Zhao Kangqiang said: "I said why haven't I seen him come to the store for a long time, I thought he was going out to do business." ”

Zhao Xiaoli asked curiously, "And then?" How did he and his eldest brother do in the exam? "It's been a long time since the imperial examinations ended, but they still haven't seen the people who report the good news coming, which makes everyone a little nervous.

"Guess?" Cai Xiaoxiao tilted her head with a smile and said mysteriously.

Zhao Kangqiang and Zhao Xiaoli glanced at her face, and saw that there was a smile between her eyebrows, Zhao Kangqiang thought about it for a while, and then said with a smile: "Seeing that my sister-in-law has a smile on her face, and she still has the heart to guess riddles with us, presumably the eldest brother must have obtained a good reputation, right?" ”

"That's smart." Cai Xiaoxiao looked at him with a smile, "You're right, your eldest brother did pass the exam." ”

"Leader? Exploring flowers? Or is it the champion? Zhao Xiaoli immediately asked excitedly.

"What do you think?" Cai Xiaoxiao raised her chin slightly, and asked with a very proud expression.

Seeing her look like this, the two immediately knew the answer without asking, and immediately cheered happily: "Champion! It's definitely the champion! Big brother has won the top prize! That's great! My mother must be very happy to know hahahaha......"

Cai Xiaoxiao smiled and watched the two of them jump and jump, full of excitement.

When the two of them were finally happy enough, they remembered Zheng Yi, and Zhao Xiaoli asked Cai Xiaoxiao: "What about Brother Zheng?" Did he pass the exam? ”

"Him?" Thinking of the unreliable Zheng Yi, the corners of Cai Xiaoxiao's mouth twitched slightly, and said, "He didn't take the palace test, but he took the seventeenth place in the test." ”

"Didn't take the palace exam?" Zhao Xiaoli tilted her head and asked with a puzzled expression, "Why?" ”

However, Zhao Kangqiang didn't need Cai Xiaoxiao's explanation to understand what Zheng Yi meant, and said: "It's really stupid, naturally because he doesn't want to enter the court as an official, Brother Zheng is a businessman, and he is used to the freedom of a businessman, how can he like to be an official." ”

Although she understood, Zhao Xiaoli was not happy to be called "stupid" by Zhao Kangqiang, so she stared at Zhao Kangqiang with her hands on her hips and said, "You are stupid!" If I want to see if Brother Zheng is afraid that he will not pass the exam, so he deliberately abandons the exam, and then uses a high-sounding reason to make up for his face, you men, you love face! ”

"Do you dare to bet? Tomorrow, I will meet Brother Zheng, let's ask together to see if he doesn't dare to take the test but doesn't want to take it! Zhao Kangqiang clasped his hands on his chest, looked confident, and said.

"Bet?" Zhao Xiaoli rolled her eyes, then turned her head and said, "Don't fight!" "Joke, she just said that reason just now just to refute Zhao Kangqiang, if she bets, wouldn't it be equivalent to directly saying that she lost! She's not that stupid.

"I'm afraid you don't dare, right?" Zhao Kangqiang naturally saw that Zhao Xiaoli's heart was weak, but he would not let go of such a good opportunity, so he said excitedly.

"Humph!" Zhao Xiaoli knew that he was provoking her, so she snorted lightly, ignored him, and threw herself into Cai Xiaoxiao's arms instead, changing the topic and asking, "Sister-in-law, how long will you stay when you come back this time?" In the future, will the eldest brother be an official in the capital? When I have a holiday, can I go to the capital to find you? ”

"Absolutely." Cai Xiaoxiao originally watched the two of them quarrel silently, but now seeing that Zhao Xiaoli wanted to change the topic, she was also happy to cooperate, and said, "We will probably stay at home for about a month, and then we will go back to the capital, if you are free in the future and want to go to the capital to play, you can write to us at any time." ”

"Yes, yes." Zhao Xiaoli nodded happily

Zhao Kangqiang saw it, pursed his lips, and said in his heart: Come again! It's like this every time, but if you can't say it, change the topic, hum! Good men don't fight women!

Here, Cai Xiaoxiao and the three of them chatted happily, but in the side hall, the atmosphere between Zhao Kangcheng and Dean Zhou was a little dignified.

The two sat opposite each other around the coffee table, Zhao Kangcheng poured a cup of hot tea for Dean Zhou, Dean Zhou looked at the tea in the teacup, and said, "Say, what do you want to tell me?" ”

Zhao Kangcheng put down the teapot and said directly: "Teacher, I am in high school in this year's imperial examination." ”

Dean Zhou, who was about to pick up the teacup, made a movement in his hand, raised his upper left eyebrows, and looked up at Zhao Kangcheng: "Champion? ”

Zhao Kangcheng nodded: "Yes." ”

"Huh!" Dean Zhou sneered inexplicably, retracted his gaze, held the teacup firmly in his hand, and said, "So, Lord Zhuangyuan came to see the old man today, do you want to show off your achievements to the old man?" ”

Zhao Kangcheng frowned slightly when he heard Dean Zhou's words, then sighed helplessly and asked, "Teacher, do you remember when I was imprisoned nine years ago?" ”

At the mention of this, Dean Zhou couldn't help frowning, and then said, "Remember." "After Zhao Kangcheng was imprisoned, Zhao Wang's family learned the news and came to him to ask him for help, but his little academy dean couldn't help much except give him some silver.

In fact, at that time, he originally wanted to go to Beijing with Zhao Wang's family to visit Zhao Kangcheng, but at that time, he had something at home, and the academy also needed him, so he couldn't get out, so he could only send Zhao Wang's family to the carriage and watch her go to the capital alone with her two children.

He didn't know why Zhao Kangcheng was imprisoned back then, but he only knew that after Zhao Kangcheng returned from the capital, he would no longer contact him as a teacher.

Thinking of this, Dean Zhou frowned and looked at him: "In the past nine years, you have cut off contact with me, could it be that I didn't save you back then?" He couldn't think of anything other than that.

Zhao Kangcheng said: "The teacher said that it was my own doing, and for this reason it has affected the old mother of the family, how dare I affect the teacher, the teacher did not go to the capital with his mother back then, to be honest, I am very happy." ”

Dean Zhou felt that Zhao Kangcheng had something to say, and he said, "Why did you go to prison back then?" What really happened back then? If you don't make it clear today, don't come here in the future, and our teacher-student relationship will be cut off! ”

"Teacher, don't worry, I'll make it clear to you one by one." Zhao Kangcheng told Dean Zhou about his failure in the imperial examination that year, and found that his file was impersonated by Taifu's nephew, how he was unwilling to beat the drum and voice his grievances, and then how he was imprisoned by Taifu and sent people to detain him to Dean Zhou.

The more Dean Zhou listened, the deeper his brows wrinkled, he really didn't expect that Zhao Kangcheng would be so wronged back then, he said, with Zhao Kangcheng's talent back then, how could he fall off the list! It turns out that there is such a big hidden secret in it.

After listening to Zhao Kangcheng's story, Dean Zhou also understood why Zhao Kangcheng had avoided him for many years, and the reason was just that there were some "no faces to see him" and "I didn't want to affect him", so Dean Zhou was not very happy after listening to it, on the contrary, his face became even more gloomy.