Qin Xun tied the dragon case ring on Qi Jing's waist that was only worn on formal occasions, and heard Qi Jing mention to him that at their birthday banquet this time, the top ten civil and military students in the imperial examination will also go to the banquet.

Among them, there is naturally Qin Xun who has been secretly staring at Guangling Juzi for several months, and Tian Shuyan, who is the third place in Wenju.

The pre-test assessment of the palace examination was released shortly after the Lantern Festival, and the top ten rankings of civil and military affairs released were actually virtual, but they were determined by the Ministry of Rites and the relevant examiners of Taixue, and they could be qualified to enter the Taiji Hall by the emperor's palace in front of the test.

Eighty percent will be released in the next few days, but these people who have already experienced the palace test are a little eager to get involved in the officialdom of the Chang'an court, and a birthday banquet at this stall is an excellent medium.

Maybe some people are not in a hurry, but if one of the top ten and twenty people in the civil and military ranks to participate in tonight's birthday banquet, even if they are in the way of face, they will not be willing to give people the handle of "self-confidence".

These newcomers to Chang'an City must be cautious in their actions.

Qin Xun tied Qi Jing's dragon case ring, and gently tugged to make sure it was fastened: "When the palace test list is released, I have to go and meet this Tian Shuyan for a while." ”

Qi Jing said: "I thought you would choose to be before the list. "After all, before the release of the list, it is uncertain who can be a high-ranking official and who will have to climb and roll, no matter how arrogant and arrogant he is, he dare not be a little respectful to Qin Xun, who is a nobleman in Chang'an, but when the list is released, if it is Tian Shuyan High School, with Qin Xun's old grudge with him in Guangling, Jiangnan in the past, I am afraid that Tian Shuyan will not be able to give Qin Xun face.

Qin Xun said with a smile: "I originally thought the same way, before the list was released, I was despicable and used power to suppress him, but I only changed my mind in the past two days, I just thought, if this Tian Shuyan is not angry, your father will not look down on him, then I didn't run for nothing, you are not I don't know me, how lazy I am." Hearing Qi Jing chuckle, he continued, "As for whether he will take Qiao with me if he fights for anger, tsk, anyway, I have a way to toss him and promise to obey him." ”

Qin Xun is also a grudge-minded person, because he has an old grudge with Tian Shuyan, he is not very polite when he speaks.

Qin Xun will not hide Qi Jing's own thoughts about tossing people, and Qi Jing will never account for his tricks, Qi Jing is not a bad person who is compassionate and compassionate, or he is not a good person.

People in the world sometimes joke or sigh that it is difficult to be a good person, it is easy to be a bad person, and a bad person can put down the butcher knife and become a Buddha, in fact, the bad person can put down the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot, but because the butcher knife he put down still belongs to him, he can pick it up again at any time if he needs to, and he will not become a waste person who can be slaughtered because he puts down the butcher knife.

Therefore, Qi Jing and Qin Xun, they live in such a whirlpool of imperial power, and in the face of such treacherous situations, they can be good friends with people at the right time, but they must have a sharp blade in their hands for defense and attack.

When Qin Xun changed his clothes, Qi Jing gave him a hand, measured his figure by the way, and quipped: "I saw that you were still a little childish before, but on today's birthday, I suddenly feel that you have grown up." ”

"Is it better to grow up or be young?"

"It's all good." Qi Jing kissed him on the forehead, "After all, no matter how old you are, you are seventy or eighty, and you are always one year younger than me, so for me, you will always be young." He can also pamper Ah Xun forever like a child who hasn't grown up.

Qin Xun liked to listen to this very much, and immediately generously said that he wanted to give Qi Jing a little reward: "You can use the posture you like tonight!" ”

Qi Jing couldn't cry or laugh: "Tonight's birthday banquet is a must, I am afraid that you will be too drunk to find the north when you come back, so it is better to rest early." ”

It's good that he didn't mention it, but as soon as he mentioned Qin Xun, he thought of the jar that was confiscated in just a moment, and leaned on Qi Jing's chest flatteringly: "The jar of liquor given by Brother Tiger, you promised me, you will give me a few mouthfuls on my birthday." ”

"Say it again." Qi Jing relented for a moment that day, but at this moment, he was thinking that he didn't know how drunk Qin Xun would be at the end of a birthday banquet, afraid that his body would not be able to withstand the wine, and he was a little hesitant, and after being vague, he was afraid that Qin Xun would not give up, so he hurriedly said, "You sit down, I will comb your hair, you need to dress appropriately for today's birthday banquet, you can't tie your hair so casually, I'll tidy it up for you." ”

Qin Xun looked behind him from the bronze mirror, Qi Jing moved gently to comb his hair, and took advantage of the fact that he had just talked about this year's move, and found relevant topics to chat with him, asking him about the transfer of officials, they have rumors here.

