The scene that the princess envisioned really happened in March, and of course, the good-looking champion was not me.

A few days after the Chongzheng Palace, the Imperial Hall was now on the Imperial Palace, and the final results of the tribute were announced there. According to the custom, at that time, the harem women could follow the queen to climb the Taiqing Building adjacent to the Jiying Hall to see the style of the new science and technology jinshi.

That day, the Taiqing upstairs cloth color curtain bead curtain, the queen's throne is located in the east of the building, the princess sits beside her, the palace dependents are seated in the sequence behind it, only Zhang Guifei instructed the inner servant to set up another seat on the west side of the Taiqing building, the color curtain embroidered fan, the color style is similar to that used by the queen, looking from downstairs, it seems that the two palaces are side by side.

There are about four or five hundred people who entered the palace to participate in the roll call ceremony, divided into two columns, and stood solemnly in front of the Jiying Hall one after another, all wearing white shirts, the blue sky and the sun were shining, and the eyes were full of clothes and snow.

When the roll call time came, the music stopped, and everyone held their breath and waited for the emperor in the hall to announce the name of Jinshi.

Shaoqing, the name of the champion read out by himself today was transmitted by the six or seven guards in unison, resounding inside and outside the hall: "The first person of Jinshi - Jiangxia Fengjing." ”

There was a slight commotion like ripples in the procession, and then a young scholar walked out from within, and walked towards the hall without hurrying, with a graceful figure and a calm demeanor.

Most of the palace concubines upstairs in Taiqing couldn't hold back, and they leaned forward to visit the new champion, but they were a little far away, and he entered the Jiying Hall soon after, and the specific eyebrows of the palace concubines couldn't help but consult each other: "Do you see the appearance of the champion clearly?" ”

Pei Xiang, the inner hall undertaker who was standing beside the queen at this moment, said with a smile: "The appearance of this champion may be the best among the champions in the history of the dynasty. ”

Pei Xiang was one of the most talented eunuchs of the dynasty. His adoptive father, Pei Yue, the servant of the Zhenzong Dynasty, has a poetic name, Pei Xiang himself also loves to read, and then Pei Yue carefully cultivated, when he was young, his literary talent was comparable to that of Jinshi, and now he is working in the Secret Pavilion, responsible for the book school, and his position is almost a Wenchen. During the Ming Dao period, he went to the palace today, tried to enter the Shifu, and on a whim, he ordered Pei Xiang, who was waiting on the side, to do the test questions. Pei Xiang happily accepted the order and waved it. After reading his poems, I am now appreciating, and the people on the left and right are also moved. From now on, whenever there is a palace test, Pei Xiang will be ordered to wait by his side, check the Jinshi test paper for him from time to time, and pass on the content of the answers. Therefore, Pei Xiang also knows quite well about the situation of the new science and technology jinshi.

His words aroused the women to laugh and exclaim, and their eyes were shining, and they became more and more curious. Miao Shuyi grew up in the palace since she was a child, and she had seen several Jinshi, so she asked Pei Xiang at this time: "How is it compared to Wang Zhuangyuan nineteen years ago?" ”

She was referring to Wang Gongchen, who had now been nineteen years since the eighth year of his Heavenly Sage.

Pei Xiang replied: "Wang Shilang was only nineteen years old at that time, although he was handsome, he was a little thin and green, like a green bamboo. Now this Feng Zhuangyuan is a few years older than him at that time, plump and beautiful without cold air, standing in the crowd, as dazzling as a blooming Tang Di. ”

The queen smiled when she heard this: "Pei Cheng's calligraphy and painting are all good, and it is like painting to describe people." ”

"The minister is terrified...... Pei Xiang bowed with a smile: "The minister just answered Miao Niangzi's question truthfully...... Feng Zhuangyuan's talent is also very outstanding, and he was the first in the township examination and the Ministry of Rites before the palace examination, plus today's roll call results, it is the real three yuan and the first. ”

