On the first day of February, gongs and drums were beaten on the wharf of Mudu Town, and a group of young offspring danced lions, causing groups of children to run along, and it was as lively as the New Year.

Although the next day is the Spring Society, the excitement on the dock today is not because of the arrival of the Society Day.

A long red banner was hung on the crossbar of the pier, with a line of large characters written on it: 'I wish the prodigy of Mudu Town success and win glory for the town!' ’

The triennial county taxi selection competition in Wu County kicked off, which is a big event for every township, and they will hold various ceremonies to encourage their children to get ahead and win glory for the town.

Prodigies have a particularly high status in the hearts of the people of the Great Song Dynasty, because every family has children, and parents dream that their children can also become prodigies.

Therefore, the triennial county taxi selection competition affects the hearts of thousands of households and attracts the attention of the people of Wu County.

There are a total of seven schools in Mudu Town, but only two schools are eligible to participate in the county taxi selection competition, which is related to the quality of the schools and the number of students admitted to the county schools.

One is the town government-run school, and the other is the Yanying School.

Although Yanying School is one of the four major halls, its students come from all over Pingjiang Prefecture, and there are not many students in Mudu Town, but the town government-run school is a pure children's school.

Among the five students participating in this year's Yanying Academy, two are children of Mudu Town, plus three students from the government-run school, a total of five students represent Mudu Town.

Today is to see off the five of them, and almost all the squires of the town's slightly famous have rushed to the dock.

There are two boats full of big red silk flowers parked on the wharf, and a big flag is erected on them, 'Muduzhen Prodigy'.

Fan Ning wore a new blue satin scholar's uniform today, wearing a gauze hat and a leather belt around his waist, looking particularly energetic and extraordinary.

Behind him was Ju Pei, who was wearing the same costume, and Yanying Academy, as the four seeded teams of the county trial selection competition, drew blue, and all the participating students wore uniform blue shizi uniforms.

Standing next to them were three students from the town's government-run school, who did not have uniform clothing, and each wore the same new robes, but the colors and styles were different, and they looked a little messy.

Zhu Yuanfu, as a representative of the squire, read aloud an enthusiastic essay on the expedition.

"In the early spring of the eighth year of Qingyuan, the cold wind was cold, and the sharp spirit was in the sky, and the five prodigies in Mudu Town shouldered the heavy trust of 8,000 fathers and elders, with lofty ambitions, and generously set out to ......"

Fan Ning listened absentmindedly to Zhu Yuanfu's impassioned speech, but his eyes glanced at the long row of tables next to him, on which there were five wine cups, and a squire was pouring wine into the tea cups.

The other was carrying a big rooster, cut the rooster's throat with a knife, and dripped the chicken's blood into the wine cup little by little.

The corners of Fanning's mouth twitched, could this be the origin of the allusion to 'fighting chicken blood'?

Later, Zhu Pei covered his mouth for a while, and whispered to Fanning: "Dumb, you can drink that wine for me later!" ”

Fanning rolled his eyes, he didn't know who to find to replace him?

Zhu Yuanfu read it with a dry mouth, and finally finished reading a long article written by someone who didn't know who wrote a footcloth.

A villager shouted: "It's an auspicious time, ready to go!" ”

Zhu Yuanfu stepped forward, and the two squires handed him the chicken blood wine, and he handed the first wine to Fan Ning,

"Fan Shaolang, you are the greatest hope of our town, I hope you can become the third county magistrate of our Mudu Town."

"Students will do their best!"

"Come on! Drink this wine and get on board! ”

Fanning took the wine cup, and a strong fishy breath came to his face, so smoke that he almost threw it away.

He had to pinch his nose, hold his breath, and forcibly drank the chicken blood wine, and a hot breath rose from his stomach.

It's actually still 20 degrees of Pingjiangqiao wine.

Fan Ning saw Zhu Yuanfu pick up another glass of wine, he hesitated for a moment and said, "Give me Zhu Pei's wine too!" ”

A hint of approval flashed in Zhu Yuanfu's eyes, and he smiled: "No, let her drink it herself!" ”

The squire took a second glass of chicken blood wine, and the pungent smell made Juppe take a step back in fear, and looked at Fanning pitifully.

