The Grand Secretary’s Pampered Wife

Chapter 252 Palace Exam (two more in one)

This situation was beyond everyone's expectations. Even the Crown Princess was slightly startled. The moment the bookshelf fell down, she instinctively took a few steps forward to avoid the unexpected disaster.

But this room was already cramped, and after walking a few steps forward, he almost collided with Xiao Liulang.

Xiao Liulang first heard the sound and knew that someone was coming in. Then the bookshelf fell and hit the door. There were no oil lamps and no windows in the room. As soon as the door was closed, the room fell into endless darkness.

He didn't see who was coming, but he took a step back following his instinct not to enter, and almost stuck himself against the wall.

It’s not been a day or two that Xiao Liulang is a stranger. Ever since Feng Lin met him, he found out that he has serious social cleanliness, but Feng Lin has a thicker skin and always goes to Xiao Liulang.

The crown princess was a little embarrassed by the other party's action to avoid suspicion. Don't ordinary men save the beauty by being a hero when they encounter this kind of thing?

Of course, as a high-ranking crown princess, she would not allow herself to have any physical contact with foreign men, but it is one thing for her to not allow it, and it is another for others not to do so.

A woman's scent of fat powder floated in the room, not the cheap powder scent on the market, but the high-quality incense of the court.

Xiao Liulang paused while holding the ink ingot.

Although there was no lamp in the room, after his eyes got used to the darkness, he could vaguely open his vision a little bit by the faint light that penetrated under the crack of the door.

The other party was wearing a pearl white gauze skirt, the silk gauze fluttered down, and the embellished gold and silver threads were looming in the dim light.

This is one inch and one gold shark yarn. It is said that a hundred fishermen can weave less than half a piece in a month. Although this is a bit exaggerated, the shark yarn is indeed a rare treasure in the court.

Palace maids are not qualified to wear them, nor are ordinary concubines qualified. The Ministry of Internal Affairs usually only gives them to the hostess of the harem - the queen mother or the queen.

The queen mother is no longer in the palace, and the queen cannot leave the palace at all.

The woman's figure is graceful, like a beautiful mermaid emerging from the water under the moonlit night.

is a young woman.

The room was so quiet that even breathing could be heard clearly.

Xiao Liulang didn't say anything, and he didn't go any further to chat or salute.

"Who are you?"

After the princess hesitated for a while, she finally spoke first.

Hearing this voice, Xiao Liulang squeezed the ink ingot in his hand, but he still did not speak.

The Crown Princess secretly thought, is it really not A-Heng? If it was A-Heng, he would not be unable to hear his own voice...

She paused,

He tentatively walked towards the other party, but I don't know if it was intentional or not, another row of bookshelves suddenly fell down, which happened to be between the two of them.

I can't ask, I can't pass, the Crown Princess is completely dead.

The two hadn't been locked in the house for too long, and the shopkeeper noticed the strangeness here, and hurriedly called the guy to come and smash the door.

It's a pity that the door was blocked, and it was not so easy to pry open for a while.

The shopkeeper also felt distressed about the door and floor of his house, and did not dare to make too much noise, and the progress of opening the door was unknowingly delayed.

However, he said that the prince had been waiting upstairs for a long time and the prince concubine had not come back. He and the prince concubine had come out of the two-person world. They didn't bring any entourage, just a coachman and two secret guards who were secretly protecting him.

After thinking about it, he decided to find it himself.

The princess said that she was going to buy sesame cakes, but she was not seen at the door of the sesame shop.

So he asked the driver, "Have you seen the Crown Princess?"

The driver said, "If you go back to the master, the princess has gone to the study."

The prince frowned, what did she do in the study?

Doubt returned to doubt, the prince still strode into the study.

When he went in, he found out that there was an accident in the study room. With a thought, he stepped forward and asked without anger, "Who is locked in it?"

The shopkeeper saw that the other party had a strong aura and was well-dressed, and said respectfully, "I didn't see it clearly, it's a lady..."

"Get out of the way." The prince said solemnly.

