Rongguo Mansion, Rongqing Hall.

Inside the West Warm Pavilion.

At night, the sky is not yet bright.

I don't know how long it was, Xiangyun heard someone next to him sobbing and woke up from his dream.

Turning his head to look at the fire candle outside Bisha, he saw Daiyu tightly wrapped in a set of apricot red silk quilts, and a handful of green silk dragged on the pillow, but he did not sleep, but was carrying her on his back and crying softly.

Xiangyun hurriedly got up and looked, and saw that Daiyu was even crying wet with half of the pillow.

She wondered, "Sister Lin, why are you crying again?" Yesterday, it was clear that I was coldly eyed, although the old lady and Mrs. didn't scold me, but I heard that I made Baoyu angry like that, and finally took a good look at me. I guess if someone came to pick me up at my house last night, it would be time for me to leave...... Good sister, are you crying for me? ”

Daiyu Xing's eyes were red and swollen, she turned her head to look at Xiangyun who was "laughing" at her, spitted, her voice was slightly hoarse, and she complained: "People just feel sorry for you, can't it?" ”

Xiangyun rubbed his bright eyes, smiled, and slowly lay down again, pulled over the brocade, half leaned on the bed, and said softly: "It's natural, but you don't have to." Sister Lin, our lives are similar, but I'm not as narrow-minded as you. If you really want to be more honest everywhere, then can you still live? You are a person who understands, why do you have to do everything like this?

Besides, you are not in good health, you have always been sick, you don't take care of it, you just don't sleep well, what should you do if your body is ruined in the future? ”

When Daiyu heard this, she burst into tears again and said sadly: "What else can I do? People like us, who deserve such a life, only die left and right, sooner or later, what does it matter? ”

Xiangyun snorted when he heard this, and said, "Like you, most of the people in the world have to die!" I won't say anything else, you think that your life is hard, no matter how hard you are, can you suffer more than the third brother? I'm telling you, if I had done before, I would have packed my things last night and would have gone home this morning. But now, huh! No matter what, you have to wait until August 15th! ”

Hearing this, Daiyu couldn't help but burst into tears and laughed: "What is the truth of this? Is the fifteenth moon in your house not as round as here? ”

Xiangyun rolled his eyes angrily and said, "You will laugh at people...... I'm waiting for the third brother Qiu Yu to release the list before leaving, I just want to see if people with a hard life really have a hard life all their lives! "The little one is a little proud and unconvinced.

Daiyu said angrily: "Are you comparing with him?" ”

Xiangyun raised his eyebrows and said in surprise: "How can it not be compared?" Could it be that you are also like those bad women who chew the root of your tongue, looking down on the third brother? Sister Lin, on appearance, talent, ......"

Before he finished speaking, he heard Daiyu's annoyed voice: "Bah, bah, bah!" You are just like those bad women who chew the root of the tongue, how much do I look down on the third brother?

I mean, we can't compare to him, and you can't pick one out of 10,000 people like him.

Let's all know a little bit of writing and ink, and the poems we make are good to look at.

But do you dare to compare with what the third brother wrote? If Zijuan hadn't stopped me last time, I would have burned everything I had written before.

That's why I said, how can we compare with him, where do you want to go......

Besides, didn't you notice? ”

"What?"

Xiangyun listened to Daiyu's explanation, but listened to it.

It's just that the ending words make her scratch her head.

Daiyu sighed lightly and said, "I'm no better than you and the third girl, and I'm no different from the treasure girl who has always been shrewd, but now she is about to lose her heart......

For a long time, I watched coldly, and I found that although the third brother's face was warm and there was no rudeness, there was nothing in his heart that was not cold.

The people he cared about, whether they were high or low, were the people who helped him when he was in trouble before.

For example, Brother Huan'er, such as Ping'er girl.

As for the others......"