There were only four people in the history of the Sanyuan and the first champion dynasty. Hearing him say this, the women didn't care much about the later Jinshi roll call, and they just gathered to ask Pei Xiang about the champion. After asking about the hometown, age, origin, and content of the poems of the palace test, a bold insider asked crisply: "Does Zhuangyuanlang have a family?" ”

Everyone burst into laughter, and the palace commander was so shocked that he hurriedly signaled: "Silence! It is unseemly to be heard by the lifter. ”

The lady and the insiders barely suppressed their laughter, one wall made fun of the insider who asked the question, and the other wall raised their eyebrows and hooked their lips to look at Pei Xiang, waiting to hear him answer.

And Pei Xiang's answer did not disappoint them: "Feng Zhuangyuan married a lady a few years ago, but that lady died early and has not married since then. ”

"Oh......" the insiders replied, sounding relieved.

Seeing this, the princess couldn't help laughing, and whispered to me, "Do they have families, and what does it have to do with them?" They can't marry him, so why are they so concerned? ”

I laughed but didn't answer. Su Ri has been with the people in it for a long time, and he can vaguely guess their thoughts. Although they know that they will not be associated with the champion, they will always hope that he will remain single as much as possible in the face of a pleasing man, so as to give them more room for longing.

The first five people of the Jinshi were announced by the present person personally, and then the eunuchs were called in batches, and the roll call was completed to the fifth first, and the scholars who entered the hall bowed to Huang again, and the palace passed on the rumors and said: "Give the robes and wat of the scholars." ”

The green robe given to the Jinshi, the court wat is accumulated under the two houses outside the Jiying Palace. The first five people went out of the palace with the champion, and with the help of the eunuchs, they first added a light yellow silk shirt, and then wore a green Luo official uniform, tied a light yellow belt, and took over the white Jane Chaowat. Later, hundreds of scholars came over one after another, fighting for robes on the corridor, and they did not have time to take off their white robes, and directly added green robes to them. It was a mess, and all of them lost the calmness of the first five, and the palace concubines laughed again.

After the scholars finished wearing their shirts and belts, the eunuchs were led to the palace to thank them. After a while, he saw that the champion led the crowd to come out, and was led by the eunuch to the front of the Taiqing Building and saluted the queen.

The eunuch didn't give much instructions after bringing them over, and when I glanced at the end of Zhang Guifei on the west side, I had a moment of suspicion that the champion could not distinguish the queen's position, because the difference between the colored curtain ceremonial guards on the two sides was very small, and people who were not familiar with the rituals in the palace might not be able to distinguish it. But the champion Feng Jing just raised his eyes and glanced upstairs, then turned to the east side and led the crowd to bow down.

Miao Shuyi was probably the same as I thought, and when she saw him identify the queen's position at this moment, she smiled and said, "This champion has eyes." ”

Pei Xiang smiled and said: "If you don't know the difference between things and things, then you will be the champion in vain." ”

The queen smiled and motioned to the attendants to pass on the exemption, and ordered to take the dragon and phoenix group tea cake slots to give the champion and all the jinshi, and to give the examiner Zhi Gongju and Zhao Li, the bachelor of Hanlin, who were still in the Jiying Palace, with Qibao tea.

After the Jinshi salute, they retreated one by one, and the champion Feng Jing stayed in place, waiting for the rest of the people to disperse before getting up, bowing to the queen again, and then taking a few steps back after leveling, before turning around and leaving.

During this period, the young insiders behind the bead curtain crowded at the railing and looked at their eyes with affection, their cheeks crimson, and they were stunned when they saw the champion leave. The princess was small, and she was somewhat reserved before, so she didn't squeeze to the front to look, but at this moment, she was in a hurry when she saw that the champion was leaving, leaned over to the railing, and opened the bead curtain with the jade handle of the fan in her hand and looked at the champion.

Probably too panicked, her hand trembled, the fan slid down, fell slowly, drew a few circles in the air, and was blown forward by the wind and landed beside Feng Jing.

