The drizzling rain on the summer night hit the window, and Xue Qing put down the book in her hand and rubbed her eyes.

"Are you hungry? I made steamed cakes." Ge Chuan, who was sitting next to him, immediately putting down the needle and thread in his hand and asked.

Xue Qing nodded and said ok. Ge Chuan stood up happily and brought it over, two steamed cakes and two bowls of tea soup, and the two sat opposite each other.

"Mom, today's steamed cakes are a bit sweet."

"Isn't it delicious with malt sugar?"

“It’s delicious, but I prefer salty.”

"Then I'll make it salty next time."

Speaking of this, Ge Chuan paused and looked at the young man opposite him. Xue Qing swallowed his mouth slowly and looked focused when eating. This was her habit. Well, probably, Ge Chuan had never paid attention to these trivial daily things, because he could see them every day, but there was a paragraph he would not see, or even never see them.

"Qingzi, are you really willing to go?" She couldn't help asking, her nose a little sore, "You said too, it's very dangerous, maybe it's a trap..."

Xue Qing said, "I don't want to." He smiled again, "Mom, I actually didn't want to study before."

Don't want to? At the beginning, she said she was pretending, but later she studied hard but was not fake. Ge Chuan looked at her in confusion.

The boy under the lamp picked up the tea bowl and sipped it, saying, "Actually, I would like to eat and drink hard every day like Guo Zi'an and Guo Ziqian, or even Guo Baoer, and live a difficult life that way. However, it is not possible. We orphans and widows must work hard for their livelihoods. Although it is unfair, people are indeed different. The life they have to live is different. Unwillingness cannot change anything." Seeing Ge Chuan smile, "Everyone's identity is destined, but life is not destined, so some things must be done so that they can live a good life. Isn't the same for my mother? Lord Du, uncle blacksmith, and those friends who have already died, don't you know the danger?"

Ge Chuan looked at her and felt awe, sour and inexplicably excited. He felt that there was nothing to worry about in the world suddenly, so he sat up straight and responded.

Xue Qing said: "Don't worry, with Lord Du here, Uncle Prayer and others will follow you."

The peddler can go to business, Qi Suo and the blacksmith disappeared in Chang'an City and no one cares. Miaomiao can go to visit the man outside, but Ge Chuan's identity as Xue's mother cannot leave.

"I can accompany you, my son is worried about his mother who travels for thousands of miles." Ge Chuan said.

Xue Qing said: "My son is worried about her mother, so she didn't follow me. Just make some clothes and shoes for me. If you take your mother to the exam, others will laugh at you and me, which will attract more attention."

Ge Chuan naturally understood, and just said something. He sighed and drank tea and said, "Then I'll make you some clothes and shoes."

Xue Qing smiled and said, "Mom, anyone can make clothes and shoes. I want to express my reluctance to take care of me, but it is not to use this. Mother's brand poison is a must-have thing for home travel."

Ge Chuan was stunned and then giggled, slammed the table and said, "You are right, Qingzi, don't worry, even if I don't go, I can still defeat ten of them alone."

Xue Qing also slapped the table and said, "So what are you afraid of? If you can't beat us, you can poison them! One should be worth ten!"

The wind blew open the window, and the rain brushed even more. The laughter scattered in the rain with the wind. Nuannuan, who was asleep on the bed next door, turned over and reached out to grab her face, grinned, not knowing what kind of dream she had.

It was dawn after the rain, and the summer was rare fresh. The water in the Fuxue Palace was cleaned up early. The carriages and horses in front of the door stopped. Twenty Chang'an Prefecture students who were selected to take the gentleman exam entered one after another. The pre-exam tutoring prepared for these candidates for the Chang'an Prefecture was in the Fuxue Palace. There were old white-haired men, young teenagers, some were happy, some were dignified and reserved, and some were dull...

Zhang Shuangtong patted Liu Chunyang on the shoulder, and Liu Chunyang seemed to be startled and turned around.

"Are you so happy and stupid? You look absent-minded, and be more energetic." Zhang Shuangtong said, "Don't waste your grandfather's money."

He did not hide his voice, and the people around him couldn't help but look at him when they heard it. There was no such thing as saying it naked, although everyone knew it well.

Xue Qing looked behind her, Pei Yanzi was walking slowly, and he noticed her gaze, and he also looked over, his expression still.

