The daily routine of the ancient imperial examination

The autumn wind in August carried a bit of coolness, and it took them more than half a month to reach the town near the capital even though they were riding fast all the way.

There are still eight days before returning to Beijing to take office, and their schedules will not have to be as rushed as before.

There was another heavy rain outside at noon. Everyone said that autumn rain is as expensive as oil, but the climate has been changing recently. It is good enough that the continuous rainstorm will not cause floods.

Lu Xiuyuan knew that he couldn't make his way in this kind of weather, so he simply booked the entire inn. The large army took a day off today to hide from the rain, and then set out the next day after checking the weather.

In the upper class room of the inn, Lu Xiuyuan opened the window to watch the rainstorm outside, feeling a little uneasy.

When he was behind, Yun Chen followed and saw that his cuffs had been wet by the slanting rainstorm, so he said with concern: "It's raining too much outside, be careful not to catch the wind and cold if your clothes are wet."

He reacted belatedly and closed the window. Lu Xiuyuan said worriedly: "This year's torrential rain has started again. I don't know how the previous dams are doing. Will the middle and lower reaches break the levee."

"Isn't Master Wu admiring that your method is feasible? I heard that His Majesty will recruit hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to build it. It should be fine if there are no accidents." The other party comforted.

He sighed: "It's useless to think about it now, I'd better go back to the capital and ask my master and senior brothers."

Fortunately, it didn't rain again the next day. Although it was still cloudy, we were able to set off on our way.

This side is not far from the capital, they no longer delay to move forward at full speed, and finally successfully entered the city in the evening.

There were a lot of them, and there were nearly 100 servants and guards brought from their hometown. When Lu Xiuyuan was worrying about how to settle down, Shi Yunchen had already started to arrange the residence in an orderly manner.

"Yan Ruyu's branch is located in Xishi. It is a courtyard with two entrances. The shopkeeper lives with a few waiters and ten guards."

"Wang batian, you guys live in the next yard, each with a room, and ten more guards at the same time."

"The rest come with us to the East Market, Nan Xing, you go and guide the people from the West Market, and then let the cook cook."

After Shi Yunchen gave his orders, he took the remaining dozens of people and continued to Chang'an East City.

Lu Xiuyuan saw that the other party had arranged everything in an orderly manner, and when the curtain of the carriage was drawn down, he leaned over and chirped.

"Ah Chen is so amazing, he actually made arrangements in advance."

Caught off guard by a kiss, the young master was stunned for a moment, and then glared at him.

"It's on the street, don't mess around!"

Lu Xiuyuan smiled: "I'm pulling the car curtain, no one can see it."

After all, the person rubbed against each other.

"It doesn't matter if no one sees it, you just sit down in the blue sky!" After arranging the people upright, he told the guards driving the carriage in front to be careful while driving the carriage on the street.

After walking for more than half a stick of incense, the carriage stopped, Shi Yunchen opened the curtain and found that they had arrived at their destination.

The two jumped out of the carriage, and the porter who was guarding outside came to see the master came back, hurriedly opened the door, took the reins from the guard and drove the carriage to the backyard.

Lu Xiuyuan went into the courtyard and inspected it, and found that although it is a second-entry courtyard, it is not small in size. There are seven rooms in the north, three main rooms, and two side rooms on each side, forming three fronts and four ears. There is no need to worry about walking in the yard on rainy days.

In addition to the wing rooms and wing rooms on both sides, there are many empty rooms.

Seeing him looking at the yard all the time, Shi Yunchen looked a little unnatural and said: "The yard of the second entrance is a bit small, but there is no yard for the third entrance at the sales side, we will change it when there is news over there."

Just after observing the layout of the courtyard, he heard the other party say this, and Lu Xiuyuan hurriedly stopped him.

"No, no, this is already very big. The two of us live in one room, and there are so many vacant rooms left. Wouldn't it be more spacious if we entered three times?"

"Aren't you an official now? If you invite your classmates to live at home, and the room is small and the yard is small, won't they be ridiculed secretly?" The other party expressed his thoughts.

"Home is a place with strong privacy. I usually don't invite others to my house, so don't worry about it."

Besides, Dongshi is close to the imperial palace of the Hanlin Academy, so the housing price must be very expensive. The second courtyard may be able to buy third and fourth courtyards outside, not to mention that there are only two of them. It is also very good to live in a courtyard house.

The home is small and more warm.

The carriage was pulled to the backyard, and the guards began to unload the goods, while the servants next to them put the unloaded goods into specific rooms according to Shi Yunchen's instructions.

The young master was handling the goods here, and Lu Xiuyuan went back to his room to take a shower before going to his senior brother to find out the news.

He is going to report to the Imperial Academy soon, and he has to go in advance to ask if any major events have happened in the court in the past few months, and then there is the distribution of personnel in the Imperial Academy, and if there is anything that needs attention.

