In the carriage, Xiaodie and Du Chunhua were sitting upright, looking at each other from time to time, as if they were guessing each other's identity.
Xiaodie entered the mansion not long ago and didn't know much about the situation around Li Xiuyuan.
Du Chunhua was just an ordinary woman in Xiahe Village. She only knew that Li Xiuyuan used to practice martial arts in the Taoist temple on the mountain. As for whether he had any concubines by his side, the maids were not sure.
Now that two people are sitting in the same car, waiting beside the young master, it is inevitable that they will have random thoughts.
Li Xiuyuan began to review the previous Four Books and Five Classics, classics and classics, in preparation for the scholar examination.
Xiaodie and Du Chunhua did not dare to disturb him, but quietly sorted out his books and packed his luggage. They were obviously gentle and virtuous good women.
"Young Master, we have arrived at the riverside."
In the afternoon, as soon as the carriage stopped, everyone came to the riverside.
If you take the official road to the city, it's very fast.
After crossing the river, you will arrive at Guobicheng.
Li Xiuyuan then put down the book and walked out of the carriage.
Looking at the river in the distance and the boats docked at the ferry, he said, "Let's rent a boat and we'll cross the river."
"Yes, young master." A guard responded, took a few people and went to rent a boat.
Li Xiuyuan waited for a while, but no guard came. When several scholars passing by saw him, they came over and greeted him warmly.
"Hey, isn't this Brother Li? It's such a coincidence that we meet him here." A scholar seemed to know Li Xiuyuan and hurriedly came over and bowed.
Li Xiuyuan was stunned for a moment, then said in surprise: "Wang Ping, is it you? Aren't you in the city studying for the exam? Why are you here?"
Wang Ping coughed twice and said with some embarrassment: "It's very boring to study hard, so I went on a river cruise with my friends to enjoy the scenery and relax."
"So that's it." Li Xiuyuan nodded. It seems that Wang Ping is also a person who knows how to combine work and rest.
"I forgot to introduce you, this is Brother Li, Li Xiuyuan, son of the Li family in Guobei County." Wang Ping immediately introduced to the three or five friends around him: "Brother Li, this is Brother Zhong, Zhong Qingxu,
This is Brother Zhu, Zhu Yu, and this is..."
He introduced them one by one.
"These are the same as Brother Li and me, they are all here to take the scientific examination."
Li Xiuyuan nodded and gave a salute: "You are all polite."
Several scholars also returned the gift very politely.
"Seeing as Brother Li has been standing by the river for a long time, he must be waiting to rent a boat to cross the river."
A scholar named Zhu Yu said with a smile: "Brother Li, I'm afraid you don't know. This is the time of the college examination. There are many colleagues renting boats to cruise on the river. Now all the larger boats on the river have been rented out."
, the rest are just a few small boats, it is difficult to ferry people."
"Thank you for reminding me. No wonder my guard went to rent a boat and hasn't come back yet." Li Xiuyuan said.
"This is easy to handle. If Brother Li doesn't mind, he can go with us. It just so happens that we are going back to the city after our tour." Zhu Yu said.
Li Xiuyuan said: "There are many servants accompanying me, but it's not easy to trouble you all."
Wang Ping said: "Brother Li, our ship is not small, and we can even take a dozen servants on it. Brother Li, please don't shirk our kindness."
A dozen servants?
Li Xiuyuan was accompanied by nearly a hundred guards this time.
People who don’t know better think that the army is traveling.
"In that case, I'll bother you all." Li Xiuyuan thought for a while, and couldn't postpone it, so he agreed.
He turned around and gave a few instructions. He only took two guards to carry the gift, along with Xiaodie and Du Chunhua, while the others asked them to stay.
The guards felt that taking only two people was a bit too small, and felt that it was necessary to add more people, but Li Xiuyuan refused.
The incident with Lord Montenegro has made these people too cautious. Although there are many monsters and monsters in this world, there are only a handful of them that can truly threaten them.
There is no reason why you can encounter a thousand-year-old demon just by taking one step.
The guards couldn't persuade them, so they went along with Li Xiuyuan's wishes. They selected two guards who were strong and had the highest martial arts skills to stay, while the others planned to go back and recover.
"Hey, this girl is Brother Li's family member?" Suddenly, Zhu Yu glanced at Xiaodie who came down from the carriage and said with some surprise.
Li Xiuyuan said: "Exactly, is there any problem?"
Zhu Yu said with a smile: "I'm sorry to make Brother Li laugh. I just feel that Brother Li's family members look familiar. Maybe I have admitted my mistake."
