CHAPTER XXXVI

In the spring of the twenty-first year of Tianzhao, the annual enrollment of Tianzhao Academy attracted the attention of the reading seeds all over the world.

Countless people say that this year's entrance exam is unprecedented, and I am afraid that it will be difficult for anyone to come in the future.

After all, in this year's exam, there were two things that had never happened in history.

The first is the top 10 in this year's exam, five of which are women.

Since Yingtian Academy opened enrollment, it has not been without open-minded people trying to send their daughters to school in the past 20 years, but before that, there were only two or three women enrolled in a year, and the best results were all outside the fifty.

However, this year, five women suddenly entered the top 10 together, and it was unbelievable and unbelievable.

As for the second thing, the first place in this year's entrance exam turned out to be a young man who had never heard of it.

It is said that this man's ancestors have been farmers for three generations, and his family is poor, and even the travel expenses to Beijing are borrowed.

The entrance exam was taken for three days in a row, and this young man had no money to live in a hotel, so he slept outside the gate of Yingtian Academy for three days. It is said that on the last day, he contracted a cold and went to the examination room sick.

But in this way, he still overwhelmed the children of wealthy families from all walks of life and became the first civilian champion in the history of Yingtian Academy.

"Quick, quick, just ahead. ”

Several gorgeously dressed young people tiptoed to the Imperial Library of Yingtian Academy, and looked inside the building with their windows open.

"There, there!"

A young man with a Kyohoku accent pointed to the steps on the second floor of the Imperial Library and shouted softly, while the rest of the people looked in the direction of his finger.

I saw a woman in purple, sitting on the steps at the moment, holding an ancient line book in her hand, and her green jade fingers pinched the corner of the page and turned it gently, for fear of ruining this ancient book.

A young man sitting by the window heard the noise outside, and leaned out of the window in confusion, but it just blocked the view of these people.

"How many of you, what are you doing?"

The young boys who were blocked from view looked at each other when they saw this man in the uniform of the academy.

Every student who enters Yingtian Academy will be given a tailor-made and exquisite off-white uniform, which must be worn during class.

But on weekdays, the wealthy sons in Yingtian Academy can see this kind of "coarse linen clothes", so they naturally look for opportunities to wear their own gorgeous clothes as much as possible.

This was the first time they had seen a man still wearing a college uniform on a day off in the academy, so they couldn't help but be a little curious.

A white-clothed boy at the head frowned and said, "In Zhang Shijin, the northern city of Xiajing, my father is Zhang Shiping, the head of the household department. ”

As he spoke, he pointed to the two people beside him and said, "This is Yu Liang, the son of the Household Servant, and the other is Kong Chengren, the son of the Rite Servant." Dare to ask your Excellency's name?"

The young man didn't seem to hear Zhang Shijin's question, and still frowned and asked, "What do you want to do?"

When the three sons saw the man's attitude, they all frowned.

You must know that their fathers are all second-class officials of the imperial court, even in Jingbei City, they are all figures with heads and faces. Even though this Yingtian Academy Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, they have never been so despised.

Zhang Shijin understands that when he goes out, he tries to provoke as little trouble as possible, and he is not a gentleman who likes to use his family power to bully others.

Seeing that the man was vigorous, he had no choice but to reply: "The three of us brothers are resting today and want to come to the Imperial Library to read books." ”

The man stared at the trio through the window, seemingly unconvinced of the answer.

I saw him shake his head and say, "Since you are reading, why do you keep looking out the window instead of coming in through the main entrance?"

When Yu Liang heard the man's words, he finally couldn't help but scold: "Where are you a scholar, dare to talk to my Brother Zhang like this, dare to use the word 'thief' to describe us, you are so bold." ”

The young scholar snorted coldly and said: "A dignified eight-foot man, when you go out, you must report the name of your family first, rely on your father's support, you must know that you want to be the head of a thief, and your name is resounding all over the world, what about you?"

When Yu Liang heard this, he was about to make a move, but was stopped by Zhang Shijin waving his hand.

He clasped his hands into fists, bowed deeply to the man through the window, and said: "I am stupid, I just want to inherit the name of my father and live up to the glory of my ancestors, but I have never thought about how to go further. Dare to ask the name of the son, in the future, if I Zhang Shijin makes a difference, I will not forget the grace of the son's teaching today. ”

The young scholar pointed to his right hand and said, "The gate of the Imperial Library is over there." ”

After saying that, he gently closed the window and ignored the three people in the courtyard.

"Brother Zhang, this scholar is really bullying, what is his origin, dare to be so arrogant. You wait, I'll ask someone to inquire when I go back. Today's matter, if his father is from the third grade, don't think about peace!"

Zhang Shijin looked at the tightly closed window and shook his head slightly.

"No need to ask, I can probably guess who this person is, you can't settle him. ”

Kong Chengren, who had been standing aside without speaking, frowned and said, "Brother Zhang, could it be that he is the son of the first minister?"

