After the imperial examinations, I grew up by farming

Chapter 74

Shi Zhuangxian knelt behind the desk, looked at Ning Yu and Liu Xin who were standing in the center of the hall listening, the handkerchief almost shredded with the hand hidden under the desk.

Look at the smiling empress and the doting eyes of Prince An...

She knew that if she didn't do anything, her prince and concubine would be snatched away by others!

She suggested to the empress that the Xu family sisters participate in the Hundred Flowers Banquet to see them make a fool of themselves, so that the prince can sharpen his eyes and see who is the best and who is the best match for him, but now even the empress has changed her mind about Xu Ningyu——

Even if Xu Ningyu has nothing but writing poetry!
It's all Liu Xin's fault!
She could see that the reason why the empress changed her view of Xu Ningyu was because Liu Xin was too outstanding.

With a short-lived appearance, why don't you go to see Hades early, and insist on coming to Wangjing to get in her way!
First in tea art, first in piano skills, first in culinary skills, first in beauty, and first in literary talent, these honors that should belong to her were all snatched away by the two sisters of the Xu family.

This has not been out of the palace yet, there are already noble ladies gloating and laughing at her and taunting her in private.

If the position of princess is taken away again, then she won't have to live!
"My daughter, thank you, Empress, for your reward!"

Ning Yu and others Xie Wanen returned to their seats, the queen looked at Shi Zhaoyun, "Shi Jiashiro."

Shi Zhaoyun stood up and saluted, "Empress Empress."

The queen said: "You have drawn applause from all the halls with one stroke of your hand, adding a lot of color to tonight's banquet. There is also a set of excellent four treasures in the palace treasury. I will order someone to send it to Shangshufu tomorrow. The toad palace wins the laurel."

"Thank you, Empress!"

Shi Zhaoyun bent down and worshiped again, and after sitting down, he glanced at Ning Yu who was sitting upright, with a smile on his lips.

The empress nodded slightly towards the eunuch Liu Shuangxi who was close to her.

Liu Shuangxi understood, and shouted in a shrill voice to the palace servants to bring up the round fans and folding fans, and distributed them to the ladies and gentlemen present.

"After all, I'm old, I can't be younger than you, I'm a little tired." The queen looked at the prince, "Jin'er, the palace banquet is over, send the girls out of the palace safely for me."

"Shi'er, help the mother back to the palace."

"Shi'er?" Seeing that the second son was only staring at Miss Xu Qi, the queen had no choice but to raise her voice and shouted again.

The exquisite palace lanterns cast a layer of warm orange light on the bluestone pavement, and when they came out of the Chonghua Palace, all the maids and servants followed from afar, and Yan Shi walked slowly with his arm on the Queen's forearm.

"Is the mother happy?"

The queen was furious, so many noble ladies who were both talented, beautiful, and ingenious didn't look down on her, and they just fell in love with a clumsy nerd.

Deciding to tease the good-for-nothing second son, the queen said with a serious face on purpose: "Miss Xu Qi..."

Seeing his mother's empress being silent for a long time, Yan Shi's heart rose in his throat, thinking that his mother's empress was not satisfied with the little scholar.

Yan Shi panicked, and blurted out: "Mother's empress can't judge people biasedly because of Ning Yu's background. You have also seen today that girls from the Xu family are more outstanding than those daughters of high officials and dignitaries."

"Look at how impatient you are!" The queen said with a smile, and glanced at the second son with a little distaste, seemingly helplessly said: "The queen mother will let Shuangxi go to declare the decree tomorrow, will it be finished?"

"The son knows it, the mother understands the righteousness, and will definitely agree!"

Yan Shi was overjoyed, thinking of sending the queen back to the bedroom quickly, and then coming back to find his wife, his pace was so fast that he almost dragged the queen down.

The prince was friendly and easy-going, and after the queen and Yan Shi left, the Chonghua Hall immediately became active.