Everyone was caught by his aura and pushed them aside one after another. The prince gently knocked on the door and said, "Linlang, are you inside?"

In the darkness, the Crown Princess turned around, looked at the bookshelf in front of her, and then looked at the door that was firmly held back, and said, "I'm here."

The prince pushed the door, but there was no response.

The shopkeeper said: "It's useless, the bookshelf inside fell down and blocked the door."

The prince frowned and said, "Why don't you pry it open?"

"I-Isn't this impossible to pry open?" The shopkeeper wanted to smash the axe, but he was worried that he would accidentally injure the person inside.

The prince will not dispatch the dark guards around him unless he has to, but he can't take care of that much now. He is worried that the prince concubine will be locked up inside.

He made the Dark Guard appear.

The two secret guards are both masters of the big inside, and a mere door can't be difficult for them. The two quickly removed the door and removed the first shelf blocking the door.

The prince hurriedly stretched out his hand to the princess.

The Crown Princess took his hand and walked out from the broken ink ingots.

The prince looked her up and down and asked worriedly, "Are you all right?"

The Crown Princess shook her head slightly: "I'm fine, I just had to wait for the sesame cake, so I'll come over and choose a few ink ingots for Xiao Qi first."

Qin Chuyu couldn't use the ink ingot from the palace, it was easy to reveal his identity.

The prince did not suspect him, and said to her: "You can leave this kind of thing to the servants to do. Don't do it yourself. If something happens to you, I will be sad."

The Crown Princess smiled guiltily: "I made you worry, it's not mine."

The prince said: "You're fine, let's go."

The prince didn't know that there was another person inside, and the crown prince glanced at it, but didn't say anything.

The prince took the prince's hand, threw an ingot to the shopkeeper, and stepped out of the study.

The shopkeeper got the ingot, and he no longer felt sorry for the door and the broken bookshelves and ink ingots, and thanked him with a smile: "Young master, walk slowly! Madam, walk slowly!"

After he finished speaking, he turned around and scratched his head, looked at the messy room, and said, "Eh? I remember that a scholar entered just now... Huh? Why did this bookshelf collapse? It shouldn't be..."

He had fixed this bookshelf so much, and he didn't put any heavy objects on it, so why did it fall down?

While he was thinking about it, Xiao Liulang bent over and walked out from under another overturned bookshelf.

The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment: "Really, there are people..."

Xiao Liulang didn't say anything. He settled Mo Ding's account and gave him a little more money. The shopkeeper was about to ask, and he said, "Loss."

Loss of the second shelf.

The shopkeeper was stunned.

After Xiao Jingkong and Xu Congee met his little relatives, they returned to the sesame cake shop to meet Xiao Liulang in the company of Xu Congee and Xu's servants.

Xiao Jingkong is a careful child, and he soon noticed that his brother-in-law's hand was not right.

He stopped and looked solemnly at Xiao Liulang's right hand with his wide sleeve hanging down: "What's wrong with your hand?"

"It's nothing." Xiao Liulang said lightly.

Xiao Jingkong didn't believe it, he grabbed Xiao Liulang's sleeve and saw a red and swollen hand, his eyes instantly widened: "It's all swollen! How did you do it? Does it hurt?"

Xiao Liulang suddenly smiled and pinched his little face: "Do you care about me so much?"

Xiao Jingkong patted his hands that were messing up on his face, and said sternly: "I'm not afraid that you won't pass the exam? Jiaojiao has put you on the top spot! All your net worth is put on it!"

Xiao Liulang: "..."

As soon as he went to the hospital, Xiao Jingkong found Gu Jiao, who was drying the medicinal herbs in the backyard, and slammed the bad brother-in-law: "...I didn't look at him for a while, and he injured himself!"

Gu Jiao put down the herbs in her hand and looked at Xiao Liulang who came over: "Where is the injury? Let me see." Then she said to Xiao Jingkong, "Go and play with Sister Jiangli."

"Okay." Xiao Jingkong obediently went to Xiao Jiangli.

Gu Jiao took Xiao Liulang back to her yard.

