In a simple inn on the edge of the outer city of Qianjiang Prefecture.
"Brother Huaijin, you and I have been in Fucheng for two days. Taking advantage of the beautiful weather today, all of us have gone to the inner city to pay our respects. You and I should also go and have a look in the inner city."
Yu Wenpei put down the book and said to Zhuang Huaijin.
"It's not yet time for the government and the teachings to unify the invitations for worship. Let's go there then."
Zhuang Huaijin thought that it would still be some time before the final call to confirm his eligibility for the exam, so he declined politely.
Yu Wenpei still doesn’t give up:
"It's still early to go to the Confucian Temple, but we can go to the Confucian Temple to worship first. Besides, the examination room is right next to the Confucian Temple. By the way, we can also check out the surroundings of the Gongyuan and the Hall."
Zhuang Huaijin thought about it for a while, then smiled and nodded:
"Okay, you and I will go on this journey."
After saying that, he put all the books into the bookcase, took off the ancestral samurai sword hanging on the wall, and walked towards the inner city with Yu Wenpei.
The two of them encountered some trouble when they reached the city gate, and were stopped by two strong squad yamen guards guarding the city gate.
The foreman looked the two scholars up and down. They were both ordinary scholars wearing coarse cloth gowns and speaking with foreign accents. One of them was carrying a long sword. When he found the reason, he said that there was no need to secretly enter the inner city. To carry a sharp weapon, either return it to where it came from, or keep the sword at the city gate and return it to him when you leave the city.
Zhuang Huaijin naturally refused. He must carry this ancestral sword with him whenever he goes out. He is not worried about leaving it in an inn. Qi Hui just left it at the city gate?
He originally wanted to go back, but Yu Wenpei held him back.
Just as they were pulling and pulling, the sound of horse hooves came.
I saw Qian Ruyu carrying a scholar's sword more than two feet tall on his waist, wearing bright clothes and an angry horse returning from the city in high spirits.
Seeing the two fellow villagers in front of the city gate arguing with the city guard, they didn't answer. They only gave Qian Lu, the steward who was following behind, a look, and with a gesture towards Zhuang Huaijin and the others, he and Qing Geer rode into the city first. Go, the two government officials only held Zhuang Huaijin, and did not dare to step forward to stop Qian Ruyu, who was also carrying a sword.
Qian Lu's horse came and saluted Zhuang Huaijin and Yu Wenpei first. Two government officials next to him were dragging Zhuang Huaijin. When they saw the steward in brocade clothes saluting the other two, they immediately let go of their hands and hid aside.< /p>
In just a few words, the two of them entered the inner city. Zhuang Huaijin tightened the sword on his waist, and Yu Wenpei thanked Qian Lu and left for the Confucian Temple.
When we walked to the Confucian Temple, we saw a huge crowd of people in front of the temple. They were all scholars in Confucian robes, but they couldn't even enter the temple gate.
The two looked at each other, smiled bitterly, shook their heads, and turned around, just as they were about to go elsewhere, a Confucian scholar unexpectedly appeared next to them. He looked at Zhuang Huaijin and Yu Wenpei carefully, bowed his hands and said:
"Wan Sheng has met these two gentlemen."
The two of them looked at the visitor and saw that he was less than twenty years old and looked decent, but they couldn't remember when they had seen him.
"Wan Sheng's surname is Duan and his given name is Qian. He is a native of Qingyang County. I was fortunate to have listened to Mr. Zhuang's lectures at the Confucian Temple in Qingchuan County, which benefited Wan Sheng a lot. I still remember it today. I just saw these two gentlemen coming here. I must have Are you here to take the exam too?"
Zhuang Huaijin suddenly realized that he had given several lectures in the Confucian Temple Book School, and there were many listeners. It was normal for him to not remember the person in front of him.
But he didn't think of the person in front of him, but Cheng Yu, who was standing on the branch and following Zhuang Huaijin, recognized this person.
He is not a Duan Gan from Qingyang County. He was born in Qingluo Village, and his father is Qian Duofu, the owner of Qingluo Village.