Xiaodie looked a little nervous and hid behind Li Xiuyuan.
She came out of a brothel in the city and had appeared in public several times, so it was inevitable that she would be recognized.
Soon, a group of people boarded an antique painting boat, which seemed to have been specially rented by this group of scholars for today's trip.
There are also singers playing and singing pipa on top of the painting boat, which makes it feel a bit like having fun.
"Shipman, please sail quickly and take us to the other side." Wang Ping shouted.
The boatman was an elderly man. He responded and rowed with another boatman to the river bank.
On the cabin, several scholars were talking enthusiastically about today's trip, who had written some good poems, who had said some good words, and the atmosphere seemed harmonious for a while.
Li Xiu was far away and was a bit unsociable. He just sat aside with his escort and maidservant and did not participate in it.
Although he is a scholar, his personality is not close to that of a scholar at all. Although he knows a little about poetry and poetry, he has little interest in it.
"Brother Li, look, Brother Zhu just wrote a poem. See how it goes?" At this time, Wang Ping came over with a smile and held a piece of rice paper he had just written.
Zhu Yu said modestly: "I just got inspired and wrote a fragment of the poem to make you laugh."
"It's a good poem. Only with this kind of literary talent can you be stable." Li Xiuyuan smiled, but he said a few perfunctory words.
Seeing this, Zhu Yu couldn't help but feel a little proud: "I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed, my humble work is not worthy of your praise. By the way, this is my first time meeting Brother Li. I don't know what Brother Li's literary talent is. Why not use the scenery to express his feelings and write some poems?"
Wen also asked me to wait and taste it."
"I'm not good at writing poetry. I'm not as good as you guys and make you laugh." Li Xiuyuan shook his head.
"How could it be possible? Brother Li is still a child after all. How could he not be able to write poems? It must be because you are being humble, Brother Li." The scholar next to him said with a smile.
"Yes, yes, yes."
Some scholars also agreed, wanting Li Xiuyuan to leave some poetry appreciation and see how his literary talents compare with his own.
Li Xiuyuan shook his head and was about to say a few perfunctory words when the sudden river wind blew and he couldn't help but frown and said: "Wait a minute, did you smell anything coming from the river?"
"No, it doesn't taste like anything. Brother Li, what's wrong? Maybe it's because you can't write poems and you can use this as an excuse." Wang Ping said with a smile.
Zhu Yu, Zhong Qingxu and other scholars also looked at him with a bit of ridicule.
It seems that Li Xiuyuan's talent is indeed not very good, and he doesn't even dare to echo his poems.
"You haven't smelled such a strong smell?" Li Xiuyuan said.
He clearly smelled a fishy smell wafting above the river. The smell was a bit familiar, which made him subconsciously alert.
Zhu Yu said with a smile: "There is only the fragrance of ink and the sound of singing on this painting boat. There is no strange smell. Brother Li must have smelled it wrong."
"Is it......"
Li Xiuyuan wanted to say something, but as soon as the words came to his lips, the painting boat suddenly shook, followed by a huge crashing sound.
Everyone subconsciously looked around, only to see a rowing boatman falling into the river. With a huge splash, he disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.
"Someone fell into the water?" Seeing this scene, everyone was shocked and hurriedly followed him to take a look.
When the boatman saw the boatman next to him falling into the water, he hurriedly took the oar to fish him out. However, as soon as the man fell into the river, he sank like a stone and disappeared all of a sudden.
Not only was the man missing, but the boatman's oar that was thrust into the river seemed to be grabbed by something. It was so powerful that it dragged him down to the river, and half of his body fell directly into the river.
Immediately, the boatman felt a cold hand grabbing his neck and dragging him into the river.
He wanted to call for help, but when he opened his mouth, river water poured in, making him unable to speak.
"What's going on with the boatman? There are people falling into the water. Why don't you save them?" Scholar Zhu Yu said at the side.
"Yes. If we don't save people quickly, someone will be killed if it's too late." The scholar next to him also said anxiously.
Although three or five scholars saw someone falling into the water, they all stood aside and talked, but no one was willing to help save the person.
The boatman was pulled by the strange force under the water. Although he struggled hard, he could not hold himself up without help. He immediately lost his balance and fell into the river.
"Be careful."
At this time, Li Xiuyuan rushed over, grabbed the boatman's feet, and stretched out his hand to pull.
With the sound of rushing water, the boatman was pulled directly onto the painting boat by Li Xiuyuan.
"Gulu~!"
A bubble appeared under the water, as if something had gotten into the river and escaped.