitchen all day." After finishing the meal, Li Wen said After a burp, I finally felt like I was alive.

"Brother, it doesn't matter. I have nothing to do anyway. I just cook at home." Otherwise, wouldn't she become the freeloader in the family and not have to do anything? Once she was not allowed to work, she felt uncomfortable all over.

"As for you, ha!" Li Wen smiled and said, "I'll find someone to accompany you. You can go out and see what the capital is like and see what the girls here are like. And what about you?" Stop being wild and learn how to be a female shopkeeper, and how to be a lady."

"If you can find a female gentleman, I will invite a female gentleman to teach you, so that you don't have to reveal everything when you talk.

"It's stuffing." Mainly because they are not very familiar with the capital here, and it's really hard to hire a female gentleman. Li Wen asked him to hire a female gentleman to teach his girl how to play the piano and paint, so that she wouldn't have to go out. He was compared to others.

"..." Brother, have you ever said that about your own sister? Li Jinwan stared, as if she wanted to fight her brother, but thinking about it, her brother didn't dare.

However, Li Jinwan was very happy when her brother asked her to go out for a walk.

Li Wen asked the steward to come over and told the steward that he wanted to invite a cook to come back to cook. "As long as there is a suitable person, let's invite one to come back to cook." The eldest man in their house was indeed in the kitchen. He wanted to find a cook to cook. He couldn't always let the little girl cook in the kitchen all day. He had other arrangements for the little girl.

"Okay, young master, just leave this matter to me." The manager heard that their young master wanted to hire someone, so he just left it to him. He thought that the young master really needs to buy a few here. The maid came back to wait on her.

Leave these matters to the steward and Li Wen will ignore them.

He didn't know if Lu Zhishu had had enough sleep. He had slept at home for three days without leaving the house. Thinking of his friends, Li Wen simply took the child to Lu Zhishu's place to have a look. It's still raining today, and I don't know when it will stop.

Fortunately, the rain was not heavy and it was light and did not stop them from going out. The master and the servant went out holding umbrellas.

"Master Li, you are here. Please come in quickly. Our young master is waking up and having dinner in the house." Housekeeper Zhou saw Li Wen arriving and invited someone inside. Li Wen handed the umbrella to the child, flicked the water on the flange of his bulletproof jacket, and went into the house.

Lu Zhishu was drinking soup with a small bowl in his hand. When he saw Li Wen coming over, he put down the bowl in his hand and asked someone to bring him a pair of bowls and chopsticks. Li Wen said

hurriedly , "No, I just came to your place after eating at home, and I really can't eat any more. You eat yours, don't worry about me, just pour me a cup of tea." Soon someone brought him a cup of tea.

Li Wen sat there drinking tea, waiting for Lu Zhishu to eat while drinking tea. In fact, watching Lu Zhishu eat was a kind of enjoyment. The pictures of this man eating were very beautiful. For a while, Li Wen was staring at Lu Zhishu.

As soon as Lu Zhishu raised his head, he met Li Wen's gaze, and Li Wen smiled at Lu Zhishu.

After Lu Zhishu finished his meal, the two of them changed tables and sat facing each other to drink tea. Looking at the rain outside, no one asked about the exam. Anyway, the exam is over and no one knows where the exam rankings are now. It is better to wait until the results are released.

Now none of them can say for sure, they will only know when they get to that point in the future.

"I don't know when it will stop raining." Li Wen held the tea bowl in his hand, blew on it, and took a sip of tea.

"Yeah." With Li Wen by his side, Lu Zhishu hadn't felt this feeling for an unknown amount of time. There was someone by his side, sitting here quietly looking at the rain outside.

God's business, who can say for sure.

"Do you still remember that there is a small pond behind the academy. We went there several times to go fishing but were caught by the academicians?" Li Wen remembered the time when he and Lu Zhishu asked Shen Zijing and Su Yuan to study in the academy. ,

there is a small pond behind the academy with a lot of fish in it. After studying, they go to harm the fish if they have nothing to do.

In the past, they always played together with Shen Zijing and Su Yuan. Even if they went to do anything, the four of them would go together. In fact, it was mainly he and Shen Zijing who did it. Lu Zhishu and Su Yuan were watching from the sidelines, but once they were caught, all four of them would be punished together.

"Remember." Lu Zhishu said with a smile on his face, obviously remembering some things from the past.

Lu Zhishu said, "I know there is a place on the outskirts of the city where you can fish. In two days, when the rain stops, I will go there and you can go fishing." His uncle had a village outside the city, and there was a river nearby. You can fish, Lu Zhishu went there once before.

During the years he was studying in the capital, his uncle would have people deliver things to him from time to time. It was just because his uncle was an official in the court and was necessarily busy with official duties, and Lu Zhishu also had to study, so the two rarely met. His uncle has two legitimate sons and two concubines. The legitimate sons are older than him. One is an official in another place and the other is in the capital. They usually have nothing to do. Lu Zhishu rarely goes to his uncle's house, so they are in the capital. The relationship between cousins ​​is also average.

"Okay, then it's settled." When he heard that Lu Zhishu had a place to fish, Li Wen became interested.

Both of them have a bit of a homebody's temperament, and Lu Zhishu is more homely than him. He is not familiar with the place where he lives. For those who are not familiar with it, I went to take the exam a few days after arriving in the capital. Now that I have finished the exam, Li Wen doesn't know where there is anything interesting.

There are many candidates here in the capital at the moment, and there are restaurants and tea shops outside. Everywhere you walk in, there are always people, and Li Wen doesn't like to go to those places. Where there are many students, there are also many conflicts and problems. Now that

the exam is over, why don't you find a place to relax, such as Li Wen didn't want to go to a place where there were many scholars.

The two of them agreed to go fishing after the rain stopped.

They drank tea for a while and talked. After a conversation, Li Wen went back.

Chapter 64 During the spring outing

, the family asked for a cook to come back to cook. The next day, Manager Chen brought back a woman and two maids from outside, and gave the three people's marriage contracts to the young master. "Young Master, , I see that you don't have a maid in the courtyard, and the lady is also short of a maid to serve you. It's better to have two people in the courtyard to serve you."

"I just happened to see a suitable maid outside, so I took it. After the two came back, there will be someone to do the work in this courtyard from now on, and there will also be someone to serve the young master. If it suits you, please keep him. If not, I will send him back to

the three people who kneel on the ground to bury their heads. Li Wen fell even lower, and his thin body was trembling, as if he was afraid that the master would not want them and send them back.

With the three people's deeds in their hands, Li Wen suddenly had a headache when he saw the three people kneeling on the ground. , Li Wen said, "Get up, you don't have to kneel, you don't have to kneel all the time in the future, I don't want that here. "

He obviously just asked a cook to cook, but why did he buy three people? Now everyone has bought it, and the money has been given. Just buy it. He can't return it. Right.

"Yes, sir. "The three people who were kneeling on the ground just got up, with timidity and uneasiness on their faces, for fear that the master would not want them and send them back.

Needless to say, the person Mr. Chen personally went to select was the older Mr. Wu, who was in his thirties. At the age of 30, I used to work in the kitchen of a wealthy family, but I married an unkind man. Her husband was a gambler. He owed money from gambling. After selling all the things in the family, he sold his wife to pay off the debt, so this woman also The two maids had a hard life.

The younger one was fourteen or fifteen years old, and the older one was seventeen or eighteen years old. Li asked them their names and knew that the woman's surname was Wu. After hearing the name Wu, the two maids changed their names. The older one was named Yingchun, and the younger one was named Xihe. "Okay, you can stay and work from now on

.

I don't have too many rules here. The only thing I ask of you is to be loyal to your master and do things steadily and steadily. Let me make it clear first, there is no place for selling the slaves of the master. I'm not a harsh master either. I won't punish you unless you do something wrong. "Li Wen believed that the few people Manager Chen went to pick were not a big problem, but he still had to make his words clear first.

Li Wen glanced at the several deeds of sale in his hand, put them on the table, and said, "And you guys Please leave this piece of deed of sale with me first. From now on, each of you will receive a monthly salary, and if you do well, you will be given a bonus in January. When you have saved enough money, you can come to me to redeem your deed of betrayal. "

"When you redeem this deed of betrayal in the future, we will discuss whether you want to stay or leave. But one thing I must make clear is that during the period when you redeem the deed of betrayal, if you make any mistakes at work, I will still drive you away. Do you understand?

"Yes, sir, I understand. " "Several people were sold into slavery, and none of them thought that one day they would be able to get their deeds back. After they were sold to their masters, they were originally their slaves. How could they dare to think about what they could get every month? But now that the owner said that they would still receive monthly money

, they could redeem the deed of betrayal after saving enough money.

Li Wen had new hope in their hearts and asked Magpie to follow Li Jinwan . Waiting, Wu will be responsible for managing the affairs of the courtyard in the future. Yingchun will listen to Wu's assignment and stay in the courtyard to work, "Little boy, you arrange a place for them to live.

"Yes, Master. " "Li Tong responded.

There were two vacant rooms in the back, and it was just right for them to stay.

After buying a few people for the young master to come back to work, Manager Chen proposed that they return to Nanyang. Originally, Manager Chen just sent him to the capital. During the exam, his wife, children, and old mother were all in Nanyang, so Li Wen would not hold him back. Li asked Manager Chen when he planned to leave, and Manager Chen said, "We plan to do so." Leave the day after tomorrow. "

Well, that's fine. Fortunately, Manager Chen followed me to the capital." "It was a long journey from Nanyang to the capital. Thanks to Steward Chen, they arrived in the capital smoothly.

After arriving in the capital, Steward Chen had to do many things before and after running around, so that he could study with peace of mind after arriving here. , and preparing for the exam. If Manager Chen hadn't come with him this time, he wouldn't have known how to deal with so many things on his own. Li Wen expressed his gratitude to Manager Chen,

"Don't say that, young master. This is what an old slave should do. "Manager Chen said.

As for the four guards who followed, Dean Fu told him to pick two to stay and work with him in the future. Li asked the four people what they meant, and then picked two, and the rest. The two of them will follow Manager Chen back to Nanyang Mansion, and the two of them will stay with him.

Now that he has finished the exam in the capital, he is just waiting for the results of the general examination to come out. How many papers did Li ask him to answer? They were all confident and knew that they would definitely be able to pass the examination and be among the 300 tributes. He bought a yard here and

had a place to live for the time being.

He was settled down and on the third day, Manager Chen and the others were ready. After leaving, Li Wen handed the two letters he had written to Manager Chen and said, "This is a letter I wrote to my teacher, and the other one is to my family. I asked Manager Chen to take it back for me. After arriving in Nanyang, just send this letter to Qingping.

"Yes, don't worry, young master, I will definitely help the young master bring it back. " "Manager Chen took the letter, put it in his arms, and kept it close to his body.

"It's a long way back to Nanyang, so you should pay attention to safety on the way. "It's not easy to travel far away in this era. Fortunately, there were two people accompanying Manager Chen on the way back. Otherwise, he wouldn't worry about Manager Chen going back alone. Li Wen told them a few words to pay attention to safety on the way. , handed a bag of silver to Steward Chen, "There are fifty taels of silver here, for Steward Chen and you to use for housing and food on the road. "

Young Master, this must not be done. Manager Chen tried to shirk it for a few times, but when he couldn't shirk it, he had no choice but to accept the money and said, "Don't worry, little lord, we will go back smoothly."

"That's good, give me my regards. Teacher, I wish him good health," Li Wen said.

Li Wen stood at the door, watching Manager Chen get on the carriage and watching them leave, feeling a little emotional in his heart. After he arrived in the capital, he wondered if the teacher would miss him. Li Wen thought of the arrogant Dean Fu, and he missed Dean Fu a little.

