It's midnight.
No matter how prosperous and prosperous the imperial city is, the streets and alleys are still deserted at the moment, and it is difficult to find bright lights. After all, God cannot bear the fatigue. The snowflakes have stopped slightly, but the north wind is still strong, blowing lanterns in every house. , not allowed to stop for even a moment.
People with children at home often pile up snow in front of their homes and ask the children to stack them into many human shapes, and point the black chess pieces to the eyebrows, which is very interesting to watch.
A carriage slowly came out from the palace road. The sound of horse hooves could be heard tapping on the bluestone road. It walked along Panlong Street and went straight to the door of an inn. The carriage stopped and a very tired young man stepped out. The person driving the car gave him a slight hand, and then walked straight into the inn.
The waiter in front of the cabinet had long since fallen asleep. Now he heard the sound of footsteps and struggled to open his eyes. With sleepy eyes, he caught a glimpse of Mr. Xun entering the door, grinned, and then fell asleep again.
Although Xun Yuantuo rarely went out after coming to the imperial city, and even the waiter in the inn looked at him, but since he was in Na'an, there was no way anyone dared to make any mistakes, not to mention sneaking around. If you flirt with a woman, you will probably be punished, not to mention that Xun Yuantuo has just met the saint at this time, and he is very well-dressed, so the waiter ignores her and immediately lies down, continuing the sweet dream of spring.
On the second floor, a gentleman wearing a light blue coat handed Xun Yuantuo a cup of decoction into his hand before he could sit down. He wrinkled his nose and sniffed it, and said with dissatisfaction, " One drink every five days and one drink every three days. It seems that Shang Qi has not changed his bad habits over the years. Regardless of whether it is academic work or weddings and funerals, it seems that he doesn’t know how to drink without drinking. How it should be done.”
Xun Yuantuo scratched his head and chuckled, "It's a pity that I can't shirk it. Master is naturally aware of my apprentice's drinking capacity, but since it's the emperor hosting a banquet, we really don't dare to refute face easily and do the work of stroking the dragon's beard. I don’t dare to do it.”
Mr. Zhou hummed twice, stood up, stirred up the charcoal fire, and added some tea soup for his favorite disciple. Looking at the faint smile on his face, he naturally knew that his disciple wanted to hide it, but he didn't He asked, but slowly said, "That bowl of soup can sober up and dispel colds. Due to your weak constitution since birth, the lungs and liver meridians are also weak. If you don't be more careful, you might be in trouble again." If you want to be called a man who dies young, just get over your hangover as soon as possible, no need to talk nonsense."
It seems that the young master who is chatting and laughing with the current Emperor Qi and is the most popular, in front of this gentleman, is in any case the same young man who was in Qingchai Xun's house, looking out the window and ecstatically playing Cuju.
"My disciple asked for a position on behalf of the master. He is a lecturer at Qiliang Academy in the imperial city. His official rank is not high. He is only at the bottom of the sixth rank. He cannot go to the palace to meet the saints. However, the master doesn't care about such a false reputation," Xun Yuantuo sighed. Dao Lai said, "But even for this level of official position, it took a lot of effort to get it from the emperor. Fortunately, today's interpretation of the painting happened to be the same as what the Sacred Heart had in mind, so I reluctantly got this official position."
Zhou Kefa raised his eyebrows, "You didn't get an official position for yourself? No matter what, the number one scholar in Lao Yuhu should be above the fourth rank, not to mention that my disciple is better than the number one scholar in Lao Yuhu in previous dynasties. Many, many floors higher.”
But Mr. Xun finished drinking the soup in the bowl and shook his head.
Then he stretched out one finger, then spread out a palm, then stretched out his other hand, spread out three fingers, and then smiled slightly.
Mr. Zhou was stunned, then stood up, looking for objects everywhere, frowning.
Mr. Xun, on the other hand, was the old god. He watched his husband get up and look around for a while. After drinking some tea, he finally got rid of most of his drunkenness. He grinned and said, "The ruler is still left in the car tent. Master has been worried about it recently. I'm afraid it's already gone." Forgot."
As soon as he finished speaking, the young master saw his husband pick up an iron hook to stir up the charcoal fire from the corner of the wall, and turned around, with a gloomy look on his old face.
After all, Xun Yuantuo was young and strong, and he was very agile. He moved around the table in the middle of the house, but he was not beaten. On the contrary, Mr. Zhou was so tired that he couldn't stop breathing, so he finally dropped the things he had on hand, and continued Waving his hand, he still didn't forget to curse, "Others can read the article in order to be here today. Although you are a member of the Xun family, you can get this good opportunity and be able to rise to the top early in the morning, but you have to lower yourself and make money." How stupid it is to get an official rank at the bottom of the Eighth Grade."
But Xun Yuantuo did not defend himself, he just sighed softly and spoke slowly.
"How can my disciple not know what Mr. Xun is thinking? Although the Xun family has a Xun Prime Minister, my disciple's lineage is clearly abandoned. Rather than driving him out of the imperial city, it is better to say he is driving out the main lineage of the Xun family. Let's compare it. Compared with those ordinary aristocratic families, the hostility is even greater."
"Now it is said that it is not difficult for me to negotiate for a third-grade official rank with the Holy One. After all, it is difficult for the past and present generations to defeat six hundred flying flowers with all my strength. However, in this way, Prime Minister Xun's methods can only be I am afraid that even if the master spends countless efforts, it will be difficult to resist. When I first entered the official career, I was not familiar with the affairs of the officialdom. Of course, it would be difficult to deal with the intrigues and intrigues in the official world. Please put yourself in the urn. Even if there is a gentleman behind the apprentice to support me, but after all, I cannot always do it. Zhaofu, how can I cope with it freely?"