"There are only two things that need to be cared about, one is that Zhang Huahou Shen Ting originally went to Xuzhou to take up his post after the current senior prefect of Xuzhou retired, but his father temporarily changed his mind and wanted to transfer the current Jinling prefect to Xuzhou, and let Zhang Huahou go to Jinling prefect."

Qin Xun pondered for a moment: "Your Majesty can't trust him." ”

Qi Jing let out an "um".

It is not unreasonable to let Shen Ling go to the prefect of Jinling, on the contrary, it is reasonable, and even on the surface it seems that the emperor treats Zhang Huahou well, after all, in the area south of the Yangtze River, Jinling is the head of the five states, if Zhang Huahou's identity is only the neighboring Xuzhou prefect, the identity of the original Jinling prefect is a little embarrassing, and it is absolutely inappropriate to press Zhang Huahou, the Jinling prefect gave up the official position to Zhang Huahou, and he was transferred to the original Zhang Huahou official position, which can be regarded as a personal favor, and it reflects that Jinshang still values the descendants of this declining nobleman.

However, the emperor's mind is nothing more than that, after all, Jiangnan is thousands of miles away from Chang'an, and the emperor sometimes inevitably feels that the whip is beyond his reach, originally Shen Ling received a "Marquis of Zhanghua" knighthood It doesn't matter much, but once he receives an official position, he has real power, and once he has power in his hands, he can always set off some storms with crooked thoughts.

Although Jinling is now distributed as a fief to his most optimistic third son, Prince Ling, Qi Jing can take control of the entire five states in the south of the Yangtze River by the way, but after all, Xuzhou is only adjacent to Jinling, and it is not a real Qi Jing fief, and there will be no one and a half

The guarded Xu Zhou was handed over to Shen Ling, and the emperor was still not very relieved, so it was better to let him be the prefect of Qi Jing's fiefdom Jinling, no matter how he moved, Qi Jing was pressed on it.

Compared with a Shen family who has a deep blood feud with him, the emperor is of course more at ease with his own son, he also knows what kind of temperament his son is, even if he has a few personal contacts with that Shen Ling because of Qin Xun, he will never allow others to threaten the imperial power of the Qi family.

Qin Xun sighed lightly and asked him, "What about the other one?" ”

"Another ......" Qi Jing hesitated slightly, "Chu Shengxiong." ”

When Qin Xun heard Chu Shengxiong's name, he knew why he unconsciously hesitated, and he must have had a grudge against the rumors of "broken sleeves" that he and Chu Tianwen had made a fuss in the Pingzhou Academy back then.

He laughed: "What's wrong with Chu Shengxiong, could it be that he was transferred to Chang'an in one step?" ”

"Hmm."

This time, Qin Xun was stunned, he just joked casually, but he didn't expect to be right.

"The court of Chang'an has been crawling up little by little for so many years, he is a Pingzhou county commander, why did he suddenly transfer to Chang'an, if you really want to say that the official is transferred to the court, Xu Wenhui, who is also the Pingzhou county commander, is not a hundred times better than him?"

Combing the slightly curly green silk on the tips of his hair, Qi Jing began to tie his hair: "I didn't praise him too much in the official report that I supervised Jiangnan that day, and I was a little surprised by this news, I don't know what my father was thinking, I only guessed part of it." ”

Qin Xun was not stupid, and asked vaguely: "Something to do with Changqin?" He was actually referring to Chu Ci's late father, the former hussar general Chu Zhenggong.

"Somewhat related."

In the first few years after Qi Jing and Qin Xun most of the children of their generation were not born and first ascended the throne at the age of eighteen, Chu Shengxiong was still a relative of the Chu family because he was a hussar general, and he mixed an official and a half-post in the Chang'an court, and had frequent contacts with the Chu Zhenggong family of the lineage, and then a year before the decline of the Shen family, it was also in a trial and transfer at the beginning of the year, Chu Shengxiong took the official position of Pingzhou County Commander who went to the south of the Yangtze River, and took his parents and relatives away from the Chang'an court, and also married a wife and had children in Jiangnan, and never set foot in the imperial capital after settling down.

Therefore, in the successive declines of the Shen family and the Chu family in the next few years, these two major changes that can be called shocking the court, Chu Shengxiong, who lives far away in the south of the Yangtze River, is safe and sound, and there are not many people who can think of an inconspicuous petty official surnamed Chu in the Chang'an court back then.

When Chu Ci left Beijing with the son of Guangling to settle in Jiangnan, Chu Shengxiong, who was also in Jiangnan, came to the door looking for a kinship relationship and asked to succeed Chu Ci as a son, although Chu Ci was reluctant, but he also knew that he was not a relative of the prince of Guangling, and a half-old child always relied on the side of the prince of Guangling to drag him down somewhat, or there was a nominal family in Jiangnan that was more appropriate, so he also recognized it.

