bastard returns

"Brother Chen! Why are you talking for outsiders!" Murong Yu glared fiercely, and complained to Hu Yanyuan Chen again.

"I'm just helping the management and not the relatives." Huyan Yuanchen said: "What Master Ning said is also true, and the Empress Dowager is well aware of this matter. If you mess around here, you will lose the face of our Great Xia."

"Hmph, brother Chen, I think you've been here for a long time, and your elbows are actually bent outward!" Murong Yu still looked dissatisfied, and turned to Ning Yuan: "You are in charge, since you said so If you swear firmly and say that our Yanjing Wanxuetang is a golden and jade-like place, do you Confucian scholars from the Zhou people have the guts to compete with us from the Xia people?"

Ning Yuan's eyes moved, "What does the princess mean?"

Murong Yu didn't speak, just clapped his hands, and soon one of the attendants around him walked out.

It was a young man with delicate features, quite handsome, but because he was wearing an ordinary cloth shirt and kept his head lowered to follow among a group of servants, there was nothing outstanding about him, so no one paid attention to him.

Seeing this young man who suddenly stood up, and what Princess Jinyu said earlier about wanting to compete, Ning Yuan couldn't help but frowned.

"This person's name is Qiao Miao. He is my entourage this time. He is also a talented young man in Yanjing Ten Thousand School. If you people in the Confucian Academy have the courage to compete with him, and If you can win, then the princess will admit that you are the best, how about it?"

"As long as we win against this person, can the princess change his mind?" Ning Yuan raised his eyebrows, "It seems that Brother Helian is also a rare genius."

"The genius of the world is not counted, this lord is too praised." He Lianyun bowed to Ning Yuan with a low eyebrow, without any hint of arrogance.

"I don't know how the princess wants to compare." Xu Jingan also became curious about Princess Jinyu's sudden proposal. Perhaps in his eyes, there are so many talents in the Confucian Academy, and the other party only sends one person, even if it is a comparison, it is nothing to be afraid of. .

"The content of the competition is very simple. Just send one of you to write out the first three dictations of the "Tao Te Ching" together with Qiao Miao." Murong Yu said without thinking.

But what she said made Ning Yuan and the others look at me and you, but they didn't realize it all at once, because such a competition was too simple.

The "Tao Te Ching" is a scripture that almost every scholar can learn at their fingertips and memorize it backwards. However, everyone can fulfill Princess Jinyu's request in one go. Using this as the content of the competition, Princess Jinyu really doesn't understand, or Pretend not to understand?

Just when everyone thought it was weird, several Juren around who stopped to watch heard that the content of the competition was so simple, and immediately recommended themselves. If they can defeat the Confucian scholar sent by the princess of the Xia Dynasty to smash the scene, it is equivalent to gaining face for Da Zhou. If the emperor knew about this matter, there might be a big reward.

Ning Yuan frowned, Princess Jinyu is not a fool, how could he propose such a simple competition, if there is no mystery here, he would not believe it.

Apparently Xu Jing'an also had the same thought, neither of them said anything, they just stood and waited for Princess Jinyu's words, but Huyan Yuanchen seemed to understand the details, sighed lightly and remained silent.

Murong Yu probably didn't expect the two Confucian officials in front of her to be so calm. She thought that the competition she proposed would be easy, and the other party would immediately agree. After waiting for a while, she saw that Ning Yuan and the others ignored the people around them at all. Murong Yu also felt that she couldn't pass this test, so she could only continue: "However, the method of this competition is different from ordinary silent writing."

Sure enough, there is a mystery.Ning Yuan sneered in his heart, "Please ask the princess to express it."

"Is there a more open space here?" Murong Yu asked.

"Behind the Book Pavilion, there is a special lecture field for bachelors to give lectures. If the princess needs it, you can come with me." Xu Jingan raised his hand, Murong Yu didn't say much, and walked along, a group of people followed to give lectures The direction of the field moved, and the onlookers didn't know what the Xia Guo princess was trying to trick, so they followed behind out of curiosity.

When he arrived at the lecture hall, Murong Yu saw that the square in front of him was spacious and flat, nodded, and said something to Xu Jingan, Xu Jingan immediately gave orders, and after a while, four large wooden circles and a few wooden boards, which were similar to the low tables used by Confucian scholars, They were all moved here.

There were more and more juren coming around after hearing the news, and most of them looked at the two drums with curious expressions, wondering what the use of the drums here was.

