Li Linfu and Xiao Song glanced at each other, and then silently withdrew from the main hall, leaving Li Mao to think alone on the dragon chair.

"Your Majesty's time for dinner!"

Half an hour later, Zhao Gao walked into the Xuanzheng Palace, looked at the emperor with a gloomy expression, and moved to the dragon chair with fear.

"Withdraw from it! I don't want to eat tonight. Also, if you go and inform the concubine, you will say that I am too tired today, and I will not go in the evening. ”

Li Mao was full of worries, and his alertness dropped extremely much, and he didn't even notice when Zhao Gao came to his side.

If an Assassin had just come to assassinate him, he might have succeeded.

Thinking of this, sweat broke out on Li Mao's back instantly.

"Pass the order, I've been having nightmares lately, and I've often killed people in my dreams, so when I'm asleep, don't let anyone come close!"

After finishing speaking, Li Mao closed her clothes and lay down.

In the past month or so, I have been on the front line in Tongguan, and I have hardly slept well.

In the past two days, he has been running for hundreds of miles in a row, and Li Mao's body has long been extremely tired, so as soon as he lay down, he let out a slight snoring sound.

Seeing this, Zhao Gao had no choice but to retreat lightly.

He didn't dare to make a sound at all, nor did he dare to take a breath, just for fear of disturbing the emperor.

After walking out of the Xuanzheng Palace, Zhao Gao did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly told the surrounding eunuchs about the emperor's possible dream of killing people, and repeatedly told them not to disturb the emperor's sleep without permission.

……

The third day of March.

Today is the day when the first imperial examination was held after Li Mao ascended the throne.

Before dawn, the scholars who had ventured from all over the country gathered outside the Guozi Prison in the south of Chang'an City, quietly waiting for the officials of the Ministry of Rites to verify their identities.

"Brother Li, long time no see! Why did you come to take the test too? ”

"Alas! You really can't disobey the orders of the old people in the family! To be honest, I really don't want to come. ”

"As if anyone wants to come, I'm not forced by my father! You see, the people from the Cui family over there are also here. ”

"Not only the Boling Cui clan, but also the Qinghe Cui clan, as well as the Xingyang Zheng clan and the Fanyang Lu clan have all sent people."

"Brother Li, have you had a smooth journey? It was not easy for me to take the path, take the mountain road, bypass Tongguan, and arrive in Chang'an the day before yesterday, and almost missed the registration time. ”

"Brother Wang, I'm similar to you, I also bypassed Xiao Pass by a small road, and I was almost caught by the army of the Luoyang Imperial Court."

"Is Wang Zhongsi so powerful? Instead of attacking Xiao Pass, he came to arrest us scholars who entered Beijing to take the exam? ”

"Who knows what Wang Zhongsi thinks, in order to capture our Zhao County Li clan's soldiers, he actually sent five hundred cavalry to pursue."

"Haha, Brother Li, don't be indignant, the general Lu Bu has already helped you avenge and beat Wang Zhonghei to the ground."

"Don't talk about those bad things, let's go and line up with the Cui family, the Lu family, and the Zheng family!"

With that, the two young men strode forward with a smile on their faces.

When he arrived behind the scholar of the Zheng clan in Xingyang, he directly cut into the queue and walked in.

The later people were actually sent in front of him, and the soldier who was cut into the queue looked angry.

But when he saw the identities of the two, he held back his anger.

The five surnames and seven wangs are the top families in Datang.

Even after Li Mao rebelled, it still didn't affect the status of these families.

The officials from these families have people in high positions in the Chang'an and Luoyang courts, and as long as they know a little about the situation in the DPRK and China, they dare not offend the people with the surname of Wuwei and Qiwang.

Li Mao was dressed in regular clothes today, and she happened to be inspecting the situation not far away.

After seeing the five surnamed Qiwang people so arrogant, their faces suddenly darkened.

"You go and find out what the names of those two people are, and tell Yang Shenjin that they are not allowed to be admitted."

Li Mao lowered her head and said in a very small voice.

"The villain obeys!"

Dongchang Governor Tian Ergeng is also dressed in regular clothes, dressed as a small servant.

"Let's go! There's nothing to see here, so let's go have breakfast first, and then we'll follow in after the candidates have all gone in. ”

As Li Mao spoke, he strode towards the stall not far away.

"Two bowls of noodles!"

After telling the stall owner's old grandmother, Li Mao sat on the small bamboo bench with a big grin, not caring about the pitch-black pulp on the bamboo bench at all.

Tian Ergeng followed Wei Zhongxian, and they were about to become clean.

After seeing the emperor disregard the image so much, his jaw dropped in shock.

"Your Majesty...... Childe, why don't we have breakfast somewhere else? ”

Tian Ergeng was half-squatting on the side, and his fat body was like a round ball at this time, which looked very funny.

In front of the emperor, without an order, he didn't dare to sit down directly.

Li Mao looked at his appearance like a meat ball, and frowned slightly, "Where do you want to change?" I...... I came out today just to hear what scholars from all over the world think of the imperial examination system. ”

Tian Ergeng felt the unhappiness in the emperor's tone, and immediately dragged the bamboo stool and half-sat down.

"The villain listens to Childe!"

It just so happened that the stall owner's grandmother also brought noodles at this time.

Tian Ergeng immediately caught the noodle bowl, took out a pair of silver chopsticks from his arms, then picked one and ate it into his mouth.

After eating, he picked up his chopsticks and looked at them carefully.

After seeing that the color of the chopsticks had not changed, he handed the bowl of noodles to Li Mao.

"Childe, please eat!"

Tian Ergeng respectfully held the noodle bowl.

Li Mao chuckled and shook her head and said, "You, you just have too many thoughts!" I don't like to eat things that have been eaten, so you might as well keep this bowl for yourself! ”

After finishing speaking, Li Mao picked up another bowl of noodles and feasted on it.

He snorted and munched on noodles, not at all worried about being poisoned.

After all, two bowls of noodles are cooked in the same pot, and it is impossible for one bowl to be poisonous and the other bowl not to be poisonous.

The most common poison in ancient times was arsenic, but in addition to arsenic, there were many deadly poisons that silver chopsticks could not test.

As for Tian Ergeng's tasting, Li Mao also felt that it was very unnecessary.

First, the onset of ancient poisons was very slow, and it was impossible to have symptoms in a short period of time.

Second, the news of his departure from the palace is extremely secret, and only a few people know about it. And the itinerary is extremely secretive, no one knows that they will appear at the gate of Guozijian, and they just happen to eat noodles here.

Half an hour later, the entire bowl of noodles was wiped out by Li Mao.

He didn't eat a drop of water last night, and he was already very hungry, so he naturally ate very quickly.

Tian Ergeng looked at the noodles in the bowl at this time and wanted to cry without tears.

This noodle is too unpalatable.

I have never eaten such unpalatable noodles since I was born.

This old woman is far worse than the cook in the house, and she doesn't know how to keep going.

He kept complaining in his heart.

"Boss, check out!"

Li Mao shouted loudly, interrupting Tian Ergeng's train of thought.