Today's Chengxian Street is particularly lively, and many small vendors with flat shoulders flock to seize the position before dawn. By the time the sky dawned, the teahouses and restaurants on Chengxian Street were already crowded with people, and even the clerical shops that were specially opened near Guozijian for students to write and ink were also full of people.

Everyone rubbed shoulders one after another, but no one dared to make a loud noise, even if they were trampled on by the other party and lost their shoes, they only cursed quietly, because no one wanted to leave a bad impression on the most prestigious Confucians in Da Liang in this discussion meeting.

A small table was set up outside the prison early in the morning, and a few tables and chairs were set up, although they were simple but full of literary style.

At this moment, there was no one on the stage, and the people were looking forward to it, until the beginning of the day, when the sun was dazzling, a few familiar officials of the Guozijian gradually came out, and behind the officials were several Confucians dressed as literati with beards, and the first one was Mr. Zou Shuangrui Zou.

Mr. Zou seemed to be a little unhappy, and he always frowned and looked unhappy, so that the Confucians and officials around him did not dare to talk to him easily, so he sat down with him awkwardly.

Among the students in front of the people, Huang Jiayun, who was mixed in, snickered in a low voice: "See, Mr. Zou seems to be unhappy." ”

"Not really." Another person whispered, "I think Mr. Zou is angry that Su Qingyi bribed him, and after the matter was revealed, he was cheeky and unwilling to take the initiative to resign." ”

The two of them chuckled as they spoke, their tones full of contempt and disapproval.

The Ye family had already chartered a private room on the teahouse facing the street, and from the window, they could just see the entire venue of the Taoist Society.

When Ye Qiong arrived in a hurry with Ye Lang and the Su family, his brother Ye Jin and fifth uncle Ye Qizhu arrived early, and Lu Chunwang also stood in the corner, bowing slightly to Ye Qiong.

Su Shi's face was still a little pale, and he sat down under the careful care of Ye Lang and Ye Qiong, and said with a reluctant smile: "Look at you, this is too nervous." If I had known that I wouldn't insist on coming, I'd let you worry about me. ”

Seeing that the Su family was still worried, Ye Qiong deliberately quipped: "Sister-in-law, even if you are left alone in the mansion, you will be cranky, won't you?" Besides, I'm just right, Cousin Lang is nervous about you and worrying about you, that's right, right? ”

Ye Lang was originally still worried about the Hu family's affairs, but when Ye Qiong interrupted him like this, the gloom in his heart dissipated a lot, and he said embarrassedly: "What's wrong with it." It is also natural to be a husband and take care of his wife. ”

Hearing the words, Su's mood was also a lot more cheerful, everyone talked and laughed a few words, and then heard the noise downstairs paused, and quickly calmed down again.

Ye Qiong looked at the stage and saw that it was Huang Ruizao recommended by the Hu family standing on the stage. At this moment, Huang Ruizao is wearing a scarf and a green robe, if you ignore his round waist, he looks a bit literati.

Huang Ruizao took the lead, and first picked up some easy-to-understand explanations from the Four Books and Five Classics, and Ye Qiong listened to it with a bit of real material.

After that, Huang Ruizao said some rules for officials, which was nothing more than some general words such as officials should be fair and love the people like sons, which made Ye Qiong sneer in her heart.

It's just a car talk, and some simple and simple people will be deceived into it.

As Ye Qiong expected, the people's impression of Huang Ruizao is really much better, and someone has already said: "It's rare that this official can still think about us little people." ”

Huang Jiayun, who was mixed in the crowd, was triumphant, and the student who looked at his face suddenly followed the conversation and said: "No, Lord Huang can consider the people, it is really a rare good official, and only Lord Huang can be worthy of this position of sacrificial wine." ”

Huang Ruizao's voice became louder and louder, Ye Qiong got up and walked to the table in the private room, wrote down a few lines with a pen, handed the inked rice paper to Lu Chunwang's hand, and said, "Mr. Lu, please find someone and let him confront Huang Ruizao one by one according to the words on this paper." ”

Lu Chunwang glanced at it, and then said with a smile: "Miss Ye pays attention to hard work, but it is not comparable to those who can only talk about it." I'll do it. With that, he hurried downstairs.