Ning Yuan and the others were also confused, but Murong Yu obviously didn't intend to explain it in words. Seeing that everything was ready, he glanced at Qiao Miao. Qiao Miao understood, stepped forward and turned two of the wooden barrels upside down Put it down, put it on the wooden board, put the low table on the wooden board, and finally jumped onto the wooden board with a light body, and then sat down cross-legged firmly.

With this hand, many people around him gasped, and stared at the two wooden barrels under the wooden board in disbelief. Seeing that the wooden barrels were very stable, there was no sign of rolling back and forth, while sitting on the wooden board Qiao Miao on the bed was also very calm and composed, as if he was not sitting on a wooden board that could turn over at any time, but on flat ground.

"This is the content of the competition that the princess said." Seeing that Qiao Miao sat down, Murong Yu turned her head with a complacent expression, and said to Xu Jingan and Ning Yuan: "The silence that the princess said Books, not just sitting silently, but like Qiao Miao, sitting on such a wooden board silently reading, as long as you can't sit still and fall down during the period, you will lose."

"It's absurd, the princess is just making trouble for no reason." Xu Jingan's face was full of disbelief, "This has nothing to do with knowledge at all. If there is no special training, which Confucian scholar can have such a skill!"

Apparently Xu Jingan was very dissatisfied with Princess Jinyu's sudden play.

"You are making a mistake." Murong Yu snorted, and said, "In your sage book "Tao Te Ching", it is written that as a Confucian student, one should sit cross-legged as still as a mountain, and move a brush to move freely. If you can’t even sit in such a place, how can you talk about ‘sit cross-legged as firmly as Mount Tai’? Isn’t it ridiculous? How dare you call yourself a Confucian scholar?”

Xu Jing'an was speechless for a moment, and he also understood that Princess Jinyu was here to find fault from the very beginning.

But he couldn't refute it, because the so-called "sitting cross-legged like a mountain, moving the brush like clouds and flowing water" is indeed a request for scholars in the Tao Te Ching. Of course, the sage who wrote this sentence obviously used a rhetorical technique, but Princess Jinyu seized on this point and made use of it. He recruited Qiao Miao, who had obviously practiced specially, to embarrass everyone in the Confucian Academy. After all, a group of weak scholars, who would be full enough to train seriously? The kung fu of "not moving like a mountain".

Seeing that Princess Jinyu had such a difficult problem, the people who had volunteered to come forward in vain, stopped immediately one by two. If you are in the early stage, you will be ashamed, and you may be blamed, who will touch this brow.

"Why, just now you swore that you are the Holy Land of Confucians, but in the blink of an eye, you don't even dare to recite a Tao Te Ching silently?" Seeing the silence around, Murong Yu showed a triumphant smile, adding fuel and embellishment. He sneered again, and at the same time secretly rejoiced that he had brought Qiao Miao with him, otherwise he would really have been poked by the people in the Confucian Academy.Thinking of this, she took a special look at Ning Yuan who had satirized him just now, and said with a smile: "My lord, you just said so convincingly that my Xia people are not as good as your Zhou people in every way, and now the people I send have already Take your seats, if no one on your side dares to challenge, how about you go up to the head of the courtyard yourself? Since you can sit in the seat of the courtyard, you are so eloquent just now, this mere silent book, for you There should be no difficulty."

While saying that, Murong Yu kept laughing in her heart, who dared you to contradict me just now, now I will make you ugly again!

"This..." Ning Yuan looked at the barrel, showing a very embarrassed expression. Seeing his expression, Murong Yu felt even more proud. He thought that Ning Yuan would find all kinds of reasons to refuse, so he could take advantage of the situation and disappear. Hit, like taunting the other party, and take back the face that was lost just now, "Of course, if you are not capable as the head of the school, then..."

"Well, since the princess is so respectful, I will accept this competition." But Ning Yuan's next words made Murong Yu's ridicule stuck in her throat, and she looked at Ning Yuan in disbelief Walking forward, he actually started to fiddle with the barrels and planks, and couldn't help sneering in his heart, feeling overwhelmed.

Since this person slaps his face so swollen and pretends to be a fat man, then that's fine. When he falls down from the top in a panic, he will laugh at him fiercely... Murong Yu was thinking about what he was going to say later, but still Before she could figure out why, she was startled by the scene in front of her.

Ning Yuan imitated that the moment Qiao Miao sat on the board, the drum shook violently because of the rolling of the barrel, and he almost fell down, making the people around him sweat for him, but after a while, the board was miraculously It seems to have become stable, and Ning Yuan sat on it, seemingly very relaxed, spread a white paper on the low table in front of him, dipped a pen into ink, and was about to start writing.

