71-80

Chapter 71 - Exam starts

Begins. Many candidates followed the officials and entered the palace gate. As soon as they entered the palace, they were dazzled by the high walls and red tiles inside the palace. Some people will never have the opportunity to step into this palace in their lives. If they had not come to the palace examination today, they would not have the opportunity to enter the palace gate and enter the palace.

The imperial palace, this is where the emperor, queen and concubines live, and is the supreme place in the Dacheng Kingdom.

Many candidates in the team raised their eyes and secretly glanced at the high walls, red tiles, and high towers. In the future, they may not have such an opportunity to walk through the palace gate and enter the palace. This time The trip was worth telling the next three generations countless times.

Li Wen and Lu Zhishu were walking together. He glanced at the palace from the corner of his eyes. He was not very interested in this place. It's not like he has never been to the Forbidden City in his previous life. Compared to the splendor and grandeur of the Forbidden City, is the Dacheng Palace nothing? He heard quiet murmurs coming from the team, and he smiled inwardly.

For some reason, he believed in his heart that this was the first time he had walked into this place, but it certainly wouldn't be the last.

All the officials in the court had to go to the Baohe Hall to attend the morning court first, and the emperor had no time to see them at this time. The candidates taking the palace examination were taken to a side hall next to them. Guards were standing around the hall, and small tables were placed in the middle. On the tables were pens, inks, paper and inkstones, waiting for them to take their seats one by one. .

The seats for the examination were arranged according to their ranking in the examination. Li Wen got the first place in the examination. The ancients believed that "the right is respected", so he sat first in the first row on the right side of the hall. location. The person sitting next to him is the second placer in this trial. In the past, he was the fourth or fifth place.

There were five tables in a row, and they were seated in order. Li Wen and Lu Zhishu both sat in the first row, which was the most conspicuous position.

Because there was another imperial examination after the general examination, he spent this period of time studying at home, and the one he interacted with the most was his good friend Lu Zhishu. Therefore, until now, Li Wen didn't know much about the candidates who had passed the examination. He had heard the names of these people, but this was the first time he met them.

Among the five people sitting in this row, he only knew one, Lu Zhishu.

Compared with the high profile of others, Li Wen and Lu Zhishu are so low-profile that no one knows them. One of them is Xiao Huiyuan, who can test, and the other is the fifth person who can test. How can you say that both of them are in the test? The top five people who took the test all occupied two places.

When they arrived here, the palace examination was already the highest level examination in the imperial examination, and it was also the last examination in the imperial examination. This was also an examination that determined the fate of every candidate here.

No one would dare to cheat in the palace examination. Once they are found cheating in the palace examination, it will not be as simple as cheating and violating the rules. The candidates who can sit in this hall and take the exam today are all candidates who have been selected one after another. No one is stupid enough to gamble with their own future and the rise and fall of the entire family.

They have to go through a re-examination first, and then there is a main examination.

"Your Majesty has arrived -"

"I (Caomin) and others will join you,

Your Majesty. Long live your Majesty!" The emperor sat down on the dragon chair above, wearing a dragon robe embroidered with an eight-clawed golden dragon. The emperor wore a The pressure made people dare not raise their heads to look directly at the emperor's face. Emperor Zhaozong glanced at the candidates below and saw that all the students were so young. This was their hope for success. The emperor was very satisfied.

The emperor's eyes finally fell on the young man sitting first on the right. He paused and said, "They are all even.

" Thank you, Your Majesty. "

When the emperor and the officials came over after attending the morning court, the first re-examination was also over and they were about to start the second main examination.

Li Wen could feel several eyes falling on him, one of which made him feel... The oppressive gaze must be that of the emperor above, which made him feel a little nervous. After all, the emperor is not an ordinary person. This is the emperor who controls the life and death of everyone in this country.

I hope the emperor is not that person. People who only look at superficial appearances will not deny him just because he is young.

Emperor Zhaozong held a pen in his hand. The emperor was slightly moved and wrote one word on the paper:

"Let's start. " "The emperor raised his hand and said.

"Let's start the exam."

"Handout -',

Emperor Zhaozong is sitting on the first seat. Next to him is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Yang Shaomu. Next to him are His Royal Highnesses the eldest prince, the third prince and the fourth prince. Prime Minister Dong and Grand Scholar Zhan stood on both sides, followed by hundreds of officials.

The generals didn't care about the scientific examination, and it was not their turn to care about the scientific examination. Seeing these scholars made their heads hurt, and they all made excuses and ran away.

On the other hand, the military attache Zhao Xiangyi was standing in the hall with the civil servants. He immediately found the young man sitting in front, and a smile flashed in the man's eyes. Thinking of the young man's participation in today's palace examination, not only did he feel a little curious in his heart, he was probably curious about whether this little Huiyuan would continue to get the first place this time? If Li Wen can get the first place in this palace examination, he will be the number one scholar.

Dacheng Kingdom's first six-yuan talent really makes people a little bit hopeful. There has never been a six-yuan talent in the previous dynasty, and it is still such a young six-yuan talent.

The eyes of many civil servants in the hall fell on Li Wen. This young man passed the palace examination before he was even a young man, and even got the first place in the general examination. Sitting in the first position, Li Wen was very conspicuous. It was impossible for everyone not to notice him.

A blank paper was handed out, and Li Wen got his paper. He tried not to ignore the eyes that fell on him and calmed down his heart. But for some other candidates, sitting in this hall to take the exam is more uncomfortable than sitting in the Gongyuan exam room.

At this moment, Yang Shaomu saw the young man sitting in the main hall taking the exam. He was happy in his heart. The reason for this joy may not be clear to the Crown Prince himself. Yang Shaomu's eyes didn't stay on Li Wen for long before he moved to others.

In the second main examination of the palace examination, within one hour, the candidates here must write an essay of no less than 2,000 words based on the questions given. This requirement is not an easy task for many candidates, who are more accustomed to writing short articles than good at writing long articles.

"People?" Li Wen saw the words above, and in his mind he was analyzing the emperor's purpose of asking such a question, and why he used such a word. It is not difficult for him to write an article of two thousand words. When he was still in Nanyang a few years ago, Dean Fu mainly focused on writing long articles.

For him now, the most important thing is to correctly analyze why the emperor used such a word to pose the question. From the position of a feudal emperor, what was his purpose of creating such a word for the people?

After thinking for a moment, Li Wen smiled in his heart.

It seems that he thinks too much. In the feudal dynasty, all the emperor's purposes are to consolidate his power and his dynasty, and his subjects also serve him. So once you find the right direction, this article is not difficult to write.

Writing a 2,000-word article within an hour doesn't leave them much time to think.

"The people are the most valuable, the country is the second most important, and the king is the least important." This is a sentence from "The Heart of the Heart Chapter 2" in "Mencius". The people are the most important, the country is second, and the king is the least important. Therefore, the person who wins the hearts of the people becomes the emperor, the person who gets the emperor's approval becomes the king, and the person who gets the emperor's approval becomes the official. Mencius emphasized the view that "the people are responsible". Why are the people the most important? This is the reason Li Wen wants to explain.

Water can carry a boat and also capsize it. The people are the water, and the king is the boat.

Li Wen held the pen in his hand. Once his thoughts were clear, the pen in his hand quickly wrote on the paper. After elaborating on why the people are important, he wanted to tell the emperor what the people could bring him and what they could help him.

An article of two thousand pages is enough for him to write a lot.

The people are not just ordinary people, including ministers and people. All people in this country are subjects of the emperor, so they are all people who serve the emperor and his dynasty and monarchy.

The article also mentioned some problems and needs of the people, but Li Wen was not stupid enough to touch the interests of the feudal clans in this society, but the questions still had to be raised, in a subtle way.

Why can the people submit to the emperor, and how can the people submit to the emperor. The common people only care about having a bite to eat. Li Wen wouldn't think that he would get a good ranking just by flattering the emperor throughout the whole story. Naturally, he had to flatter the emperor, and he also had to help the emperor feel comfortable when doing so. Yes, happy.

Then he gives suggestions on why the people should submit. He is a person who has read the history of China for five thousand years. He can still summarize this for the emperor. Following are points 1, 2, 3, and 4. These words must arouse the emperor to explore further. Only if he is interested will he be given a chance to perform in the future.

The officials standing in the main hall saw the young man holding the pen in his hand and writing straightly. Even the emperor was curious about what the young man wrote on the examination paper. The emperor got up from the dragon chair, walked down, stood next to the young man, and read the beginning of the paper, "The people are responsible, the country is second, the king is the least?" This made the emperor feel a little bit. It was uncomfortable, but looking further down, there was deep thought in the emperor's eyes.

The young man who was writing an article with his head down did not know that the emperor was standing beside him. When the emperor passed by, a bright yellow flashed in his eyes. Li Wen paused the pen in his hand, suppressed the turmoil in his heart, and continued to answer the paper.

The palace examination lasted for an hour, and the emperor would not stay in the palace during this period. After walking a few steps below and looking at the candidates' answer sheets, Emperor Zhaozong ordered the prince to stay here for supervision, and the emperor took the officials there. He went out through the side door and went to the adjacent hall to handle official business.

This time, Li Wen didn't even write a draft of the article. He just wrote the answer on the paper.

While others were still meditating hard, Li Wen wrote an article of more than 2,000 words. Put the pen aside. In the main hall, Li Wen was the first to finish the paper. When he saw him putting away his pen, the eunuch and the chamberlain came up and asked, then collected his paper.

At this time, like many others, Lu Zhishu was writing his article...

Chapter 72 The Palace Examination Ends

After the palace examination is over, they cannot leave at this time. The papers for the palace examination are marked on the spot as soon as the examination is over. There are only three hundred candidates taking part in the palace examination, and there are only more than two hundred papers in total. There are many officials who mark the papers. With so many examiners, they can mark the papers quickly, and then the examiner We will take into account everyone's opinions and rank them.

Generally, the candidates who are ranked at the front of the examination are more concerned by the examiners who mark the papers. As long as there are no big mistakes in the papers of the candidates behind them, their rankings will be arranged according to the rankings in the examination. However, it is not impossible that some candidates performed abnormally during the general examination. The essays they wrote in the palace examination were outstanding, and the examiners took notice of them and moved their rankings from the back to the front. This is not unheard of in previous years.

Of course, there are also candidates who did well in the general examination, but performed abnormally in the palace examination, and their rankings were directly dropped from the front to the back

. The ranking in the palace examination also depends on the final result of the palace examination.

During the palace examination, Li Wen was the first candidate to submit his paper. He was asked to wait in the side hall next to him. There was not even a stool to sit in such a big place, so he could only stand here and wait. I got up at two o'clock in the morning and went out. I have been struggling until now. It is almost noon. I am tired and hungry. My legs are shaking even when I stand. I

came to the palace to take the exam today because I was worried about going to the palace. Going to the toilet would be an inconvenient thing, so let alone eating, he didn't even drink a sip of water that day. Li Wen complained wildly in his heart that this feudal society is not a place for people to live. Every time he takes a test paper, half his life is wasted...

After Li Wen waited in the side hall for a while, Lu Zhishu came in behind him. , the two people exchanged a look, then the third, the fourth...

time passed little by little, the last test of the palace examination ended, and all the candidates' papers were submitted. Hanlin, who was in charge of grading the papers, They gathered together to review the papers. The grading of the palace examination is semi-public. The names of the candidates can be seen on the papers, and the evaluation will be more open and fair.

The emperor is here, and no one dares to do anything under the emperor's eyes.

These candidates who marked the exams all understood the truth. The simpler the questions, the more difficult it is to write an outstanding article. It is even more difficult to write an eye-catching article among so many candidates. More difficult.

Huiyuan's article was the first to be handed in, and the officials rushed to read it one by one.

"Okay, good article."

"Okay, good."

An article was passed on, and after a room of scholars rushed to read it, they all clapped their hands and applauded, "I didn't expect that this guy could write such a good article at such a young age. article." It really impressed them.

"This boy should be the number one scholar."

After reading the paper, University Scholar Zhan showed a smile on his face, nodded with satisfaction, and put the word "first" on the paper. Huiyuan's paper was placed first, and no one among the examiners had any objections.

With Huiyuan's excellent article at the front, everyone will unconsciously compare the following articles with the first article. No matter how they look at the following papers, they will always feel that these articles are less. It always makes people feel a little boring.

There are not all excellent articles in the following articles, and there are also a few well-written articles. After reviewing the papers, the examiners discussed the papers and arranged them in order according to the order of the articles.

"Have you finished judging the papers?" Emperor Zhaozong still remembered the palace examination. After being busy for a while, the emperor raised his head and asked.

"Back to the emperor, the review has been completed. Do you want to see it in person?" the eunuch on the side replied.

"Send it up." The emperor put down what he was doing and asked his chamberlain to bring up the examination papers. He brought the top ten papers to him for a look. The first one on the list was Li Wen's paper. The emperor picked it up and read each word carefully. He nodded from time to time. It was obvious that the emperor was very satisfied with this paper.

"Prince, take a look." After the emperor read it, he asked someone to take the paper to His Royal Highness who was standing below. Yang Shaomu took the paper and saw that it was Li Wen's paper. He read every word. Also very serious.

Several princes are here. The eldest prince Yang Shaoyong has been fond of wielding swords and guns since he was a child. He doesn't like reading. He gets a headache when he reads books. The eldest prince is not interested in these articles at all. Yang Shaoyong was also standing in the hall just now. He naturally saw Li Wen as well, and he was more interested in Li Wen.

