In terms of area and population, the Daocheng of Shannan Dongdao is larger than the three Golden Prefectures, and in the late spring and early summer, the main street of the Daocheng is full of locust trees on both sides, and the flow of people flowing in the mottled shadows of the trees is endless. Here you can see not only the strange Northeast Wubu Hu people and the Western Regions people, but even the brown and black lion people and the big cannibals.

In the liquor shops on both sides of the street, the thinly dressed and plump orchid is twisting her waist like a water snake to greet customers.

"The wind blows the acacia flowers all over the store, and the orchid presses the wine to persuade the guests to taste", muttering these two lines of poetry in their mouths, Tang Cheng and Meng Haoran walked leisurely through this long street full of people. As soon as his eyes turned from the graceful orchid, he was attracted by the woman beside him who was blowing a fragrant breeze.

There are four or five women in this group of women, all riding high-headed horses, the mane and tail of the horses have been combed into a peculiar style bun, in the Tang Dynasty, people are good peonies, good incense, good all strong and unrestrained colors full of vitality and vitality, this specific atmosphere of the times is manifested in this group of young rich girls, which makes them beautifully dressed and fragrant.

But this is not the reason why Tang Cheng's gaze is tightly grasped, the reason is that they are dressed, and their clothes are really ...... Too...... It's cool!

Needless to say, the color of the clothes is very bright, the problem is that the materials used in these clothes are obediently winter! The clothes worn by these boudoir women in the downtown area turned out to be made of Bozhou light appearance.

Bozhou light appearance is known for being as light as clouds, thin as wind and sand, and the effect of wearing it on the body is no different from the stockings of later generations, Tang Chengyou still remembers that when he studied history in later generations, it was recorded in the history books that there was a eunuch who wore a five-layer Bozhou light clothes, and the cinnabar red mole on the chest was still clearly visible, and such a fabric was worn on a group of young women, and the effect was ......

The dappled light and shadow under the shade of the locust tree were cast on the group of smiling women, and the tiny spots of light shone through. The women didn't seem to have any wisps on their bodies, and the delicate skin like tallow under the light coat was white and pink against the pink and light yellow bandeau ground.

Compared with the light shirts that these women cut into low-cut palace clothes at this time, even the vacuum clothes in the summer of later generations seem to be somewhat dwarfed.

Although I had already heard from my teacher in the university class in later generations, the Tang people were open-minded, dared to accept and try all foreign customs and fashions, which was especially unrestrained and enthusiastic in clothing, such as low-cut palace costumes were the royal paradigm of this period. But until today, until now, I have seen these in light vacuum shirts. After stepping on the woman with the sharp feet and eating shoes, Tang Cheng really intuitively understood how open the Tang people's mentality was.

Dao City is Dao City after all, compared to this city. Submerged in the mountains, the Golden State is too calm and conservative, especially in terms of social customs. It's as if one city has entered the glory of the Tang Dynasty, while the other city is still in the simplicity and calm of the early Tang Dynasty.

Although Tang Cheng has been in the past for two years, and he has also been to a wealthy city like Yangzhou during this time, because the time he went was mid-autumn and early winter, he did not have such a direct visual stimulation in front of him.

Stroll through the streets of Daocheng. Tang Cheng, who was temporarily away from his hometown and relatives, did not feel uncomfortable, but enjoyed everything in front of him a little comfortably. As a traverser. Even if I don't want to admit it, I am still more familiar with it in my heart, and I am more accustomed to this bustling and lively city life.

The pedestrians on the main street of Daocheng were not surprised by the decoration of this group of women, so Tang Cheng's gaze in the crowd was special.

Some of the few girls from the wealthy family who were giggling and laughing noticed Tang Cheng, and while Gao Zai immediately turned his head and raised his eyebrows, he also deliberately straightened his chest, which was not too plump, and immediately, a clear crisp laughter floated up on the endless street.

"The wind blows the acacia flowers all over the store, and the orchid presses the wine to persuade the guests to taste. Instant love. Good poetry". After praising it, Meng Haoran turned his head and saw this scene, smiled and pulled Tang Cheng, who was about to speak to those women, to the side. "Brother Tang, these are some Muhu girls, you can't touch them."

"Haoran, this group of little girls is provoking", those girls Xu saw Tang Cheng and the two of them being romantic, and they were not angry when they were stared at by him, but they stayed on Ma Changjie and watched the two of them laughing and funny, and some of them were even more bold and bent their hands and pointed to Tang Cheng and signaled him to go over. Seeing this scene, Tang Cheng laughed, "What is Mu Hu Nu?" ”。

"Just look at their clothes and decorations", looking at those women, Meng Haoran also smiled warmly, "These women are all from wealthy families in the city, and they are still vulgar and good in their living habits." When the weather is fine in this season, he often travels with horses, especially to tease the merry boys. Brother Tang, if you really go over, then they won't have fun today."

