Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 90 Test
In the blink of an eye, it's March, and the weather in Chang'an City is getting warmer.

On the fourth watch, Xue Bai pushed Du Fu who was still sleeping soundly.

"Brother Zimei, it's time for you to take the exam today, Chunwei."

Du Fu turned over and murmured: "To Jun Yao and Shun, let the customs be pure."

Before going to bed last night, everyone talked about Chun Wei's release of the first Zhizhi poem, but he had already concocted a few lines in his sleep.

Yuan Jie woke up early and was still arranging her clothes.

This is a young man of extraordinary temperament, with outstanding talents and strong character.He also made a lot of friends. After arriving in Chang'an, he would go out to meet friends every day.

He smiled at Xue Bai: "I think you are more serious about this spring than Brother Zimei."

"Enrolling an official through the imperial examination is a major event."

After a while, Du Fu woke up and went out with Yuan Jie without changing his clothes.

Du Wulang hurriedly handed over a new set of the Four Treasures of the Study, and said, "This is a gift from Xue Bai and I to Duke Du. I wish Duke Du a great victory in the field of writing and be named on the gold list."

"Haha." Du Fu accepted it casually, grabbed Du Wulang's shoulder, and said with a smile, "I'll treat you to a drink then, good wine."

"Eh, good."

The four left the dormitory and left the Taixue Hall.

Today, there is no need to wait for the morning drum. Jin Wuwei and the neighborhood envoys opened the gate of Wubenfang in advance. The long street is full of juzi, just like "sackclothes are like snow, and they are all over Jiuqu".

The morning sun was slightly dew, as if covering the imperial city in the distance with a light veil.

There are obviously two types of candidates, one is coarse linen clothes and travel-stained; the other is brocade rust clothes and light fur and fat horses. At this moment, it is rare to gather together and wait in front of the Anshang gate of the imperial city.

Three to 4000 people gathered together, and it was extremely lively.

Chunwei not only has Jinshi subjects, but also Mingjing, Lu, and arithmetic subjects. These are all regular subjects, that is, there are routines every year.

Tianbao Six Years is different from previous years, and there is one more department.It was the sage's whim, and he issued an edict to recruit all the scholars in the world who have one skill, and they can go to the capital to choose it, which is called "elegant and ancient tune".

This spring, there are so many ordinary people from poor families, and the candidates who participate in the Fengya Ancient Diao Ke do not need to pass the prefectural and county tribute exams.

Xue Bai passed by those crowds of commoners a few times, and heard some similar words faintly.

"I will remonstrate the sage with poems and prose, and denounce the evil of treacherous ministers!"

"I don't want to be ranked in this section, I just want to let the sage know how many officials and boatmen died along the Yellow River because of Wei Jian's case!"

"..."

Xue Bai sniffed, smelling restlessness in this cold spring weather.

The atmosphere is wrong.

Since the beginning of spring, scholars from all over the world have flocked to Chang'an to criticize current affairs in day after day literary meetings, and a kind of anger has been spreading.

It seems that small flames gathered together today, faintly igniting a prairie fire.

"Brother Cishan."

"Ok?"

"You heard that too?"

"Don't say anything." Yuan Jie dragged Xue Bai to the side of the street and said in a low voice, "There are grievances everywhere."

"If you are angry with a scholar, you won't get anything done."

"I understand that we have been appeasing them these days." Yuan Jie said, "Before today, you didn't hear the news, did you?"

Xue Bai nodded, and his evaluation of Yuan Jie was higher in his heart.

This is a good candidate for a crony.

"Let's go."

The two followed their companions.

He could hear the few brocade robes in front of him discussing something.

"Have you heard? The Imperial Examination has been cancelled. After the Provincial Examination, the sage will not try it in person, but still entrusts Shang Shuxing and the left and right ministers, and appoints Yushi Zhongcheng to take the test."

"Impossible. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there has never been a sage who has not come to the examination system in person!"

"What my grandfather told me cannot be false."

"Censor Zhongcheng? Wang Yu?"