The medical center has a consultation room, but it is for the outside world, he is different.

Xiao Liulang has been to the medical center several times, but he has never entered Gu Jiao's room. It is not like a study, with simple furniture and a small bed for her to rest behind the screen.

The two sat outside the screen.

The screen is not the landscape or flower and bird screen that ordinary girls love, it is a pure light blue without any color.

Her preferences are always a little different.

The two of them lived under the same roof, but for some reason, this room that belonged to Gu Jiao alone made Xiao Liulang feel like he had broken into her boudoir.

Xiao Liulang's expression was faint.

Gu Jiao tugged up his sleeves, instead of using a pulse pillow to cushion his wrist, she directly supported his wrist with her hand.

His wrist was so swollen, she touched the bone lightly, and the bone was fine.

She squeezed the back of his hand again, and there was also a slight swelling here, which should be caused by the congestion at the wrist.

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

"It doesn't hurt," he said.

Gu Jiao even checked his fingers.

His hands are beautiful, thin, with slender fingers, well-defined joints, neatly manicured nails, and even the uninjured wrist bone is as delicate as jade.

If it was placed in a previous life, it would be either the surgeon's hand or the pianist's hand.

How did you get hurt?

Gu Jiao was a little angry.

Usually at home, she was reluctant to let him do heavy work, for fear that he would hurt her hand.

"How?" she asked.

In fact, they seldom asked about this. Gu Jiao didn't ask how he was injured when he was treating his leg earlier. Gu Jiao was beaten and unconscious, and he didn't ask who Gu Jiao had a bad relationship with. .

Although they both learned the truth to some extent in the end, they didn't learn it from the other side's mouth.

"The bookshelf was smashed." Xiao Liulang said, "I didn't pay much attention at that time."

Gu Jiao looked at his swollen wrist and frowned: "Be careful in the future."

Xiao Liulang nodded: "Okay."

Apply ice on the first day to prevent the congestion from spreading.

Gu Jiao took an ice pack from the small medicine box and put it on his wrist. This kind of ice pack does not need to be frozen. It can be crushed into ice. The disadvantage is that it cannot be reused.

Xiao Liulang was accustomed to strange things appearing in her small medicine box from time to time, and did not ask her where the ice came from.

She held his wrist with one hand, and held an ice pack on his wrist with the other, changing places from time to time, with a serious and careful expression.

Xiao Liulang's eyes moved slightly, and he stretched out his hand and said, "I'll do it myself."

Gu Jiao picked up the ice pack and avoided his hand: "No, it's very cold."

Are your hands not iced?

Xiao Liulang looked at her fixedly, his wrist was cold and painful, but his heart didn't seem to feel it. He opened his mouth and suddenly asked, "Do you treat other patients... like this?"

"No." Gu Jiao shook her head and put an ice pack on his hand seriously, "Only for you."

Xiao Liulang's heart suddenly swelled, and a strange and strong emotion filled in. In fact, she didn't specifically say what to do to him, but it made people not even breathing calmly.

The ice pack was probably too icy. Her left hand was completely numb from the ice, and she changed her right hand to hold the ice pack, and used the ice-like left hand to support the bones of his hand.

After changing it several times, Xiao Liulang's wrists were swollen a lot, and there was no pain at all, and her hands were frozen to the point where she almost lost consciousness.

She went to pack up, and Xiao Liulang could feel her movements were dull.

She closed the medicine box as if nothing had happened. She didn't really care, she just froze her hands. It's not uncommon for her to freeze to the point of stiffness in her previous life.

However, what she doesn't care about, this time, someone cares for her.

The moment she got up to handle the medical supplies, a slender jade-like hand reached out and grabbed her cold hand.

The hand was slender and fair, with a force that could not be refused, tightly wrapping her hand.

The cold, sore fingertips suddenly warmed up.

Gu Jiao looked at him blankly.

He didn't look at Gu Jiao, but silently held her other hand in his palm.

...

In the blink of an eye, it was April 15th, and the quiz before the palace exam began.

