After the first month, the weather has warmed up, and there is no trace of the little snow that fell a few years ago, and the water of the Qinhuai River seems to have become warm overnight, and a few ducks on the river quack.

The scene was not as lively as it had been at the same time in previous years. Admittedly, there have been too many changes in the last year, and it will take some time to buffer.

In previous years, at the moment of green willow budding and spring river plumbing, both sides of the Qinhuai River have already been busy, especially on the bank of Bailuzhou, as the most prosperous place in the city. At that time, this section of the river was temporarily closed, and the government would also send scribes over, probably playing the role of overseer.

In fact, every year's competition is presented by the government, the scale is naturally very huge, Jiangning is to some extent equivalent to the cultural and educational level of the entire south, most of the literati gathered here are really talented and learned, and the stories of talented and beautiful women have promoted the entertainment here to a certain extent. Although there are some differences with Jingshi, this difference is generally only due to the region. Most of the people gathered in Beijing are people who want to go out of the way, so their dealings with those Qinglou women are not so simple.

As for places like Jiangning, a group of old people in officialdom are gathered at the same time, and most of the exchanges on weekdays are not too complicated, probably maintaining a simple relationship between teachers and students. The old man who is not in the officialdom will also sincerely dial it when he meets his favorite, and the process of going back and forth is still relatively harmonious.

On the other hand, the scholars here are probably fighting for the reputation in the Shilin. Although in the end, it is inevitable that it is still for the sake of seeking officials, but in the end there is a little less fireworks.

It is now the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, and there is only half a day before the Shangyuan Festival, but the government has not moved, and the prefect who is meditating in the government has been busy writing official documents in recent months, and he has no time to take care of these things. For ordinary people, although they have guessed this result in advance, they are a little disappointed, of course, such a grand festival, it is still necessary to celebrate when the door is closed, after all, the days after Shangyuan will be busy again, and it will last until the end of the year.

On the other hand, for Qinglou such as Chunyuan Building, which has been preparing for a year, it is inevitable that they will feel more lost, and there may be a few complaints in private, and everyone can also distinguish the priorities, so there will be no real trouble.

The new dynasty is not limited to public opinion, and a few complaints are not insignificant.

The chess stall under the big willow tree near the river has been set up, and the three or five old men often play games here. The old man in the seat by the river was very good at chess, so the other old men took turns. The conversation on the chess stand is casual, but the game on the chessboard is extreme, between winning and losing, there are occasionally disrespectful beard blowers and glaring, and the losing side occasionally calls a few people watching the chess next to them to count down the other party to play conspiracy. After a review, there was some discussion, and at the beginning of the new game, the other party's conspiracy was absorbed, and it was used with a slight change. Of course, Qin Lao's chess skills are one point higher, and he often absorbs the moves of several old men who play against him and then completely changes his appearance to deal with the opponent without being noticed.

Among the several old men who often come over, the old man named Du Xian should be very wealthy, every time he comes over, he brings a man and a woman to call people, and often brings good tea, and when he plays chess, he asks the maid to make it at the tea stall next to him. The old man was worth a lot of money, and a lot of tea was even better than the tribute to the palace, so several other old men often came to drink tea. Of course, now that Du Xian has entered Beijing, this benefit will no longer be available.

"I really miss the days when Ming Gong was here." The old man who played the game threw himself in defeat, and his face was miserable, "I can usually get a good cup of tea to eat if I lose." ”

Qin Lao raised his hand to pick up the chess, smiled and said, "If Heweng really cares about those cups of tea, it is better to enter Beijing together." ”

The old man on the opposite side, who was called Heweng, shook his head, and said, "Ming Gong was looking for me before leaving, but he looked for my ......" He raised his eyes slightly as he said this, and glanced at Qin Lao on the other side, "At this time, if we all go out of the mountain, it will only be bad for Ming Gong." ”

Qin Lao paused, and said with his chin bowed: "But this is also the reason." ”

A few old men standing with their hands in their hands or watching with twisted beards also came over, but they didn't seem to be indifferent to what the two of them had just said. One of them spoke up: "The current situation seems that Duke Qin will also set off for Beijing in the near future." ”

Qin Lao smiled noncommittally, not caring too much: "It's just a matter of being a country old man for the past two years." ”

After talking for a while, the topic did not turn to the half-rejuvenated chessboard in front of him, and a few words were mentioned sporadically, but I don't know if it was because Fang Cai's game was not very exciting, so it didn't matter.

After a few old men gradually said goodbye, Heweng's face was slightly solemn, and he said abruptly: "Qin Lao is really disappointed in the court situation? ”

Qin Lao was slightly stunned, and then became serious: "I can't say it's disappointed." After a pause, the old man's gaze moved away from the chessboard and landed in the Qinhuai River that was slowly passing, "In the past, looking at the fragmented family and country, rivers and mountains, you and I both hoped to make a difference, but now that I think about it, was it really worth the effort at that time?" The old man's eyes fell on the old man opposite, his eyes facing each other, full of worry, "Everyone in the world says that there are thousands of miles of splendid rivers and mountains." You and I are in the game, and we have a deeper understanding of this river and mountain, and we also understand what it is really like behind this splendid ......"

