In the second year of Jiayou, the princess was double ten, according to the customs of the Great Song Dynasty, if the woman did not leave the cabinet after this year, she would be an old girl who lost her marriage. Therefore, today began to order people to prepare for the princess's descent, and the wedding date was set for the second half of the year, and before that, the princess would be crowned first, and her mother Miao Shuyi would also be pushed into the rank and moved her position.

Miao Shuyi is expected to become the first concubine to be among the four concubines after Zhang Guifei, which is the only thing she is looking forward to at present. After a long talk to the princess that day, the princess no longer rebelled against the marriage arranged for her by her father, but as the wedding date approached day by day, she became more and more depressed.

Jinshang did not ignore her depression, and also asked with concern: "Huirou, are you unhappy?" ”

And the princess just bowed her head and replied softly: "It's just that there is nothing to do all day, and it is a little boring." ”

Jinshang smiled and suggested: "The flowers in Yichun Garden are blooming well this year, you can go and take a look." ”

So in March, Deng Baoji was ordered to allocate dozens of guards from the Imperial City Division to escort the princess to Yichun Garden together with the princess's usual honor guards.

The trees are sparse and the birds are far away, the water is quiet and the flowers are deep, Yichun Garden is still the same as in the old days, the new warbler brushes the willow tops, and the poplars of thousands of trees are full of Luffy. But this hustle and bustle of spring does not ignite a little glimmer in the princess's eyes, she is independent of the red bridge in the garden, looking at the spring water under her feet, and maintaining a static posture for a long time, letting the shadow float in the pool, and the flowers fall in the shirt.

At noon, she turned to look at me and said, "Let's go back." ”

The journey back was not smooth. When we reached Fantai Street, there were people gathering in front of me to make noise, and many passers-by stopped to watch, so that the road was blocked.

Deng Baoji has resumed his duties as the Imperial City Division, and he is also accompanying the attendants today, and when he saw this, he immediately led the horse over to check. After a while, Deng Baoji came back and said to the princess: "It was a group of people who surrounded Ouyang Neihan, reprimanded him, and did not allow him to leave. ”

Hearing this, the princess glanced at me, and probably understood the situation.

In the first month of this year, Ouyang Xiuquan, a bachelor of Hanlin Academy, was appointed to be the chief examiner of this year's tribute. In recent years, Tai scholars love to write sinister and strange articles, which have attracted scholars to follow suit, and even become a fashion in the country, known as "Taixue style". It is said that Ouyang Xiu was very disgusted with this style of writing, and decided to suppress it, and when reviewing the test papers, if he saw "too scholarly style", he would abandon them. Therefore, as soon as the results of the provincial examination of the Ministry of Rites and Tribute Academy came out, the whole world was shocked, and those who were praised by people before were not among the winners. Now that the court examination has been completed, the list of Jinshi selected by the examiner has been submitted to the emperor, and the final result will be announced in the palace tomorrow, Ouyang Xiu has lifted the lock of the hospital, and now it should be just after the return of the dynasty.

"Waiji," the princess commanded me, "you go and see." ”

I agreed, and rode my horse at once.

At this time, Ouyang Xiu had been heavily surrounded by the lifters, although there were several attendants and street guards guarding them, there were many people who had no choice but to make trouble, and they all tried their best to step forward and try to get close to him. The guards could only gather around the horse he was riding, trying not to touch him.

Some of them are angry, some are contemptuous, and some are smiling and mocking.

"The Taixue style has no sense of rigidity and rigidity, and it is not flat and straightforward, it is bland, and the words and sentences are all new, which is enough to reflect the talents of the scholars, what is wrong? Such a style of writing is respected all over the world, but why is it not allowed in Neihan? ”

"Gongju is to select usable talents for the Son of Heaven, not to let you Ouyang Neihan pick a protégé, how can you abandon the world's recognized Taixue talent because of one person's likes and dislikes?"

