Xue Liangyu looked at the snow scene in front of him, nodded, turned around and ran towards the convoy, and shouted loudly inside through the carriage: "Xianggong, the wind and snow are too big, the road is covered, and I can't see the road clearly." If you go into the ditch, it's over, or find a place to rest and avoid the limelight! ”

A few minutes later, just when Xue Liangyu thought that the people inside didn't hear his shout at all, the thick felt curtain woven with coarse wool was uncovered, and Xue Liangyu's face immediately felt a stream of warm air seeping through, so uncomfortable.

"Where is there a place to put your feet in the wilderness here? Go to the front and see if there's a post station or something! ”

"Yes, Xianggong!" Xue Liangyu answered, turned around and ran towards his livestock. Among the group, he and Zhou Ping had the best equestrian skills, so they took turns to take the responsibility of leading the way in front, although he was already cold and hungry at this time, he still climbed on the mount, risked falling to his death in the ditch, rushed to Zhou Ping's side, and relayed Han Xiaoxuan's order to him. The two of them walked another four or five miles before they saw a simple post station. Half an hour later, the group stopped at the station.

"Take a bite, you're still out on the road, you two are miserable!" The old soldier in the post station handed over two steaming wooden bowls, Zhou Ping took one and drank it clean, and a spicy taste immediately filled his mouth, making him cough violently.

"Slow down, slow down!" The old soldier stood aside with a wooden spoon and asked, "What, do you want more, you two are hurrying in the wind and snow, if you don't drink more ginger soup and sweat, I'm afraid that you will be seriously ill later!" ”

After taking a bite of ginger soup, Zhou Ping felt that his hands and feet that had been frozen were still his own, and hurriedly picked up the bowl with both hands and said with a smile: "Thank you, boss, come with me more!" ”

"Great!" The old soldier poured soup into the bowl of Zhou Ping and Xue Liangyu, and asked: "Look at the clothes of the two of you, you should be on an errand, I think when I was in the Western Army—"

The old army was about to boast about his glorious past, when he heard someone shouting loudly from inside: "Why is there no one waiting, where is the post officer?" I had to scold: "The official is the most troublesome!" "Went inside.

Zhou Ping drank two bowls of ginger soup, and his body was already a lot more comfortable, he stood up, patted the residual snow on his body, and said to Xue Liangyu: "Shiro, you rest here, I'll go out and add some food to those two horses!" ”

"I'm almost rested, I'm going with you!" Xue Liangyu put the wooden bowl aside, and Zhou Ping went to the stable side by side, their two horses were in front of the manger, Xue Liangyu forked some hay, and took some soybeans from the bag and sprinkled them on the grass, Zhou Ping wiped the sweat off the horse, so as not to make the horses sick. Zhou Ping was working hard, and Xue Liangyu's voice suddenly came from behind him: "Ah Ping, when I reported to Han Xianggong just now, he was sitting in the carriage, charcoal roasting, and the two of us were riding on horses-" Speaking of this, Xue Liangyu's words stopped, as if he didn't know how to continue.

Zhou Ping raised his head and looked at Xue Liangyu, a young man who was only seventeen years old had an expression on his face that he had never seen before, it seemed to be angry and confused. Zhou Ping took a while to fully understand what the other party meant, he hesitated for a moment, and said in a low voice: "He is a jinshi, a civil official, we are just guards!" ”

Xue Liangyu looked at Zhou Ping, and there was a trace of disappointment in his eyes: "You think so too?" I thought you thought you were different from everyone else? ”

"It doesn't matter what I think!" Zhou Ping stroked the wet mane on the neck of his mount, the horse raised his head and neighed in a low voice to the master, Zhou Ping walked to the manger, sprinkled some soybeans, and said: "Shiro, you are still young, since many things are like this, there is naturally a reason for him, you and I am now, it is useless to talk more." ”

"You're talking nonsense!" Xue Liangyu grunted and turned around to clean the mud from the hooves of his mount.

Zhou Ping smiled, turned around and walked towards the house, and said as he walked: "But the truth under the world is not eternal, the truth changes, and the world will change!" “

"Will the world change?" Xue Liangyu stood up, looked at Zhou Ping's departing back suspiciously, and repeated what the other party had just said, his face full of doubts.

At this time, there was a sound of people and horses outside the inn, and the two looked at each other in surprise, not thinking that there were other travelers besides them in this bad weather.