"Since that's the case, then forget it", Tang Cheng snapped his fingers casually, turned around and continued to walk forward with Meng Haoran, "Haoran, you're quite familiar with this."

Meng Haoran ignored Tang Cheng's meaningful evil smile, "I used to roam in Dao City when I was a year old."

Reading 10,000 books, traveling 10,000 miles, "roaming" is the same as reading the mountains and forests, almost an indispensable life experience for scholars in the Tang Dynasty, after studying for a period of time or after learning, they choose to travel far away from home, and realize the book knowledge learned in roaming the famous mountains and rivers, broaden their horizons and make friends extensively, almost everyone in the famous poets of the Tang Dynasty contained in the "Biography of Tang Caizi" has the experience of roaming.

"This is a good custom", Tang Cheng's admiration is indeed from the heart.

Tang Cheng came to Daocheng with Yu Dongjun more than ten days ago, and his new secretary was not subordinate to any of the Daoya's subordinates, but was directly responsible to the observation envoy, and Yu Dongjun gave him six places to recruit officials to allocate subordinates, and there was only one thing to do, which was to guide and promote the experience of Jinzhou to the states.

Since then, Tang Cheng in the Taoist government basically belongs to the situation that the heavens and the earth do not collect, and on the seventh day of his arrival in Daocheng, Meng Haoran, who was invited to Jinzhou to find him but did not meet, also came to Daocheng. In the past few days, Tang Cheng has been busy with the affairs of the yamen during the day, and Meng Haoran has traveled leisurely to the scenery of Dao City, and the two of them have slept in the evening, and the days are also comfortable.

As for today, it was Tang Cheng who finally put the matter at hand to a close, and the two went to Taoism to go through the corresponding procedures together. With the change of functional location. Tang Cheng naturally rose to the next level in his studies.

Seeing Tang Cheng and the two of them laugh and walk away, the women on the horse laughed triumphantly for a while before continuing to move forward.

While walking, he leisurely looked at the scenery of Dao City, and when he was about to arrive at the Dao School located in the northwest corner of the city, Tang Cheng suddenly heard someone behind him calling his name in surprise.

"Guan Guan, why are you here?". When he met his old acquaintance in a foreign country, Tang Cheng was very happy to see Guan Guan on the streets of Shangxian Strange Tunnel City. Hurriedly walked over.

"When I returned to my hometown from Yangzhou to find my relatives, I didn't meet them, thinking that there was no place for me to live in this world." When Guan Guan, who met Tang Cheng by chance, had a happy face, although his words were indifferent and open-minded, the frustration between his eyebrows and eyes could not be concealed, "Later, I somehow got here with a single thought." I've been here for a while, but Ah Cheng, why did you get here? ”。

With Guan Guan is still the little maid in Yangzhou. When the master spoke, she looked at Tang Cheng with bright eyes, and when Tang Cheng glanced over to see her, although the little girl's eyes did not hide, a layer of blush quietly appeared on her face.

"Since you have arrived in Shannan Dongdao, why don't you go to Jinzhou to find me?" , Tang Cheng pretended to be angry and said: "This is not the way of friends."

Tang Cheng was warm when he heard this, and he was faintly sad, "Jinzhou is a little inconvenient after all, after all, there are horses don't drive...... In it".

This is said lightly. Tang Cheng understood what she meant. Guan Guan didn't want to go to Jinzhou, but he was afraid of driving the snakes and horses. I don't want to get him in trouble.

This kind of mutual understanding between friends is a matter that does not need to be said about each other's hearts, but if you say too much, it will be revealed. After hearing this, Tang Cheng didn't say anything about it, and said with a smile: "Ma Beijia has already resigned from the official position, and I have also been transferred to the Dao Ya, so it seems that you are prescient to go to Dao City first."

"Really?" , Guan Guan's smile was charming, attracting passers-by on both sides to look at this side frequently, "This feeling is good!" ”。

Speaking of this, Tang Chengcai remembered that he forgot to introduce the two sides, "Guan Guan, this is my friend Xiangzhou Meng Haoran; Haoran, this is my friend Miss Guan Guan."

"Friends?" , Tang Cheng's introduction really surprised Meng Haoran, but he was not a layman after all, so he didn't say much, and met Guan Guan as a scholar.