The eldest prince is a man of both genders. He likes women as well as men. He especially likes young boys of thirteen or fourteen years old. His body is soft and soft. He doesn't feel like holding a woman in his arms. At this moment, Yang Shaoyong thought of the little Huiyuan, who was handsome and had the air of a scholar. He had never played this kind of game before. Yang Shaoyong felt itchy in his heart and wanted to get that boy.

"Second Emperor Brother, what kind of article is highly appreciated by you, my father, and the Hanlin officials? It should also be appreciated by my younger brother." Seeing Yang Shaomu finish reading the paper, the third prince Yang Shaokang smiled and asked for it.

Even if he didn't reach out to hit the smiling man, Yang Shaomu had to give it to him, so he had to give the paper to Yang Shaokang.

Yang Shaokang may look good, but he is really a fool. How can he appreciate what a good article is? Yang Shaomu smiled in his heart and stopped exposing him.

He just read Li Wen's article. This article written by Li Wen is very good. What is the people? Ministers are the people, sons are the people, merchants are the people, and farmers are the people. The position of the king and the people is determined at the beginning of the article. It is very clear that there is only one king in Dacheng Kingdom, and the rest are people.

The article mentioned that "the people are the most valuable, the country is the second most important, and the king is the least." The people are water, and the king is the boat. The water can carry the boat and also capsize it...

I have to say that some of the concepts in this article are novel. , it makes people's eyes brighter and breaks people's previous inherent thinking. The concepts mentioned above and the subsequent explanations in the article are convincing. The article gives many examples and even mentions the current problems of Dacheng. How to make Dacheng more prosperous and the people can live and work in peace and contentment. , if each of the questions raised above can make people think deeply, then the suggestions mentioned at the end of the article will make people even more interested.

After reading this article, Yang Shaomu, as the prince, also fell into deep thought.

After the fourth prince Yang Shaojian read Li Wen's article, his eyes flashed with admiration, and he became interested in Li Wen. If there was a chance, he must get to know Li Wen well.

After Emperor Zhaozong, who was sitting above, read the articles, he would send them down one by one for the prince and officials to read.

After the court today, most of the civil servants have not left the palace yet and stayed in the palace. Therefore, after the imperial officials finished reviewing the papers, these civil servants also had the opportunity to read the articles of this scientific examination and they all shamelessly asked for them. article. It was only at this time that these officials, who were usually divided into several factions, did not fight each other whenever they met. They could coexist peacefully for a while and read articles together.

Dong Xiang, who stood at the head of the hundred officials, also read the articles written by Li Wen and several other candidates. Dong Xiang praised every article. Candidates who rank among the top few in the general examination can write a good article, so there is nothing bad about it, and Prime Minister Dong's praise is not wrong.

"This boy is still weak. He has won the first place at such a young age. Isn't it..." When everyone thought that Li Wen should be selected as the number one scholar, there was also a small voice below saying that Li Wen was too young. , cannot be selected as the number one scholar, most of these are older officials with conservative ideas.

As soon as these words came out, an official quickly retorted, "Mr. Jia, please forgive me for disagreeing with your words.

" The scientific examination every three years is to judge the best talents, and it is also based on the quality of the articles. Excellentness is judged not by a person's appearance and age. If it is what you said, then does it mean that only those who are very old and have long beards can be rated as the top pick? The younger generation has no chance to succeed. Mr. Jia, you are killing young talents like this. What is this? Why are you worried? "

This question left Mr. Jia speechless.

Seeing that the officials below were about to start strangulation again, Emperor Zhaozong raised his hand. The emperor had already made a conclusion in his heart and said, "The number one scholar, Li asked.

"Second place, Zhang Suhui. "

"Tanhua, Lu Zhishu, the rest of the rankings will go down. This is the ranking for this palace examination. " "

Among the top three in the top three, Lu Zhishu was raised from the original fifth to the third place, and was named the third best. Lu Zhishu's article was not poorly written, and his article even mentioned last year's average However, because his article touches someone's interests, he can continue to stay in the fifth place. It is because his article is true to the truth. It is a rare good article that dares to speak out.

However, these articles have been criticized. The emperor is not among those who have interests involved. The emperor only cares about his imperial power and the world, and whether his subjects can surrender to him.

The emperor's words are very clear, and he has no time to continue talking about this issue. This year's top pick, Li Wen, is a well-deserved top pick, and none of the officials here have much opinion about it.

It has been rare for

a young boy from a peasant family to be the top pick in a hundred years. I have taken the scientific examination all the way and got the first place in every exam. There is no adulteration in this. If you have any objections to this, you can immediately ask the people below to ask Li about all his previous achievements. All his papers were checked out, and every exam he took was ranked first by the grading officials. He was well deserved. He was a real six-yuan talent.

Chapter 73:

One person is selected as the number one scholar every three years, but their Dacheng University has yet to produce a single six yuan.

Not to mention that Dacheng has not produced a Liu Yuan yet, but the previous dynasty has not produced a Liu Yuan in hundreds of years. A Liu Yuan talent is really rare. Emperor Zhaozong also understood the meaning of a six yuan. The emperor was the person sitting on the dragon throne, and he could see further than anyone else.

"Your Majesty is wise." The officials knelt on the ground and shouted.

Mr. Lu Changping, who was kneeling among the officials, carefully concealed his excitement. His nephew Lu Zhishu was selected as the top pick. Okay, okay, this is really great!

At this time, all the candidates who came to take the palace examination were moved out of the side hall and stood outside waiting for the emperor's summons. They stood outside for another half an hour, and Li Wen cursed in his heart.

Damn it! My legs will break if I stand any longer...

No, my stomach hurts from hunger! My feet are so soft!

In the future, if someone asks Li Wen about participating in the imperial examination and how it feels to be able to see the emperor, Li Wen will definitely scold the emperor a hundred times in his heart, and then tell others with a slight smile: How good it is for you to be able to see the emperor. It was such an honor that Li Wen felt very complicated...

Of course, compared to other people's nervousness and expectations, Li Wen's biggest feeling about the imperial examination at the moment was that he felt sleepy, tired, hungry, and his feet were weak, for fear that he would not be able to stand firmly. If he fell down, with so many eyes staring at him, it would be a huge loss.

When he was five years old, he found a way to start a small business in his family. After his family had money, Li Wen didn't feel hungry for a long time. Even during the nine days and eight nights of the exam, he never let himself go hungry. Unexpectedly, on the day of the palace exam, he came to the exam hungry. After the exam, he couldn't leave immediately. He stood in the side hall for an hour. , I stood outside for nearly an hour, and in total, I stood for nearly four hours.

Lu Zhishu, who was standing behind Li Wen, could tell at a glance that Li Wen was tired from standing. In fact, the soles of his two feet were sore after standing for so long. He could still stand here without changing his posture. It was all because of his strength. It's a perseverance.

"The Emperor summons -"

The Emperor asked the eunuch to go out and summon many students to enter the palace. The people waiting outside the palace followed the eunuch who came to lead the way and went inside.

As soon as they stepped into the hall, Li Wen felt that the eyes of everyone in the hall were on them, especially him.

Walking in front of the team were Li Wen and Zhang Suhui. Li Wen was the youngest among the group. He was a sixteen-year-old champion. It was rare for someone to win six yuan in a hundred years, and six yuan at such a young age. Walking at the front of the team with Li Wen was Zhang Suhui, who was ranked second by the emperor. Zhang Suhui was a famous talent in the capital. His father was the imperial tutor of the dynasty. He was only twenty-eight years old, not yet thirty.

Zhang Suhui was dressed in a white shirt, handsome and tall, with a straight figure.

Li Wen was dressed in a green shirt, with a round forehead, smart and beautiful eyes, and a handsome young man's appearance. Compared with Zhang Suhui, the number one talent, Li Wen's appearance was not bad at all. Moreover, he was younger than the other party and his articles were better than the other party's. He was the number one pick, and Zhang Suhui was the second place pick.

Walking with Li Wen, even the most talented person in the capital was outclassed by this young boy.

"Long live the emperor, long live the emperor -"

"Everyone, get up." Emperor Zhaozong raised his hand, and the emperor's eyes also fell on the number one scholar he had appointed. Li Wen stood in front of the team. He leaned his head and looked at his heels. He could feel many people's eyes looking at him, and the emperor's gaze on him was too direct. He wanted to It was hard for people to ignore it

. The emperor said aloud, "Li Wen, raise your head and let me see what the number one scholar I ordered looks like."

"!" Li Wen.

Is he the top pick? As soon as Li Wen heard the emperor's words, he was sure that he was selected as the number one scholar by the emperor. He almost jumped up with joy, hahaha...

Li Wen controlled his inner joy very well and never raised the corners of his mouth. , he knew that his face was tender and he would look even younger when he smiled. At this time, he needs to show the magnanimity and stability that the top pick should have. He needs to laugh until he gets home and laugh enough. He must not laugh now, hold it back!

Doesn't that mean you can't look directly at the emperor's face? Even looking at the emperor is a serious crime punishable by beheading, but if the emperor asked him to look up, does that count as a crime?

After hearing the emperor's words, Li Wen raised his head without hesitation and looked at the emperor sitting on the dragon throne. What caught his eye was a bright yellow suit. The emperor was wearing an eight-clawed golden dragon robe, which was very dazzling. Emperor Zhaozong is only about fifty years old this year. His face has the majesty of an emperor, and his eyes are looking at him unceremoniously.

Seizing this opportunity, Li Wen also took a good look at what his future employer would look like. He would never have such a good opportunity to look directly at Long Yan unscrupulously.

In this era when people's life span is not long, people who are over fifty years old are already old, and those who are over sixty years old are considered to be old. But this is also compared to ordinary people. Ordinary people live a miserable life. They are hungry every meal, and there are countless casualties caused by natural and man-made disasters. Therefore, ordinary people in this era generally do not live too long.

The emperor has lived a privileged life since he was born, eating delicacies from the mountains and seas, and wearing the finest silks and satins from outside the palace. Logically speaking, the emperor's appearance should be significantly younger.

In fact, this is because Emperor Zhaozong was a diligent emperor. In the decades since he became emperor, he rarely gave himself a holiday. For decades, he worked hard on state affairs every day, so that Overwork leads to premature aging of the body. Although the emperor was only in his fifties, his health was worse than that of ordinary people, so the emperor began to raise Taoist priests and became obsessed with all kinds of elixirs.

There is also the emperor who favors Prime Minister Dong and Concubine Dong Ji, and likes the seventh prince more than the prince...

Before arriving in the capital, Dean Fu taught him a lesson about Emperor Zhaozong. Fu Yihan's comments on the emperor were also correct. There was no praise or disparagement. He just used his calm mind to tell his disciples what kind of person the emperor was. What kind of person the emperors in history were, so what kind of person was Emperor Zhaozong? people. What are the common shortcomings of being an emperor, what do you like, and what can't you touch?

Prince Yang Shaomu was also standing in the main hall at this moment. Like everyone else, he was looking at Li Wen. The young man raised his head, and Yang Shaomu's eyes fell on the young man's face. His eyes were moving like something he had never seen before.

The eyes of everyone in the hall gathered on Li Wen. The young man did not show the slightest stage fright and let others look at him openly. His eyes swept over and touched the person who was looking at him. In addition to the emperor who can wear yellow, there is another person in this hall who is the crown prince.

So this person is the prince? He thought to himself.

Li Wen saw Yang Shaomu in the main hall. This man was the prince, and he had a feeling in his heart that this was the case. No wonder even Zhao Xiangyi followed this person, with this person as the leader. If this person is His Royal Highness, then everything can be explained.

This little champion looks really good, the eldest prince Yang Shaoyong thought to himself after seeing Li Wen's appearance clearly. I just don't know how this little number one scholar plays differently from the Guerr in Xiao Guo? He rather wanted to know this.

Zhao Xiangyi, who was standing in the main hall, noticed the way the eldest prince looked at Li Wen. The man's eyes narrowed slightly, and a chill flashed in his eyes.

Li Wen raised his head and glanced at the emperor, then lowered his head, not daring to look around, so he didn't see Zhao Xiangyi standing in the hall, looking at him.

"Okay, as expected, my number one scholar is a talented person. Since ancient times, talents have been born in young people. I feel very at ease when I see you today." Emperor Zhaozong looked at the number one scholar with his eyes. The sixteen-year-old number one scholar has rarely been six yuan in a hundred years. Emperor Zhaozong He was in a good mood and said, "Li Wen passed the Jinshi Ranking. He entered the Hanlin Academy as the number one scholar. He was awarded the title of editor of the Sixth Rank Hanlin Academy and was awarded the title of number one

scholar ." The editor of the seventh rank. The rest of the people should be arranged according to the usual practice. "The emperor cannot control so many people. As for how to arrange it, the officials of the Ministry of Personnel will make arrangements.

"I thank you for your kindness."

"Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor..."

This time Li Wen knelt down willingly. The Emperor was really rich, and he could build a big house as soon as he bought it. The house given by the emperor cannot be too small, right? Hahaha... It seems that today's trip was worth it. I got the title of No. 1 Scholar, an official position, and a house for free.

Hahaha..The

emperor is so rich! And generous! Li Wen decided to become a fan of the emperor! I love the free house!

It can't be said that Li Wen was jealous of money. In fact, houses in the capital were very expensive. The small courtyard he bought for a place as big as a palm cost him one thousand taels of silver. One thousand taels was enough for him to live in his hometown. I bought a mountain. Every inch of land in the capital is very valuable, and a house in a good location starts at least ten thousand taels. If you don't have money, you really can't buy a big house in the capital.

