As soon as Li Yan's joke began, the atmosphere suddenly relaxed a lot.

Ji Qingwen scratched his scalp and said, "I heard that Ling Zun is the secretary of the military department, and Li Gongzi is a son of the family, how can he compare to you as the son of the next merchant?" He smiled as he spoke.

Li Yan heard Ji Qingwen mention his father, his face became serious, and he said: "I came to disturb Ji Gongzi so early, because my father heard that Gongzi was a son who entered Beijing to take the exam, so he wanted to meet Gongzi......

Ji Qingwen was stunned when he heard this, and quickly shook his head and refused: "After yesterday's turmoil, I was really embarrassed, and I was not prepared, so I have to go to see Lingzun Li, it seems a little inconvenient, right?" ”

Li Yan replied: "I know what Master Ji is thinking. However, my father was very stubborn and not very disobedient. Childe went to see him casually, and just said a few words casually. ”

Ji Qingwen is now under the fence, and it is difficult to refuse repeatedly, so he can only reluctantly agree, and follow Li Yan to see his father.

Li Yan's father, Li Jingbai, waited in the study, exchanged a few words with Ji Qingwen, and then instructed Li Yan to close the door and go straight in: "Ji Gongzi, you said that you were going to enter Beijing to take the exam, but now the emperor's decree to take the En Ke Shi has not yet been made clear to the world, where did you get this news?" ”

Ji Qingwen didn't know how much the retired Lord Shangshu knew about the inside of the imperial court, so he could only answer truthfully: "It was Lord Dai Liyin, the governor of Yansui, who told my father, and my father ordered me to go to Beijing again." ”

Li Jingbai showed a disdainful expression on his face and said: "This Dai Liyin, it took so many years to become the governor, pitiful, pitiful!" ”

Saying that, Li Jingbai took the test for Ji Qingwen's article knowledge.

Ji Qingwen didn't have any talent to learn, so he answered two questions, and he couldn't answer them.

The disdain on Li Jingbai's face became even more obvious, and he said: "Ji Gongzi has only studied people, and now he has taken the path of Lord Dai, presumably he will be able to enter high school in Beijing this time." ”

Ji Qingwen is not a stupid person, he immediately heard the ridicule and banter in Li Jingbai's words, but he didn't dare to contradict him, so he had to resign himself to saying "yes".

The two said a few more words, and Li Jingbai said: "Okay, the old man is not in good spirits and needs to rest, so Ji Gongzi will ask for a bow." "It's kind of an eviction order.

Ji Qingwen didn't want to talk to this mean old man at all, and when he heard him say this, he immediately arched his hand, turned around and walked out of the study.

Li Yan also followed, pulled Ji Qingwen away a little later, and then said: "Master Ji, please forgive me, my father is such a character, and he is more serious when he talks to me on weekdays." Don't take it personally. ”

Ji Qingwen smiled and said, "Ling Zun is actually very polite. Dissatisfied with Li Gongzi said, I was bought by my father for this famous name, and this time I went to Beijing to take the exam, and I still took the path of the nine-thousand-year-old Wei Zhongxian. Alas! Actually, I don't want to go, but my father's fate is hard to disobey! ”

Li Yan was stunned for a moment, was silent for a long time, and suddenly said: "I disturbed Gongzi Ji early in the morning, presumably Gongzi hasn't had breakfast yet, right?" In this way, I invited my son to eat on the street, so that he could taste the food in my town. ”

As he spoke, Li Yan stretched out his hand and made a "please" gesture, and led Ji Qingwen to a small path on the left.

The two of them walked through a small garden with winding paths, passed through the side gate of the Li Mansion, and arrived at the town of Mokou. Li Yan led Ji Qingwen, turned a few corners on the undulating path of the town, and entered a teahouse.

The little guy in the teahouse was obviously very familiar with Li Yan, and hurriedly came up to greet him: "Yo, the son is here early in the morning?" Is it according to the old rules, or a bowl of tea? ”

Li Yan smiled: "Didn't you see me leading the distinguished guests?" A bowl of tea remains the same, what good snacks do you have in the store, even if you make it and send it up, don't think about saving me money. ”

Ran Tang hurriedly responded with a "okay", and invited Li Yan and Ji Qingwen to go up to the second floor, picked a table facing the street and sat down, turned around and went downstairs, and soon brought a pot of tea and a few plates of snacks to the table.

