Kong Sheng walked slowly, and halfway through, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of an acquaintance, Li Chuan, the son of King Qiu. After Li Chuan, the son of King Yu, was recalled to Chang'an by the emperor with Li Ju, he has been idle in Beijing, and has become an idle clan with no fief for the time being, and it is also an inconspicuous one among the hundreds of Li Tang clans.

Li Chuan's gaze towards Kong Sheng concealed a trace of hatred and shame. On the same day, he was placed under house arrest by Kong Sheng in Xiayi, which became a disgrace for Li Chuan's life. It's just that the current King Yu has no power or power, but Kong Sheng is the famous Marquis of Chang'an, with outstanding military exploits and fame, Li Chuan does not dare to act rashly even if he wants to retaliate.

Li Chuan hid behind two young men in Chinese costumes. One of the round-faced young men, shaking a folding fan in his hand, looked arrogant, sat there and glanced at Kong Sheng and sneered, while the other square-faced round-faced man had a slightly dark complexion, and he was holding a glass of wine and staring at Kong Sheng with curious eyes, and the corners of his mouth provoked a touch of contempt.

Kong Sheng's calm gaze swept over the three of them.

Walking closer, Kong Sheng bowed to the host of the banquet, Princess Ningguo, King Li of Zhao, Princess Ji Guo, etc.: "Kong Sheng meets the two princesses and His Royal Highness King Zhao!" ”

Kong Sheng hugged his fist to Du Hongjian and other officials on the side and said, "I've seen all the adults!" ”

After all, Kong Sheng is the Marquis of Chang'an from the third grade, although he has no real power, he can be regarded as a new nobleman in Chang'an City. Although Du Hongjian and the others were not very optimistic about Kong Sheng in their hearts, they had to maintain basic etiquette on the surface.

Du Hongjian and others hugged their fists at Kong Sheng as a return gift.

Princess Ningguo cast a soft and deep glance at Kong Sheng: "Marquis of Chang'an, please take a seat." ”

Kong Sheng sat down as he said, he had already found out. Li Jiao, the king of Chu, and his family were not present. Even the children of the powerful who were close to the Li family were rarely present. From this point, it is enough to see that the relationship between Li Jiao and Princess Ningguo and King Li of Zhao has long been cracked, and it was not formed overnight.

After three rounds of drinking, he began to make Kong Sheng bored and drowsy. One by one, young scholars took turns to appear, showing off their hard-working talents. The main reason why scholars flock to this kind of banquet organized by the magnates is to try to get the appreciation of the magnates present, and then be recommended as officials, which has become an important path for civilians to advance in the Tang Dynasty.

Kong Sheng has been looking at the nose and the nose and the heart. With a smile on his face, he silently carried the Taoist internal skills learned from Sima Chengzhen. As the time he spent practicing the exercises increased, he felt refreshed, and his whole person had a feeling of being fluttering away from the wind. And his strength will continue to improve because of the strengthening of internal force.

This is really a very mysterious exercise. Self-cultivation, qi nourishment, energy accumulation, and activation of various potentials of the human body, Kong Sheng believes that insisting on practicing Sima Chengzhen's Shangqing Gong can at least play a role in fitness and disease. And if there is no internal breath power in the body that accompanies the invisible flow of blood and blood, at a critical moment, the energy that bursts out is amazing.

Princess Ning Guo had been secretly observing Kong Sheng's performance, and saw that he had no interest in the literary examination. couldn't help but smile slightly: "Chang'an Hou Cai's scientific name moves the world, and today is the right time for him." The palace set up a banquet to meet friends, why didn't Chang'an Hou give a poem and come to join in the fun? ”

Kong Sheng smiled, hugged his fists and saluted back: "Your Royal Highness Princess, the so-called talents are all famous in the world, Kong Sheng is really poor in talent today, please forgive your Highness!" ”