The house given by the emperor should not be bad, right? If the house is bad, the emperor would have the nerve to give it away! Li Wen was already thinking about what kind of house the emperor would give him. But if he moved to the house given by the emperor in the future, wouldn't he be unable to be neighbors with Lu Zhishu?

Today's palace examination was officially declared over. The emperor completed his task, selected a number one scholar, received a small six yuan, and gave away a house. He was in a good mood.

Emperor Zhaozong stood up from the dragon chair, put his hands in his sleeves and walked out. Prince Yang Shaomu and several princes,

as well as Dong Xiang, Grand Scholar Zhan and several important ministers followed the emperor and walked out together.

"Your Majesty." All the officials knelt down and bowed.

The eunuchs, chamberlains, and maids followed the emperor out.

After the emperor went out, the officials who were kneeling on the ground got up one by one, and the new scholars behind them also got up. After passing the palace examination, these new scholars all had official status.

The No. 1 scholar, the No. 2 scholar, and the top scholar all entered the Hanlin Academy together. The No. 1 scholar was awarded the title of Sixth Grade Editor, which was only one level higher than the county magistrate. The No. 2 pick and the No. 3 pick are both one level lower. They are only seventh-grade editors. Although their grades are not high, the No. 1 pick, the No. 2 pick, and the No. 3 pick have the qualifications to be selected for certain official positions and to enter the top management of the central government, so their future official career will definitely be higher than the average. People must be good

. The other Jinshis in the second class will also take an imperial examination, mainly to select Shujishi. They are usually the top few Jinshis in the second class. Outstanding Jinshi selected from the Imperial Examination are Shujishi, and they study in the Common Hall. At the end of the three-year period, they take the exam and are assigned jobs.

If there is a vacancy in the place, the other Jinshis can be arranged to go there, but only after the second-class scholars are filled, can it be the turn of the fellow Jinshis from the third-class class. Fellow Jinshis are like wives, that's why people say this, there are one hundred second-class Jinshis, and the remaining more than a hundred are all classified as third-class Jinshis.

The three-year scientific examination only admits 300 people, which sounds like a small number, but once so many people run for limited positions, the competition becomes very fierce.

There is no connection, there is no backing, and it is difficult for people without money to get a good position. Later, it is all about connections and backing. Whoever has a strong backing will have a better chance of getting a good official position.

After ten years of studying hard, they finally passed the exam. In the end, these scholars discovered that passing the Jinshi exam was not as simple as they thought. But now these new scholars are immersed in the joy of being able to enter the court and serve as officials. They still don't know the dangers of the court in the future, and the road to becoming an official is not as simple as they thought.

After the palace examination was over, the official in charge of the Ministry of Rites gave them a few words of explanation. When they went out, the eunuchs in the palace led them out.

It takes nearly half an hour to walk from Baohe Hall to the palace gate.

It's noon now. Most of them got up at one or two in the morning and went out. Some of them didn't even sleep all night. They came to the palace the next day to participate in the imperial examination, so they arrived here. After the HKCEE, many of them had weak walking feet, but everyone was holding on.

After leaving the palace gate, there is a deep road behind you, with no end in sight.

Some people look back and see that many of them may have the opportunity to walk through this palace door again in the future. This may be their first time walking into the palace, and it may also be their last time.

"Master, here." Li Tong drove a carriage to pick up their young master, and with him were people from the Lu family who came to pick up Lu Zhishu. Li Wen saw their little slave at a glance. He was so moved. Li Wen climbed onto the carriage and said, "Quickly!"

He was so hungry that he was going to starve to death. He quickly went home to eat!

"Master, how did you do in the exam?"

"Let's talk about it when we get back!"

Lu Zhishu and Li Wentong were sitting together. The two people in the carriage looked at each other. Li Wen's eyes were fixed on Lu Zhishu without blinking. Suddenly, Li Wen burst out laughing, like crazy, he rushed over, hugged Lu Zhishu, laughed and said, "Hahaha... Zhishu, we passed the exam, hahaha , one of us is the top pick, hahaha, and the other is the top pick, hahaha..."

Lu Zhishu let Li Wen hug him, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

When the little slave outside the carriage heard the sounds inside the carriage, the corners of his mouth turned up, and he smiled in a way that made him feel sick.

'Chapter 74: Legend of the Golden Palace

Fortunately, as soon as they walked out of the palace gate, Li Wen pulled Lu Zhishu and ran away first. If he had run a little slower, they would definitely not be able to leave so smoothly. When he got home, he had to eat three large bowls of rice before he could recover. He went to take a palace exam and came back hungry, sleepy and tired, and half of his life was gone. Sure enough, people are like iron rice and steel, and they will be hungry even if they don't eat even one meal!

After dinner, Li Wen couldn't bear it anymore and ran to bed to sleep.

For him, the matter of being the top candidate in the imperial examination should be put aside until he wakes up.

When he woke up, Li Wen finally remembered that he won the first prize. He rolled over on the bed and giggled, "Hahaha, I won the first prize..." The emperor even gave him a house! I don't know what the house looks like, but it must be worth a lot of money. I'm looking forward to it...

and Lu Zhishu has won the title of Tanhua, so they can go on a parade together!

Happy!

Li Jinwan knew that her brother had won the first prize, and when she saw her brother, she was so excited that she didn't know what to say. As soon as Li Wen saw the girl's excited look, he knew what she wanted to say. As he was taller than the little girl, Li Wen pressed the little girl's forehead with one hand, gave the little girl a look that I knew well, and said , "You don't have to say anything, I know what you want to say."

"..." Li Jinwan slapped her brother's hand away, glared at her brother, and then quickly turned into a nympho face, with two eyes. Risking little stars, the little girl couldn't control her inner excitement and said, "Brother, you are so awesome."

"Of course, your brother and I have won six yuan in a row, how can we not be awesome?" Li Liuyuan admired The little one with his chin is so proud, come and admire me, hahaha...

someone has turned on the shameless mode!

"Hahaha, the young master won the first prize, our young master won the first prize..." Li Tong was the first to jump up. Every time their young master won the first prize, the child would go crazy. Their young master won the first prize, hahaha. ...

"Congratulations, young master^"

"Congratulations, young master^"

Wu and the Yingchun Magpies all stepped forward to congratulate their young master, with joyful smiles on their faces. Their young master won the first prize, which is a great joy. I didn't expect that their young master won the first prize at the age of just ten. Their young master will definitely have no future in the future.

They were all glad that they were bought back by Manager Chen. It was a great blessing for them to be able to serve their young master.

Li Wen wrote two letters in a row, asking Li Tong to spend more money and find someone to hurry back. Similarly, two new letters, one sent back to Nanyang to his teacher, and the other sent back to his home.

He finally lived up to the expectations of his teachers, parents and elders. This time he won the first place in the palace examination and won the top prize. Such good news will surely make his father and parents very happy when they know it.

In fact, after taking the palace examination and waiting for the results, Li Wen felt nervous for a while because he didn't know what kind of score he could get in this exam. Others studied hard for ten years, but he spent his two lifetimes combined in studying. This last palace examination was not only because of his efforts in the past ten years, but also carried the expectations of countless people. Hope.

Fortunately, he did it!

In the last palace examination, he won the first place and was personally selected as the number one scholar by the emperor. He studied hard for ten years, probably just for this moment.

And he has finally finished running the marathon for more than ten years, and the long road of scientific research has finally come to an end. It's just that he can't take a vacation immediately after finishing the exam, because there are still many things waiting for him, the top scorer in the new subject, to do.

After the palace examination, the top three in the first class have been selected by the emperor, and the rankings of the second and third class have also been determined and will be posted through the imperial list later. The day after the imperial examination, they will go to the Ministry of Etiquette to learn etiquette, and later there will be the champion parade and the Qionglin Banquet.

So in the next two days, they had to report to the Ministry of Rites every day.

The palace examination list is made of yellow paper, with two layers on the outside and inside, divided into large and small gold lists. After the small gold list was presented to the emperor for inspection, it was stored in the archives of Da Nei; the large gold list was stamped with "Emperor's Treasure", and after being called by Chuanlu, the Minister of Rites sent the emperor's list to Taihe Middle Gate to the east. Hanging on the palace wall outside Chang'an Gate, this is what the ancients called the "Golden Ranking Title."

In this palace examination, more than 200 candidates were awarded Jinshi, with top three being awarded "Jinshi and the first place". The first place is "No. 1 Scholar", the second place is "No. 2", the third place is "Third Flower"; there are 100 second-class Jinshi, and the rest are all classified into the third-class Jinshi.

The results of the palace examination will be released in three days.

On this day, they also had to get up at an early hour in the night, which meant that they couldn't sleep at two o'clock in the morning and had to

get up from the bed.

"Isn't this a little too early?" Li Wen cursed in his heart, but he had no choice but to finish the road he chose on his knees! In addition, in the past two days, they went to the Ministry of Rites to report every day, and were severely tortured by the etiquette officers of the Ministry of Rites. Their feet were trembling when they walked these days. On this day, they even stopped at two o'clock in the middle of the night. It's time to get up and go out.

He felt like his body was being hollowed out. I wonder if there were any officials who died of overwork in ancient times. Maybe there were?

Just like the last time they went to the palace examination, this time they still had to wait at the palace gate early in the morning. After being inspected by the guards at the palace gate, they went to the secretary and official of the Ministry of Rites to sign a report.

A group of new scholars followed the officials into the palace gate.

These new scholars have to wait outside the Baohe Hall. After the official has read out the list, the number one scholar, the second best scholar, and the third best scholar selected by the emperor will lead them into the Jinluan Hall to thank the emperor for his kindness, and then go outside the Chang'an Gate. Go watch the posted imperial list.

"Long live your Majesty, long live your Majesty—"

"I love you all."

The emperor summoned the new scholars in the Jinluan Hall, and the official in charge of announcing them began to read out the names and rankings of the candidates, and read out the names in order from high to low, " The first-class Jinshi is Li Wen, the second-class scholar is Zhang Suhui, and the second-class Jinshi is Lu Zhishu. "

Li

Wen is the first scholar, and he and Zhang Suhui, the second-class scholar, are standing at the front of the team. " The sound of the official singing could be heard in his ears. He didn't know how long such a long list would be read. Li Wen resisted the urge to yawn, but he was really sleepy...

The sun was rising from the east . , the golden sunlight hit the high walls and red tiles of the palace, and the entire palace was coated with golden light, resplendent

with a long voice. Looking up at the palace not far away, Li Wen always felt a sense of himself. It felt like he was dreaming. In fact, he was not dreaming. He was just about to fall asleep while standing...

Aha... He

was so sleepy! He couldn't help it, so Li Wen secretly covered his mouth and yawned.

Zhang Suhui caught the new top pick yawning outside the Baohe Hall, and the top pick raised his eyebrows.

Oops, I was caught accidentally!

What should I do? I'm so anxious. Should I wait online? The No. 2 pick killed him? Li Wen stared at Zhang Bang with an expression of "I didn't do anything, you believe me."

No. 1 pick, I didn't expect you to be like this.

The two people exchanged a look that only they could understand. Zhang Suhui had no intention of exposing the champion. The two of them stood in the first row of the team. They stood very close to each other. Zhang Suhui could see every little move of the top pick.

Before Li Wen arrived in the capital, Zhang Suhui had always been a famous talent in the capital. His father was the imperial tutor of the dynasty and carefully trained him. I thought that this time the top pick would take his prize, but I didn't expect that it would be taken away by a sixteen-year-old boy who came out halfway.

When he saw the name Li Wen, Zhang Suhui didn't know who he was. Unfortunately, he thought he was invincible, but he didn't know that there was a sky outside the world, and there were people outside the world.

After getting to know Li Wen, even the talented scholar Zhang Suhui couldn't help but admire this sixteen-year-old Xiao Liuyuan, a scholar who took the exam when he was less than ten years old, and a Jinshi who was fifteen years old. He took the exam in the second year In Chunwei's scientific examination, he won the first place in Chunwei's examination. In April of the same year, he participated in the palace examination and was personally selected as the number one scholar by the Holy Emperor. This was the first six yuan in their Dacheng Kingdom.

Even he, who is known as the most talented person in the capital, failed to pass the exam in the first spring exam. After that, he went back to study hard for three years and then came back to take the exam again before passing the exam. He met Li Wen in both the joint examination and the palace examination, and his ranking was ranked one lower by Li Wen. As for the second place in the palace examination, Zhang Suhui knew in his heart that he should be in this ranking. He did It's not as good as Li Liuyuan.

Seeing Zhang Bangyan staring at him, Li Wen didn't feel any hostility towards him from Zhang Suhui, but their relationship was not deep. At most, they just said hello when they met.

They also spent two days together when they were studying etiquette at the Ministry of Rites. When he was tortured to death by the etiquette officer of the Ministry of Rites, Zhang Suhui and Lu Zhishu could learn 90% of the skills after learning a set of moves. He has to learn a move several times.

I hate these young masters the most. He has learned these rules since he was a child and grew up. He is just a child from the countryside who doesn't understand the rules. It's not like people are born with everything. Thousands of years later, there would be no such thing as the etiquette of

monarchs and ministers . It had been abolished long ago. Anyone who saw him would kneel down and worship him every day. In his previous life, he had only seen these things on TV.

Li Wen has never felt ashamed of his origin. He comes from a farm family. His father and grandfather are both farmers. His ancestors for eighteen generations have been born in the soil.

They work and they are glorious!

Those who always show off their origins, as if they are of noble origin, as if your ancestors never farmed land?