When Guan Guanfu returned the salute, a man who looked like a laborer came over in front of him, and with him there were several other people who were also dressed in the same costume, pushing a cart in their hands, which was filled with fragrant and rich flower mud, and in addition to that, there were two carriages next to him, and he didn't know what he was pulling.

"Ah Cheng, where do you live? I'm looking for you to talk at night", after listening to Tang Cheng report the address, he didn't stay any longer when he had something to do, and after smiling at the two of them, he led the group of laborers to leave.

"Ah Cheng's title is smooth, I will call you that", after seeing Guan Guan walk away, Meng Haoran, who turned around and continued to go to Taoism, said with a smile: "Ah Cheng, your friend is so special."

"Special? What's so special? ”。

"Isn't it special to introduce a young woman who is like a flower and jade as a friend?"

"That's what you're talking about", Tang Cheng smiled disappretently as he walked: "You and I can become friends, why can't I and Guan Guan?" What does it matter if you are a man or a woman? ”。

There are many kinds of relationships between men and women in this era, but these many relationships do not include friends. Seeing that what Tang Cheng said was straightforward and righteous, Meng Haoran was stunned for a moment and then smiled and said: "This is a great good, Ah Cheng is open-minded, but I am stuck with the elephant."

The two of them talked and laughed, and after a while, they arrived at the Taoist School located in the northwestern corner of the city. The vast and continuous buildings, the lush trees, the scholars in green and Confucian uniforms walking between the red windows, green tiles and white walls with books, and the faint smell of books in the air, all this made Tang Cheng feel like he was back in the university of later generations, but the difference was that the campus in front of him was more ancient and poetic.

At the door of Taoism, Meng Haoran stopped and looked at the plaque hanging on the lintel for a moment, then turned sideways and said to Tang Cheng with a smile: "Ah Cheng, do you know whose penmanship this is?" ”。

"Young Brother Meng wants to test me?" There is no inscription on the plaque on this gate except for those few big characters, although there is no inscription, but after two years of unremitting training. Tang Cheng's attainments in the "book" are no longer the Wuxia Ameng of the past, and after looking at it carefully for a while, he said with a smile: "The words are golden, the lines are jade and the law is gentle, this word is very charming to Wang Yishao, and it must be from the hand of Chu Henan."

Yi Shao is the word of Wang Xizhi, and Chu Henan is Chu Suiliang, the favorite minister of Emperor Xuanzong during the Zhenguan period of the early Tang Dynasty, because he was named the prince of Henan County when he was Gaozong. It is called Chu Henan by most people at the time, and it is one of the four great calligraphers of the early Tang Dynasty together with Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan and Xue Ji

"It's not that I'm going to test you, it's just that if there are foreign scholars who enter the Tao. I will be asked, that is, I will not ask you today. There will also be your Taoist classmates to take the school examination one day", Meng Haoran looked up at the plaque again, "Ah Cheng has good eyesight, once you enter this door, the gold list can be expected." Congratulations! ”。

"This is not necessarily, with Young Brother Meng is so poetic. Wouldn't it be easy to get into this way?"

"Within a state, there are only a dozen places given by Taoism in a year, and these more than ten places are still shared by each subject, which is as easy as a snap, how easy is it! Brother Tang has to enter this door today, I don't know how many students in this way will be envious", at this point, Meng Haoran didn't wait for Tang Cheng to say anything, stretched out his hand and pushed him and said, "Come in, I'll wait for you outside."

Only by entering Taoism can it be possible to obtain the qualification of "Township Tribute Student". And the qualification of the township tribute student is the prerequisite for participating in the Ministry of Rites. The fierceness of its competition goes without saying, thinking about this situation. Thinking about the historical records in which Meng Haoran did not take the exam in Chang'an for the first time until he was forty years old, Tang Cheng could naturally understand his feelings when he said this.

Almost at the same time as he thought of this, Tang Cheng already had a plan in his heart, but according to his habits, he didn't like to say anything before the thing was done, so he nodded after hearing the words and went into Taoism.

This superintendent in Taoism is not as good as Superintendent Liu of Jinzhou Prefecture, in fact, since Tang Cheng came in, his face was not good, and at this moment, after seeing this "letter of recommendation" with a great background, his face was even darker, which made Tang Cheng inexplicable, and somehow offended this Han superintendent who had never met.

It wasn't until he began to fill in his resume that Han Xuejian saw Tang Cheng's beautiful eight-point stroke, and his face became a little softer. After the formalities were completed, Tang Cheng was officially incorporated into Class A of Taoism and Ming Classics.

