A kitten dressed as an empress

As the chief examiner of Taiyuan College, Zhang Youmou got up before dawn that day.

"It's getting colder now, it's better for you to hold the hand warmer than to sit and suffer from the cold." Gu Lan put the hand warmer into Zhang Youmou's hand and told him carefully.

"Hey, good." Zhang Youmou looked at the thick fog outside the house, held the hand warmer slightly and looked down at Gu Lan who was arranging his official robes in front of him, "It's still early, you might as well sleep a little longer."

Gu Lan smoothed the folds of Zhang Youmou's official robe with her fingertips, and raised her hand to pick up the official hat on the side to put on her: "I'm not as sleepy as I used to be, and I guess the little girl should wake up, I'll have to do it later." teasing her."

Zhang Youmou cooperatively looked down at Gu Lan, who was wearing a lace for him, and said guiltily, "Thank you for your hard work."

"I'm not happy when you say that." Gu Lan raised her hand to caress the side of Zhang Youmou's face. She looked thinner due to the sudden illness. You stew the tonic soup and wait for you to come back to drink at noon."

"it is good."

When Zhang Youmou took the carriage out of the house, Gu Lan stopped and looked at the disappearing carriage in the thick fog, and couldn't help sighing.

This person has something in his heart, but he refuses to say a word to himself. It seems that it must be related to the unjust case of exterminating the Zhang family.

The Song family is now in decline in the court, and Song Lang and his like are strictly guarded against by the empress. As for Song Mo and other offshoot juniors gaining power for a while, it may be the empress's deliberate intention. The current Song family does not need outsiders to fight. It fell apart.

Logically, a big enmity can be regarded as revenge, but Zhang Youmou was deeply shocked, and Li Ding must have said something to her.

Gu Lan frowned slightly and thought for a long time, a burst of crying distracted her mind, and the nanny came out of the back room holding the little girl.

"Miss has just had milk and is thinking of playing with Madam."

This little girl was born with a watery spirit, and she looked very pleasing, with thick ink-like eyes looking around, babbling and reaching out to Gu Lan.

Gu Lan held up the little girl with her arms and swayed slightly as she walked around the house, thinking that Zhang Youmou should give the little girl a name.

The carriage crossed the main street and went around to Taiyuan College. When Zhang Youmou entered, he saw Miss Su who had left the palace to deliver the test questions.

"Is this the test question?" Zhang Youmou looked at the paper, doubting his eyes.

The students of the Southern Kingdom studied the Four Books and the Five Classics hard, and they were good at discussing the scriptures and Taoism. As the highest academic institution in the Southern Kingdom, the Taiyuan Academy should have selected and tried talents in the imperial court.

But since the re-opening of Taiyuan Academy, although the questions given by the empress are extremely weird and tricky, they are still the way to be an official. This time, Zhang Youmou really couldn't figure out what the test questions were about.

Su Qing replied calmly: "Yes."

No matter how the empress's test questions were, it was impossible for Zhang Youmou to tamper with them.

Hundreds of candidates entered the exam on this day, and the exam started in the morning and left the exam room at noon.

In previous years, most of the candidates left the examination room a quarter before noon, but this time, many candidates left the examination room early, and only a dozen or so candidates could finish writing an entire article.

Zhang Youmou didn't spend much time reviewing these test papers, and then sealed them and handed them to the female officer Yu Su to bring them back to the palace for the empress to make a decision.

At noon, the teahouse was full of people, and several examinees gathered together to discuss the exam of the Taiyuan Academy indignantly.

"This kind of test questions is obviously to toss us on purpose. I want to see how many candidates the Tai Academy can recruit this time!"

"Isn't it? The Taiyuan Academy's questions are really crooked. If I knew it was like this, I might as well wait two years to take the scientific examination with peace of mind."

"I heard that last year's test question in the Taixue year was why an orange tree in the southern country turned into an orange tree in the northern Chi country. I thought it was weird enough, but I didn't expect it to be more tricky this year. It's really bad luck."

"I think the empress is trying to torment people. We are pure scholars, and we are not the ones who wait for the fruit growers in the water all day long. How do we know the difference between oranges and oranges?"

The waiter in the shop poured tea to the neighbors: "Last year, there were still [-] candidates admitted, and this year, I think it would be good to have ten candidates."

When Zhang Youmou returned home for dinner, Gu Lan asked puzzledly, "Why did you only take one lap?"

"I never figured it out either." Zhang Youmou took the soup bowl and took a sip with his head down.