Chapter 75 The Number One Scholar Parade & Qiong Linyan

Seeing the other party staring at him, Li Wen pursed his lips and gave the other party a smile. You see, I made you laugh, why are we going to turn over such a trivial matter?

"..." Zhang Suhui looked away and looked at the official who read out the rankings, no longer looking at Xiao Liuyuan.

Your opponent ignores you and gives you the side-eye.

Li asked, "..."

After finally waiting for the official to read out the long list, an hour had passed.

"The new Jinshi entered the palace and met with the emperor. "

After the song was completed, the number one scholar, the number two scholar and the top scholar led many Jinshi into the Jinluan Hall to kowtow to express their gratitude to the emperor.

"I will thank the emperor for his kindness. Long live the emperor, long live the emperor..."

"Everyone loves you. "

All eyes were focused on the top three in the first class. The emperor's eyes scanned the new scholars below, and finally fell on Liu Yuan. This was his Liu Yuan. Emperor Zhaozong was pleased with this.

Li Wen was the number one scholar. He was standing in the middle, with Lu Zhishu on the left and Zhang Suhui on the right.

The three of them entered the hall together. Li Wen secretly glanced at the two people on the left and right from the corner of his eyes to make sure he didn't make any mistakes. In case the emperor regretted it, he would take back his No. 1 ranking.

This was the six yuan he had collected with great difficulty. In his previous life, when he was a child, he also liked to collect the cards in those snacks, but he had never been able to collect all the characters on the cards. I didn't expect it to be even more powerful in this life.

The gold list was posted outside Chang'an Gate and hung on the city wall for everyone to see.

After the song was finished, they were given a period of preparation. , it was time for the parade.

The champion wore a gold-flowered black gauze hat, red flowers in his hair, and a big red python robe, with a big red flower tied in front of him. Li Wen tugged on the big red flower in front of him, feeling that he was wearing this unique outfit. Silly, especially this big red flower.

"Don't pull it, or it will fall off. "Lu Zhishu grabbed Li Wen's hand that was pulling the big red flower. Li Wen made a small movement and he knew what the other person was thinking.

The young man with red lips and white teeth put on such a red robe of the number one scholar, and his complexion was as beautiful as a flower. It looks good. Lu Zhishu helped Li Wen tidy up his clothes, looked at the young man intently, and said seriously, "This looks good. "

..." Brother, you must be blind! Li Wen stared at Lu Zhishu, not knowing what to say.

He felt that he must look very silly in this outfit, feeling like an opera singer. Because of etiquette We didn't know in advance who would win the top prize, so the top pick's clothes were all prepared in advance. They were a bit big. He was small and thin and couldn't hold up the clothes. He felt like an adult when wearing them. It's like stealing a child's clothes.

There's also the ring around his waist. If he doesn't grab it with his hands, he will definitely fall off...

It's time for the parade to start, that is, it will start at nine o'clock in the morning

. They must pass through the Taihe Gate, the Meridian Gate, the Duan Gate, and the Chengtian Gate, and finally return to the Left Gate of Chang'an, which means they have to walk around the capital today before they can return to their starting point.

The Left Gate of Chang'an is located in the northeast corner. The right gate of Chang'an is located in the northwest corner, and the second gate is the main gate from the imperial city to the central government office. Officials in the court must enter through the left and right gates when they are going to report to the emperor, but no matter what rank they live in or how many titles they have. Gao, here you have to dismount your horse and sedan chair, go to Chang'an Gate, pass through Changchun Street, go up to Jinshui Bridge, enter Chengtian Gate, then enter Meridian Gate, and go to the palace hall to go to court

. After passing through Changchun Street, the new scholars from the top three grades got on their horses

and paraded through the streets .

With the help of others, Li Wen got on the horse, and Zhang Suhui and Lu Zhishu got on their horses one after another

. ——哐——哐——"

The officers and soldiers in front opened the way with thunderous cheers. The number one scholar, the second best scholar, and the third best scholar were riding on their horses. Behind them were the second-class Jinshi and the third-class Jinshi. They didn't have horses, so they had to walk behind. .

Behind them is the honor guard playing drums, playing and beating all the way.

Today, the streets of the capital are filled with people watching the excitement. All the upstairs rooms in the restaurants and inns are booked. They were all opened. Today, many ladies in the boudoir left the house and went outside to watch the excitement.

Upstairs in the largest gathering building in the capital, Zhao Xiangyi and His Royal Highness were in the upstairs wing together. Just after coming out of the palace, two people were standing by the window, one on the left and the other on the right. They heard the sound of gongs and drums in the distance, and saw the parade coming this way. They were still far away, and Zhao Xiangyi saw someone on the horse. A young man wearing a red

python robe is eye-catching.

"I've known you for many years, but I didn't know you were interested in the No. 1 Scholar Parade. "

"Isn't that the same for you? "Zhao Xiangyi's face had no expression. He glanced at the person who said this to him and stood by the window without moving. Yang Shaomu looked down and saw the young man on the horse coming towards them. Said, "It's hard to find a six-yuan person in a hundred years. He is a talent that is rare to see in a hundred years. "

Yang Shaomu finally understood his father's thoughts. It takes three years for a number one scholar to come out, but it's unlikely that he will get a sixth prize for a hundred years. This Li Wen is indeed a talent that is rare to see in a century. It's no wonder that his father selected him. Li Wen was selected as the top pick, which was the first six-dollar pick from their Dacheng team.

"Well, indeed, he is different. "Zhao Xiangyi agreed with the prince's words. Six yuan under the age of sixteen is really

rare.

This year's top three, the number one pick, the second pick and the third overall pick are all still very young.

Except for the oldest second pick who has already married, The number one scholar and

Tan Hua Lang are not yet married. The number one scholar is the youngest, not yet at the age of weak crown. He is the first six yuan in their Dacheng country, and his future is unlimited. He was just in his twenties, and Tanhua Lang was handsome and came from a well-known family. Compared with the number one scholar who was still younger, Tanhualang was at the right age to get married and his family background was better, and many girls in the capital paid attention to him. Put it on Tan Hualang.

"Ah... coming, coming..."

"It's the number one scholar..."

"You see, the number one scholar is really handsome."

"Tanhua Lang is the handsome one. If I can marry Tanhua Lang as my wife, my whole life will be enough. "

"Tanhualang, look here. " "

The parade passed through the street. People were standing on both sides of the road and on the upper floors on both sides. All kinds of flowers and handkerchiefs were flying everywhere. Some people picked off their jade pendants and threw them down. They were riding on horses like this. Li Wen, Lu Zhishu, and Zhang Suhui were struggling to hide. Everything

was thrown at Li Wen and Lu Zhishu. Feeling that something was hitting him, Li Wen turned his head to avoid it. He hit something that was thrown at his face, and his butt tilted, almost causing him to fall off the horse. Compared with the top pick, second place pick, and third pick who were riding on the horse, the second-class Jinshi and the third-class Jinshi who followed behind him. He did not receive such enthusiastic treatment. However, many people in the capital still set their sights on these Jinshi scholars to see where there were any young talents.

Passing by on Ma Da Street, Li Wen looked up and saw Zhao Xiangyi and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince standing by the window. He waved to them as a greeting to them.

A smile appeared on Yang Shaomu's face, he picked up the prepared flowers and threw them to the young man below.

"..." Li Wen subconsciously hid, but when he thought that the prince had thrown it to him, his mind changed and he wanted to catch it again.

It's a pity that I didn't receive it.

Zhao Xiangyi raised his eyebrows and broke off a flower branch from the flowerpot at hand. The flowers on the branch were still in bud. With luck and inner strength, he left the top scholar riding a horse on the street. Li Wen subconsciously grabbed it with his hand, hahaha,

"Thank you!"

Li Wen held the words in his hand and waved to Zhao Xiangyi and His Royal Highness. The parade passed downstairs of Juquan Building and soon It's over.

The parade passed by, followed by many people.

The ones on horses were fine, but the ones walking behind them almost didn't break their legs.

After walking around the capital, the parade finally returned to Chang'an Gate.

No wonder the Tang Dynasty poet wrote: "The spring breeze is so proud that the horse's hooves are so strong that I can see all the flowers in Chang'an in one day." With such a sentence, they rode on horses that day, walked through Chang'an Street, and swam through most of the capital. I believe there is a long way to go. For a period of time, the No. 1 scholar's parade will become a topic of conversation among people after dinner.

After the parade, it was time to attend the Qionglin Banquet.

The Qionglin Banquet was a banquet held for new scholars after the palace examination. It was held in a garden in the palace. The banquet was handled by the Ministry of Etiquette. The emperor did not show up in person, but handed it over to the Crown Prince.

The emperor gave the prince the task of supporting the Qionglin Banquet. Even if the other princes were dissatisfied, they did not dare to show anything in front of the emperor. After all, the prince is the prince. Although they are princes, they are different from the prince.

"Wei Chen has met His Highness the Crown Prince." Li Wen saluted His Highness the Crown Prince. This is not the first time they have met, and I believe it will not be the last time.

"No. 1 Scholar, please stand up." Yang Shaomu looked at Li Wen with a smile in his eyes. The two had met twice before. But at that time, Li Wen didn't know that he was the crown prince. At that time, Li Wen didn't know that he was the number one scholar, but he was just a disciple of Master Fu.

When they meet again today, they both have different identities. One is His Highness the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince of Dacheng Kingdom, and the other is the Number One Scholar, the future minister of Dacheng Kingdom. One is a king, and the other is a minister. "The Number One Scholar is still so young." , It is true that young people produce talents."

Li Wen smiled, a little embarrassed that he was praised again.

He saw Zhao Xiangyi standing next to His Highness the Crown Prince. It turned out that Zhao Xiangyi was His Highness the Crown Prince's companion. It was no wonder that Zhao Xiangyi was standing next to His Highness the Crown Prince. As the crown prince of Dacheng Kingdom, the prince is very likely to become the emperor in the future. Behind him must be some ministers and families who support him, and he does not think that the prince is a person without talents.

He has not had contact with the remaining princes yet, but has only heard some comments about them from Dean Fu.

But no matter what, Li Wen has no intention of participating in the prince's struggle for the throne for the time being. Until the end, who knows whose world will belong to him? Whoever sits on the dragon chair is the master of the world. Even if a mediocre person sits on the dragon chair, they will still shout "Long live" to him.

Yang Shaomu met the number one scholar, said a few words to the number one scholar, and also greeted other new scholars. The prince has a gentle attitude towards others and a slight smile on his face, so the first impression he gives these new scholars is very good.

When the prince walked by, Zhao Xiangyi took a look and did not follow him. He stayed and talked to the young man, "You said you would treat me to a drink that day. When do you plan to fulfill your promise?" "

Haha, when? It's okay, as long as you are free. Are you free tomorrow? Otherwise, I will go home in two days. "Li Wen didn't expect that the other party came to ask for the drink. The two of them had dinner at Juquan Building last time. At that time, he said that he wanted to invite the other party to drink. He said, "I just made a few jars of wine at home. Whenever you are free, I will treat you to a drink."

"How about tomorrow?" Zhao Xiangyi didn't want to drink, just Why he would say such a thing was a bit puzzling to him. However, this man always does things according to his heart. This man will never admit that when he saw the young man catching his flower, he thought he was actually happy.

When he talked about the wine he brewed, Li Wen talked more. He said confidently, "When you drink my wine, you will definitely agree."

"Really?" Zhao Xiangyi's eyes flashed. Smiling, he asked.

"Of course, if it's not good, I won't treat you to a drink. I'll give you two jars and you can take them home to drink. It will take a while to taste better." If the wine he brews doesn't taste good, he has such a picky personality. Dean Fu would not hold on to the wine jar, and Li Wen had a smile on his face.

Now that he is in the capital, he will no longer be able to make wine for his teacher in person.

That's not right, he can brew it here and then have it sent back! Silly...

But he has taught people from Zhuangzi, and the people who come there will prepare some good wine for Dean Fu every year, so even if he is no longer there in Nanyang, there will be no shortage of teachers. Take a sip of wine.

It's a pity that the teacher doesn't want to come to the capital, otherwise he would be able to see him parade in the streets with his own eyes.

The two stood together and talked for a while, and then they made an appointment to go to a place for a drink tomorrow.

Naturally, the Qionglin Banquet involves reciting poems and composing poems. Li Wen, the top scholar, couldn't avoid it even if he wanted to. If he couldn't avoid it, he had to "borrow" a good poem from his predecessors. The poem written by the top scholar naturally won the prize. Praise from all.

"..." Li Wen broke out in a weak sweat, so he just had to deal with it.

After the Qionglin Banquet, they came out of the palace. Many people were still talking about the parade and the Qionglin Banquet.

Li Wen and Lu Zhishu got on the carriage and left first. As soon as they got on the carriage, he fell asleep. When the carriage returned home, he was woken up by someone. "Master, wake up, we are home." Li Tong shook him awake. Their young master.

"Brother, aren't you going to eat?" Li Jinwan asked.

"I won't eat anymore. We'll talk about it when I wake up." He didn't even eat when he went back. He climbed back into bed and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

After such a day, it is really tiring...

Chapter 76 After the imperial examination

, Li Liuyuan stole the show during the parade and Qionglin banquet. Now, the name Li Wen is known to everyone in the capital. At the same time, Zhang Suhui and Tanhua Lu Zhishu, who were ranked second in the list, attracted much attention.

On the second day, the people in the capital were all talking about the parade the day before.

