After running around for several days, Xue Bai made up for his sleep, and when he woke up, the sky was bright.

Yesterday, after riding a horse all day, his whole body was sore, so he lay there, looking at the horizontal beams of mortise and tenon in a daze.

The winter sun shines through the paper window, which is divided into a grid.

When he first came, he thought that the time in the world was too lazy and boring, but today he enjoys this rare tranquility.

"Hey, are you awake?" Qinglan walked in with a food box and muttered, "I can really sleep, I won't wake up until three o'clock in the morning." ”

"Sleep more to grow taller." Xue Bai said: "In this Tang Dynasty, if you want to be an official, you have to be in great shape." ”

"You really want to be an official."

"Even Li Bai thinks, let alone Xue Bai?"

Qinglan laughed, and when she finally put away her expression, she couldn't help laughing again. There is no previous resentment in his eyes, and he looks bright.

"It's strange to say, what if they don't mention the prince very often?"

Xue Bai said: "In their eyes, it may be that they 'betrayed' the prince to protect their family, and they feel ashamed." ”

"I have a clear conscience." Qinglan said: "I also wish that the prince was finished, but I thought that if I implicated many people like the previous abolition of the prince, I would not know that I had done right or wrong." ”

Xue Bai then thought of the veteran of Longxi that he saw in Beiye in the western suburbs yesterday.

Personally took the traitorous henchmen to arrest a sergeant who fought for the country, and he was not in a good mood.

He said lightly: "The power struggle has always been like this, except for a few people, the vast majority of people are involuntary and helpless, no matter if you are a diligent official or a soldier who fought bloodily." ”

Qinglan felt that he had a lot to say about this, and put down the food box lightly, staring at him, for fear of interrupting his desire to talk.

Xue Bai didn't say anything more and continued to be in a daze.

Qing Lan then asked, "So you have great ambitions, do you want to be a few, such as the prime minister?" ”

Xue Bai smiled and didn't answer her.

Qing Lan didn't like him to be so mysterious, she felt that the two of them who were buried alive together had the closest position, so she flattened her mouth and asked, "Then can you really abolish the prince this time?" ”

"Not necessarily, in short, we paid Li Linfu a business."

"Does the prince still have a way to live?" Although Qing Lan would say some words of mercy for all sentient beings, she was not completely heartless, and asked, "But if he is not abolished, he will kill us sooner or later, right?" ”

"Don't worry." Xue Bai said: "Calm down." ”

"Hmph, I said like I want to abolish the prince, what do I know as a servant?"

Qinglan didn't feel that she was the eldest maid in the family anymore, so she scolded him, slowly laid out the meal, chatted casually, and finally said, "You eat, I'll come to close the harvest later." ”

"Hmm."

"You still don't get up, do you want me to wait for you to change your clothes?"

"Don't dare, don't dare."

Qinglan smiled again, and her steps were a little brisk.

Xue Bai tapped his head lightly, and secretly said in his heart, don't provoke the little girl, it will affect the progress.

In fact, he also knows that this kind of thing does not affect progress much now, after all, it is a habit like this, and it is difficult to change it for a while.

During lunch, he faintly heard someone in the courtyard arguing about something, and when Qinglan came in to collect the goods, Xue Bai asked about it.

"Erniang is not allowed to send Liu Lang's son-in-law to the funeral." Qinglan said in a low voice: "The eldest lady has to hire someone from the funeral house to help. ”

Xue Bai then went over and took a look.

Du Cheng had never done a funeral, her family refused to help, and she was the only one in the courtyard who was so busy in linen that she had missed the hour.

Seeing this situation, Xue Bai stepped forward and said, "I'll go with you, I can't help much, I have a response." ”

The others of the Du family are afraid that Du Yan will be angry, but he is not afraid.

"You don't have to ......"

Du Cheng wanted to refuse, but she involuntarily changed her words halfway through the words.

"Thank you."

She was really exhausted and needed someone to support her.

~~

Finally, the funeral procession went out of Shengpingfang.

Liu Tao traveled extensively when he was alive, but when he died, he had no relatives and friends to send him off, and there were only two people in the funeral procession, except for his wife, only Xue Bai, who accompanied her on a trip, and he was not here to send the funeral.