"I'm afraid that the candidates who refer to this time will feel resentful."

Gu Lan held the spoon in one hand, stirred the custard, blew it, and fed it to the little girl beside her. She turned her head to look at Zhang Youmou and said, "By the way, what name do you want to name her?"

Zhang Youmou looked at the little girl and said, "I haven't figured it out yet."

"You've been thinking about it for half a month, and you haven't figured it out yet?"

"We didn't know her parents at all, but her parents were killed by assassins because of our involvement."

Seeing Zhang Youmou showing guilt again, Gu Lan comforted her and said, "If you feel guilty, treat the little girl better. After all, the dead cannot be brought back to life. Besides, those assassins have been punished. We can also help her avenge her parents' death."

Zhang Youmou nodded and responded with a calm expression: "I know, how about calling her Ai'er?"

"Ai'er, you are a little too partial to her."

Gu Lan gently poked the little girl's chubby cheeks with her fingertips and whispered.

"The little girl is lonely and helpless now, and we should love her more." Zhang Youmou approached the little girl who was looking around and grinning, and raised his hand and stretched out his index finger to be held by the open little hand, "Lan Son, can she understand it too?"

Gu Lan turned her head and looked at Zhang Youmou helplessly and said, "How old is the child, can you treat her as a child prodigy who was born literate?"

Zhang Youmou showed a shy expression, pursed his lips and responded with a smile: "What you said is true, I was really thinking about it."

"Okay, drink the soup quickly, or it will be cold." Gu Lan shook Zhang Youmou's hand and reminded him aloud.

"Ah."

It didn't know when it began to rain mistyly outside, and the water surface of the lakeside hut was finely wrinkled. Wen Ruyan's stomach ached from laughing at the examinee's essay.

Zhao Yao raised her hand to pinch Wen Ruyan's cheek and said, "Do you like these articles so much?"

Wen Ruyan tilted his head close to Zhao Yao and laughed until tears came out: "These people don't write scripts, it's a waste of talent."

From a circle to the candied haws he missed when he was a child, the whole article is about how round and shiny the candied haws are.

Some candidates even described the circle as a copper plate, which leads to a poor family. A large part of the entire article is sympathetic. If Wen Ruyan knew that the candidates for the exam were from aristocratic families or wealthy businessmen, they would probably have given more Sympathy points.

Although there are some off-topic nonsense, the words used in the article are accurate, and the plot is vivid and interesting, which can more or less tell the examinee's level of knowledge.

"Reading is the privilege of the powerful families in the Southern Kingdom. Even if the current court intends to expand the children of poor families, there are still many merchants and families. Those scholars who think highly of themselves look down on those who write love stories."

Zhao Yao raised her hand to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes, and took her into her arms.

Wen Ruyan recovered after a while, sat up a little bit straighter and said, "Then it's time to cure their self-important disease."

Zhao Yao picked up the teacup and took a sip, raised her hand to pick up the test paper on one side, looked at it and said, "Do you know that the warehouse knows the etiquette, and the food and clothing know the principle of honor and disgrace?"

"I understand, you have to eat enough to know etiquette, and you have to wear clothes to care about honor and disgrace, right?" Wen Ruyan picked up a small pastry and took a bite.

"In your eyes, is the reading of the children of the aristocratic family just about literacy and etiquette?"

Wen Ruyan was puzzled and said, "Isn't it?"

"Then you really underestimate the aristocratic family's calculations. If you can't get fame and fortune through reading, then they probably won't even look at it." Zhao Yao raised her hand and pressed the thin blanket that covered the two of them. Now a charcoal basin has been set up in the hall, but Zhao Yao is still used to adding a thin blanket.

Wen Ruyan leaned into Zhao Yao's arms and replied, "You mean they use reading as a tool to seek power and profit?"

Zhao Yao was resting on a pillow with her arms around Wen Ruyan, and turned her head to look at the withered and yellow leaves on one side of the window, while the bamboo forest on the other side was still green and evergreen. The two places were completely different scenes.

"The people in the southern country toiled in the fields for a whole year for food and clothing, so they had no time to study, but many people would starve to death in times of famine. Aristocratic families rely on reading to get a lot of money and power, and they will be lying down for most of their lives. You can also live without worrying about food and clothing, the purpose of the two is the same, if the suffering of the hardworking people is much higher than that of the children of the aristocratic family, but the results are completely opposite."

"Then if you don't adjust this situation, the gap between the rich and the poor will get bigger and bigger, and there will definitely be big problems in the southern country."

