The red sun has been three feet high, and the golden furnace is the first to add incense beasts.

The sun had just risen over the mountain, and under the bright red morning glow, the sun shone down through the cracks in the clouds, like countless dragons spitting golden waterfalls, dyeing the heavens and the earth golden. Linhuai Hou Mansion under the early morning sunshine is a piece of golden splendor, hanging lights, opening the Luan Phoenix, setting up hibiscus, burning incense and burning stoves, the sound of Fule silk and bamboo came out from the Hou Mansion, a prosperous and lively scene.

The maids of the Linhuai Marquis Mansion packed up early, changed into their latest clothes, put on the hairpins rewarded by the masters, and dressed up beautifully and got busy.

Today is the 60th birthday of the old lady of the Hou Mansion, and the maids and maids of the Hou Mansion in Linhuai got up early in the morning to sweep the court, serve the master to wash, and under the command of the steward, clean up the Hou Mansion and prepare the things needed for the birthday.

Zhu Ping'an got up and washed up as usual, and put on the new clothes that the little girl with the bun yesterday brought in, ink-colored robes, white deerskin boots, and simple hair up.

However, there is a big gap compared with that Zheng Gongzi.

Zheng Gongzi stood at the door of Zhu Ping'an's courtyard with his hands in his hands, wearing a satin robe embroidered with gold in moonlight, revealing the trim of silver embroidered lotus leaves, wearing a jade belt around his waist, holding a folding fan made of ivory, like a piece of flawless jade cast by a handsome young man, even if he stood there quietly, he was also rich and beautiful, with unique charm, giving people a sense of nobility and Qinghua.

"Today's old lady's birthday banquet, there are countless distinguished guests, and you can't write anything. There is nothing long, don't lose the face of the Hou Mansion. I'd advise you to stay quiet in the corner when you'll go out later. Even the provincial cousin Shu'er's face was gloomy. ”

Zheng Gongzi, who was standing with his hands in his hands, stood at the door of the small courtyard of Zhu Ping'an's guest room, and after saying this, he left with his hands behind his back.

belch

Early in the morning, he blocked me at the door, just to say such a sentence to me, look at the posture of walking and shaking legs. It must be concave for so long, cramps! Okay, just for your attitude, this pretending, I'll give you 80 points. Zhu Ping'an looked at Zheng Gongzi who was shaking his legs and left, and couldn't help but smile.

When Zhu Ping'an arrived in the front yard, he found that he had been arranged in a corner, so no one paid attention to him.

The Hou Mansion picked up several courtyards and used the front hall and lobby as a place for hospitality. The birthday feast was set up dozens of Zhuo, and Zhu Ping'an's table was lonely in the corner, and he couldn't see it if he didn't look carefully.

Early in the morning, the second master of the second room, who had not been at home for ten days and a half months, was also full of fat and powder. pinched a little from the outside and rushed back to the Linhuai Marquis Mansion. As soon as I entered the door, I went straight to the old lady's yard and went to greet the old lady.

The room where the old lady was was had a strong smell of longevity, on the front wall. There is a picture of a birthday star full of festive and auspicious colors, and the old birthday star in the picture is smiling. The head is raised, and one hand is on crutches. Holding a peach in one hand. Of course, there are many hanging books in the room, with a big "Shou" character pattern.

The room is spread out on the red carpet, a desk is placed, a large incense burner is placed in the middle of the desk, a long longevity incense is inserted in the furnace, and the fragrance body is coiled into a big "longevity" word, and next to the incense burner is a pair of wax skewers, on which a candle weighing several kilograms is inserted, and the candle body is also painted with golden longevity characters and various painted auspicious patterns.

The old lady of the Hou Mansion sat in the room in a red longevity dress, and was served by the Discipline Inspection Commission girl to comb her hair.

"The son has said goodbye to his mother." After the second master entered the old lady's house, he smiled and knelt down to the old lady to say goodbye.

"You evil obstacle, you still know that you are coming home, please be safe, and you will be disturbed by your evil obstacle." When the old lady saw her second son enter the door, she waved her hand to let the girl who was combing her hair behind her get out of the way, scolded angrily, and took the jade ruyi to smash the second son.

