Wan Ting felt unbearable pain in her waist and knees, the rectangular "heaven and earth" made people unable to stretch, curled up here seemed to be almost six hours, the bumpy carriage creaked, during which the fragrance of rice wafted in through the gap, Wan Ting's stomach rumbled, she held back so that she did not fall short, under the sleepiness and hunger, the pain gradually lightened, and she finally fell asleep.

……

On the second day of February, the triennial imperial examination was held as scheduled. The emperor personally made the test questions, and the candidates from all over the country competed in the same field, and Zhou Qizheng was engrossed in the partial hall of Kunning Palace, this time he wanted to compete with the students, not only to prove his knowledge to Mr. Sulai, but also to test his true level.

Half a month later, after careful selection by several officials, the test papers of the three candidates were reviewed by the emperor.

Five days later, there was a crowd in front of the imperial list, and Zhou Qi's companion Li Bo was already waiting in front of the ceremonial department, and before the imperial list was completely pasted, someone shouted, "Hit, hit!" I hit. Everyone looked at the man in unison, and the man danced with joy beyond words, and the others said congratulations, and their hearts became even more nervous. Li Bo searched for it at a glance, and suddenly someone next to him shouted, "Look, champion!" Everyone looked at the top of the list again: Zhou Kai. Li Bo almost shouted, looked back at Zhou Qi in the distance, and waved his hands, "Come here!" Got in! Got in! ”

Zhou Qi, who had been standing around the corner, had already had his heart beating faster, and when he heard Li Bo's shout from afar, he quickly glanced around, and really wanted to give Li Bo a big ear scraper! Isn't it still the right thing to do in the exam? The number one is important! Zhou Qi walked over angrily, thinking that it would be more reliable to see it himself!

Zhou Qi came calmly with his hands behind his back, although he was nervous in his heart, his face was not revealing at all. From time to time, there was good news in the crowd, some people were jubilant, and some people had already started a second search. Li Bo stretched out his hand and pulled Zhou Qi over, the prince's slow and leisurely attitude was really anxious, "Look, what about that!" ”

Zhou Qi looked in the direction of Li Bo's finger, the first place in the head armor, Zhou Qi was even a little in a trance, Li Bo couldn't hide his excitement, and shook Zhou Qi's shoulders with both hands, "Champion!" That's right! The crowd around the emperor list congratulated the champion one after another, and some people even took the opportunity to touch Zhou Qi's two handfuls, wanting to be happy.

Zhou Qi let everyone surround him, everyone seemed to be happy for him from the bottom of their hearts, he still put his hands behind his back, and his calm appearance added a little bit of Zhuangyuanlang's bearing.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites are worried, according to the rules at the same time as the list is released, the Ministry of Rites will send personnel to be escorted by the Shuntian Mansion to the candidate's residence to deliver the good news, in order to keep it absolutely confidential, the Ministry of Rites also found out about the residence of the champion today. Shuntian Mansion manages the affairs of the capital, and the things on the ground are very familiar, and when I opened the address, I couldn't remember where the new champion lived after thinking for a long time. In order not to delay the erroneous thing, the other teams have set off, but the good news of the champion is still in the hands of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, this was originally the most pleasing errand, and the champion Lang is at least from the Liupin Hanlin Academy, and it can be regarded as an acquaintance when he sees him in the officialdom in the future. The ceremonial official was in a hurry, and a team of men had even returned.

"Yo, I thought I was the fastest, but I didn't expect you to be back."

"Hey, what, I haven't been there yet! What is this called? No one recognized the address of the champion! ”

"Huh? Isn't Zhuang Yuanlang just outside the door to watch the list, why don't you hurry up! ”

When the little official heard this, he couldn't care about any etiquette, he ran out, standing on the stone steps of the Ministry of Rites, he saw a young man surrounded by people from a distance, he didn't have time to think about it, he came to Zhou Qi's side in three steps and two steps, "Champion Lang, Champion Lang!" The little official clenched his fists, "Congratulations!" Zhu Qixiang, a member of the official rite department, congratulates Zhou Kaigongzi on the first place in the first place in the first high school! Early tomorrow morning, please go to the Ministry of Rites to learn the etiquette norms, and three days later - enter the palace to face the saint. After Zhu Qixiang finished speaking, he turned around and left, and the crowd boiled again. Zhou Kai took the good news and suddenly felt that this was like a hot potato, obviously the address was made up blindly, and he didn't think about going to face the saint at all, but now he had to leave the place of right and wrong first.

"What are you running?"

"I went on an impostor, and when the emperor saw me, his nose was still crooked! Hurry, hurry back to the palace and pretend that nothing happened! ”

The next day, the emperor's personal eunuch Liu Xi hurriedly came to invite the five princes, Zhou Qi and Li Bo looked at each other, "Five princes, hurry up, the emperor is waiting for you!" Changxi had already begun to walk towards the Qianqing Palace, and Zhou Qi knew that he must have been exposed.

It turned out that all the high school students arrived at the Ministry of Rites early to learn the rules, and only Zhuang Yuanlang did not show up for a long time. Zheng Li, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, called Zhu Qixiang to ask, this foreigner was also born in the same Jinshi, and he drew Zhou Kai's appearance in three strokes and two strokes, Zheng Li was taken aback, adjusted slightly, and took Zhu Qixiang into the palace to report to the emperor.

