Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

Seeing that even Lu Ci, who was always gentle and elegant and always smiling, had a solemn face, and he was shocked by the fact that he was the servants who were waiting for the return of the lords with full expectation.

After a simple dinner, the lords went back to their rooms in silence, leaving the healthy servants outside watching at a loss, looking at each other in blank dismay.

——I'm afraid I didn't pass the exam.

It was a pity that this guess came to their minds in unison.

These few people are so devoted to their studies and knowledge, they have all seen them in the past few months.

Besides, it was the first time they had seen an employer who was so kind and generous to his servants.

Even if they only signed a one-year short contract, and they have received many favors, of course they also wish the master well.

Lu Ci didn't know that even the servants couldn't help feeling sorry for them.

Although he cooperated with the others to show a dignified expression, his true mood was still light.

Because it was still early, after he took a bath, he didn't rush to wash his face and rinse his mouth. Instead, he asked the cook to make meringue custard and bring it to him as a supper.

Before Zishi arrived, while tasting the soft and sweet, delicious custard cooked just right, he leisurely flipped through the "Spring and Autumn" that he had memorized fluently, and even checked thirty or so Moyi questions for himself.

It's just that when he was about to take a rest, there was a knock on the door of the room as expected.

Lu Ci: "Please come in."

As soon as the door opened, the person who came in with a shy face was indeed Zhong Yuan.

Zhong Yuan closed the door lightly, turned around, didn't sit down, just cleared his throat, and said with erratic eyes: "Qi Yu, we have known each other for many years..."

Hearing the extremely difficult opening remarks, Lu Ci guessed seven or eight points of what he wanted to say, raised his eyebrows and said: "You didn't pass the exam, and you are ready to fail, and then you want me to tell your father for you How many words of love?"

Zhong Yuan coughed and nodded quickly.

During the two-day provincial examination, when he was sitting on a chair, unable to do anything with the examination questions, and finally just took the time to write some incomprehensible words to communicate, he fully understood the huge gap between himself and others. There is a gap.

It's true that when the book is used, I hate less.

Zhong Yuan sat there with a blank mind, listening to the slight sound of the person next to him writing vigorously, he felt deep regret.

If Lu Ci urged him to study and invited him to study together, he would have tried to escape.

In that case, at least you won't be as at a loss as you are now, right?

Although there is another match tomorrow, Zhong Yuan already knows that he will fail the ranking.

Lu Ci was realistic and said: "You are still young, and it is not easy to pass the examination with the first answer. Although your father and his father hope that their son will become a dragon, they are also very reasonable, so you don't have to worry too much."

Seeing that Zhong Yuan's expression gradually became relaxed, Lu Ci didn't want him to relax without a sense of urgency, so he frowned and emphasized: "Don't put on a look of giving up on yourself, the result hasn't come yet, Who knows? Even if there is no hope of being on the list, you must not give up this rare training opportunity easily, and you should still go all out."

"After all, you can get some valuable provincial test experience. It will be of great help to you to check for omissions and fill in vacancies in the future. I don't know how many people can't get this opportunity."

Zhong Yuan has completely forgotten the fact that Lu Ci is younger than him, and nodded humbly.

After receiving Lu Ci's promise and reassurance, he, who had been keeping things on his mind, finally relaxed, regained his heartless appearance, bid farewell and went back to his room to rest.

Lu Ci smiled and shook his head. After sending him out, just as he was about to put out the candles, someone knocked on the door cautiously.

"..."

I don't know whether it was Zhong Yuan who went and came back, or someone else.

Lu Ci sighed softly, only put on his coat, and then went to open the door.

After the door opened, Yi Shu stood there with a nervous expression on his face: "I'm beating, I'm bothering brother Yu Yu."

"Come and sit down."

After Lu Ci invited him into the room, he didn't rush to ask him, but first poured a glass of white water and handed it to him, explaining: "When it's time to go to bed, I won't give you tea soup, take a few sips to moisten your throat."

"Many, thank you brother Yu Yu."

Yi Shu took it flattered, and politely took several sips immediately.

Lu Ci smiled and said briskly: "It's rare to see you talking to me alone. It's a pity that you came a little late. If you want to come early, you can still catch up and let the cook make you a custard."

Encouraged by this incomparably gentle gaze, Yi Shu felt his eye sockets getting hotter and wetter.

He took a deep breath: "I—"

He just said a word, and he couldn't hold on to the intentional strength anymore, and his whole upper body fell on the table. In this place that made him feel most at ease and warm, his blocked emotions burst out, and he immediately whimpered. Weeping softly.