Alas...

it had been raining for nearly half a month before it gradually stopped. At this time, the capital was also bustling.

At this time, the capital is full of student candidates. At this time, the business of restaurants and tea shops is very good, and student candidates are gathering everywhere. The results will not be released so soon after the general examination. The list will not be released until the paper marking is over and the results are released. Therefore, most candidates are waiting for the results to be released.

Each of these candidates was studying hard before the exam. Once the exam was over, they were completely liberated.

Li Wen and Lu Zhishu went outside for a walk. Neither of them was very interested in the parties outside. Lu Zhishu has a dull personality and is not a person who takes the initiative to make friends. Therefore, he has been studying in the capital for several years and can count all his familiar friends on the palm of his hand.

The two of them made an appointment to go fishing a few days ago. It happened that the sun came out the next day after the rain stopped, so the two of them prepared to go fishing.

"The weather is nice. Let's go fishing and have a picnic outside. I'll prepare the things and we'll treat it as a picnic." Li Wen asked someone to prepare things for a picnic. When he was studying in his previous life, he and his classmates My classmates went out for several picnics. It was crowded and lively at that time, and Li Wen was very interested in the picnic.

"Yeah." Lu Zhishu had no objection to this.

Li Wen asked people to prepare pots and seasonings, and there was no need to bring anything else.

Li Jinwan was so happy that she jumped up when she heard that her brother was going to take her out to play. After hearing her brother say that they went out to fish and get food, Li Jinwan took the initiative to take on the important task of preparing these things.

On the day of departure, they had everything ready.

There is still a long way to go outside the city. If they take a carriage there, they can get there in about half an hour. The two carriages in front and behind went out together. Li Wen took his sister out with him, so when he went there, he and Lu Zhishu rode in the same carriage, and Li Jinwan sat in the carriage behind.

The carriage left the city and headed all the way to the outskirts of the city.

The sky is clear and blue.

The air after the rain was fresh, and spring in February had arrived. The carriage was walking on the road in the suburbs. Li Wen opened the curtain and looked outside. The grass on the ground was sprouting, and the trees on the trees were sprouting. He smelled it. There is a fragrance of soil mixed with green grass, which is the smell of spring.

"Da da da..."

The sound of horse hooves was heard on the road, and their carriage pulled over to let the people riding behind them pass.

Li Wen lay beside the car window, subconsciously raised his head and looked out, and saw a man riding a big black horse. Zhao Xiangyi was riding a horse as he passed by on the road. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the young man in the carriage. Zhao Xiangyi slowed down the horse and the two people's eyes met.

"Haha, Brother Zhao, what a coincidence. Where are you going?" Li Wen didn't expect to meet an acquaintance as soon as he went out. He greeted Zhao Xiangyi with a smile.

The young man has a smile as bright as a flower, and his starry eyes are so bright that people can't take their eyes away from him with just one glance. Even though Zhao Xiangyi was such a cold-hearted person, he could not turn a blind eye to the young man's smile. The man did not answer, but asked, "Where are you going?"

"Oh, we are going to go fishing here, just like we are out for a spring outing. Brother Zhao, are you busy today? Come and play together if you have time." Li Wen invited Zhao Xiangyi to play together based on the principle of being crowded and lively. It is rare

to meet an acquaintance on the road. They meet each other again and again, maybe they are more destined?

"I happen to have a village here. Come and play in the village later." Zhao Xiangyi happened to have two days off, so he thought of coming to the village to stay for two days. Unexpectedly, he would meet Li Wen who was out for an outing on the road.

"Okay, as long as Brother Zhao doesn't mind us disturbing you." Li Wen chuckled.

Lu Zhishu, who was in the carriage, saw the man riding a horse outside through the carriage. Zhao Xiangyi, who was on the horse, also saw another person in the carriage besides Li Wen.

"No." Zhao Xiangyi said a word and rode ahead.

When they got there, they realized that the place where they were going to fish was really not far from Zhuangzi where Zhao Xiangyi was here. Their carriage stopped in the open space by the lake, and the people on the carriage got off.

Li Wen only had him, Lu Zhishu, and their respective bookboys here.

Li Jinwan brought out Yingchun and Magpie. Magpie was about the same age as Li Jinwan and was Li Jinwan's personal maid. Yingchun seems to be a little older and more stable in his work. If he comes out, he can help with anything.

"You go dig earthworms first. Only after we dig them out can we have bait for fishing." Li Wen directed the book boy to dig out earthworms. It happened to be after the rain and the land was muddy, so earthworms were easier to dig. "Let me tell you, how many did we catch today?" Fish, we will rely on the fish we caught for lunch."

"Don't worry, young master, I'm the best at digging earthworms. I'll dig up a lot of earthworms for you right away."

"Go, go, go."

Li Wen assigned them the work to do, and he and Lu Zhishu were preparing fishing poles. They were going to have a picnic and barbecue outside, and they also brought a lot of other things. Li Jinwan took Yingchun and Magpie to arrange other things.

Zhao Xiangyi took his people back to Zhuangzi first. Knowing that they were fishing here, he agreed to come back to them later.

"Oh, Zhishu, you don't know Brother Zhao?" Li Wen thought that Zhishu Lu might not know Zhao Xiangyi, so he explained to Lu Zhishu, "I met Brother Zhao on the way to Beijing to take the exam. He is very nice. Don't look at him. He didn't have anything to say, but he took good care of me on the way."

Li Wen talked to Lu Zhishu about what happened to them on the way here, in a few words, without mentioning that he was almost killed by a robber's knife. .

For a while, he often had nightmares at night about what happened that time, but Zhao Xiangyi appeared in his dreams every time and saved him. I don't know if people subconsciously regard the person who saved you as a target of protection, so Li Wen has an indescribable affection for Zhao Xiangyi, who saved him. Maybe it's because this person saved him?

If he hadn't met Zhao Xiangyi and his group that time, they might have ended up in that small inn, let alone him coming to the capital to take the exam.

"Why haven't I heard you talk about this before?" Lu Zhishu frowned and asked after hearing Li Wen's words. When Lu Zhishu met Zhao Xiangyi, he saw this man patrolling with troops in the examination room when they were taking the examination.

There were only a few families with the surname Zhao in the capital. As soon as Lu Zhishu heard Li Wen mention the other party's name, he knew who the other party was.

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Chapter 65 Three Fishes Fighting for the Moon

"Isn't it okay? I'm making you worried if I tell you." Li Wen didn't tell Lu Zhishu in detail about what they encountered on the way here. Will he mention it today because it's because He met Zhao Xiangyi on the road and mentioned their acquaintance, and then mentioned some things about him meeting him when he was in Beijing to take the exam.

In fact, he met Zhao Xiangyi further back in Nanyang. At that time, Zhao Xiangyi had another person go with him to meet his teacher.

Li Wen now knew Zhao Xiangyi's identity and the identity of the man who was with Zhao Xiangyi that day. Li Wen probably had some guesses in his heart, so he did not tell Lu Zhishu that he had met him in Nanyang.

"Master, I dug it." Li Tong came back from digging a few fat and big earthworms and shouted happily.

"Haha, is that right? Come and bring it to me quickly." Li Wen heard Li Tong shouting over there and knew that the earthworms had been found. He shouted. Li Tong ran over and gave the earthworms he dug to their young master. Li Wen took the earthworms, put them on the palm of his hand, and showed them to Lu Zhishu, "Zhishu, look at how fat these earthworms are." "

..." Lu Zhishu He took a step back, his expression not very good.

"Haha... Zhishu, aren't you afraid of earthworms?" Li Wen saw Lu Zhishu's expression changed when he saw the earthworms, and he burst out laughing. Lu Zhishu glared at Li Wen and said, "Get away." Knowing that Lu Zhishu was afraid of these cartilaginous animals, Li Wen stopped scaring him. He found a fishing hook, hung the bait on it, put it into the water, and waited for the fish to take the bait.

The fish in this lake are big and fat. Usually, few people come to fish. As soon as the bait is put down, fish take the bait.

"Oh, there are fish." Li Wen felt the fishing rod in his hand sink, and a fish bit his bait. Li Wen quickly pulled the fishing rod and shouted, "Haha, this must be a big fish. "

A hand stretched out from behind him and helped him grab the fishing rod.

The two people pulled up hard with their hands, and there were three fish in one rod. The one in front was biting the bait, and the two behind were biting the tail of the one in front. Three fish in one rod. Li Wen's eyes widened when he saw so many fish in one shot, "Wow, no, am I that good?"

"Three fish are vying for the jump. I'm so kind, let this fish go." Zhao Xiangyi At some point, he stood next to Li Wen and reached out to help Li Wen pull up the fishing rod. When he saw the three fish on the fishing rod, a trace of surprise flashed in the man's eyes.

"Three fish competing for the moon" means "three fish competing for the leap". The carp jumping means jumping over the dragon gate. There has been a folk legend since ancient times that a carp that crosses the Dragon Gate can become a dragon and soar into the sky. If a scholar can catch three fish with one fishing rod, it is a good sign, which means that he may carp leap over the dragon's gate and win the first prize in one fell swoop.

"Oh, just let it go." Li Wen turned to look at the man behind him. Their eyes met, and he gave him a toothy smile. It seems that these fish are inedible. Since the lake is so big, they can just release them and they can just catch them again.

Lu Zhishu, who was sitting next to him, was also looking at the three fishes in Li Wen's hand, with a slightly strange look in his eyes, and then looked at Li Wen.

"Zhishu, are there any fish there?" Li Wen took the fish off the hook and put it back into the water. The fish made a splash as soon as it hit the water, and then the three fish with their tails in their mouths swam away.

"Not yet." Lu Zhishu looked at Zhao Xiangyi who was standing next to Li Wen.

"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce you to each other." At this moment, the fish was released, and Li Wen re-entered the bait and introduced to Zhao Xiangyi, "Brother Zhao, this is my good friend Lu Zhishu. Zhishu, this is Zhao Xiangyi Zhao Brother."

Zhao Xiangyi nodded to the other party and said hello to him.

"Hello." Lu Zhishu nodded to the other party.

"Wow wow wow, there's fish again." Just after Li Wen put down the bait, a fish took the bait. His luck today was so good! Zhao Xiangyi helped the boy pull up the fish and put it into the wooden barrel prepared nearby. Li Tong stood around the barrel and screamed happily when he saw the fish inside.

Li Jinwan also came to watch the fun and was happier to see her brother catch the fish than she did to catch the fish herself.

Later, Li Wen adjusted several fish in succession, but Lu Zhishu didn't take the bait at all.

Although the two of them were sitting together, these fish seemed to like to eat his bait. When Li Wen saw that Lu Zhishu hadn't caught a fish, he comforted him and said, "Zhishu, don't be sad, what I caught is what you caught." "We are all fishing together, right?"

"Yeah." Lu Zhishu didn't care about this at first. He only came to fish because Li Wen wanted to fish, so he didn't care about whether he could catch the fish. I didn't pay much attention to the matter.

However, upon hearing Li Wen's words, Lu Zhishu's lips still showed a faint smile.

Seeing Lu Zhishu smiling, Li Wen also giggled.

There were already a lot of fish in their barrels, enough for the few of them to eat. Li Wen said, "These fish are enough. Let's stop fishing. We'll

worry about whether they have enough to eat in a while." Because they didn't know they could catch when they came . With so many fish, what if we can't catch any? So they also prepared

some other food. Now they have caught so many fish, and the food they have brought is enough for them to eat.

They stuffed mushrooms and spices into the chicken belly, wrapped it in lotus leaves and buried it in the soil. They spread a layer of red-hot charcoal underneath and a layer of charcoal on top. Worried that the chicken below would be undercooked, they also lit a fire on top, so they didn't have to worry about the chicken inside being undercooked.