For a student like Tang Cheng, village and county studies lay the foundation and attach importance to the basic skills of chapters and sentences; The state study is the initial teaching of the method of dialectical scriptures, while the current higher level of Taoism focuses on the application and analysis of the scriptures. Depending on the situation of the students, the teaching methods of the three different levels of schools are very different. For example, the Ming Jing course in this Taoist study is taught by the doctors of the Five Classics once every ten days, focusing on the methods of analyzing the scriptures of each family and the current hot topics of debate in the field of scripture and learning. Students take the school exam once a month, and the rest of the time is mainly self-study.

Hearing this news, Tang Chengshi was happy from the bottom of his heart.

But he didn't think that his happiness made Han Xuejian's face sink again.

"If you enter Taoism, you must not have the heart of floating waves, you should know that you are diligent and diligent on weekdays, otherwise the monthly examination school will embarrass you, in addition, whether it is the analysis of the scriptures or the examination school, three times in a row, those who have not arrived for five times in a row will be dismissed, and those who have not arrived for five consecutive times in the examination school will also follow this example, you can remember", after Han Xuejian said these with a calm face, he looked at Tang Cheng's dress again, frowned and said: "According to the teachings of the ancestors, all my Taoist students need to wear green Confucian clothes, Confucian clothes and linen, silk and satin are really not suitable, Remember it next time."

At this point, Tang Cheng understood why this Han superintendent didn't have a good face when he saw him, it turned out that the problem was in the clothes, it was the school rules, there was nothing to say, and he could see it at this time, this superintendent was the kind of old-fashioned gentleman who was the most serious, not that he had any specific bad feelings for him, but although Tang Cheng didn't like this person, he couldn't say that he hated it, so he nodded and turned around and went out.

Walking out of the superintendent's room, Tang Cheng, who had finished his errands, noticed that there was a proclamation posted on the wall outside the superintendent's room, but it was written a message of the cultural meeting.

Seeing this Tang Cheng paid attention, this is also what he repeatedly explained to the old master Yan before he came to Daocheng, and after he arrived at Taoism, he should widely participate in the literary meeting, if the purpose of participating in the literary meeting in the past was to learn and observe, or even simply to watch the excitement, then now participating in the literary meeting has a clear purpose - to become famous.

As soon as you enter Taoism, it is equivalent to entering the sprint stage of scientific research, because of the special system of not obscuring names when the Tang Dynasty revised the papers, which required students to seek names first. After the imperial examination, this made the wind of the roll up. And to ask for a name, you need to start early, and when a large number of scholars from all over the world flock to Chang'an, it will be even later.

Therefore, seeking fame itself has become a part of the imperial examination, and the imperial examination should be famous first. And if you want to be famous, you have to be attentive from the first day of Taoism.

Although Yu Dongjun had promised that after the completion of the road construction, he would be guaranteed a "flow out of the stream", but Tang Cheng never thought of giving up the imperial examination. One is because this matter is not yet on time; In addition, because it is easy to be discriminated against in the officialdom as a "official", it is extremely difficult to be promoted. Those from this background are often subordinate. For example, Zhao Laohu in the Yali of Yunxi County and Master Yao, who committed suicide, are obvious examples.

For Tang Cheng, who is pursuing his ideals, it is better not to take this road unless it is a last resort.

Coincidentally, the time of this meeting was set for today, and after looking up at the sky. Tang Cheng quickened his pace and walked out, if he was in a hurry. It's just right to keep up.

After telling Meng Haoran at the gate of Taoism, he was also very interested in being a scholar, but Tang Cheng was depressed that he waited at the gate of Taoism for a long time, and he didn't see a single foot.

When you don't want it, you go by one by one, and when you want to hire it, you can't wait until you die, this Tang Dynasty's footsteps are really the same virtue as the rental of later generations. Seeing that time was passing little by little, when Tang Cheng was about to walk over, he heard the sound of horses' hooves for a while, but it was the two of them who met on the street when they came.

Seeing the horse, Tang Cheng's eyes lit up. At this time, he didn't care about Meng Haoran's words of warning at the beginning. He walked towards one of the women who had waved to him in the street.

"And we have to wait a while before we can leave, we are too early." As soon as the tallest and brightest girl among the several people said this, she saw that all the sisters were looking behind her with a smile, and suddenly turned around with the reins of her horse.

"The two of us have an urgent matter to go to where to participate in the cultural meeting, because we can't hire a footman, how about borrowing a few fragrant horses for the time being?"