Fanning had to say again: "I'll drink it for her!" ”

Zhu Yuanfu had no choice but to hand the wine cup to Fan Ning, who held his breath, endured the pungent fishy smell, took the wine cup and drank it all.

There was applause.

The five teenagers drank the Zhuangxing wine in turn, saluted the squire, and in the midst of enthusiastic cheers, the five teenagers boarded two large boats full of colored ribbons and red flowers.

They stood at the bow of the boat and clenched their fists and said goodbye, quite a bit of the tragedy of the wind and the cold.

The two big ships set off slowly and sailed towards the Xujiang River to the sound of gongs and drums.

．．．．．．．．

Fanning and Juppé sat on the second boat.

This time, Yanying Academy went out to fight two teams, and yesterday the three middle school students had already followed Master Liu, and they would form the main team of Yanying Academy.

Including Xu Ji, Lu Youwei and Wu Jian, they were the second, third, and fourth places in last year's annual examination, and they formed a team, which was the expectation of the Yanying Academy.

Although Fan Ning was the first in the exam, he was a low-class student after all, he was still young, and he was still following a little lady, and everyone was not very optimistic about them.

Even including Master Liu and other professors, they unanimously decided to set the three middle school students as the main team, and Fan Ning and Zhu Pei as the deputy team as a supplement to the main team.

The original purpose of the prefectural taxi selection competition was to select talented young people who would represent the county to participate in the boys' examination, and then train them.

However, because of the existence of group competition between various schools, it has actually become a triennial literary competition between schools, which is related to the ranking of each school.

Fanning sits in the bow of the boat as usual, and he likes the feeling of the gentle breeze, but today, there is still a little chill in the river breeze, and he has to sit in the bow of the boat.

The area of the big sword woman is too wide, plus Ju Pei carries dozens of luggage with large bags and small bags, and a personal maid, where is his seat in the small canopy.

Going to the county seat with them, there was also a young errand teaching assistant, Fanning came to the school on the first day to report, and it was this assistant teacher that he met.

His name is Pei Guang, a native of Changzhou County, with a medium family background, three years ago, he took the exam, but failed in the Beijing Provincial Exam, so he applied for the Yanying School as a teaching assistant, while earning money to support his family, while reviewing.

Pei Guang was preparing to take the imperial examination for the second time last fall, but his father died, so he had to give up the exam, keep filial piety for his father at home, and prepare for the exam again in three years.

Pei Guang's name is a bit awkward, but he can't change it anymore from his parents, so he usually asks him to call his cousin, 'dry fire'.

This is a hexagram that his father calculated for him when he was born, Qianhuo Kunshui, Qianhexagram, Tianxingjian, and Huoye.

It means that Tianxingjian is a gentleman who strives for self-improvement.

It still sounds a little awkward, though.

Pei Guang sat on the bow of the boat and explained to Fan Ning some of the rules of the selection competition.

"The selection competition is divided into two parts, one part is the team competition, the other part is the individual competition, a total of seven days, the competition venue is in the county school, by Li County Ling main examination."

Fan Ning thought for a while and asked, "Brother Pei mentioned the Four Great Halls just now, can you tell me more details?" ”

Pei Guang smiled slightly, "The four university halls in Wu County, the Affiliated School of the County School, the Yuqing School in Sutai Town, the Yanying School in Mudu Town, and the Evergreen School in Changqiao Town, we are ranked third.

The county taxi selection competition was held for a total of five sessions, the first time was our Yanying School won the first, the second and third were the first prize of the county school affiliated school, the fourth was the first place won by the Evergreen School, and the fifth was won by Yuqing School three years ago. ”

Pei Guang sighed, "It's been fifteen years, and our Yanying Academy has never won the first place, yesterday the master of the academy specially went to worship the old master, and he is bound to win this selection competition." ”

"Dumb, what are you talking about?"

Juppe came out of the canopy with sleepy eyes, she was a little excited last night, she didn't sleep well, and she was dozing off after getting on the boat.

Fanning smiled: "We are studying the enemy situation, do we want to study it together." ”

"Okay!"

Zhu Pei smiled and sat down cross-legged and said: "I heard my grandfather say that this time there are new rules, which are divided into two fields, Zone A and Zone B, Zone A are all strong teams, Zone B is relatively weak, and we are likely to be in Zone B." ”

Fanning slapped his fist and said excitedly: "This is a good thing!" Let's get into the weak zone! ”

"What a thing!"