Ye Qiong indifferently returned to the window, Su Shi looked at it curiously, and Ye Jin couldn't help asking, "Sister, what did you just write?" ”

Ye Qiong smiled mysteriously: "It's nothing, just look at it." ”

On the stage, Huang Ruizao had already finished his preparations, picked a few students who had been secretly selected early in the morning, answered a few questions, and was complacent about to step down, when he heard the crowd shouting: "Huang Jianzheng, dare to ask, do you know what the price of grain is today?" ”

The man's voice was so loud that it drowned out the whispers of all the people and the students, and the people were fine, but the students discussed: "Food price, why would anyone suddenly ask about this?" Do you know? ”

Another student, whose clothes were slightly shabby and not even knee-long, smiled bitterly: "How could I not know? My family is poor, with an old mother and a wife and children, and life is tight, can I not be careful in my calculations? ”

Huang Ruizao turned around abruptly, and saw that the person who asked the question was just an ordinary person dressed in short brown, so he said perfunctorily: "This official is serving in the Guozijian, how can he know such a trivial matter as the price of grain?" Let's change the question. ”

The man smiled and said, "Blame me, blame me, Huang Jianzheng said that you love the people like a son, I thought you would care about things closely related to people's livelihood like 'food prices'." ”

As soon as these words came out, many people came back to their senses and began to whisper: "I know how much the grain price is today." Also, big officials like them, who eat fragrant and spicy food on weekdays, how can they care if we can afford to buy rice? ”

The voice of grievance gradually spread, Huang Ruizao was angry in his heart, but he couldn't say much, and the man had already opened his mouth again and said, "Since you want me to ask some relevant questions...... Then let me ask you, how many schools are built in Beijing, how many bundles are stipulated in the largest schools, how many students were accepted by Guozijian last year, and how many of them cannot graduate because they do not understand Chinese? ”

This person's words were loud, and Huang Ruizao's brain was buzzing when he heard it, and his heart was flustered.

How many schools are there in the capital and how many bundles are collected, how can he know? As for how many prisoners there are in Guozijian, and how many prisoners are actually hastily packed, either they spent a lot of money to buy places, or they bought off the referees and stuffed them in, and they couldn't pass Guozijian's graduation exam at all, these things are naturally very clear, but they can't be said here and now.

Where did he come from, he couldn't answer the questions that could be answered in the front, and he couldn't answer the questions that could be answered in the back, isn't this a sincere pit for him!

Huang Ruizao's face turned blue and white, white and black, and he didn't answer a single question. The people in the audience have become impatient, and some students from poor families are even more indignant.

What is this Lord Huang doing in his heart? Could it be that there are really a lot of straw bales in the Guozi Prison who don't understand literature and science, and they occupy a lot of places that should belong to them?

On the other side of the wooden platform, several officials of Guozijian sweated like rain, the faces of Mr. Zou and several Confucians became darker and darker, and one of them, a slightly temperamental Confucian, couldn't help but scold: "It's really unexpected, Guozijian is the highest institution of learning in Daliang, and it is so corrupt!" ”

There were already students hidden behind the crowd, who quietly took off their worn shoes, and threw them on the stage with a wave of their hands, almost hitting Huang Ruizao's feet.

One person started the way, and the crowd exploded instantly, and many people pointed at Huang Ruizao and scolded: "You also say that you love the people like a son!" can't even answer these questions, it can be seen that he is a dog official! ”

Some people rolled up their sleeves and were about to throw the rotten vegetable leaves in their hands on the stage, when they saw another person hurriedly coming up on the stage, and it was Su Qingyi.