Feng Jing stopped, looked back upstairs, and traced the trajectory of the fan falling. He smiled at the corners of his lips, and for a moment he was still, providing a picturesque picture to be examined by those upstairs.

Compared with the champion Wang Gongchen nineteen years ago, Feng Jing's beauty is more warm. The former is as cold as walking out of the moonlight, while the latter has a smile and a clean smile, blending his calm self-confidence, wearing a light yellow silk shirt and green Luo clothes, which is given a gorgeous texture by his delicate eyebrows and graceful demeanor, which can make the viewer think of some pleasant images, such as the rain of willows and apricot blossoms on Mo, and the triumphant horseshoe disease in the spring breeze.

When the fan fell, the princess was slightly startled and retracted her hand, but after all, she was still curious, and she opened the two bead chains with her hand, and her eyes fell on the beautiful face of the man downstairs.

Feng Jing tilted his head slightly, squinted at the curtain on the upper floor of Taiqing, his soft smile was a little lazy, and his eyes were half-squinted, not knowing whether he was avoiding the golden sunlight or enjoying its breeze.

When the four eyes touched, the princess seemed to be burned, and immediately lowered her hand, letting the bead curtain cover her half-exposed face. This hasty behavior caused the palace concubine to laugh again, and she didn't even argue and refute it as usual.

Feng Jing downstairs picked up the fan with a smile and looked down. With one hand holding the handle of the fan, the other hand caressing the fan surface, as if he wanted to erase the shadow of the soap veil on his head and the crown tassel falling on the fan surface.

The princess upstairs silently looked straight ahead, the swaying crystal bead curtain in response to the spring sun, leaving a faint light and shadow on her face, and her cheeks were a little red in this careless swaying light and shadow.

The queen sent her inner servant down to Feng Jing as a salute, and asked her to retrieve the fan. Feng Jing bowed, raised his eyebrows with both hands, handed the fan to his insider, and then bowed again in the direction of the queen, and slowly retreated.

The inner came upstairs and handed the fan to the princess, but the princess didn't take it, took a step back, and said, "I don't want it if outsiders have touched it." ”

Yu Chongyi smiled when she heard this: "Ouch, when did the princess start to care so much about men and women?" ”

The crowd burst into laughter. The princess was shy and anxious, and whispered, "I'm too lazy to pay attention to you! He then took my hand, "Waiji, let's go." "Lead me down the stairs quickly and avoid the back garden.

I walked from wall to wall to keep an eye on her, and saw that her eyes were shining and her face was still crimson.

It was the first time she had truly realized the beauty of a man. I thought to myself. The fan pendant, if it was in the Tang Dynasty, might have become a good story - the champion at that time could be a princess.

Turning to my hand held by her, thinking of the fan that she abandoned because she had touched it, a originally vague thought became extremely clear at this moment: she didn't care about physical contact with me, although she didn't treat me as an outsider, but, more importantly, she didn't treat me as a man.

I took a deep breath on my back into the vegetatively scented March air, keeping my eyes open as wide as I could, so that the princess didn't notice the dampness in the corners of my eyes. It was the first time that she had made me so uncomfortable when she was intimate with me.

After the roll-call ceremony, the emperor will give the Jinshi wine and food as usual, and then give the champion a silk whip horse, and then assign seven guards from the Jinwu Division and two sections to escort the champion back to the Jinshi gathering place. It was dusk, and the emperor and queen brought the palace family to watch the banquet in the Shengping Building.