Zhang Shijin shook his head and said, "Didn't you understand what he said?" He is not the son of any minister, he is just a commoner. If I'm not mistaken, he should be the first civilian champion in Yingtian Academy in the past twenty years, Lang Le Xiyan. ”

Le Xiyan had been sitting on the branches of the moon in the Imperial Library until he stretched his waist and prepared to go to dinner.

After Yingtian Academy learned about his family's situation, it not only exempted him from all the expenses, but also gave him two taels of silver every month for meals.

You must know that the world has been peaceful in recent years, the people of Daliang are rich and the country is strong, and a bag of rice is only 50 wen and 2 taels of silver, which is an astronomical amount that Le Xiyan has never touched since he was a child.

But the more this is the case, the more he cherishes every copper plate in his pocket, and even eats only one meal a day, hoping to send back some silver subsidies to his family every month.

He looked around and noticed that at some point, hundreds of copper oil lamps had been lit up in the Imperial Library.

He had seen this kind of oil lamp once in the women's room of the Cold Moon Tower, and it was said that one lamp cost more than a dozen taels of silver, and these hundreds of lamps were probably enough for his family of four to eat for several lifetimes.

Thinking of the experience of being taken to the Cold Moon Building by that man, Le Xiyan couldn't help but blush a little, it was the first and only time in his life that he entered the Qinglou, although it was just a simple meal and a night, but the scene of the lights and wine made him unforgettable.

I don't know how the benefactor who helped him is doing now, after he was named on the gold list this time, he once wanted to go to Hanyue Tower to look for him, but he was sent out by an old bustard before he entered the door.

"Alas, if you have the opportunity, you must go to find that benefactor, and you dare not forget the kindness of a meal. ”

He slowly got up and was about to leave, but found that there was still a woman sitting on the stairs around the corner.

He vaguely remembered that the woman had been sitting here when he came in the morning, and now that it was the end of the day, the woman did not seem to have any intention of leaving, and was still immersed in the book.

Le Xiyan smiled with satisfaction.

After all, Yingtian Academy is the best place of learning in the world, a palace of reading, although there are many people who are after the official eunuchs in the morning, but there are many more people who love reading than in other places.

Le Xiyan left the Imperial Library softly and slowly, and slowly closed the door, not wanting to make a little noise, for fear of disturbing the woman's mind.

Today, the moon and stars are scarce, and Le Xiyan walks on a stone road that is inaccessible.

This is a path he found on the first day he entered Yingtian Academy, and around this road is a lotus pond, and on the opposite side of the lotus pond is the canteen.

This is the closest road to the canteen, and only by taking this kind of shortcut can he dare to arrive before the canteen closes, otherwise I'm afraid he will be hungry today.

"Yo, isn't this our eldest son Le? who is in such a hurry, where are you going?"

Le Xiyan looked up and found that several men in front of him were blocking the road, led by Yu Liang in the morning.

Le Xiyan glanced at it and found that he hadn't seen a few people behind Yu Liang, and as for Zhang Shijin and Kong Chengren this morning, they were even more gone.

He frowned and asked, "What do you want to do?"

Yu Liang raised his head and put his hands behind his back, walked up to Le Xiyan step by step, touched his face with his face, touched the tip of his nose, and smiled contemptuously: "It's nothing, I just want to see the legendary civilian champion Lang." ”

Le Xiyan didn't dodge or dodge, and said calmly: "Didn't you see it this morning, where is your master?"

Yu Liang snorted lightly and said: "Brother Zhang is just one of my brothers, if it weren't for his father and my father's head, I wouldn't bother to deal with him if he wants to be my brother." ”

Yu Liang pointed with his thumb to the group of people behind him: "See, Lao Tzu has so many brothers, they all want to see the majesty of the eldest son." ”

"Get out of the way, or I'll go to your master." ”

Yu Liang took two steps back, pretending to be scared, "Oh, don't tell my master." ”

As he spoke, his eyes were cold, his face was cold, and he grabbed Le Xiyan's collar and said, "How old are you, you are still looking for this and that." Do you think that I, like people like you, cherish this rag on my body very much? Let me tell you the truth, Lao Tzu's quota for entering the academy was bought for 3,000 taels, and if you have a kind, you will go to sue it, but if I leave this year, I will buy another one next year. ”

Yu Liang pushed Le Xiyan away and sneered: "People like you may not know what the concept of three thousand taels is, let me tell you, the dog I raised has cost Lao Tzu more than three thousand taels for three years." Guess what, my dog is important, or your life is important. ”

Le Xiyan tidied up his wrinkled neckline and calmly stared at the arrogant and domineering man in front of him.

"I don't know if his life is important, but yours really isn't that important. ”

Just as everyone was at a stalemate, a woman's voice came from behind Le Xiyan.

Everyone looked for prestige, but saw a woman in purple slowly walking from a distance, still holding a basic book in her hand. It was the man who sat on the steps of the Imperial Sho Tower during the day.