Chapter 252: Palace Examination (two more in one)

Chapter 252 Palace Examination (two more in one)

This situation exceeded everyone's expectations. Even the princess was taken aback. As soon as the bookshelf fell, she instinctively walked a few steps forward to avoid the flying disaster.

But this room was already cramped, and after walking a few steps forward, he almost collided with Xiao Liulang.

Xiao Liulang heard the sound first, knowing that someone was coming in, and then the bookshelf fell and hit the door. There was no oil lamp in the room, and no windows. Once the door was closed, the room was plunged into endless darkness.

He didn't see who the person came, but took a step back following the instinct of no one to enter, and almost stuck himself to the wall.

It’s not a day or two for Xiao Liulang to enter the life. Since Feng Lin met him, he has discovered that he has serious social cleanliness, but Feng Lin has a thicker skin and always moves in front of Xiao Liulang.

The princess was embarrassed by the opponent's suspicion-avoidance action. Wouldn't the average man be a hero to save the beauty in such a thing?

Of course, as a high-ranking princess, she would not allow herself to have any physical contact with foreign men, but it is one thing that she does not allow it, and it is another thing that others do not do so.

There was a woman's powdery aroma floating in the room, not the cheap powdery aroma on the market, but the finest court incense.

Xiao Liulang took a pause with the ink ingot hand.

Although there is no lamp in the room, after the eyes have adjusted to the darkness, they can vaguely open a little field of vision with the faint light that penetrates under the crack of the door.

The other party is wearing a pearl white gauze skirt, the gauze is brushed down, and the embellished gold and silver threads are looming in the dim light.

This is an inch and a gold shark yarn. It is said that a hundred fisher girls can weave a half a horse in a month. This is a bit exaggerated, but the shark yarn is indeed a rare treasure in the court.

The maids are not qualified to wear it, and the general concubines are not qualified. The House of Internal Affairs usually only gives it to the mistress of the harem-the queen mother or the queen.

The queen mother is no longer in the palace, and the queen cannot leave the palace at all.

The woman has a graceful posture, like a beautiful shark emerging from the water under a moonlit night.

is a young woman.

The room is very quiet, even breathing can be heard clearly.

Xiao Liulang didn't speak, nor did he go any further to strike up a conversation or salute.

"who are you?"

After some hesitation, the princess finally spoke first.

Hearing this voice, Xiao Liulang squeezed the ink ingot in his hand, but he still did not speak.

The princess secretly said, is it really not Ah Heng? If it were Ah Heng, he would not fail to hear his own voice...

She paused, and tentatively walked towards the other party. However, not knowing whether it was intentional or unintentional, another row of bookshelves also suddenly fell down, which happened to be between the two.

I couldn’t ask, and I couldn’t make it through. The princess was completely dead.

The two hadn't been closed in the room for too long. The shopkeeper noticed the strangeness here and hurriedly called the buddy to pry the door.

It’s a pity that the door was blocked and it was not easy to pry open for a while.

The shopkeeper felt distressed about the door and floor of his house. He didn't dare to make too much noise, and the progress of opening the door was unknowingly delayed.

But said that the prince waited upstairs for a long time and didn’t see the prince’s return. He and the prince had come out of the world of two people, without any entourage, just a coachman and two guards who secretly protected him.

He thought about it, but decided to look for it himself.

The princess said that she was going to buy sesame biscuits, but she was not seen at the gate of Sesame Shop.

He asked the coachman: "Have you seen the princess?"

The coachman said: "In response to the master's son, the prince has gone to study."

The prince frowned. What is she going to do in the study?

Doubts return to doubts, the prince still strode into the study.

He only found out that there was an accident in the study after he entered. With a thought, he walked forward and asked without anger, "Who is locked in?"

The shopkeeper saw that the other party had a strong aura and was well-dressed, and said respectfully: "I didn't see it clearly, it's a lady..."

"Get out." The prince said solemnly.

Everyone was caught by his aura and pushed aside. The prince knocked on the door gently and said: "Lin Lang, are you in it?"

