Afterwards, the poetry meeting lasted for about an hour and a half before it came to an end.
To be precise, it was Li Changkong who wrote the poem and signed it, which took him a full hour and a half.
By the end of the poetry session, my whole wrist was sore.
In fact, Princess Huaiqing originally only wanted to hold this poetry gathering for an hour.
Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival after all, and everyone has to go back for the reunion dinner in the evening.
If you do it too late, you may not have enough time.
But who would have thought that these young talents and famous scholars were so enthusiastic that they pestered Li Changkong for an hour and a half before letting him go.
This also led to the fact that when we left, it was getting late and there were very few pedestrians on the road.
Zhen Jian was braving the cold wind and speeding up his car, hoping to return home early and have a reunion dinner with his young master.
However, as the saying goes, there are thousands of roads, but safety comes first.
Whether you are riding a chariot or riding a horse, you should not go too fast in this busy city.
Zhen Jian was usually this cautious, but now, the streets were endless and deserted, and he was in a hurry, so he couldn't help but go a little faster.
Unexpectedly, something happened after all.
The imperial palace is located in the north of Qiandu City, while the Wulinghou Mansion is close to Taipingfang in the south.
Therefore, there is still some distance between the two, and there are inevitably some remote places, such as the Huainan Alley in front of us.
At the corner of Huainan Lane, the carriage skidded and hit a figure with a bang, knocking it several meters away.
Zhen Jian was so frightened that his face turned pale and he immediately dismounted.
Li Changkong also got off the chariot, his face solemn.
The two of them walked forward, only to see that the person who had been hit struggled to get up as if nothing was wrong.
However, a piece of wood on his chest shattered into two pieces with a click.
Li Changkong breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this.
It must have been not a head-on collision, but an oblique collision, otherwise it would have been impossible to smash just one piece of wood.
Only then did Li Changkong have the time to look at the person in front of him.
I saw this man wearing a Confucian robe, dressed as a scholar, but there were bulging bags under the Confucian robe, as if filled with cotton wool.
This way, he doesn't look like a scholar in the capital who has no worries about food and clothing.
On the contrary, he is like a scholar who comes to a remote area to take the exam, his family is poor, but he wants to borrow a Confucian robe to decorate his appearance.
Looking at the face again confirmed Li Changkong's guess.
His complexion was yellowish and somewhat black, which must be the result of long-term exposure to the scorching sun.
Scholars in Qiandu City would never be like this.
They have fair skin and usually stay at home. Even when they go out, there are maids and servants holding parasols.
This person must be a scholar from a poor family who came to the capital from other places to take the exam.
But, this day is not right either.
Although the day of Qiuwei is coming soon, the examination in Qiuwei is the provincial examination. Although according to the laws of Daqian, students from anywhere can go to the Qian capital to take the examination to avoid the unfairness that may be caused by the different difficulty levels of test papers in different places.
But, as for?
The provincial examination can be taken locally. Do you have to waste half your life and rush to Qiandu City to take the examination?
This is very surprising.
Later, there was the broken sign on his chest, with four words written on it that had nothing to do with scholars: Sell yourself to bury your father!
No matter how miserable a scholar is, he should still have a small family fortune, or at least be a family member of the family.
Otherwise, if you don’t even have the money to buy books, why would you want to read?
So, why did he end up selling himself to bury his father?
This man's whole body was filled with doubts.
But Li Changkong was not a curious person. He stretched out his hand and took out a banknote, which was worth hundreds of taels. He handed it to the scholar and said, "It's just that my servant was wrong and drove the car without a good eye, so I hit you."
"Please take this hundred taels of silver to the medical clinic and ask the doctor to prescribe a prescription for good treatment."
"If it's not enough, just come to Wulinghou Mansion to find me."
After Li Changkong finished speaking, he turned around and was about to leave. Who would have thought that the man actually knelt down with a plop and cried, "My benefactor is so kind and benevolent that I will never forget it!"
"This hundred taels of silver will definitely be repaid one day!" The scholar was stooped, as if he was overwhelmed by life.
But for some reason, at this moment, Li Changkong felt that the other party was surprisingly tall.
We are all in this situation, but we still have our own principles. This is a talent.
Li Changkong left in no hurry and asked: "I saw this wooden sign on your chest, but your father has encountered misfortune?"
When Li Changkong mentioned this matter, the scholar's eyes immediately filled with sadness.
He nodded and said, "I was the one who caused my father to suffer."
"how you said that?"
The scholar seemed to have been stabbed in a sore spot. He was silent for a long time before slowly speaking: "Does your teacher know Lu Heng?"
"Lu Heng? Left Assistant Minister of Hubu?"
"Exactly, Mr. Lu is my master."
When Li Changkong heard this, he frowned and thought to himself that he had stabbed Lu Heng in his nest today. Why did everyone come out so often and follow the old fox?
"Lu Heng is quite famous in Qiandu City. Since you are his disciple, how did you end up in such a situation?"
"My mentor didn't know something. It's a long story."
"A few months ago, Master Lu wrote to me, saying that the examination papers in Qiandu City will be much easier this time around. He hoped that I could come to Qiandu City to take the exam."
"It's absolutely ridiculous. The purpose of taking candidates into Qiandu City to rush for the exam is to prevent the different difficulty levels of the test papers in different places. How can it be that the rural examination in Qiandu City is much simpler!" Li Changkong said.
"I thought so too, but Master Lu's reputation is so good and he received many letters, so my father and I believed him."
"So he sold his family's land and went to Qiandu to join Master Lu."
"Who would have thought, I waited until I got here to find out that there are quite a few candidates coming to see Master Lu, and they all come from all over Daqian."
"Most of them brought expensive gifts and were willing to spend thousands of dollars to beg Master Lu."
"In comparison, I'm really shabby and can't give you a decent gift."
"Over time, Master Lu will inevitably look down upon his subordinates."
"My father couldn't stand it anymore, so he borrowed money from others, bought expensive gifts, and gave them to Master Lu."
"Master Lu's attitude has indeed changed a lot, but the money is not something we can afford to pay back."
"When the time limit expired, debt collectors came to our door. My father and I were unable to repay, so we begged Master Lu to return the previous gifts to us."
"Master Lu refused, saying that there was no reason to bring back the gifts given out."
"I had no choice but to go home. Unexpectedly, those debt collectors saw that my father couldn't come up with the money, so they punched and kicked me and severely injured my father!"
"Later, because Master Lu really refused to lend money and lend a helping hand, I didn't even have the money to buy medicine. I could only watch my father die in front of my eyes."