Zhao Yao tilted her head to look at Wen Ruyan, kneaded her soft earlobe with her fingertips and said, "The officials in the court are all descendants of aristocratic families, and no one will sacrifice their own interests, so the aristocratic families maintain a high degree of consistency in scientific research. However, children from poor families can only fight for the interests of the poor people if they enter the court and become officials, do you still think that reading is just reading?"

Wen Ruyan backed away from Zhao Yao's hand and responded, "If you dare to pinch my ear again, believe it or not, I will bite you!"

Originally, the earlobes were quite small, but when Wen Ruyan looked in the mirror recently, he found that he almost had the earlobes of Maitreya Buddha, which was really frustrating.

Zhao Yao wanted to laugh at this pretentiously fierce look, but because of her face, she had no choice but to look away with her thin lips.

Wen Ruyan stretched out his hands to cover his ears and leaned against Zhao Yaoying: "Although what you said makes sense, but I feel that thinking about studying so much about fame and fortune seems to be contrary to the original intention of educating people by studying."

Zhao Yao rubbed her fingers regretfully, raised her hand to hold her soft hand and said, "Maybe you are the only one who thinks so."

"I think most of us think that way." Wen Ruyan pawed at other test papers, trying to look at others.

"That's a bit dangerous." Zhao Yao saw that she was holding one hand out of the way, so she raised her hand to help her take part of the test paper.

Wen Ruyan asked in puzzlement, "Why do you say that?"

Zhao Yao approached and pecked her tender lips and raised her eyebrows: "The aristocratic family knows that the scientific examination is the only channel for selecting talents in the court, so whether it is to prevent it publicly or slander it secretly, they will try their best to prevent the children of the poor family from entering the court." The court is an official, but if one day in the southern country, the poor family can study and take the scientific examination but they don't enter the court to be an official, and in the end the aristocratic family is in charge, can you guess what the powerful aristocratic family will do to the poor family?"

Wen Ruyan was stunned for a while before realizing that he was being attacked. He raised his hand and rubbed Zhao Yao's face, and replied, "Don't think that I can forgive you for the sneak attack if you talk around it!"

The two quarreled for a while, Su Qing came in from the outside to collect the test papers, and Wen Ruyan was already slumped.

Zhao Yao raised her hand and rubbed her brows, then got up and went to the outside room with Su Qing, Su Qing looked at the roster of admitted candidates, and couldn't help but sigh that it was not easy for these five candidates.

"Display the articles of the five candidates to everyone, and the colleges they belong to will reward their colleges with plaques."

"Yes."

Among the five candidates, only one was a child of the Su family, and the other four were from local states and counties.

Those four are talented scholars from local prefectures and counties, and their articles are also well-conceived. The Su family's writing style can be read, but compared with those four, it is still a bit inferior.

On the big day when the results were announced, the people in the city surrounded the city wall with water, but the examinees were very calm.

The waiter in the teahouse shop joined in the fun, listening to the book, and praised the five candidates for their literary talents, but the scholars who had been suffering before did not make a sound.

After all, the essays of these five candidates are indeed very good. I thought they were tricky, but who would have thought that someone could write such an exquisite essay, most of them can only feel ashamed.

When Su Hao learned that his son was admitted to Taiyuan Academy, he hosted a banquet for his friends to celebrate, but the Song family was very deserted.

Originally, relying on the advantage of the Song family in the southern court for hundreds of years, most of the children of the Song family could enter the court as officials without studying.

But I didn't expect that this time, I finally tried my best to sneak into the top bachelors of the local prefecture and county. Who would have thought that the Tai Academy would not admit a son of the Song family in an exam.

Song Mo was furious because of this, and naturally pointed the finger at Zhang Youmou, the chief examiner.

After all, the Su family can't move at the moment, but Zhang Youmou was born from a poor family, so naturally the persimmons have to be picky.

After Xie Min became Minister of the Ministry of Officials, the evaluation of officials at the end of each year was raised to judge officials every three months.

If officials have problems, they will be demoted accordingly.

Early in the Song Dynasty, when Song Mo reported the progress of the water conservancy project, he took the initiative to mention that Zhao Rong's infantry battalion had spent too much weapons in recent years.

Zhao Rong, Minister of the Ministry of War, is Zhang Youmou's right-hand man. Song Mo intends to dismantle Zhang Youmou's hands first, and then toss Zhang Youmou.

