The Red Mansion is so charming

Chapter 214
Perhaps the weather is beautiful, although it is still March, but the sun is particularly good today, almost no charcoal basins are needed in the Hanyuan Hall to keep a certain amount of warmth.Xiaozong looked around at those candidates with a smile on his face, and every time his eyes passed over a young man, he would stop involuntarily, look at it carefully, and when he felt that it was not bad, he nodded to the little eunuch next to him.The little eunuchs knew the emperor's intentions, and hurriedly wrote down the seat of the person Xiaozong liked, and waited for it to be used in the selection later.

These candidates for the exam entered the palace from the quarter to the hour, and finished entering the palace at the first quarter of the hour. In order to prevent disrespect in front of the palace, they almost all came on an empty stomach, and they didn't even dare to drink too much water.It took a long morning, and coupled with the majesty of the emperor, dozens of good candidates with poor mental ability passed out in the Hanyuan Hall in a short time.

Xiaozong frowned, Dai Quan hurriedly smiled and said softly: "Long Live Lord, there are several young Jie Yuan this year, all of whom are local leaders. Why don't Long Live Lord take a closer look?"

Xiaozong reluctantly nodded, got up and walked down.The six ministers immediately widened their eyes to see who the emperor favored.

Gu Erlang sat in the middle of the third row of the hall.This place is very close to the emperor, but it has more attention from the emperor than the previous rows.In order to get this position, the Gu family spent a lot of time managing the Ministry of Rites and the entire palace.Sensitively aware of the emperor's intentions, Gu Erlang quickly straightened his waist and quickly checked the test paper, shaking his fingers around the paperweight.

Xiaozong walked among the candidates in a yellow robe, and Gu Erlang's mind was no longer on the test papers.When the emperor stood in front of Mei Yusen's desk, Gu Erlang's mind tightened.Out of the corner of his eye, he involuntarily chased after him.

Besides, Mei Yusen was also stiff all over, not daring to raise his head to approach Shengyan, and the hand holding the brush trembled slightly.Xiaozong smiled slightly when he saw it, Dai Quan saw it, and whispered in Xiaozong's ear: "Long Live Lord, this is the son of Mei Hanlin's family, who was married to the imperial merchant Xue's family not long ago."

Xiaozong hesitated: "Imperial merchant Xue's family? But Baobi's natal family?"

Because of Xue Baoqin's meritorious service in conceiving the prince, she became a concubine from a nobleman.Dai Quan said with a smile: "Long live God has a good memory. It is said that the young lady is also the cousin of Empress Bao, and she is also a very outstanding person."

Xiaozong and Dai Quan were standing among the candidates. Although these soft words were not loud, there were quite a few people who heard them.The examinees around Mei Yusen were all envious to death, not envious of Mei Yusen's upcoming marriage to a beautiful woman, but jealous of Mei Yusen's upcoming sister-in-law who would be a concubine.

The only thing in the surrounding area that was not affected was probably Ganmi not far to the left of Mei Yusen.

Gan Mi was very mischievous when he was young, and his godfather was very distressed by this, no matter how many teachers he hired to discipline him.Unexpectedly, the godfather and wife passed away suddenly, and Gan Mi seemed to grow up overnight, not only changed his lively personality, but even became a little too mature.

Even Gan Mi's mentor often lamented that even many elders can hardly have such a peaceful mind.

Xiaozong's title today is well-regulated, which is what the sage Confucius taught his disciple Yan Yuan in "The Analects of Confucius": use it to do it, give it away to hide it, but I and you have a husband!
Confucius meant that if my way can be practiced, then I will implement my way in this society. If this society cannot allow my way to be practiced, then I will hide my way. Only you and me can do this!
This is not difficult to understand, but it is difficult to solve the problem with new ideas.

When Xiaozong walked up to Gan Mi, he was deeply attracted by the small script in European style.When Xiaozong was young, he practiced the six one layman's posts. Unfortunately, he didn't have much attainment in this area, but he collected a lot of Ouyang Xiu's masterpieces.This matter is not a secret. In order to please Emperor Xiaozong, some civil officials worked hard to practice European sports, and it became an interesting story in the court for a while.

Gan Mi's first hand in lower script was taught by his mentor Hong Shijin. A famous teacher produces a high-level apprentice. Naturally, as soon as he made a move, he won Xiaozong's favor.Xiaozong stopped and watched for a long while, but remained silent throughout.Dai Quan was about to speak, but Xiaozong left without thinking.

Dai Quan looked back at Gan Mi, who was always writing with his head down, sighed lightly, and hurried to catch up with Xiaozong.After turning around, Xiaozong came to Gu Erlang.A gust of wind came from nowhere, and suddenly rolled down the examination papers that hadn't been pressed down on the paperweight.The quality of the roll papers for palace examinations has always been checked by the cabinet in person, and the test papers are mounted on rice paper, which is extremely elegant.Each page is 24 centimeters long and [-] centimeters wide, with red lines and straight lines, and only [-] characters per line.After the examinees entered the Hanyuan Hall, pens, ink, paper and inkstones were placed on the table.The specifications are uniform and there is no possibility of cheating.

Xiaozong's first feeling was that the roll of paper fell off.Without thinking about it, he leaned over and picked up the question paper that "floated" to his feet.

Gu Erlang's complexion changed drastically, and he fell to his knees in front of Xiaozong with a plop, his head deeply planted on the ground, if it wasn't for the hard ground of Hanyun Hall, Gu Erlang would have knocked a big hole out.