He didn't even dare to raise the spirit card, for fear that the people in Chang'an City who were so ruined by him would make trouble and smash the coffin.

When he walked to Jing'anfang, Xue Bai's afterglow saw that Du Ming's feet were weak, and he hurriedly stretched out his hand to support her.

After looking again, he saw that her lips were pale and her eyes were tired, and he asked, "You didn't sleep last night?" ”

"Well, I talked with my second sister all night."

"Shall you sit in the carriage?"

"No, let others see the joke." Du Cheng was helped by Xue Bai and walked a few steps and asked, "Will accompanying me on a trip will delay your business?" ”

"It's good to take a look around, and you should be familiar with Chang'an."

"Last night we thought about it for you, if you have a door, it is the best, and the door shade is the most direct. If not, it should also be admitted to the imperial examination. Li Linfu is unreliable sooner or later, and you don't want to cling to Yang Guifei all day long, you need to know that you rely on mountains and mountains and rely on water. After all, we must have our own strength. Du Cheng said: "These words, if you are at home at this time, it should be the second sister to tell you." ”

Xue Bai said: "I just want to know about the Tang Dynasty, and I also ask the eldest lady for advice." ”

"Auntie is so ugly, I have hated people calling me 'belly aunt' since I was a child." Du Cheng rarely showed some little daughter posture, and then said: "There are many ways to enter the office, that is, the saint can directly give you an official." On the contrary, even if he is a jinshi, he only has the qualifications of an official, and if he really wants to be an official, he still has to plan. However, you can only go further if you are a jinshi. ”

As she spoke, she glanced at Xue Bai and saw that he could fully comprehend the reason, so she continued: "There are some unwritten customs in officialdom, and the same is true for the road to promotion. ”

"I want to hear about it."

"If you take the imperial examination, there are also Jinshi and Ming Jing Scholars, and this first step is to enter the high school, and the official must be the school book and orthography, and then the Gyeonggi County Lieutenant, the superintendent of the imperial history, the relics, the staff wailang, the Zhongshu Sheren, and the Zhongshu Shilang. In this way, he is promoted step by step, and he becomes the prime minister, and he does not need to go through the remaining official positions, which is called the right path of Qingyun. ”

When Xue Bai heard the governor of Gyeonggi County, he thought of someone and asked, "Yan Zhenqing, the governor of Chang'an County, is this like this?" ”

"I've heard of this man." Du Cheng said: "Born in Jinshi, Ren Xiaoshulang, Liquan County Lieutenant, and Chang'an County Lieutenant, it is this Qingyun righteous road that he walked on, and it seems that Ding has been worried for three years in the middle. It can be seen that the road to Qingyun is difficult to walk, and no one knows what setbacks there will be......"

The two chatted and walked, and the journey of more than an hour seemed not so far.

Before they talked about how to get into the Jinshi, they had already arrived at a group of burial posts, which was actually a low hill.

A pit had been dug on the hill, which was much shallower than the pit where Xue Bai was buried alive, making him think that if Liu Yan hadn't died, he would have been able to climb out.

Seeing that no one came to the funeral, the mourners helped to symbolically cover their faces and howl twice, and as soon as they put their hands down, they immediately became neat.

"Cover!"

They jumped into the carriage and returned to Chang'an, and on the huge plateau, there were only two people and two horses left, as well as the snow.

Du Cheng stood for a while, looked up at Xuehua, and knew that she had finally fulfilled her responsibilities as a wife.

"Let's go."

~~

The two drove their horses and returned to the official road, Du Cheng strangled the stiff rope and said: "There is a post house on the northwest road for six or seven miles, and the Wei family receives New Year's gifts there every year, I want to ask them where they picked you up at that time." ”

"I'm afraid it's too late to make it to the curfew."

"I'm a good rider." Du Cheng smiled, "I'm afraid you won't be able to keep up." ”

Xue Bai said: "I have made great progress today. ”

"Drive."

Du Cheng had turned the horse's head and ran straight northwest.

Xue Bai looked a little clumsy, first clenched the reins, and then leaned down before he began to urge the horses to speed up.