Qin Xun learned from Chu Ci that when he was born about this part of the elders of the Chu family before they were born, he still sighed in his heart that Chu Shengxiong was quite prescient, if he hadn't left Beijing early, even if it was just a side line of the Chu family, it would inevitably be affected in the later Chu Zhenggong's self-apologisation, and he was far away

Jiang Nan is still just a petty official, and the emperor can't stretch out his hand so far to toss him.

But this little-known Jiangnan petty official, now after many years, is suddenly about to be brought to the stage again, and the events of that year have to be thought about.

There are some things that cannot be thought about, and the more you think about them, the more frightening they become.

Regarding the family changes of the junior uncle Shen Ling and Xiao Chuci, Qin Xun suddenly didn't know how to speak: "Could it be that I think too much?" Chu Shengxiong didn't seem to mix well in Chang'an in his early years, do you think that Changqin's father and the Shen family were ...... Will there be a share of him? ”

Qi Jing combed his hair, and his voice was a little light: "Many times it may not be a good thing to be meticulous, it is better than letting others kill us by surprise." As if he felt that it was inappropriate to say these words at this moment, the corners of his lips raised and he smiled, "Today's birthday, I don't want to think about these miscellaneous things." You're okay, are you going to brush my hair? If you can't, you still call Qingyan to come in? ”

That's right, what do you want to do with so many chores on your birthday, Qin Xun thought so, and hurriedly got up to change Qi Jing to sit in front of the bronze mirror, and took the comb in Qi Jing's hand: "I'll try it, I haven't combed my hair properly." "It doesn't matter if it's your own or someone else's.

It turns out that Qin Xun is really not modest, he hasn't combed his hair properly since he was a child, it's okay to just bunch it, it is still unseemly to go to the birthday banquet of a gentleman and an official seriously, Qi Jing held a crooked hair, and finally called Qing Yan in to comb it again.

Qin Xun scolded aside, adding a pastime to his future days: "In the future, I will practice combing your hair in the days when you don't have to go out, it's best to wait until you are twenty and crowned, I can personally tie your hair and wear a crown!" What do you think? ”

"Okay."

Qin Xun was happy for a while, and then shook his head again: "But you can't practice too often, it's not good to pull you bald." ”

Qi Jing: "......"

Qin Xun approached him worriedly, and emphasized to him again: "I told you before, do you still remember, just say that once you have signs of baldness, you must tell me, Doctor Qin has a lot of panacea here, as long as it is not particularly serious, it can always give you remedy, you must tell me!" Don't be embarrassed, I don't dislike you! Be sure to tell me! ”

Qing Yan, who was silently combing Qi Jing's hair, couldn't help but laugh "poof", Qi Jing's face was a little unbearable, and he blushed slightly: "...... Knowing that, there is no such crisis yet, so there is no need to worry. ”

There are still some times before the birthday banquet, Qin Xun didn't want to go so early, and when he was wandering in Jingyang Palace, he happened to go around to the edge of the flower garden, and saw the red bean that he came to Jingyang Hall for fun last autumn and was later planted by Qi Jing.

He turned back to Qi Jing who was swaying with him and said, "By the way, it's about the right time of year for green plums, go back and let people go to the market to pick up some good ones and come back, and brew some green plum wine to drink." Speaking of the word "wine", he hurriedly added, "The green plum wine is not very intoxicating, you can drink it, don't let it." ”

"Yes

Yes, yes. Qi Jing stretched out his finger and poked his forehead, "You know wine all day long." ”

"I know you!" Qin Xun rubbed over and flattered him sweetly, "People say 'if you don't get drunk with wine, everyone gets drunk', I think wine is the one who is intoxicating, and you are the one who makes people get drunk!" ”

Qi Jing laughed: "Let Zichang hear this kind of words, and I want to say that you are tired of sour teeth." ”

Counting that the hour was about the same, the two of them set off from Jingyang Hall by chariot, and when they approached the imperial garden banquet hall, Qin Xun was suddenly hungry, and hurriedly asked the palace people to avoid the crowd in front of them, and sent the palace people to the imperial dining room to bring out two small bowls of noodles first, and pulled Qi Jing to jump on the high ceiling of the palace around a banquet hall and sit side by side, eating noodles while condescendingly looking at the guests who came to the banquet one after another under the house.

When Qi Jing came back to his senses, he was already sitting on the roof with him, and he stuffed a bowl of noodles in his hand, Qin Xun's martial arts were not very good, but the light skills were reasonable, holding two bowls of soup noodles on the roof, but they didn't spill out, Qi Jing laughed: "You really said that the wind is the rain." ”

(End of chapter)