"Yes, the last scene will be censored by Wang Zhongcheng."

Like the ripples caused by a stone thrown into the water, the news about the saint not coming to the palace test is not the only one.

Some of them heard Xue Bai's name.

"The head of Mrs. Guo State, Xue Bai, offered dominoes to the saint, making the saint addicted to playing, not interested in state affairs, and even ignored such important matters as the imperial examination."

"Crotony harms the country!"

Du Wulang was stunned when he heard that, pulled Xue Bai over, and comforted him: "Don't listen to them, cockfighting is much more fun than dominoes. Why don't they say that the saint didn't come because of the chicken prodigy?"

Not far away, a student in light fur must have heard the discussion, laughed loudly, and shouted loudly: "I said it a long time ago, dominoes are the most fun!"

The brocade robes in front of them turned their heads to look at this person and began to discuss.

"Who is that idiot?"

"Yang Hu, a side branch of Erwang Sanke, picked up a big deal from the Hongnong County Lord's family."

"Hush, his cousin Yang Qixuan is the eleventh son-in-law of Prime Minister Right..."

Suddenly, the imperial city drum sounded.

"The time has come!"

"According to the standard, install the door and let go!"

The heavy security door slowly opened.

Xue Bai bowed his hands to Du Fu and Yuan Jie, and said, "I wish the two elder brothers success in the Toad Palace."

"In the future, we will go to the Yanta Pagoda to write a title together, and have a good drink."

Du Fu and Yuan Jie responded heartily, adjusted their clothes and robes, and followed the torrent of Juzi to the imperial city.

~~
There is no class in the Guozijian today, Du Wulang is in a hurry to go to Fengweilou, and Xue Bai plans to go home.

After waving goodbye, Xue Bai turned around, only to see Zheng Qian standing not far away with his hands behind his back.

"teacher."

Zheng Qian was looking at the eaves of the imperial city with worried eyes. Hearing the words, he turned around and saw that it was Xue Bai. He nodded and said, "Since we met, let's have a cup of tea together."

The Guozijian was quiet and no one was there, and the two returned to the Taixue Hall and sat down.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. There is a student in Songshan Academy named Liu Changqing, who writes five characters very well. He submitted a bank roll to the old man, and also used your poem "Melancholy Wang Suncao, green for another year."

Zheng Qian was fiddling with the tea set while talking casually.

"There is also Huang Furan, whose name is Maozheng. He is smart and studious, and can read at the age of ten. He is a student of Mr. Zhang Qujiang. I was delayed on the way to Beijing, otherwise the old man will introduce you. Don't worry, I will see you after the spring."

Xue Bai listened silently, knowing that Datang really has no shortage of talents, and these are the best candidates to form cronies.

But the premise is that one's own strength is enough, otherwise, in the future, he can only act as a stalker for these people in order to be protected by them.

Zheng Qian sighed slightly, and asked: "Zimei, Cishan, Wenfang, and Maozheng are all champions. How many people do you think can make the list?"

"Students don't understand the imperial examinations, and they want to ask the teacher for advice."

"Before the exam, the rankings have already been determined." Zheng Qian said: "The chief examiner of this subject is Li Yan, the servant of the Ministry of Rites. He is quite fair."

Such an imperial examination is very unfair.

Datang's scientific examinations are not ambiguous. If the chief examiner wants to name someone who is on the list, he can find his paper directly.

But relatively speaking, it is not as unfair as it sounds. Before the exam, the candidates cast their bank papers, their talents, learning, and reputation. The world and the examiners already have a rough idea in their minds, and they list their rankings first.

In other words, the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were not only a few questions in the examination room, but everything that the candidates could show before and after the examination.

"On the list drawn up by Li Shilang, are these talents on the list?" Xue Bai asked.

He was a little surprised, because he vaguely remembered that Du Fu hadn't passed the Jinshi examination.

"The talent is obvious to all. If the examiners of today's science dare not to recruit these talented people, they will be scolded by the world." Zheng Qian said: "Li Shaobao has already said hello to this matter."