Xiao Liulang went out before dawn, and arrived at the main gate of the palace in a carriage driven by Liu Quan.

The main gate of the palace has a total of three gates. The middle one is the main gate, which is tall and open, twenty feet high, and there are side gates on both sides of the main gate.

The door on the left is mostly used by the royal family, and the door on the right is mostly used by ministers.

Today's candidates go through the door on the right.

The candidates lined up early outside the door on the right, according to their own quotation marks.

Xiao Liulang and Du Ruohan's test numbers were together, Xiao Liulang was seventy-five, Du Ruohan was seventy-six, Du Ruohan arrived earlier than Xiao Liulang, greeted Feng Lin and Lin Chengye, and waited for Xiao Liulang after a long time.

"Why are you here so late? I thought you were too timid!" Du Ruohan was jealous that Xiao Liulang had squeezed out his position in Feng Lin's mind, and he would always choke him twice when they met.

Xiao Liulang was too lazy to quarrel with him, and silently stood in front of him.

Du Ruohan pouted: "Hey, are you nervous? Feng Lin and Lin Chengye are so nervous."

Their test numbers are relatively high, one is twenty-one, the other is thirty-seven. I heard that they are more advanced than Xiao Liulang and Du Ruohan, and the two of them are shaking.

Fortunately, the rest of the people also trembled, and there are not many who do not tremble.

One is that everyone has never been in the palace, so they are a little nervous, and the other is that it is very cold today!

It's already April, and the weather is supposed to be fine, but it rained suddenly last night, the temperature dropped sharply, and there was still a strong wind blowing.

Xiao Liulang glanced at him: "Are you nervous?"

Du Ruohan hummed, "Why am I so nervous?"

Xiao Liulang glanced around him, if you didn't shake your legs, it would be more convincing.

When the time came, the door on the right opened, and officials from the Ministry of Rites began to check the candidates' citations and matching cards. After the inspection, a palace eunuch and a Rites official would lead the candidates to the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the palace. .

This time in the quiz, no one was searched. After all, everyone was no longer an ordinary juren with a reputation. Everyone was a tribute, and the worst people who went out from here were also Tongjinshi.

What is Tongjinshi? That is the reserve officer of the imperial court.

"Hey, Xiao Liuzi, do you know who that is?" Halfway through, Du Ruohan suddenly pulled La Xiao Liulang's sleeve and motioned him to look at Gongsheng with a national character not far away.

Xiao Liulang said indifferently, "Why do you talk more than Feng Lin?"

They talk a lot, it's called stinking.

Du Ruohan snorted: "If you don't want to listen, forget it."

Xiao Liulang actually knew who Du Ruohan was referring to. It was Yuan Yu, the youngest grandson of Yuan Shoufu. When he was queuing up, the officials of the Ministry of Rites greeted Yuan Yu specially and called Yuan Xiaogongzi.

The Minister of Rites was a student of Yuan Shoufu, and it is not surprising that he would take care of Yuan Yu.

As for the Minister of Honglu Temple, he was a disciple of Master Zhuang, and 80% of them would be very fond of Anjun King.

The examination number of King Anjun was behind Xiao Liulang and Du Ruohan, and Xiao Liulang did not see him.

All the candidates take the exam in the main hall of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. A mat, a writing table, ink, ink, paper and inkstone are provided by the imperial court. The candidates must sit down to answer the questions.

The invigilators are officials from the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple.

After listening to the instructions of the Minister of Rites and singing, the candidates bowed their hands and began to take their seats.

In the quiz, there was only one eight-part essay, but this time, there were no interception questions. The title was—"The Tao is not far from people. People are far from Tao. People can't be Tao."

This sentence comes from "The Doctrine of the Mean: Chapter Thirteen", which means that the Tao is not far from people. If someone pretends to be lofty and makes the Dao far away from people, then the Dao cannot be practiced.

There are many points of entry for this question. You can explore the nature and form of the Tao, and you can also delve into the degree and method of practicing the Tao.