Xue Qing fell behind, stood beside him, and whispered: "Young Master Yanzi, why did you come to participate in this?" As everyone said, Pei Yanzi had no need for this. It was useless for him to pass the third level of temptation. He only needed to jump to one level.

Thinking of Pei Yanzi's help to her a few times, Xue Qing had to think more about whether he was his own person. She believed that Du would not hide it from her. That Pei family or another independent force like Mr. Si Le? Or the person from the high-ranking official in the capital whom Du didn't know about it?

Pei Yanzi looked at her and said, "You can pass by writing poems, performing rituals, riding horses and shooting archery, so why bother making a essay?"

Xue Qing looked at him and said, "I know you are not stupid, but you are a little unambitious when you are like this? The pride of young people, you are acquainted with the test step by step, not the fame obtained by this kind of juggling imperial examination..."

There was a gray-haired old man in front of him turned his head and looked angry: "What is juggling!"

Xue Qing politely said: "Writing poetry is called juggling by young people." This old man should not be selected by outstanding poetry.

The old man glared at her, turned his head, and quickly walked away, as if he was disgusted with getting closer to Xue Qing: "Now young people are becoming less and less gentlemanly, and they don't understand what a gentleman is. The world is getting worse and worse, and each generation is worse than the next."

Pei Yanzi said: "The ambition in life is not stupid. If the road is open to heaven, you have to go through hardships just to make others happy to admire you? What is it that isn't stupid?"

Xue Qing nodded and said, "You are right, I think so too."

While speaking, he had already arrived in front of the main hall of the Prefecture Academy. The prefect Li Guangyuan, with a group of officials and Mr. Qingxia, was waiting. Twenty people stopped and listened to the speech of the Prefecture Li. The prefecture's words were very simple. First, congratulations to the selected people and reiterated that they were among the top six gentlemen in Chang'an Prefecture's six arts. They did not need to receive guidance anymore. But on the one hand, it was important to be more rigorous. Secondly, through this study, everyone became familiar with each other. After all, they were both students of Chang'an Prefecture in the gentleman's examination, and they were all a whole. Then they briefly introduced the twenty students to make everyone familiar.

Xue Qing also knew from this that the old man with gray hair was named Chen Mingxun, and he was a hermit. He had a high attainment in tea ceremony and chess skills... He said that he could only write poems and juggle, and he did not offend him.

Next, the officials of the Fuxue Palace introduced the invited gentlemen. In addition to Mr. Qingxia, there were four other great scholars who were invited to pay a lot of money, who were famous for their piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and also invited an equestrian archery master from the military camp. Finally, Li Guangyuan expressed his ardent hope for everyone to achieve good results in the gentleman exam, for the glory of Chang'an Prefecture and for the glory of the Great Zhou, and watched twenty people walk into the school prepared in the Fuxue Palace.

"There is not much time." Master Li sighed at the bright morning light, and the dawn was right in front of him.

...

...

The weather in the capital in May is stuffy, and the night sky is rolling with dark clouds and thunder. After a while, the rain falls from the sky like soybeans. The heavy rain dispels the night market, and the city gates close early, but it is called soon.

The guards of the capital city gate were not as yelled as guards from other places. Several guards looked out with some anger and were ready to scold the people who called the door, but it was pitch black at the sight, even darker than the night.

"What the hell... are spies and rioters?" a guard cursed, wanting to charge the person outside first, but the next moment he was stopped by the people beside him.

"Open the door quickly." The man said tremblingly, "It's the Black Armored Guard."

These words made the guards who were as aggressive as tigers going down the mountain suddenly turn into little sheep. They hurriedly opened the city gate, lit the lights and lit the road, and lined up to welcome them.

The black shadow appeared in the city gate hole, and seven horses pulled two cars. Because the heavy rain covered the rain cloth, it was bulging and galloping away.

"It's a human." A guard whispered, and glanced at him with a bold look. He saw a pair of black leather boots. He was obviously not a living person when he was stacked on the car.

Whose body was pulled into Beijing at night?

The horse's hooves stopped outside the Ministry of Justice in the heavy rain. The gate of the Ministry of Justice had been opened. The torches were illuminated inside and outside. Someone walked out of the Ministry of Justice. The leader of the Black Armored Guard did not dismount and said, "In the past, our Black Armored Guard died and burned on the spot. I wonder why Lord Duan asked us to send the dead back."
Chapter completed!