In the blink of an eye, it has entered the wax moon, the sacrificial activities in the palace have increased, the Ministry of Rites has many things, and the palace people are also busy, and the Taoist leaders of Jiudan Palace have been invited to enter the Zijin City to divinate and sacrifice to prepare for the New Year.

It was rare for the imperial capital to lift the curfew, and the eastern and western cities stayed up all night. Although there was a light snowfall, it was not deserted at all, and whenever you went, you could see the scene of crowds. The war in the north and the floods in the south of the Yangtze River did not seem to affect the prosperity of the imperial capital.

Those who do business take advantage of the year to be busy again and earn more silver to go home for the New Year, while the common people are carrying a year's hard-earned money to buy some new clothes for their families and buy some New Year's goods.

And Xiao He began to ponder that there was no eyeliner in the palace, which was a problem after all.

On the one hand, she also needs to know the movements of the Ten Palaces Yama in the palace, and the Qinglong Hall can put her hand into the palace, and if she wants to say that there is no internal response, she doesn't believe it; On the other hand, Xue Liang'an only relied on Xue Liangan to investigate the news in the palace after all, although she was in and out of the palace frequently now, but she didn't see Mu Churan many times, except for the court or being summoned by him, there was basically no other opportunity.

And the opportunity is to create it yourself.

She called Han Dong, who was in charge of training the government soldiers, to discuss with him, "The new kid who entered the mansion is a spirit?" ”

Han Dong has been in charge of training government soldiers for more than two months, and from selecting people to enter the government to daily training, he has achieved initial results. Xiao He had seen them practicing in the backyard, and they looked like each other.

"Childe, do you want to pick a personal guard?" Han Dong asked him clearly about the purpose of employing people.

Xiao He glanced at him and said without concealment: "I want to be sent to the palace and be a guard." ”

Han Dong was stunned for a moment, but he quickly turned around, this year, the palace sent people to keep an eye on the outside, and people from the outside also entered the palace. It is not difficult for him to understand Xiao He's thoughts, Ji Changge was too upright and unwilling to spend his thoughts in these places, so he was repeatedly calculated.

Now seeing that although Xiao He is young, his thoughts and worries are older than his age, which is gratifying, but it is also a little unbearable. If such a scheming hadn't experienced inhuman tribulations, how could he have a quiet cold light in his glass-like eyes.

At the beginning, they agreed to Ji Changge to serve Xiao He, mostly because they were in Ji Changge's affection, and they could not be shirked. But when he came to Xiao's Mansion and spent the past few months with Xiao He, he was not only approachable to the people in the mansion, but also called them brothers, and there was no arrogance at all. The officials of the DPRK and China who came to visit the house were all Qingliu, and if you look at the people he interacted with, you can know that Ji Changge was not wrong at the beginning.

The time is not long, but it can make Han Dong and the others desperate to be willing to follow him.

As long as Xiao He speaks up, what he wants to do, Han Dong and they will do their best to help him complete it.

Now to send people into the palace to be guards, no more than in previous years, since Mu Churan was in power, the appointment of people in the palace is getting less and less year by year, and it is becoming more and more strict. If there is no connection, or careful preparation, I am afraid that even the primary election will be very difficult.

And Xiao He's plan needs a fresh face that can see and hear in all directions. She looked at the list given by Han Dong and said, "Let's choose it in the mansion first." ”

The backyard of Xiaofu is a specially carved out open space, nine zhang square, but there is everything, and the left side is a weapon rack and a wooden pile. On the right are six red heart targets. In addition to her own martial arts practice here, it is also a place where Han Dong trains government soldiers.

In order to screen people, Xiao He specially designed three questions.

The first is to test your skills.

She ordered a thigh-thick wooden stake to be lifted, erected three feet high, and a paper lantern was hung on the top. The rules are very simple, the more than 20 young government soldiers who are participating in the election will go together, and whoever can get the paper lantern first and ensure that the lantern is handed over to her will win.

Waiting for Han Dong's order, this group of government soldiers rushed to the bottom of the pillar standing in the middle of the courtyard like a group of monkeys. It is unlikely that they will climb together, so someone will react immediately and deal with the people around them first.

A strong man knocked over a few people next to him first, stepped on the shoulders of others and climbed up.

Xiao He watched quietly from the side, this person can be regarded as a quick reaction, sacrificing others to fulfill himself, and his heart is ruthless enough. It's a pity that he couldn't climb halfway before he was pulled down by several other people and fell heavily to the ground.

Hongzhu pushed the hill and came over to see the excitement.

Xiao He specially ordered someone to make a wooden wheelchair for Xiaoshan, so that he would not be sick in the house all day long and be bored. Although he still doesn't like to talk very much now, at least when he sees Xiao He, he will smile.

Xiao He stretched out his hand and pressed lightly on the back of Xiaoshan's hand, feeling that his hand was a little cold, so he instructed Hongzhu: "Come into the house and get a soup woman, and then take a cloak, it should be thick." Hongzhu nodded, turned around and went to fetch it.

"It's windy in the backyard, don't freeze anymore." Xiao He stood beside him and whispered.

She has no brothers and sisters since she was a child, so she is especially envious of the large number of brothers and sisters in other people's families. The day Dai Qingshan left him here, she decided to take care of him like a younger brother.