Zhu Pei gave him a blank look, "There are three places in the semi-finals in Region A, and only one in Region B, which will only kill more fiercely." ”

Fan Ning rolled his eyes, and then turned to the topic he was interested in, "The soldiers and horses have not moved, the grain and grass go first, let's talk about logistics first!" Brother Pei, what are the conditions for us to live? How's the food? ”

Ju Pei pursed his lips, "You care about eating and sleeping, what's the difference between you and a pig?" In the future, I will call you Fan Xiaozhu, hehe! It seems to be a little better than Fan Dudu. ”

Fan Ning lay on the deck, his hands pillowed behind his head, crossed his legs and said leisurely: "I am Fan Xiaozhu, you are Pei Xiaozhu, let's become a pig boar mother, no!" Brother Pig Brother. ”

Zhu Pei was stunned, then his face was swollen red, and he pounced on him and pinched his neck, "You dead pig head, Fan nerd, you dare to scold me for being a pig, see if I don't strangle you!" ”

Fanning was pressed by her on the bow of the boat and abused, he raised his hand and begged for mercy, "Big sister, little Yanei, stop pushing, I'm going to fall into the river!" ”

At this moment, the canopy of the ship was cracked, and the Lady of the Sword took a look, and then retracted her head and went to sleep.

．．．．．．．

The boat entered Wu County directly, stopped under the Jingxian Bridge, and the competition was about to start the day after tomorrow, and the participating students from various schools arrived by boat one after another.

The bridge and the shore were full of outsiders and gentry who came from all over the county to pay homage to the prodigies, and there was a lot of discussion, and someone shouted: "The prodigies of Yanying School and Yuqing School are here!" ”

The crowd looked in.

When Fanning's boat docked, it happened to meet several teams from the academy arriving at the same time, and the dock suddenly became lively.

At this time, a big ship was the first to dock, and a middle-aged Confucian came down first, with a big nose hooked by an eagle and a cold gaze.

The five participating students behind him disembarked in turn, all of them were eleven or twelve-year-old boys, and they were all dressed in the same costume, all wearing green scholar's uniforms, gauze hats, black leather belts around their waists, and the duffel bags they were carrying were exactly the same.

The surrounding students and the gentry who watched the excitement applauded, and Pei Guang said to Fan Ning and Zhu Pei: "This is the Yuqing School in Sutai Town, they won the first place last time." ”

Fanning had already seen that there was a pennant on the big ship, and the words 'Yu Qingtang' were written on it.

"Dumb, who is that big-nosed leader, he looks so fierce!" Juppe asked.

"I don't know?" Fanning shook his head.

Pei Guang next to him hurriedly smiled: "His name is Cheng Zhu, he is the master of Yu Qingtang, he is famous for protecting his shortcomings, and he is cunning and treacherous. ”

Zhu Pei glanced at Fanning and said triumphantly: "I'll say it!" Surprise is important, and you still don't do it? ”

Fan Ning snorted and said, "Then I will call you Little Lady Zhu and let them despise us, which is also a surprise soldier!" ”

"You dare!"

A cold short sword suddenly appeared in Zhu Pei's hand, dangling in front of Fanning's eyes, "You dare to scream, be careful that this yaya will abolish you." ”

Others don't know where Jupei's short sword is hidden, but Fanning knows very well that Jupei's belt is very strange, and he hides this soft sword.

At this time, Pei Guang hurriedly said: "Don't fight, he's here." ”

The two looked towards the shore together, only to see Cheng Zhi, the master of Yuqing Academy, walking slowly, he walked to the shore, looked at Fanning and Zhu Pei, and snorted, "Is this our opponent?" Two lower lay-ups. ”

"Since Master Cheng can accurately tell that they are subordinates, you must have done enough information."

Everyone turned their heads, only to see Courtyard Master Liu walking over quickly, he smiled at Fan Ning and Zhu Pei, and said to Cheng again: "I'm right!" Master Cheng Yuan. ”

Cheng looked up and smiled, "Each other!" Each other! ”

He took another deep look at Fanning before turning to leave.

Master Liu walked onto the boat and said with a smile: "I've been waiting for you, and finally I have waited for the two of you, come with me!" ”