The carriage and horse of the Fang family traveled all the way to Liu'anfang, and the street became narrower and the pedestrians became thinner. After walking for more than 30 zhang on a stone road, I drove into Fang Xiaoru's mansion in Beijing.

The Fang family originated in Ninghai, Zhejiang, and often lived in Beijing. Among them, Fang Xiaoru is the first. He is now a bachelor of Hanlin, but he can't afford the extremely expensive land in Beijing. Only a four-hall house was bought in the semi-distant territory, and most of the rest of the clan brothers bought or rented it around.

The Fang Mansion is not spacious compared to the large households in Beijing, and it also has a study in the front yard and a boudoir in the back yard, and there are two small courtyards in it.

When the carriage and horse returned to Fang's house, several children of the Fang clan put away their laughter and accompanied the three new sons into the study to meet Fang Xiaoru and listen to the admonition. The ladies gathered in the main room and sat around Mrs. Fang to greet and amuse. The servants in the main hall were busy, setting up their seats and erecting screens. The kitchen lady was sweating profusely, and commanded the handyman to pull the bellows vigorously and hurry up for the hour. The whole Fang Mansion is as lively and cheerful as the New Year.

Several Fang clan brothers listened to the admonition in the study for a long time, and when they came out of the study, they all took a long breath and went to the west wing to play. The west wing is Fang Zhongyue's house, and several brothers are around him, wanting to listen to Fang Zhongyue talk about what he has seen and heard when he returns to his hometown.

Fang Zhongyue is the second son of Fang Xiaoru. His status is noble, and his brothers usually surround him to compliment him. At this time, he stretched his eyebrows, leaned into the Taishi chair with a smile, and said, "The countryside is still like that, what can change?"

A young brother teased, "What about that girl, Aoi, she should be fifteen years old." The last time her family came to the capital, she didn't miss you?"

But seeing that Fang Zhongyue's face changed, he knew that he probably said the wrong thing, so he stopped talking in time and didn't dare to say it again.

"Xiaokui is the hope of her aunt's whole family, even if she doesn't enter the palace to be the queen's mother in the future, she has to marry a young talent. How could someone like me get into the eyes of their family? Fang Zhongyue was resentful in his heart. It turned out that the woman named Aoi was his cousin. In the past, his cousin has been pestering him, and his aunt has hinted many times that she wants to marry Xiaokui to herself. But this time he returned to his hometown, but Xiaokui treated him coldly and ignored him.

The brother said, "Hey, you are the son of Hanlin, and in the blink of an eye, you will also become Hanlin." If you weren't a young talent, we'd be a cat and a dog. ”

Fang Zhongyue snorted coldly, glanced at Fang Zhongjin who was standing on the edge of the wall, and stopped talking.

Everyone looked at each other, and they all looked like they understood. It seems that this time when she returned to her hometown, Xiao Kui must have turned the gun to entangle Fang Zhongjin. Fang Zhongjin is recognized as a young genius and is most likely to shine in this imperial examination. Thinking about it, Xiaokui's girl took a fancy to Fang Zhongjin again.

The older Fang Zhongjian said in a round game: "What does the girl know when she is young? Her family can't see the situation clearly. Don't go out of your way and end up betting on the wrong bet. In the end, I chose one that couldn't even get up the list. ”

The others who said this were stunned. Although Fang Zhongjian usually doesn't talk much, he is the most good at judging the situation and speaking in all aspects, which is deeply loved by the elders. Now there are thorns in his words, and every sentence implies that the person who Aoi girl likes will fail the exam, unlike the way he usually speaks.

Everyone has already guessed that the person Kwai girl has a crush on is Fang Zhongjin, but if Fang Zhongjin will fall off the list, everyone doesn't believe it. Fang Zhongjin's extraordinary wisdom is known to everyone, no matter how he plays abnormally, he will not lose his name.

At this time, he had the audacity to ask half-jokingly: "The girl loves to be pretty, is it possible that the girl has fallen in love with our brother Jin? Hey, the two of them are like a pair of beauties together." The crowd laughed.

Fang Zhongyue's face became better, he looked at Fang Zhongjin with a smile, and said, "Aren't they a pair of beauties? Everyone looked at Fang Zhongyue's face, and it was expected that Fang Zhongjin would inevitably have an accident this time. Otherwise, he wouldn't have beaten the reservoir dogs like this. For a while, no one had any scruples, and the jokes of meat and vegetarian became more and more excessive.

