After running around for several days, Xue Bai took a good night's sleep and woke up to bright light.
After riding a horse all day yesterday, his whole body was sore, so he lay there and stared blankly at the horizontal and vertical beams that were joined together with mortise and tenon joints.
The winter sunlight passes through the paper windows and is divided into frames.
When he first came here, he thought the time in this world was too lazy and boring, but today he particularly enjoys this rare tranquility.
"Hey, are you awake?" Qinglan walked in with a food box and muttered: "I can sleep really well, I didn't wake up until about three o'clock in the morning."
"The more you sleep, the taller you will be." Xue Bai said, "In this Tang Dynasty, if you want to be an official, you have to be tall."
"You really want to be an official."
"Even Li Bai thinks about it, let alone Xue Bai?"
Qing Lan laughed, and when she finally lost her expression, she couldn't help laughing again. The previous resentment was gone from his eyes, and they looked bright.
"It's strange to say that Madam and the others rarely mention the Prince. What will happen?"
Xue Bai said: "In their eyes, they may have betrayed the prince to protect the family, and they must feel guilty."
"I have no guilt in my heart." Qinglan said: "I also wish that the prince would die, but if I think about it and implicate many people like the deposed prince did before, I won't know whether I did the right thing or the wrong thing."
Xue Bai then thought of the Longxi veteran he had seen yesterday in the western suburbs.
I personally took the traitor's gang to arrest a soldier who was fighting for the country, and I was not in a good mood.
But he said calmly: "The power struggle has always been like this. Except for a few people, most people are involuntarily and helpless, no matter you are a diligent official or a bloody soldier."
Qinglan felt that he had a lot to say about this, so she put down the food box gently and stared at him, fearing that it would interrupt his desire to talk.
Xue Bai didn't say any more about it and continued to be in a daze.
Qing Lan then asked: "So you have great ambitions. Do you want to be one of the few, such as the prime minister?"
Xue Bai smiled and did not answer her.
Qinglan didn't like him being so mysterious. She felt that the two of them who were buried alive together had the closest stance, so she flattened her lips and asked, "Can we really depose the prince this time?"
"Not necessarily. Anyway, we gave Li Linfu a job."
"Is there any way for the prince to survive?" Although Qing Lan can say some words of pity for all living beings, she is not completely heartless and asked: "But if we don't destroy him, he will still kill us sooner or later, right?"
"Don't be anxious." Xue Bai said: "Calm down."
"Hmph, you sound like I want to depose the prince. What do I, a maid, know?"
Now Qinglan no longer felt like the maid in the family. She scolded him and slowly laid out the food. She chatted about it and finally said, "You can eat. I'll collect the dishes later."
"Um."
"If you don't get up yet, do you want me to help you change?"
"Don't dare."
Qing Lan smiled again, her steps going out a little briskly.
Xue Bai tapped his head lightly and thought to himself, don't mess with the little girl, it will affect your progress.
In fact, he also knows that this kind of thing does not affect progress nowadays. After all, it is a habit and it is difficult to change for a while.
During lunch, I heard someone making noise in the courtyard. When Qing Lan came in to collect the plates, Xue Bai asked about it.
"The second mother doesn't allow anyone to send Liu Lang's son-in-law to the funeral." Qinglan whispered: "The eldest mother has no choice but to hire someone from the funeral hall to help."
Xue Bai then went over and took a look.
Du Wei had never organized a funeral, and her family members refused to help. She was the only one in the courtyard who was so busy in sackcloth that she had missed the time.
Seeing this situation, Xue Bai stepped forward and said, "I'll go with you. I can't help you much. I have someone to take care of you."
Others in the Du family were afraid of Du Jin's anger, but he was the only one who was not afraid.
"No need to..."
Du Wei wanted to refuse when she opened her mouth, but she couldn't help but change her words mid-sentence.
"Thank you."
She was really exhausted, mentally and physically, and needed someone to support her.
~~
Finally, the funeral procession left Shengpingfang.
Liu Ji had a wide circle of friends when he was alive, but he had no relatives or friends to see him off when he died. There were only two people in the funeral procession. Apart from his wife, only Xue Bai, who accompanied her for a while, was not there for the funeral.