A young man with a handsome face took a sip of wine to strengthen his courage, and mustered up the courage to walk up to Liu Xin first, and saluted Liu Xin across the dining table.

"Miss Xu Liu, with the chapter below, is now studying in the Imperial College, and my father's family secretary Fang Ruli."

"Mr. Fang." Liu Xin nodded, smiling modestly.

Fang Hanzhang was in a daze for a moment, and hurriedly handed out the famous card, "This is my famous card, please, please accept it."

Today's Hundred Flowers Banquet, each government received a notice early in the morning, young masters can bring name cards to participate, if you meet a girl you like, hand over a name card, if the girl accepts, it means agreeing to the other party's request for a door-to-door visit, that is, agreeing to learn more the meaning of.

Liu Xin refused: "Thank you Mr. Fang for your love, forgive me for not accepting it."

Seeing that Fang Hanzhang was rejected, the little boy in blue who was waiting on the side felt secretly refreshed. He looked at the two people who had just surrounded him, and quickly handed out the name card, "Ms. I am very happy with the melody, and I would like to be a bosom friend with the girl—"

"Come on, you, the son of a fifth-rank official, are also worthy of being a bosom friend with Sixth Sister Xu?"

Before the young man in blue finished speaking, the young man in a golden crown and fine attire interrupted him.

"Sister Xu Liu, my father is the prince of Yongchang, marry me, and you will be rich and prosperous for the rest of your life, and you will never be ridiculed as a merchant's daughter again, how about it?"

Fang Caiye, the second son of the eldest son of Yongchang Houfu, is known as a playboy.

Fang Hanzhang, who hadn't left yet, frowned, and was about to help Liu Xin out of the siege, when Ning Yu, who was watching the play silently, got up and blocked Liu Xin behind him.

Xu Linpeng and Chen Yan also came over when they saw someone making trouble.

Chen Yan put her hips on her hips and said, "This girl is here to see who dares to bully the sixth younger sister of the Xu family!"

Fang Caiye was shy, not daring to be presumptuous in front of Chen Yan.

Seeing that the crisis was resolved, Fang Hanzhang was secretly relieved.

Ning Yu looked at the seven or eight young masters who were coming towards her six sisters, and said loudly: "Young masters want to visit my girl from the Xu family, yes, I will write a couplet, as long as you can see that the rhyme and artistic conception are consistent with each other The matching second line, the famous post is left."

"Girl, please ask questions!"

Ning Yu said calmly: "'Day and dusk, in and out', gentlemen, please come out with the next couplet."

"It's not easy!" A young man in a green brocade suit said loudly, "Up and down, left and right."

As soon as this remark came out, the audience roared with laughter, and some people ruthlessly mocked: "It's extremely vulgar, except for the number of words, there is nothing worthy of ear."

"Front and back, inside and out."

"Every year, every year, everything."

"..."

There were people who greeted him one after another, but they were all unsatisfactory.

Soon, the Shanglian published by the seventh girl of the Xu family spread among the noble ladies and princes.

Day and night, in and out...

The two redundant idioms, which seem simple at first glance, are actually profound, and it is quite difficult to match the second couplet with both flatness and artistic conception.

For a while, all the young masters and ladies were thinking about the second couplet, and even the prince sitting on the high platform participated in it.

Fang Hanzhang, who racked his brains to come up with "the ups and downs, the sun, the moon and the moon", returned to his seat dejectedly, and looked at Shi Zhaoyun for help, "Brother Shi must help me, Miss Xu Liu won't accept my post, I will I won't be able to eat it."

Shi Zhaoyun put down his wine glass, walked in front of Ning Yu without haste, and bowed his hands.

"Miss Xu Qi, if I'm going to share a couplet with you, can I ask Miss Xu Qi to accept my invitation?"

Ning Yu raised his head and looked at the young man in brocade robe with a face like a crown of jade and a handsome figure, "I don't accept invitations."