After going through rounds of cruel children's examinations, rural examinations and general examinations, the candidates were not used to such a simple question suddenly.

So there was a strange scene in the exam room. All the candidates looked at the exam papers on the table with a confused look, seriously suspecting that the examiner made a mistake.

"The exam begins." The Minister of Rites reminded, and the candidates just woke up like a dream, took the scratch paper and began to solve the problem.

If it weren't for the difficulty of this exam, it would probably be the time, only two hours.

However, since the exam questions were not difficult, this time was enough, even Feng Lin and Lin Chengye didn't feel too much pressure.

The quiz is not included in the total score, and its main purpose is not to select talents, but to warm up for the palace exam in advance, and then to learn the etiquette of the imperial court and the rules of the examination room.

The Minister of Rites and Honglu Siqing jointly invigilated the examination.

Xiao Liulang sat in the penultimate seat in the first column. This child was not easy to attract the examiner's attention, but he had a crutch beside him.

Honglu Siqing suddenly noticed the crutch, and he whispered to the eunuch beside him, "Who is that?"

The eunuch counted Xiao Liulang's exam numbers, looked at the pair of cards in his hand, and said, "It's a student of the Imperial College."

"What is a..."

The minister of Honglu Temple wanted to say, why is he a lame man?

The words felt inappropriate on the lips.

Since this dynasty has relaxed the conditions for the imperial examination, then as an official of the imperial court, he should accept it with ease.

It's just that Honglu Siqing still couldn't help being attracted by Xiao Liulang. It's not his fault. It's true that no lame person has come to the scientific examination since the beginning of the dynasty.

Especially those who passed the palace exam.

There are quite a few scars on the face.

Wouldn't this kid also have a scar on his face? Wouldn't that scare His Majesty?

Honglu Siqing decided to take a look. If he was really ugly, he would have to drop him no matter what, at least he couldn't present his test paper to the emperor, frightening the emperor and they couldn't afford to take the blame.

Honglu Siqing then went to Xiao Liulang to see.

With just one look, he was completely stunned.

Xiao Liulang answered the test paper very calmly, and did not hand in the paper in advance, because he could not leave after handing it in.

The afternoon was to study the rules and etiquette of the imperial court. To be honest, among the 210 tributes, there were not many students from the poor family. It's not that the poor students are not hardworking enough, but that their educational resources and education system are far inferior to those of the aristocratic children.

For a family to cultivate a jinshi, it often takes a lot of effort. For example, the children of the Yuan family and the children of the Zhuang family have masters such as Yuan Shoufu and Taifu Zhuang as teachers. They can point out a sentence or two to benefit the children of the family. shallow.

No matter how bad it is, a genius from the south of the Yangtze River like Wang Yuan, who came from a scholarly family and has two jinshi in his family, can also give him good guidance.

It is difficult for the children of the poor family to get ahead.

Most of the tribute students this time were candidates with a little background, and they had hired a special person to teach some etiquette rules at home, so everyone learned the royal etiquette, and the overall progress was very fast.

At You Shi, the candidates finished their studies, took their own test citations and matched cards and left the palace.

Feng Lin didn't know much. He asked Lin Chengye. Lin Chengye knew it originally, but when Feng Lin asked, he suddenly became unsure.

"Liulang." Feng Lin looked at Xiao Liulang pleadingly.

Xiao Liulang demonstrated it to the two of them in the carriage.

Du Ruohan patted the folding fan and said, "Hey? Little Liuzi, how come you behave so well?"

At first glance, he doesn't look like a poor country boy.

It's not that he bragged, Xiao Liulang's manners are not worse than that of Prince An, where did this kid learn the temperament of a noble son in the capital?

Xiao Liulang said indifferently: "If you look at it more, you won't be able to."

"You kid... Forget it." Du Ruohan shook his folding fan, without saying what he was going to ask, "It's getting late, I'm leaving! Do you want to send you back?"

Feng Lin said: "No need, we have a carriage."

Feng Lin and Lin Chengye shared a carriage, and Xiao Liulang himself had a carriage from Liu Quan.