When he came to Wu's mansion, he greeted the concierge skillfully, and then went straight into the gate.

Turn left into the yard, just in time to see Shen Congzhi in the corridor.

"Follow it!"

He greeted each other with a smile.

The other party saw a flash of surprise on his face.

"Uncle Master is back? When did you come back? Why did you come here so late?"

"I just arrived today, I came over after changing clothes." Lu Xiuyuan replied.

"Then Master hasn't eaten yet, right? It just so happens that Master was still eating when he came back today, so I'll ask the kitchen to add two more dishes."

After saying that he could not refuse, he left directly.

Lu Xiuyuan rubbed his stomach. He originally planned to go home and eat with the young master, so he had to send someone to tell him not to wait for him.

After arranging for the servant to deliver the letter, he then went to look for Senior Brother Wu.

He knocked on the door, and when he entered, the other party was drinking, which made Lu Xiuyuan a little surprised, as his senior brother usually doesn't drink.

"Brother, why are you drinking alone?"

When the other party saw him coming in, he thought he was drunk, and after blinking, he was sure it was Lu Xiuyuan.

"Junior brother came back from his hometown? When did you arrive?"

He pulled the chair next to him and sat on it, then poured himself a glass of wine. "It's just arrived in the evening, how come this senior brother who is not young and unfeeling drinks alone?"

After gulping down the wine in his hand, Senior Brother Wu, who was always optimistic, finally couldn't help but sigh.

He took the jug and helped the other party refill it.

"Senior brother, do you have any troubles? Would you like your brother to help share it?"

Holding the wine glass in his hand, the other party looked ugly.

"The Eldest Prince was found by His Majesty to have mutilated his siblings. Recently, he has been locked up for self-reflection. Another group of people in the Imperial Academy are becoming more and more arrogant. I, the head of the Academy, have worked hard."

"Murting siblings?" Lu Xiuyuan's first reaction was to hear the news from Shi Yunchen that the eldest prince killed the fourth prince.

He drank the wine in the glass again, and the other party explained the reason in detail.

It turned out that after their palace test, the emperor was very optimistic about Lu Xiuyuan's method of harnessing the Yellow River. At the end of April, thinking of the upcoming autumn floods, he had to finish the Yellow River governance before the heavy rain.

Since this treatment method is very feasible, it only needs to deploy enough manpower to control the flood outbreak this year, so this is a free effort to control the water, and everyone is rushing to go, and the old emperor is also entangled in the selection for two days.

Last year, Hongshui sent people from the second prince's side. This time, the old emperor wanted to continue to let the other party go, but after all, because of the previous rumors about whether the second prince was His Majesty's biological son, the old emperor still had such a deep root in his heart. prick.

In the end, he simply let the First Prince go to practice and accumulate some experience.

After the first prince received this notice, he was so happy that he couldn't find the side. If it was under control, it might be passed down through the ages, so he hurriedly asked his subordinates to pack up and arrange a plan, and urged the household department to send money quickly, and then Go to the local militia.

It's not easy to get money from the Ministry of Households. The little money they give is not enough to clean up the canal. The eldest prince has posted a lot of money for this credit, but just as he was about to leave happily, the emperor urgently recalled him Go, change to King Ming.

The First Prince stopped doing it as soon as he heard this, he obviously agreed, why did he suddenly change his mind after finally getting together the money?

The other party immediately went to the palace to find the old emperor.

It turned out that the quota fell to the eldest prince, and the second prince was not reconciled. It was obviously a false rumor, but the father gave such a big credit to the boss, he refused to accept it.

So the other party revealed the fact that the canal flooded last year, and that King Ming went to relieve the disaster but was assassinated by the First Prince.

Can a cruel person like the First Prince manage the Yellow River well after hurting blood relatives?

The old emperor thought of his three sons. They had indeed disappeared for a month at the beginning, and when they returned to Beijing later, they were dressed in rags and were seriously injured, but the other party was not sure that it was the eldest prince's fault.

Just at this moment, the eldest prince ran to the palace to ask the old emperor what was going on.

In the imperial study room, the three parties confronted each other. How could the eldest prince be against the two old foxes? Although he was not directly quoted, those indirect reflections have proved the truth of the facts.

Therefore, the First Prince's operation to control the Yellow River was directly cancelled, and he was imprisoned for three months.

The eldest prince was so anxious that he said that he couldn't let the second prince go!

The old emperor didn't intend to let the second child go, but just ordered Ming Wang to prepare and set off the next day.

The first prince and the second prince were dumbfounded when they heard this. The second prince is fine. After all, Prince Ming is under his command, so he can't suffer much.