Lu Ci's eyelids twitched.

At this time, it is not appropriate to ask any more questions.

Lu Ci'an sat quietly on the side, patted his trembling shoulders lightly from time to time, and handed him a clean towel.

After a cup of tea, Yi Shu's weeping sound like the spring rain gradually slowed down, and gradually stopped the momentum.

When he regained his sanity and realized that he had finally mustered up the courage to come to Lu Ci's room, but before he could say a word, he was already crying in embarrassment for a long time...

The whole face suddenly turned red as if it had been burned by fire.

When he found that he couldn't restrain his sobs, he felt even more ashamed. He simply stood up, bowed deeply to Lu Ci, and quickly said, "Thank you, brother Yu Yu", and opened the door in a hurry, and ran quickly Walk.

This series of actions was completed smoothly, without giving Lu Ci any time to react.

So, what is Yi Shu here for?

Seeing the door being closed again, Lu Ci couldn't help laughing.

He really didn't do anything.

After sending away the two people who were most emotionally unstable and had the ugliest faces when they left the examination room, Lu Ci thought that he could finally settle down, so he hung his outer clothes aside and lay down again .

However, just as he was about to turn off the lights, there was a third knock on the door.

"…………"

Lu Ci really didn't know what to say now, so he sat up resignedly, put on his coat again, and said calmly, "Please come in."

The people who came in this time were far beyond Lu Ci's expectations.

"Brother Liu?" Lu Ci blinked, "Why are you here?"

Compared with the previous two with blushing expressions, the flirtatious and lazy Liu Qi didn't look like he wanted to talk to Lu Ci for help at all.

He came into the room with a smile, and closed the door pretending to be sneaky: "I guessed that Yu Yuding hasn't rested yet."

Lu Ci snorted and laughed: "If Brother Liu is half a step late, my light will have been turned off."

Liu Qi graciously sat down on the chair next to the bed, glanced at the half-empty glass out of the corner of his eye, and understood: "Did someone come here just now?"

Lu Ci glanced at him and said truthfully, "You are the third."

Liu Qi couldn't help laughing: "As expected of Brother Yu Yu, he is really loved by everyone!"

"Don't be joking." Talking to Liu Qi and Zhu, Lu Ci was not so considerate and caring, and ruthlessly said: "It's late at night, if you have something to say, hurry up, if it's just a gag, give me a rest earlier."

Only then did Liu Qi straighten his face, and said with a smile: "I just saw you with a sad face for the first time, and I thought you had failed the exam. Looking at your mental state, I think I was worrying too much, but I didn't need to comfort you." effort."

Hearing the strong meaning of caring in the words, Lu Ci was a little surprised, and his heart warmed.

He smiled and said, "Thank you, Brother Liu, for your concern. I'm fine. Besides, no matter how well you did in the first two exams, you shouldn't bring distracting thoughts to the last exam. It seems the simplest, but it also tests the school's carefulness and foundation. There is no room for carelessness.”

Liu Qi nodded subconsciously, and after she realized it, she couldn't help pretending to be annoyed: "Hey! I thought, it's rare to pick up my elder brother's prestige, so I can comfort you a few words, and I don't want to be taught a lesson by you again."

Lu Ci smiled and cupped his hands: "Brother Liu is generous, forgive me for being outspoken."

Liu Qi's mind was exquisite and perceptive, and he couldn't see where it was. Not only did Lu Ci fail the exam, but he seemed to have done well in the exam, and his heart was completely relieved immediately.

He said solemnly: "Since that's the case, after finishing the exam tomorrow, before the results are released, brother Yu suggested that Yu Yu hire more healthy servants, just in case."

Lu Ci's first reaction was whether there had been any changes in the situation in Beijing and China, leading to unrest in law and order.

But soon realized that it was impossible, and asked: "Why is this?"

Liu Qi finally had the opportunity to put on a calm posture of someone who has come here, and told Lu Ci who was humbly asking for advice: "When the provincial examination released the list, the most gathered people on the list were not the candidates, but the rich businessmen and court officials who were born with eyes. Minister of the Central Committee. Although it is not as high and powerful as those high-ranking officials and dignitaries who went to catch their sons-in-law when the palace examination was announced, it is not something that just five strong servants can stop."

Thinking back to when the rankings were released in the provincial examination a few years ago, the scene where many parties competed for the rankings, and the frenzy that even the seventy-year-olds never let go, is enough to make Liu Qi feel fresh in his memory.

Last time, he missed the embarrassing scene of Lu Ci being caught in the street, which made him feel regretful, but in this capital where everything can be avoided, it is better to avoid it in advance.