Xiaoshan raised his face and glanced at her, the corners of his lips melting into a warm smile.

Xiao He's gaze fell back to the courtyard, the group of monkeys won the battle, and the fight was also strong, under the competition of fists and feet, there were soon winners and losers, but this was not a one-on-one competition. Xiao He is not testing their kung fu, if it is just to test kung fu, it is not easier to let them come out to fight.

Suddenly, she saw a small child in the corner, who looked no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, but his eyes were clear, and he kept his body like a latent young beast, vigilantly observing the movements, waiting for an opportunity to move.

The foundation of the stake was a little unstable, and in the process of everyone fighting for it, the pillar staggered, and suddenly fell to the side. The little man who had been waiting on the periphery at the beginning, like a cunning rabbit out of a hole, rushed to the top of the stake in three or two and took down the paper lantern.

When everyone saw that the kid had taken the lead, they hurried to surround him. The boy reached out and lifted the lantern above his head and shouted, "Here you go!" Then he threw it in one direction. Everyone swarmed to pick up the lantern again.

At this time, this kid handed over the real paper lantern in his arms to Xiao He.

Han Dong announced the end of the first level competition.

Xiao He looked at the young man and asked him, "What did you throw out?" ”

The young man smiled shyly, "I folded paper bags by myself." ”

Xiao He also smiled, he won this question, and three points were lucky.

The second question is the written test, Xiao He asked everyone to take a break, and also prepared pen and ink.

When Han Dong heard that it was going to be a written test, he was a little embarrassed, "Childe doesn't know, we don't read much, so these monkey cubs didn't teach them to read and write, I'm afraid this written test will ...... I'm afraid it's going to be a ghost drawing. ”

Xiao He's eyes bent, "I just want them to draw ghost talismans." ”

When the subordinates were preparing the case and the four treasures of the study, Xiao He asked Han Dong who was the kid who won the first time just now. Han Dong said: "That kid, whose nickname is San'er, is an orphan with no father and mother, and he doesn't even remember his surname. People are quite clever and a little slippery. ”

I'm afraid it's not just a slippery head, Xiao He's heart moved, and he asked, "Where did you find the people?" ”

Han Dongcai explained that this San'er was bought from Renyazi, and at that time, he saw that his face was yellow and thin, and his body was covered with various scars, so he didn't want him. But he kept crying and begging to buy himself, and he was very pitiful. Renyazi said that he was eighteen, no matter how he looked at it, he bought it and asked, only to know that his actual age was only sixteen, but he was malnourished for a long time, and he looked like he was fourteen or five years old.

People are indeed clever and diligent, and there has been nothing wrong since entering the house.

"What other relatives does he have?" Xiao He's face was also a little moved.

"I'm afraid it's gone, he said that his adoptive father sold him, his hometown suffered a disaster, and he couldn't survive, he was sold for a few dollars, and he could change his adoptive parents' house for a few full meals." Han Dong said softly.

If what these three say is true, then he is really a good boy who knows how to repay his kindness.

At the beginning of the second question, Xiao He wrote two sentences on the paper.

One is Chinese and the other is Uighur. There are only about 20 words in total. This Uighur script was only used by the royal family of the Great Moon, and there were probably very few people in Yin who could read Uighur script.

She wrote, hung up the paper, and ordered incense to be lit.

"You have a pillar of incense time, look at these two sentences, no matter what method you use to memorize, the time is over, and then there is a stick of incense time, silent on the white paper in front of you. If you can write, you can write, and if you can't read, you can draw. ”

After she explained the rules, she saw that most of the people below had expressions on their faces eating yellow lotus, most of them were born in martial arts, and they came from poor families, not to mention writing, even to recognize words, it is estimated that they are counting with their fingers, and the words they can recognize can be counted with one hand.

The hill next to him was slightly surprised, "Will you be a Huihu?" ”

Xiao He smiled faintly, "I understand a little bit." ”

She knew Uighur, and thanks to her father, who had been to Otsuki, the past was so old to her that she didn't want to think about it anymore.

It was rare to hear Xiaoshan take the initiative to ask, so she turned her head and asked him, "What?" Are you interested in Otsuki's terroir? ”

He looked away, his eyes lit up, "No. ”

It is difficult to open the hill once, and even if it does, it is a pity to say that it is like gold.

"Then how did you come to be a Uighur?" Xiao He deliberately teased him.

When Xiaoshan was reluctant to explain, he remained silent. This stuffy gourd-like temper can make Hongzhu die in a hurry, but Xiao He doesn't care at all, he doesn't say anything, she doesn't ask anymore.

It's time for the second question.

The blank paper of the contestants was placed on the case, and Xiao He personally went down to judge. Sure enough, they are all crooked and miserable, but even so, there are some who are slightly over-eye-catching.

She was able to recognize two of them, including San'er's characters, and although the Uighur script was a little ugly, the Chinese characters were neatly written.

"Are you literate?" Xiao He pressed his shoulder and asked.

"My adoptive father is in charge of the accounts in the restaurant, and he once taught me a few words." San'er saw Xiao He ask himself personally, his cheeks were slightly red, and he looked like a young man's shyness.