People around immediately began to discuss, even Xu Jing'an was stunned, obviously Ning Yuan's show of hands was beyond their expectations.

Originally, Qiao Miao was still sitting on the wooden board complacent. This balanced and steady kung fu is his unique skill. In fact, Qiao Miao was not a scholar before. He was a street performer and juggler when he was a child. He is not very talented, and after several years of examinations, he was barely able to pass the examination. He is also an ordinary person in Wan Xuetang. If Murong Yu hadn't happened to discover his unique skills, she would have no chance to be favored by the monarch, and he would Bring on the big week.

Murong Yu once promised him that if he really could show face for Confucian scholars in Xia Kingdom, he would speak to the Queen Mother and give him a half-job when he returned home. A person with the same hand as him suddenly appeared in the Lin Pavilion, which made his expression ugly for a while.

Seeing that Ning Yuan had started to read silently, he gritted his teeth, and immediately picked up a brush and started to write. At this point, he didn't believe that the other party could have the level of boyish skills he had practiced since he was a child. It was just a stroke of luck. Only in order to maintain balance, the body will soon sway and fall.

Seeing that the two of them had started to write with their pens one after another, the environment that had been full of discussions gradually became quieter. Most of the people cast their curious eyes on the barrel under the wooden board. Only Na Laochi kept looking at Ning Yuan's back seemed to see through something, showing a clear smile, but did not speak.

Huyan Yuanchen also stood there with indifferent eyes, as if he was not worried about Ning Yuan at all.

The Tao Te Ching is a long book. Although it is only silently writing the contents of the first three chapters, it can be completed in less than half an hour at the writing speed of ordinary people. Watching the time pass by, Ning Yuan is still standing there. , while the wooden board under Qiao Miao began to shake slightly, and the wooden barrel also showed signs of rolling around.

Looking at Qiao Miao himself sitting on the board, he was already dripping with sweat.

Murong Yu's face turned ugly instantly.

But fortunately, although Qiao Miao was exhausted, she did not fall from the top. She still gritted her teeth and finished the silent book. Ning Yuan also put down the pen at the same time, and the two jumped off the wooden board one after another. When it fell down, the wooden board that lost its balance immediately fell down together with the low table placed on it. It can be seen how difficult it is to maintain balance.

"I really didn't expect that Da Zhou really produced a large number of talents. It's really great!" Murong Yu wishful thinking was in vain, and she almost gritted her teeth before saying this sentence. Winning and losing is pretty obvious.

Not to mention, just looking at Ning Yuan's motionless from beginning to end, while Qiao Miao's appearance of shaking in the later stage, Ning Yuan is slightly better, not to mention the content written by the two of them silently, Ning Yuan's body is still moving from beginning to end. The handwriting is very clear, but Qiao Miao's handwriting was also good at the beginning. Unfortunately, from the middle of the handwriting, the handwriting became crooked, and the last few sentences were even more scribbled like ghosts, as if they were rushed.

This can't be blamed on Qiao Miao. Although maintaining balance is his unique skill, it is also a matter of exhausting both mental and physical strength to maintain balance on the wooden board without distraction. Not to mention a silent book, his board will shake, and it is precisely because of the lack of physical strength in the later stage.

But Ning Yuan is different.Ning Yuan didn't have the boy's kung fu skills of the other party, he could sit on the wooden plank safely, and the test was another skill, the internal kung fu "thousand catty pendant".Using his not-so-weak internal strength, he was integrated with the wooden board. Under the heavy pressure, it was very difficult for the wooden barrel below to roll, which naturally made it much easier for him to maintain his balance.

The big man Lao Chi laughed secretly because he saw Ning Yuan's tricks because of the profound content.

And Murong Yu couldn't understand the trick. Seeing that Qiao Miao, whom she specially arranged, had lost, no matter how angry she was, she could only say to Ning Yuan with a stiff smile: "This lord is really good at it. From the looks of it, it seems that I, Daxia, are indeed a bit weaker."

Ning Yuan bowed his hands and bowed without saying a word. Originally, he didn't want to be such an early bird, but the other party started to ridicule everywhere since he entered the door. Unreasonable.

"What did the princess say, Mr. Ning, he was just a fluke, just a fluke." Seeing that Ning Yuan won the competition, Xu Jing'an also had a smile on his face, but a person of his age would not get cheap and act like a good boy , Seeing Murong Yu's complexion, he immediately changed his words: "Of course, Daxia and I are friendly neighbors in Dazhou. I naturally know that Daxia has many famous writers. I believe that Wan Xuetang in your country is naturally a holy place for scholars, so this There is really no need to fight for who is strong and who is weak, if the heart of fame and fortune is too heavy, it is really against the way of sages, Lord Yongyi, do you think this is the case?"