Su Qingyi walked with his head held high, and as he walked, he said: "There are two hundred and fifteen schools in Beijing, and among the four major academies, Wenshan Academy and Diecui Academy receive twenty taels a year, and Baitan Academy and Wendao Academy receive fifteen taels a year. Last year, a total of 247 new prisoners were admitted to the prison, compared with 78 prisoners who had not graduated the previous year. ”

As soon as these words came out, the audience was in an uproar, and some students said indignantly: "So many people did not pass the exam, it can be seen that when they first entered the national prison, how many people relied on nepotism or spent money to buy a quota to enter!" This is unfair to those of us who have studied hard for ten years! ”

The noise grew louder and louder, almost overwhelming, and no one noticed that the person who had provoked the storm had quietly disappeared into the crowd, and only a few pairs of sharp eyes noticed him.

Not far from the crowd, a thin man wearing only a half-worn green shirt locked his eyes on the person sent by Lu Chunwang and watched him disappear into the crowd.

This thin man is the newly appointed bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and the chief examiner of next year's Spring Festival, Jiang Lian. Beside him, a chubby man dressed as rich beckoned to the entourage beside him, and pointed in the direction where the man disappeared, and the entourage instantly understood, and in the blink of an eye, he was no longer far away.

The thin man didn't speak, and put his eyes on the stage, his eyes were a little interested: "I don't know which one is more suitable for this country to oversee wine in the eyes of Gonggong Gao, Su Qingyi is more suitable than Huang Ruizao?" ”

The person who was called Gao Gonggong smiled and said, "Master Jiang, the Sprinkle family has told you, just call me Master Gao outside, but don't call me Gao Gonggong." ”

Master Jiang apologized, looking at Gonggong Gao's unpredictable appearance with squinted eyes, and his mood was complicated.

The person dressed in wealth in front of him is the eunuch Gao Xuan, who is the red celebrant in front of him, because he is dressed up with a fake beard at the moment, he looks more like a rich man from an ordinary family.

Gao Xuan accepted Jiang Lian's apology, but he was interested in answering Jiang Lian's previous question: "Whether it is Huang Ruizao or Su Qingyi, no matter who becomes the priest of this country, it is better than Pan Yun." ”

When Gao Xuan spoke, his tone was obviously smiling, but Jiang Lian heard a chill from it.

The person who had gone to follow him soon returned, and the report said: "After the man turned a few alleys, he met with the people who had been waiting in the alleys for a long time. The subordinates originally wanted to continue to follow the people waiting in the alley, but after following a few steps, they found that they had lost it, and it was the incompetence of the subordinates. ”

Gao Xuan's pupils shrank slightly, he thought for a moment, waved his hand, and said, "It's good to know that you are incompetent, and remember to receive the punishment when you go back." After that, Gao Xuan didn't speak again, and didn't even send anyone to continue tracking.

Jiang Lian was surprised in his heart, Gao Xuan's status must have a lot of people under him, and he would actually chase down people, it seems that there is still a lot of power behind the person who stirred up trouble.

was also surprised, and Ye Qiong, who heard Lu Chunwang's reply, only to hear Lu Chunwang say: "Miss Ye, I seem to have been discovered." When I returned, two men suddenly sprang out, one of whom asked me to take off my coat and put it on him, and the other pushed me into another remote path. Those two seemed to have martial arts, I couldn't resist and had to do it, who knew that they didn't seem to have malicious intent, and watched me go upstairs and leave. ”

Ye Qiong was a little surprised, but there was a faint guess in her heart, so she just nodded and said, "I already know about this." Mr. Lu worked hard, let's go change clothes and have a cup of tea first. ”

Lu Chunwang wanted to say a few more words, but seeing that Ye Qiong had a good idea in his heart, he didn't want to say anything more, so he hurriedly retreated.

Ye Qiong looked outside the Guozi prison, Su Qingyi's lecture was about to start.