Xiangyun paused when he heard this, and said, "Can you blame him?" Don't you know what kind of suffering the third brother suffered before? ”

Daiyu shook her head and said, "How can you not know? I can't forget the scene I saw behind the rockery when the old man was born that year, and invited the family to be a guest. You weren't there at the time, so just listen to us. There is really no good place in the whole body, and the blood edges that have been beaten all over the body, just looking at it are chilling. But he still wants to be alone, silently hiding in the corner and mending clothes. ”

Speaking of it so far, Daiyu can't help but sigh.

"No wonder he can't get close to us people in his heart......"

Xiangyun heard the words but was uneven, and said in a suppressed voice: "You really don't understand? ”

"What?"

Dai Yuqi asked.

Xiangyun rarely sneered, and snorted: "In the past, we were all looking for portraits of the third brother, but you and Brother Bao didn't paint them, why?" Aren't you afraid that Brother Bao will be jealous and angry?

Last night, why was Baoyu annoyed like that? Usually I also talk about him, but he is not angry like that, and his face is sallow.

Now it's not because there is a better comparison than him!

It's not that he is annoyed that the third brother is better than him, but he is afraid that our sisters will be stubborn with the third brother, and no one will be stubborn with him.

The third brother is also a very clear person, how can he not see this?

That's why I deliberately kept a distance from us and didn't get close.

He may not be afraid that the old lady and his wife will be annoyed with him, I see that the old lady and the wife can't do anything to the third brother now.

He just thought that he had received the great favor of the lord and wife, so he let Baoyu everywhere.

But Annoyed Baoyu is a person who doesn't know anything, and yesterday there was another trouble, and I watched the old lady and his wife annoy the third brother again.

When the third brother comes back, maybe he will make trouble again. ”

When Daiyu heard this, she was silent for a while, and sighed: "What can we do?" After all, we have been good with Baoyu for so many years, and he treats us well, but now that we have a third brother, we are alienated from him......"

Xiang Yunqi said: "How much did I say I wanted to alienate him?" Brother Bao and the third brother are the same brothers, do they have to be close and distant? Let's just treat it as normal.

And the third brother is indeed better than Baoyu, so we don't have to be ignorant.

It's like you, but you have wronged yourself, and others may not be able to see it.

As long as you don't do that with Sister Bao, others won't say anything. ”

Daiyu sneered when she heard this, and said freshly: "It's really rare, you also said that Bao Ya is not good?" ”

Xiangyun didn't have the heart to laugh, she had never been so worried about herself, scratched her hair, and whispered in distress: "Sister Bao doesn't know what's wrong, it's not like her sex in the past." The third girl and the third brother are serious cousins, and it is not in the way to get closer. But she ......"

Daiyu looked at her and said, "Haven't you heard that drama?" ”

Xiangyun was stunned and asked, "What?" ”

Daiyu pursed her lips and said softly: "I don't know what to do, go deep." The living can die, and the dead can live. In this way, I have some admiration for Bao Ya, she has such courage, I really can't see it. It's just that I'm afraid I'm going to suffer in the future......"

……

In the twelfth year of Chongkang, August 9.

Just after Mao, the sky is not yet bright, and there are already people on the Mingyuan Tower of the Gongyuan.

Zhao Minzheng, the chief of the Shuntianfu Township Test, stood upstairs, looking at the 10,000 rooms below lighting candles, reflecting the stars in the sky, although he didn't sleep all night, but his heart was indescribably self-satisfied.

Because from this day on, these students will officially become his protégés.

Once the mentorship is decided, students will have to listen to their teachers in the future.

Heaven and earth are pro-teachers, and teachers are often righteous.

Among the high-ranking and powerful cabinet elders in the cabinet, which one has not been a seat teacher and a house master for many terms, and Fang Men is full of students?

This is also the foundation of their rule.

Originally, with Zhao Minzheng's qualifications, he would not dare to have such a delusion no matter what.

There are many veterans of the two dynasties in the court, and he can only be pressed below in terms of seniority.

But he didn't want to change in one day, and many old party bigwigs who were entrenched in the court were demoted out of Beijing one after another.

In the imperial court, it became the dominant power of the new party, especially in the cabinet.

However, even if the emperor wanted to change the law, he would never tolerate such a situation.

Otherwise, in the long run, who will be the big cadre?