"I heard that Ouyang Neihan often composed poems with the rest of the examiners Wang Qi, Mei Zhi, Han Jiang, and Fan Zhen during the lockdown of the hospital, plus the little examiner Mei Yaochen, and the poems he sang and composed were enough to produce a collection. is so lazy about singing, can our test papers be tested a little more, do you read them carefully? ”

"It is said that when several examiners sing good sentences, good sentences are frequently produced. Ouyang Neihan, you once described the scene in the examination room as 'the rank of a warrior without a bang, and the sound of cannibalizing leaves in the spring', and Mei Shengyu described the scene of the Gongyuan as follows: "The spring is warm during the war, and the night is deep in the five-star bright place. 'Tsk, you compare yourself with five stars, and take my generation as silkworm ants, which shows the humility and virtue of the examiner! ”

……

Such words came and went, but Ouyang Xiu always remained silent, stood on his horse, and did not respond.

After a while, another person began to question his knowledge: "In the Ministry of Rites exam, Neihan, your question is 'make the people tireless through its changes', which is strange, how do I remember that the original sentence in "Yi Chuan" is 'make the people tireless through its changes'? ”

As soon as these words came out, someone answered: "What a surprise is this, who doesn't know now, 'The examiner prefers exogenous and'!" Haha......"

Everyone around them laughed when they heard this, Ouyang Xiu's demeanor was still calm, but his complexion couldn't help but change slightly.

Ouyang Xiu really likes to use the word "and" in the text. He was entrusted by others to write a "Xiangzhou Painting Jintang Record", which has a sentence: "The eunuch is the general, and the wealth returns to his hometown." After writing and sending it, I felt that it was inappropriate under further consideration, so I sent someone to quickly recover the original manuscript and send it back after revision. The visitor read the revised draft and found that he just changed the above sentence to "The eunuch will come to the general, and the rich will return to his hometown".

Of course, this is not intended to discuss his literary preferences, but only to use the homonym of "exogenous" to imply that he has fornicated with his niece.

This sentence immediately attracted Juzi's interest to his boudoir affairs, some people smiled and asked about Zhang's recent situation, and some people began to sing the song "Wangjiangnan", and then, Ouyang corrected a brown-clothed man in front of him raised his voice and sang a "Drunk Penglai": "Seeing the shame and embarrassment, the tender face is evenly red, and the plain waist is na." On the side of the red medicine bar, I am annoyed that I have not taught Yi. Half-concealed shyness, his voice trembled, and asked if anyone knows? Forced Luo skirt, stole back the eye waves, and feintmed to sit. I even asked what if, after the matter was completed, the clouds and temples were messed up, and the mother guessed ......"

The meaning of this word is ugly, describing the cheating of men and women, and the man in brown is singing on one wall, and the other wall is holding his arms and hands, making his daughter shy, which attracts more and more ridicule from everyone. And at the end of the song, several people raised their voices and harmonized, it seems that this word is not a new work at this time, it should have been sung for a while.

"This word was also filled in by Ouyang Neihan?" One of the onlookers asked.

The man in brown stopped and said with a smile: "If it weren't for 'talent and frivolity', who would be able to explain the realm in the words, and be busy with flowers?" ”

"Talent and frivolity" and "long is busy with flowers" are the words in Ouyang Xiu's "Wangjiangnan". Listening to the meaning of this person's words, it actually meant that the beautiful words sung by Shicai were also from Ouyang Xiu's hand.

Ouyang Xiu's eyebrows frowned slightly, but he didn't say anything to refute it for a while. Everyone laughed, and I was thinking about how to relieve Ouyang Neihan, but a green-shirted scholar stood up first.

This person is in his twenties, with a long body, sparse eyebrows, and a thin face. The corners of his lips were slightly raised to the right, and with a nonchalant smile, he walked up to the brown-clothed man and asked, "Your Excellency is Liu of Lead Mountain?" ”

Lead Mountain Liu Ji, I have also heard this name, before the provincial examination of the Ministry of Rites, he was regarded as a popular candidate for the champion as an excellent student who was good at Taixue style, and after the exam, the world was so surprised, half of it was because he saw him fall off the list.