He didn't even dare to hold up the spiritual tablet, for fear that the people in Chang'an City who had been destroyed by him would cause trouble and smash the coffin.
When they arrived at Jing'anfang, Xue Bai saw Du Wei's feet weakening from the corner of his eye and hurriedly stretched out his hand to support her.
He looked again and saw that her lips were pale and her eyes were tired, so he asked, "Did you stay up last night?"
"Well, I chatted with my second sister all night."
"Shall we sit in the carriage?"
"No, let others see the joke." Du Wei walked a few steps with Xue Bai's support, and asked: "Will walking with me delay your business?"
"You might as well take a walk around, you should be familiar with Chang'an."
"We made some calculations for you last night. It would be best if you have a good family background, and it is the most direct way to become an official. If not, you can also take the imperial examination and become an official. Li Linfu will be unreliable sooner or later, so don't think about concubine Yang all day long. You need to know You have to rely on mountains to fall, and water to flow. To fight for the future, you must have your own strength after all." Du Mei said: "If you are at home at this time, it is my second sister who is telling you these words."
Xue Bai said: "I want to know more about becoming an official in the Tang Dynasty, and I would like to ask my aunt for advice."
"Auntie is so unpleasant. I've hated people calling me 'auntie' since I was a child." Du Wei rarely showed off her little daughter's attitude, and then said: "There are many ways to become an official, even if a saint directly gives you an official position. On the contrary, even if you win the Jinshi, you are only qualified to be an official. If you really want to be an official, you still need to plan. However, you can go further if you win the Jinshi."
As she spoke, she glanced at Xue Bai and saw that he could fully understand the reason, so she continued: "There are some unwritten customs in the officialdom, and the same is true for the road to promotion. We have planned eight steps for you. Do you want to hear it?"
"Appreciate further details."
"If you take the imperial examination, there are also Jinshi and Mingjing subjects. The first step is to enter the high school. The official is to be the school book, Zhengzi, and then the Gyeonggi County Lieutenant, the Supervisory Yushi, the Supplier, the Yuanwailang, the Zhongzi He is a member of Shushe and the Minister of Zhongshu. He is promoted step by step and reaches the position of Prime Minister without having to go through the remaining official positions. This is called Qingyun Zhengdao."
When Xue Bai heard about the captain of Jingji County, he thought of someone and asked: "Is Yan Zhenqing, the captain of Chang'an County, like this?"
"I have heard of this person." Du Wei said: "He was born as a Jinshi, and served as a school secretary, a lieutenant in Liquan County, and a lieutenant in Chang'an County. He followed this righteous path of Qingyun. It seems that Ding You spent three years in the middle. It can be seen that the road to Qingyun It’s difficult to leave, and no one knows what setbacks there will be…”
The two of them chatted and walked, and the journey of more than an hour seemed not that far.
Before they even talked about how to pass the imperial examination, they had already arrived at a mass grave, which was actually a low plateau.
A pit had been dug on the plateau, which was much shallower than the pit where Xue Bai was buried alive. He couldn't help but think that Liu Ji would be able to climb out if he had not died.
Seeing that no one came to attend the funeral, the people at the funeral helped symbolically cover their faces and howled twice. As soon as they lowered their hands, their movements became sharp.
"Cover!"
After burying Liu Ji three times, five times and two times, they jumped on the carriage to finish the work and return to Chang'an. In an instant, there were only two people and two horses left on the huge plateau, and the snow was falling all over the sky.
Du Wei stood for a while, looking up at Xuehua, knowing that she had finally fulfilled her responsibilities as a wife.
"Let's go."
~~
The two drove their horses back to the official road. Du Wei tightened the rope and said, "There is a posthouse six or seven miles away on the northwest road. The Wei family receives New Year's gifts there every year. I want to go." Ask them where they picked you up.”
"I'm afraid it will be too late to make the curfew."
"I'm very good at riding." Du Wei smiled, "I'm just afraid you can't keep up."
Xue Bai said: "I have made great progress today."
"drive."
