The two sisters sat in a carriage to elaborate on their parting feelings, while Yang Yuanqing got into his wife's carriage, and hundreds of relatives escorted the two carriages back to the Chu Palace.

Pei Minqiu's carriage is wide and comfortable, the layout is very simple, the car is covered with carpets, there is a small table by the window, there is an incense burner in the corner of the carriage, green smoke curls, so that the carriage is filled with a faint fragrance of water lilies, warm as spring.

Yang Yuanqing leaned against the wall of the car, a soft pillow was placed on his lower back, his spirit relaxed suddenly, and he closed his eyes, at this time he didn't think about anything, he just wanted to sleep well.

Pei Minqiu sat beside him, held her husband's hand, pursed her lips and smiled: "I have something to say to you, why did you fall asleep?" ”

"I'm so tired, I don't know why, I want to sleep when I get in your carriage!" Yang Yuanqing smiled with half-squinted eyes.

"Oh well! I'll just say something important. ”

"Hmmm! You say, "What's the matter?" ”

Pei Minqiu pondered and said: "It's about Ning'er's reading, the second uncle has asked his aunt to mention it twice, he is willing to be Ning'er's master, specifically to teach him knowledge, I think he is a world-famous Confucian, so I am a little tempted, I want to discuss it with you." ”

The second uncle mentioned by his wife is the great Confucian Wang Tong, he actually wants to teach his son alone, Yang Yuanqing said with a smile: "If your grandfather knows that the Wang family will be Ning'er's master, he will have to scold you to death." ”

"I don't care about him, Ning'er is my son, not a son of his Pei family, I want my son to receive the best education, have the ability, and the Pei family also comes up with a famous Confucian. I can also let Ning'er worship him as a teacher. ”

Yang Yuanqing shook his head. "Isn't Li Gang very good, why change teachers?"

"But... I just think that the second uncle is more famous, and how many powerful children want to drill and look for cracks to worship him as a teacher, and now he has taken the initiative to teach Ning'er specifically, I think this is a good opportunity. ”

"Opportunity?" Yang Yuanqing sneered slightly.

Pei Minqiu took her husband's hand and said hurriedly: "Don't be so cynical, I also know that this matter is very important, and of course I also know that the Wang family has a long-term plan, so I didn't promise him, wait for you to come back and decide." ”

"Alright! I decided to refuse. A person with a utilitarian heart came to teach my son, no matter how knowledgeable he was, his character would be one level lower, although Li Gang refused to work for me. But his personality and morality are much higher than Wang Tong's, and his knowledge is not bad, so I can really rest assured that I can hand over my son to him. ”

Pei Minqiu is also in a kind of hesitation, in fact, she also knows the contradictions and secret fights between the Wang family and the Pei family, as a mother, on the one hand, she hopes that her son will get the best education, on the other hand, she does not want her son to become a victim of the secret fight between the Pei and Wang families, so she is very conflicted, and the Wang family came to persuade her twice. She didn't say yes.

Now that her husband's decision has finally made her heart fall, at least she doesn't have to think about it anymore, she can send someone to the Wang family to refuse, at this time, she asked with a smile: "Do you really plan to recognize Princess Danyang as your sister?" ”

Yang Yuanqing said lazily: "Isn't it good to talk about it, just say one thing?" ”

Pei Minqiu was stunned, immediately laughed, stretched out his finger and poked him on the forehead, "You! I knew I was going to ask you about it, so I blocked the conversation first. All right! I'll ask you later, and I'll let you rest now. ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled, slowly closed his eyes, and felt that he was about to fall asleep in the gentle shaking of the carriage.

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Yang Yuanqing's return immediately changed the somewhat lifeless situation. First of all, the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Rites jointly announced that the much-anticipated autumn examination would be held in three days. This was the first imperial examination after the establishment of the Northern Sui Dynasty, and 200 people would be admitted to supplement the shortage of officials in the counties and counties of Hedong and the central court of the imperial court, so it attracted special attention.

For Yang Yuanqing, Pei Ju, Su Wei and other high-ranking officials of the Northern Sui Dynasty, this imperial examination was the best opportunity to test the legitimacy of the Northern Sui regime, and it can be seen that its support among the landlord class can be seen, so the Northern Sui imperial court attaches great importance to this imperial examination.

At this time, more than 20,000 scholars from Hedong and Hebei gathered in Taiyuan City, waiting to participate in this imperial examination that can change the fate of their lives.

This time the imperial examination and three years ago Fengzhou imperial examination is different, three years ago Fengzhou imperial examination because Fengzhou itself is relatively remote, there are not many readers, and it is not easy to come, so all the accommodation is arranged by the government, as long as you have read the book can take the exam, not so much the imperial examination, but the examiner, and this time is different, the people who come are basically full of learning, the government does not have much to ask about life, there are many Taiyuan inns and stores, many temples can also stay overnight, and there is no problem with the accommodation of more than 20,000 scholars, And if it is a scholar recommended by the county school, you can also get a certain amount of room and board subsidies.

As the saying goes, where there are people, there are classes, and more than 20,000 scholars are divided into three classes, one is the students of the major famous families, including the children of famous families and the children of different surnames who study in the famous families, such as the famous Pei family, the Wang family, the Xue family, and the Fanyang Lu family, the Bairen Li family, the Boling Cui family, the Qinghe Cui family, the Qinghe Zhang family, the Julu Wei family, the Pingxiang Chai family, the Guangping You family, the Hejian Zhang family, etc., they all have family education, and they all sent the best children to participate in the Northern Sui imperial examination.