In the darkness, the princess turned around, looked at the bookshelf in front of her, and then at the door of the room she was holding back, and said: "I am here."

The prince pushed the door, but there was no response.

The shopkeeper said: "It's useless, the bookshelf inside has fallen down, and the door is blocked."

The prince frowned and said: "Don't you hurry up?"

"This, isn't it not prying open?" The shopkeeper wanted to hit with an axe, but worried that he might accidentally hurt the person inside.

The prince will not send out the guards around him as a last resort, but he can't take care of that much at the moment. He is worried that the prince will be in it.

He made the dark guard appear.

The two secret guards are all masters of Ouchi, and a door can't stand them up. The two quickly removed the door and removed the first shelf blocking the door.

The prince hurriedly stretched out his hand to the princess.

The princess took his hand and walked out of the broken ink ingot.

The prince looked at her up and down, and asked worriedly: "Are you okay?"

The princess shook her head slightly: "I'm fine, just now I have to wait for the sesame cake, I will come over and choose a few ink ingots for Xiaoqi."

Qin Chuyu cannot use the ink ingots of the imperial palace, which easily reveals his identity.

The prince did not doubt that he had him, and said to her: "You can leave this kind of thing to your subordinates to do, don't do it yourself, if something happens to you, I will be sad."

The princess smiled guiltily: "I make you worry, it's mine."

The prince said: "You are fine, let's go."

The prince didn’t know there was another person inside, but the prince Yu Guang glanced at it, but didn’t say anything.

The prince took the hand of the prince, threw an ingot to the shopkeeper, and stepped out of the study.

The shopkeeper got the ingot, and didn’t feel sorry for the door and the broken bookshelves and ink ingots in the room. He smiled and thanked him: "The son, go slowly! Madam, go slowly!"

After he said, he turned around and scratched his head, looked at the messy room, and said, "Huh? I remember that there was a scholar who just went in... Huh? Why did this bookshelf fall down too? It shouldn't be..."

This bookshelf was easily fixed, and he didn’t put any heavy objects on it. Why did it fall down?

He was thinking, Xiao Liulang stooped out from under another fallen bookshelf.

The shopkeeper was taken aback: "Really, there are people..."

Xiao Liulang didn’t say anything. He settled the bill for the ink ingot and gave a little more money. The shopkeeper was about to ask, he said, "Loss."

Loss of the second shelf.

The shopkeeper was stunned.

After seeing his little relatives, Xiao Jingkong and Xu Congee returned to the sesame cake shop and met with Xiao Liulang, accompanied by Xu Congee and the Xu family.

Xiao Jingkong is a careful kid, and he soon noticed that his brother-in-law’s hands were not right.

He stopped and looked at Xiao Liulang's right hand in his wide sleeves seriously: "What's wrong with your hand?"

"Nothing." Xiao Liulang said lightly.

Xiao Jingkong didn't believe it. He grabbed Xiao Liulang's sleeve and saw a red and swollen hand. His eyes instantly widened: "It's all swollen! How did you do it? Does it hurt?"

Xiao Liulang suddenly smiled and squeezed his small face: "You care about me so much?"

Xiao Jingkong slapped his messy hands on his face, and said sternly: "I'm not afraid that you won't succeed in the test? Jiaojiao bet you for the champion! All your net worth is bet!"

Xiao Liulang: "..."

As soon as I went to the hospital, Xiaojingkong found Gu Jiao, who was drying medicinal materials in the backyard, and complained about the bad brother-in-law: "...I didn't look at him all of a sudden, he hurt himself!"

Gu Jiao put down the medicinal materials in her hand and looked at Xiao Liulang who came by: "Where is it hurt? Let me see." Then to Xiaojingkong, "Go and play with Sister Jiangli."

"Hao Ba." Xiao Jingkong obediently went to find Xiao Jiangli.

Gu Jiao took Xiao Liulang back to her yard.

There is a consultation room in the hospital, but it is external, it is different.