There was also a rack set up for barbecue on the side. Before coming, they prepared a lot of barbecue materials. They were all cleaned and picked up with bamboo skewers. They just put them directly on the charcoal fire to grill.

The mutton roasting on the fire is bubbling with oil and making a sizzling sound. When the mutton is almost done, sprinkle a layer of spices and seasonings on it, and the aroma is fragrant. "Well, it smells so good." Li Wen handed a mutton skewer to Zhao Xiangyi and said, "Is it okay for you to try it?"

Zhao Xiangyi took it, took a look at it, took a bite, and said, "That's okay." "

Find a plate." Li Wen didn't mind making food by himself at all. This was a kind of relaxation and enjoyment for him. He could also grab skewers with both hands, which he had learned in the past.

"Master, here it is." Li Tong took a plate and gave it to their young master. Li Wen took it and put the grilled mutton skewers on top, "You take it out for everyone to eat." He also grabbed three skewers in his hand, gave one to Lu Zhishu, and ate two himself.

Seeing that Zhao Xiangyi had finished eating, Li Wen looked at it and gave the other person his remaining piece.

The caught fish was still alive. The belly and scales of the fish were cleaned and grilled on the fire. Zhao Xiangyi was in charge of grilling the fish. The outer skin of the fish was roasted golden brown. Li Wen leaned over to smell the aroma and asked, "Is this fish ready?"

"Wait a little longer, the meat inside is not fully cooked." Seeing the young man's Looking greedy, a smile flashed in Zhao Xiangyi's eyes.

"Zhishu, yours needs to be turned over, otherwise it will be burnt."

Lu Zhishu is a young man who has never done any work since he was a child. Today, when he went out with Li Wen, it was the first time for him to get something to eat. . When Li Wen saw Lu Zhishu grilling skewers, he didn't even know how to turn them. He was taught in the past that he should keep turning them, otherwise they would burn easily.

"The chicken should be cooked. Let's dig it out first."

"Okay."

"Brother, hurry up."

After a while, Li Wen went to check on the buried chicken. He guessed that the chicken must have been cooked after such a long time, so he asked others to dig out the lotus leaf chicken, patted the soil outside, and opened the leaves. The chicken is already cooked, the outer skin is golden, and the mushrooms stuffed into the chicken belly are also delicious.

Li Wen recalled the days when he and his master cooked lotus leaf chicken together when he was a child, and often went hunting with his master in the mountains. It was a very deep memory in his childhood. He was very happy learning martial arts and hunting with his master.

He just didn't know that the master had been gone for so many years, and he didn't know where he was. How big the world was, he didn't know where to find his master, and he felt a little sad when he thought about it.

By now the fish was cooked, and Li Wen ate a whole fish by himself because it was so delicious.

There are quite a few people in their group today, plus Zhao Xiangyi and the two guards who came later, there are more than a dozen people. However, they have prepared a lot of food, so even so many people are actually enough. eat.

"Brother, this chicken is so delicious." Li Jinwan's hands were covered with oil. She was a girl who didn't care about her image at all. She ate big meat and her face was dirty. When Li Wen saw the girl's look, he rolled his eyes, put a handkerchief on Li Siya's face, and said, "Wipe your face."

"Hehe..." Li Jinwan was so carried away for a while . Oh, why did her brother cook so delicious food? The little girl also wanted to save face. She took off the handkerchief on her face, wiped her mouth clean, and asked, "Xihe, did you see that my face was clean?"

"Miss, there is one more thing, let me wipe it for you. " "

The little maid bought a few days ago is not so timid now. She knows that both the young master and the young lady are good. Xiyun will serve the young lady by her side, and the young lady will not beat or scold her at every turn, which makes her feel at ease.

Yingchun was busy serving everyone and never stopped for a moment. By

the end of the meal, everyone was full. Even Lu Zhishu ate a lot of food, all of which were fed to him by Li Wen. . Li asked himself not to mention that he was rubbing his belly after eating so much. When Zhao Xiangyi saw the young man rubbing his belly, he knew that he had eaten too much. The man said, "Why don't you go to my Zhuangzi for some tea?" , and let me do my best as a landlord.

"Okay, let's go there together? " "When Li Wen said this, he was looking at Zhishu Lu and asked what he meant. Zhishu Lu nodded, and Li Wen said to Zhao Xiangyi, "Then we will go and disturb you.

"Won't bother. " "Zhao Xiangyi has never invited anyone to his village as a guest, and Li Wen was the first

person he invited to his village.

They buried the charcoal fire, cleaned up everything, and then followed Zhao Xiangyi to his village . Zhao Xiangyi didn't get on the horse either. He held his horse and walked with the boy.

Li Wen reached out and touched Ben Xiao. Ben Xiao looked at him with his big eyes. Li Wen felt that the horse's eyes were big and beautiful, and he liked them. He couldn't help but use his face to present the horse, turned his head and said to Zhao Xiangyi with a smile, "Look, Ben Xiao still remembers me. "

"Um. "Zhao Xiangyi also didn't expect that his horse would like this boy so much.

They walked from the lake to Zhao Xiangyi's village, and the walk was less than half a stick of incense.

When they arrived at the host's place as a guest, Li Wen also behaved himself and talked with Lu Zhishu Following Zhao Xiangyi, Li Jinwan and the others were from the girl's family. As soon as they entered, the housekeeper asked them to go to the other side to have a rest

. "Zhao Xiangyi usually comes to this Zhuangzi to stay for a few days on vacation. There is a martial arts training ground here. He can practice martial arts here, and it is cleaner here.

"Okay,"

Li Wen knew when he saw how big this Zhuangzi was. Zhao Xiangyi is a real rich second generation who is not short of money.

Sure enough, there is no harm if there is no comparison...

The two of them followed Zhao Xiangyi to the pavilion he was talking about. The servants put the small stove for boiling water and the tea set on the table, and the slaves on the side were making tea. Seeing this, Li Wen said, "Brother Zhao, if you believe me, how about I make you a cup of tea?"

"Okay." Zhao Xiangyi waved the waiter to go down.

Li Wen took over the task of making tea. He opened the lid of the teapot, took a look at the tea leaves inside, picked it up, smelled it, and said, "The tea leaves are flat and smooth, with a fresh and wide color, and a faint fragrance. The bottom of the leaves is tender. This is Longjing tea, right?"

"It's still a new tea this year."

Zhao Xiangyi nodded. He didn't expect that the young man knew so much, but when he thought that he was a disciple brought by Master Fu, he couldn't bear it. I understand all the basic things and don't feel weird anymore.

Li Wen started making tea. The best temperature for making Longjing tea is 85 to 95°C. It is not recommended to use boiling water, otherwise the leaves will be cooked as soon as the boiling water is poured. Also, before brewing, it is best to use cold soup, that is, put it in the kettle for a while before brewing.

Li Wen's movements of making tea were smooth and smooth, and he did it in one go. It seemed that he had practiced a lot.

"Brother Zhao, Zhishu, how about you try this tea." Li Wen brought the brewed tea in front of Zhao Xiangyi and Lu Zhishu, and the last cup was his own. He would often make tea for Dean Fu, and the master and apprentice would drink tea and lecture at the same time, which was also a kind of fun.

"Okay." Zhao Xiangyi is not usually a person who is too particular about tea, but the prince likes tea, and he will give him some good tea if there is any. This new tea was sent to him by the prince a few days ago, and he didn't expect to meet him. Li Wen and Lu Zhishu came to visit him.

As soon as he drank the tea brewed by the young man, Zhao Xiangyi knew that the tea was brewed just right.

This was not the first time that Lu Zhishu drank tea made by Li Wen. After the exam, there was nothing to do, so the two of them often sat together and drank tea, usually the tea made by Li Wen. But today, besides the two of them, there was only one more person

. They drank two cups of tea at Zhao Xiangyi's village and stayed for a while.

Seeing that it was getting a little late outside and they had to rush into the city, Li Wen suggested that they go back. He said, "Brother Zhao, let's go. Let's get together some other time when we have time." They also took their women out with them. , it's not good to spend the night outside.

Zhao Xiangyi did not keep the young man around. He sent them to the door and saw the young man and his party getting on the carriage and going back to the city

. "Let's go back to the city too." Originally, he wanted to stay in Zhuangzi for two days before going back, but when he saw the young man leaving, , Zhao Xiangyi suddenly didn't want to stay here that much. When the people below heard that their master was about to go back, no one dared to stop him. The housekeeper on the village was just a little surprised that their young master left just after he arrived.

Zhao Xiangyi rode out of Zhuangzi, and the two guards who followed him followed their master.

Chapter Sixty-Six: Spring Warmth in April

"Okay, okay, good article!" The examiner looked at the paper in his hand and clapped his hands.

Is it really that good?

"Let me take a look and see if it's as good as you said." The person next to him took the paper away and after reading the beginning, he couldn't help but clapped his hands and said, "Okay, good article! This guy knows how to do it." The first place in the exam. "

The examiners who evaluate the papers here are all Hanlin Academy. Those who can get into the Hanlin Academy are mostly Jinshi, and only those who are ranked among the top Jinshi are eligible to enter the Hanlin Academy, let alone there are others in the Hanlin Academy. The top picks and top picks in previous years are all here, and an article that catches their eye must be a good article.

"Well, this article is a rare good article."

The paper was passed around, and the examiners who marked it all said yes.

It's not that I haven't encountered good articles before, but when compared with this article, there is an obvious distinction between high and low. In the end, this article was recognized by everyone, and the word "first" was written on the paper and was released. It's at the top of the exam paper.

The names of the general examination papers are blurred. Before the end of the marking, all the examiners will not know the names of the candidates. They will not open the envelopes and fill in the candidates until the end of the marking. Know the candidate's name.

After the examination, the examiners who marked the papers were locked in this small courtyard to mark the papers, and they could not come out until the marking was over.

Marking papers is a very hard job. Each examiner who marks papers has to read dozens or hundreds of articles every day. The first thing they notice is that the paper is not clean, and any scribblings will be removed. When you go out, no matter how the answers to the papers are, no examiner will review them, and these papers will be invalid. Therefore, the test paper is very important. At least you can write well. Even if the article is not particularly excellent, you may still be included in the list of admissions for the scientific examination.

The results of the examination are released in April, when the apricot flowers bloom, so the results of the examination are also called the apricot list.

While waiting for the results of the general examination to come out, none of the candidates who stayed in the capital to wait for their results were idle. They held a cocktail party today, participated in a poetry meeting tomorrow, and even the major flower buildings in the capital welcomed guests every day. Delivered, there was an endless stream of guests.

After the spring cold, the weather has gradually become warmer. Although it occasionally rains, the weather is still good. Taking advantage of this time, Li Wen and Lu Zhishu walked around some places near the capital. The two of them went to play everywhere. They went hiking today and went for an outing tomorrow. They might not have so much time to run around in the future.

On the way, they will also meet some students who are playing outside. They are all candidates who have come to the capital to take the exam. On the way, they have made a few friends and can travel together.

"Brother Li."

Ma Zhiyuan went out to play with a group of friends. Unexpectedly, he met an acquaintance. He recognized

Li Wen at a glance. Li Wen heard the voice and turned around to see Ma Zhiyuan walking towards him. They were after the provincial examination. We met at the Deer Ming Banquet, and we got together several times later, so we are still good friends. Li Wen didn't expect to meet an acquaintance here. He smiled, walked a few steps forward and greeted him, calling "Brother Ma."

"I didn't expect to meet you here, haha..." Knowing that you also came to the capital to take the exam, I asked my servants to go to various restaurants and inns in the city to find out about you, but I couldn't find you. I didn't expect that we would meet here today. "After the last provincial exam, Ma Zhiyuannian said. I took the exam in Beijing to prepare for the National Examination before.

