It's dark in front of the window, and it's not yet dawn! The alleys were noisy with gongs and drums, and the shouts and firecrackers were endless.

There are many candidates living in the street in Liuxiang, and there are many talents in the examination, and the black-booted and red-robed officials are busy back and forth, delivering the good news to each family.

Early in the morning, each family sent their family members to see the apricot list at the Zhang Bang, and the family looked forward to it, hoping to get a good news.

The Xiucai exam is generally in February and March, also known as the apricot list.

A few families are happy and a few are sad, and they see the official messenger of the good news galloping towards their house from a distance, and the family can't help but get excited, and the crowd is noisy.

Jubilant and laughing.

Those who look through the autumn water, wait left and right, and wait for no good news, can only sigh behind closed doors, and study hard behind closed doors to make persistent efforts in the coming year.

On one side is the door is full of birds, on the other side is crowded with people, and the cars are like flowing water.

The crowd of people in the mansion who won the show talent was shoulder to shoulder, crowded with people, and the three floors inside and the outer three floors were all neighbors who watched the lively neighborhood.

The team of the annunciation of the good news sounded gongs and drums, went around the city for a week, and only arrived in the alley, followed by a large number of jubilant people, who basically did nothing that day, and followed the newspaper to congratulate the child from house to house, rubbing joy, and by the way, also rubbing food and drinking and rubbing happy money.

After entertaining the newspaper that delivered the good news, the housekeeper smiled so much that he couldn't see his teeth, and ordered the left and right to carry out the red envelopes that had been prepared long ago and distribute them to the neighbors who crowded the gate.

Prepare the table, the receptionist errand, copy the gift list like a cloud, the butler pulled his throat and ordered one by one, the servants answered loudly, and in the end, one by one, they were hoarse, and their voices were hoarse.

Men, women, and children rushed in to see the good news.

The laughter of hundreds of people gathered in one place, soaring into the sky.

In front of the Lin family's house, it is a diametrically opposite picture, the red lantern is replaced in front of the mansion, the white curtain and white lantern are hung, the door is closed, it is deserted, miserable and miserable.

In the inner courtyard, Lin Chaoge didn't care about the noise outside at all, finished washing, ate breakfast, and went back to the room to pack up the cage.

There are two peach blossoms in the courtyard, it is the season of the apricot moon, the fragrance of osmanthus is strong, the wind passes, the flowers of the size of pale pink crimson longan are sprinkled down in clusters, and a layer of pink velvet blanket is spread on the ground.

The trees are full of delicate and red, the ten thousand branches of Dancai are scorching in spring, and the little peach looks at the people's house, and there are a few trees and flowers on the fragrant tops of the trees.

After reading the book, she felt a little tired, she got up and opened the door, looking into the distance, today is Lin Xiucai's first seven.

The whole courtyard suddenly fell silent, and even the sound of insects and birds was silent for a moment.

The golden good news lay quietly on the wooden bench in the mourning hall, and no one cared.

In the first seven days of today, Lin Chaoge, who was dressed in linen and wearing filial piety, knelt in the mourning hall, and at that time, the whole person had no sorrow or joy, just like a marionette, calmly watching the neighbors who kindly came over to help deal with everything.

Finally, it was busy until night, and the crowd dispersed.

Wang Xifeng was worried that Lin Chaoge would not be able to think about it recently, and he had not returned home for several days.

Except for going home and getting a change of clothes, the rest of the time was completely rooted in the Lin Mansion, and even with the fact that he didn't know how many people were guarded by Wang Jun, he still went his own way.

"Lin Yan, you can cry if you want to, my shoulder will lend you" Wang Xifeng came over with a small plate of peach blossom cake, his eyes worried.

Lin Chaoge had not eaten water and rice for a day, and he was only standing at the door in a thin filial piety shirt, and the wet and cold convulsions were blowing into his bones. His lips were dry and white, his eyes were blue around his sockets, his cheeks were sunken and there was no flesh at all, and his body was even less human-shaped than he had been some time ago.

"Thank you" Lin Chaoge indifferently pushed Wang Xifeng closer, and casually swept the pale pink peach blossom cake that had just been baked and still had a hint of sweet smell.

She really doesn't have any appetite, only endless sadness and desolation.

"I want to go to my father's room to have a look," Lin Chaoge moved, his legs that had been numb after standing for a long time, and he said hoarsely.

As soon as he moved, it was dark and blurry in front of him, and his body shook and clung to the doorrail so as not to roll down the steps.

"Do you want to eat something first, you haven't eaten much recently" Wang Xifeng held the plate with one hand and put the other hand around her waist, not worrying, and said worriedly.

"No, I'm not hungry" pulled the corners of his pale mouth, like pulling a fake skin on the face of a skeleton, and did not refuse Wang Xifeng's kind physical contact, according to the weakness of this body, I am afraid that I will faint because of low blood sugar after walking not far.

"Okay" still wanted to say something comforting, but when the words came to his mouth, he finally spit out such a dry good word, and tried his best to carefully support Lin Chaoge to walk towards the courtyard.

Lin Yan, you idiot, you must think about it.

Lin Chaoge lit a lamp in the house, and the orange faint light illuminated the entire small space.

The room was no different from when the owner left, simple and easy to see, except for a few places covered with dust.