Ji Qingwen was hungry, ate two pastries, drank two sips of tea, and then praised: "Mokou Town is really a good place, seeing the streets are so prosperous and there are such delicacies, no wonder the customs are so strict, so that I can't enter the city in the second half of the night, and I was almost killed by the 'Yellow Tiger' Zhang Xianzhong." ”

Li Yan took a sip of tea and said, "This is also helpless. For example, although it is still peaceful today, there is an undercurrent surging, and many small people are ready to move. This moraine town is quite prosperous with the benefit of water transportation at the Yellow River crossing, so it is easy for people to covet it. You see, the city wall built by the mountain outside the town has been built little by little by generations of people in the town; And the men who led last night were also the townsmen's brave group exercises. ”

Ji Qingwen nodded while listening, thinking that in less than a month, he had had a relationship with Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the two leaders of the uprising.

However, this kind of thing that can only be predicted from God's perspective, Ji Qingwen can't say it to Li Yan, so he has to point to a construction site in the distance and say: "What Li Gongzi said is true, the city walls of the moraine are still being renovated and reinforced, which shows the heart of the townspeople to protect their families and defend the country." ”

Li Yan felt curious, stood up, looked in the direction of Ji Qingwen's finger, suddenly sighed, and said, "Ji Gongzi misunderstood, it's not repairing the city wall over there, but ...... It's in ...... In the ancestral hall for the nine-thousand-year-old Wei Gonggong! ”

"What!" Ji Qingwen exclaimed, "Even if the ancestral hall for Wei Zhongxian is given in Xi'an City, why is it also being cultivated here?" ”

Li Yan hurriedly made a "silence" gesture and said in a low voice: "Master Ji, please speak quietly." As he spoke, he looked around nervously and saw that no one else was eavesdropping, so he continued, "In this whole world, everyone is currying favor with Wei Zhongxian, and the mouth of the moraine is a big town on the edge of the Yellow River, and there is nothing unusual ......about repairing it."

Ji Qingwen heard Li Yan's faint dissatisfaction, so he said: "Listening to what Li Gongzi said, it seems that he doesn't think much of the matter of the Xiusheng Temple. In this case, with the prestige and power of the Li family in Mokou Town, if you want to mess up this matter, I'm afraid it's not a difficult thing to do, right? ”

When Li Yan heard this, he sighed again: "Alas! Childe didn't know that the person who presided over the construction of the ancestral hall was not someone else, but the father of the family......"

"Huh?" Ji Qingwen almost collapsed when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "Didn't Ling Zun retire from the position of an important minister in the imperial court, why did he still give Wei Zhongxian a shrine?" ”

Li Yan looked lonely and helpless, and said: "That's all my father's love for his son!" Don't hide it from Ji Gongzi that this time Enke will take the exam, and he will also go to Beijing to take the exam. And when my father was an official in the imperial court, he was already a member of the eunuch party. In this scientific expedition, he built a shrine on the edge of the Yellow River, and personally wrote a letter to Wei Zhongxian, saying that it was to protect me from the top three in this imperial examination, alas! It's really helpless! ”

Ji Qingwen listened to Li Yan's sincere words, so he also said frankly: "It's not that I envy Li Gongzi's ranking, it's just that the eunuchs' troubled waters really can't be easily mixed up." Childe might as well think about it, this time the new emperor ascended to the pole, but there was a powerful eunuch party in front of him, the emperor wanted to sit firmly on the dragon chair, can he not get rid of the eunuch party? ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "This is still second." In the past few years, the eunuch party has been in power, slaughtering the loyal and good at home, losing the battlefield externally, deceiving the saints from above, and exploiting the people from below. It seems that such a traitor and evil party, no matter how ambitious he is, he will never be with him! ”

Ji Qingwen nodded and said: "There is no such elegance and ambition as Li Gongzi, I just feel that there is no way out for following Wei Zhongxian." The ancestral hall in Xi'an City is now being delayed by the tricks of hiding from the world...... As for this Enke exam...... Whether I go or not is a matter of attitude, whether I can win or not, that is the question of whether I can get home or not......"

"Haha!" Li Yan stroked his palms and smiled, "I was in my father's study, and I listened to Brother Ji's answers upside down and out of order, it turned out that he was deliberately hiding his clumsiness. ”

As he spoke, Li Yan's title for Ji Qingwen had been changed from "Ji Gongzi" to "Brother Ji", as if he was calling him a brother.