"The mother has wronged her son, these days the son is kneeling in several temples to recite the scriptures, the Zen master said that the 'Security Longevity Sutra' is the most effective. This son read it a few more times last night, and in order to catch up with his mother's birthday, he stopped talking and rushed back overnight. If he beats his son, his mother can be relieved, and his son is willing to be beaten by his mother every day. ”

The second old man knew that the old lady was reluctant to beat, so he stretched his head over with a smile, and looked like he was willing to be beaten after being wronged.

"What an adult, don't be ashamed, if it weren't for the fact that there are foreign visitors here today, it is indispensable to loosen your skin." Seeing her second son like this, the old lady couldn't help but laugh and scold.

"The mother will do it, the mother will send a message, and the son will do it himself, so as to ensure that the mother is satisfied." The second old man said with a smile.

"It's not a good deal, I'll settle accounts with you another day." The old lady laughed and scolded.

"The smile is always happy and pleasant, and the body is healthy. The son gave his mother a birthday greeting, wishing the old birthday star, blessings like the East China Sea, and the sun and moon are bright. The pine crane is Changchun, the spring and autumn are not old, the longevity is longer than the South Mountain, and the joy is far longer. ”

The second old man knelt on the ground, took the small silver pot in the hand of the maid on one side, poured a cup of tea, and smiled to greet the old lady.

"Okay, okay, let's go, go to the front yard to help your big brother, there's no one right." The old lady took the teacup and took a sip.

"My son is leaving." The second master said goodbye, got up and retreated.

Waiting for the second master to leave, the second lady of the Hou Mansion took the lead in leading Li Shu and other daughters of the Hou Mansion and Zhou Fat, the bear child Little Lori snoring in, sorted by class, and slipped into the house, and knelt down with a grin to pay homage to the old lady.

When everyone in the Hou Mansion knelt down to the old lady of the Hou Mansion one by one to pay their respects, a little yellow man with a white face and beard rode a horse to the Shuntian Gongyuan in the southeast of the capital again under the escort of a brocade guard, and handed over the sealed book bag to Xu Jie and other examiners.

After Xu Jie and the others broke the intact seal in front of Xiao Huangmen, Xiao Huangmen retreated and was escorted away by the brocade guards.

After Xu Jie and the other examiners opened the seal, they found that inside was the draft list and the previous life test papers they had submitted to the Imperial Library, in addition to a note.

"How to reduce talents."

There were only these six simple words on the note, and there was nothing else, and there was no comment from Emperor Jiajing on the grass list, not even a single ink spot.

This is a code language, but also Jiajing's first mastery of manipulatory, Jiajing's political means are very strong, the emperor's mind is superb, this kind of paper code language manipulation is one of the representatives. The contents of these notes are varied and the wording is extremely non-standardized, but they carry Jiajing's political movements. If you don't understand this, it's likely that you will misunderstand the leader's instructions, and it's not just about doing something wrong. Being able to identify and understand Jiajing's code language is a compulsory course for officials in the court, Yan Song is a master of reading code words, but it is said that the most powerful reader of code words is Yan Song's son Yan Shifan, it is said that many code words Yan Song can not read, thanks to Yan Shifan, Yan Song can understand Jiajing's mind and rank first and second, and the advantage of code words is indispensable.

How to reduce talents. The meaning of descending, advent selection, this sentence clearly means, what should I do when I choose a talent?

Isn't our imperial examination just about selecting talents?

Yan Maoqing and the others looked at this note, pondering it repeatedly, at a loss, what does the emperor mean by this?

Xu Jie looked at the note, but showed a knowing smile. Playing code words, I'm not bad either.

These six words are not asking how to select talents, but asking how to rank the test paper of reducing talents, that is to say, how should the test paper of reducing talents be ranked? Obviously, the emperor asked this note to be the test paper with the talent reduction in the green words, which should be ranked.

Why ask.

What does the emperor mean, isn't it clear at a glance? (To be continued......)