Xiao Liulang has been to the hospital several times, but has never entered Gu Jiao’s room. It is not like a study room. It has simple furniture and a small bed for her to rest behind the screen.

The two sit outside the screen.

The    screen is not the landscape or flower-and-bird screen that ordinary girls love. It is just plain light blue without any color.

Her preferences are always different.

Mingming both live under the same roof, but for some reason, this room exclusively owned by Gu Jiao gave Xiao Liulang the feeling of breaking into her boudoir.

Xiao Liulang's expression is slightly hefty.

Gu Jiao rolled up his sleeve, instead of cushioning his wrist with a pulse pillow, she directly supported his wrist with her hand.

His wrist was severely swollen, and she gently touched the bone. The bone was good.

She squeezed the back of his hand again. There was also a slight swelling here, which should be caused by congestion on the wrist.

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

"It doesn't hurt," he said.

Gu Jiao also checked his fingers.

His hands are beautiful, thin, slender fingers, distinct joints, nail repairs very clean, even the uninjured wrist bones are as delicate as jade.

If this is placed in a previous life, it will be either the surgeon’s hand or the pianist’s hand.

Why got hurt?

Gu Jiao was a little angry.

She couldn't bear to let him do heavy work at home, for fear that he would hurt her hand.

"How did you do it?" she asked.

In fact, they rarely asked about this. When Gu Jiao treated his leg earlier, she never asked how he was injured. Gu Jiao was slapped into a coma, and he didn't ask who Gu Jiao was guilty with. .

Even though they all learned the truth to some extent in the end, they didn't know it from the other side.

"The bookshelf was smashed." Xiao Liulang said, "I didn't pay much attention at the time."

Gu Jiao looked at his red and swollen wrist and frowned, "Be careful later."

Xiao Liulang nodded: "Okay."

Ice on the first day to prevent the spread of congestion.

Gu Jiao took an ice pack from the small medicine box and put it on his wrist. This kind of ice pack does not need to be frozen, it is crushed into ice. The disadvantage is that it cannot be reused.

Xiao Liulang had long been accustomed to the strange things that appeared in her little medicine box from time to time, and did not ask her where the ice came from.

She held his wrist in one hand, and held the ice bag in the other hand on his wrist, changing places from time to time, her expression was serious and careful.

Xiao Liulang's eyes moved slightly, and he stretched out his hand and said, "I'll do it myself."

Gu Jiao picked up the ice bag and avoided his hand: "No, it's very ice."

Your hands are not iced anymore?

Xiao Liulang looked at her steadily, his wrists were cold and painful, but he didn't seem to feel it in his heart. He opened his mouth and suddenly asked, "Did you treat other patients... the same way?"

"No." Gu Jiao shook her head, carefully compressing his hand with an ice pack, "Only for you."

Xiao Liulang's heart suddenly rose, and an unfamiliar and strong emotion filled in. In fact, she didn't say specifically what it was for him, but it made people not even breathe.

The ice bag was too ice, her left hand was completely numb with ice, she changed her right hand to hold the ice bag, and supported his hand bones with an ice-like left hand.

After changing it several times, Xiao Liulang's wrist swelled a lot, and there was no pain at all. Her hands were so cold that she almost lost consciousness.

She went to pack things, Xiao Liulang could feel her movements were slow.

She closed the medicine cabinet as if she was okay. She actually didn't care about it. She just froze her hands. It's not uncommon for her body to be stiff from freezing in the previous life.

But what she doesn't care about, this time, someone cares for her.

As soon as she got up to handle the medical supplies, a slender hand stretched out and grabbed her cold hand.

The hand is slender and white, with a force that cannot be denied, it tightly wraps her hand.

The sore fingertips suddenly warmed up.

Gu Jiao looked at him blankly.

He did not go to look after Gu Jiao, but silently held her other hand in his palm.

……

In a blink of an eye, April 15th, the quiz before the palace exam began.

Xiao Liulang went out before dawn, and arrived at the front gate of the palace in a carriage driven by Liu Quan.