How could Kong Sheng, who has a prominent talent, be poor in lyrics, this is of course his overly modest rhetoric. Everyone understands this, Princess Ningguo raised her eyebrows, but she couldn't force Kong Sheng, so she had to shrug her shoulders and look away, at this time, a round-faced young man in gorgeous clothes stood up proudly, walked to the field, first bowed to Ning Guo Jiguo Li and others, and then looked at Kong Sheng and said indifferently: "Chang'an Hou, in the lower Chang'an Shizi Li Guo, I have heard that Chang'an Hou has only learned people, and now Li Guo has an arithmetic problem that he can't solve, so he asked Chang'an Hou for advice or two." ”

Science? Knowing that Kong Sheng's poetry is unparalleled, it must be humiliating to challenge Kong Sheng in the poetry pair, so he found another way to take the arithmetic to take the school exam? Kong Sheng frowned.

Zhao Wang Li also frowned on the side, and said in a low voice: "Kong Sheng, this son is Li Guo, the eldest son of Li Kuo, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, who is quite talented, especially proficient in arithmetic. ”

Kong Sheng sighed, smiled and excused himself: "Kong has no involvement in arithmetic, how dare he be ugly?" ”

Li Guo sneered: "The Marquis of Chang'an is known as a talented man, and he knows everything about astronomy and geography, but he can't even learn arithmetic? Arithmetic is a necessary lesson for governing the country, if the Marquis of Chang'an can't even learn arithmetic, wouldn't it be a joke to enter the house and occupy a high position in the imperial court? ”

Li Guo's words were not only domineering, but also suspected of deliberately provoking.

Li Kui, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was a confidant of Li Li, the king of Chu. As Li Kuo's eldest son, Li Guo went to Qujiangchi to participate in the banquet organized by Princess Ningguo, obviously with ulterior motives. It seems that this person is completely coming at himself - Kong Sheng's eyes sank, and he looked at Li Guo, and the corners of his mouth flashed with a trace of anger.

If it were someone else, Kong Sheng might laugh it off, and he wouldn't be as knowledgeable as this kind of person. But since he was Li Kuo's son, and with the sinister intention of deliberately provoking, thinking of Li Kuo's humiliation and suppression of himself at the court meeting at that time, Kong Sheng's anger arose spontaneously.

He has never been a person who is willing to suffer a secret loss, since you take the initiative to provoke, then don't blame Lao Tzu for trampling your father and son under his feet-Kong Sheng sneered in his heart, but said quietly on the surface: "Kong has never claimed to be a talented person, these are the reputation of the world." The so-called art industry has specialization, people's energy is limited, there are thousands of academic ways in this world, Kong Sheng will never be proficient even if he is widely involved in a wide range of books. ”

Kong Sheng paused slightly when he said this, but then smiled indifferently: "It is true that Kong has no profound attainments in arithmetic, but since Li Gongzi insists on making Kong Sheng ugly, then Kong is disrespectful - please ask Li Gongzi to ask the question." ”

A sly smile of triumph appeared on Li Guo's face.

Today, at the banquet of the princess of Chiningguo in Qujiang, he challenged Kong Sheng with his good arithmetic, but in fact, it was nothing more than suppressing Kong Sheng's reputation and watching Kong Sheng make a fool of himself. Although this is not the instruction of his father Li Kuo - Li Kuo, as a high-ranking official in the imperial court, is probably not so boring and inferior, but Li Guo has always been arrogant and arrogant, and he is jealous of Kong Sheng's great talent and fame far beyond himself.

But Li Guo is not a fool either. He had studied many of Kong Sheng's widely disseminated poems in advance, and he thought that it was impossible for him to overshadow Kong Sheng's limelight in terms of poetry, so he turned to the edge of the sword, trying to suppress Kong Sheng with his own good arithmetic.

He was also worried that Kong Sheng would not accept the offer, as long as Kong Sheng did not accept the offer, there would be no way for him. Even a sage like Confucius and Mencius cannot be all-encompassing, and Kong Sheng's self-admitted lack of learning will not damage his reputation.

Therefore, Li Guo used the method of agitation and deliberately provoked and humiliated.

Unexpectedly, Kong Sheng really took the bait, which made Li Guo overjoyed. (To be continued.) )