Huyan Yuanchen understood that Xu Jingan was watching Murong Yu get close to him, and wanted to help smooth things over, so he said: "It is true, so you should stop messing around like this, otherwise the matter will be reported to Yanjing, and the queen mother will know that you are so indifferent , will definitely punish you."

When Murong Yu heard Huyan Yuanchen speak, and saw Xu Jingan say a lot of flattery, his ugly face calmed down a little, and he turned around silently and walked back. It seemed that he was unwilling to be here under successive setbacks. After staying, everyone surrounded her and went back the same way as when they came. Ning Zhongkun took the opportunity to squeeze in front of Murongyu again, saying that Linglong wanted to invite Murongyu to Ningguo's mansion as a guest, and Ning Yuan left. In the rear, he suddenly found a person approaching him, and with a sideways glance, it turned out to be Meng Zhifan.

"I don't believe you didn't see the doorway between this Princess Jinyu and Huyan Yuanchen." Meng Zhifan whispered abruptly.

"So what, as long as Huyan can handle it well, it's not my turn to worry about it." Although Ning Yuan was surprised that Meng Zhifan would still talk to him after going through the previous incidents, even Meng Zhifan could He couldn't see through what he saw. In the final analysis, Ning Yuan would be a little bit against Princess Jinyu, and a small part of the reason was because of Princess Jinyu's intimate attitude towards Huyan Yuanchen, especially when she looked at him. Even though he deliberately concealed the look in his eyes, he could still feel the tenderness inside.

"There is one thing you may not know yet." Meng Zhifan smiled faintly, and his tone was a little gloating, "I heard that the Empress Dowager Xia intended to betroth the youngest sister to Prince Yongyi as a concubine. The Lord also seems to have affection for Huyan Yuanchen, you said that if Emperor Xia ordered a marriage for the two, would Huyan Yuanchen have the courage to refuse?"

"Huyan, I don't know if he has the courage to refuse, but why do I look at you, Brother Meng, who seems to know the gossip of other countries in detail." Ning Yuan turned his eyes sideways with a half-smile.

"You don't believe it?" Meng Zhifan was taken aback for a moment.

Ning Yuan said: "I always only believe in what I see with my own eyes, otherwise there are so many rumors and gossips in the world, if I have to believe everything, then I will not be able to survive."

Meng Zhifan sneered, "Believe it or not, but I want to remind you that although I didn't notice last time, I was too eager for quick success and I was defeated by you, but I didn't give up on him. If you didn't If I can keep him, I don't mind going overboard to do it for me, and I definitely can't let him have anything to do with a vicious woman like Princess Jinyu."

"Vicious?" Ning Yuan didn't know much about Princess Jinyu, and suddenly heard Meng Zhifan's evaluation, he was a little inexplicable, and was about to ask, when the crowd walking in front suddenly let out an exclamation, followed by a miserable scream. Rush to the sky, startling Ning Yuan.

He immediately raised his head and looked forward, Xu Jing'an and the others had already stepped back with pale faces, as if they had seen something horrifying, Ning Yuan took two steps forward, took a closer look, and couldn't help feeling a chill in his heart.

The master of Jinyu County had a cold light in his hand, and he was holding a dagger that was dripping blood continuously. Qiao Miao, who had been competing with Ning Yuan before, had fallen into a pool of blood at this moment, his eyes were wide open, and he looked desperate appearance.

Behind Princess Jinyu is the gate of the Confucian Pavilion. It seems that she made a sudden move as soon as she stepped out of the territory of the Confucian Pavilion. She shook off the remaining blood drops on the dagger. Wipe the dagger clean, put it back around his waist again, stared at Qiao Miao's corpse and said coldly, "It's useless for such a person who is ashamed of the country to live, he might as well be dead." Everyone who was stunned by this scene smiled sweetly, "The servant who was not handled well by the princess surprised you all, and I apologize here, but the princess also knows how to measure, and knows that this person should not be dirty with blood. Lin Guan is a holy place, so I waited until it was outside before doing anything."

While she was speaking, Lao Chi also directed the iron armored soldiers guarding outside to quickly pick up the corpses, quietly and quickly, as if he was used to such things.

And Ning Zhongkun, who was still close to Murongyu and kept getting close, was almost paralyzed by Qiao Miao's blood sprayed on half of his face because of the closeness. Looking at Murong Yu's sweet and pretty face as if looking at something terrifying, her lips trembled non-stop.