Dai Quan has long been favored by Gu Peisheng. During Gu Erlang's stay in Beijing, he often invited Dai Quan over for drinks. Therefore, Dai Quan knew this person very well. When he saw something went wrong, he hurried forward. Laughing apologetically, "Long Live Lord, it's windy, why don't you go back and rest?"

Gu Erlang sent Dai Quan a grateful touch.Xiaozong didn't pay attention to it at all, just staring at the inscription paper in his hand, with the intention of memorizing the words and sentences firmly in his heart.

Gu Erlang was overjoyed, he only thought that his "proud work" had caught the eyes of the emperor.

But it's no wonder that he spent nearly [-] snowflakes of silver on the Gu family for just one article.

When Gu Erlang was feeling complacent, Xiaozong quickly read through the entire article.It's really every word and every word, the rhetoric is neat, and a needle of blood.However, looking at Xiaozong's expression, instead of being happy at all, he was so angry that he almost didn't jump up.

"Come on, arrest me!" Xiaozong sternly shouted, Dai Quan shuddered, he didn't understand how the Lord Long Live had changed so much, and in desperation, Dai Quan asked stupidly: "Long live, long live, catch who?"

"Catch this brazen bastard." Xiaozong pointed at Gu Erlang, and the lice-infested imperial guards in the palace swarmed up, holding Gu Erlang in their hands like a chicken.

The examinees were in an uproar, staring at the scene in front of them bewilderedly.

Gu Erlang didn't put anything in his mouth, and hurriedly shouted: "Long live Mingjian, I really have no suspicion of fraud. If you don't believe me, please ask the adults of the Imperial Forest Army to search and check."

Xiaozong shook the test paper in his hand, and sneered coldly: "Evidence? Can't this test paper make you give up?" Xiaozong looked at the imperial army, and the young general in charge immediately dragged Gu Erlang out of Hanyun Palace.The cabinet scholars and the six ministers were full of suspicion and uneasiness, and followed Xiaozong into the side hall.

Xiaozong's expression was extremely terrifying, Master Qiao stepped forward tremblingly, and asked tentatively: "Your Majesty, is there something wrong with this examinee?"

Xiaozong didn't say much, and directly threw the question paper that he had been holding in his hand to the Minister of Rites.Mrs. Qiao accepted it suspiciously, and saw that the problem above was not only grand, but also powerful.

"It is advisable for a sage to practice and hide, and to show it to those who are capable."

Master Qiao read it out in a low voice, but it became even more confusing after reading it this way.What you said was good, well-founded, Mr. Qiao said with a smile: "Long live!"

"Read it again!" Xiaozong said coldly.The Minister of Rites was shut down, and felt embarrassed in front of the six ministers and the great scholars, but Emperor Xiaozong ordered, and the Minister of Rites did not dare to disobey, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue reading.

"It is not easy to follow the rules of Gai sage's travels and collections. Since Yan Zi knew it, we can talk to him."

Before I started, someone said "hey" in doubt.Xiaozong looked away coldly, but Cheng Zimo blushed, and Cheng Zimo hurriedly said: "Long live, calm down, I just think these words are very familiar."

One word awakened the dreamer, and everyone who hadn't solved their doubts just agreed.The Minister of Rites also hurriedly tried to restore the bad impression just now: "I also feel the same way, it seems that His Royal Highness the Fifth Prince has just made a similar article?"

Cheng Zimo and others sneered in their hearts, this Mr. Qiao is too good at talking, what is similar, it is clearly the same article.

Although the test questions of the palace examination are classified and must not be leaked out, Xiaozong's preferences are only those. What articles he reads on weekdays and which epigrams he prefers, as the emperor's confidantes, several ministers and academicians can probably guess it.

The few sentences read by the Minister of Rites are not long ago the five princes won high praise in front of Xiaozong's essay?On that day, Xiaozong suddenly became interested and led several senior ministers to the upper study room.The chief master in the study room just talked about this chapter of "The Analects of Confucius".In front of everyone, Xiaozong took off the double dragon pendant around his waist to make a lottery head, and threatened that whoever wrote a good article would get the jade pendant.

Although the six ministers did not speak, they knew that the jade pendant probably belonged to the third prince.Who is the one who works the hardest and has the highest talent in the study room than this young master!

While everyone was waiting for Xiaozong to reveal the answer without any suspense, the fifth prince handed over an amazing piece.Even the masters who went to the study were very different, but Xiaozong praised him verbally.

The jade pendant naturally went into the fifth prince's pocket, because it was so long ago that everyone had forgotten about it. Many people remembered that article, but no one took it seriously, let alone spread it to the outside world.

Today, Gu Erlang copied the fifth prince's leisure work intact, so he must have missed the title.

Song Lian hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "Long Live Lord, I think that Hanyun Palace should be sealed immediately to prevent it from getting out of control. The case just now must be traced to the end to see who is behind the scenes. As the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, the old minister, Seeing that there are such moths in the country, I am heartbroken, and the old minister petitions to personally investigate the case thoroughly, so as to bring back a bit of cleanliness for the scholars."

Cheng Zimo was unwilling to lag behind: "I am also willing to share the worries for Your Majesty."

Regardless of whether it is related to this matter or not, the rest all asked for orders.Mr. Qiao, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, was extremely ashamed, and even more hated how the Gu family did such a shameful thing. Mr. Qiao followed behind, with a face of righteousness.

Only Dai Quan secretly yelled that it was not good, and vaguely felt that something was wrong!
(End of this chapter)