After the provincial examination, they said they would go to Beijing to participate in this year's Spring Festival. After Ma Zhiyuan arrived in the capital, he asked people to inquire about Li Wen, but he was not found.

Li Wen touched his nose and said, "I came to the capital only after I was a year old. When I arrived, the restaurants and inns in the city were all full and I couldn't find a place to stay. I had no choice but to stay with a friend. Later. I found the small courtyard and moved to the small courtyard I found, so I didn't live in the restaurant where the guests were looking. Brother Zhang, you asked someone to go to the restaurant and inn to look for me. Naturally, I couldn't be found."

"Thank you so much, Ma. It's the kindness of the elder brother, and it's also the fate of the younger brother and Brother Ma that we meet here today.

"

Li Wen didn't know that Ma Zhiyuan sent people to find him. If he hadn't seen him today, he wouldn't have remembered it. Alone, this made him feel a little guilty.

"Haha, no wonder." Could it be that he couldn't find out the news about Li Wen? Ma Zhiyuan said with a smile, "It's okay, it's

okay ."

"Brother Ma, let me introduce to you, this person is my friend Lu Zhishu." "Li Wen introduced Ma Zhiyuan, and then said to Lu Zhishu, "Zhishu, this is Brother Ma Zhiyuan. Brother Ma and I met in Nanyang.

"Brother Lu, hello, I'm dismounting from Ma Zhiyuan. I'm lucky enough to meet Brother Li today." "Brother Lu, it seems that today's trip is worth it." Ma Zhiyuan is a person who is good at making friends. He made a lot of friends as soon as he arrived in the capital. He often went to various poetry gatherings and met with friends. Friends went everywhere to play.

Ma Zhiyuan was well-informed. During this period, the students in the capital were talking the most about the few people who were most likely to win the top spots in the examination. There are so many talented people in this place in the capital, and you realize your insignificance as soon as you step into this place. Ma Zhiyuan has heard of Lu Zhishu's name, but this is his first time seeing him.

Of course, Lu Zhishu didn't know that he had a name among these candidates in the capital.

"Brother Ma, nice to meet you." Lu Zhishu nodded to the other party and said hello.

"Let me introduce to you, this is Brother Li, and this is Brother Lu." Ma Zhiyuan introduced Li Wen and Lu Zhishu to their friends. Knowing that Li Wen acted in a low-key manner, Ma Zhiyuan did not go into too much detail. Li asked about this person.

The young man in front of him had won the title of Little Scholar before he was ten years old, and he had won the title of Little Scholar before he was sixteen. He went on to take part in the Spring Science Examination the next year. Ma Zhiyuan had a premonition that this time he would take the Li exam. The ranking of Q will definitely not be lower than his.

Friends who were traveling with Ma Zhiyuan saw that both of them looked young, especially the little brother named Li, who looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. Some of them only thought that Li Wen was just here to hang out. It's lively, and some people think that Li Wen has been a candidate for the exam at a young age, and it is already rare to be able to participate in the examination.

Everyone has different attitudes towards Li Wen and Lu Zhishu, but there are also some people who show goodwill to Li Wen and Lu Zhishu. Li Wen saw this, and he didn't care. It wasn't the first time that someone looked down on him because of his age, but in the end, he slapped these people back.

Make you look down on me! Hum!

Now that everyone had met, Li Wen and Lu Zhishu went with Ma Zhiyuan and his group.

In April, the weather has gradually warmed up, the grass on the ground is tender green, and the buds on the trees are spreading out, dotted on the trees one by one. The fireplace in the room was closed and there was no need to light the fire anymore. This heavenly being no longer needed to wear a heavy cotton-padded jacket. Li Wen took off his cotton-padded coat and put on a light blue shirt.

The second day of April is the day when the examination results will be released.

On this day, when he woke up in the morning, Li Wen was practicing martial arts in the yard as usual. He called Achen to sparring with him. Achen was one of the two remaining guards. Li Wen knew that there were twelve guards at Dean Fu's place. According to the names given to them at twelve o'clock, the two people who stayed with him were A Chen and A Wu.

What he encountered on the road last time made Li Wen realize that practicing martial arts can not only strengthen his body, but also be used to save his life at critical moments. Therefore, he is now consciously improving his ability in this area to be able to Apply what you learn.

After practicing martial arts in the courtyard for an hour, I broke out in a sweat and went back to my room to change into clean clothes.

At this time, breakfast was already served in the dining room. Li Jinwan put the bowls and chopsticks on the table and shouted, "Brother, it's time for breakfast." Li Wen sat down on the chair, took a sip of porridge from the bowl, and grabbed a big meat bun. After taking a bite, she nodded and said, "Yeah, it smells really good."

"Brother, I heard that the results are released today, right?" Li Jinwan asked when she saw her brother looking the same as usual. She couldn't help but feel nervous for her brother.

"Well, yes, what's the matter?" Li Wen ate his food as usual, without any trace of nervousness at all. Li Wen knew that the rankings would start to be released today. It was still early and there would still be a while before the rankings would start to be released. He said, "The rankings should not start releasing until now. It won't be so soon. Eat your food and don't stare." Let me see, staring at me won't make you full."

It was now nine o'clock in the morning when the results were released. The results were released one by one in the same way as the provincial exams. Officials reported one by one first. No matter what, his ranking this time will not fall too far behind, so he may have to wait until noon to report to them.

It's still seven or eight o'clock in the morning, it's still early.

Li Jinwan was holding a bowl in her hand, and she didn't eat any food. She stared at her brother from time to time, her eyes filled with desire to speak but hesitation.

Li Wen looked up and saw the little girl staring at his brother. He couldn't help but smile and asked, "During this period, I asked you to go to the major rouge shops in the capital to learn about the situation. Have you gone? Which rouge gouache store in the capital?" What is the best seller, what is the price of the item, and what is the effect of using it? Have you tried them one by one? After you have finished the experience, make a detailed table for me. These things I mentioned , I hope everything is listed clearly on the form."

This was also the task he assigned to the little girl before, asking her to visit the major rouge and gouache shops in the capital and get a data sheet for him.

"..." Li Jinwan was holding a bowl in her hand, and her mouth was slightly open and she couldn't close it. "No, brother,

" it's nothing, just eat. When you have time, go and deal with all the things I mentioned. Don't act like a fool. You don't know how to trick people when you go out. Be smart when you go out. You will be a female shopkeeper in the future. At least set a great goal for yourself. "Li Wen drank two bowls of porridge in a row and had already eaten the third meat bun. His stomach was only half full. He thought he could eat two more buns.

"...Yes, brother, I understand. "No, they were obviously talking about the trial release of the rankings, why did it involve her! Li Jinwan found that she had never been the loser in a couple who fell in love with her brother. But her brother said the same thing, even what other people were selling She didn't even know how to open a shop and be a female shopkeeper.

"Brother, do you want to open a shop selling rouge and gouache? "Her brother hasn't told her what kind of store they are going to open," Li Jinwan asked^

"Yes, it is the intention, but not entirely. It depends on how far you can achieve it." "The meaning of Li Wen's words is also very clear. He wants to be the person who hands off the shop, and the girl is doing the work. Li Jinwan said with a look on her face: "I understand, she should just eat, she is so kind!

Both brothers and sisters are very good eaters, Li Jinwan She ate only a little less than her brother.

After finishing the meal, the two siblings sat there for a while with no one talking. There was nothing more satisfying than having a full stomach

. The closer we get, the lobbies of major restaurants and inns in the capital are filled with people, and the atmosphere inside becomes more and more tense. Some people are so nervous that they can't even eat breakfast. They sit in the lobby waiting for

Ma Zhiyuan to use it in the room early in the morning. After breakfast, he came downstairs. He stayed in the largest inn in the capital. The people staying here were all the candidates who came to take the scientific examination.

By the time he came downstairs, the seats below were almost occupied. It's full.

"Brother Ma, there's still room here, come and sit here. "An acquaintance saw him and called him. Ma Zhiyuan walked over, said hello to everyone present, sat down in the vacant seat, and waited with everyone for the announcement of the results.

Ma Zhiyuan put his hand on the table At the same time, he was also very nervous. He didn't know where he would get in the exam this time. He was probably a little unsure about his answer sheet this time, but he still had to wait until the results were released to determine his ranking. He was extremely nervous before the results came out.

About 300 candidates were admitted to the examination, and those who won the examination were called Gongshi. Only those who obtained the Gongshi were eligible to participate in the palace examination half a month later. The three are number one, number two, and Tanhualang. The number two is probably around 100, and the rest are among the top three

, such as the wife. Not even a little bit. Being a Tongjinshi is like a wife. A wife is equivalent to the status of a concubine. Being a Tongjinshi is not disliked by others. The official career in the future will not be easy, and all the good official positions in the future will be taken away by the Jinshi. It was the turn of Tong Jinshi for the remaining candidates, who were in some remote places or official positions where beauties were willing to go.

There were also some candidates who were standing at the door of the inn, looking out from time to time. I wonder why I haven't come yet

Chapter 67:

"Da da da..."

is coming!

''Report...,''

the sound of horse hooves came from far and near, and a big black horse ran past the door of the inn. The eyes of everyone in the inn followed the running horse. The horse soon passed by the door of the inn. After running past, many people sighed and said, "It's not from our place."

Ma Zhiyuan picked up the tea on the table and took a sip. Everyone present was so nervous that they didn't even touch the tea on the table. His eyes were fixed on the door of the inn.

"Report..." The voice announcing the good news came again.

The black horse flashed past the door of the inn and went elsewhere. There were cheers not far away, someone was hit, and firecrackers were being set off over there. The candidates sitting in the inn were a little frustrated. They had gone through several official missions, but none of them came to the inn.

"Brother, are the results starting to be released now?" Li Jinwan asked Magpie to open the door of the courtyard and stretched out her head to take a look outside. No official messenger came to report the news! Li Jinwan ran back and asked her brother.

Many people nearby opened their courtyard doors, and many candidates lived here. They all opened their courtyard doors and waited for news.

"Well, it should have started. Now we are starting from the ones at the bottom. They should not arrive at our place too soon." Li Wen was sitting in the yard drinking tea. He didn't know when he would arrive. It's very boring for them to wait here. Why don't they go to Zhishu's place? It's better for two people to drink tea together than alone?

No, just in case this official comes to them to announce the good news, It's not good if he's not here, so I can only wait at home.

"Hey..." I don't know when we will arrive at their place. What if we don't come? Hehehe... Li Wen rolled his eyes and looked at the sky. The white clouds were floating above his head. It felt very dreamy to be able to see such a blue sky in the capital.

I really wish the sky could always be this blue...

"Brother, why aren't you nervous at all?" Li Jinwan went into the room, picked up the tea on the table, drank it in one gulp, sat down on the chair, and looked at her Brother asked.

"It's no use being nervous. Sit down and take a rest. You've been nervous all morning." There's nothing to be nervous about. If you get it, you'll get it. What if you miss? It doesn't matter, he can stay in the capital to do business. Li Wen has made up his mind. If he fails the exam this time, he will not go back and retake the exam.

The thought of having to have your anus checked every time before entering the exam is...

well, I was lucky this time. I met an acquaintance, but I just had my anus checked and my anus was not checked. But...

well, it's better not to think about those things and just wait for the official to report the news. If he doesn't have confidence in himself, he should have confidence in Dean Fu. He is the disciple that Dean Fu spent six years personally teaching. After all, he has been getting up earlier than a chicken and going to bed later than a dog every day for more than ten years. If he really fails to pass the exam, he will really be sorry for his hard work for so many years.