There are three doors at the front gate of the imperial palace. The middle one is the main gate, which is tall and wide, and is a full twenty feet high. There is a side gate on each side of the main gate.

The door on the left is mostly for the royal family members to enter and exit, and the door on the right is mostly for ministers.

Today's examinees walked through the right door.

The candidates lined up outside the right door early, according to their own test quotation marks.

Xiao Liulang and Du Ruohan’s exam numbers were together, Xiao Liulang 75, Du Ruohan 76, Du Ruohan arrived earlier than Xiao Liulang, and greeted Feng Lin and Lin Chengye, and waited for Xiao Liulang after a long time.

"Why are you here so late? I thought you were too timid to come!" Du Ruohan was jealous of Xiao Liulang and squeezed his place in Feng Lin's mind, always choking him twice when they met.

Xiao Liulang didn't bother to quarrel with him, silently lined up in front of him.

Du Ruohan curled his lips: "Hey, are you nervous? Feng Lin and Lin Chengye are nervous to death."

The exam numbers of the two of them are relatively high, one is twenty-one and the other is thirty-seven. It is said that they are more advanced than Xiao Liulang and Du Ruohan, and the two of them are trembling.

Fortunately, the rest of the people also tremble, not many people who do not tremble.

One is that everyone has never been in the palace and is a little nervous, and the other is that it is very cold today!

It’s April, and the weather should be fine, but last night it rained suddenly and the temperature dropped sharply. At this moment, there was still a gust of wind blowing.

Xiao Liulang glanced at him: "Are you nervous?"

Du Ruohan snorted: "What makes me nervous?"

Xiao Liulang glanced around him, if you don't shake your legs, it will be more convincing.

When the hour came, the right door opened, and officials from the Ministry of Etiquette began to check the candidates’ testimonials and matching cards. After the inspection, a palace **** and an official from the Ministry of rites will lead the candidates into the Palace of Supreme Harmony. .

In this quiz, no one has searched the body. After all, everyone is no longer considered to be an ordinary person with fame and fame. Everyone is a tribute, and the worst person who goes out from here is also the same Jinshi.

What is Tongjinshi? That is the reserve officer of the court.

"Oh, Xiao Liuzi, do you know who that is?" Halfway through, Du Ruohan suddenly pulled Xiao Liulang's sleeve and gestured with his eyes to Gong Sheng who could not see a Chinese character face in the distance.

Xiao Liulang said calmly: "Why do you talk more than Feng Lin?"

They talk a lot, which is called stinking.

Du Ruohan cut out: "Just forget it if you don't want to listen."

Xiao Liulang actually knew who Du Ruohan was referring to. It was Yuan Shoufu’s young grandson Yuan Yu. When he was queuing in line, the officials of the Ministry of Rites greeted Yuan Yu specially and called Young Master Yuan.

Shangshu of the Ministry of Etiquette is Yuan Shoufu’s protégé, so it is not surprising that Yuan Yu has taken care of him.

As for Hongyousiqing, he is a protégé of Mrs. Zhuang, and 80% of them would favor King An.

The test number of Junwang An was ranked behind Xiao Liulang and Du Ruohan, Xiao Liulang did not see him.

All candidates are taking the exam in the main hall of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. One mat, one book case, pen, ink, paper and inkstone are provided by the court. Candidates must sit and answer the questions.

The invigilators are officials from the Ministry of Rites and Hongyou Temple.

After listening to the instructions and singing of the Book of Etiquette, the candidates bowed their hands and began to take their seats.

Only one eight-legged essay was tested in the quiz. This time, there was no cut-off question. The title was-"The way is not far away. People are the way, and the way is far away. You can't be the way."

This sentence comes from "The Doctrine of the Mean·Chapter Thirteen", which means-Tao is not far away from man. If someone pretends to be profound and keeps Tao away from people, then Tao cannot be practiced.

There are many entry points for this question. You can explore the essence and form of Tao, and you can also delve into the degree and way of practicing Tao.