As soon as the emperor and queen arrived upstairs, before the banquet was held, an attendant came in and reported what happened to the champion: "The official, only the guards outside the Donghua Gate reported that the champion had just left the Donghua Gate, and there was a group of wealthy servants riding high-headed horses, surrounding Feng Zhuangyuan. ”

Jin Shang was dumbfounded: "How can this be reasonable, in broad daylight, he openly hijacked the champion outside the palace gate!" Do you know which slave it is? ”

The chamberlain hesitated and didn't answer, but Zhang Guifei on the side was quite uncomfortable, coughed lightly, and said to the present: "Official, the uncle of the concubine sent someone to tell the concubine that because of his appreciation for Feng Zhuangyuan's demeanor, I wanted to invite him to go to the house for a while. Those slaves must have belonged to his family. Although the slave was a little reckless, the uncle's invitation was all out of kindness, and he would be sent back after the banquet, so please don't worry about the champion. ”

The "uncle" that Zhang Guifei said is her uncle Zhang Yaozuo, who is the closest person to her in her father's family. In recent years, Zhang Guifei has been favored, and has repeatedly asked for rewards for Zhang Yaozuo, so that his official fortune is prosperous, and in mid-March, he just worshiped the three envoys of the power, and took charge of the financial power, which attracted the attention of officials in the DPRK and China. Zhang Yao Zuo Fang was in a position to lose the palace, and he was arrogant, and now he forcibly invited the champion to his mansion, and he would not simply talk about the wine.

Jinshang obviously understood, groaned slightly, and asked the concubine again: "How many of your sisters are waiting for the boudoir?" ”

Zhang Guifei smiled and said: "What the official family said is that there are still four who have not yet left the cabinet. ”

Jinshang smiled faintly, drank the wine in the glass, and said no more.

Zhang Guifei looked at him intently, and asked tentatively: "Official, since the champion feasted at the concubine's uncle's house, can you give him some imperial wine to show his special favor?" ”

Glancing at her, he said with a smile, "It's okay." ”

Zhang Guifei was overjoyed, and hurriedly called the waiter to select the royal wine and delicacies and send them to Zhang Yaozuo's house.

During this period, all the concubines watched silently, did not say much, and only then got together for a private chat after the banquet, and despised Zhang Yaozuo's behavior, saying that he must want to use the situation to force the marriage to the champion, not only to find a good son-in-law for his daughter, but also to win over the new upstarts in the future and make him a noble concubine.

When the princess heard a sentence or two, she was also very worried, and quietly asked me, "Will Feng Zhuangyuan agree?" ”

Thinking of the situation when the champion visited the Middle Palace during the day, I didn't hesitate and gave her a clear answer: "No." ”

The news came the next day that proved that I was right. Mrs. Zhang Yaozuo entered the palace early in the morning to see Zhang Guifei, and according to those who saw her, her face was tense and frosty.

The refusal of the champion she cried to the concubine quickly spread through the palace people of Ninghua Palace, removing Mrs. Zhang's whitewashing, and the matter should be like this: After the slaves of the Zhang family flocked to Feng Jing to Zhang Yaozuo's house, Zhang Yaozuo and Wang Zhen greeted each other with a smile and invited him to the table, and then Wang Zhen was the matchmaker to discuss the marriage, wanting to ask Feng Jing to marry Zhang Yaozuo's daughter. Zhang Yaozuo even took out the gold belt given by the previous emperor, and forced it to be tied around the waist of the champion, saying: "The saint also has the meaning of marriage." After another moment, the palace attendant came with wine, as if confirming the "finger marriage" theory. But Feng Jing did not nod in agreement, Zhang Yaozuo was in a hurry, and simply listed the luxurious equipment prepared for his daughter one by one and pointed it out to Feng Jing. Feng Jing smiled and ignored it, took off the gold belt and returned it to Zhang Yaozuo, and said, "The matter of marriage must be inherited by the orders of your parents. Now that Jiaci is not in the capital, Jing does not dare to make a private life, and hopes that Zhang Si will make Haihan. ”

Zhang Yaozuo said that it was okay, just send someone to Feng Jing's hometown and ask the old lady for permission, but Feng Jing smiled and said: "The day before yesterday, Jiaci sent a message to say that a marriage had been negotiated for Beijing. Jing didn't dare to disobey his mother's order, but asked Zhang Si to order the selection of Gaomen, Mo Yinjing, a cold and ugly person, mistook the son-in-law's good years. ”

Zhang Yaozuo asked Feng's mother whose woman she hired, and Feng Jing said that he didn't know everything. Zhang Yaozuo understood that he deliberately excused himself, but he had no choice but to let him go back.