Qian Bi.
It was understandable that he changed his name to Cheng Yu. After Qian Duofu's incident, he rushed back to Qingluo Village and escaped from Qingluo Village overnight with his grandmother, his mad mother, and his young brother.< /p>
Qian Duofu and his son Qian Bi are both the sons of the Qian family. Although they are the masters of a village, they are still slaves. When Qian Bi was studying in Qingyang Academy, he spent money to buy His new identity has changed his name and surname, and he has changed his name across counties, yet no one is pursuing him.
Including the farm shops that Qian Duofu set up outside, they were all entrusted to Qian Bi's name. When the Qian Mansion sent people to raid the property, they only confiscated some of the shops and most of the farm property.
But he couldn't find any of the shops he owned in other counties, so the Qian Bi was renamed Duan Qian again, this time to gain fame.
Duan Qian, Cheng Yu secretly thought about this new name. It was obviously a homophony of the word "broken money".
It seems that Duan Dalang has a deep grudge against the Qian family of Qingchuan.
The three people they saw gradually became familiar with each other. Cheng Yu, who was aloof, secretly felt the energy of wish coming from Zhuang Huaijin in his soul, but there was no sign of any change. It seemed that Duan Qian and Zhuang Huaijin had a stagnant feeling. Qi has nothing to do with it.
Seeing that the three of them got to know each other day by day, in the next few days, Duan Gang would visit the two of them at the inn every day. After some conversation, Zhuang Huaijin discovered that this person was actually quite talented in literature, and was actually better than Yu next to him. Wen Pei is much taller.
……
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
In the past three days, the little hedgehog outside the city has been relatively quiet, lying motionless under Mr. Zhang’s tofu shop.
In the early morning of this day, Jia Fei finished breathing and refining Qi early on the hill beside the lake, and quickly rushed towards a small courtyard in the outer city.
Today I am going to the magistrate’s house to sing a concert, and it will also be the first time that the cat demon takes the stage.
Because of this, she was distracted several times last night, and even the energy gathering was not ready. It was only after Cheng Yu's reminder that she calmed down and gathered the energy.
When she arrived at the troupe's courtyard, the sky was slightly bright and everyone in the troupe had packed up and was waiting for Jia Fei to arrive.
After the class leader invited everyone to have breakfast in the outer city, he waited with the team delivering fish and vegetables outside the city to open the city gate.
"Boom! Boom..."
Bells rang in the city.
"Squeak! Buzz!"
The two heavy city gates slowly opened. The troupe leader and the troupe lined up at the head of the queue. He first showed the prefect's post. When the city guard saw that it was indeed the prefect's yamen's post, and there was no more money to be made, he impatiently took the troupe's post.
Everyone rushed into the city and let them go without even checking the boxes and cages.
It was just a bitter experience for the merchants and lackeys behind who were delivering food and fish, and Panchak peeled them even tighter.
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Everyone entered the inner city, and at Jia Fei's repeated request, Cheng Yu also followed him into the city to watch the virgin who transformed into a great demon perform on stage, although Cheng Yu had no feeling for singing opera.
The magistrate's meeting was arranged in the backyard of the government office, and a stage was specially built in the northeast corner of the courtyard.
Although the stage is in the backyard, it is separated from the backyard by a wall, with only a side door connecting it.
Directly opposite the stage is a two-story building with a corridor on both sides of the building.
Normally, whenever there is a meeting, the center of the two-story building is naturally where the magistrate and his invited guests sit. As for the officials and gentry from the government and county, they all sit under the stage, and all the female relatives, regardless of whether they are inside or outside the government, sit under the stage.
, people of high or low status can only sit on the corridors on both sides of the second floor and cannot be confused with those below.
When the troupe arrived at the stage, it was still early, and the prefect and the guests had not yet arrived. Everyone in the troupe began to put on makeup, pack up props, and tune the piano and drums.
Fortunately, the class leader came to the scene in advance on the first day, and everything was carried out step by step and in an orderly manner.