There is a scientific examination every three years, and the number one scholar is paraded through the streets every three years. However, this year's number one scholar is younger than those in previous years. The point is that the number one scholar at this age has not yet married a wife. Among the top three, except for the number two who is already married, the top pick and the third most beautiful girl are not yet married. If any of them can marry their daughter to these two young talents, they will make a profit.

As soon as the new Jinshi was announced, many families in the capital were preparing to hold happy events.

If you can't catch the top scholar, it's not bad if you can catch a new scholar. Let's pay this respect first.

The matchmakers in the city are all asking where the number one scholar and the most beautiful man live. They are entrusted by others to come and arrange marriage.

At this point, the palace examination is completely over.

After the imperial examination, those who failed to pass the Jinshi examination had already packed their bags and gone home. There were also a small number of scholars who rented a small house in the capital, planning to study hard for another three years in the capital and participate in the examination three years later. . The scientific examination is held every three years, three years after another. I don't know how many people have gone from black hair to gray hair, just to take a step further on the road to the imperial examination, to be admitted as a Jinshi and to serve as an official in the court. However, not all people are so lucky. Some people spend their entire lives staying where they are.

After passing the Jinshi examination, they, the new Jinshi, are equivalent to having half official status and can enter the court as officials. Although the palace examination has ended, for these new scholars, their official careers have just begun, and a large number of them have not even started yet.

According to the practice of previous years, the top three in the First Class were all employed as errands in the Imperial Academy and could stay in the capital to serve. However, the official careers of other Jinshis were far from smooth. After the palace examination, a large number of people had not yet been assigned errands. Therefore, these new Jinshis had to stay in the capital and wait for arrangements from the officials. Therefore, it is not that one can become an official by passing the imperial examination. Being an official is far from being as simple as these scholars imagined.

After the palace examination, other Jinshi will take another imperial examination, mainly to select Shujishi. Those who are willing can sign up to participate. Outstanding Jinshi were selected from the Imperial Examination as Shujishi and studied in the Common Hall. When the three-year period expired, they took another exam and were assigned jobs.

Those who can enter the Shuchang Hall and become Shujishi, and those who are a little patient, can survive for another three years. At least they will stay in the capital for the intervening three years. In the future, whether they stay in the capital or be transferred to other places, they will be able to have good results. Some arrangements.

However, those who are ranked lower in the second class and those who are ranked in the third class are less likely to stay in the capital. Most of them will be assigned to local places. Those who have money at home can still spend some money to find connections, and maybe they can be assigned to a good place to work. Otherwise, they will be randomly stuffed by the officials, and they will be assigned to some remote place in the mountains.

So after the imperial examination, the new scholars who stayed in the capital were looking for connections everywhere, hoping that they could go to a good place to serve and stay there for ten or eight years. If they did well in their posts, maybe they would be In the future, there will be opportunities to be transferred back to the capital to serve as a capital official. Such a situation is not impossible.

If you are pushed to a remote place in the mountains, far away from the capital, even if you do well, the emperor will not see you, and you

may just stay in a small place and be a petty official for the rest of your life.

Of course, these things of others have nothing to do with Li Wen.

On this day, early in the morning, Li Wen and Lu Zhishu went to the Ministry of Rites to register and apply for returning home to visit relatives. The Ministry of Rites is responsible for the attendance and leave-related matters of officials in the court. If they need to ask for leave for something in the future, they must go to the Ministry of Rites to ask for leave. They will not be allowed to go on errands until approved by the Ministry of Rites. Otherwise, if they leave without reason, the court will have to ask for leave. held accountable.

When they first enter the officialdom, they still have to act according to the rules.

After the imperial examination and before taking office at the Hanlin Academy, they have fifteen days of family leave to go back to their hometown to visit relatives. The time spent on the way back and forth is not included in this. Otherwise, his next trip back to his hometown to visit relatives would not be until three years later. Therefore, it was not easy to be an official in ancient times. It was also very difficult to go back home to visit his parents and elders.

The holiday system for officials in Dacheng stipulates that those whose parents are three thousand miles away are entitled to thirty days of family leave every five years; those whose parents are five hundred miles away are entitled to fifteen days of family leave every three years. There are three days of leave for sons and crown ceremonies; nine days of leave for children's weddings; etc.; the time spent on the road is not included.

Therefore, according to the regulations of the imperial court, he met the second requirement of returning home to visit relatives. He could only have one holiday to visit his hometown once every three years. He could go back for half a month each time, and the time spent on the journey back and forth was counted separately. If their journey back and forth was faster, wouldn't it be okay for him to stay at home for a few more days?

On this day, they went to the Ministry of Rites to apply for a trip back to their hometown to visit relatives. Only

then did Li Wen learn about the vacation system for these officials in Dacheng. He suddenly felt bad, and his whole mood was dominated by the word "cheating".

Can you only go home to visit relatives once every three years? ! Go ahead! Isn't it a little too long?

It is not easy to be a civil servant in this era! Li Wen felt from the bottom of his heart that he could not return to his home.

Why can you only take one day off after working for ten days, and only take three days off a month? The rest of the time, you have to go to work on time...

"..." Li asked.

But this was the path he chose, and he would walk on it even if he was kneeling. At worst, he will be an official for three to five years. If he feels that being an official is not fun, he can learn from his teacher and apply for retirement early. Li Wen was thinking about these messy things.

In this era, the benefits of being a civil servant were so poor. Although he had known about it for a long time, he still couldn't accept this fact.

When I came to the Ministry of Rites again, compared to the previous two times, this time the officials of the Ministry of Rites were extremely enthusiastic about their attitude.

Mr. Lu Changping Mr. Lu is the right minister of the Ministry of Etiquette. Someone is doing good things in the court. Their application for leave to return home to visit relatives in three days was quickly approved.

Only now did some internal officials know that Lu Zhishu and Lu Tanhualang were the nephews of Lu Changping and Lu Youshilang. No wonder Mr. Lu is so happy these days. It turns out that his own nephew has won the title of Tan Hua Lang. How can he not be happy about this? Because Lu Changping hid so deeply, he didn't let anyone know at all.

I heard that this Lu Tanhua Lang was not married yet, and I wonder if there was talk of getting married at home. Some people who had girls at home who were waiting to be married started to think that in the future, Lu Tanhua would have a bright future in the capital with Mr. Lu protecting her. There is a limit, so some people intentionally or unintentionally come to Mr. Lu Changping to inquire about Tan Hwa Lang.

Lu Changping was not unaware of other people's thoughts. In the past, his nephew was still young and devoted himself to studying, so the marriage had been delayed until now. This time my nephew came in third place in the first class and won the top prize. It was time to discuss the marriage.

Not long ago, his wife asked him about this matter. Lu Changping planned to write a letter to his family and ask his mother and brothers. If his mother and brothers agreed, he, the uncle, would take over the responsibility for his mother and let the family decide. My wife helps me to look at each other in the capital and find a good match for my nephew who is a good match, a virtuous and virtuous woman.

"Well, you have been studying in Jingzhong for many years and have never gone home to visit your parents and elders. It's time to go back and see them. I can't leave Jingzhong for the time being. You can go back to visit your grandmother on my behalf and express my gratitude to my grandmother. "Say hello to your father and the others." Lu Changping knew that his nephew had been studying in Beijing in the past few years and had never gone back to see his parents and elders. He was an official and could not leave the capital at will without any reason. It would be even harder to go back to his hometown to visit his old mother. Something happened.

Lu Changping knew that officialdom was not easy, so when his nephew said that he wanted to go home to see his parents and elders, Lu Changping would not stop him.

Lu Zhishu responded, "Yes. When my nephew returns, he will definitely tell his grandmother and father."

"Yes. You were preparing for the scientific examination before, so I didn't tell you. Your aunt has read you several times. You If you have time, go to your uncle's house and visit your aunt." He originally asked his nephew to come to the capital to study. Originally, he wanted his nephew to live in his home, but his nephew said that he lived alone outside. , which is conducive to studying. Seeing his nephew's insistence, Lu Changping had no choice but to let him move to a small courtyard outside.

Lu Changping treated his nephew as a half-son, and would care and greet the child a few times on weekdays. During this period of time at home, my wife called her nephew several times. The nephew was preparing for the scientific examination, so Lu Changping did not mention it to his nephew. It was only when he saw someone today that Lu Changping mentioned it.

"It's my nephew's fault, and my aunt is worried. My nephew will go to my aunt in person to accuse him." Li Wen respected the elders, so he treated the aunt no matter what he thought in his heart. It won't show on the face.

If we say why he moved to live in a small courtyard outside in the first place, it has nothing to do with his aunt. It's just that Lu Zhishu has never told anyone about these things. Living in a small courtyard outside can give him peace and quiet, which is more comfortable than living under someone else's roof, so Lu Zhishu doesn't think about the past things. He respects the elders as he should. All.

Since his uncle said that his mother-in-law was talking about him, Lu Zhishu had no choice but to go there. Otherwise, he would go home in two days, and it would be three or two months before he could return to the capital.

The uncle and nephew talked for a while. Lu Changping had to be on duty at the Ministry of Etiquette and could not leave too early, so he asked his nephew to go to his home first and then go back later.

Lu Zhishu responded with a "Here".

By the time Li Wen and Lu Zhishu came out of the Ministry of Rites, they had settled the matter of returning home. Lu Zhishu was talking to Master Lu just now, but Li Wen didn't walk over, so he didn't know what Zhishu Lu and Master Lu said.

When Li Wen heard that Lu Zhishu said he wanted to go to his uncle's house, he said, "Oh, in that case, you can

go. Brother Zhao and I made an appointment to go together, and I wanted to ask you to go with us, so Next time."

He had an appointment with Zhao Xiangyi, and originally wanted to ask Lu Zhishu to go play with him, but it happened that the three of them knew each other, so it would be fun to play with more people. But now Lu Zhishu was unavailable, so he had to go to Zhao Xiangyi's appointment.

"Yeah." Lu Zhishu responded, but he didn't know that Li Wen and General Zhao had such a good relationship.

"Zhishu, tell me secretly, do you not like going to your uncle's house? Is there someone in their family who has made you unhappy? Is it your cousin? Or is it your aunt? Or is it your uncle's other children? Is this concubine or someone from their family?" Li Wen leaned into Lu Zhishu's ear and asked softly.

Lu Zhishu lowered his eyes, glanced at the young man, and asked calmly, "Why do you ask like that?"

"Tsk, even if you don't tell me, I still know about you." Li Wen gave Lu Zhishu a small Look past you, little one, I don't know you yet.

The two grew up together. Lu Zhishu always had a plain face and did not show emotions or anger on his face. Others might not be able to see anything from Lu Zhishu's face, but Li Wen could still see the subtle expressions on Lu Zhishu's face. Expression: When this person is unhappy, the corners of his mouth will be a bit straight, the skin on his face will be tighter, and he will talk less than usual.

From these small changes in Lu Zhishu's behavior, or simply by feeling, Li Wen was able to accurately determine whether this friend was happy or unhappy since he was a child, and he could even guess the reason why he was unhappy. .

If he were to use a small animal to describe Lu Zhishu, Li Wen felt that Lu Zhishu was like a cat, an elegant and beautiful cat, with eyes that were very similar to those of a cat, with a bit of arrogance and coldness, which not everyone would be attracted to. Like and be close to.

The two people's eyes met, and a smile flashed in Lu Zhishu's eyes. The tight corners of his lips relaxed, and the resistance in his heart to going to his uncle's home suddenly disappeared. He said, "There's no point in being upset, you." Don't make random guesses."

Li Wen thought to himself, I didn't make random guesses. Why don't you refute me if you say I guessed wrong? Obviously he guessed it right. "Didn't you make an appointment with General Zhao? Go ahead. I'll go to my aunt's place. I won't be able to go back until later." Lu Zhishu didn't really want Li Wen and Zhao Xiangyi to get too close. After all, Zhao Xiangyi went to the prince's house. People, once he gets close to Zhao Xiangyi, he will be classified as a prince.

But this person is Li Wen, and Lu Zhishu knows that Li Wen has his own sense of proportion in doing things, and Li Wen is not a person who does random things.

Oh, it turns out it was your uncle who made you unhappy...

Li Wen said "I understand" on his face, and he nodded.

Chapter 77: Dogs fight against human power.

Lu Zhishu looked at Li Wen and couldn't help but smile. Being with Li Wen always made him feel relaxed and comfortable. If he hadn't gone to his aunt's house today, he would have accompanied Li Wen to the appointment with the young general, but he really didn't have time right now.

"Okay, let's go home together in two days," Li Wen said.

"Okay." Lu Zhishu responded.

The two of them are going back to their hometown to visit relatives together. They can go back together and walk together on the road.

He has not been home for more than a year since last year. Now that he thinks of his father, mother, and younger brother at home, Li Wen actually misses them very much. If they hadn't set off in three days at the earliest, he would have wanted to leave tomorrow. If he left earlier, he could go back earlier.

Compared to Li Wen, Lu Zhishu had been away from home for longer.

But Lu Zhishu has never mentioned to others that he misses his parents and elders at home, and he will miss them if he thinks about it.

They walked out of Changchun Street together, and there was a carriage waiting for them outside the street entrance.

When they came, they came in the same carriage. Now they were going to different places. Lu Zhishu said to send him back first, but Li Wen said no need. He was not far from the place Zhao Xiangyi had agreed to, and he could go. past.

"You go first, I'll just walk over slowly." Li Wen insisted that Lu Zhishu go first. They were on different roads. Lu Zhishu had to take a detour to send him there. There were too many people on this road and it was difficult to walk. , this is too troublesome, he just walks over.