In the next few days, Jinshang quickly expressed his true attitude towards this matter with an edict: Tianzhang Pavilion is to be systematized, and the officials Langzhong Wang Zhen knows Hongzhou.

It is said that even the people outside the palace were amazed after hearing about it, and many wealthy families even sent matchmakers to wait in front of Feng Jing's residence every day, and every time he went out, he would always be hit by a few hydrangeas in the crown clothes, so he had to increase the number of guards to protect him.

Soon after, the princess and I witnessed the grand occasion of the city's pursuit of the champion by the Jinming Pond.

On that day, the eldest princess of Wei Kingdom, the princess's grandmother, accidentally slipped while bathing at home, injuring her right humerus. His son sent someone to report, and when he heard about it, he ordered the queen to take the princess and Miao Shuyi to visit the main mansion, and I went with the princess.

The eldest princess of Wei is virtuous and gentle, and has always been generous and benevolent to her subordinates. Seeing that the chamberlain sent by the present reprimanded his attendant for not serving the lord well, he immediately said to the queen: "I am sixty-two years old, and I am weak in premature aging, so it is inconvenient for me to move, and I accidentally slipped. Please don't punish the officials and the queen. ”

The queen then ordered the chamberlain not to blame the waiter and not to hold him accountable. The lord called the princess, asked about the current situation, and gently told her to treat the horse and her family well in the future, be filial to her aunt, respect her husband, and so on. The princess agreed one by one, but her expression was not very serious, as if she did not care much.

Leaving the main mansion and returning to the palace, the princess and the queen rode in the same car, I rode a horse to accompany the car, and Miao Shuyi's palace car followed behind. Just arrived at Jinmingchi, but saw that the front of the avenue was crowded, bustling, and busy, and the queen's car was blocked and could not move forward.

The queen summoned her attendants to investigate. After a while, the attendant came back and said: "Today, Qionglin Yuan has a wedding banquet, and after the banquet, the champion and all the jinshi come out, and the people who are waiting outside the garden are rushing up to see its style, and there are many rich families who go out to choose a son-in-law's car, so the entire road in front of Jinmingchi is blocked. ”

A few days after the roll call of each Jinshi, the emperor will give a "Wenxi Banquet" in Qionglin Yuan, banquet the new Jinshi, and send the chamberlain and some officials to accompany him. And on that day, the people of the capital will also be moved by the wind and watch from the road. People who have daughters to be married in the family often prepare cars and horses, and when they see a young jinshi, they come forward to talk and invite, and even force them to go home to discuss marriage, and this kind of vehicle is called a son-in-law car.

In the past, the palace dependents traveled, must be the focus of tourists' attention, especially the queen's car, although the subjects respectfully avoided both sides when walking on the road, but they couldn't help but raise their heads to see, even though it is difficult to see the ** face, but to see the car driver honor guard is also something they are looking forward to. But today's situation is very different, the people who are blocking the road do not avoid it immediately, and do not pay much attention to the queen's guard of honor, but look forward to the car one by one, as if to wait.

It was not easy for the waiter to open the way, and it was difficult for the car to move, and it was grinding for a while when he stopped and walked. Later, when I heard another shouting in front of me, the tourists were gradually pushed aside and finally gave way. And a number of fast guards came head-on, holding a book with the emperor's hand-picked edict of the emperor Huang Kaidao, followed by a mixture of yellow flags, as many as dozens of hundreds of faces, each book and poem on the top, waving in the wind. Passing by the crowds like clouds, but seeing the champion Feng Jing slowly riding his horse, he was still wearing a yellow shirt and a green robe, wearing a square hanging eaves soap veil on his head, and the two purple silk groups on the left and right were tassels, hanging under his chin, lining his face like a crown of jade.

When Feng Jing saw Empress Fengyu, he immediately dismounted, approached on foot, and bowed solemnly in front of him.

