In March in Yangzhou, the catkins are fluttering, there are a few swallows chirping and flying into the Song Mansion, shuttling through the flowers and trees and the quiet corridor, the courtyard is deep, the winding path is secluded, the birds squeak and chirp, the whole mansion is suitable for movement and quiet, complement each other.

Song Ting was lying on the rocking chair at the moment, leisurely looking at the words at that time...... It was also difficult for him to get used to this ancient life without electricity and the Internet. There's really no entertainment here, and I usually read books when I have nothing to do, that is, some romance novels from the previous dynasty, or books that are told by the current people. When he was too idle and didn't want to read, he went to chat with Zhao Yuanzhen or Xiaoman, and occasionally went to listen to Qingzhu blow the flute, or watch the sword trick.

Martial arts, Song Ting is not very convinced, in his previous life, he also saw Wing Chun, Hejia boxing, Jeet Kune Do or something, but these are not as powerful as the martial arts in Jin Guliang's martial arts novels, he doesn't believe that there is any real meaning of martial arts in this world at all.

It wasn't until he saw the ghost sword practice once that he began to doubt the world.

That day, he stood far away, snorting melon seeds, and secretly watching the ghost sword practice.

I saw the ghost sword leaping up, and where the sword was pointing, the sword flowers were like silver bottles cracking, which made people dazzled.

The ghost sword holds a long sword, chopping, chopping, picking, stabbing, stabbing, and hooking...... The action is smooth and smooth, and the figure is even more frightening and graceful.

Just when Song Ting couldn't help but shout, the woman suddenly passed by, like a dragonfly dotting water, her feet wandered on the trunk of a banyan tree that was the thickness of two people hugging, and between the whiskers, she climbed more than two feet, and the most incredible thing was that her shoulders and hands always maintained balance.

Song Ting was taken aback and shouted hello, but in the blink of an eye, the ghost sword suddenly turned over and fell to the ground like a fairy.

…

Just as Song Ting was sleepy from reading and wanted to squint for a while, a series of heavy and thin footsteps woke him up.

The person came and said: "Second son, the little marquis sent someone to invite the second son over, and he has already urged him twice."

Song Ting was still lying on the rocking chair, slowly opened a trace of his eyes, and said lazily: "I almost forgot...... Anyway, the courtesy is still exchanged. Uncle Li, you can prepare a return gift for me and accompany me on a trip. ”

"Okay, Second Son. I'm going to call a carriage! ”

After saying this, Li Bo stepped back.

…

The carriage crossed the bustling street and stopped in front of a large mansion. There are two stone lions squatting in front of the gate of the mansion, lifelike and intimidating.

The lintel plaque on the vermilion lacquer gate is written in four large characters inlaid with gold - Jiangling Marquis Mansion.

According to Mu Yunchuan, his ancestor General Mu Yu once followed Emperor Taizu to conquer the country, and in the war of attacking the Northern Han Dynasty, destroying Wuyue and Pingnan Chu, he successively made great achievements, so he was named Hou and awarded the fiefdom.

The children of the Mu family have been blessed by the Son of Heaven, and they have been passed down from generation to generation, and they have been passed down to Mu Yunchuan's generation, which is already a single transmission. In other words, this Mu Yunchuan will be the only candidate for the hereditary "Marquis of Jiangling" in the future, and no one will compete with him for the throne.

As soon as Song Ting's carriage stopped, two young men in Tsing Yi came forward, and Li Bo paid the money to the coachman, and followed one of the small men to the guest room where the next person rested, and the other small man led Song Ting into the hall of the Hou Mansion.

As soon as he came in, Song Ting was a little embarrassed.

There were already several guests sitting on the left and right sides of the hall, and at this time, the silk and bamboo orchestras were staggered and very lively.

In the center of the hall, several dancers danced on the red carpet, dressed uniformly, roughly in size, and dressed in the same way. The uniform red bandeau is simply covered with a transparent tulle like cicada wings, the soft waist is gently twisted, a little cinnabar between the eyebrows, and the figure is light and charming...... Some of the guests sitting on both sides of the table were stunned and drooling.

There were two seats in the center of the hall, and Mu Yunchuan sat on the left seat, smiling and raising his glass to persuade wine. He suddenly saw Song Ting come in and walked over happily.

After Mu Yunchuan and Song Ting briefly exchanged pleasantries, they began to introduce the guests in the hall to Song Ting one by one. There were about eight or nine guests, and the Song court greeted them politely, but in fact, no one even remembered their surnames.

However, there was a man with a folding fan in his hand, richly dressed, and a little arrogant, which attracted his attention.

Mu Yunchuan pointed at the man and said, "Chaozhong, let me introduce you to this Lu Bonian...... Brother Lu. Brother Lu was originally from Yingzhou, Gyeonggi Road, and just won the seventeenth place in the second class of the gold list this year. This Brother Lu, but he is going to be an official immediately! ”

Mu Yunchuan pretended to salute, where did Lu Bonian dare to accept it, and hurriedly bowed first: "Where is it, the little marquis has praised it." What the little marquis just said, there is a detail, I don't know if I can talk about it in detail? ”

After listening to Lu Bonian's words, Mu Yunchuan smiled and said, "Brother Lu doesn't have to be polite, please have something to say." ”

Lu Bonian opened the folding fan in his hand and said with a smile: "Little Marquis, there is one thing I don't know if you know?" When this year's gold list was released, Chen Jinru, the seventh place in the second class, was stripped of his reputation and imprisoned because he was suspected of fraud. Therefore, from this seventh place onwards, all of them must be pushed forward by one place. And so on, it is not the seventeenth place in the second class, but the sixteenth place in the second class......"

didn't expect Lu Bonian to say this, Mu Yunchuan was also slightly stunned, but quickly regained his smile: "There is such a thing?" That's really congratulations to Brother Lu, he won the sixteenth place in the second class, which is really amazing! ”

Hearing the praise of the little marquis, Lu Bonian felt very useful, shaking the folding fan with a proud look.

