The middle-aged man was about to speak, but unexpectedly, the bearded old man said, "This official wants to ask us how we know the inside story of the imperial court?" Okay, go to the side, the old man will tell you in detail. ”

As he spoke, the old man stood up from his seat and grabbed the brocade guard's arm and said, "Let's go, the old man will talk to you." ”

Of course, the brocade guard refused to go over, shook his arm vigorously, and said, "What are you doing?" If there is something to say here, I don't want to go over, you just say it here. ”

Unexpectedly, the old man's face suddenly changed, and he scolded in a low voice: "Don't move, tell you to go, and you will go." The voice was inexplicably filled with a sense of majesty.

The brocade guard was taken aback when he heard this, and hurriedly turned his head to look, but saw that the old man's face was covered with an elusive look at some point, which made people unable to refuse or resist, so he could only follow the old man step by step to the corner of the lobby of the Liansheng Inn.

After a while, the old man slowly walked back, but the brocade guard did not follow, but beckoned the other companions to withdraw from the inn in a hurry, without even leaving half a word.

At this time, even Ji Qingwen, who had seen Wei Zongxian, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Xu Hongru and others in the past six months, felt a little weird, so he said: "Old man, you are so capable. This brocade guard is so domineering, you say a few words to him, and he slips away obediently as if his son listened to Lao Tzu's words. ”

The old man smiled slightly: "Maybe that person is my son." As he spoke, he returned the silver ticket that Fang Cai Ji Qingwen handed to the brocade guard.

Ji Qingwen was even more confused when he saw it, but he listened to the young man at the same table, and laughed "haha": "Be your son, then this brocade guard doesn't know whether it's a blessing or a curse." ”

The old man didn't answer, but said loudly to the frightened people: "Okay, the Jinyi guards are gone, everyone is fine, please go back and rest." ”

These people who participated in the examination were not stupid people, and they knew that there was a bit of weirdness in today's incident, so no one dared to ask more questions or take a look, so they walked quickly upstairs to their own room.

When the people in the lobby were gone, Ji Qingwen also bowed his hand to the three of them and said, "The three of you have just arrived in the next year, and you don't know the rules of the Jingshi. Thanks to the help of this old man today, even a hundred taels of silver have been saved, and I thank you here in advance. ”

As he spoke, Ji Qingwen waved to the old man and the three, and said, "Okay, it's late now, let's all go back to rest." If you have the fate to see you again today, you should thank you in the next decision. ”

Ji Qingwen wanted to leave quickly, but Li Yan sat still and said, "Brother Ji, slow down, I still have a few words to ask the three of you." ”

"Oh? Is it? I also have a few questions that I'd like to discuss with you. The young man said, "If this gentleman has anything to say, please ask." ”

Li Yan said: "In the next sour and rotten literati, it is useless, but there are many problems. One of them is that if you have psychological doubts, you have to break the casserole and ask to the end, otherwise you will be tossing and turning. The following questions are not difficult, I just want to ask a few of you who are identities? ”

When the young man heard this, he seemed a little surprised, and his body flickered, but he asked, "Guess?" ”

"This boy told me to guess, then I will guess. If you don't guess, don't be surprised. Li Yan said, "Looking at the clothes and manners of a few people, and then looking at the old gentleman's ability to send Jinyiwei away in just a few words, he must be a well-known figure in the capital." I dare to guess - this young master is the son of one of the princes and princes of the capital, or simply the prince himself. As for these two, one is the gentleman of the prince, and the other is the long history of the palace. I don't know if I guessed wrong? ”

The three of them looked at each other when they heard this, and they all smiled on their faces.

The young man said: "This gentleman is really intelligent, although you guessed not entirely correctly, but you also guessed eight or nine and ten." ”

The old man introduced: "Our master is indeed a disciple of the clan, just because he ranks fifth on the jade, so everyone calls him 'Fifth Master'." ”

The "Fifth Master" nodded, and said, "I have answered Sir's question. I also have a question, and I hope that Mr. will give me advice. ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "Fifth Master, please ask." ”

The fifth master said with a smile: "Where did you get the note from Wei Zhongxian in the child's hand?" ”

The origin of this note involves Wei Zhongxian, Li Jingbai, Xu Hongru, Zhou Xiuying, Xu Chunchao and other figures, as well as the interests of the eunuchs, the White Lotus Sect, Jinyiwei and other forces.