"Secondly, I would like to take this opportunity to express my feelings to the Holy One. Those talented people who have become outstanding in their official career and wish to be praised by all the civil and military officials in the court will rarely achieve good results in the end, not to mention that Xun and Xun are always tit-for-tat. Although the Holy One He holds his disciples in high esteem, but compared with Xun Xiang, his weight is still insignificant."
Following Xun Yuantuo's words, Mr. Zhou, who was originally gloomy, gradually calmed down and turned into a happy person.
"I didn't expect that my disciple could be so proud right now. Many people talk about guarding against arrogance and impetuosity, and they wish they could have these four words engraved in their eyes. But when we actually stand in this situation, we have already abandoned the so-called city mentality. At the back of my mind, let alone the fact that the emperor of a country has a great deal of regard for his support. In fact, there are four more benefits to be added to the two benefits mentioned just now. I might as well speak for myself."
"Retreat in order to advance?" Xun Yuantuo raised his eyebrows.
"We are working hard step by step." Mr. Zhou smiled brightly.
The night is getting thick outside the window.
Two people sat opposite each other drinking tea inside the window.
"If the master takes over the academy to teach, I'm afraid he will also be suppressed by Prime Minister Xun. After the disciple left the capital and went to another place to take office, I'm afraid his methods will become more numerous and difficult to guard against. Now it seems that the disciple really doesn't know. Why on earth does Master want to go to the Academy?"
Xun Yuantuo poured tea soup for Zhou Kefa respectfully and frowned.
According to my husband's temperament, let alone an official position at the bottom of the sixth rank, even if he is a first rank, I am afraid that this extremely lazy gentleman of his is not willing to work hard and work all the way to Na'an, except for teaching. Other than that, most of them were lying down in the car tents and sleeping soundly with their heads covered. How could such a lazy person seek such a low-level official position of the sixth rank? Not to mention that he seemed to have had issues with Prime Minister Xunduo in the first place and was being controlled in every way.
But Zhou Kefa didn't reply, put down his cup, turned to ask about the young master in front of him, and spoke with a smile on his lips.
"The two lieutenants I met in the palace earlier felt a little strange when I heard you talk about the season as a teacher. Even the two ordinary lieutenants could blurt out the words "teaching students according to their aptitude". I feel that it is inappropriate to emphasize culture and suppress military force. How could there be countless bright-minded people in the court who don’t know this?”
"In other words, everyone can actually see that there is something wrong. Sooner or later, there will be an uproar between the two poor families because of this matter. However, my teacher has no good impression of this family in the world, but is actually disgusted with it. "Actually, there can be no aristocratic family in the world, but there cannot be no poor family."
"What I have to do as a teacher would be difficult to accomplish without a teaching position in a top-ranked academy."
Zhou Kefa shook his head and smiled bitterly, "As for Prime Minister Xun, I have fought with him for a while in the early years. Although I couldn't gain the upper hand, I could still barely resist. A high-ranking official in the court who is inferior to me is a sixth-grade man like me." Frequent attacks by petty officials are tantamount to self-inflicted harm."
"In the end, the master has not made it clear to his disciple what the purpose of this trip to the capital is. I think it is not just to help the disciple enter his official career." Xun Yuantuo paused slightly with his hands holding the tea cup, and then returned. He calmly drank the tea soup and looked straight at the increasingly older gentleman in front of him, with hidden worries in his eyes that were not concealed at all.
"It's not yet time." Mr. Zhou looked out the window at the dark and cold winter night, slowly closing his eyes, "North of Shangqi, there is a kind of falcon. When the young birds are still young, they are often caught. It was injured by an eagle, so the parents of the young bird used their wings to cover the nest except when they went out to look for food. Even though the eagle carved bones and blood everywhere, they still defended the nest."
"While I still have some life left in my life as a master, my disciple, it is not in vain to take charge of my role earlier. Master has devoted all his efforts to make this official stable. Within a year or two, he can probably be transferred back to the imperial capital Na'an. With his ability as a master , I think it’s enough to last a year and a half.”
In the night, you can hear the jingling of armored armor crossing the street.
"Is it worth it?" The young master lowered his eyebrows, "I am enough to obtain these three ranks now, and I will definitely be able to climb up in the future. Maybe I can really be on an equal footing with the Xun family. I know that Master has a long-cherished wish that is still unresolved, so why bother to rush for a while."
In the Void Realm that day, Xun Yuantuo saw with his own eyes that man with a rather unruly expression, talking to his master for a long time. Moreover, he had also heard a few words on Guangyue Peak. Although he did not understand the meaning, he saw these words. In recent days, my master's various actions have always made me feel a little uneasy.
Mr. Zhou turned around and glanced at his proud disciple. His expression was surprisingly complicated. He hesitated several times before speaking, but finally did not speak. He smiled and said, "Have you eaten enough ginkgo today?"
Xun Yuantuo also breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hands and said, "Of course I didn't dare to forget Master's instructions, and I ate two more pills than before."
"That's good, let's go and have a rest." After that, Mr. Zhou walked out of the house and walked slowly downstairs.
The long street was empty and cold, and the gentleman, who was clearly hunched over, walked slowly along Panlong Street. He first took a look at the palace, and then looked back at the huge city that stretched for an unknown number of miles.
Being in a chasm, it is difficult to move to both the left and the right.