"I don't know who this is?" Looking at Song Ting's dress in cloth, the look of disdain on Lu Bonian's face was very obvious.

"This is my friend for many years, his name is Song Ting, and he is a ...... Scholar. Mu Yunchuan introduced Song Ting to Lu Bonian.

"Oh? It turned out to be a showman! Hahaha, I'm still a farmer! Lu Bonian pointed to Song Ting's clothes and laughed.

"Brother Lu, don't mind, Chaozhong has been my friend for many years. He wasn't dressed like this before, but for some reason, since he went to Beijing last year, he has become like this......" Seeing that Lu Bonian obviously had the intention of humiliating the Song court, Mu Yunchuan intended to mediate.

Unexpectedly, Song Ting didn't seem to be angry at all, he didn't say a word to Lu Bonian, nor did he salute, he went straight to the nearest place and sat down, picked up the refined dim sum, and ate it by himself.

Seeing that Song Ting directly ignored him, Lu Bonian was angry, and wanted to scold Song Ting a few words, but when he thought that this was the Hou Ye's Mansion, he endured it, so he could only wave his sleeves and snort coldly: "This person is so rude!" ”

However, this unpleasant scene passed quickly, and under Mu Yunchuan's courtesy, Lu Bonian seemed to have forgotten about this stubble, and just enjoyed everyone's praise.

The imperial examination of Daliang is divided into three levels: state examination, provincial examination, and palace examination. The state examination should be called "Xiucai", the provincial examination should be called "lifting people", and the palace examination should be called "Jinshi".

If you pass the imperial examination, you can call yourself a "protégé of the Son of Heaven", which is a rule handed down by Taizu.

In the conversation, Lu Bonian always liked to put the phrase "protégé of the Son of Heaven" on his lips, and he was very proud. However, he does have proud capital, according to the Liang system, after the palace examination, those who are in the middle of the rank do not need to be assessed by the Ministry of Officials, and are directly awarded officials.

At the thought of becoming an official soon, Lu Bonian's heart blossomed with joy. The Liang is awarded according to the nine-grade system, even the most inconspicuous county master and lieutenant are also the nine grades, and the county order of a county is determined according to the division of the upper, middle and lower counties, which can be from eight to seven. Lu Bonian was ranked seventeenth in the second grade, which was a fairly high ranking, and he naturally would not be satisfied with a sesame petty official like the county chief bookkeeper and the county lieutenant.

The Great Liang Imperial Examination, the Jinshi of the palace examination, is divided into three classes: the first class is given to the Jinshi and the first, there are three places, the first is called the champion, the second is called Bangyan, and the third is called Tanhua, which is the first class; The second class is a number of scholars, which is the second class; The top three are given a number of Jinshi backgrounds, and this is the third class.

Lu Bonian is confident that he is from a second-class background, and he will be able to travel thousands of miles in the future, and his future is bright, so he is naturally reluctant to take a second look at a literati like Song Ting. This is probably a kind of "literati are light".

"Ahh The fragrance of the dancing girl in the hall was too strong, and when the colorful embroidery came, Song Ting couldn't help but sneeze, he glanced at Lu Bonian, who was becoming more and more proud, accepting everyone's toast, and couldn't help laughing in his heart, wanting to describe him in one sentence: The villain is rampant when he gets his will.

"Brother Lu, I have a proposal, it's rare to be so happy today, why don't we go to Yunxiang Courtyard together tonight to have a glass of flower wine?" The guests were drunk, and I don't know who proposed it.

"Okay! Drink flower wine tonight, and go to Yunxiangyuan! After Lu Bonian drank a cup of wine, he raised his fan and said proudly.

Regarding the proposal to drink flower wine, Song Ting naturally could also hear their meaning. As the saying goes, this group of so-called literati is nothing more than trying to go to prostitutes.

Song Ting didn't think there was any meaning in being a prostitute, and proposed to say goodbye and go home, Mu Yunchuan mentioned it intentionally or unintentionally, "Don't you want to go and see your Yingying?" Lu Bonian happened to hear it on the side, so he couldn't help but sneer: "Song Xiucai, Song Xiucai, just because a poor talent like you deserves to like Hua Yingying?" I see you, it's really a toad who wants to eat swan meat! No shame too! ”

Mu Yunchuan was about to say: "Brother Lu, you don't know, there is a wife in the Chaozhong family, which is comparable to ......."

Who knew that Lu Bonian, who was already impatient, didn't have the patience to listen to Mu Yunchuan finish speaking, but stood directly in front of Song Ting, blocking his way, and said in a loud voice: "Song Xiucai, it's not that I, Lu, look down on you, how about we make a bet?" ”

"There will be a small poetry meeting in Yunxiang Courtyard tonight, and whoever wins the appreciation of the top brand of Yunxiang Courtyard will win. If you lose, how about I write a word on your face? When Lu Bonian said this, he had already thought about writing a big "turtle" on Song Ting's face.

"Okay, just bet." Song Ting smiled, looking very relaxed. Heart, who loses and who wins, is not necessarily?