Shi Zhaoyun argued: "But the girl said just now that as long as the couplet is written, you can visit the girl from the Xu family. Could it be that the girl is not a girl from the Xu family?"

Ning Yu choked, thinking that he might not be right, and said, "Then you are right."

Shi Zhaoyun smiled lightly.

I saw him holding the handle of the fan with his left hand behind his back, his right hand dipped in wine, writing vigorously on the dark brown tabletop that was as bright as ink.

Flowing clouds and flowing water, the strokes are vigorous and vast, and the calligraphy attainments are quite high.

Ning Yu clicked her tongue secretly, feeling ashamed.

"Day and night, coming and going..."

Someone read it aloud.

"Okay!" Fang Hanzhang shouted excitedly.

"'Morning' and 'sun', 'twilight' and 'night', 'in' and 'coming', 'out' and 'going', harmonious.

"The upper couplet 'Day and night, coming in and out' means that the little lady is yearning, looking forward to sharing joys and sorrows with her husband day and night, sharing joys and sorrows, and raising eyebrows; the second couplet is 'day and night, coming and going', which means that Mr. I wish to be with my wife day and night, to be close to each other, and to live a long life together. The artistic conception is in harmony. It is exactly the meaning of "holding the hand of the son, and growing old together with the son."

The young masters were discussing with high spirits, and the girls who were close were secretly blushing.

Day and night, day and night...

How can it make people not blush and heartbeat.

Ning Yu didn't expect that Shi Zhaoyun was really right, and he couldn't break his promise in front of so many people, so he had to accept the invitation.

She opened the post and looked at it.

——The fourth son of the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Shi Zhaoyun.

Ning Yu closed the greeting card, "Master Shi Si, although I have accepted your greeting card, I have no other intentions for you. It's all because you have published a second couplet, and I hope you will know."

Chen Yan was in a hurry.

Even if the imperial decree of marriage has not been issued, it is not easy to say in public that Miss Xu Qi is the concubine of brother Zizhou.

Shiro Shiro, the historian, is the best in Kyoto, with a beautiful tree facing the wind, with extensive knowledge and strong knowledge, Miss Xu Qi seems to be a talented student.

In case the two see each other right...

Others don't know, but she knows that the reason why the empress didn't announce the candidates for the crown prince and princess today is to wait for the noble daughters and princes to meet each other, and the prince and prince will choose from the remaining girls.

Across the crowd, Fang Yirong looked resentfully at Ning Yu and Shi Zhaoyun, who were "having a good conversation".

"Sister Shi, you don't care about the fourth son, he is your own younger brother, and everyone is rushing to climb him."

"Brother Yun acts in his own way. Besides, he and I are not of the same mother. He has been very successful since he was a child. When has he heard the words of my nominal sister?"

Shi Zhuangxian wished for something to happen between the two of them.

First, let the prince see the true face of Xu Ningyu's flirtatious nature.

The second is to make Shi Zhaoyun, the son of his stepmother, fall out of favor in front of his father.

Since her good fourth brother likes Xu Ningyu so much...

Shi Zhuangxian changed her mind and walked out of Chonghua Hall.

Behind the huge pillars that the palace lanterns couldn't reach, Cailian, the palace servant, opened her eyes wide, "Miss Shi, the Fourth Young Master—"

It was originally agreed that Fang Caiye from the Yongchang Houfu...

Why did he suddenly change to the Fourth Young Master Shi?
Cailian couldn't believe that Miss Shi actually wanted to kill her own younger brother for her own sake.

"You do what I tell you!" Shi Zhuangxian's beautiful eyes were cold and vicious, completely missing her usual gentleness.

"Yes." Cailian replied.

After the historian Shiro, no one has published the second couplet.

The young princes who are greedy for beauty no longer pester Liu Xin, and the Xu family sisters can finally chat happily.

