I dare not

Speaking of Gu Qiao, the No. 25 scholar in Qing'an for [-] years, there is no one in the capital who does not know.

It is not uncommon for the champion to come out once every three years, what is strange is the reason why Gu Qiao is the champion.

When asked about policy in front of the hall, the emperor said: "Beautiful as jade, with beautiful eyebrows and long eyes, and a bright look, you can be the number one scholar." He turned this talented man who could rely on his talent to rely on his appearance.

Gu Qiao himself has no opinion on this, after all, appearance is also a kind of strength.

But this annoyed all the old antiques in the court, and the admonishers were examining him all the time, waiting for him to make a mistake, and immediately handed over the impeachment they had prepared long ago.

The atmosphere of criticizing each other in the Hao Kingdom was very fierce, and those who hadn't read a few books were ashamed to say that they had been an official.

The fledgling number one scholar Lang survived for three months and two days in the tormented officialdom of the capital, and was finally kicked to the remote Lianzhou.

Where is Lianzhou?That is the real barren land, a place where people can starve to death in times of peace and prosperity.

However, Gu Qiao was always optimistic and optimistic. The journey of relegation was very exciting. Along the way, there were many classmates and old friends who entertained her. She dragged on for two months before arriving at Luoxian Mountain.

After crossing Luoxian Mountain, it is Ningcheng where Lianzhou's state capital is located.

Early this morning, he came to the official post at the foot of Luoxian Mountain to return the horse. The groom at the official post took the reins and told him that it was right to return the horse in advance, otherwise he would have to be robbed by bandits when he entered the mountain. If he goes, he will pay back the money later.

Gu Qiao, a petty official under the sixth rank, is not qualified to equip horses, and he rents official horses along the way.

"The bandits in Lianzhou are so arrogant? Do they dare to snatch the horses from the government?"

"It's not just the government's horse, the government's people dare to snatch it!"

Gu Qiao came to Lianzhou with the order to deal with the banditry. He did his homework before coming. The bandits in Lianzhou were formed by refugees.According to the situation reported by Lianzhou, the banditry is still under the control of the government.

Gu Qiao smiled, "You are too exaggerated."

Seeing that he was demoted from the capital at a young age, the groom felt a little sympathetic, and said a few more words, "There is a saying that troublesome people come out of poor mountains and bad waters, and Lianzhou is now poorer than poor mountains and worse than bad waters." Some time ago, there were people who ran out with their families. How hungry are they? That face is swollen like a plate. Why don’t you dare to do something terrible for food?”

"Swollen?" Gu Qiao wondered, "Shouldn't it be thin?"

"Hey, it looks like you are a young man who has never seen poverty. If you are thin, you haven't been hungry for a long time. If you are hungry for a long time, won't you get swollen?"

The country of Hao is powerful, and the capital is even bustling and bustling. Gu Qiao has never seen a person who is swollen from hunger, and it is hard to imagine for a while.

"The flood in Lianzhou was only three months ago. Why is it so? I remember that the imperial court allocated 2000 million taels of silver to relieve the disaster. No matter how bad it is, can the Changping warehouse in such a big state not be able to meet the rations of the victims?"

The groom welcomes and sends him off at the official post all the year round. He is considered half of the system. Even if he knows some things, he dare not talk nonsense. He just looks at the bookish young official in front of him and shakes his head, "You will know when you go."

The old postman at the official post advised him not to go into the mountain alone, and let someone from Ningcheng pick him up, but Gu Qiao refused without thinking.

I am a dignified Lianzhou Sima who was ordered to suppress bandits, and I have to be picked up when I take office. Do I want to lose face?

He changed into a gray cloth robe, loosened his hair, and tied up his jet-black hair casually with cloth strips. This ordinary attire has a bit of a knight-errant taste on him. Sure enough, the degree of fashion completion depends on the face.

It's just that he didn't expect that he would soon become a refugee.

The jungle is dense, and the mountain road is wet and slippery. If you don't pay attention, you will stumble over the trees and vines.After walking less than five miles, I was already covered in mud.

There was no one in the woods that covered the sky and the sun. He heard that the pythons in Lianzhou were bigger than people, so he still felt a little nervous, especially since the forest was so quiet, any movement in the wind and grass seemed to be some kind of monster walking.

He tightened the burden on his shoulders and quickened his pace to move forward.

Suddenly there was the sound of wet footsteps from behind, mixed with heavy panting.His hairs stood on end, and he quickly searched in his mind what to do if he encountered a beast.

When you meet a wild beast, you can't run away. You have to look straight into the eyes of the beast and back away slowly, so that even if you encounter a large beast...you can die with dignity.

He wrapped the bundle around his forearm as a weapon, and turned his head slowly.

A skinny old yellow dog with a red ring around its neck was looking at him with bared teeth.

