A traitor

After the biography, the apricot list was released, Mei Liusheng won the first place, Jia Siqi ranked second, and brother Lu Xun won the No. 3 prize.

As a result, Mei Zhuangyuan, who came out of nowhere, suddenly became a favorite in the eyes of everyone, and is also a popular figure who is talked about in the streets and alleys.

The carriages that came to Xianghe rushed to the entrance of the New Moon Inn like flowing water. The owner of the inn was very happy and specially offered a discount.

Originally, Mei Liusheng planned to set up three tables to entertain fellow students, but he abruptly raised it to thirty, and even the inn’s dishes were changed to names related to the number one scholar. Let’s raise our glasses to celebrate It was lively and noisy, but on the other side it was deserted and gloomy.

Qin Huan's words finally caused Su Qinglang a little fear.

So the next night, instead of rushing to find Mei Liusheng, he asked someone to investigate his background, and by the way, in Qin Jian's name, he gave Mei Liusheng a generous gift.

In Shangshu's mansion, the lights were brightly lit, candles were slowly burning in the gauze cover depicting birds, and the beating light was reflected on the wall, creating a faint yellow halo.

Su Qinglang sat in the hall and dismissed all the servants, leaving only the housekeeper and Ruyi standing in the hall.

The butler said: "My lord, the Ministry of Rites has sent Mei Liusheng's books."

Su Qinglang looked at his hands and couldn't help raising his eyebrows: "That's all?"

The butler let out a hey, walked forward a few steps, handed the book to him, and then stepped aside.

Two thin pages of yellow paper, with a few lines of small characters densely written on it, is not much different from what Qin Huan said.

Mei Liusheng, whose ancestral home is Huaiyang, lost his father at the age of four and his mother at the age of eight. He lived with his uncle at the age of 11. He studied and became an official with his uncle's support. On one day, his uncle's family suddenly died of a plague, leaving him alone. With bare poles and bags on his back, he wandered in another country, and finally lived on the hilltop of a certain village.

Although he failed in the children's examination and fell behind in the ranking, he worked hard during the rural examination and achieved a good result of No.1 in one fell swoop.

Now he is over 27 years old. Since he concentrated on studying and preparing for scientific examinations in the early years, he has not yet married a wife.

Look at the small portrait of the person in the upper left corner, with sword eyebrows and star eyes, and a heroic outline. Although the drawing is simple, who is it if it is not Mei Liusheng?

Su Qinglang closed the book, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion, this Meiliusheng's fate is as poisonous as arsenic, comparable to the most powerful Hedinghong in the world.

No matter how bad he is as a wife-killing star, he can only kill the women related to him. Fortunately, everyone who has anything to do with him will suffer from diseases and die.

Su Qinglang tapped the book on the table, put on a thoughtful expression, and heard the housekeeper say: "My lord, the person who went to the inn to give gifts has returned."

"They said that Mei Zhuangyuan was terrified when he saw the post signed by Xiangye. He thought the gift was too expensive and refused to accept it. He only left a box for the gift, which he said was for storing books."

With a smile on Su Qinglang's lips, he said with great interest: "In ancient times, there was a person in Zheng who bought a box and returned the pearl, but now there is Mei Liusheng who returned the gift and left a box to store the book. It's interesting and interesting."

After a pause, he said meaningfully: "I just don't know, is this Zheng Ren blind, or our Mei Zhuangyuan has another meaning?"

Ruyi heard the words, and couldn't stop rolling her eyes from the side, thinking in her heart——

As long as their young master speaks in such a weird way, it's sure that nothing good will happen.

But Su Qinglang picked up the folding fan on the table, stood up and walked outside, he hurriedly followed and asked, "Master, where are we going?"

Su Qinglang stopped in his tracks, shook his folding fan and said, "Since there is an agreement first, we must keep the promise. Besides, if I want to know whether this kid is a human or a ghost, I have to go to the meeting again."

However, when they arrived at the New Moon Inn, they were in vain. The servants in the inn didn't recognize Su Qinglang, and thought he was a distant relative of some family, so they came to curry favor with Zhuangyuanlang.

So he blocked him from the door, and told him coldly that Mei Zhuangyuan was picked up by the carriage of Mr. Pei, the prime minister of the left.

Standing at the entrance of the inn, Su Qinglang looked up at the inn, there was a red silk hanging on the plaque, crumpled to look like a bouquet of flowers.

The ashes from the firecrackers spread on the ground, a piece of red, soft to step on, like a brocade. It must be a lively scene during the celebration during the day.

He looked at the wine jug he was carrying in his hand again, it had been treasured for ten years, it was the top-quality number one scholar red, but unfortunately no one drank it, he couldn't help feeling a little regretful.

On the other hand, Ruyi seemed very happy, with her mouth wide enough to grin almost to her ears.

Su Qinglang glanced at him obliquely, and couldn't help asking: "Are you so happy to see your young master being blocked from the door?"

Ruyi immediately restrained her smile, put on a very serious expression, and said, "Young master, no."

Su Qinglang obviously didn't believe it, waving his fan, with a straight face, said coolly: "Ruyi..."

Sensing the threatening meaning in the words, Ruyi confronted for a long time, finally lost, and said in a low voice: "Young master, I am very happy for that plum champion."

Su Qinglang snorted and asked, "Why?"

Ruyi took a step back and distanced herself from him, swearing to the death that she would not explain the reason, and said, "Young master, if I say so, I'm afraid you will get angry and punish me again."