"..." Li Jinwan, can she not be nervous? The rankings are released today, the rankings are released! ! !

Li Wen had a calm expression on his face, while Li Jinwan stared at her brother with goldfish eyes. Finally, she got tired of staring and lay on the table pretending to be dead.

Not far away, Lu Zhishu was also sitting in the room drinking tea, with no emotion on his calm face. Only the housekeeper and book boy at home kept running to the door to look, more nervous than his master.

"Da da da..."

"Report...congratulations to Mr. Feng Guifeng of Fuzhou High School for ranking 122nd in the 27th Zhaozong Examination..." The official who announced the good news stopped in front of the Yuelai Inn.

"I won, I won!" Someone screamed in the inn, and the successful candidate squeezed out of the crowd and shouted, "It's me, it's me, I'm Feng Gui. "

Congratulations, sir, congratulations, sir..."

The servants who followed gave the official who announced the good news some money and threw it outside the door.

The innkeeper asked people to set off firecrackers, and their inn finally got off to a good start. If no one in their inn was successful, no one would dare to stay in their inn next year. They Yue Laike was looking for business. It's so good that several Jinshis are produced every year.

"One hundred and twenty-two have already registered." The candidates have already registered so early. Some of the candidates in the inn who have not yet won are all worried. There are only more than 120 places ahead of them. I don't know. Do they

have a chance?

"Da da da..."

"Congratulations... Master, I got the 76th place in the 27th Zhaozong Exam of Senior High School..."

The official messenger came to the Yuelai Inn several times to announce the good news. People kept getting Jinshi, and the sound of firecrackers at the door Continuously. Basically, the ranking in the general examination is almost the same as the ranking in the palace examination. The main reason is that if there is no mistake in the palace examination, it is basically possible to determine where they will be in the palace examination.

Zhang Zhiyuan was getting more and more nervous, and his eyes were looking at the door of the inn.

"Da da da..." The sound of horse hoofbeats came again, and the official who announced the good news shouted, "The news... Congratulations to Mr. Ma Zhiyuan, the thirty-eighth place in the 27th Zhaozong Examination of the High School..."

"Sir, you won the prize. "

"It's our master who won!" Thirty

-eighth, this ranking is not the Queen Mother, but it is within his expectation. There are really too many outstanding talents this time. , it is considered a good ranking for him to get thirty-eighth.

"Thank you for your hard work, sir." Ma Zhiyuan stood up from his seat and walked towards the door. The domestic servant on the side distributed money to the official who announced the good news, and the official who took the money got on his horse and left. People around him came to congratulate him one after another, and they didn't know whether it was sincere or fake. Ma Zhiyuan thanked everyone who thanked him one by one.

From Qingliu Lane at the intersection of Nancheng District and Xicheng District, there are also constant sounds of official missions announcing good news. Someone nearby has passed the exam.

"Da da da..."

"Report to Lu Zhishu that Mr. Lu ranked fifth in the 27th year of Zhaozong's high school examination." The official who announced the good news shouted.

"Master, it's hit, it's hit, it's our young master who's hit." The housekeeper heard the sound and shouted at the door.

Hearing the voice announcing the good news, Lu Zhishu put down the tea cup in his hand and stood up from his seat. The official who announced the good news stopped in front of his door, "Congratulations to Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu, for placing fifth in the 27th Zhaozong Examination of High School." "Thank you for your hard work, sir .

Let's take some money to drink." The steward gave a few taels of silver to the official who announced the good news.

The little slave threw the wedding money outside the door, and people nearby who heard the sound came out one after another. Many people went to grab the wedding money, and some people congratulated Lu Zhishu. Lu Zhishu nodded to those who came to congratulate him.

After placing fifth in the competition, Lu Zhishu looked towards the other side of the alley after knowing that he had won.

It was almost noon, and Li Jinwan's nervous stomach was about to jump out. When she heard the sound coming from elsewhere, she ran to the door and waited without leaving. Why haven't you come to them yet? Her brother would definitely win, he would definitely win. Li Jinwan was so nervous that she bit her fingernails.

After a while, the official messenger came again to announce the good news.

"Da da da..." "Report to Mr. Li and ask for the first place in the examination for the 27th year of Zhaozong in Master Li's high school!

" "Report to Mr. Li and ask for the first place in the examination for the 27th year of Zhaozong in Master Li's high school!"

"Brother..." Li Jinwan shouted, it was her brother who got hit, it was her brother who got hit! This girl was going crazy. She kept screaming and shouting, "Brother, I got it, I got it, hahaha...Brother, I got the first place, I got the first place!

" "Master, it's the master who got it." "Li Tong shouted.

Huh.

Hearing the sound of the good news, Li Wen also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

The official who announced the good news dismounted in front of their door. Li Wen stood at the door and took the hand from Li Tong. After taking the money, he personally gave it to the official who came to announce the good news, and said, "Thank you, brother, for your hard work.

"Congratulations, Mr. Li. " "The official who announced the good news didn't expect that the first place in this year's test would be someone who looked so young. When he went to announce the good news before, his servants would give him good news money. This time, the Jinshi old man personally gave him the good news money. The official who announced the good news was a little flattered.

"Haha... our young master won, won the first place, hahaha..." Li Tong shouted while throwing out a lot of wedding money. People nearby heard the sound and tried to get the first place . ? They have the first place in the test?

Everyone rushes out of the courtyard to grab the copper coins. This is the first place in the test. Even those who are not short of money rush to grab the wedding coins. This is a good idea. , it's good to feel happy.

"Congratulations to Mr. Li, congratulations to Mr. Li. "People nearby came forward to congratulate me one after another.

"Thank you, thank you. "Li Wenzhao was dealing with the people who came to congratulate him.

Some people also asked about his Geng Geng this year and came up with the idea of ​​marrying him, "Mr. Li looks so young.

Is Geng Geng this year? Is there any marriage in Mr. Li's family? I have a girl who was born like a flower and she is at the right age to get married..."

"And my daughter was born like a fish and a goose. If Mr. Li is interested, our two families can get married. In-laws

, our family gave our daughter a dowry of one thousand taels and two shops in the capital. "

And our family, our family...is willing to pay a dowry of three thousand taels and three shops in the capital..." "

...our family is willing to pay a dowry of ten thousand taels..."

"..." Li asked, what did he want to say? Okay? Li Wen took two steps back and said to everyone, "I appreciate everyone's kindness. "After rejecting everyone's kindness, Li Wen was so frightened by everyone's enthusiasm that he ran back into the yard. The enthusiasm of these people was really overwhelming.

He had already heard of the ancient saying about catching a son-in-law under the banner. Wen really never thought that one day he would be arrested and used as his son-in-law.

"Close the door." "Seeing this, Li Jinwan quickly asked the housekeeper and guards to close the door.

"Bang bang bang..."

She closed the door to the courtyard and shut out everyone outside. There were people knocking on the door and shouting for them to open the door.

Run . The brother and sister who returned to the room looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Wen sat down in a chair and poured himself a cup of tea to calm down.

Li Jinwan looked at her brother, screamed and rushed towards her brother, shouting, "Brother, you're hit

! " "

Brother, it's hit, it's hit..."

"I know, I'm not deaf." Come down here, what does it look like? "Li Wen caught the little girl who rushed over and really wanted to throw her away. Li Jinwan grabbed her brother's hand and laughed, her face smiling as bright as a flower, "I knew that my brother would definitely do it. in.

"Master, I'm hit. " "Li Tong was spinning in circles happily.

"Master Gongying. "The servants who were waiting at home congratulated their master one after another.

"Today there is a happy event at home. Everyone is given a reward of half a tael of silver. Everyone is happy. "There's nothing I can do. I can't get out the two pieces of silver I have recently. I need to save some money. When I make money in the future, I can be more generous in rewarding my servants," Li Wen said.

"Thank you, Master." "The servants at home said one after another.

Knowing that he won the first place in the examination, Li Wen breathed a sigh of relief. After he came out after the examination, he was sure that he would win the examination this time. , but it's really hard to say where he will be ranked. After all, students from all over the country are participating in this exam. He who can get a higher ranking in a small place is totally not enough in the capital. Look.

But fortunately, I still got the first place in the examination! Hahaha...

The first place in the examination is not the final result. There is another palace examination later, which is held in the same year as the examination, in April. After the examination results are released, there is still some time for everyone to prepare. The

palace examination will not be held until the end of April. After the examination results are released, the list will be posted at the entrance of Gongyuan. All candidates can go to check some candidates who did not win. Everyone squeezed to the front to see if they could find their names on it.

"Why isn't mine?"

"How come there is no my name? No, it's impossible. " "

Some candidates who didn't win didn't believe that his name was not on it. Every time after the results were released, some people cried and some laughed, as if they were at their peak. There are all kinds of life, and there are all kinds of emotions after every scientific examination. Everything can happen, some people cry and some people laugh. People who know that they have won the Jinshi are naturally happy to be

ranked first on the examination list .

How can an unknown person win the examination? First place? Someone asked, "Who is this Li Wen?"

This time it's not that no one knows who Li Wen is. When someone asked who Li Wen was, someone said, "Don't underestimate this Li Wen. He was a scholar who passed the exam when he was less than ten years old. Juren, this year a 16-year-old boy won the first place in the national examination."

There was an uproar in the crowd, obviously everyone couldn't believe that the first place in the national examination was a 16-year-old boy.

"Sure enough, it's him." Ma Zhiyuan, who was standing at the back of the crowd, saw Li Wen's name at the first place. Many people here felt the same as he did at the beginning. When they knew that Li Wen was just a teenage boy, they were filled with excitement. I can't believe it.

Seeing that Li Wen once again won the first place in the examination, Ma Zhiyuan had a feeling that he had expected this. This Li Wen could quietly win the first place in every exam every time. If This was the only one that was good. He had been ranked first in almost all the exams, and his strength should not be underestimated.

At this time, Li Wen was still hiding at home and did not dare to go out. He was afraid that if he went out, he would be dragged back to become his son-in-law. Therefore, Li Wen did not know that after the test results were released this time, he would become completely famous in the capital.

Chapter 68: After the results are released,

there will be an examination. After the results are released, there will be a palace examination. The palace examination will be on April 20th. There is still more than half a month left before the palace examination. Let the candidates who are going to take the palace examination be prepared.

After the general examination is over, the candidates who passed the general examination will continue to prepare for the next palace examination, while the candidates who failed will pack up their things and go home with a full bag, preparing to take the test again three years later.

"Here are two letters. One is sent to Nanyang, and the other is sent to home. You can ask someone to send it back together." After the results of the general examination came out, he wanted to give good news to his family. Li Wen sent it to Nanyang He wrote a letter to his family respectively. Nanyang wanted to tell his teacher the news, and his parents and elders at home also wanted to inform him.

"Yes, Master, I'll go right away." The boy held the letter from the Master in his arms and went out to find someone to deliver the letter.

Seeing the little slave going out, Li Wen's lips curled up a little, and he was in a good mood.

Knowing that the list of successful candidates was posted outside, Li Wen did not go outside to join in the fun. Now he was a walking target when he went out. He must be the center wherever he went. At this time, Li Wen was very glad that he was not living in an inn outside, otherwise he would not be able to hide even if he wanted to.

He didn't have many acquaintances here in the capital, and not many knew that he lived here. He could still hide behind closed doors at the moment.

"Zhishu, congratulations on passing the exam." Li Wen went to Lu Zhishu's place in the afternoon and found out that Lu Zhishu also passed the exam and was ranked fifth. This time, both of them ranked relatively high in the examination. He himself ranked first, not to mention Lu Zhishu ranked fifth. This result is already quite good.

As long as they perform as usual in the next palace examination, their rankings should not fall out of the top five.