Zhao Yao looked at the memorial that was handed over, looked at Song Mo meaningfully, and then said, "Zhao Shangshu, please explain carefully."

Zhao Rong, who was still a little sleepy, stepped forward to look at the memorial for no reason, and couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart.

Zhao Rong usually only manages the people in the army, and other departments are responsible for the storage and refining of this object.

There was a sudden mistake, someone must have taken the money in order to steal the money.

"Return to Your Majesty, this matter should be a mistake made by the officials of the Ministry of Treasury, please give me a day, and I will definitely investigate it." Zhao Rong bowed his head and responded with a guilty conscience.

The hall was too quiet for a while. Originally, this matter was a subordinate's negligence. If you say it's a big mistake, it's not a big mistake. After all, it's not Zhao Rong who committed the crime, but if you say it's a small mistake, it's not a small mistake. It's about a sharp weapon. Shangshu can't even find out. According to the laws of the Southern Kingdom, if you really pursue it, you have to be demoted to investigate.

After all, weapons are under the control of the court, and they suddenly asked for more weapons for refining, but they disappeared for no reason.

Privately setting up troops to rebel is not only about recruiting people, but also includes a large number of weapons.

Zhao Yao turned the ring between her fingers and said, "Okay, I will give you a period of one day. At the same time, the Punishment Department and the Ministry of Household Industry will investigate the matter thoroughly. If you can't recover the weapon, you can come and see me."

"Yes."

Hongfeng stepped forward to take orders.

Zhao Rong couldn't help sweating from the side of his face. Song Mochun wanted to blackmail himself. When he was the left servant of the Ministry of War, he didn't know if he left any other tricks.

Originally, the officials guessed that the Song family had collapsed, and there should be no more disturbances in the court for a short time, but they didn't expect Song Mo to take the initiative to provoke trouble today, and the empress actually followed the trend.

Su Hao kicked his hands in the sleeve robe and looked at Song Mo, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Qin Yuan, who had just been promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Households, looked a little unhappy.

"The money that the military camp required for new weapons was the order that Gu Feng issued back then. I just took office and haven't sorted out the bad debts left before. Now I have to cooperate with the investigation of the Department of Punishment. This is really a troubled time."

"I think this kid, Song Mo, has ulterior motives regarding Chen Zhima's rotten millet." Su Hao frowned slightly.

Qin Yuan thought for a while and asked: "Brother Su, do you mean that Song Mo deliberately wanted to trick Zhao Rong?"

Su Hao lowered his head to avoid Qiu Feng's response: "It's hard to say about this for now, after all, Song Mo and Zhao Rong have no conflict."

"I think so too." Wen Ruyan rested his head on the desk, held the memorial in one hand and sat around the charcoal basin to dry the ink.

While Zhao Yao was reviewing the memorial very quickly, she was able to spare a little attention to answer: "Then you should change your mind, what other connection does Song Mo have with Zhao Rong?"

Wen Ruyan sat on one side and thought for a while, but before she could make a sound, she suddenly sneezed loudly. Zhao Yao handed over a handkerchief and asked, "You insist on kicking the quilt at night, you must be catching a cold now."

"Why did I kick the quilt, don't you know?"

There is a stove room inside and outside the hall, which is used to connect the heating passage under the floor tiles, so when the doors and windows in the hall are closed, it is extraordinarily warm.

Originally it was very suitable for lazy people to lie down, but Zhao Yao insisted on tossing people, and also liked to hug people tightly and never let go, several times Wen Ruyan was so hot that she had to kick the quilt away.

Zhao Yao recalled that fair skin stained with bright red at night, her heart felt hot, and her eyes twinkled in response: "I think you should drink some ginger soup to feel better."

Wen Ruyan took a sip of hot tea, reached out to pick up the next memorial and said, "Just now you said you wanted the connection between Song Mo and Zhao Rong, but I thought of someone else."

"Who?"

Zhao Yao rested her palm on her forehead to check her temperature.

"I'm afraid you'll be jealous again if you say it." Wen Ruyan pulled Zhao Yao's hand off.

When Zhao Yao saw Wen Ruyan's mischievous expression, she naturally knew that she had guessed right.

"Then don't tell me, I won't be jealous."

Ever since Zhao Yao rarely said bluntly that she would be jealous last time, Wen Ruyan has been paying attention to her daily words and deeds, and of course she will let Zhao Yao not hide her thoughts and speak directly.

After all, Zhao Yao's mind is really full of tricks, it's really not easy for ordinary people to think about it.