"Then I'm leaving?"

"You go."

Seeing that Li Wen was unwilling to come up, Lu Zhishu had no choice but to get on the carriage first and waved to Li Wen.

Seeing the carriage leave, Li Wen was still thinking about the reason why Zhishu Lu rejected his eldest uncle's mother. If their Zhishu was such a good-tempered person, he wanted to make their Zhishu unhappy. That Mrs. Lu must not be A very nice person to deal with. Seeing Lu Zhishu's carriage go away, Li Wen felt a little regretful. What if their Zhishu was bullied and he was gone?

Forget it, he can still prevent Lu Zhishu from going to Mr. Lu's house!

Li Wen was a little frustrated and said to the boy, "Let's go too. I've made an appointment with Brother Zhao. It's not far from here. Let's just walk over."

"Oh." Li Tong didn't know that their young master and Lord Zhao Have an appointment.

He was the personal servant of their young master, but there was something else that he didn't know about. Li Tong deeply felt that he, as his personal servant, had neglected his duty.

"Li Zhuangyuan, please wait a moment."

Li Wen raised his feet and was about to leave when he heard a voice calling him from behind. He subconsciously turned around, looked at the person calling him, and asked, "What can you do? "

Li Zhuangyuan, our master wants to invite you to have a cup of tea." The other party's attitude was neither humble nor arrogant, even a little arrogant.

"Your master?" Li Wen couldn't help but smile when he saw the other party's appearance, and asked, "Can I ask, who is your master?" How about inviting him to tea with a random person on the road? , did he all follow? That's not like being sold and not knowing what's going on.

"Li Zhuangyuan, you will know it when you meet him." The other party said with an arrogant attitude.

To put it bluntly, what kind of owner raises what kind of dog? Li Wen always felt that this sentence was very reasonable. The person inviting the invitation should look like he is inviting, instead of saying "You don't need to know who my master is". To put it another way, it means "You don't have the right to know who my master is." That's what it means. .

"Sorry, I have an appointment with someone. If your master wants to invite me to tea, ask him to come early next time." Li Wen's face turned cold. He is not a person without a temper. If someone hits you, face, you don't need to smile at him.

He hates this kind of slave the most, but he is just a servant, and he really thinks he is his master! He, a seventh-grade official, was the number one scholar appointed by the emperor, no matter how small his official position was, yet he was looked down upon by a little servant! Li Wen really didn't like this man's attitude when he came to invite people.

"Insolent, do you know who our master is? How dare you be so rude." Seeing that the eldest prince looked down upon a small number one scholar, the servant who came to invite him showed this on his face. Angry face.

What does he mean by being rude? Please clarify, you were the first to be rude!

Li Wen did not intend to continue to argue with the other party on this issue, so he prepared to leave with a cold face.

"Oh, then tell me, who is your master?" A familiar voice came from behind. When Li

Wen heard the voice, he turned his head and saw a man riding a horse walking towards him. Zhao Xiangyi led the horse out of Changchun Street and saw Li Liuyuan standing there at a glance. Since he also saw the dog slave standing in front of Li Liuyuan, he

was just a dog from Yang Shaoyong. How could a dog crawl on a human? The head is coming.

"My servant has met General Zhao." Wang Shun is a servant next to the eldest prince Yang Shaoyong. Naturally, he has met Zhao Xiangyi.

Zhao Xiangyi had met Wang Shun and knew that this man was a slave around the eldest prince Yang Shaoyong. The eldest prince sent people to look for Li Liuyuan. Needless to say, it was all because of Li Liuyuan's idea, and he wanted to draw Li Liuyuan to his side. They had taken a liking to this person first, and Yang Shaoyong wanted to intercept him halfway? What I thought was beautiful.

Li Wen raised his head and looked longingly at the man standing next to him. The two stood together. The height difference between the two was too big. He wanted to look up at this man who was taller than him.

Damn it, why are you so tall? He is so tall!

When will he grow to 1.8 meters? It's best to be taller than this man. General Zhao's height is 1.8 meters tall and almost 1.89 meters tall. I'm envious!

"Go back and tell your master that you have to show some sincerity when inviting people. What's going on with a dog slave?" Zhao Xiangyi didn't want a dog slave to come and bully the young man. The young man looked up at him and looked a little stupid. , but for some reason he found Li Liuyuan's silly look a bit cute.

"Let's go. I said I had an appointment with someone today, and I really did." Li Wen said with a sincere face.

He did have an appointment with Zhao Xiangyi for a drink today, and the appointment was made yesterday.

He didn't know whose slave this was. He would ask this man later. He would stay away from their master when he saw him in the future. However, in this capital city, the master looked so arrogant even to a little servant in his family. Li Wen filtered it in his mind and could probably guess whose servant this was.

Before everyone formally met, Li Wen felt that this would be a big trouble.

"Yes." Wang Shun lowered his head, feeling unwilling.

When Ben Xiao saw Li Liuyuan, he put on a horse face and came over to be touched as usual. Li Wen reached out to touch Ben Xiao's head and said to Zhao Xiangyi, "Let's go. I brought out two jars of wine today to treat you to a drink." Go. " Li Tong held two jars of wine in his hands. Hearing the young master's words, he raised the jars.

Zhao Xiangyi glanced at the wine jar and knew that this was the wine the young man wanted to treat him to.

"We're not going to the whole house today. We're going to Zhuangzi's place to play." Zhao Xiangyi couldn't help but smile when he saw that the young man really brought wine out. Zhao Xiangyi clasped the boy's waist with both hands and easily carried him onto the horse. When he turned over and straddled him, he also grabbed the two wine jars. Li Wen subconsciously hugged the two wine jars.

"..." With his hands empty, Li Tong looked down and found that the wine jar was missing. Kongkong

"..." Li Wen had two more wine jars in his hand. Zhao Xiangyi stuffed two wine jars for him, and he subconsciously hugged one in each hand.

"Send him back." Zhao Xiangyi said a word, then rode away with the young man and the wine.

"You send him back, I'll take the first step." One of them reacted quickly, got on his horse, and followed their master

.

"..." The guard and Li Tong who were left behind stared at each other with big eyes.

"You just kidnapped me, my little slave will cry." Li Wen sat on the horse and looked back at the child who was stunned behind and didn't even react. Li Tong saw their young master's retreating figure walking further and further away. His open mouth had not yet been closed. He followed him two steps and shouted loudly, "Master, don't abandon me...

What a pity." Already gone.

At this moment, the eldest prince Yang Shaoyong was drinking tea in the private room upstairs in the restaurant. In front of him was a beautiful woman playing the piano. Her silky eyebrows seduced the man who was listening to the music. The door of the private room opened and closed. Come in from the outside.

"Where are the people? "The eldest prince did not see the Li Liuyuan he wanted to see. When he saw that only a young servant came back, he turned cold and asked.

"Go back, master, Li Zhuangyuan was taken away by General Zhao. "Wang Shun is like a dog that fawns over his master in front of his master, and this slave doesn't forget to add jealousy to what Zhao Xiangyi and Li asked.

"That's unreasonable! "Yang Shaoyong slapped the table, knocking over all the teacups on it.

The teacup that fell to the ground made a crisp sound and shattered to the ground.

"Bang——"

The beauty playing the piano in the room was startled . , the strings in his hand broke, and the sound of the piano stopped abruptly,

"Well, Zhao Xiangyi, you dare to rob me. "Yang Shaoyong is a grumpy and brainless person, otherwise he would not be angered by a slave with just a few words. After Yang Shaomu came back from Jianzhou to provide disaster relief, his father paid

more and more attention to the prince. Yang Shaoyong responded to this . Feeling flustered, he definitely didn't want to see Yang Shaomu's power grow.

Today, Zhao Xiangyi slapped his slave in the face. This meant that he didn't take the eldest prince seriously. Yang Shaoyong snorted and said, "No. He is the dog next to Yang Shaomu. He still doesn't know who will be the prince in this world, but he still pretends to be the emperor. "

If the first words are scolding Zhao Xiangyi, the next words are talking about Prince Yang Shaomu. When

Wang Shun saw the trembling woman kneeling on the ground, he waved his hand and asked people to take the woman down and deal with the person. He spread what he shouldn't have said outside.

"Master, calm down. "Wang Shun knelt on the ground.

Does this world really belong to him, Yang Shaomu? Yang Shaoyong will never give Yang Shaomu this chance, "Damn it, damn it! "Yang Shaoyong swept the teapot and cups on the table to the ground and lost his temper.

"Get out! "

Yes, slave, get out right now." "

All the slaves in the room got out, and Yang Shaoyong was sitting alone on a chair in the room with a gloomy look on his face.

Chapter 78: First watch

There are rows of shops on both sides of the wide streets in the capital, and there are many small stalls on both sides. The streets are bustling with people coming and going. A man in black and a boy in white were riding on a big horse. Zhao Xiangyi controlled the horse rope. Li Wen held two wine jars in his hands and sat on the horse, looking at the bustling Kyoto with interest.

"Look, is that the number one scholar?"

Yesterday, the number one scholar rode a horse and paraded through the streets. Today, the people in the capital were still talking about yesterday's grand occasion. Someone asked when they saw the young man sitting on the horse on the road.

"The number one scholar?"

"Ah...it's the little number one scholar..."

Someone in the crowd shouted, and for a moment everyone's eyes were focused on them.

"..." Li asked.

"Brother Zhao, let's go!" Seeing the people coming up from behind, Li Wen grabbed Zhao Xiangyi's hand and told him to leave quickly.

"Sit tight." Zhao Xiangyi glanced at the person chasing behind him, protected the young man in front of him with one hand, and held the horse's rope with the other hand, shouting "Benxiao" ^The black horse understood the owner's meaning and ran away. Getting up, the smart big horse nimbly avoided the pedestrians in front and quickly passed through the crowd.

When they were far away, Li Wen heard someone shouting from behind that he wanted his daughter to marry him.

"..." Li asked. He didn't know that ancient people also chased stars. It turned out that the history of chasing stars was so long.

They successfully left the city, and Li Wen breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I didn't know that the people in the capital were so enthusiastic."

"Haha..." Zhao Xiangyi couldn't help laughing, with obvious joy on his face. smile.

"It's not you, pulling me to ride a horse in the city^" Li Wen now has a psychological shadow about horse riding. During yesterday's parade, others only saw their glorious appearance, but little did they know that yesterday he, Zhang Suhui and Lu Zhishu They looked very embarrassed while riding on the horse, and various unknown objects were thrown at them. He himself almost fell off the horse several times.

It is still safe to sit in the carriage, and others will not know that he is sitting in the carriage.

It seems that he will not walk on the streets of the capital for a while. If someone recognizes him, he will be kidnapped and pretended to be married to the beautiful girl at home. For the sake of his own personal safety and personal integrity, Li Wen felt that it was necessary for him to keep a low profile for a period of time.

Fortunately, he will go home to visit relatives in two days. When he comes back, these people will probably forget about him?

I hope so!

"I didn't know it would be like this." Zhao Xiangyi explained, his words would be more credible if there was no smile in his eyes.

He has never been treated like this before, and he really didn't know that the people in the capital would be so enthusiastic.

"Well, I didn't expect that. After a while, the popularity of me as the number one scholar will pass, and the people who come to the capital will probably not remember who I am." If it hadn't been for what happened just now, Li Wen wouldn't have known it. He himself is so famous in the capital, so many people want to marry their girls or daughters to him as his wife or concubine.

He is still young, and Li Wen has not considered getting married yet. According to his current age, he is still under sixteen and will not turn sixteen until his birthday next month, so Li Wen has never thought about marrying a woman as his wife so early.

According to his modern thinking, it would not be too late to consider marriage in ten years. In ten years, he would only be twenty-six years old. At this age, he had only graduated from college two years ago. Therefore, this body is not yet sixteen years old, so there is no need to worry about getting married! ! !

"Ben Xiao is so good that we didn't get caught up. What a horse! I'll treat you to delicious food later." Li Wen touched the neck of the big black horse sitting under his crotch and praised the big black horse. The big black horse raised its head and made a sound of "Yu Yu", as if it understood that others were praising it. "Proud" was written on the horse's face.

Zhao Xiangyi lowered his eyes and glanced at the horse that floated up after being praised, and his eyes flashed.

"Yu Yu..." The big black horse was praised and didn't need to be driven. It ran faster on four legs and ran easily with two people leaning on it.

It was a short journey to Zhuangzi when they came out of the city, but because Benxiao ran so fast, they arrived here in less than half an hour. The last time Li Went and Zhao Xiangyi visited his Zhuangzi, he was no stranger to this place.

"Come down." Zhao Xiangyi got off his horse and extended his hand to the young man.

Li Wen got off his horse and threw two wine jars to Zhao Xiangyi. He asked, "Do you come here often?" Ben Xiao leaned his head over and touched several of them to show off his coquettishness. horse.

"Occasionally." Zhao Xiangyi caught two wine jars. This was the wine the young man invited him to. He didn't know how it tasted.

He usually doesn't have much time to rest. If he has time, he would like to come to Zhuangzi to stay for two days. The main reason is that it is far away from the city, clean and has a large place, which is convenient for him to practice martial arts.

"Young master, Li Zhuangyuan." The steward of Zhuangzi knew that his master was coming and hurried out.

Zhao Xiangyi asked someone to take the horse down. He never knew that his horse would be such an eyesore.