Therefore, the ministers who had tried to get out of sight and could not attach themselves to the New Party now have another path to follow.

He, Zhao Minzheng, is the banner of this path!

Because of his cousin, the chief eunuch of Daming Palace, Dai Quan.

Zhao Minzheng knew some insiders, after the decline of the old party, Emperor Chongkang hesitated for a while between the noble forces and the eunuchs, and in the end, he chose the eunuchs.

Because although the noble power is easy to use and easy to support, it is also easy to sit big and not listen to the call.

Eunuchs are different, life and death, honor and disgrace are all hands-on, easy to control.

And because the eunuchs were not allowed to directly interfere in politics, in this way, Zhao Minzheng had a career.

Eunuchs can't interfere in politics, but eunuchs can.

Zhao Minzheng knew that not only the township examination of Keshun Tianfu today, but also the examination in the spring of next year will be presided over by him.

This kind of vigorous support can also be regarded as a banner for the new party, and it is a point of restraint......

Thinking of the recent blows and ridicule, abuse and humiliation by many members of the New Party, Zhao Minzheng sneered.

Even if those people keep impeaching him, so what?

Now that he is in the emperor's heart, who can touch him?

The more the mad dogs of the New Party try to destroy him, the more they can't destroy him!

When these groups of scholars grow up, there will be people in his entrainment, who will be afraid of whom at that time?

Thinking of this, Zhao Minzheng seemed to have seen the scene when he entered the cabinet in the future and fought against Ning Zechen, and his heart was full of ambition.

"President, it's ...... time"

The same examiner on the side, accompanied him to blow a cool breeze on the Mingyuan Tower, seeing that the time had come, Zhao Minzheng was still in a trance, and couldn't help but remind, just looking flattering.

The examiners of this subject are all under the eunuch party......

This is an obvious practice, which is not in accordance with the rules in the first place.

However, in order to avoid suspicion, Ning Zechen pressed the people below not to raise objections.

With his mind and spirit, he now feels more and more cold from the heights......

This also caused Zhao Minzheng's position in this autumn to cover the sky with one hand.

After coming back to his senses, he looked at the fellow examiner with some displeasure, snorted, and saw that the fellow examiner was sincerely afraid, and felt a little proud in his heart, and said in a nasal voice: "Then let's start." ”

The fellow examiners were immediately relieved, although they felt that Zhao Minzheng's style was more and more like his cousin, but no one dared to say anything, and they didn't even dare to show their expressions, so they hurriedly asked the soldiers to beat the drum to announce the start of the exam.

After the drums were beaten, the examiners performed their duties, and the officials handed out the main rolls and scratch papers one after another.

Then, it's time to publish the exam questions.

Today is the first session of the township test, according to the convention, the amount of questions in this field is: three questions of the meaning of the "Four Books", and four questions of the scriptures.

Jingyi is a subject of the imperial examination, which is based on scriptures and sentences, and the examinee's composition clarifies the meaning of it.

After three more golden gongs, I saw that there were soldiers of the government, holding up wooden signs of equal height, pasted with the questions of the first session of the Jinke Township Examination, and walking between the lanes of each room.

At this point, Jia Cong exhaled softly, prepared pen and ink, spread out the scratch paper, and waited to record the exam questions.

The position of a noble is noble, but there are too many restrictions.

Whether or not there is another foundation for life in the present world depends on the present dynasty.

There was a sound of footsteps, and he stopped in front of the room where he was advancing.

After a full cup of tea, the footsteps started again, and Jia Cong hurriedly dipped his pen in ink, ready to record.

When a servant stood in front of the door of his room with a wooden card and an expressionless face, Jia Cong quickly browsed the exam questions on the wooden card, and after writing them down, he was about to write them down on scratch paper.

It's just that the brushstrokes haven't fallen on the manuscript paper yet, but the look on Jia Cong's face suddenly froze, and the pupils in his eyes suddenly contracted like needles, and his complexion changed drastically.

With a shake of his hand, a cloud of thick ink rendered the manuscript paper......

……