The two entourages gently opened the phoenix embroidery curtain, so that the queen who was separated by a heavy veil could see the scene in front of her.

Looking at Feng Jing, and then at the rest of the Jinshi who were walking with him behind him, the empress asked him gently, "Zhuangyuanlang, where is your hairpin wearing palace flowers?" ”

The hairpin flower is called the hairpin. At the wedding banquet of the new Jinshi, the emperor will send the envoy to give the palace flowers, so that the Jinshi hairpin will be worn and returned. Now that the wedding banquet has been dispersed, the green-clothed men all have palace flowers, but Feng Jing is empty.

Feng Jing bowed his head and said: "Someone threw something down from the upstairs on the side of the street, touched the minister's crown, and knocked down the palace flower on the hairpin......"

"Huh?" The queen was surprised, "Someone dares to throw an object to hit Zhuang Yuanlang?" ”

At this time, an attendant named Champion Hedao stepped forward and knelt down, and explained to the queen with a smile: "Niangniang, what hit the crown of Champion Lang was the hydrangea thrown by a girl upstairs behind. The palace flower was knocked down by the hydrangea, and before it fell to the ground, it was already scrambling for it by onlookers on the street. ”

I raised my eyes and saw that there were indeed many colorful curtains set up by the mansions on both sides of the street, and presumably those young women were hidden in them to look at the champion, and at the end of this day, Feng Jing didn't know how many times he was hit by the hydrangea.

"Champion Lang has a good demeanor." The queen couldn't help laughing, and then instructed the insiders around her to pick down the peony flowers under the eaves of the car and put them on the hairpin.

The queen goes out to use the public opinion slightly wider than the eaves, the patterns are all dragons, in March still according to the customs of Bianjing Qingming, cold food, flower dynasty festival, on the top with willow miscellaneous flowers in clusters, four hanging shades. The flowers used today are all freshly picked at the Imperial Garden today, and they are still very delicate after half a day.

The peony flower hanging under the eaves is the left flower of a thousand leaves, and the purple leaves are dense and neat, also known as "flat-headed purple". The insider picked a hairpin and put it on the side of Feng Jing's heavy wear, Feng Jing smiled slightly, and bowed to the queen again.

The queen smiled and ordered him to be flattened, and when he avoided to the side, he was ordered to drive back to the palace. The embroidered curtain hung down, and the car set off, but the princess quietly rolled up the curtain on the side of the window, looked at Feng Jing with wide eyes, and the corners of her lips raised a vivid arc.

seemed to recognize the princess who had a half-face relationship with him, Feng Jingguan'er, and bowed to her slightly, and her elegant demeanor was still impeccable.

Back in the palace, the queen, the princess, and Miao Shuyi went to the Funing Palace first to return to the present. After talking about the eldest princess of the Wei Kingdom, the queen mentioned Feng Jing again, and told the scenes of thousands of people competing for the champion, the hydrangea hitting the palace flower, etc., and she laughed when she heard it, and shook her head again and again: "Traveling around the street leads to many things, and you can't order such a handsome show to be the champion in the future." ”

Having said that, there was a smile in the corners of his eyes and lips, as if he was deliberately complaining to outsiders about the shortcomings of his excellent children, which were not shortcomings, and there was a doting in his tone from the hearts of his parents.

Probably thinking of the concubine Li Wei, Miao Shuyi was very emotional, looked at Jinshang, and said half-truthfully: "The official family also thinks Feng Zhuangyuan is good?" If he met an emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he would probably be named a concubine. ”

Imakami smiled and replied half-truthfully: "I would like to make him a colt, but how can I have a second daughter?" Even if I have the ability to rob the green man as a son-in-law, I can't compare to the subjects in Beijing, especially those old men in the court, I really can't compete with them! ”

The princess listened silently all the time, and did not interject, perhaps it was awakened by Feng Jing, the shyness of the girl. After returning to Yifeng Pavilion, she sat quietly on the swing and thought about it for a long time, then suddenly sighed and asked me, "That Li Wei, is she really stupid and ugly?" ”