After experiencing cruel rounds of children's exams, township exams, and meeting exams, the candidates suddenly got such a simple question, and the candidates were not used to it.

So a weird scene appeared in the examination room. All the examinees looked at the test papers on the table with dumbfounded expressions, seriously suspecting that the examiner had made a mistake.

"The exam begins." A reminder from the Book of Etiquette, the candidates just woke up like a dream, and took the draft paper and started to solve the problem.

If it is not about the difficulty of this exam, it is probably time, only two hours.

However, considering the fact that the exam questions are not difficult, this time is enough. Even Feng Lin and Lin Chengye didn't feel too much pressure.

The quiz is not counted in the total score. Its main purpose is not to select talents, but to warm up for the palace exam in advance, and then to learn the imperial etiquette and examination room rules.

Shangshu of the Ministry of Etiquette and Hongyousiqing co-invigorated the examination.

Xiao Liulang was sitting in the second-to-last seat in the first column. This Ziben was not likely to attract the examiner's attention, so he placed a crutches next to him.

Honghe Siqing noticed the crutches all at once, and he asked the **** beside him in a low voice, "Who is that?"

The **** counted Xiao Liulang's examination number, then looked at the matching card in his hand, and said: "It's a supervisor of the Imperial College."

"How is it..."

Hongyousiqing wanted to say, how can he be a cripple?

The words came to my lips and felt that they were wrong.

Since the imperial examination conditions have been relaxed in this dynasty, then as the imperial order officer, he should be well accepted.

It's just that Hongyousiqing still couldn't help being sucked away by Xiao Liulang. It's not to blame him, it is true that no **** has come for scientific research since the opening of the dynasty.

Especially those who passed the palace exam.

There are quite a few scars on the face.

Will this kid also have scars on his face? Does that scare your Majesty?

Hongyousiqing decided to take a look. If it is really ugly, he will have to leave him alone. At least he can’t submit his test paper to the emperor, frightening the emperor and they can’t afford it.

Hongyousiqing then walked to Xiao Liulang to take a look.

One glance, he was completely stunned.

Xiao Liulang finished the test papers calmly, but didn't hand in the papers in advance because he couldn't leave.

In the afternoon, I was studying the rules and court etiquette. To be honest, among the 210 Gongshi, there were not many underachievers. It is not that the poor students are not hard enough, but their educational resources and education system are far inferior to the noble children.

It often takes a lot of hard work for a family to train a Jinshi. For example, the children of the Yuan family and the children of the Zhuang family have great scholars such as Yuan Shoufu and Zhuang Taifu as teachers, and they can benefit the family children with just a few words. shallow.

No matter how bad he is, he is a Jiangnan talented person like Wang Yuan, who comes from a scholarly family and has two Jinshis in his family, and he can also give him a good guide.

The younger brothers are difficult to get ahead.

In this tribute, most of the candidates have a little family background. At home, someone was invited to teach some etiquette rules. Therefore, everyone learned the royal etiquette, and the overall progress was very fast.

At the time of   you, the candidates finished their studies and took their own test leads and the matching cards and went out of the palace.

Feng Lin didn't learn too much. He asked Lin Chengye. Lin Chengye had met, but when Feng Lin asked him, he suddenly became uncertain.

"Liu Lang." Feng Lin looked at Xiao Liulang pleadingly.

Xiao Liulang demonstrated it to the two in the carriage.

Du Ruohan patted the folding fan and said, "Hey? Little Liuzi, how can your courtesy be so good?"

At first glance, it looks like a poor boy from the country.

It’s not he who blows, Xiao Liulang’s Libian County King is not bad, where did this kid learn the temperament of a noble master in Beijing?

Xiao Liulang said lightly: "Look more and you won't be able to."

"You kid... forget it." Du Ruohan shook the folding fan, without telling what he was going to ask, "It's getting late, I'm leaving! Would you like to send you back?"

Feng Lin said: "No, we have a carriage."

Feng Lin and Lin Chengye have a carriage, and Xiao Liulang himself has a carriage by Liu Quan.