"I haven't said congratulations yet, congratulations." This time, Li Wen did better than him in the examination. Lu Zhishu was not surprised to know that Li Wen got the first place in the examination. The two of them had studied together since childhood, and Li Wen was both talented and learned. above him.

After passing the imperial examinations along the way, Li Wen got first place in every exam. Lu Zhishu didn't feel jealous because his friend did better than him. He had seen that Li Wen's article was indeed better than his.

In this world, there are people outside the world, and there is always someone above you.

On the contrary, Lu Zhishu should be happy that he has such an excellent friend. With such a person by his side, he knows where the distance between himself and others is, so he can work hard. This time he was ranked fifth in the competition. This ranking was already good for him, so he had nothing to be dissatisfied with.

"Haha, why are we two so polite? Don't come here to congratulate me. This is the plum blossom wine I brewed in my spare time. Try it. How does it taste?" Li Wen had prepared some good wine and was happy today. , suitable for a drink.

Originally he didn't like drinking, but there were two teachers around him who loved drinking. He had been thinking about making rice wine for his master since he was a child. Later, Dean Fu liked these arty things, and he would also Go figure it out.

The alcohol content of plum blossom wine is not high, and the taste is light with a floral aroma. Even those who don't store the wine well will not get drunk after two cups.

Lu Zhishu picked up the wine glass, smelled it, and said, "I smelled a faint fragrance of plum blossoms."

"Well, it's wine made from plum blossoms. Try it. If you like it, I'll have two jars brought over for you. "The last time they went on an outing, there happened to be a place outside the city where a lot of plum blossoms were planted. Li Wen asked people to pick a lot of plum blossoms and come back to make wine. However, it is best to wait until next year for the wine to taste better. .

The two of them drank a glass of wine and talked about the imperial examination.

Starting from the second day after the results of the general examination are released, all candidates who have passed the general examination must report to the Ministry of Etiquette and register on the roster.

On this day, Li Wen and Lu Zhishu went to the Ministry of Rites to register their rankings. They also met Lu Zhishu's uncle, Mr. Lu Changping, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites. The last time Li Wen saw Mr. Lu Changping was when he was taking the provincial examination in Nanyang. Mr. Lu Changping was the examiner. But that time he didn't raise his head to look at the other person's face, so naturally he didn't know what the other person looked like.

Li Wen didn't expect that Lu Changping would remember his name, which made him a little flattered. In the past, Li Wen had been to the Lu family as a guest, and naturally he had met Lu Zhishu's father and elders. Lu Changping's facial features were very similar to those of his brothers, but Lu Changping had been an official in the capital for many years, and his face had the calmness of an official.

Lu Zhishu is Lu Changping's nephew. This time Lu Zhishu got a good ranking in the imperial examination. As long as he doesn't make any mistakes in the palace examination, his ranking in the second class is certain. If the article written in the palace examination can catch the eyes of the emperor, It is also possible to be included in the first class. Even when Lu Changping took part in the scientific examination, he only got a rank of second-class Jinshi, which was not as good as his nephew's. Lu Changping saw the new hope of their Lu family in this nephew.

We are both members of the Lu family and come from the same lineage. If Lu Zhishu becomes an official in the court in the future, Lu Zhishu can play a supporting role in Lu Changping's official career. Lu Changping is optimistic about this nephew, so he will naturally support his nephew more.

I don't know if it was because they were from the same hometown and he was Lu Zhishu's classmate and friend, but Li Wen didn't expect that Lu Changping's attitude towards him was also very amiable. He

treated and told them. They all remembered some words of encouragement and many things to pay attention to during the palace examination.

Lu Changping was busy with official duties. After saying a few words to the junior, he went to do other things.

After the two people registered in the Ministry of Rites, they walked out of the Ministry of Rites. Li asked Lu Zhishu, "Zhishu, you and your uncle must have a good relationship, right?" Lu Zhishu rarely mentioned his uncle to him. See, Li Wen has a good feeling about Mr. Lu Changping.

"Well, fortunately, my uncle has taken good care of me during the past few years that I have been in the capital." Just now in the Ministry of Rites, Lu Zhishu also called his uncle Mr. Lu, but did not call him uncle, so outsiders only saw that Mr. Lu was very considerate to them. He didn't know that Lu Zhishu had such a deep relationship with Mr. Lu.

East Changchun Street, where the Ministry of Rites is located, is surrounded by government offices. The offices of the six ministries are all here, as well as other government offices for central government services.

If they hadn't come to the Ministry of Rites to report today, they wouldn't have come here.

"Brother Zhao, I didn't expect to meet you here." Li Went and Lu Zhishu walked out of the Ministry of Rites, and within a few steps they saw a man walking down the street holding a horse. Li Wen knew that this was where the government office was located, so he was not surprised to see Zhao Xiangyi here.

Zhao Xiangyi saw Li Wentong and Zhishu Lu, nodded to them, and said, "I know you will succeed in the test, but I haven't said congratulations to you yet. Congratulations on you passing the test and getting a good ranking." "

Thank you." Li Wen chuckled and said that he was quite happy to meet Zhao Xiangyi here. When Ben Xiao saw him, he stretched out his head to rub against him. Li Wen took the opportunity to touch the horse's face several times. Rather than saying that he was happy to see Zhao Xiangyi, it would be better to say that he was happy to see Ben Xiao.

It's a nice horse. It would be even better if I could lend it to him for a ride!

Just like all men in this world love cars, all men in this world love horses, and Li Wen is no exception. When he saw Benxi, his eyes flashed with gold, as if he was afraid that others wouldn't know that he had taken a liking to this good horse. of.

Zhao Xiangyi was followed by a white-faced scholar and two subordinates. The white-faced scholar looked at Li Wen with deep interest. Xie Yunfei naturally saw that Li Wen couldn't move as soon as he saw their boss. , a smile flashed in his eyes, he was really a young man who didn't know how to hide it. But he doesn't look like Xiao Huiyuan at all, he's just like the little brother next door who hasn't grown up yet.

Xie Yunfei would not wait for Zhao Xiangyi to introduce him to others, but he jumped out and said to Li Wen, "Xie Yunfei, I have long heard that Huiyuan, who will be tested this year, is a young boy who is not as good as the weakest. When I saw him today, he is indeed a talented boy. "

The young man in front of me has made five yuan in a row. If he can get the top prize in the imperial examination, he will have six yuan."

Looking at the whole of Dacheng, you can't find a single six-yuan talent, let alone a six-yuan talent. There is only one person in front of you who can even get five yuan, and he is still a young boy who is not even in his prime. Really, if you compare one person to another, you can compare to the dead! There are really only a few people who can make Xie Yunfei, who is known as a "ghost genius", take a high look, and the young man in front of him is one of the few.

"This is my subordinate Xie Yunfei." Zhao Xiangyi said.

"Hello, I am Li Wen, and this is my friend Lu Zhishu." Li Wen saw the undisguised concern and interest in him in the other person's eyes. This man had a pair of natural fox eyes, and he looked uneasy at first glance. He is kind-hearted and likes to scheme against people.

Li Wen only glanced at the other party. At this moment, no one came to interest him.

This Benxiao seems to be a stallion? I wonder if there are any mares that I like, and young and strong stallions, how can they be in spring? Spring is here now. I wonder if Ben Xiao has found a mate? When can the mare be pregnant with a calf, and then give him a calf? Would it be too rude of him to book a pony cub with Zhao Xiangyi now? Li Wen made up his mind to book Ben Xiao's son.

Xie Yunfei was amazed when he saw Benxiao nuzzling the boy affectionately. You must know that this ungrateful horse got angry and spat at him, the military advisor, but now he was affectionately affectionate to the young boy. Could it be that Because Xiao Huiyuan is a little prettier than him and younger than him?

Sure enough, I will starve this stupid horse twice when I get back!

"I happened to meet you here today. I wonder if I have the opportunity to invite you to the Juquan Building in Beijing for a drink today?" The interaction between one person and one horse was quite good. Zhao Xiangyi noticed it. This was not his first time. It was obvious that the young man liked his horse.

His horse is the king of horses, not an ordinary horse. It is a partner and brother who accompanies him on the battlefield. It is not something that can be given to others easily, so Zhao Xiangyi had to ignore the young man's love for his horse. and enthusiastically.

"Okay... okay." After Li Qianqian agreed, he remembered that he was with Lu Zhishu and forgot to ask Lu Zhishu's opinion. Li Wen smiled with a flattering look on his face, and turned to ask Lu Zhishu, "Zhishu, do you want to go with me?"

Facing Li Wen's flattering face, Lu Zhishu knew that Li Wen wanted to go, so he nodded and said, " "Okay."

"Okay, let's go together." It happened that he also had a chance to chat with Xiao Huiyuan. As soon as Xie Yunfei heard Lu Zhishu's name, his mind turned a little and he knew the relationship between Mr. Lu and the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, Lu Changping. Nothing in the capital could be hidden from him.

Along the way, Li Wen and Zhao Xiangyi walked on either side of the black horse. Li Wen would reach out to touch the big black horse from time to time, and several people went to Juquan Building. Xie Yunfei didn't even get a chance to get close to Li Wen on the way, let alone that he wanted to chat with Xiao Huiyuan.

At this time, there are people everywhere in the capital. Every restaurant and inn in the capital is full of people every day. If you don't book in advance, you may not be able to get a seat, let alone Juquanlou, one of the best restaurants in the capital. There is no room available in the lobby.

"Welcome Mr. Zhao. Mr. Zhao is here. The shop is in full bloom. Mr. Zhao, please come in." The waiter who greeted the guests had some discernment and recognized this young general Zhao at a glance. Invite people inside.

They were led to the wing on the second floor. Compared to the lobby on the first floor, the wing on the second floor was much quieter.

"I'll be the host today. Just order whatever you want to eat." Zhao Xiangyi said.

"Hey, I'm not welcome. I've heard that the roasted suckling pig in Juquan Building is good, but I've never had the chance to come here and try it." Li Wen had heard of Juquan Building, but when he thought of it, There are people everywhere outside, let alone a place like Juquan Building. If you want to eat, you may not have a seat.

Unexpectedly, they got into Zhao Xiangyi's favor today and arrived at the wing upstairs.

Besides roasted suckling pig, what else is delicious here in Juquanlou?

What I hate the most is that there are no restaurants here that don't even have menu signs. They are not professional at all. Isn't this bullying foreigners who have never been to Juquanlou for dinner? This deeply exposed his temperament as a bumpkin, and Li Wen could only look at Zhao Xiangyi helplessly.

Xie Yunfei didn't know that their boss and Xiao Huiyuan had such a good relationship, so he was a little surprised. When he looked back, he had to find out if there was something he didn't know about.

When the young man looked at him, he seemed to know what he was thinking. Zhao Xiangyi called the waiter over and said, "Bring up a roast suckling pig and some of your signature dishes." "

Okay, Let's sit down for a moment and have a cup of tea. The food will be served soon." The waiter asked the waiter to serve tea to the gentlemen, and then went out after saying goodbye.

Chapter 69: Preparing for the Imperial Examination

They drank a cup of tea. After a while, a roasted golden suckling pig was placed in the middle of the table.

Li Wen drooled when he saw the fragrant roasted suckling pig. Zhao Xiangyi thought the boy was cute when he saw it. He picked up the knife on the basin and cut a pig's trotter for the boy into his bowl. A pig has four hooves, exactly one for each person.

"Eat, you're welcome." Zhao Xiangyi said.

"Thank you, I'm not polite." Li Wen grabbed the pig's trotter with both hands, squealed, and took a big bite.