"Since Fan Gong's change of law in Xining five years, you and I have always believed that those things can be changed if we do them, and even do not hesitate to shed blood for this, thinking that everything I do is in line with the right path, but after the failure of the change, Fan Gong died of illness and exile, Ouyang Gong was disheartened and retired, and you and I were just happy in the end!"

When the old man said this, he probably remembered the blood of the year, and he was still a little sad compared to the current appearance.

Of course, this kind of sadness is more sad because of the difficulty of rewarding one's ambitions.

In just 30 years, like-minded friends are now unrecognizable, either standing on the opposite side or sacrificing themselves.

"In the end, you and I have been fighting for most of our lives, what has changed about this situation?"

"Alas......" Crane Weng sighed softly, "things are people, and it is really sad." But you and I have been studying for more than ten years, aren't they just to serve the court and make contributions? ”

"The vicissitudes of life over the years, but I also felt a little ridiculous at the beginning of the year."

Crane Weng nodded: "It's just that someone has to do those things after all." ”

Qin Lao stood up and breathed a sigh of relief: "You and I are hypocritical here, if you let others see it, you and I will inevitably laugh at you." ”

As he said, he naturally didn't want to talk about this anymore, so he sighed, looked at the sky, and said, "It's not early, and I'll leave first." ”

"Let's go."

After saying hello, Crane Weng left first, Qin Lao looked at his back, his brows furrowed, and he didn't know what he was worried about.

After a while, the wind blew and woke him up. At some point, a woman of about thirty appeared next to him, saw him come back to her senses, and hurriedly asked, "Is there anything uncomfortable about the master?" ”

Qin Lao pursed his lips, shook his head and said, "It's okay, let's go back." ”

The two took the chess stall and went home together. The afterglow of the setting sun pulls out a warm silhouette on the long street.

Push the time forward, about shortly after noon, it can be said that the sun is the hottest time of the day, Wang Ning, who came out of Su Mansion, arrived in Dongshi inexplicably.

This is a market for selling goods in the city, a long street, on both sides of which are all kinds of shops, quite noisy, Wang Ning had no intention of breaking in, but saw an interesting scene on the street from a distance, so he did not leave immediately, but stood in the distance, quietly watching everything that happened over there.

It wasn't until a rough voice came from beside him that he withdrew his gaze and chatted with the bare-chested man selling chickens next to him.

The man originally thought that he was buying chickens, but when he saw that he had not moved for a long time, and because he was standing next to him to stop his business, he cautiously called out.

The two didn't know what to say, in short, they chatted happily, while the man was talking, he was busy greeting business, killing chickens, plucking feathers, dealing with internal organs, a set of actions went smoothly, Wang Ning even saw a little interest.

Although he is better at killing people than killing chickens, but killing people is not an interesting thing after all, and only those demons-like existences on the road will take pleasure in killing people, and he didn't understand how those people had that kind of perverted interest in corpses, but now that he sees the man cleaning up the chickens, he understands.

"Thirty Wen, you take it, you go slowly......" the boss said, after the customers on the stall left, he turned around, tore off the sweat towel around his neck and wiped his hands, and said with a smile: "Hey, the little lady of the Ye family you said...... He's a miserable man. ”

"Can you tell me about it?"

The boss looked different and thought for a while: "The guest must be a big person, I really told you, you won't do anything to her, right?" ”

Wang Ningle was happy and replied: "Do I look like a bad guy?" ”

The boss shook his head, leaned in some, and said in a low voice: "I have killed chickens on this street for so many years, and I recognize the smell of blood!" ”

Wang Ning was stunned for a moment: "The boss is really capable." ”

The boss sat down next to him, brewed his emotions, and said: "The Ye family sells tofu over there, and I often go over to buy a piece of tofu after the stall is closed here......"

Wang Ning interjected: "Buying tofu is fake, I'm afraid it's to see people." ”

The boss blushed, but he didn't hide it: "Before Little Lady Ye married into the Sun family, her husband's family died, leaving only a bedridden mother, who is also a hard-working person!" ”

"Why do you want to marry when they're all dead?"

"I heard that a big man forcibly went to the Ye family to say goodbye, and the Ye family had no choice but to let her marry a dead man!"

"Oh......"

"Although this saved my life, it did not end well...... Especially a few days ago, there was another accident in her family and she spent a lot of money, which really hurt her. ”

"Really...... Hey, it's coming! There was someone at the stall, and the boss didn't finish his words, and got up again to get busy.

Wang Ning looked at the closed tofu stall and got up and walked into the crowd.