Lan Ziyi was known as a talented man when he was a child, and when he was ten years old, he won eight shows, but then he failed repeatedly, and he felt even more disheartened after failing last year. Now that he has entered Beijing as a martial artist, it is impossible to enter the imperial examination. But right now, this scoundrel who played his tongue in front of his horse aroused Lan Ziyi's interest. Lan Ziyi asked the scoundrel:

"As long as I can be on the list, I am willing to take any road, but I don't know what road you have in your hands."

Hearing this, the scoundrel walked to Lan Ziyi's horse, stretched out his hand and spread his palm in front of Lan Ziyi, and said:

"Throw stones to ask for directions, if you want to ask for directions, you have to come up with a stepping stone."

Lan Ziyi knew that this scoundrel wanted silver, and Lan Ziyi even knew that opening a branch to get a scholar was an important matter for the imperial court, and it was impossible for someone to sell exam questions on the street, and this scoundrel in front of him was a liar.

But perhaps Lan Ziyi was reminded of his past exams, and now he doesn't want to debunk this liar, but is interested in the way that this scoundrel will introduce next. Anyway, it's not that there is no money, so give some money.

Lan Ziyi reached into his arms and took out an ingot of five taels of silver and put it in the scoundrel's hand, wanting him to lead the way. Who knew that the scoundrel was unmoved when he got the silver, he rolled his eyes at Lan Ziyi with disdain, and then said:

"Ten taels."

Lan Ziyi smiled, and took out a certain ten taels of silver from his arms and put them in the hands of the scoundrel. Just when Lan Ziyi put down the ten taels of silver ingots and wanted to retrieve the five taels of silver ingots, the scoundrel actually rolled up his hand and took all the fifteen taels of silver into his arms, turned around and walked, and said at the same time:

"Come with me."

Lan Ziyi looked at the scoundrel walking in front and sneered softly, he urged the horse to follow the scoundrel, and the scoundrel took Lan Ziyi through the street and around the alley. The scoundrel said as he walked:

"You outsiders, you just don't know what to do, the court is open to Enke, and you will take the test? You think you'll make the list? Stop dreaming. ”

Lan Ziyi asked:

"The emperor opened Enke for the sake of the world's scholars, this is just a scholar who can come to the exam, why can't we outsiders?"

The scoundrel snorted:

"Do you know why the emperor opened Enke this time? That's because I just killed the demon thief, and I want a reward. What am I destroying the demon thief? Is it up to you outsiders? Have you paid your rations? Have you paid your taxes? It costs money to suppress thieves, and all the taxes of this Taisho are in Jiangdong, and you outsiders rely on Jiangdong rice and money to feed, when did you contribute to Taisho? Not to mention that there is a disaster in the whole country now, and relief is needed everywhere in the world, where will the money and food for relief come from? Not from Koto yet? If you have a long brain, you should understand that this time the emperor opened Enke to reward heroes and buy people's hearts. So who contributed the most? Whose hearts are you going to buy? It's our Jiangdong people! “

Lan Ziyi smiled when he heard this, and he asked:

"It is true that it costs money to suppress bandits, but how can no one suppress bandits if they have money? Do you know that the soldiers who died were mostly outsiders, and there were not many soldiers from Jiangdong. ”

The scoundrel said disdainfully:

"Stinky Hill Eight, a Qian man, if you die, you are dead, what's the pity? As long as the amount of silver is given so much that a man comes out to work hard, he is not left behind. What kind of entry into the city was done on the day of Qixi Festival, I think it's a joke, it's a big deal to give those Qiu eight dollars, and give them so much face, can they afford it? ”

Lan Ziyi was unhappy when he heard this, and the tone of this scoundrel was too arrogant. Lan Ziyi said:

"I see that you look like a street gangster, what qualifications do you have to talk about the imperial court system?"