"Someone's coming!" A man covered in snow jumped down from the carriage, and when he saw Xue Liangyu and Zhou Ping in the stable, he thought it was a post guard, and said angrily: "It's like a stake there, and you haven't come to wait for my master, why are you so blind!" ”

Xue Erren glanced at each other, both stopped, and sneered at the guy who was shouting loudly, the guy saw the two of them like this, his heart was even angrier, and while patting the snow on his body, he scolded this side: "Two eyeless things, what kind of character is my master, a strip can make the two of you walk around without eating-"

Just as he was scolding, the old post man had already run out of it, and said to the guy as he ran: "The noble man forgive me, the snow is heavy outside, and the villain didn't hear it." These two were not from the inn, but guest officers who came and went. ”

"Visiting guests?" The man slapped the snow off his body, and looked at Xue and Zhou with anger, it seems that it should be a small trader coming and going, otherwise there is no need to run outside in this weather. He snorted coldly, pointed at Xue and Zhou, and said, "Let the two of them move out, how can my master live with this kind of person?" ”

"You-" Xue Liangyu was furious when he heard this, and was about to step forward to teach that guy a lesson, but he was stopped by Zhou Ping, and he turned around and saw Zhou Pinghua sneering: "Don't worry, let's watch the play, naturally the Han family will clean him up!" ”

"This kind of weather?" The old post man looked at the snow outside in embarrassment, and said in a low voice: "Those two came with him, so don't embarrass them!" ”

"And a companion?" The guy raised his voice: "Let's drive it out together, my lord is an official in Tokyo, how can I be lazy!" ”

"Xiangzhou Han Xiaoxuan is here, I don't know which colleague is outside, can you come in and talk?" Just when the old post man was in a dilemma, Han Xiaoxuan's voice came from inside the post station. It turned out that this post station only had three or four rooms in the courtyard, and the sound outside was loud and the inside had long been heard clearly, so Han Xiaoxuan's identity naturally couldn't come out to reason with that subordinate, so he reported his name, and with the reputation of Xiangzhou Han's family, if it was really an official in Beijing, he would naturally know.

Soon, a middle-aged man in a mink fur hat and a thick robe got out of the carriage, whispered a few words to his subordinates, and replied loudly: "It turned out to be Brother Wende, I didn't expect to meet you here!" As he spoke, he walked into the house.

"I can't imagine that these two people are old acquaintances, and I can't watch this good show!" Zhou Ping smiled, patted Xue Liangyu on the shoulder and said, "The cattle are served, let's go inside to take shelter from the wind!" ”

The two of them came into the house. Suddenly, I felt a warm current rushing to my face, and my whole body was like a crispy, very comfortable. Only a few attendant coachmen huddled around a charcoal basin to warm themselves by the fire and eat at the same time. The steward saw Xue and Zhou, moved to the side, and said with a smile: "Come over and bake the fire and eat something, it's very cold outside, right?" ”

"Thank you!" Zhou Ping arched his hand, so that Xue Liangyu could squeeze around the charcoal basin together, and asked casually: "What kind of official is that guy who shouted outside, so majestic?" ”

"Who knows!" The steward sneered: "There are more officials in Bianjing than rats, who can know everything?" is a governor, commander, and governor also have to be a man with his tail between his legs, presumably a sesame official who is suffocated in Beijing, and he runs out to play prestige here! ”

As soon as the words fell, a suppressed laughter came from the brazier, and what could be more satisfying for these subordinates than to laugh at the officials who liked to play their prestige in front of people behind their backs?

"As soon as I entered the house, I went to the back room, and I don't know if I was licking our family's ditch!" The steward sneered: "I've played my majesty in front of my ancestors!" ”

At this time, Han Xiaoxuan's scholar came out of the room and said, "The charcoal in Xianggong's brazier is almost finished, come and add some charcoal." ”

Zhou Ping stood up and said with a smile: "Everyone, let me do this charcoal thing, by the way, I can take a look at the official's face!" ”

The others laughed and said: "Ah Ping is clever, and he will come out and listen to me later!"

Zhou Ping took a clay pot and iron tongs outside, took some charcoal and entered the inner room, only to see a middle-aged man with a black face sitting opposite Han Xiaoxuan, who was the one who had just come down from the carriage. Zhou Ping confessed, dragged the brazier out, carefully added charcoal, but noticed in his ears that the two of them were talking.

"Brother Wende (Han Xiaoxuan's character), I didn't expect you and I to meet here, hey!" The middle-aged man sighed when he said this, and his face became gloomy.

"Why is Brother Hu sighing, is there something wrong with it?"

The middle-aged man surnamed Hu smiled miserably: "What's more, don't you know that I have been demoted to Qinzhou Sima?" This is exactly on the way to work! ”

"Huh? Why is that? Han Xiaoxuan showed a look of surprise, it turned out that the Northern Song Dynasty had always treated scholars and doctors preferentially, and rarely used the heavy punishment of execution for civil officials, and the heaviest thing was only to chase down the written word since birth (that is, to deprive him of his fame), and the usual practice was to demote him to a remote place as an idle official, and let the local officials monitor you, and the prisoner was not much better.

"Hey, what else can I do, it's good to offend the master and the concubine!"

"Offended both of them?" Han Xiaoxuan's face changed slightly, and he asked, "Why is this?" ”

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