The man in brown didn't hide it, raised his chin, and smiled proudly: "It's just me." ”

"Disrespectful, disrespectful." The green-shirted scholar smiled and saluted, and said slowly: "Brother Liu's "Drunken Penglai" has a charming meaning, soft and tactful, and can be called a masterpiece among flowers, which is enough to be passed on to future generations, so why attribute this word to Ouyang Neihan's name and make others plunder the beauty?" ”

Liu Ji looked him up and down quite suspiciously, and was about to answer, but was stopped by the man's words: "This word seems to be perfect, but Brother Liu has always been humble, these days he still repeatedly scrutinized, asked people for their opinions, unfortunately asked my friend in the same year, this same year and brought it to me, I was greatly impressed under the reading, Zhuyu in front, I dare not change a word again......

Liu Ji didn't refute when he heard this, he just sneered, presumably this "Drunken Penglai" was from Liu Ji's pen, deliberately misleading Ouyang Xiu to write about his affairs.

Seeing that Liu was speechless, the scholar walked slowly to the person who questioned Ouyang Xiu's mistake in writing the test questions, and said: "Although each sentence must have a source, it is not always listed according to the original text, word for word. Add the word "and" to the phrase "make the people tireless" in 'through its changes', the meaning has not changed, but the tone is more soothing under the recitation, and the tone is more frustrating, which can better reflect the beauty of the poem's rhythm, why not? ”

After waiting for a moment, he didn't hear the listeners distinguish, he turned to look at the scholars around him, and said loudly: "Li Yishan, the originator of Xixikun, is famous all over the world for his poetry and writing. When asked where Bai Lotian's whimsical metaphor came from, Lotte replied: "A certain poem does not seek whimsy for the text, but looks at the quality of its words - simple and popular, easy to understand, and clear at a glance; His words are straightforward and to the point - write straightforwardly, get close to the facts, and let those who hear them admonish; The facts are verified and true - the content is true, there is a document, and the person who took it will pass on the letter; It is smooth and unbridled – the text is smooth, easy to sing, and can be played in a movement song. When Yishan heard this, he was ashamed and retreated. And now, since the fifth generation, culture and education have declined, and customs have flourished. The saint sighed, wanting to clarify the source of the drawbacks, and recruited the majestic and burly and simple people, and removed the text of the delicate and light bush of wrong embroidery, so as to tell the world, and the scholars did not know the heart of the son of tomorrow, and the intention was excessive. Connectivity is not yet possible, let alone anything else? Xikun is still alive, and he is too learned to make new cheats. Ouyang Neihan personally held the handle, determined to change the shortcomings of the examination room, and must get the world's wizards for the use of the Son of Heaven, this is to respect the king's order, conform to the emperor's will, what is the crime? ”

Liu Ji sneered at this moment, and cross-examined sideways: "Brother Tai defends Ouyang Neihan everywhere, and he must also be one of the 'wonders of the world' he recruited." I don't know tomorrow's roll call, where is it? ”

The green-shirted scholar smiled and responded: "Before the provincial examination, I lived in a remote place, and this is the first time I have entered Beijing. People in the countryside, the news is blocked, Ouyang Neihan wants to reform the disadvantages of Taixue, I also learned after the provincial examination, the exam is a consistent style, and did not bend to cater to it, and Ouyang Neihan is even more ignorant of life, today I occasionally pass through here, I have to see the true face of Neihan, and there are many people, Neihan will not know who my surname is. During the provincial examination, I was the same as all my brothers, and the test paper was sealed and transcribed, and there was no way to cheat. Although he barely won the name of the Ministry of Rites and participated in the court examination, he is not sure about the results of tomorrow's roll call, or he will fall off the list like your brothers, and it is not known. ”

——

Note: "Neihan" is an honorific title for the Hanlin Bachelor.