Xiaolou listened to the spring rain overnight, and sold apricot blossoms in the Ming Dynasty in the deep alleys.

The dwarf paper is oblique and idle, and the fine milk plays tea in the sunny window.

On the morning of early spring, the weather was a little cool, and the thin rain fell with the wind, falling on the shoulders of the hurried passers-by, and a layer of rain and fog was spread. Through the pane, Du Wu saw the old butler wearing a hat coming in and out, busy arranging the day's affairs. Pipa cautiously opened the door as usual, and saw that Du Wu had already woken up, stuck out his tongue, slipped out again, and after a while came back with a basin of water, and came over to serve Du Wu to dress.

It's been more than half a year since he came to Dahan, and he has been very familiar with dressing from the previous hurried to now, but since Pipa began to serve Du Wu's diet and daily life, he has never worn his own clothes, which is really frugal to luxury.

As soon as he had finished his haircut, the old butler came in and reported that a young man had stood at the door early in the morning and wanted to see him. Du Wu glanced at the pipa in surprise, he was the gentleman of the Great Sima Mansion, and there were not many people in Pingsuli, in fact, Du Wu was very aware of his situation, if he had no choice, he would never take the initiative to make friends with others, first, he was afraid that people with a heart would use this to cling to the Great Sima Mansion, and secondly, he was more worried about causing trouble for himself. Prudence has become the foundation of his life in Dahan. So when he saw the three words "galangal" on the bamboo slips, he had more question marks in his heart than others. He didn't want others to think that he was arrogant, and he didn't want to leave a false pretext, so he asked the old butler to report that the king had been approved, and then he asked Pipa to invite people in.

A slight sound of footsteps came from a distance, and when I looked up, a thin young man walked in. came in, and he threw himself to the ground: "Sir, please accept the disciple Galangal."

I saw that this person was thin and weak, like a hemp rod, dressed in a coarse cloth robe, and wore a pair of hemp shoes on his feet. The bun on his head is meticulous, and it looks carefully cared for, but he wears a yellow wooden hairpin, which looks a little shabby. Deep eyes, high nose bridge, pointed chin, and two sword eyebrows made the whole person heroic, just one glance, Du Wu felt that although this person was poor, he was not a thing in the pool. At that moment, he saluted and said: "In Xia Du Wu, I don't know what the son is looking for me?" ”

Galangal hurriedly knelt down: "Please take me as an apprentice, the disciple will be in the morning and dusk, and serve the gentleman." ”

Du Wu was a little confused, and he didn't know why this young man named Galangal wanted to apprentice.

"Childe, please get up, I am the gentleman of the Great Sima Mansion, and I have never opened a museum to teach outside, how can I say that I will accept apprentices? And I don't know if the things that the son wants to learn are the things that he is good at, so he doesn't dare to open his mouth to agree. I hope you will forgive me. ”

The young man couldn't afford to live or die, so he just fell to the ground, kowtowing desperately, and he couldn't bear to see the pipa, and couldn't help but pull the sleeve of Laduwu's coat. It happened that Wang Shu walked in from outside, and when Du Wu saw that he was amnestied, he quickly took Wang Shu's hand and asked for a solution. Wang Shouji said: "I heard from the old housekeeper that there is a young man who wants to apprentice, and the disciple has come to take a look. Sir, sit widely, and wait for the disciple to ask one or two before making a decision. ”

At that moment, Wang Shu walked up to the kneeling young man and asked, "Who are you, and why do you want to worship Mr. as a teacher?" Do you know that this is the Great Sima Mansion, and all the people who live there are nobles, if you are convicted of colliding and disturbing, do you know what it means? ”

"The disciple doesn't know, but the disciple is sincere in learning. Before the Yen Festival in the West City, I happened to hear Mr. on Taoism Sanyuan, the disciple benefited a lot, willing to lead the horse to fall and kick, with Mr. around, specially presented with an ancestral jade Jue, please Mr. accept me as an apprentice. As he spoke, he took out a sackcloth bag from his bosom and offered it with both hands.