It was only then that Xue Bai thought about the changes that had taken place in this spring compared to the original one - Li Shizhi was still there, although he had no actual job as Prime Minister, but the influence of Prince Shaobao on the court was still there.

"Dare to ask the teacher, does Li Shaobao still have such prestige?"

"Du Zimei's poem said, 'The left prime minister spends tens of thousands of dollars every day'. Li Shaobao has a loose temperament, so he is not suitable to be prime minister. But do you know why the saint wants him to worship prime minister?"

"Please enlighten me, teacher."

Zheng Qiandao: "During the Wu Zhou Dynasty, the clan was brutally persecuted, and even the Hedong family dared to despise the Tian family. For this reason, the saint must favor the clan, and the clan has talents, so that the Tang Dynasty can be stable..."

Xue Bai didn't understand this aspect of current affairs at first, but after thinking about it carefully, he came to understand.

He heard from Lu Fengniang that the children of the five surnames do not want to marry the princess of the Li family from the bottom of their hearts, not only because the princesses often have bad conduct, but also because they do not like the Li family at all.For this reason, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty prohibited intermarriage between the seven families of the five surnames, so as not to make their marriage more powerful... This is a woman's opinion, and I don't know the authenticity, but since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the Li family's influence on Hedong County should not be enough.

This point may be seen from Li Zhi and Wu Zetian's frequent trips to Luoyang.

When he arrived at Li Longji, he seemed to feel that the emperor of the Li family was stable enough for more than a hundred years. Not only did he not leave Chang'an for ten years, but he also trapped all his descendants in the ten king's house and the hundred grandson's courtyard.

Then, Li Shizhi's role in the Tang Dynasty was not to be in power from the beginning, but to use his literary reputation to enhance the influence of the clan.

It is the most basic thing that Li Longji should do to maintain the country by asking a clan member who is very influential in the literary world to ensure the fairness of the court officials and improve the prestige of the clan.

After Zheng Qian understood this truth, he slowly said: "Therefore, since Li Shaobao has come forward, Tianbao's six-year imperial examination should have a convincing result."

Xue Bai smiled cooperatively.

For a moment, he also thought that if it was due to his own reasons, Li Linfu did not have time to get rid of Li Shizhi, and then let Du Fu go to high school.That really made his butterfly fan the great changes in Tang Dynasty.

However, he pondered, but asked: "The students heard today that there are many tributes who want to remonstrate the saint with poems..."

"Don't mention this matter." Zheng Qian waved his hand, "Ge Nu has been in power for more than ten years, there are resentful people every time, but it doesn't help the matter, it will only ruin the future, so just calm down."

"I heard that the saint will not try it himself this time, is it brother slave..."

Zheng Qian waved his hand, signaling Xue Bai not to say too much.

There was worry in his eyes, but he said in his mouth: "This matter is just a rumor, the sage did not call to cancel the palace test, don't you think so."

"Yes."

Zheng Qian sighed slightly imperceptibly, and said: "Speaking of business, you should learn more and read more. This old man happened to teach you some rules in the examination room..."

~~
The matter in the examination room has nothing to do with Xue Bai, he got Zheng Qian's advice, and went back to Changshou Fang's home to concentrate on reading and practicing calligraphy.

In the evening, Qinglan and the three daughters of the Xue family came back from Yan's residence.

Seeing that Xue Bai was at home, Qing Lan was quite annoyed that she didn't come back to accompany him earlier, and then she talked about interesting things about studying in Yan's house.

"Yan Sanniang is very good at piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and the girls can't keep up. Mrs. Yan asks the female teacher to teach her from the beginning every time. We are so sorry. Yan Sanniang said that she is happy when she has more playmates. However, she has been feeling a little uncomfortable for the past two days, and she looks so pitiful..."

Xue Bai listened silently, turned his wrist, and wrote the word "Yong" smoothly, already a little feeling that the teacher's words can be retracted freely.

"What do you think of my word?"