"Okay, then let's not meet for the next two days, so that we can stay at home for the exam." After Du Ruohan said, he turned around and got out of the carriage.

Feng Lin said to Xiao Liulang: "Liulang, we are leaving too."

Xiao Liulang could see that he was a little nervous, and said to him: "Don't think about anything, Your Majesty is not a viper or a beast, even if something goes wrong, he won't do anything to anyone, just take a good test. The same is true for you."

He looked at Lin Chengye, "The palace exam doesn't take the Baguwen exam, only the strategy question. Your strategy question has made great progress this year, just let go and do the question."

Lin Chengye has studied with Xiao Liulang for so long, Xiao Liulang has always been a strict teacher and has never praised him. It seems that no matter how hard he tries, Xiao Liulang cannot be satisfied...

But just now, Xiao Liulang said that he has made great progress?

Lin Chengye is more efficient than being praised by the master of Guozijian!

His back was straight all of a sudden, and he said seriously: "I, I will, good, good test!"

"Well." Xiao Liulang nodded, "Don't read books for the next two days, and wait for the exam with peace of mind."

"Um!"

Lin Chengye, who was praised, got out of the carriage full of fighting spirit, and got into his own carriage with Feng Lin.

For the past two days, several people have not gone out at home.

On the 17th, the palace examination officially began.

On this day, all the academies in the capital are on holiday, including the Imperial College.

More than 200 candidates came to wait outside the palace gate before dawn. One candidate left the exam at home and was so anxious that he almost fainted. Fortunately, the owner of the inn where he lived found the exam and gave him the citation in person. sent over.

Although the palace exam generally does not brush candidates, but if they do not take the exam, they will still be brushed.

The examination of the palace examination was stricter.

Some candidates living in the capital, their parents also came, but they were not allowed to approach the palace, and people stopped them from a few hundred meters away.

Court ministers like Zhuang Taifu and Yuan Shoufu were naturally exceptions.

The two of them came to court, and by the way, they warned their children a few words.

The rest of the candidates saw it, and instantly felt a huge pressure.

"Take the test well, you don't have to think about anything." Mrs. Zhuang said to King An who was at the end of the queue. The test number he drew was the second from the bottom. However, because of Mr. Zhuang's appearance, there was a lot of commotion. Almost all the candidates looked at him.

Prince An smiled: "Grandfather, please rest assured."

Mrs. Zhuang took care of the wide sleeves for King Anjun. This is telling him that you only need to take the exam and leave the rest to me.

With the strength of King An and the power of Taifu Zhuang, why didn't he win the first place?

As for the potential threat, he has a hundred ways to fail the opponent's test paper!

At this moment, the candidates are simply envious, envious of King An's talent and learning, and envious of King An's family background.

Master Zhuang couldn't stay for too long, he turned around and was about to leave when suddenly, a tall and majestic figure approached.

"Yo? Isn't this Mrs. Zhuang? It's such a coincidence."

This inelegant voice, who is not the Marquis of Xuanping?

Mr. Zhuang has a headache when he sees him now. The most hated person in the entire court is the Marquis of Xuanping!

Master Zhuang held the wat board in his hand, and said lightly, "This is the right sentence for this old man. It's not even three poles in the sun, so why did Marquis Xuanping come to court?"

Who doesn't know, Xuanping Hou never goes to court early.

There are many people here, and Marquis Xuanping is still holding it. He said gracefully and calmly, "This Marquis is just like you."

Master Zhuang snorted, like him? Like him? Is it possible to send the children at home for the palace test? Oh, by whom? Are the two unskilled sons in his family?

The Marquis of Xuan Ping ignored Mrs. Zhuang's disdain. He curled the corners of his lips and strode forward.

Marquis Xuanping had his own aura, and all of a sudden he attracted all eyes.

The candidates did not dare to look at it, and were so nervous that they did not dare to come out.

Marquis Xuanping stopped beside Xiao Liulang, raised his hand, and straightened his clothes for Xiao Liulang earnestly and solemnly.

Is there a monthly pass?