Therefore, Ji Qingwen was afraid that Li Yan would tell the matter, so he hurriedly took over the conversation and said: "Actually, that day, we stayed at the post station in Fucheng County and met Wei Zhongxian. I don't know what madness he has, but he gave us these two notes, saying that he was going to do a good deed before he died. Alas! We have a serious exam, relying on our own ability, and it is his turn to do good things? But he begged for a fortress for us, and we were afraid that he would be entangled, so we had to accept it. ”

Having said this, Li Yan had also heard Ji Qingwen's intention to avoid the important and trivial, so he echoed: "Brother Ji is right. Our brother didn't want to touch the light of this dead eunuch, and we were afraid that the events of that day would be seen by that person with ulterior motives, so we simply said it in front of the public today, which can be regarded as a stone in our hearts. ”

When the fifth master heard this, he nodded and praised: "If you are willing to do this, it can be regarded as open-minded." But what kind of words Wei Zhongxian writes, I'm interested in seeing. ”

Li Yan said with a serious face: "The fifth master is too famous. Since Wei Zhongxian has committed suicide, this note is equivalent to a piece of waste paper, and you don't need it anymore, and you don't have to use it. In this way, I simply tore it apart, lest someone be consumed by the desire for profit and pin the hope of the title of the gold list on this rotten paper. ”

As he spoke, Li Yan tore the note and smashed it in front of everyone, and then dipped it in the tea bowl in front of him.

In this way, this note, which was regarded as a treasure in the eyes of many people and a disaster in the eyes of many people, was slowly diluted and turned into a lump of mud under the soak of such a pool of tea worth less than five taels of silver.

Ji Qingwen watched this process quietly, and suddenly remembered that he also had an identical note with the signature of "Wei Zhongxian" - it was better to take this opportunity to take it out and destroy it together.

But he thought about it: since Li Yan had destroyed the note in public, he had also cleared up his relationship with the eunuch party, and no one would investigate it further. And now the eunuch party is particularly powerful, and he has such a killer weapon in his hands, maybe when he takes it out, he will have the power to turn things around.

So Ji Qingwen stabilized his mind and remained silent, and the three people present naturally couldn't guess that there would be another note in this world.

And Li Yan, the only one who knew the inside story, didn't know whether he deliberately pretended to be deaf and dumb, or forgot about it in his excitement, just stared at the sparse paper ball in front of him, and his eyes emitted a blurry and deep light.

After a long time, I heard the young man exclaim: "This gentleman can still be self-respecting and self-reliant in the face of fame and fortune, and there are not many people with such noble conduct in the officialdom now." ”

Li Yan breathed a long sigh of relief as if relieved, arched his hand to the man, and said, "The fifth master has won the award." It's just a rotten Confucian, and some books are angry. ”

"No, no." The young man said, "What I heard from the two gentlemen just now is by no means the kind of sour scholar who can only speak with courage and the ability of pen and ink. The two gentlemen, as well as the martial artist opposite, I think they are all rare talents who have been used in the world. This gentleman has already guessed just now, I am also a member of the imperial court, and I still have a few questions that I would like to discuss with you. ”

As he spoke, the young man stood up, stretched out his hand and beckoned to the young martial artist, saying, "Please come and sit here." ”

The Wuju people didn't appreciate it, and arched his hand and said: "I don't know you, there's nothing to talk about, don't go over." ”

But I heard the middle-aged man who hadn't spoken for a long time say aloud: "You don't know me, but I know you." Your father is Wu Xiang, the chief soldier of the Liaodong regiment, and your uncle is Zu Dashou, the deputy chief soldier of Ningyuan, and your name is Wu Sangui, am I not wrong? ”

When the Wuju man heard this, he was so surprised that his eyes widened and he asked, "How do you know where I come from?" ”