The scoundrel patted his chest and said:

"Why should I? Just because I'm from Jiangdong, and because I'm from the same place as Zhang Mingyue, the current cabinet minister, I have this qualification. You outsiders are not qualified to come to the capital. ”

No matter how good Ren Lanzi's temper is, he felt angry when he heard the scoundrel say this, he said:

"Since you said that Enke is specially for Jiangdong people to take the exam this time, then I have no hope of being admitted as a foreigner, how can you show me the way? I see that you are deceiving me and exchanging the money back, and I will not go with you. ”

Hearing this, the scoundrel turned around and rolled his eyes at Lan Ziyi, and he said:

"If you don't believe me, you can go, and I won't stop you, but since the money is in my hands, don't think about going back."

Lan Ziyi said angrily:

"Aren't you robbing? I'm going to sue the officer! ”

The scoundrel laughed when he heard this:

"What if I rob you? If you want to sue the official, you can sue it, anyway, you and I have written it down, there are my brothers everywhere in this capital, and if you dare to sue the official, my brother and I will not let you go. What's more, do you think the officials will take care of you? You think too much, but the person who asked me to come out to do something is Lord Lang of the Ministry of Rites, and it's useless for you to sue anyone. ”

The arrogant appearance of this scoundrel has completely angered Lan Ziyi, and Lan Ziyi can't wait to immediately draw a knife and cut this villain's ugly face to pieces. But this guy mentioned the Ministry of Rites, although this scoundrel is most likely a liar, but how can it be groundless? If this scoundrel can really have something to do with the Ministry of Rites, then Lan Ziyi can use this as an excuse to attack Zhang Mingyue.

Thinking of this, Lan Ziyi restrained his anger, and the scoundrel saw that Lan Ziyi's expression softened, thinking that he was afraid of admitting it, so the scoundrel said even more unscrupulously:

"Let me tell you, even if I'm a gangster, I'm also a gangster in the capital, not something you outsiders can just look down on. Do you know that our people in Beijing have been exposed to the style of the imperial court since childhood, and they have three kinds of prestige when they go out of Beijing? Come with me obediently, give you something with money, don't come back to me. ”

Lan Ziyi didn't speak, he lowered his head and urged the horse, just keep up with the scoundrel. The scoundrel led Lan Ziyi and walked forward with a high spirit, and the foul language in his mouth continued, scolding the outsiders all over again. However, the next journey was not far, and the scoundrel led Lan Ziyi to a dilapidated alley, pointed to a dilapidated house inside, and said:

"Right there, go in and hand over the silver thing, take the things and leave quickly."

Lan Ziyi asked:

"Didn't I give you the money just now?"

The scoundrel said impatiently:

"I'm telling you it's a stepping stone, a stepping stone, why can't you understand people? I don't want to be a sergeant, so I don't talk nonsense if I think about it. ”

Lan Ziyi glared at the scoundrel, and without arguing, he led the horse to the courtyard.

Lan Ziyi always thought that the capital was prosperous, but he didn't expect that there would be such a down-and-out place. The courtyard of the room pointed out by the scoundrel had fallen into disrepair for a long time, and it looked crumbling and could collapse at any time, but it was such a dilapidated house, and when Lan Ziyi entered, someone actually hurriedly walked out of it.

The person who came out took a look at Lan Ziyi, and then lowered his head and hurriedly went out, Lan Ziyi looked at the appearance of the person carrying a book basket, and knew that it must be a candidate, and then looked at the small courtyard, there was not even a gatekeeper, Lan Ziyi did not dare to leave the horse outside the door casually, so he led the horse into the courtyard together.

As soon as he entered the garden, Lan Ziyi saw another scholar standing in front of the door of the hall directly opposite the hall, the door of the house in front of the scholar was empty, and the door was dim, and he didn't know who was sitting in the house, how many people there were, and he could only hear a voice in the darkness saying:

"Twenty taels!"

The scholar at the door hesitated for a moment when he heard this, and finally gritted his teeth and took out twenty taels of silver from his bosom and handed it to the door.

"This is this year's exam question, take it!"

The scholar took the box and immediately opened it sideways to look at it, and after a rough glance at the scriptures on the paper, the scholar didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Then the scholar found Lan Ziyi who had entered the hospital, he hurriedly put away the spread paper, bowed his head and hurried away.

Lan Ziyi saw the scholar leave, he came to the hidden door, took out twenty taels of silver from his bosom and handed it into the door, but the man in the door took the silver and said:

"One hundred taels."