It turned out to be a dog.

Dog: "Wow, woof."

Gu Qiao: "..."

The dog barked at him a couple more times, its big round eyes were full of longing, Gu Qiao understood, "Oh, are you hungry? Wait, I'll look for it."

The dog seemed to be able to understand human speech, and when Gu Qiao opened the bag to find food for it, the dog's tail wagged happily.

I remembered that there was an oil cake in the baggage, and he took it out, and a book fell out of it, it was a manuscript written by him.

The dog rushed over and caught the book before it hit the ground, held it in its mouth, turned and ran away.

"Hey, that's not it, give it back to me!"

That was a three-month manuscript!

The failed scholar fell in love with the beautiful snake demon, and it was about to enter a critical juncture, how could it be eaten into the dog's stomach!

Gu Qiao chased after him, and the dog ran faster and faster.

There was nothing more important than rescuing the manuscripts. Gu Qiao chased the dog to a river deep in the woods, and saw a person lying on the river from a distance.

The old yellow dog ran over and threw the book aside, barked, and kept hitting the man with his mouth, but the man didn't respond.

He looked to be in his thirties, his dark face was swollen as if injected with mercury, and it was dead white.There was no heaving of the chest, clearly no breathing.

The old yellow dog was still arching his face, whimpering softly.

Gu Qiao squatted down and placed two fingers on the side of the man's neck. His skin was cold and he had no pulse.

The old dog whimpered like a person crying, Gu Qiao was a little moved, and put his hand on its head lightly, "It's dead."

The dog didn't understand, it just tried desperately to wake up its dead master.

Gu Qiao remembered what the groom said about people who were hungry for too long, their faces would swell.

In the South, eating dog meat is common.This man is so hungry, his loyal old dog is still alive, it seems that he is a person who values ​​love and righteousness.

Gu Qiao rubbed the old dog's head, "Come with me, I'll take care of you."

At this time, a man wrapped in a red turban came out of the woods. He didn't look like a good person.

Gu Qiao stood up, his headband had long since run away, and his hair fell down to cover half of his face.

The man wrapped in a red turban carried the hatchet on his shoulder, and when he walked up to Gu Qiao, he stretched out his hand and was about to pinch his face, "Good luck today! I met a little girl!"

Gu Qiao turned her head to avoid the man's hand, and replied, "You are the bitch!"

"Yo, is it a man? That's even better!"

At this moment another man came out of the woods, a little older, very short, dark and thin.

If Gu Qiao saw the red turban just now, he still thought about going straight to the front, but when this black and thin man came out, he just wanted to run away.

But an inexplicable sense of oppression made his legs stay in place as if filled with lead.

He had never dealt with bandits in his life, so he didn't know whether he should turn around and run or go through the process and howl and let the hero spare his life.

Gathering his mind, he briefly thought about the possibility of his successful escape, and the black and thin man had already walked up to him.

"Two heroes," he confidently took out a small bag of broken silver from his pocket and handed it over, "I'm passing by here, and I'm going to Ningcheng to look for relatives, so I would like to ask the two heroes to make it easier for you."

The red scarf grabbed the silver and shook it in his hand, "That's it? Are you sending the beggar?"

Gu Qiao smiled, "They are all poor people, where is the money, this is all my belongings."

"It's fine if you don't have money, just go back with me and be Mrs. Yazhai."

The red turban still took advantage, but the black and thin man raised his hand to interrupt him, "You are from the capital."

When Gu Qiao opened her mouth to speak, she knew that her capital accent would be exposed, and she had already thought up her words in her mind, "Yes, my ancestors were originally from Ningcheng, and my father did a small business in the capital for me to study. I failed the exam several times. , my father drove me out of the house in a fit of anger, and I had nowhere to go, so I had to come back and join my grandfather."

The red turban mocked, "You can't get along in the capital anymore, and you even came to visit relatives in Lianzhou, you are really a fucking talent."

"Yes, yes, yes," Gu Qiao immediately made a submissive look, "I'm very useless."

"Why don't you hang out with me? It's more comfortable to eat delicious food and drink spicy food than in the capital."

Gu Qiaoxin said that I will be the first to suppress the bandits, and said politely: "I love you, I love you, I'm not made for this, I'll hold you back."

The black and thin man was too lazy to listen to the nonsense of the two of them, so he reached out and snatched the bag from Gu Qiao's shoulders.

This baggage is really full of wealth!

He hurriedly stopped, "There's no money in here!"

"You'll know if you open it and see."

The black and thin man exerted strength in his hands, and the gray cloth bundle was torn apart with a snap.

The books, clothes, pens and inks inside were clanging and falling all over the floor.

Gu Qiao looked at the light blue official uniform that fell out, and her heart skipped a beat, it's over! "