Fang Zhongjin sat on the side, neither panicking nor annoyance, as if everyone was laughing at irrelevant people.

Only the youngest Fang Zhongxiang grabbed Fang Zhongjin and asked, "Brother Jin, have you brought me anything interesting when you go back for so long this time?" Fang Zhongjin smiled and said, "Look." He took the slingshot out of his sleeve.

Fang Zhongxiang took the slingshot and looked at it carefully. This slingshot is made of fine rosewood soaked in tung oil, and the slingrope on it is made of beef tendon. Fang Zhongxiang was just in his early tens, he was small and weak, so he pulled the bullet rope and didn't move, so he pulled Fang Rujin to try it in the courtyard.

There were no strangers in the courtyard, and it was supposed that the servants and servants were busy in the kitchen hall. Fang Zhongxiang found a stone and wanted to shoot a hemp on the tree. But the stone fell to his feet with a thud. After trying twice and unsatisfactory, he asked Fang Zhongjin: "Brother Jin, you won't find a slingshot that can't be pulled away to fool me, right?"

Fang Zhongjin took the slingshot with a smile, took the stone and shot it all over the bow, and the hemp seeds on the top of the tree fell in response. Fang Zhongxiang's mouth opened wide in surprise.

"Strange, a few brothers still say that you are a beauty, and the general is not as majestic as you! Next time they don't keep a mouth, you can use this to teach them a lesson!"

"Manly man, what does it matter if you are said two words. Fang Zhongjin said, and pointed out how Fang Zhongxiang's waist and legs should be strengthened, and how to aim with his hands and eyes.

In fact, Fang Zhongjin has not studied martial arts. His mother was strong all her life, and although her family was poor, she did her best to raise her son. She hoped that her son could become a perfect man like the ancient gentleman, so she asked him to learn riding and archery in addition to studying, and to be able to master the six arts.

The so-called "six arts" are etiquette, music, archery, royalty, calligraphy, and mathematics. The word "shooting" refers to archery.

Fang Zhongjin is very smart, not only in the memorization. He learns anything, just by watching it a few times, and he can find the trick in it. As soon as you practice, you can get the essence of it. Some masters have been prostituting for many years, but the truth they have realized in their hearts cannot be said in their mouths or passed on in their hands. And when he comes here, he can easily penetrate the master's know-how, and he can even touch the bypass and draw inferences from one another. Although he has never learned a slingshot, because he can shoot arrows, he can hit the hemp on the tree and smash other people's rice bowls.

"Hehe, I know you're not annoyed," Fang Zhongxiang said as he looked down for a stone, "Maybe you think you're complimenting you for being handsome." Look at the sisters, and those maids, which one doesn't look like honey when they see you. "He was too young to understand the voices of his brothers.

It was impossible for Fang Zhongjin not to understand. He felt that the attitude of the two of them towards him had changed greatly in the past few days on the road, and he was even more proud after arriving at the Fang Mansion, which seemed to imply that he would fail this scientific expedition. He couldn't think of what these people could do, so he simply responded to all changes with the same and calmed down to watch them play tricks.

Fang Zhongxiang thought that the stones he found were too small to exert his strength. With a whim, he tore off the bag around his waist and stuffed it with gravel. This time he used all his strength and shot with a full bow. The strength is great, but unfortunately the accuracy is not at all. I saw that the bag flew into the sky, and with a bang, it seemed to fall on the roof of the inner courtyard.

Fang Zhongxiang's face turned white in a moment: "What can I do about this? I have to go back today without being verbose." As he spoke, he pulled Fang Zhongjin's sleeve, "Brother Jin, what can we think of?"

Fang Zhongjin also frowned. He knew that this matter could be big or small, but it was far from being as simple as a child losing a bag, and there was still a young lady who had not left the cabinet living in the inner courtyard. He has seen a lot of stories about the woman in the boudoir who was ruined and ruined because of the matter of chasing after the wind and shadows, and often stayed in the nunnery.

Fang Zhongjin was worried that if he left this man's bag on it, he didn't know what trouble would happen, so he decided to climb the wall to find the bag.

Let Fang Zhongxiang stand and look at the wind, and Fang Zhongjin climbed the wall and jumped up. He saw the bag fall on the roof of the main house, and slowly moved it there on his stomach. As he got closer and closer to his target, he suddenly heard an angry shout from the main house. This angry shout grabbed his heart.