"Okay, let's not see each other in these two days, so we can live at home and wait for the exam." Du Ruohan said, turned and got out of the carriage.

Feng Lin said to Xiao Liulang: "Liulang, we are also gone."

Xiao Liulang could see that he was a little nervous, and said to him: "You don't have to think about anything. Your Majesty is not a snake or a beast. Even if something goes wrong, he won't do anything to people. Just take a good test. The same is true for you."

He looked at Lin Chengye, “The palace exam does not test eight-part essays, but only measures policy questions. This year you have made great progress in policy questions, so just let it go and do the questions."

Lin Chengye has studied with Xiao Liulang for so long. Xiao Liulang has always been a strict teacher and has never praised him. It seems that no matter how hard he works, Xiao Liulang can't be satisfied...

But just now, Xiao Liulang said that he has made a lot of progress?

Lin Chengye is more efficient than being praised by the master of Guozijian!

His back straightened all of a sudden, and he said sternly: "I, I, I can, good, good exam!"

"Yeah." Xiao Liulang nodded, "Don't read books in these two days, and wait for the exam with peace of mind."

"Ok!"

The praised Lin Chengye got out of the carriage full of fighting spirit, and got into his carriage with Feng Lin.

In the past two days, several people have not gone out at home.

On the 17th, the palace exam officially began.

On this day, the academies in Beijing are on holiday, including the Imperial College.

More than two hundred candidates came to wait outside the palace gate before dawn. One candidate dropped the exam at home and almost fainted. Fortunately, the owner of the inn where he lived found the exam and gave him a quick whip. Sent here.

Although candidates are generally not accepted for hall exams, they will still be accepted if they fail to take the exam.

The examination of the palace examination has become more stringent.

Some candidates living in the capital, their parents also came, but they were not allowed to approach the palace, and they were stopped hundreds of meters away.

Of course, court ministers like Zhuang Taifu and Yuan Shoufu are exceptions.

The two of them came to court, and by the way they told their children a few words.

The rest of the candidates looked in their eyes, and instantly felt a huge pressure.

"Take the exam well and don't need to think about anything." Taifu Zhuang said to King An, who was at the end of the line. The exam number he got was the second to last. However, the appearance of Taifu Zhuang caused quite a stir. Almost all the candidates looked at him.

Anjun Wang smiled: "Please rest assured, grandfather."

Tao Fu Zhuang gave the Wang Anjun a long sleeve. This is telling him that you only need to take the test and leave the rest to me.

With the strength of Junwang An and the power of Taifu Zhuang, why not worry about him not winning the first place?

As for the potential threats, he has a hundred ways to drop the opponent's test paper!

At this moment, the candidates were extremely envious, envious of the talents of King An, and envious of King An’s family background.

Tao Fu Zhuang could not stay for too long. He turned around and was about to leave. Suddenly, a tall and majestic figure approached.

"Oh? Isn't this Mr. Zhuang? Such a coincidence."

Who is this unpuffed voice, not Xuan Pinghou?

Tao Fu Zhuang now has a headache when he sees him. The most disgusted person in the court is Xuan Pinghou!

Tao Fu Zhuang took the slab in his hand and said faintly: "This sentence should be right for the old man. It's not three poles in the day. Why did Xuan Pinghou come to court?"

Who doesn’t know, Xuanping Hou never came back early.

There are so many people here, Xuan Pinghou is still holding it, and he said gracefully and calmly: "Benhou is the same as you."

Mrs. Zhuang chirped, just like him? What is it like him? Is it possible to also come to send the children at home to the palace test? Oh, by whom? Are the two incompetent **** in his family?

Xuan Pinghou ignored Mr. Zhuang’s disdain, he curled his lips and stepped forward.

Xuan Pinghou has his own aura, which attracted all eyes at once.

The candidates wanted to see it but didn't dare to look at it.

Xuanping Hou stopped beside Xiao Liulang, raised his hand, and straightened Xiao Liulang's clothes seriously and solemnly.

Is there a monthly pass?

(End of this chapter)