Hearing this, Su Qinglang smiled gently and harmlessly, and said slowly: "It's just chatting, just talk about it, I promise I won't punish you."

Only then did Ruyi feel relieved, and replied honestly: "Based on what you said, combined with other facts, that Mei Zhuangyuan must be an upright, kind and good person, since he is a good person..."

"Cough cough..."

Speaking of this, he clenched his fist and cleared his throat, and said very subtly and gracefully: "I'm not on the same side with you, my son. You should hold your hands high and let him go."

Su Qinglang raised a bright smile on his lips, looking really lifeless, he said: "You mean, that Mei Zhuangyuan is an upright and kind-hearted person, while your son and I are a heinous villain. I have not been punished today. If I find him, his ancestors should burn incense, right?"

Hearing the words, Ruyi immediately realized what she said was wrong, quickly covered her mouth, stared at her eyes and said, "My lord, I didn't mean that..."

"Oh, that's not what it means, what do you mean?"

Su Qinglang suppressed his smile, walked towards Ruyi, weighed the folding fan in his hand, and said, "You didn't even tie your hair, so you thought your wings had grown hard. You follow me, how many books you have read, how many words you have written, and you think How much knowledge have you gained? You are still far behind..."

As he said that, he knocked on his head with a folding fan, and said: "When you return to the mansion, you will be fined to copy the Book of Changes a hundred times, and you will not be allowed to eat if you don't finish copying."

Ruyi immediately turned bitter, and let out a muffled cry. Seeing Su Qinglang turn and leave, she hurriedly followed, but felt extremely wronged in her heart.

Mr. Su is full of enthusiasm and high spirits. He didn't meet Mei Liusheng, but met Cai Jun, a colleague from the Ministry of Rites.

This person was transferred to the Ministry of Rites a year ago, and has been working under Su Qinglang's subordinates. Apart from being fond of gossip, he is also very handy in handling things.

Because Su Qinglang has been busy flattering the emperor and blackmailing the dignitaries, he has no time to take care of the etiquette department, many matters have been handed over to him, and he is happy and quiet.

Standing at the door of the inn, he saw that Cai Jun was dressed in official uniform, he hurried over, cupped his hands and said, "I didn't expect that my lord is here, it's really disrespectful and disrespectful."

Su Qinglang also returned the gift to him, saying: "Mei Zhuangyuan and I have known each other for a long time, and I came here to congratulate him on winning the championship, but you, how could you think of coming to him?"

Although it is said that the number one scholar is rare and he is one in a thousand talents, he is still a fledgling rookie, and his rank and rank are very small, so he should not let their servants curry favor with him.

Hearing his words, Cai Jun was dumbfounded for a moment, and after a while, he said: "My lord, I just came here to remind Mei Zhuangyuan that the emperor's imperial edict is coming soon, so don't forget to go to the Ministry of Rites to handle related matters."

Su Qinglang nodded, Cai Jun didn't say anything, he forgot that after the scientific examination was over, the emperor would hold the conferring ceremony in the Golden Luan Hall.

Although it is almost all the affairs of the Ministry of Officials in the future, the Ministry of Rites still needs to be clear about the aftermath of the handover of the Gongsheng register and the archiving of the examination papers.

So he said: "It's hard for you to think so thoroughly, I'm not here these days, thank you for your hard work."

Cai Jun was overwhelmed by flattery, and hurriedly said: "Working for the court is my duty, and I don't think it's hard for me as an official."

Su Qinglang was very touched by such enlightened words, and just wanted to reach out and pat him on the shoulder as a sign of comfort and encouragement.

But I heard Cai Jun ask: "By the way, I heard that my lord had a blind date a few days ago. I don't know what the result will be. If a good thing is coming, I want my brothers to make preparations early."

Thinking of Du Shiqi's Tathagata palm left on his face that day, Mr. Su's outstretched hand suddenly froze in mid-air, neither patting nor retracting.

Mr. Cai is good at everything, but he is too talkative, like a vegetable farm aunt all day long.

Which family's adult took a concubine, which family's young master was engaged, and even the unwanted big yellow dog at the entrance of West Street and Alley had given birth to a few cubs this year, he could find out clearly.

He is 50 years old and has been in the officialdom for many years. He has stumbled and suffered, but he still hasn't been able to get rid of this problem.

Moreover, it is said that when he was working in the Ministry of Punishment, he was transferred to the Ministry of Rites by the emperor because he talked about his superiors behind his back, was disgusted and rejected by his superiors, and had nowhere to go.

Su Qinglang didn't marry a wife, didn't take a concubine, and he didn't have any romantic affairs, so he didn't have anything to entertain him.

Besides, Master Shangshu was busy with personnel affairs, and he was away from the Ministry of Rites for eight out of ten days. Even if he was entertained, he couldn't hear him. He didn't have any taboos about Cai Jun's problem.

Therefore, he was kept here, and Cai Jun himself stayed very happily, doing everything with all his heart and full of energy.

Seeing Cai Jun prick up his ears and his eyes shine, Su Qinglang twitched the corners of his lips, and finally patted Cai Jun on the shoulder twice.

Avoiding the subject, he said: "You are late, Mei Zhuangyuan was picked up by Mr. Zuo Xiang."

As he spoke, he raised the jug in his hand and said, "I haven't seen you for many days. I have good wine here. If you are not in a hurry, we can catch up on the old days."