Zhao Xiangyi led the young man into the village. Li Wen and Zhao Xiangyi walked side by side. He remembered something he forgot to ask and said, "Oh, yes, I just forgot to ask you. Which family does that slave belong to?" He knew that Zhao Xiangyi must have known him.

Zhao Xiangyi glanced at the young man and said, "That is the servant next to the eldest prince."

"His Royal Highness?" Li Wen guessed that the masters in the capital sent people to look for him. Unexpectedly, the one who sent people to look for him first was The eldest prince. He had never had any communication or contact with the eldest prince, so the eldest prince sent a servant to invite him to tea.

"Thank you to His Highness the First Prince for looking up to you." Li Wen smiled and said, "If I don't go, wouldn't I be offending His Highness the First Prince?"

"Don't worry, he won't blame you." At most, the account can be paid. The blame was placed on him, but Zhao Xiangyi did not say the next sentence. Zhao Xiangyi did not take Yang Shaoyong seriously. From the day he was selected as the companion of the prince Yang Shaomu, he, Zhao Xiangyi, was from the prince's faction and stood on the opposite side of the other princes.

In the past, when he was the prince's companion in the palace, he was often made things difficult by the eldest prince and the third prince. Not to mention Yang Shaomu protecting him as the companion, just because of his status as the eldest young master of the general's residence. , the eldest prince and the third prince could not do anything to him.

When Yang Shaoyong was young, they couldn't do anything to him, let alone now. The corners of Zhao Xiangyi's mouth curled up, and his eyes showed disdain for the eldest prince and the others.

"If he sends someone to find you next time, if you don't want to go, just refuse. The eldest prince can't do anything to you." Zhao Xiangyi knew that Yang Shaoyong could not invite the young man this time, so he would definitely send someone to find him again.

"Let's talk about it. Don't worry, I can handle these things by myself." Li Wen gave the man a smile, telling him not to worry about him, and he could handle these things by himself.

If the eldest prince sends people to invite him next time, he can't offend everyone to death. After all, if there is a eldest prince, there are likely to be three, four, and five princes coming to him, and he is just a small number one scholar with no background. He is the eldest prince, and I am the emperor. Can he compete with others?

It's no wonder that a little slave speaks in such a loud tone. It's no wonder that the master is His Highness the eldest prince. What kind of master raises what kind of slave? The slave is a bully, and the master is not much better. Li Wen has already given the eldest prince a failing grade in his heart.

I just don't know the character of the other princes.

"But for today's matter, I still have to thank Brother Zhao for showing up in time." Li Wen was still very grateful to Zhao Xiangyi for showing up in time and helping him solve such a small trouble.

"Don't worry about small things." Seeing the bright smile on the young man's face, Zhao Xiangyi's eyes flashed.

"Brother Zhao, I think there is a mountain behind you. Why don't we go up the mountain to hunt?" Li Wen looked at I was a bit eager to try the big mountain not far away. Ever since his master disappeared and no one knows where he went, he has never gone hunting in the mountains for so many years.

Seeing this mountain today, Li Wen's hands felt a little itchy, and he wanted to go up the mountain to hunt two rabbits and pheasants and bring back some food.

"You want to go hunting in the mountains?" Zhao Xiangyi asked, raising his eyebrows.

Don't all literati like to write and write, drink tea, recite poems and make arguments? Why do you like these warrior things? Zhao Xiangyi did not expect that Li Liuyuan would propose to go hunting in the mountains. He nodded and said, "Okay, if you want to go hunting in the mountains, let's go. Maybe I haven't gone hunting in a long time."

"Okay! Brother Zhao, you are so nice . Okay." Li Wen was so happy that he almost jumped up.

He didn't have many friends after he arrived in the capital. The one he usually stayed closest to was Lu Zhishu. Lu Zhishu was completely a scholar. Usually he liked to read quietly in the small courtyard when he had nothing to do. Li Wen couldn't bear to drag Lu Zhishu around all the time to make suggestions to Geng Geng. Went hunting in the mountains. If you want to go hunting, you really need someone like Zhao Xiangyi. Needless to say, he is skilled, at least he is better than him.

"It's a pity that Zhishu is not free today, otherwise I could have brought him hunting soon." Li Wen said with a little regret.

"You have a good relationship with Lu Tanhua?" Zhao Xiangyi asked someone to get two bows. , the big black bow was for his special use, and the smaller one was for the young man. He handed the small bow to the young man and said, "You use this one, and I'll use the big one."

"Of course, Hehe, don't you know, Zhishu and I have been studying in the same academy since we were young, and we have known each other since we were very young. It was only in the following years that he was studying in Beijing and I was studying in Nanyang, so the two of us were not together. "Li Wen did not hide the relationship between him and Lu Zhishu as classmates. It turned out that the two of them were classmates and friends who had known each other since childhood. There was nothing to hide.

Zhao Xiangyi nodded, "I see. It's no wonder that the young man and Lu Tanhua have a good relationship."

Chapter 79 Drinking

"Is this bow for me? Let me try." Li Wen took the small bow that Zhao Xiangyi had prepared for him. Compared with the larger one Zhao Xiangyi had, this small one was just ordinary. A bow used by ordinary people. Zhao Xiangyi's big bow requires a person with very strong arms to pull it open. He knows himself, so it's better to use this smaller one.

Li Wen loaded it with arrows and pulled it, and it felt okay. I don't know if I can hit the rabbits when I see them. It would be embarrassing if I couldn't even hit a rabbit.

"I didn't ask you last time. I think you seem to have practiced martial arts. Have you practiced martial arts?" Zhao Xiangyi thought of what he encountered in the inn that time. The young man's evasive movements were very deft. If he hadn't practiced martial arts, People's movements are not so flexible.

"Um... I have practiced a little bit. That was when I was a kid. I didn't practice martial arts seriously enough when I was a kid, and the master didn't have too many requirements for me as his apprentice, so I just went to the master's place every three days to make a living. Most of the time is actually spent on reading." Li Wen scratched his head and said a little embarrassed.

He has not told anyone these things, probably because Zhao Xiangyi is a person he feels he can trust.

"Brother Zhao, you are very good at martial arts. Can you teach me two moves if you have time?" Li Wen looked at Zhao Xiangyi with bright eyes. He knew that Zhao Xiangyi was very good at martial arts. On weekdays, he only practiced with Ah Chen and Ah Wu and exchanged moves.

I don't know if joining the court as an official in the future will hinder the interests of some people. If someone sends a killer to chase or assassinate him, at least he can learn a few more tricks to save his life.

"Okay, I'll come back from hunting later. If you want to learn, I'll teach you." Zhao Xiangyi got on his horse and extended his hand to the young man. Li Wen put his hand on Zhao Xiangyi's hand and used his strength to turn over and sit on the horse. It was not the first time that the two of them rode a horse together, and Li Wen did not object to this.

There were two guards behind them and followed them over.

The group of people went to the mountain not far away, leaving the horses at the foot of the mountain, and a few of them walked up the mountain.

Their trip up the mountain was fruitful. Zhao Xiangyi shot a deer, and his men shot a deer and several pheasants and rabbits. Li Wen felt that his performance this time was a bit embarrassing. He couldn't even shoot a rabbit. The arrow he released scared the rabbit away. It was Zhao Xiangyi who shot the rabbit with a sword from behind.

"Haha, I haven't touched this thing for a long time, and I missed it..." Li Wen said shamelessly, smiling a little awkwardly

. Upon hearing the young man's words, a smile flashed across Zhao Xiangyi's face.

"You can take this little thing back and play with it." The man picked up a little fox with fiery red fur, which was only a little bigger than a palm. It was probably a little fox that was just born. Zhao Xiangyi casually threw the little fox to the boy. .

Li Wen panicked and took over the little fox. In his previous life, he really wanted to keep a dog, but his family didn't allow it. He had never raised such a little thing. Li Wen saw the expression of love on the face of the little fox. At the same time, he was struggling a little in his heart and asked, "We took the little fox away. The mother fox will come back to find her." Will you be sad if you don't have a baby?"

Zhao Xiangyi looked at the young man without saying anything, obviously not thinking about these questions.

"You don't like it?" Zhao Xiangyi saw that the boy liked this little thing, so he picked up the little fox and gave it to the boy.

"It's a pleasure to like her." Li Wen said subconsciously, but he felt a little guilty.

"Take it away if you like it. If you leave it here, there are many wild animals in the mountains, and it may not be able to grow up smoothly." Zhao Xiangyi is a person who advocates force. Such a little thing, if he hadn't met them today, he would have met them. Any powerful carnivore is not enough to fill the teeth of other prey.

Li Wen struggled internally, but put the little fox into his arms and said, "Then I'll keep it."

Haha, this is a little fox...

a small animal that I have only seen in the zoo before. I didn't expect it . It would be great if he could have one one day!

"Let's go back. We have already hunted enough prey. No matter how much they eat, it will be wasted." Li Wen took the little fox in his arms and wanted to leave quickly, lest the mother fox come back to look for her cubs later.

"Yes." "Zhao Xiangyi had no objection to this and took the boy down the mountain with him.

After they returned to Zhuangzi, Zhao Xiangyi asked people to take down the deer and clean it. He put the whole deer on a rack and put it on the fire for roasting. There were two more deer that were roasted together. There was only one rabbit, and the rest of the prey was sent to the kitchen.

Someone was responsible for roasting the deer there. They set up a small table next to them and drank. They

opened the lid of the wine jar and smelled something. With the mellow aroma of wine, Zhao Xiangyi knew that the wine in this jar was good.

"It's better to come sooner than later." "Xie Yunfei came over smelling the fragrance and saw the meat being roasted in the yard.

When Xie Yunfei came over, he brought a few people with him. He came over because he had something to say to their boss. He didn't expect to see Li Liuyuan here, of course. There are also two jars of wine on the table. It's a coincidence that they came early

. They are here at the right place today. They serve

barbecue and wine. I don't want to call them when there is something delicious. Are you interested?

Xie Yunfei's eyes lit up when he saw him, and he walked over with a smile on his face and said, "Li Liuyuan, I didn't expect you to be here at Zhuangzi. Boss, you drink and eat meat without even calling me. It's so uninteresting. "

Zhao Xiangyi gave Xie Yunfei a few blows. Who asked you to come? Get back.

Xie Yunfei decisively pretended not to see their boss's disgusted eyes.

"Boss, Li Liuyuan, hello. Is there wine? "Zhang Mingyu is a thick-skinned person. As long as he has good wine and good meat, Zhang Mingyu came over to face their boss's eyes. When he saw the wine jar on the table, he couldn't walk.

"Boss, Li Liuyuan. "

The few who followed are all Zhao Xiangyi's capable subordinates. Although they are subordinates, they are all people who have gone through life and death with Zhao Xiangyi. Zhao Xiangyi treats these people as brothers. This time Zhao Xiangyi was transferred back to Beijing, and his The guards also returned to the capital together.

"Hello, come and sit together. I didn't know if you were free today. "Li Wen knew that Xie Yunfei and these people were people around Zhao Xiangyi. Last time he and Xie Yunfei had dinner together. He had met some of them before and had some impressions.

But that time he saw all these people . They looked cold and repulsive, but he didn't expect them to be like this in front of Zhao Xiangyi in private.

Li Wen preferred to be simple and direct with these literati who had to go through many twists and turns when talking to each other. He invited everyone to come and sit together, "I just happened to bring two jars of wine over today. You guys have a try to see if you like it. If you like it, I'll treat you to a drink next time." "As Li Wen spoke, he wanted to pick up the wine jar and pour them wine.

He stretched out a hand, and Zhang Mingyu said with a smile on his face, "Why don't you do it, Li Liuyuan? Let me do it, let me do it, this kind of pouring wine The rough work is suitable for me.

"This wine glass is too small. Please change it to a larger bowl. " "

Zhao Xiangyi glanced at him. Some people talk nonsense when they drink. Get out of here if you don't drink! Zhang Mingyu immediately changed his words when he received the look from the boss. He looked very dishonest and said, "Actually, a small cup is not a good idea. Okay, good wine must be tasted slowly to taste. How can you drink it from a big bowl^"

He said it as if he was not the one who asked for a big bowl just now.

Xie Yunfei covered his mouth and laughed, completely desperate.

Xie Yunfei was sitting next to Li Liuyuan and was talking to Li Liuyuan. There are only two scholars here, one is Li Liuyuan and the other is Xie Yunfei, and the rest are rough people. There are many topics that two scholars can talk about together.

Just now there were only two people, Li Wen and Zhao Xiangyi, so Li Wen was talking to Zhao Xiangyi. Now when Xie Yunfei came, it was him talking to Xie Yunfei.

"..." General Zhao, who was left out in the cold, didn't know if he could drive out these unsightly subordinates now.

"This wine smells good!" After taking a sip of wine, Zhang Mingyu's eyes lit up. They had never drank before. To have such a good wine, "it has to taste like this." The wine they drank before was just like horse urine and had no taste at all. At least the wine must taste like this.

"Did you really make this wine yourself?" Xie Yunfei took a sip of the wine and looked at Li Liuyuan with a little surprise in his eyes. He thought Li Liuyuan only knew how to read, but he didn't expect that he also knew how to make wine.

"Well, yes, can this be fake? This wine was just brewed not long ago, but it will taste better if it is left for a while. Some wines become more mellow as they stand. Li asked about the cup in front of him. Don't move, he can make wine, but he doesn't have enough wine.

"Well, it does taste very fragrant, better than the wine we drank before. "Xie Yunfei took a sip, nodded and said.

Keep it for a while? It's impossible.