Among the major famous families, in addition to the two major regions of Hebei and Hebei, some famous children from other regions have also attracted attention, such as Hongnong Yang's, Jingzhao Du's and Wei's, Danyang Xie's, Pengcheng Liu's, Wuxing Shen's and so on, and these local wang clans also have children who appear in Taiyuan City.

The other class is the official students from all over the country, at the beginning of the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui Yang Jian, he built official schools in various states and counties, and was the most prosperous in the time of Emperor Wu Yang Guang, cultivating a large number of scholars, they are the foundation of civil officials in the Sui Dynasty, and the goal of their life is to become an official, and the opportunity for them to be officials in troubled times is very small, and more often they become the primary target of rebellion and banditry in various places, and the family is ruined, and the wife is separated.

This Northern Sui imperial examination was the first official imperial examination since the world turmoil, and the local government recommended outstanding children to Taiyuan to take the examination, and even the counties in Hebei occupied by Dou Jiande also had many officials and students rushed to Taiyuan.

The third class is the children of small and medium-sized families. Claiming to be a son of a poor family. There is no family background, no official background, because a large number of poor children were admitted to the Fengzhou imperial examination a few years ago, which brought them hope, they sold their fields and houses, bid farewell to their wives and came to Taiyuan to fight, in order to change their lives.

Among the officials of the Northern Sui Dynasty, many of them were from poor families, such as Wei Zheng, the waiter of the Yellow Gate, Zhang Liang, and so on. The imperial court was asked to set up a Jicai Hall to provide the most basic food and lodging for these students from poor families.

Among the three major classes, the status of the famous family is the highest, and most of them are well-off. They have abundant travel expenses, have a wide range of contacts in the officialdom, among the more than 20,000 scholars, they are the most active, appearing in the major places in Taiyuan City, among which Wenxi Pei's and Taiyuan Wang's two students are the most prominent, quite standing out from the crowd.

．．．．．．．．

Zhang Chuchen has been recuperating since she gave birth to her son Yang Zhi, and she rarely goes out, and she was named a side concubine. The internal official position is Liangdi, so everyone calls her Zhang Liangdi outside, but in the Yang Mansion, the domestic servants call her the second lady.

The yard where I live is called Hibiscus Courtyard, covering an area of five acres, three acres are ponds, planted with hibiscus flowers, that is, lotus, a zigzag white jade bridge passes through the lotus pond, and in the middle is a small island of two acres of land. The edge of the island is lined with willows and greenery, and the middle is full of exotic flowers and plants, and three small buildings have been built among the flowers, with her daughter Yang Bing living alone in one small building, and she and her son living in the other building. There is also a building for more than a dozen maids and servants.

It was late October, and there was already a hint of early winter. Most of the lotus plates in the lotus pond have withered, a pair of mandarin ducks swim in the pond, Chuchen and his daughter Yang Bing have just returned from Yuanqing's study, Yang Yuanqing is tired all the way and has fallen asleep.

"Bing'er, are you going to talk to your mother, or are you going to read a book?" Izumi took his daughter's hand and asked softly.

Yang Bing is ten years old this year, she was named the county lord of Xihe, she looks slim, very much like her mother, she is born with martial arts, but she doesn't want her daughter to practice martial arts, she wants her daughter to study, Yang Bing is now studying with Li Gang with her younger brother Yang Ning.

Yang Bing was anxious to go back to his room, so he took his mother's hand and said coquettishly: "Mother, I want to finish the homework assigned by Mr. early, and I have time to talk to my father in the evening." ”

"Little girl, I don't want my mother when my father comes back."

Izuchen smiled and pinched his daughter's pretty face, "Go ahead!" Do it early and let Daddy see what you write in the evening. ”

Yang Bing grinned, ran to his small building, looked at his daughter's back and ran away, and thought about the difficulty when she was pregnant with her, she was ten years old at this time, and couldn't help but sigh softly, sighing that the years passed quickly, and she was twenty-eight years old.

"Second lady!" Behind him came the voice of the dusty personal maid Xiaoxiu.

Izumi turned around and asked, "Is there something wrong?" ”

"Mrs. You is here, I want to see the second lady."

Chuchen does not have many relatives in Taiyuan, her father's house is Yuhang County, but since she was born, there is almost no contact, her mother is Wuxing Shen, she has more contact, and there are also two Shen children around her husband Yang Yuanqing to gain importance, one is Shen Xing, the second general of the Internal Guard Army, and the other is Shen Chun, although Shen Chun was born in Dunhuang Shen, but his father is Shen Qiuniang's brother, so Shen Chun is actually Zhang Chuchen's cousin, and it is also for this reason that Shen Chun was used by Yang Yuanqing as a confidential position to remember joining the army.

This visiting Mrs. You is Shen Xing's mother, Zhang Chuchen calls her aunt, she usually has contacts, and she is not an outsider, Zhang Chuchen nodded, "Please invite her to my yard!"

Soon, Mrs. You walked into the Furong Courtyard under the guidance of the maid, Mrs. You is more than 50 years old this year, wearing a high bun, wearing a narrow sleeve long skirt, full of pearls, dressed gracefully and luxuriously, she is Shen Xing's mother, and has a destiny from the third grade.

As soon as he arrived at the door of the living room, Chuchen greeted him with a smile, "Why is my aunt free today?" ”

Mrs. You hurriedly bent down and saluted, "See the side princess!"

"Uncle, you're here again, didn't you say don't be so polite?" Izumi complained to her a little.

Mrs. You smiled slightly: "Today is a serious matter to find the princess, so the etiquette should be thorough." ”