"Sisters, I'm not wrong, they look like the stupid goose in Taoism", the tall girl's words caused the four girls to laugh together, and they laughed when they straddled the horse, and there was really a bit of a trembling taste, and the girl's smile in the face of Tang Cheng was not exhausted, and she deliberately stared at Tang Cheng with big round eyes and said: "Wu Na Goose, since you know that it is a fragrant horse, is it good to borrow land?" ”。

"Oh, can't you borrow it? Let's rent the assembly."

"Rent?" As soon as they heard this word, the women were stunned at first, as if they didn't expect anyone to say such things to them, and after being stunned, the eyes of the women blinked for a while between looking at each other, and finally the tall girl said: "Can you afford to rent?" ”。

"Offer", Tang Cheng has something to do at this time, otherwise he really doesn't mind fighting with these energetic beautiful girls, vacuum, more eye-catching! "Hurry up, hurry."

"Carved hats, Jimo boots ......", as soon as you say a word to me, the four girls chirp and report a lot of things, good guy! If they bought all these things they reported, they would have to pay at least seventy or eighty yuan, and if they hired a helper, they wouldn't even need seventy yuan, so the difference between the two sides would not be less than a hundred times.

After the women had finished reporting, the tallest woman drove her horse around Tang Cheng in a circle, "Silly goose, you also heard the price, are you still renting?" Hurry up, sisters are in a hurry too! As soon as she said this not funny sentence, several women laughed again.

Uncle can bear it, aunt can't bear it! Originally, Tang Cheng's temperament categorically couldn't do such an unjust thing, but today's situation is really special, he is in a hurry, and he is tripped by these energetic women, and his current net worth really doesn't care about the seventy or eighty yuan, so Tang Cheng rarely shows his young and crazy side.

"Deal", Tang Cheng nodded and said with a smile: "However, since the rent is so expensive, there is no reason for us to drive the horses by ourselves, and the groom must be deserved one."

As soon as he finished speaking, Tang Cheng buckled the saddle, and the person was already on the back of the tall girl's horse.

The laughter stopped abruptly, and when the tall woman was about to make a move, she heard Tang Cheng chuckle and say, "What, don't you dare?" ”。

"Who says I wouldn't dare?" , The tall woman said viciously with a blush on her face.

"Okay", Tang Cheng praised, turned his head to Meng Haoran, who looked a little stupid, and said: "Young Brother Meng, the beauty of Xiangju, how rare, don't get on the horse soon!" ”。

Meng Haoran was still not as cheeky as Tang Cheng after all, so after the other two women rode a horse for him, several people left.

The blush on the tall woman's face has not disappeared since the fight, and she deliberately whipped her badly in overtime, wanting to use her momentum to throw Tang Cheng down.

Since two trips to Yangzhou, although Tang Cheng's equestrian skills are not very good now, it is more than enough to deal with this, his body just leaned back, and after sitting firmly, he has hugged the waist of the tall woman.

"You ......".

"How can I ......", Tang Cheng chuckled when he heard this: "If you don't dare, you can ride with your sister."

"Who doesn't dare, the grandson won't dare", the woman bit her lip and whipped again.

In the meantime, the woman didn't speak anymore, but kept making small movements in her hands, tossing the horse fast or slow, and even jumped a few times in the middle, but her small movements couldn't fall Tang Cheng who was hugging her waist at all, and the more she tossed, the tighter Tang Cheng was hugged.

"Little sister, my brother told you, like the situation in front of you, the more you toss me, the happier I am", this scene in front of him reminded Tang Cheng of the frivolous life in the later generations, and when he said this, he turned his head to Meng Haoran, who was walking side by side, and laughed: "The beauty in the arms is like jade, the fragrance is like a dragon, the person is like a jade horse, the flower is in the spring breeze, Brother Meng, the value of these eighty flowers, happy!" ”。

All the way to the gate of He Yuan, after Tang Cheng jumped off the horse, he counted out eighty pieces of flying money from his sleeve and stuffed it into the tall girl's hand, pulled Meng Haoran and ran inside.

Seeing the two of them on the group shirt and Confucian clothes, He Yuanxia did not stop it, when the two of them went straight into the middle of the garden along the granite path, they saw that there were no less than thirty or twenty small tables placed on the grass around the small pavilion in the courtyard, on which the pen, ink, paper and inkstone were prepared, many scholars wearing green Confucian clothes or sitting or standing in search of poetry, and occasionally someone after the poem was completed, they would find the nearest small few to record, and the boy sent it into the pavilion.

Seeing this scene, Tang Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, although he came a little late, it was not too late after all.

After beckoning the boy to ask the question of the poem, Tang Cheng smiled at Meng Haoran and said, "Young brother, please."