Du Wei had turned her horse's head and ran straight to the northwest.
Xue Bai seemed a little clumsy. He first tightened the reins, then lowered his body, and then began to urge the horse to speed up.
Feeling the bumps, he became more and more accustomed to it, and then ran faster and faster. Finally, he gradually caught up with Du Wei.
"Don't be afraid, you are riding the most docile horse in the family!" Du Wei shouted, speeding up again.
Xue Bai also speeded up.
The cold wind blew against his face, and the snowflakes made him unable to open his eyes... Gradually, he fell in love with the feeling of galloping.
Later, he simply chose to trust the horse completely and let it run forward happily.
"Ta-ta-ta-ta."
Finally, a posthouse appeared far ahead.
The two slowed down their horses, got off their horses and stood in front of the post house. They looked at each other and smiled, both looking a little happy.
"I was the one who taught Wulang to ride horses. You learned much faster than him." Du Wei said.
At this time, a middle-aged woman surrounded by people came out of the post house, looked here carefully, and walked over.
"I dare to ask Madam, but... she is really the aunt of the Du family. I haven't seen her for many years."
Du Wei had already performed a blessing and said: "Mrs. Wei is in good health and looks better."
"What are you doing?"
"My husband is unlucky...it's not worth mentioning."
"Hey, if I guess correctly, this is Du Wulang, right? No wonder I look familiar from a distance. Wulang is really handsome and beautiful. He has been a neighbor for so many years, and there will be many more in the future. Just move around.”
"Ms. Wei's guess was wrong. He was not Wu Lang, but was rescued from Pingkangfang by two servants of the Wei family. We came here just to ask them about the specific situation at that time."
"Is there such a stupid servant in my house? When I encounter such a handsome young man, I don't know how to take it back to my own house and send it to someone else's house." Mrs. Wei was talking and laughing, and waved to a middle-aged man in the courtyard of the post house who was counting the goods. The man said coquettishly: "Erlang, ask which slave saved someone in Pingkangfang."
Erlang of the Wei family asked the steward again.
The steward remembered it as soon as he heard it and said, "Isn't that what my two nephews Yue Shuan and Yue Lao carried back?"
"Where are they?"
"I went to the front to receive the New Year's gift. I'll be back in a moment."
Du Mei looked at the sky, stamped her feet anxiously, and then went to the post hall with Xue Bai to wait.
It was said to be 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 them and cordially contacted the subordinates his father sent back from Shuofang, saying that they had arranged food and accommodation for them, but Xue Bai also learned a lot.
After waiting for a while, I saw two slaves in green clothes finishing their work and rushing to meet each other in the hall.
Xue Bai went up first to hold the ceremony and thank them for their life-saving grace.
Du Wei was prepared and handed over two money bags.
But she had planned to ask before the funeral.
"How could this happen?"
"The grace of saving my life makes me."
Yue Shuan and Yue Lao were startled when they saw the money bag. They really wanted to take it but were a little afraid to take it. They put it away several times and quickly put it away before talking about what happened that day.
"It was said that Du Wulang was lost in Sanqu, so let's go to Sanqu. We are familiar with it there."
Yue Lao added: "You can be familiar with the song "Xianqiang", but I have never been to Nanqu or Zhongqu."
"When we got there, we all searched separately. My uncle went to find an acquaintance, and we searched westward along the wall of the square."
"Uncle went to listen to music."
"Anyway, we walked along the square wall to the west of Pingkang. In front of it was a big courtyard, connected with the square wall. There was no road, so we walked south along an alley. On one side was the courtyard and on the other side was the horse farm. .”
"Cuju venue."
"Yes, the Cuju field." Yue Shuan said, "Before I reached the cross street, I saw a body lying in the snow in front of me."
"We thought it was a body, but it wasn't."
"When we got closer, we found that there was no breathing anymore, but the body was still warm. When we checked again, there was breathing again. We thought, isn't this Du Wulang?"
"Who would have thought it wasn't?"
"..."
The two of them explained the whole process very clearly.
After they left, Du Wei and Xue Bai looked at each other and whispered: "That is Princess Changning's house."
