Du Jinning wanted to go in and have a look, but when she saw that the door was closed and there were soldiers guarding the door, she was deflated.

This tribute courtyard, Qi Muyuan went to visit with his grandfather when he came back with Qi Bokun two years ago. At this time, seeing that Du Jinning was very curious about the Gongyuan, he introduced: "In the middle of it is the Mingyuan Tower, and there is a watchtower at each of the four corners. Whatever happens during the scientific expedition, such as a fire, the officers and soldiers can quickly deal with it. ”

He pointed inside: "On the central axis, there are also large public halls, official inheritance offices, sealing offices, reading offices, transcription offices, and receiving papers. On the east and west sides are thousands of houses. ”

Du Jinning is most concerned about the situation of the house: "Is the house dilapidated?" "Don't really be like the Boyue Academy specially arranged, with a broken roof on the top and insects and ants on the bottom.

"Because the court attaches great importance to the imperial examination, and there are chief examiners and scholars sent by the court for each court examination and township examination, the officials in charge here naturally dare not ignore the Gongyuan too much, and on the surface, it seems that except for the narrower examination room, everything else is fine." Speaking of this, he frowned, "But the bedding was put away, and it was not put in the examination room." So I couldn't see it at the time. ”

Du Jinning looked at him sympathetically.

It is really painful to let someone with a habit of cleanliness use a bedding that someone else has used, and there may be fleas and lice on it. Not to mention Qi Muyuan, even if she has suffered hardships, she can't stand it.

"Tomorrow you remember to wear the clothes I told you. It wasn't so hot early in the morning, and the top was over. She admonished.

Qi Muyuan nodded.

"Alright, let's go back. Come back early tomorrow morning. He said.

"Ming'er, I'm going to pass by your alley, when the time comes, you wait for me at the alley, let's go over together."

"Okay."

The next day, Du Jinning still got up in the middle of the night, and when he had breakfast and carried the lantern to the mouth of the alley, Qi Muyuan had already led the chess to wait there.

Looking at Wang Fulai, who was following Du Jinning, Qi Muyuan said to Du Jinning: "Let's go faster, I have something to tell you." ”

Hearing this, Guan Qi immediately slowed down. Seeing that Wang Fulai was stupidly trying to follow, he hurriedly pulled him: "Go slower." As he spoke, he gestured his chin to the front. Wang Fu came to understand and quickly slowed down.

Qi Muyuan saw that the two of them were far away, and there was no one around, so he whispered to Du Jinning: "The name of the examiner this time is Lu Jiuyuan, the head of Beishan Academy in Xiang Province, who has no obvious factional tendencies, and is a dedicated scholar like Mr. Qi. Due to the tight schedule and the secrecy of their itinerary, we only received the news last night, and that's all we know. ”

Du Jinning was full of gratitude, stopped and waved his hand to Qi Muyuan: "Thank you." ”

In order to avoid fraud, the marking officer is temporarily assigned by the above, and usually arrives at the examination venue after the college examination begins, even Zhao Liang, a student who does not know who his partner is before today. The Qi family was able to find out the name of the marking officer at this time, and it was already a matter of hands and eyes.

The most important thing is that Du Jinning is the head of the government, and Qi Muyuan is also the head of the government, and they usually write articles in their own styles, which are comparable. The two can be described as strong contenders for the head of the court. Rao is like this, Qi Muyuan is still willing to tell her when he gets such important news, which is already very valuable. You know, this is what Qi Bokun specially inquired about for him, and he doesn't need to take it out and share it with him.

Qi Muyuan waved his hand and motioned for Du Jinning to continue walking, and said regretfully: "It's a pity that this person has no articles to circulate, so he couldn't study it well." ”

"Not really." Du Jinning nodded in agreement.

This is Wang Jiuyuan, as the head of a school, and he is dedicated to learning, he should be famous and have written many articles, but they have never heard of it at all.

However, cultural exchanges in this era were few and not widely disseminated. For example, the scholars in the north wrote famous poems, and they did not know unless they were brought back from Beijing by the candidates who took the examination.

If Wang Jiuyuan had stayed in the north before, and had only recently come to Hunan Province to be a mountain chief, it would be normal for them not to read his articles.

As they spoke, they had already walked to the vicinity of the Tribute Courtyard. At this time, it was the beginning of the month, there was no moon in the sky, and the candidates were carrying lanterns, and the shadows were so full that they couldn't see their faces clearly.

"Du Jinning." A voice came from the side, and soon a person rushed in front of Du Jinning.

Du Jinning looked at it, but it was Fang Shaohua who he hadn't seen for a long time.

Fang Shaohua didn't need Du Jinning to speak, so he said to himself: "Oh, I'm glad I met you, otherwise I wouldn't know where to find you." There are a lot of people here, and you can't see who is who, so you have to die in a hurry when the time comes. ”

Du Jinning was about to ask him how he recognized himself just now, when he heard an unfamiliar voice next to him: "You are Du Jinning?" As he spoke, a lantern was raised high and shone on Du Jinning's face.

Du Jinning and Qi Muyuan's faces changed.

This kind of behavior is tantamount to taking a flashlight directly on someone's face in modern times, which is very impolite.

Qi Muyuan pulled Du Jinning as early as the lantern shone over, pulled her to the right rear of him, and looked at the person opposite with a frown: "Who are you?" ”

The reason why the word "we" is used is because the other party is not just one person, but a group of people. Standing at the front and surrounded by everyone was a young man in his early twenties wearing a moon-white robe. His appearance is quite handsome, but his slightly gloomy eyes make Qi Muyuan and Du Jinning dislike it very much.

A seventeen or eighteen-year-old young man standing next to this young man said: "This is the great talent of our Fucheng, Young Master Qi Siyu Qi, isn't it that you haven't heard of his name?" There was a strong sense of sarcasm in the words.

It turned out to be Qi Siyu who was faceless!

Du Jinning and Qi Muyuan glanced at each other.

She raised her hand and arched her hand to Qi Siyu: "It turned out to be Brother Qi." Some time ago, I was fortunate to be invited by Brother Qi, but I was only doing mundane business, and I had no time to go, and I asked Brother Qi to forgive my sins. ”

Qi Siyu ignored Du Jinning, his eyes fell on Qi Muyuan, and his tone was much warmer than when he asked Du Jinning just now: "You are Qi Muyuan Brother Qi?" ”

Qi Muyuan was very annoyed by Qi Siyu's behavior of ignoring Du Jinning.

He also ignored Qi Siyu and said to Du Jinning: "Go, don't let Guan Jiaze and them wait for a long time." As he spoke, he took Du Jinning's arm and walked around Qi Siyu.

Qi Siyu didn't speak, and the people who followed him didn't dare to stop him, so they watched Du Jinning and his party leave.

Qi Siyu's eyes were even more gloomy, but his tone remained the same, and he said lightly: "Let's go." As he spoke, he took the lead in the other direction.

The person who introduced Qi Siyu spat hard at Du Jinning's background: "Phew, what's the matter, shame on your face." ”