Zhao Xiangyi and Xie Yunfei are very good drinkers. There are only two small jars here, and two big jars may not be enough for them to drink.

Xie Yunfei was a little curious about what the wine was made from, so Li Wen told Xie Yunfei what the wine was made from and how to make it taste better. He had good winemaking skills for more than ten years, Li Wen said. , "I'll write down the wine recipe for you later. If you have time, you can try it yourself.

"Isn't this too embarrassing? " "This is a good wine recipe. If this wine recipe is to be sold, someone will buy it if it costs thousands of gold. Xie Yunfei did not expect that Li Liuyuan would be so generous.

"Hey, I can secretly brew two jars to drink. "Li Wen blinked and said.

They all know that the imperial court prohibits individuals from brewing wine privately, because brewing uses grain, and grain is

what the people eat. If someone uses a large amount of grain to make wine, it may cause problems. The people had no food to eat, but if they secretly brewed some wine, the court would not know.

When Zhao Xiangyi heard what the two people were talking about, he looked at the young man and saw Zhao Xiangyi looking at him. He showed a shy smile and said to the man, "I also have a wine recipe here, but it requires a large utensil to make it. I will write to you later and draw you the utensils you need to use. When the time comes, find someone to make it and try to see if you can successfully make wine. "

I haven't tried it myself, but the alcohol produced this way will have a higher alcohol content. I think you will like it." "The main reason is that it is not easy to find someone to make such a set of utensils. Modern companies use machines to make wine, which allows for large-scale production.

He usually makes some wine and has people digest it inside, and there is no need to use utensils to produce large quantities. But this recipe is for Zhao Xiangyi. I believe this man can use it, right?

After hearing the boy's words, the tense lines of Zhao Xiangyi's jaw softened a little.

The deer is too big and it will take a little longer to cook. , but the rabbit was small and was cooked in a short time. The game sent to the kitchen for processing was also prepared and served. There was a lot of food on the table, mostly meat, and two fried dishes.

" for you. "Zhao Xiangyi took off the legs of a rabbit and handed it to the boy.

Li Wen took it, said "thank you", and took a bite of the rabbit meat. It tasted so delicious. I don't know if he slept on his stomach because of the smell. The little fox popped up and whined. Li Wen looked down at the little fox and asked Zhao Xiangyi, "Brother, do you think this little thing is hungry?"

"What does it want to eat? " Eat meat? "Can he feed it some meat? Foxes should like to eat chickens, right?

" The little fox is still young. I'll feed him some minced meat after a while. "Zhao Xiangyi waved to the servants not far away and asked people to come forward. Zhao Xiangyi ordered people to get some goat's milk. It happened that there were goats on Zhuangzi, and there should be goat's milk.

Xie Yunfei saw Li Liuyuan coming from his arms. Taking out a little fox, he realized that Li Liuyuan had hidden a little beast in his arms. He had been sitting here for so long without noticing, "How did this little fox get here? "Xie Yunfei asked.

Li Wen gave the little fox to someone else and asked others to hold the little fox to feed him, remembering that the little fox still had to nurse. After hearing Xie Yunfei's words, he subconsciously said, "It's Brother Zhao. For me. "

Oh..." Commander Xie let out a long oh, and looked at their boss. Seeing that their boss took good care of Li Liuyuan, Xie Yunfei sighed in his heart more than once: What a pity, it would be great if Li Liuyuan was a woman. It's a pity that it's not a woman...

What a pity!

I believe the lady will sigh even more

when the deer is roasted on the shelf, it is getting late, and the city gate will be closed soon.

If they hurried back now, they might still be able to enter the city. However, they had not eaten the venison they had waited for for a long time. After finally going out for a trip, he was not in a hurry to go back, so when Zhao Xiangyi asked him if he wanted to stay here. One night, Li Wen agreed.

But if he didn't go back, he was afraid that his family would be worried about him.

"If you are worried, I will send someone back to talk to your family. Just stay here." "As if he knew what the young man was thinking, Zhao Xiangyi said.

"Okay, thank you, Brother Zhao. "Li Wen happily agreed.

Zhao Xiangyi recruited someone to ride back to the city and go to Li Wen's home to talk to his family.

"Yes. "The man responded, turned around, went out, and rode into the city.

Chapter 80 Rejection

"Knock knock -"

"Who is knocking on the door outside?" The people in the yard heard the knock on the door and opened the door. Outside the door was a strange man holding a horse. Wu asked with vigilance in her eyes, "Who are you? It's you knocking on the door, but what's the matter?"

"Excuse me, is this Li Zhuangyuan's house?"

"Well, yes, What do you want?"

"Li Zhuangyuan is having a drink with my master. He is still at Zhuangzi outside the city. Li Zhuangyuan will spend the night there, so my master sent me here to tell you." The man explained his purpose of coming and conveyed their master's words to the other party.

"Oh, that's it. Could you please come over?" After hearing this, Mrs. Wu smiled and thanked her. The man outside the door delivered the message. He had to rush out of the city, so he got on his horse and left. Wu closed the courtyard door and went in.

There was a strong fragrance of flowers in the small yard, and Li Jinwan was boiling spices in the kitchen. When she worked in the workshop, she worked beside her aunt, so Li Jinwan knew how to boil these spices. Her brother gave her a recipe a few days ago, which was similar to the soap they used to make, but slightly different. Li Jinwan was trying to make this thing these days.

So in the past few days, not only was the fragrance of flowers in their yard, but also people in nearby houses could smell the fragrance of flowers every day, but others didn't know whose family passed the fragrance on.

Li Jinwan heard the knock on the door from outside. When she saw Wu coming in from the outside, Li Jinwan asked, "Who was knocking on the door just now?"

"Miss, there was someone who came just now. The young master is having a drink at a friend's place and won't be back tonight, so he sent someone to tell him." Wu said.

Her brother is out tonight and won't he come back? Li Jinwan nodded, knowing this.

Her brother is already so old that he won't come back if he doesn't come back at night, so Li Jinwan has nothing to worry about. Knowing that her brother wasn't coming back, she didn't have to wait for her brother to come back and have dinner together. Li Jinwan touched her hungry belly and said to herself, "Forget it, I'll go have a meal."

Mu Mu Mu

The sun was setting. The sun gradually went down, and there was a faint cloud glow in the west.

Many small stalls on the street have closed down, and the vendors have packed up and gone home, ending their business for the day. People who want to enter or leave the city at this time must rush in and out before the city gate closes. When the sun sets, the city gate will be closed.

At this time, there are far fewer pedestrians and cars on the streets in the city. There are less crowded people, cars and horses, and the roads become wider.

A carriage was walking on the streets of the capital. The young man sitting in the carriage was closing his eyes and concentrating. Lu Zhishu had just come out of his uncle's house and went back to his small courtyard.

This trip to the Lu Mansion made Lu Zhishu feel a little unswerving in his heart.

If we talk about why Lu Zhishu insisted on moving out of his uncle's house and living in a small courtyard outside after living in his uncle's house for a short period of time when he arrived in the capital, of course one of them was that he wanted to have a clean place to study, and more The important reason is that his aunt doesn't like him.

Lu Zhishu is not a person who doesn't understand anything, but because he has been smarter than other children since he was a child, his heart is more sensitive than others, and his ability to perceive external things is better than ordinary people.

This Mrs. Lu is a popular lady in the capital. She was the wife that Mr. Lu married after he came to the capital and passed the imperial examination. For this reason, Mr. Lu even canceled a marriage that his family had arranged for him. At that time, Mrs. Lu was still the eldest sister of the newlyweds. She immediately fell in love with Lu Changping, a new scholar, and insisted on marrying him.

That year, Lu Changping was just a junior scholar who had just passed the imperial examination, and later passed the examination of the common scholar. Later, after Lu Changping married this lady, he relied on his own efforts and the promotion of the Yue family to reach the position of right minister of the Ministry of Rites in just a few decades.

Even though Mrs. Lu was married to Mr. Lu, except for her husband, Mrs. Lu looked down on the rest of the Lu family. Although the Lu family was considered a prominent family in the local area, in the eyes of Mrs. Lu, they were just a group of country people.

Mrs. Lu once followed her husband back to the Lu family's old house, and met Mrs. Lu, her husband's mother, whom she called her mother-in-law. Mrs. Lu disliked the old woman who was weighing down on her very much, so she never went back to the Lu family's old house. She was her Mrs. Lu in the Lu Mansion in the capital. Apart from her husband, she was the only other person in the family. The biggest one, the two concubines and the two concubines in the backyard all wanted to behave in her own way.

Until a few years ago, her husband sent someone to pick up his nephew from his hometown to study in the capital. Naturally, Mrs. Lu looked down on this nephew who came from the country and lived in her home. At that time, while her husband was going to court, Mrs. Lu sent her personal

maid to find the young nephew, and said some unpleasant words to him in secret and overtly, so within two days, the young nephew came to him. Moved out to live.

So when people live outside, it's fine as long as they don't get in her eyes.

Knowing that her husband had cared a lot about her nephew in recent years, Mrs. Lu just pretended to be in front of her husband, but in fact she didn't care much about the young nephew.

Until this year's examination results were released, Lu Zhishu ranked fifth in the examination, and was later selected by the emperor as second place in the palace examination. This surprised Mrs. Lu, and she immediately thought that Lu Zhishu was still young at this age. The matter of getting a wife. It happened that a niece from her natal family fell in love with Lu Zhishu. In the past, Mrs. Lu did not agree with her niece because she felt that Lu Zhishu was just a small official and her status was too low to be worthy of the young lady of their eldest grandson's family. But now Lu Zhishu passed the Jinshi examination, and his status was naturally different.

Mrs. Lu had mentioned to her husband several times before that she missed her nephew and asked him to stay at her house for a few days. It was not until this day that Zhishu Lu came to the house. Mrs. Lu immediately sent the servants of the house to go back to her parents' house to pick up her niece, thinking of taking the opportunity to bring the two of them together.

If this marriage can be settled, it will be a happy event for their two families.

Today, Zhishu Lu went to Fu Lu to meet his aunt's wife. He originally wanted to say hello to his elders and then go back. It was just that his aunt, who had been indifferent to him in the past, suddenly pulled him to be affectionate. It was not until the arrival of Miss Changsun that Lu Zhishu knew the purpose of his aunt's visit to him. Later, he was entangled by Miss Changsun and couldn't get rid of him. body.

Master Lu knew that his nephew had gone to his house. After finishing his work in the Rites Department, Lu Changping hurried back home.

Lu Zhishu, who was still staying in the Lu Mansion at that time, saw his uncle come back. The uncle and nephew rarely met each other. Lu Changping had many things to say to his nephew when he saw him. The two went into the study and talked for a long time.

Hearing his uncle and aunt mention his marriage, Mrs. Lu directly mentioned her natal niece and said that the little girl was interested in him. She waited for him to nod and immediately decided on the auspicious day to arrange the marriage. Done. Lu Zhishu refused without thinking at the time. He couldn't even remember what Miss Changsun looked like, let alone like her.

When Mrs. Lu heard Lu Zhishu's rejection, she was naturally unhappy. With a smile on her face, she seemed to be concerned and asked why Lu Zhishu was unwilling, "Our Lian'er has a dignified appearance and a good temper. She is a good girl. What do you think of Lian?" What doesn't your son like? "

What Mrs. Lu means is that her niece is good-looking and has a good personality. She married a girl from the eldest grandson's family, and there is an eldest grandson's family to help you. How can you find such a good thing? Lu The lady asked Lu Zhishu why he refused.

When Lu Changping heard his nephew's rejection, he also waited for his nephew to explain why he did not agree to the marriage.

"Uncle, aunt, and nephew, thank you for your concern and kindness. It's my nephew who made you worry." Lu Zhishu saluted the two elders, thanked them for their kindness and concern, and at the same time apologized to them, "It's just my nephew. He already has someone he likes, so he is afraid that he will let down his good intentions, so he asks his uncle and aunt to forgive his nephew. "

Yes, he already has someone he likes, but that person is not someone he can marry.

If Lu Zhishu was still vague about his feelings for the boy before, he didn't know what they were. It wasn't until this time that the young man took the exam in the capital that Lu Zhishu understood why he had been obsessed with someone in the past years, and why his heart was so happy when he saw someone in front of him.

Long Yang's love has existed since ancient times. Lu Zhishu is a smart man. He knows that men can like men, and he himself fell in love with a man. Although this goes against the principles of yin and yang, and the world has a lot of stigma about two men being together, if they like it, they like it. This is something he can't control.

But no matter whether he has someone he likes today or not, Lu Zhishu will never marry this Miss Changsun,

let alone any woman he doesn't like.

When Mrs. Lu heard that Zhishu Lu said that there was someone he liked, she naturally asked repeatedly which girl Lu Zhishu liked. However, Lu Zhishu said nothing and remained silent, but his attitude was also very firm and clear.

Later, Lu Changping had some words to smooth things over, and the matter was over for the time being.

Therefore, during this trip to the Lu Mansion, Lu Zhishu was in a very unswerving mood. On the way back, he still felt very depressed in his heart. When he was studying in the past, he only thought about studying and taking the imperial examination. One day, he would become a Jinshi, become an official in the court, and be able to serve the court. It is the dream of every scholar to become a scholar in literature and martial arts, and to be a member of an imperial family, and Lu Zhishu is no exception.

However, Lu Zhishu thought many things were too simple. Things in this world were far more complicated than he imagined.

The wheels turned, the horses' hooves clattered, and the carriages on the road gradually moved away and disappeared at the other end of the road.