The First Prince couldn't accept it anymore, he threatened that King Ming didn't complete the task of relief from the canal flooding last year, so how can he manage the Yellow River this year?

Hearing this, the old emperor's face became even darker. No matter how low the birth of Ming Wangmu and Concubine was, she was still his prince. How could he let others say no? In the end, he was determined to give the credit for governing the Yellow River to Ming Wang.

Seeing that the deal was done, the eldest prince was taken back to the mansion in despair and locked up.

After Senior Brother Wu told him what happened during his return home, Lu Xiuyuan couldn't help but sigh, but he couldn't complain about the First Prince, so he could only sip the sake in front of him.

"Tsk, this wine is really spicy."

Senior Brother Wu also took a sip: "Your senior brother likes this kind of strong one."

The two sat quietly for a while, and the dishes ordered before were also put on the table. Lu Xiuyuan didn't see Shen Congzhi, so he couldn't help asking, "Why hasn't Congzhi come here? Has he eaten?"

"From then on, I went to find his junior brother."

Helping Senior Brother Wu refill his wine glass, he took his own.

"Senior Brother, Junior Brother also came to drink with you."

The other party finally showed the first smile of the night: "Come on, good junior brother, let's not get drunk tonight."

Both of them drank it down in one gulp, and the wine glasses were placed on the table, Senior Brother Wu's face began to gradually climb into sadness again.

Aren't these courtiers serving the common people all over the world, why are they causing so many troubles just because of standing in line now?

Lu Xiuyuan continued to help himself and his senior brother. He knew what the other party hadn't said. In the current situation of the First Prince, other people headed by Senior Brother Wu may have a difficult life. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are walking on thin ice.

And what he can do now is to drink with the other party to relieve the depression in his chest.

Senior Brother Wu, who drank two pots of wine, suddenly felt something was wrong, and the other party poked his head over to look at his wine glass: "Brother, why don't you drink anymore?"

After all, I will take the flagon and fill him up.

Lu Xiuyuan quickly blocked the mouth of the glass with his hand: "Don't say goodbye, senior brother, I'll be overwhelmed after drinking this kind of wine after three glasses, and I can't drink any more."

"Hold~ how can it work." The other party snatched his wine glass, "Drink to your heart's content, let's drink with my brother tonight until I'm not drunk!"

Crashing, the small wine glass was filled instantly, and the other party was placed heavily in front of him again.

"drink!"

Lu Xiuyuan looked at the half-sprinkled wine in front of him, and looked at the other person's expression, he seemed not sober.

Forget it, now at his senior brother's house, nothing can happen, so he will risk his life to accompany the gentleman this time.

Seeing that Lu Xiuyuan finally continued drinking, Senior Brother Wu showed a satisfied smile.

"That's right. It's boring to drink too much alone, but drinking with junior brother is the most enjoyable."

The other party also raised his glass and drank it down.

After a few glasses of wine, Lu Xiuyuan's eyes gradually dimmed.

Although his mind was clear, his mouth was gradually out of his control, and then he soberly heard that he was brainwashing his senior brother.

"Senior brother, that eldest prince is so stupid, what's so worth your life?"

The other party obviously didn't expect him to say such a thing after being drunk, his brain cleared up, and then he became confused again.

"Hahaha, junior brother, you are drunk, so you really only have three drinks!"

Lu Xiuyuan waved away the fingers pointing at his own head: "Brother, aren't you drunk too?"

"I'm not drunk. I'm not drunk. I can drink well." The other party shook his head and refused to admit that he had drunk too much.

Seeing the other party's sad expression, Lu Xiuyuan immediately became angry when he thought that it was all caused by the eldest prince.

"Senior brother, listen to me. If the eldest prince is so stupid, he will definitely not be able to become the emperor. Let's not go down the same path. Let's find another way out."

After speaking, he didn't hear any reaction from the other party, so he simply repeated it again.

Senior Brother Wu stared blankly at Lu Xiuyuan: "Find another way out? Where is there another way? We've been tied to this boat for the rest of our lives..."

As if thinking of something, a trace of pain flashed across the other party's face.

"If I knew it earlier, I shouldn't drag you into this muddy water. It's the brother who is sorry for you."

Seeing Senior Brother Wu like this, Lu Xiuyuan also felt very uncomfortable: "How can you say that? If it weren't for the careful guidance of Senior Brother and Master, how could Lu Zhuangyuan be the current champion? I'm afraid he wouldn't even be able to pass the entrance examination."

The other party didn't answer this time, just leaned on the seat and couldn't stop murmuring that I'm sorry Lu Xiuyuan and my old friend Pei Wuyou.

Hearing this, he blamed himself in his heart. Could it be that if he was on the wrong team, he really had no chance of survival?

Thinking that he has always relied on his master and senior brother, maybe this time, it is his turn to find a way.

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