"Wow." Qing Lan exclaimed, "Your handwriting is so beautiful, sir."

Ten days have passed since the last time I asked Yan Zhenqing for advice, so Xue Bai wrote a copybook seriously, and went to the teacher for advice before the curfew.

Yang Yuyao brought two boxes of palace snacks that Yang Yuyao sent over yesterday.

~~
Yan house.

Wei Yun is putting some pastries into food boxes.

Suddenly, the drum sounded, and she got up in a hurry, quickly covered the food box, and handed it to the maid beside her.

"Hurry up and send it to the backyard, and ask the housekeeper to send it to Mr. Lang."

"Yes."

"Wait a minute, you have to bring a thick blanket."

Saying that, Wei Yun quickly walked to the main room.

Today Yan Zhenqing was in the yamen, and suddenly he was summoned, saying that the Gongyuan needed manpower, and the officials of the Minister of Shangshu and the Ministry of Rites ordered him to go.

This was a temporary assignment, and she would have to stay at least one whole night in the tribute courtyard. There were too many preparations to be made, and she was inevitably a little flustered.

"Auntie."

Yan Yan didn't play around much today, she just followed Wei Yun's side all the time, her face turned pale, and she looked a little uncomfortable.

Seeing her mother running away, she chased after a few steps, and stopped in the corridor while holding on to a pillar.

"Sanniang, what's the matter?"

"Yong'er, I feel so uncomfortable."

Yan Yan held the hand of the maid beside her, and looked helplessly into the distance, only to feel the rumbling sound of the evening drum coming from the building, which made her flustered.

……

Wei Yun dug out the blanket and clothes, and hurriedly ordered her servants to send them to Yan Zhenqing.

What she dislikes the most about Chang'an City is the six hundred evening drums every day, which always make people flustered.

It was only when the arrangements were made that Xue Bai came to visit.

The two families had frequent exchanges recently, although Wei Yun didn't see Xue Bai often, Yan Zhenqing often talked about him in private, "The handwriting is too ugly, and the old man's reputation is bad." She knew that her husband was interested in this child, so she went to see him in person.

In the lobby, I saw Xue Bai standing there solemnly with a childish face. Wei Yun sighed slightly, and said in a teasing tone to Yan Zhenqing: "Your teacher has gone to the Gongyuan, so he won't be there today."

After she said so, Xue Bai saluted immediately, and said: "Student please ask Master's wife Chun An."

"Since I have received your 'teacher's wife', I will show you the copybook, so there is no need for a gift."

"Master, don't worry, the cakes this time are worthless."

Xue Bai knew that even the little girl Yan Sanniang would not be able to tell the price of these two boxes of pastries.

Suddenly, a maid came.

"My lady, it's not good, Sanniang's heart hurts again."

Wei Yun's expression changed immediately, and she hurried to the backyard without caring about anything else.

With the rumbling sound of evening drums, Xue Bai walked to the entrance of the lobby, only to see the panic in Yan's residence.

Not long after, Wei Yun rushed to the front yard with Yan Yan in her arms, and shouted: "Get the car ready, go to the hospital!"

……

The evening drum finally stopped.

A carriage arrived at the gate of Changshoufang under the night.

"The family members of the Chang'an county lieutenant have a sudden illness, please let me go."

"Is it the wife of Wei's family in Yan County? There is a curfew to go out of the workshop, and even the imperial court officials need documents."

"It's too late, please..."

"There are documents."

Xue Bai rode over and handed over the token.This was secretly kept by him when he was working for Li Linfu, and he planned to save it for emergency situations.

Soon, the door of the workshop slowly opened.

"Master, go first."

Xue Bai and the other Jinwu guards recorded that they drove their horses to keep up with the Yan family's chariots and horses.

The wheels made a rumbling noise, heading north all the way, and finally arrived at Fuxingfang in the north of the city. The master and servant of the Yan family hurriedly knocked on the door of the medical clinic, and almost fell on the steps.

"Is Dr. Zhen there? Our third mother is sick! Please help..."