The skin of the roasted suckling pig is charred on the outside and tender on the inside. It must have been roasted not long ago, and it is still full of heat. The first bite makes you want to take a second bite. It is indeed the roasted suckling pig in Juquanlou, better than other roasted suckling pigs. The roasted suckling pig he had eaten in his two lifetimes was all delicious. Li Wen looked intoxicated as he ate it, "This roasted suckling pig is really delicious. It's neither old nor tender. The taste is just right and the texture is great!"

The most important thing is! The pigs in this world are not sprayed with medicine or fed with feed. They eat healthy whole grains and the meat of the pork is very delicious.

If he came to this world, what he felt was the best, probably the air here was not polluted, and the food here was healthy and there was no medication. Think about people living in modern times. They live in big cities with serious air pollution every day, eat fake rice and poisonous takeaways, and live a nine-to-five life. A few dollars of salary every month is not enough to spend. Even if he owes tens of thousands of dollars in loans, he may not be living as freely as he did here.

However, in modern times, there are planes, trains, computers and mobile phones. Going out is just a train ride away. How convenient!

Sigh...

Every world has its own advantages, and it may not necessarily be the best here. He has no choice but to integrate himself into this world, adapt to this world, and survive in this world.

The dishes below were served one by one, and a large table of dishes was laid out.

"This wine doesn't taste mellow enough, Brother Zhao. When I get the chance next time, I'll treat you to the sorghum liquid I brewed.

That taste is the most fragrant. You will definitely like it." The taste of the wine here is relatively light, Li asked After taking a sip, he knew that it didn't taste as good as the wine he brewed himself. This is why his master and Dean Fu liked to drink the wine he brewed. It actually tasted much better than the wine sold outside.

Despite his young age, he has been making wine for more than ten years, which makes him very tired.

He had no choice but to meet two masters who cheated their apprentices.

"Oh..." Xie Yunfei let out a long "Oh" and joked, "Xiao Huiyuan, just buy your brother Zhao a drink. Why don't you buy me a drink too?"

Zhao Xiangyi gave Xie Yunfei a "You don't want to be beaten by me?" Throw it out of the window and give me a shut-up look."

Xie Yunfei: Afraid!

"Haha, please, I'll treat you all to a drink." They had just arrived in the capital, and he hadn't had time to prepare many things. He would put the wine on the table when he got back today, and he would have wine to drink next month, Li Wen thought in his mind About this. Today, Zhao Xiangyi invited them to Juquan Building for a nice meal. Later he would invite Zhao Xiangyi back for a glass of good wine.

Even though such a small roasted suckling pig in Juquanlou costs forty-eight taels a piece, there is a long line of people waiting to buy such a expensive roasted suckling pig. If you don't book in advance, you may not be able to buy it. They Today I ate the roasted suckling pig at Juquanlou because of Zhao Xiangyi's favor.

However, the taste and texture are worthy of the price. No wonder this roasted suckling pig is so popular and so many people line up to buy it.

All four of them ate the roasted suckling pig, mainly because it went into the stomachs of Li Wen and Zhao Xiangyi. Neither Lu Zhishu nor Xie Yunfei ate much of the roasted suckling pig. Lu Zhishu has never been very interested in eating. Sitting with Li Wen and eating together, watching this person eat with gusto, will make people have a better appetite.

The four of them almost finished the food on the table.

Li Wen thought that his food storage was big enough, but when compared with Zhao Xiangyi, he felt that he was completely inadequate. This man's appetite was more than twice as much as his. "Hiccup..." He burped so hard that it almost killed him.

This meal cost over a hundred taels of silver. As an official, you don't get a few taels of salary a month, right? They had eaten someone else's salary for half a year in one meal. Li Wen felt a little guilty and said, "How about I pay for this meal?"

"I can still afford to treat you to a meal^" Zhao Xiangyi's face Shang couldn't help but smile a little, and he had already asked someone to go down and check out.

Seeing the smile on their boss's face, Xie Yunfei looked like he had seen a ghost. When was the last time he saw them laughing? It seems that the beard made their boss unhappy. At that time, the smile on their boss's face could be called a hideous smile at most. It was definitely not as warm and a little doting as he smiles at the young boy now.

Yes, it is warm and pampering! Damn it, he actually saw this kind of smile on the face of the young general who killed without batting an eye and made the enemy frightened. If Xiao Huiyuan hadn't been a young master, Xie Yunfei would have thought that

their boss was interested in him and had taken a liking to Xiao Huiyuan.

I heard that the third daughter of the Hou family whom the matchmaker told their eldest brother years ago "accidentally" fell into the lotus pond without exchanging the horoscope posts. Doesn't this once again confirm the reputation of the eldest young master of General Zhao's house who controls his wife? It was originally a happy event that both families wanted to talk about, but the other party hurriedly found a matchmaker to cancel this good marriage.

This is also the reason why Zhao Xiangyi has not gotten married yet when he was in his early twenties. Since he was fifteen years old, his family has His parents and elders asked him to marry him, but there was no one he could talk about.

After returning to the capital, Xie Yunfei heard rumors that their boss was slaying his wife. At first, he scoffed at it. If he hadn't tried to slay them first, who had followed their boss through life and death, how could he, who had been with their boss the longest, still be alive? of good.

But after returning to the capital, Xie Yunfei watched every time the old lady and the madam wanted to marry their young master. After so many talks, there really was no marriage that could be negotiated. In their boss's courtyard, all the servants serving him were boys, not even a maid.

It seems that some maids wanted to climb into their master's bed before, but they knocked their heads halfway and fainted. Not to mention later, all the maids in the courtyard were sent away by Zhao Xiangyi with excuses.

In the capital, when one reaches Zhao Xiangyi's age, let alone a wife, the courtyard has countless concubines and wives, and all the children in the family are gone.

Zhao Xiangyi achieved great military exploits at a young age and was awarded the title of General Mingwei of the fourth rank by the Holy Emperor. He went to Pingzhou for disaster relief years ago and was promoted to a higher level when he came back. His official position is not considered low among the younger generation. He still holds real power, so why are he still single? Xie Yunfei really couldn't understand this.

In the past, apart from being closer to His Highness the Crown Prince, Xie Yunfei didn't see that their boss had any other friends. He didn't expect that today he would take the initiative to invite Xiao Huiyuan to dinner and take such care of Xiao Huiyuan.

It would be great if this was a woman. As long as she was innocent, the lady would have immediately invited a matchmaker to propose marriage. It's a pity that he is a young master. Xie Yunfei felt a little pity in his heart.

After the meal, the dishes were removed from the dining table, and they drank a cup of tea here.

They had to go to the camp on the outskirts of Beijing in the afternoon, so after dinner, Zhao Xiangyi proposed to leave.

"Oh, you have something to do, so go ahead and do yours. We are going back too, so let's go together." Knowing that Zhao Xiangyi and the others had something to do, and they were also going back, Li Wen and Lu Zhishu stood up and met Zhao Xiangyi They went downstairs together.

"Let's make an appointment when he is free someday."

"Okay."

After walking out of the restaurant, Zhao Xiangyi took his people away, and Li Wen and Lu Zhishu took their boys back to where they lived.

The next day, Ma Zhiyuan brought two friends he also knew to the place where he lived as a guest. When he saw his friends coming, Li Wen happily invited everyone into the house to drink tea. The last time he met Ma Zhiyuan outside, he left him his address here, but he didn't expect that the other party actually came over.

Seeing a guest coming to the house, Li Jinwan, an unmarried girl, couldn't be seen outside, so she just ordered someone to wait on her, and she went into the yard behind.

"Brother Li, your courtyard is very well organized. It looks like a nice place." After the list of the general examination was posted, Ma Zhiyuan knew that Li Wen had won the first place in the general examination, so he always wanted to find an opportunity to follow him. He said congratulations.

"Haha, I did it casually." Li Wen chuckled.

It's spring time, and the peonies planted in the courtyard are in bloom, along with many other flowers, plants, and trees. The flowers and plants in the yard were not planted by him, but by that girl Jinwan. He had no intention of doing these things himself.

Sure enough, there is a difference between having a woman at home and not having a woman at home.

Li Wen did not say that he bought the small courtyard, and others would only think that the courtyard was a place he rented. Knowing that others had misunderstood, he had no intention of explaining it.

Several people sat down in the room and congratulated each other again.

Ma Zhiyuan's two friends who came today both passed the examination, and his own ranking was pretty good. The rankings in the general examination are almost the same as those in the palace examination. His ranking is ranked among the top two. Although it is not as good as Li Wen's, compared with others, his ranking is still good. .

One of the other two people was ranked within the top 100, and the other was outside the top 100, but their attitudes were very open-minded.

"We have tried our best to take the exam this time, and I feel very relieved to have achieved this ranking. "This is the best score they can get, so there is nothing to regret about getting this score."

Li Wen didn't say anything. After all, not everyone can ask for a score of 100. Some people can only score 80 no matter how hard they work. For some people, this score is already the limit. . Everyone has different standards for themselves, and the extent to which they can achieve them is also different.

In this era, literature was valued, and the status of literati was high.

In fact, a developed society should attach equal importance to all walks of life in arts, mathematics, science, science and technology, and all walks of life should develop. Everyone has their own strengths, just like some people are born sensitive to liberal arts, some people are born to like numbers; some people are suitable to take the imperial examination and become officials, some people are born to be businessmen and vendors, and even good at planting. When it comes to land farming, you can't say which one is better or which one is not. The world needs all kinds of talents.

But don't say that in this era, we cannot teach students in accordance with their aptitude and let everyone use their own strengths. Even in modern society, we are still in an exam-oriented education and cannot get out.

Therefore, Li Wen will not look down on those who do not do as well as him in the exam. People who do not do as well in the exam does not mean that there is no excellence in others. He has lived in two lives. In the last life, his parents were intellectuals and received a good education. In this life, he has Dean Fu as his teacher. He has an advantage over others in reading.

"A few of us are here to make trouble today, so we'll go back first." After sitting here for a while, Ma Zhiyuan proposed to leave.

"No, no, I'm glad you can come. Brother Ma and Brother Feng, please come over and play whenever you have time." Li Wen stood up and sent his friend to the door. Ma Zhiyuan said hello, and he bowed his hands to Li Wen. After everyone said goodbye to each other, Ma Zhiyuan told Li Wen that there was no need to see him off, and walked out of the alley with his two friends.

Two friends talked about Li Wen on the way, and they all praised the young man.

"Close the door." After seeing the person leaving, Li Wen asked the child to close the door and went back into the house.

There was still a palace examination to be taken later, so after the examination, Li Wen didn't go out much to play. He stayed in the courtyard to study and prepare for the next palace examination.

In addition to studying, Li Wen also directed Wu and Yingchun to make wine. He was not worried that the wine recipes would be stolen by them. After all, their marriage contracts were in his hands, and they could not escape. If someone has to worry about something like this, doesn't it mean that he has to do everything by himself? Only when you relax can you become a hands-off shopkeeper. Li Wen knows this truth very well, so the best way is to train the people around him to do things, so that he can feel relaxed.

Li Jinwan, on the other hand, takes Yafa and guards to the streets every day, all over the capital. Go to a rouge and gouache shop. Try this one or which one. Her brother said that if she couldn't bear the child, she would have to spend money, so she would spend money to buy a box when she met a good one, but she had a headache every time she paid for it, so A little rouge costs several taels of silver.

After she goes back, she will smell and try it, and organize all these things into a table as required by her brother, and then submit it to her brother for review.

In the next half month, Li Wen studied at home, and occasionally went to Lu Zhishu's house to check in. The two of them sat together drinking tea and chatting, and rarely went out to attend any gatherings.

Chapter 70:

Half a month has passed since the palace examination, and the day of April 20th has quickly arrived.