The old butler stepped forward, took the sackcloth bag, brought it to Wang Shu, opened it layer by layer, and saw that there was a piece of turquoise ring jade inside, but the ring was not complete, but there was a gap. Du Wu saw Yu Jue for the first time and was very curious. Wang Shu presented the jade jue to Du Wu with both hands, and explained: "Jue, decide." Gao Langjun is so resolute and takes such an important thing as a constraint, and he has made up his mind to think about it. Looks like I'm going to have one more junior. Please sir. After speaking, he even gave Du Wu a salute.

Du Wu hesitated, he didn't know what Wang Hou's intentions were, although it was a good thing to have a disciple, but the life under the fence didn't seem to be suitable for accepting a disciple. Besides, Gao Liangjiang is also of suspicious origin, he just told the story of Taoism to the pipa and them indiscriminately, at that time, the West Market was full of people, how did this young man listen to it really, and follow all the way to find the Great Sima Mansion?

Galangal saw that Du Wu's face was uncertain, so he kept kowtowing, his head banged on the ground, and he was so frightened that the pipa flower was discolored, Du Wu's heart was not so hard, he sighed, and said: "In this case, then I will accept you as a disciple, but I will only teach you one line of Taoism, and none of the other doctrines will be transmitted, what do you think?" ”

Galangal was overjoyed, asked Du Wu to sit down, kowtowed three times in a proper manner, and called Master. Du Wu waited for him to finish his work, put the jade jue back in his hand, and said, "Now that you have become my disciple, then abide by the rules of being a teacher." As a teacher, the amount of knowledge that can be absorbed depends entirely on personal consciousness. If you use the name of being a teacher or the name of the Great Sima Mansion to run rampant and overbearing and disregard people's lives, you will definitely be expelled from the division, do you remember? ”

Galangal bowed again and again, shirked Yu Jue a few times, put it into his arms with tears in his eyes, and made a few big gifts. Du Wu took the test for his words and articles on the same day, it turned out that Galangal was also a Confucian student, but his family was poor, he had no opportunity to be an official, and he refused to grovel, and his life became more and more desolate. Hearing this, Du Wu also felt a little admiration in his heart. Although he has always admired Wang Mang's snort, he still wants to be free and self-reliant in his bones, but he has just arrived in Dahan and left the protection of Da Sima Mansion, and he may not be able to live for a day. Every time he was awakened by the nightmare of being cut in half, his heart weakened a little bit when he left the Great Sima Mansion, and now, he has really become a unified person who hides in a small building, and cares about his winter, summer, spring and autumn.

Liu Tong, the Marquis of Xinxiang, knelt on the ground, and he didn't dare to come out. Since Emperor Wu pushed his order, there are not many fiefs left for him, a townsman. Seventy years have passed since his great-grandfather's appointment as a marquis of Xinxiang, and his father is still an infant child. Counting the number of times he was sealed, this was the second time he came to Chang'an, and it was also the first time he stayed in Chang'an for so long, and he met the evergreen Empress Dowager of the Han Dynasty. The wine-colored wealth that has been inherited has long emptied his body, but it has not affected his thinking ability. When I heard the summons of the Empress Dowager, I understood what problem I was going to face.

"Aiqing, let's get even." Wang Zhengjun came out of the inner room, sat on the couch, and said in a kind tone.

"I am familiar with your great-grandfather Liu Bao, he also came to the East Palace to bid farewell to the first emperor when he was first named the Marquis of Xinxiang, we were still young at the beginning, and I also poured wine for your great-grandfather! It's been 70 years, and it's really like a stream. ”

"The kindness of the great ancestor of the minister, the Empress Dowager Xie." Liu Tong wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve, knelt down and kowtowed again.

"Get up, why do you say and kneel down again? I came to you today, firstly, to reminisce about the past, and secondly, I want to ask you, I have been having a big headache about the matter after the election of His Majesty recently, and I want to hear your opinion. ”

Liu Tong is so smart, he immediately understands the point. Although the old lady has gone through three dynasties, she is still a woman after all, and there are many things that she can't see clearly, so she came to me, an irrelevant person, to ask for advice.

"Returning to the Empress Dowager, the minister is a foreign minister, and he has taken office in the feudal country, his position is low, and he talks about state affairs in vain, and he is afraid that it will be inconsistent with etiquette."

"Aiqing's words are fallacious. Qing's surname is Liu, and he is a hereditary emperor who sent a letter to the marquis, how can he say that the foreign ministers? I want to hear your thoughts today, and whatever I say, I will forgive you without sin. ”