When the emperor saw it, he threw the portrait on the table with a bang, and after half a pillar of incense, Zhou Qi knelt in the Qianqing Palace in a regular manner, waiting to bear the wrath of thunder.

"Zheng Li, you step aside! Today, you haven't been here, and you haven't seen this portrait! That Zhu Qixiang told him what the champion looked like, he had forgotten! ”

"Yes."

After Zheng Li retreated, the emperor glared at Zhou Qi, "Champion Lang, get up!" ”

"Erchen doesn't dare."

"Why don't you dare? I reward you with a state capital for you to manage, do you dare? ”

Zhou Qi looked up at the emperor and felt that the emperor's expression did not look like he was angry, but what he said was really incoherent, and he wondered if the emperor was crazy? Quickly kowtowed and admitted his mistake, "Erchen is wrong, father, please take care of the dragon body." ”

"It's good to know that it's wrong, you go, go to Huizhou Mansion, I will forgive you if you manage it well, if you don't manage it well, see how I punish you!"

For the sake of fairness, the father and son agreed on three chapters, and the emperor covered him in the palace, and announced to the public that Zhou Qi went to the private microservice for a private visit in the name of letting the prince observe the people's feelings, and local officials forbade each other to report each other's whereabouts of the five princes. The fifth prince, Zhou Qi, promised that he would never reveal his identity as the prince in office, would not seek help from officials in Beijing, and would not even tell anyone where he was.

Six days later, the fifth prince left Beijing in the name of a private visit to Weifu, and although Li Bo was the prince's companion, he was left in the capital by the emperor.

Thousands of miles away in the gambling hall was smoky, the sieve cup was rattling, and on the mahjong table, Wu Yizheng and Li Laosi showed everyone the full tacit understanding between the two: out of the old thousand.

"Bump! Whiteboard. ”

"Huh! It's called a whiteboard! ”

"Aren't you stupid, what the are you going to do at this time!"

"But my whiteboard is useless! If I don't throw it away, I won't be able to get it! ”

This two hundred and five has already lost seven in a row, and the two of them have not yet reacted to each other's shots, Wu Yi is naturally pressed to pay for it, such a wronged boss is really hard to find.

The "wronged head" with a beard on his face finally stood up and wanted to leave, Li Laosi grabbed him in a hurry, "Hey, I'm going to leave just after losing!" You can't just think about winning and running away if you lose, so what are you playing! ”

"Go, go, go, Lao Tzu wants to go, what, can you still stop Lao Tzu?" The big man waved his arm, Li Laosi staggered back two steps and fell to the ground, Wu Yi saw it, raised his legs to the table, stepped on the big man's shoulders, and grabbed the two ears of the big man with both hands, "Dare to hit someone!" ”。

Wu Yi was dressed in men's clothes, and she still looked very weak in comparison with the big man's thick body, the big man grabbed Wu Yi's head with one hand, the hat on her head slipped off instantly, and her hair poured down like a waterfall.

"Damn, how can you be a woman! It's really unlucky, no wonder Lao Tzu keeps losing today! ”

This shouting is not good, the people in the casino stopped to look at this side, Li Laosi used his limbs together to stand firm, and quickly pulled Wu Yi down from the big man, "Stop fighting, go quickly!" ”

The father and daughter escaped all the way through the crowd, and within two steps of leaving the casino, the casino men chased them out. The casino has rules, in order to prevent collision with the God of Wealth, female guests are not allowed to enter. Besides, Li Laosi has long been on the blacklist of the casino, and today he dared to come while people were not paying attention, and the owner of the casino must give him some color to see.

The two of them ran through the streets and alleys all the way, running straight out of breath, how could the people in the casino easily bypass them, a group of people ran to the entrance of the vegetable market, Li Laosi and Wu Yi glanced at each other, and ran separately to their usual hiding place.

The two of them are used to walking the rivers and lakes, and every time they go to a place, they must first explore a hidden place, and they don't even know each other, it is precisely for this situation.

Wu Yi was in the ready-to-wear store, took off the men's clothes, put on a women's clothes that came with her, and walked leisurely on the road, the people in the casino were blind, and they couldn't recognize her when they walked to the opposite face.

In the evening, Wu Yi came to wait under the bridge agreed with Li Laosi, Bang Bangbang's beating sounded several times, the dog who watched the home gradually quieted down, the moonlight shone on the stone road that had just been washed by the rain, the chirping of the crickets became louder and louder, Wu Yi squatted under the bridge, and felt colder and colder.

At this time, Zhou Qi was in a happy mood, as the prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Qi grew up in the palace since he was a child, and the palace gate rarely went out, let alone the city gate. Today, Zhou Qi and his entourage left the capital on a high-headed horse, and the outside was so vast that even the old cows in the fields and the wild flowers on the roadside made Zhou Qi feel comfortable.

In the evening, Zhou Qi and his entourage were ready to stay in the hotel, but fortunately they wanted a first-class room, otherwise it would be really difficult for so many people to find a place to stay.

The eunuch chain commanded the man to unload things from the carriage, "Be careful, this is the master's utensils, put it lightly!" ”

The two people who carried the box were all internal guards, and they knew that something was wrong as soon as they put their hands together, the two glanced at each other, slowly put the box on the ground, and gave everyone a silent gesture, the leader of the guards, He Ping, used his body to block Zhou Qi and the box, one hand was already pressed on the saber, signaling to open the box, everyone gathered in a circle and waited, the box was opened, everyone looked inside, and looked at Zhou Qi together.