A large camphor wood bed, a bookcase full of books, and a dark desk with the owner's unfinished books on the desk.

All of this shows that the owner of the room has not left, and is still alive.

Lin Chaoge knew that Father Lin left suddenly, and he would definitely leave some clues, and he would not leave so hastily, sweeping away the weakness and sadness in front of people, and his eyes were sharp.

Lin Chaoge lit an oil lamp and walked around the room half-bent, his hands constantly looking for and caressing the bumps.

The room was not big, and it was over in less than half a minute, and Lin Chaoge was still not sad to grope and look for it again.

"Bang bang" Lin Chaoge accidentally found the bookcase on the side of his forehead when he got up.

"Hiss" really hurts, Lin Chaoge stretched out his hand to caress it, the surrounding area was red and swollen, and at a glance, he knew that the collision was not light.

The books on the bookcase were still standing firmly on top, but only one book in the corner fell down, and it smashed right in front of Lin Chaoge impartially.

This is a very common Analect, which has a new blue bark, but is yellowed and worn, and at first glance it is often held in the palm of the hand to look through the experience.

Lin Chaoge put the oil lamp aside, sat on the ground and opened it carefully, only to see that the content inside was no different, but there was a small word circled at the end and beginning of each page, and a short paragraph of bitter and difficult speech was noted next to it.

The circled words on each page look very ordinary, but when they are taken apart one by one and combined again, they happen to be a personal name, a place name, and some events.

Lin Chaoge's brown eyes darkened, his hand holding the book tightened, his heart fluttered, he stuffed the book into the placket in a panic and hid it, rearranged the messed room, flicked the dust that didn't exist on his body, and then stepped out of the house again weakly.

The mood is different.

Tonight, the moonlight is like flowing water, and a thin green mist floats in the lotus pond. The leaves and flowers seem to have been washed in milk, and the peach and apricot exude an intoxicating fragrance, like a dream wrapped in a light veil.

The moonlight shines through the trees, the shrubs in the high places, the layers of unthanksgiving peach blossoms, the jagged mottled ethereal black shadows, the craggy like ghosts, the sparse shadows of the crooked willows, but they seem to be painted on the lotus leaves.

"Lin... Lin Yan... Are you okay" As soon as she heard the sound of the door opening, Wang Xifeng, who was guarding not far from the door, hurriedly trotted over with a lantern, for fear that she would not be able to open it for a while.

"I'm fine". After a pause, he continued: "Thank you for a while now."

"Hey, don't say anything thank you or not, don't forget that you are going to enter the gate of my Wang family in the future."

"............" Sure enough, she shouldn't talk to him, lest she kick her nose in the face, but there was any disgust and resentment on her face, but there was a touch of solemnity that could not be dissolved.

"By the way, Lin Yan, if you want to come to my house to live in the near future, I'm afraid of ......."

"Are you afraid that I will think too much about things and people, or are you afraid of something" squinted a pair of narrow peach blossom eyes, with contemplative eyes.

"Yes, there are ......" Wang Xifeng scratched the top of his hair, a little embarrassed, more embarrassed, and didn't make a reason for a long time.

"If I don't have anything, I'll go to bed first," the words fell, and the man was already walking to the room.

"Alas, Lin Yan, you wait for me!" Wang Xifeng approached quickly with a lantern.

Wang Xifeng has slept in Lin Chaoge's room for the past few days, worried that he will sleep indecently at night, so he deliberately added a small bed next to it, and the cold night in spring is even deeper.

I am afraid that Lin Yan will wake up in the middle of the night and drink water to relieve his hands, and it will be convenient to take care of him when the time comes.

The icy rain in the middle of the night faded the cool wind and monopolized a seat of spring. Mist filled the spring rain.

The rain fell silently, with only a thin dripping sound. The orange house, like an old monk in a bright robe, hangs his head and closes his eyes, baptized by the rain.

The damp red bricks, the pungent color of pig blood, and the green laurel leaves under the walls are a strong contrast. The gray toad jumped in the wet and moldy mud, jumping from the grass to the mud, splashing in different shades.

This is a rare night since Lin Xiucai left, Lin Chaoge has rarely had a nightmare, a good night's sleep.

It's just that this spring day is rainy, and occasionally it comes annoyingly tight, and it doesn't stop.

In the morning, a few ownerless magpies are hiding from the rain under the treetops, looking at the emerald green mountains in the distance, picking up a few wisps of cloud brocade on the horizon, and picking a few drops of dew among the flowers.

At that time, the rain was heavier, and on the roofs and streets, a layer of white rain and mist splashed, like an ethereal white veil. At this moment, a gust of wind blew violently, and the white veil drifted away, and the raindrops hit the stagnant water on the street, stirring up a splash.

"The next one of this rain is not over, and I won't see him stop for a few days" Wang Xifeng leaned on the window, muttering and muttering.

Lin Chaoge turned a deaf ear and continued to paint with lotus flowers under his brush.

Plain and sweet, the years are quiet, and the present world is stable. In February, the spring returns to the rainy day, the peach blossoms feel the flow of the year, and there are still 3,000 trees in the residual red, which is not as fresh as the first flower.

After the Xiucai assessment, it is to raise people and enter Beijing to catch the exam.

There are not many hierarchical divisions here with the Qing Dynasty.