Lu Ci was speechless for a moment, and after a while he said helplessly: "Brother Liu is planning for the rainy day, looking forward to the future, and the foolish brother is educated. It's just that I can't bear such a high opinion."

Even if he feels that he has performed well in these two games, it is not easy to stand out from the crowd of more than 7000 people and become one of the recruits.

But Liu Qi didn't listen at all, and muttered to himself with his eyes shining brightly: "If Ruo Yuyu won the Provincial Yuan, he is still the youngest one in this dynasty..."

He muttered there, although Lu Ci only caught a few words, he understood at once, and the corners of his mouth twitched, and he couldn't help interrupting Liu Qi's daydream: "Brother Liu, it's late at night, if you want to dream, you should lie down Go do it in bed."

Only two out of three exams, ten days and a half months before the rankings are released, and seeing Liu Qi's nagging and confident attitude in him, it seems that he wants to directly give the absolutely impossible provincial seal to him. Cover his head.

Lu Ci's own thoughts were the same as before.

As a first-line response, as long as you go all out, leave no regrets, and learn as much experience as possible from the exam, it is enough.

Whether it is nominated or not is not the point.

Liu Qi smiled and said: "Instead of worrying about me, Yu Yu should practice more winter swimming before the rankings are announced."

Seeing Liu Qi's unfathomable confidence in him, Lu Ci couldn't help but cry when he was moved.

When the two were talking, they had changed into their pajamas early on, but because they had been thinking about Lu Ci's rare depressed appearance, Zhu Shuo, who was tossing and turning on the bed and unable to fall asleep, also sneaked in.

He was still vaguely ashamed of disturbing people's rest, but when he saw that the light was still on and there was Liu Qihou who had the audacity to get there first, it disappeared.

Zhu Yue frowned, and blurted out, "Why is Brother Liu here?"

Liu Qi folded her arms in a leisurely manner, and when she heard this, she said with a smile on her face, "Why is Brother Zhu here, and why am I here?"

As Zhu said, his brows furrowed even tighter.

If this one didn't leave, another one would come, or Zhu said...

Lu Ci rubbed his eyebrows, thinking that the reason Zhu said was probably the same as Liu Qi, there was only a softness in his heart, and he couldn't complain about being delayed in sleep.

The only fault was that he acted in a moody way to match the others, and in the end he acted too much if he didn't pay attention.

Up to now, he has completely given up the idea of ​​sleeping alone, and said with a smile: "I'm fine, please take care of me, I'm really sorry. If you also have difficulty sleeping because of sleeping alone, and you don't think my bed is crowded, Then you might as well turn off the light, lie down with me, chat for a while, and then you can go to sleep directly."

The two people who almost forgot the purpose of coming here heard this proposal, and naturally followed suit.

So after a while, Zhu Yue and Liu Qi lay down next to Lu Ci, one on the left and one on the right, on this spacious bed where the three of them could barely squeeze in, and happily turned off the lights.

Lu Ci closed his eyes, and while he was drowsily brewing for sleep, he responded to the words of the people on the left and right.

He can be regarded as understanding the feelings of Liu Bei who slept with Guan Zhang in history.

The author has something to say: Notes:

1. Marriage age in Song Dynasty:

The suggestions in the books of the ministers of the Song Dynasty are slightly different:

Song Renzong's "Tiansheng Decree" stipulates that the marriage age is 15 years old for men and 13 years old for women;

According to Song Sima Guang's "Shu Yi", the marriageable age ranges from 30 to 20 for males and [-] to [-] for females;

During the Jiading (1208-1224) period of the Southern Song Dynasty, the court stipulated that the age of marriage was 16 years old for men and 14 years old for women;

The age of marriage in Zhu Xi's "Family Rituals" in the Southern Song Dynasty is 16 years old for men and 14 years old for women.

From the above, we know that the age of marriage in the Tang and Song Dynasties was 16 years old for men and 14 years old for women.This is of course the legal age for marriage.According to "Confucius's Family Language" and "Fu Jing", etc., Wang Su believed that "men can marry at sixteen and women at fourteen".Sima Guang also said: "Men are proficient at sixteen, and women are transformed at fourteen. If they are, they can give birth to the people." ("Cultural History of the Song and Song Dynasties")

2. It is true in history that the son-in-law was arrested at the age of 70.

The Jinshi was called Han Nanlao, and he wrote a poem about it: "After reading all the documents for a hundred loads, you can only get a green shirt when you are old. But the matchmaker asked Yu's age, 40 years ago 33 years ago." ("Pretending to Live in the Song Dynasty" )