The inside of the museum was completely covered with ink, Wei Yun waited anxiously outside holding Yan Yan.

The crowd became more and more panicked, some maidservants cried out in anxiety, and even Yan Yan's breathing became more and more rapid.

Xue Bai glanced over and saw the little lady lying weakly on Wei Yun's shoulder, her eyes closed tightly, her fists clenched tightly, her expression very uncomfortable.

"Doctor Zhen?"

"Doctor Zhen?!"

Finally, a young man opened the door.

"Is the doctor there? Come on, my Sanniang..."

"It turned out to be the lady of the Yan family. Alang is not here today, so he was invited to the Gongyuan."

"Then is there a doctor next to me?"

"There are only villains in the museum, but villains don't know medical skills."

When she was in a hurry, Yan Yan's body suddenly softened and she almost fell from Wei Yun's arms.

Wei Yun hurriedly supported her, but she already sensed that her daughter's appearance was not right, she stretched out her hand to check her breath, she was so shocked that she was knocked out of her wits.

"San Niang? San Niang..."

"Get out of the way, don't surround yourself."

In the chaos, a steady voice sounded, Xue Bai stepped forward, pushing away the bewildered people around him.

"Lie her down, on her back, with her collar loosened so she won't be suffocated."

Xue Bai does not know medical skills, but he once learned simple first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation when working with an old officer.

When he first arrived in Datang and met Du Youlin fainting, this skill had a little effect, but at this time Yan Yan's situation was unclear to him, and he was not sure.

Stretching out his hand to detect Yan Yan's breath, Xue Bai looked at that pitiful little face, hesitated for a moment, and still pressed on the center of her breastbone.

"..."

There was a lot of noise in his ears, but Xue Bai didn't listen.

At first he thought that it would be troublesome if he couldn't save her, but he didn't think about it later.

It took a lot of energy to do CPR, and he didn't know how long it took him to feel exhausted, so he turned around and wanted to call someone to replace him. Some people around him pointed their fingers at his face and said he was rude.

"Huh...huh..."

Panting for breath, Xue Bai suddenly felt something, and when he turned his head, Yan Yan who was lying on her back opened her eyes, which made him inexplicably happy.

There was innocence, bewilderment, and some painful expressions in her eyes. Although her breathing and heartbeat resumed, she did not regain her brilliance.

"There must be a doctor." Xue Bai forgot to be tired, pulled the young man in the hospital, and said, "Where is there a doctor?"

"There is no other medical clinic nearby... If you must find it..."

"where?"

"The Yuzhen Temple in the southwestern corner of the square, the alchemists inside also know some medical skills."

~~
"Seek medical attention?"

A young female crown opened the knocked door in the night. Hearing what Wei Yun said about the situation, she hesitated for a moment, and replied: "There are indeed a few senior sisters who are proficient in medical science, and I'm afraid they have already rested at this time."

"Also ask the alchemist to help, there will be a big reward."

Facing Wei Yun's pleading eyes, the little female crown was finally moved, and replied: "Wait a moment, let Xiaodao ask."

"..."

Everyone had to wait outside the door, anxious.

Xue Bai comforted them in a calm tone, lest they get too anxious and make Yan Yan even more flustered.

While speaking, Yan Yan rolled her eyes and glanced at him.

Xue Bai comforted: "You will be fine."

Yan Yan pursed her lips and did not speak.

There was finally a movement in Yuzhen Temple.

"Who is sick?"

Following the clear female voice asked, Xue Bai turned around to look.

In the moonlight, a slender woman with a crown came, wearing a lotus crown and a feathered robe, but she was someone he knew.

"It's you."

Li Tengkong stopped and looked at Xue Bai, also in a daze.

She thought that she would be able to calm her mind if she was born and practiced.I never thought that I would meet him again so soon, it was like a catastrophe, and I couldn't avoid it...

　Today's last chapter will be later, please don't wait, let me write slowly~~Because after the foreshadowing, the next episode has just begun~~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)