He felt the bumps, got more and more adapted, and then ran faster and faster, and finally, gradually caught up with Du Cheng.

"Don't be afraid, you're riding the most docile horse in the family!" Du Cheng shouted and picked up speed again.

Xue Bai also sped up.

The cold wind was blowing in his face, and the snowflakes hit him so hard that he couldn't open his eyes...... Gradually, he liked the feeling of galloping.

Eventually, he simply chose to put his trust in the horse he stepped on, and let it run forward with joy.

"Da-da-da-da-da."

Finally, a post house appeared in the distance.

The two slowed down their horses, rushed to the post house, turned over and dismounted, looked at each other and smiled, both of them seemed a little happy.

"I taught Gorou how to ride a horse, and you learned much faster than him." Du Cheng said.

At this time, a middle-aged woman came out of the post house, took a closer look at this side, and walked over.

"Dare to ask the lady...... It's really the aunt of the Du family, I haven't seen her for many years. ”

Du Cheng had already done a thousand blessings and said, "Mrs. Wei is healthy and her complexion is better." ”

"What are you?"

"My Langjun is unfortunate...... It's not worth mentioning. ”

"Hey, if the concubine didn't guess wrong, this is Du Wulang, right? No wonder the concubine looks familiar from a distance, Gorou is really plump and beautiful, jade and golden. After so many years, the neighbors will have to move around a lot in the future. ”

"Wei Niangzi guessed wrong, he is not Wulang, but the two servants of the Wei family rescued him from Pingkangfang. We came here to ask them what was going on. ”

"Is there such a stupid servant in my family? When I met such a Fengzi boy, I didn't know how to pick it up and send it to someone else's house. That Wei Niangzi said and laughed, beckoned to a middle-aged man in the courtyard of the post house who was counting the goods list, and said, "Erlang, ask which slave saved people in Pingkangfang." ”

Wei Jiaerlang asked the steward again.

When the steward heard this, he remembered and said, "Isn't that my two nephews, Yue Shuo and Yue Jiao, who came back from their backs?" ”

"Where are they?"

"I'll go to the front to receive the New Year's gift, and I'll be back in a while."

Du Cheng looked at the sky, stomped her feet a little anxiously, and then went to the post house with Xue Bai to sit and wait.

said that it was a while, but it took almost half an hour to see a group of people driving over in a snowy day.

Wei Erlang hurriedly greeted him and warmly approached his father's subordinates sent back from Shuofang, saying that he had arranged food and lodging for them, but it also made Xue Bai learn a lot.

After waiting for a while, I saw that the two Tsing Yi slaves were busy and rushed to the hall to meet each other.

Xue Bai went up first to salute and thank them for saving their lives.

Du Cheng was already prepared, and handed over two money bags.

But she had planned to ask before the funeral.

"How does this work?"

"Saving grace, make."

Yue Xuan and Yue Jiao were startled when they saw the money bag, they really wanted to accept it but didn't dare to accept it, but they hurriedly put it away after a few times before talking about the events of the day.

"That day, it was said that Du Wulang was lost in Sanqu, so let's go to Sanqu, we are still familiar there."

Yue Gao added: "You can be familiar with the song along the wall, and I really haven't been to the southern song and the middle song." ”

"When we got there, everyone looked for it separately, and Uncle went to find an acquaintance to inquire, and we went west along the wall to find it."

"Uncle is going to listen to music."

"In short, we walked along the square wall to the west of Pingkang, in front of which is a big courtyard, connected with the square wall, there is no road, we go south along an alley, one side is the courtyard, the other is the horse farm."

"Kemariba."

"Yes, Kemariba." Yue Xuan said: "Before I reached the cross street, I saw a corpse in the snow in front of me. ”

"We thought it was a corpse, but it wasn't."

"When I looked closer, there was no snort, but my body was still hot, and when I looked closer, I snorted again. We thought, isn't this Du Goro? ”

"Who would have thought it wouldn't?"

“……”

The two of you said a word, but the whole process was very clear.

After they left, Du Cheng and Xue Bai glanced at each other and said in a low voice, "That's Princess Changning's house." ”