Hou Siniang flirted with Duan Yulou backstage. According to the rules, the first play in the hall should be ordered by the host, and it must be lively and festive.
Yesterday, the class leader came to the house to ask the prefect to tell him that a play had been ordered. It was a play with colorful faces involving upright officials judging cases.
Since Hou Siniang joined Duan Yulou, she has always been attentive to everything and has made Duan Yulou feel comfortable serving her. At this time, she can even master the delicate work of making faces.
While everyone in the theater troupe was busy, all the guests invited by the palace arrived one by one. It was not until the right time, that is, around ten o'clock in the morning, that the master of the palace walked leisurely from the inner courtyard to the theater.
I sat down on the second floor and just picked up a cup of tea to drink. The servant came to report that the uncle of Qingchuan Qian Mansion, Qian Ruyu, had arrived with a female family member and his entourage.
The master of the palace nodded, thinking that the person who came was just a candidate from the county, and he was a junior. He originally wanted the master to welcome him to the bottom of the stage and place him at a random table, but then he thought that this person could be regarded as his first gold.
Lord, and his father is also a colleague who is an official in the court. Another examiner will also be here at this meeting, and he must be sitting on the second floor. It is better to be a favor and introduce him to the two of them.
He was recommended, so he asked the master to invite him to the second floor.
Outside the theater wall, Qian Ruyu heard that the government minister invited him to go up to the second floor. Knowing the benefits, he asked Xiao Yuexian, who was accompanying him, to sit on the side corridor. He took Brother Qing up to the second floor, while Qian Lu stayed upstairs.
Next.
Xiaoyuexian Tingting went up to the corridor and saw the female dependents of officials and gentry on the left and right.
She originally intended to chat and make friends, but when she saw that the female relatives were already gathering together, whispering, and still peeking at her, she knew it was interesting and stopped moving forward, so she had to sit alone.
In fact, she didn’t originally plan to come to the church meeting.
She had been to this house last year, but it was on the stage. The thought of watching her old friends acting hard under the stage this time should be a different kind of fun, plus Qian Ruyu insisted on bringing her to the house.
If you fall in love with her, she will follow.
Qian Ruyu went upstairs, and after a polite exchange with the Lord of the Palace, he was asked to sit at a table next to him. He was unable to sit at the main table. He didn't feel anything wrong. He didn't even expect to go up to the second floor. At this time,
The other party has given enough face.
Not long after, another examiner also arrived, and was personally welcomed by the Palace Master. Together they went to the second floor hand in hand, where they introduced each other to Qian Ruyu.
Qian Ruyu had visited the examiner before, and the two of them had a tacit understanding. After a few brief greetings, they each took their seats, and soon they started singing.
Jia Fei was very excited when he appeared on stage for the first time, especially the fighting movements, which were so smooth and unrestrained that even the top martial arts students were far behind him.
There were loud cheers from the audience, which made her work harder and harder on the stage.
But Qian Ruyu, who was sitting on the second floor, didn't seem to be concentrating on watching the show. He glanced at the side corridor from time to time and saw Xiao Yuexian sitting there slightly lonely. Occasionally, he looked back and saw Qian Ruyu looking at her too.
, suddenly pouted his little mouth and cast a wink at Qian Ruyu sadly.
Qian Ruyu's hands and feet went numb immediately. After winking at Xiao Yuexian from a distance, he saluted the master and told him to change clothes, then took Brother Qing downstairs.
Xiao Yuexian understood and immediately went downstairs. After the two met, they squirmed in front of Brother Qing for a while, then found a rockery behind the theater and drove Brother Qing outside to guard the two of them.<
/p>
Brother Qing promised with his mouth, but in his heart he was filled with doubts.
I could hear the scream of the actor behind the rockery as loud as a cry. If it hadn't been for the beating of gongs and drums on the stage, it would have been heard long ago.
Brother Qing was the closest and could hear clearly. Feeling jealous and angry, he covered his ears and walked into the distance. He turned a corner and saw a woman face to face.