Seeing that Zhao Yao was really not interested, Wen Ruyan couldn't help but approached curiously and said, "You haven't said whether you are Zhang Youmou or not."

Zhao Yao turned her head to look at Wen Ruyan and replied, "Guess."

amount……

At this time, Zhang Youmou of the Zhang family was also very curious about why Song Mo wanted to attack Zhao Rong.

Gu Lansheng said to Tang Ying: "I think it's probably because of you."

"Me?" Zhang Youmou took the soup bowl, puzzled, waiting for Gu Lan's explanation.

"Zhao Rong stayed close to you in the court, and did not have contact with other family officials. No contact means that there is no conflict of interest, so Song Mo has no reason to take action against Zhao Rong, but now he is doing it. You can't see clearly, right?"

"Ah."

Gu Lan put the vegetables on Zhang Youmou's bowl and said: "The court officials are all good people. Song Mo must have his reasons for taking action. Zhao Rong is close to you, which means he will stand with you. Song Mo I can't deal with you now, but I still have the ability to move Zhao Rong, firstly, it can prove to other families that the Song family still has some tricks that cannot be underestimated, and secondly, it can put you in a helpless situation in the court."

Zhang Youmou frowned slightly and responded, "I have always been less social than others in the court. I never thought that I would get Zhao Rong involved. If His Majesty investigates this time, he may be demoted and investigated." It's cold." Gu Lan urged.

"Hey, good." Zhang Youmou quickly took a bite of the egg dumpling.

Gu Lan raised her hand to wipe away the rainwater from her temples, and looked at the fine rainwater outside the window and said, "You know how to worry about others, and you don't even think about your own way out."

Zhang Youmou looked at Gu Lanying slightly: "Don't worry, I will never let you suffer. I secretly hid the silver that His Majesty rewarded earlier outside the capital. If one day it is really critical, you can take my daughter with you." You can live your life in peace.”

"What are you trying to say?" Gu Lan raised her hand to wipe the rice from the corner of her mouth, and squeezed her cheek along the way, "No matter how big this world is, I won't go anywhere without you, so don't say such things anymore ,do you know?"

Zhang Youmou was quite moved, he nodded in a daze and raised his hand to hold Gu Lan's hand in response: "Lan'er, you are so kind, how can I have you as my wife."

Seeing someone who had never been so straightforward, Gu Lan actually spoke love words for the first time, her cheeks flushed slightly and she said, "Idiot, Ai'er is still eating at the side, if you want to talk to me in the evening Bar."

The little girl in the cradle at the side didn't know if she understood the deep meaning, and just giggled.

Zhang Youmou was already thin-skinned, but when Gu Lan said this, the backs of his ears turned red, and he buried his head in the rice and didn't know what to say.

In this case of dereliction of duty, the officials of the Manchu Dynasty were waiting for the reaction of the empress.

But who would have thought that after Zhao Rong caught the offending officials, the empress didn't go into the matter and only ordered the relevant officials to be severely punished. It seems that he should be in a good mood today.

At the end of the morning court, Wen Ruyan looked at the complicated performance of the ministers, and really felt like watching a series.

The eyes of the ministers who were watching the excitement were full of disappointment, while Zhao Rong breathed a sigh of relief, Su Hao and the others remained calm as usual, only Song Mo's eyes were full of hatred.

While studying ink, Wen Ruyan sighed: "This Song Mo looks more vengeful than Song Qing."

Zhao Yao gently embraced Wen Ruyan behind herself, leaned her head against her shoulder, sniffed the fragrance, and whispered in her ear: "Don't you really remember that we have met Song Mo before?" ?"

"Have I seen it before?" Wen Ruyan looked at Zhao Yao timidly.

"It's good that you don't remember him." Zhao Yao's eyes fell on the stains on the back of Wen Ruyan's neck, and she was in a particularly good mood.

Wen Ruyan looked at Zhao Yao, who was a passer-by, silently, thinking to remember, this person is jealous again, don't remember, Zhao Yao's proud look is like a little lion with its tail raised.

"Even if you don't say it, I can remember it." Wen Ruyan snorted softly, thinking about Song Mo's appearance seriously.

After a while, a blurry picture of Song Mo suddenly flashed in his mind.

It seems that I want to think about it, but I don’t think about it in the end, it’s really tormenting!

The author has something to say: First of all, I would like to thank 67 lovely readers who silently clicked on the bookmarks to support and encourage them~~O(∩_∩)O~~