A palace maid with a teardrop in the corner of her eye clung to Ning Yu's ear and whispered: "Miss Xu Qi, the prince asked me to invite the girl to go to Kunde Palace to talk to the empress."

Ning Yu saw that the other party was a high-ranking maidservant next to the empress, so she did not suspect him, and whispered to Liu Xin: "Sixth sister, the empress is looking for me, I will come as soon as I go."

Liu Xin also recognized this maidservant, but she had seen the dirty and insidious things in the high-door mansion, and the more reliable the person, the more dangerous it was. At the critical time when Prince An was choosing a concubine, she was worried that someone would be unfavorable to Ning Yu .

Liu Xin looked at the servant girl warily.

"Since the queen invited you, why didn't Eunuch Liu or Mother Wang come here?"

"Go back to Miss, Eunuch Liu has gone to Qinzheng Hall to invite His Majesty, Mother Wang never leaves her side."

Liu Xin asked several questions in succession, and the maids answered calmly.

"Maybe His Majesty and Your Majesty want to test me alone, or give me some family heirloom," Ning Yu smiled reassuringly at Liu Xin, "It's fine."

"I'll go with you!" Liu Xin was still worried.

The palace maid hurriedly stopped, "No, the lord and empress only invited Miss Xu Qi."

Seeing that the ornaments on Ning Yu's head can't hurt anyone, Liu Xin pulled out the long golden hairpin from her bun and inserted it on Ning Yu's head, then let her go with the maid.

At night, the light was dim, and the palace maid led Ning Yu around nine bends and eighteen bends.

Seeing the maid leading her to the water pavilion in the center of the lake, Ning Yu looked around vigilantly. The maidservant who held the lantern in the distance walked through the corridor and did not dispel her doubts, "Aren't you going to Kunde Palace? Where is this? "

Calculated according to the time, it is true that we have almost arrived at Kunde Palace, but the surrounding scenery is completely different from what we saw during the day.

The palace servant said respectfully: "Miss, this is the west courtyard of Kunde Palace. During the day, the girls go to the east courtyard. The empress and the prince are in the water pavilion. Girl, let's go quickly."

For some reason, the closer she got to the water pavilion, the more disturbed Ning Yu felt.

After getting on the wooden bridge, Ning Yu could clearly see the entrance of the water pavilion, Ning Yu's heart tightened: the queen and the prince are here, and His Majesty may be here, but there is only a servant girl guarding the door.

Although the lights are on...

Something is wrong!
"Ah!" Ning Yu whispered as if he had just remembered something important.

"The Ruyi jade tablet I carved with my own hands was to be given to the empress, but I kept it at Sixth Sister's place for a day and didn't remember it. This sister, please tell the empress and the prince, I will come back and get the jade tablet."

Without waiting for the maid to respond, Ning Yu turned her head and walked back quickly.

While walking, he didn't forget to turn his head and say to the servant: "Please trouble sister!"

The maid looked at him coldly.

Watching Miss Xu Qi go down the bridge, watching the black shadow ambushing behind the tree rushing out, watching Miss Xu Qi being knocked unconscious by a stick.

"So hot……"

An intoxicating fragrance lingered at the tip of her nose, Ning Yu tugged at the front of her clothes, feeling hot all over her body.

A dull pain came from the back of her neck, which gradually brought her back to her senses.

When I opened my eyes, it was pitch black, not even the moonlight penetrated.

Ning Yu shook his extremely heavy head, reached out to touch the bun, and his heart shuddered suddenly.

The hairpin that Sixth Sister wore on her head for self-defense was gone!
"call--"

Ning Yu breathed a long sigh of relief, tried her best to suppress the hot tide coming out of her body, and walked forward gropingly, her head was too heavy and dizzy, she had no clue except that someone was going to kill her.

Mo Hei took a few steps forward when he tripped over something.

kick...

Ning Yu took two steps back in fright.

It's people!

If she was right, it must be a man!
(End of this chapter)