After the Xiyuan Yaji, there were two young people who became famous in the capital, one was Li You, who recited "The cup is full of wine every day", and he was named the first name of the poetry meeting, and he suddenly became the focus of the round of scholars in Beijing; And the other one is Yuan Zhang, although he did not get any ranking, but the quality of this poem cannot be concealed no matter what, and it is precisely because this poem was refuted by Yang Deming and others that it has attracted countless scholars from poor families; For a while, invitations to the two of them to the banquet floated like snowflakes.

Li You didn't care much about these invitations, when he saw Zhou Nan yesterday, his wish was gone, and he no longer needed to participate in such a party to win the name of a talent, so he flipped through these invitations, except for one or two parties that had to go, the others were all shelved,

And Yuan Zhang didn't even have time to see these invitations because he had other arrangements, so he went straight to Chunhe Building alone, and when he entered the building, he directly threw out a piece of broken silver, "Little Er, take me to Room No. 3 of A-word!" ”

"Yes, sir, please!" Xiao Er swept the silver and happily led Yuan Zhang to the room; Yuan Zhang ordered tea and snacks and drove Xiao Er aside, and waited quietly in the room alone.

Who was that man yesterday? Is it an old friend or an enemy of the teacher? How did he know about the teacher? Why did you ask me to come here? Yuan Zhang tasted the tea absentmindedly, his eyes glanced out of the door from time to time, but the strange thing was that after a long time, no one knocked on the door of room No. 3.

Oh, just when he was about to lose his patience, footsteps sounded, judging from the direction of the sound, it seemed that the person who came was walking in the direction of the A-shaped room, could it be this person? Yuan Zhang held his breath.

An old man with a cane appeared at the door of room No. 3 of A, and then kept walking towards room No. 4 next to him, and then the sound of ordering tea and snacks sounded, and the old man seemed to have come to drink tea.

It didn't seem to be him, Yuan Zhang shook his head depressedly, picked up the teacup and drank it all; After a while, a pot of tea was drunk by him, and while he was pondering whether to renew the tea or change to a pot of wine, a conversation suddenly came from next door.

"Brother Zhao didn't go to the West Garden Yaji yesterday, but he missed a good show!" An old voice suddenly sounded.

"Oh? Zhao just heard that there were two good poems on yesterday's elegant collection, and the others are not very clear, and I hope that Brother Nangong will tell you one or two. Another voice that was also old, but slightly neutral, replied; Their conversation made Yuan Zhang gently put down the wine glass and moved it to a position close to room four.

"Hehe, Brother Zhao didn't see Yang Deming's face yesterday, it's really ugly." The old man, who was called Brother Nangong, laughed twice and said, "A wonderful poem by Mr. Longxi's disciple was sentenced to be inaccessible under his coercion. ”

"If it wasn't for Yang Jiefu back then, why would Mr. Longxi be demoted from the court? Even with Kong Qi's death and Yuan Jiu's dismissal, this is all the handiwork of Yang Jiefu's party! That being the case, how could Yang Deming help Yuan Zhang become famous? Brother Zhao sighed when he said, "Hey, the traitor is in power, and even the virtuous and far-reaching, with the old man's opinion, Yuan Zhang's road to the imperial examination will definitely not be smooth." ”

"This is not necessarily, this time, Wang Ledao, the president of Enke, a scholar of Guanwendian University, is from a poor family, and he will definitely take care of Yuan Zhang; The palace examination has always rarely failed candidates, and Yuan Zhang's examination this time can be described as nine out of ten; Even with the position of Prime Minister Yang Jiefu, I am afraid that it will be difficult to use means? Brother Nangong put forward a different view.

"Brother Nangong is wrong, it is not Wang Ledao's decision to take the test, and there is also Yang Jiefu's manpower among the vice presidents; And although Yuan Zhang is talented, after all, it is inevitable that he will be sharp when he is young, and if he commits a taboo between the lines, it is difficult to say! What's more, the official positions assigned after entering the Shide Middle School are under the control of the Ministry of Officials, and Yang Deming is the servant of the Ministry of Officials, how can this Yuan Zhang end up well? Brother Zhao retorted.

The teacher offended Prime Minister Yang Jiefu at the beginning? No wonder Mr. Huaino refused to tell me the identity of his enemy! Yuan Zhang clenched his fists, gritted his teeth and quietly listened to the conversation next door, trying to get more information from it, but unfortunately, the two old men changed the topic to the side after saying a few words, and talked about other things.

I guess that note yesterday was stuffed into my hand by one of these two old men, right? What is their relationship with the teacher? Why don't you tell me openly? No, I'll have to ask later.

Just when Yuan Zhang hesitated, the conversation between the two old men next door had come to an end, "Zhao has other important things to do today, so I won't talk with Brother Nangong for a long time!" We'll see you in a few days! ”

After that, there was the sound of stools moving and footsteps next door, and after a while, the old man walked out slowly.

Now which Mr. Nangong is left next door, I must ask clearly! Judging from the conversation just now, which Mr. Nangong seemed to know the inside story more clearly, and when Brother Zhao's footsteps went away, Yuan Zhang immediately went out of room No. 3, came to the door next door and knocked on the door of room No. 4, "But Mr. Nangong is inside?" ”

Who knew that after knocking several times, there was still no response inside, and in a hurry, Yuan Zhang pushed the door directly regardless of the faux pas, who knew that it was already empty, and there was only a teacup on the table, which looked like the two of them were drinking.

Fooled, it's ventriloquism! Yuan Zhang reacted immediately, no wonder he didn't see the second person enter room four, it turned out that the two people who had just talked about it were all from one person! He hurriedly went downstairs and looked around for the figure of the old man, but Chunhe Building was in a prosperous area, and there were many people around, so he could still find it after so long?

And the old man has now left Chunhelou far away, walked around the street a few times, and only after making sure that no one was following him did he tear off the white hair on his head, throw away the crutches in his hand, and instantly became a middle-aged man; After putting things away, he got into a carriage, which turned left and right, and soon came to a small courtyard.

If people who are familiar with the capital see this small courtyard, they can tell Yuan Zhang that this courtyard is where the second son of the British public family, Jinwu Zangjiao, is located, but unfortunately, Yuan Zhang probably won't have the opportunity to know this.

Is it Yang Jiefu? No wonder Yang Deming treated himself like this yesterday, Yuan Zhang at the gate of Chunhe Building kept this name firmly in his heart, and then disappeared into the crowd.

Since then, Yuan Zhang has appeared in various places where scholars gather, throwing out one after another amazing wonderful poems, which shocked the capital for a while! At this time, Li You was preparing to enter the Guozijian to study.