Officials in Dacheng were about to go to court at Mao o'clock, so officials in the court had to get up early every fourth day, that is, when the rooster crows, get on small sedans and rush out, and get off the sedans when they reach the palace gate. After the officials arrived at the palace gate, they had to wait for inspection by the guards on duty at the palace gate. After the inspection, they could enter. Then they went to the official of the Ministry of Etiquette who was on duty that day to sign the signature.

Sedan sedans are not allowed in the palace. All officials have to walk into the palace from the palace gate and pass through half of the palace before they can reach the Jinluan Hall where they go to court every day, and then wait there for the emperor's arrival. After Emperor Zhaozong arrived, the morning court session began.

Emperor Zhaozong was a very diligent emperor. During the decades of his reign, except for mid-court breaks and some special days, Emperor Zhaozong would basically go to court on time no matter whether it was cold or hot, winter or summer. During the emperor's decades, Emperor Zhaozong dismissed his dynasty only a handful of times.

The system of holidays between the DPRK and the Central Government is that officials in the DPRK and the Central Government have to go to court early and take a day off every ten days, which is called "ten days off", that is, they have one day off each on the tenth, twentieth and last days of each month. Historically, the imperial court held the seal on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month every year, and opened the sealing office on the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month. There was a ten-day holiday in between.

Of course, if it happens to be a festival or a happy event, Emperor Zhaozong will also give the officials in the court two days off when he is happy.

When officials in the DPRK ask for leave, they must register with the Ministry of Etiquette one day in advance.

On April 20, the day of the imperial examination, they got up at two o'clock in the middle of the night. After washing, Li Wen put on a brand new green shirt, tied his hair with a band of the same color, and was ready to go out.

It was still dark outside, and the child held a lantern to light the way for their young master. He did not forget to remind him, "Master, watch your step."

There was no moon tonight, and the sky was full of stars.

Everyone in the mansion got up, and Li Jinwan got up early to see her brother out.

The Lu family's carriage was already waiting at the door. Li Wen would not ride in his own carriage today, but would ride in the same carriage as Lu Zhishu. There was still a long way to go from them to the palace gate, and it was easy to walk there. It takes half an hour.

"I understand, you don't need to say anything." Li Wen walked with his eyes half-closed. He didn't have the intention to listen to what these people at home had to say at the moment. He waved back and said, "It's still time." Morning, you all go to bed, there is no need to see me off. "

As he was climbing onto the carriage, he stretched out a hand. Lu Zhishu's hand grabbed him and pulled him, and Li Wen climbed up. When Lu Zhishu saw the person who had not yet opened his eyes, he said with a bit of laughter and laughter in his heart, "Be careful not to fall." "

Don't worry, it won't happen." Li Wen lay down in the carriage, which was covered with soft Li Wen grabbed the blanket and covered himself with it. He closed his eyes and said, "Let me sleep for a while, and then wake me up when I get up. I

have to wake up for an exam in the middle of the night. Can I still be treated well? " It's time to take a nap...

"Drive_"

The horse pulling the carriage stepped forward with four hooves and walked on the wide streets of the capital.

At this time, the candidates who were going to the palace to take the palace examination all got up early. He rushed to the palace gate, fearing that he would go slower than others. The officials who were going to court had to get up and go out in sedan chairs. The officials who lived in the inner city were closer to the palace gate and could still get up a little later.

In the carriage, Lu Zhishu looked at his friend who was sleeping under the quilt. He looked at Li and said hello for a while before looking

away

. A block away, two people got off the carriage. Li Wen straightened his clothes and said, "Okay, let's go. "After sleeping in the carriage for nearly half an hour, after a while, Li Wen's energy recovered a lot after getting off the carriage.

"Awen, wait a minute, your hair tie has come loose, I'll give it to you . Get it done. "Lu Zhishu saw that the hair tie on the young man's head was loose, and reached out to hold Li Wen. "Oh, really? Give it to me. "Li Wen stood still and let Lu Zhishu help him fix the hair tie on his head.

There was a little height difference between the two of them. Lu Zhishu was half a head taller than Li Wen.

Lu Zhishu helped Li Wen fix the hair tie smoothly. After helping the young man straighten his collar, Li Wen raised his head and smiled silly at Lu Zhishu. Their eyes met, and Lu Zhishu pursed his lips and said lightly, "Let's go. "

Li Wen and Lu Zhishu walked to the palace gate together. There were already candidates waiting here who had arrived earlier than them.

Not long after they arrived, small sedans of officials from the imperial court arrived at the palace gate one after another. An official wearing court uniforms arrived. The candidates who were waiting outside the palace gate to take the palace examination all had to salute and say hello when they saw these adults. Now that they were half-stepping into the official career, they were half-officials. When you want to say hello,

"Yeah. "These officials responded indifferently and did not take these small candidates to heart.

The imperial court held a scientific examination every three years to select talents, and every three years there were hundreds of new scholars. There are very few officials who can really stay in the capital and enter the court. What's more, it will take at least ten or eight years for these Jinshi to reach their position.

There are more and more officials and candidates waiting at the palace gate . The more.

Strangely enough, the officials who arrived at the palace gate first were not in a hurry to go in first. Instead, they lined up outside and each found a place to stand, closing their eyes and looking at each other. The people and things around them looked unconcerned.

Some candidates who had made up their mind to deal with these officials came back in despair.

The officials in the court stood aside. The candidates who were going to take the imperial examination stood on one side, and the people on both sides were clearly distinguished.

Li Wen and Lu Zhishu stood in the corner. His eyes were looking at the old guys opposite. Most of the officials who could enter the court were old. There are many people in their forties, even those in their sixties or seventies, and I can't find one without a beard.

They are all old guys who only rely on their old age to show

off their talents. Being an official means you have to face these old men with wrinkled faces all day long, and these old men look down on people all day long. In his heart, Li Wen

clearly dislikes these old guys with their high official arrogance. When he arrived at the palace gate, he was not in a hurry to enter. Li Wen touched his chin. He guessed that these people had relatively low official positions in the court, so they had to arrive here earlier than their superiors every day to wait. They were the last ones to come out. These officials must have been waiting for the big boss to show up, and then they followed him in.

Later, it was confirmed that his guess was correct.

He looked up at the night sky, and it was the same sky. It's early enough.

In this era, officials had to get up at four o'clock every day to go to court. In modern terms, that means they would get up at two o'clock in the morning and go to work at five o'clock in the morning. Going to court in the morning is really a terrible thing...

In this era, civil servants only have one day off every ten days, and only three days off a month. The salary is not high, and the treatment is not very good. They can't live in the capital with just this little salary from work, and they can't buy a house in the capital even if they work for the prince for a lifetime, so this is why the officials in the court are developing various ways to make money. One of the main reasons?

Because the monthly salary was really too low, it was simply not enough for the family to live on, so I had to find other ways to make money. It is so easy for officials to get money. Often they don't even need to raise their hands, and someone will bring them huge amounts of money, calling it "filial piety." They just want to buy a small of asylum.

No matter which dynasty they are in, people start to be greedy once they become officials. The higher the position, the more money they are greedy for. There are external factors and internal factors. The internal factor is nothing more than a person's greed, but whether it is external or internal factors, in short, the word "greed" cannot escape. If he becomes an official, will he be greedy? Li Wen silently touched his conscience and asked himself this question.

Being an official in this world is still a high-risk industry. If you are not careful, you will be jealous and framed. Losing your official position is a small matter, but if you lose your head, it will be a big deal. What if he offends the emperor and makes him unhappy? Moving his head is still a trivial matter. If he is not careful, his family and clan members will be affected. Why does he feel that being a civil servant in this world is not very good?

Is it too late for him to regret it now? Otherwise, don't take the exam. Going home to buy more land and become a landlord is actually a good development direction. He just packed his bags and went home to plant a few acres of land and live a good life. Anyway, their family was not short of money now. Li Wen touched his chin, thinking about the possibility of running away now.

Fortunately, it was already the end of April, and the weather had become much warmer. If I could stand at the palace gate for an hour on a cold winter day, the cold wind blowing for an hour wouldn't make me stupid. It is still early at this time in the morning, and the April wind will make people feel cold if it blows for a long time.

While Li Wendu was drowsy waiting, someone finally appeared and paid attention to them.

"Are everyone here? All the candidates here should come to my office to sign for confirmation."

"Come in line one by one."

This time the palace examination is in charge of the Etiquette Department, and they have been waiting at the palace gate for a long time. , the adult from the Ministry of Rites who was responsible for leading them

into the palace finally appeared and asked all of them to come forward one by one to sign for confirmation. The adult lowered his voice and reminded them, "After entering the palace for a while, All of you must be careful in your words and actions. You must not look at things you shouldn't, and you must not look up at the Holy One..."

"Have you all remembered?"

Everyone responded with a "Yes" and remembered it in their hearts. If you offend the Holy Emperor during the palace examination, you may never be able to embark on an official career or enter the officialdom in this life.

The officials in the court had almost arrived by now. Officials who were familiar with each other would exchange greetings when they met.

While everyone was waiting, a small navy blue sedan appeared at the palace gate, and the person lifting his feet was Four strong bearers, the sedan fell steadily to the ground without shaking at all. The curtain of the sedan was opened, and Dong Xiang walked out.

Prime Minister Dong was not tall and looked like a thin and dry old man. When he saw these Xinke Gongshi standing in front of the palace gate, he walked over to them with a smile on his face and greeted them caringly. These few words moved the hearts of all the students who had just been treated coldly.

"You are all the pillars of the country. The imperial court will need you to serve the imperial court in the future. Take the imperial examination well this time. I wish all of you to be able to be named on the gold list." After leaving these words, Dong Xiang went to The officials on the opposite side walked over.

Xiang Dong's words greatly inspired the confidence of these students.

"Your Majesty joins the Prime Minister." When the officials in the court saw Dong Xiang, they all saluted one after another. Dong Xiang's attitude towards the Prime Minister seemed to have no airs at all. He said with a smile, "No one needs to be polite."

This is Li Wen met Dong Xiang for the first time. If others hadn't told him that he met him on the road, he would have thought he was an ordinary old man and would not have thought that this old man was the powerful Dong Xiang. . Before coming to the capital, Li Wen had heard a lot about Xiang Dong from Dean Fu, and knew that this old man was far from as ordinary and amiable as his expression seemed.

It seems that the water in this court is deeper than he imagined. This Dong Xiang is the deepest hidden boss here.

Prime Minister Dong's sedan chair had all arrived, and Academician Zhan arrived on top of Prime Minister Dong's sedan chair.

Academician Mo Da was the chief examiner in charge of this spring session. Zhan sometimes got off the sedan chair and passed by the candidates. He stopped and took a look at them, without saying anything, and walked towards the palace gate where all the officials were standing.

"Master Zhan."

"Master Dong."

In the court, Master Zhan and Prime Minister Dong have never dealt with each other. The only person in the court who did not give any face to Prime Minister Dong and Concubine Dong was probably with a Master Zhan. A soldier. The two met and greeted each other lightly. Zhan sometimes disliked Dong Xian, but Prime Minister Dong did not care about Master Zhan, and still had a smile on his face.

Prime Minister Dong came a step earlier. He walked in front and passed the palace gate first, followed by Grand Scholar Zhan. Zhan sometimes did not have to compete with Dong Xian in front of the palace gate to see who could go in first. The guards at the palace gate respectfully invited the two adults in. Even the official from the Ministry of Etiquette who was responsible for attendance at the back showed great respect to the two adults.

After the two big guys entered, they were followed by hundreds of officials.

The candidates who entered the palace to take the palace examination followed the leader who led the way, that is, behind the officials. The guards at the palace gate checked them carefully before letting them in.

"When you enter the palace, you are not allowed to make any noise." The adult warned.