Do you know: I’m Xu Jiazi

After speaking,

Xu Zaijing said goodbye to the Queen and left the palace under Zhao Fang's reluctant eyes.

When Xu Zaijing was on his way home.

East of the Imperial City

Huihefang

Duke Lian's Mansion, Lu Family

Inner courtyard,

The room was lit with bright yellow candles,

Mrs. Li in the Lu family room was sitting on the embroidery pier with a smile on her face, holding a piece of unfinished undergarment in her hand. When she was about to continue threading, the female envoy beside her said:

"Madam, please stop doing this. It's dark and it will hurt your eyes!"

Mrs. Li smiled and said: "It's okay, just these few injections."

After saying that, she glanced at Lu Zezong who was practicing with two small stone locks on the open space in the room and said, "Zong'er, take a rest!"

"Mom, I have to lift thirty times before I can rest!"

At this time, a female envoy came in from outside the door. She bowed and said: "Madam, I heard from the front yard that an internal official from the palace has arrived. The Duke and Madam please come over!"

"good!"

Mrs. Li put down what she was holding, signaled to the maid in the room to take a good look at Lu Zezong, then stood up and walked out.

When Mrs. Li came to the hall in the front yard to entertain guests, the internal officials had already left.

Lian Guogong motioned to Mrs. Li to sit down and said: "Just now, the internal officials have passed on your majesty's oral instructions, saying that Zong Geer's sworn brother may go to Yongyihou's place in a few days, and he will need a lot of feathers and arrows. Now your natal brother Take charge of the Ministry of Industry’s Arrow Making Institute and ask him to select some good feather arrows and prepare them.”

Mrs. Li nodded despite her doubts.

Lian Guogong looked at Mrs. Li's expression and said solemnly: "Don't think too much. If His Majesty directly issued an order to the Ministry of Works on this matter, it would seem to be making a fuss out of a molehill and taking it too seriously. It would not be nice to speak out!"

"Yes, my daughter-in-law understands! What about the specific details?"

Lian Guogong pondered for a moment and then said: "Brother Xu is going to the north, so I need more inch-gold chisel arrows and awl-piercing armor arrows!"

Mrs. Li said: "Yes, father! My daughter-in-law will ask someone to send a message to her parents' family! When will Wulang Xu of the family go? My daughter-in-law will ask Brother Zong to deliver it!"

Lian Guogong said: "The internal officials didn't say anything about this. Let Brother Zong go and ask about it in the past two days."

"yes!"

later,

A steward of the Lu family went to the Li family with Mrs. Li's letter.

The Bianjing Archery Institute was very busy that night.

night,

Yong Yihou Mansion,

In the wooden house next to the racecourse,

Xu Zaijing's master, Yin Bo, was sitting under two candles, concentrating on inspecting the arrows in the quiver with his single eye.

After putting the defective ones aside and putting the neatly feathered arrows back into the quiver, he moved his lame leg and picked up Xu Zaijing's armor.

Uncle Yin carefully looked at the armor plates under the candlelight to see if there was any damage to the strings binding the armor plates.

When Yin Bo untied the rope from the handles of a pair of maces, the sound of horse hooves sounded outside the door.

After a while, Xu Zaijing pushed the door open and entered:

"Master!"

"How is it? Did you get the answer?"

"Your Majesty said that the Queen will make the decision. The Queen has not made a decision today. She only said that she will let my mother enter the palace tomorrow!"

Yin Bo nodded and said: "Since the eldest lady agrees to your entry into the palace, everything else will naturally be agreed to!"

"Master said so!"

"Go!"

After Xu Zaijing exited the wooden house, Yin Bo began to wrap the rope carefully.

On the first day after the end of the college examination,

early in the morning,

After Xu Zaijing finished exercising, he went to his mother's courtyard to have breakfast.

on the dinner table,

Zai Zhang hesitated to speak several times, but was suppressed by Sun's eyes.

after breakfast,

Xu Zaijing and his brother went to Sheng’s house.

Mrs. Sun asked Mother Zhu to comb her hair into a new bun, put on solemn clothes, and then rode a carriage to the entrance of the palace.

royal palace

In the Queen's Palace,

The princess, who was less than two years old, was a little sleepy after eating a full meal and was lying on the couch in a daze.

The empress next to the bed felt her heart melt when she saw her daughter's long eyelashes as she slept.

At this time, the personal female officer walked aside gently and whispered:

"Mother, Mrs. Yongyihou is here!"

After the queen took one more look at her daughter, she stood up and walked outside.

"My wife has met the Queen!"

"How polite, Madam, sit down!"

"Thank you, empress!"

Looking at Mrs. Sun on the chair beside her, the Queen was silent for a moment and then said: "Madam, Brother Jing wants to go to Yongyihou, have he told you?"

Ms. Sun bowed slightly and said, "Go back to your Majesty, I told you!"

The queen sighed: "Oh! I have watched Brother Jing grow up, and I am quite destined to be with him. He said he wanted to go to the northwest. There are no swords in this battlefield, but I don't agree!"

Mrs. Sun nodded and said, "What the empress said is that I had the same idea as the empress at first."

"But after all, he is a child of the Wu Xun family. He has practiced martial arts diligently since he was a child, and he has developed some skills! The hospital exam is over. He wants to do his part for Da Zhou and share his father's worries, but my wife cannot. Stop."

The queen nodded and said: "Okay! Since the eldest lady said so, I will explain the matter to your majesty!"

Sun Shi forced a smile.

The Queen continued: "But, I also want to set some rules for Brother Jing and send some extra help!"

"Let the boy from the He family come to the entrance of the palace!"

"Yes, concubine!"

After the female officer responded, the other female officers carried a screen and placed it at the door.

Looking at Sun's confused eyes, the queen said: "He is our Bianjing child, and he has some connections with the Cao family! He is two years older than Brother Jing, and he has real skills!"

Sun blinked.

After a while,

a tall and long-armed young man stopped at the entrance of the palace through the screen.

Perhaps someone had reminded him, the young man bowed and said: "Your humble servant He Guan, I meet the Queen, the wife of the Marquis of Yongyi!"

"Stand up!"

"Thank you, your Majesty!"

"Guan'er, in two days, the fifth son of the Xu family will go to the Marquis of Yongyi. You will follow him and protect him. Remember it!"

"Your Majesty, your servant, I will keep it in mind!"

"Okay! When the wife of the Marquis of Yongyi returns home, you will go to see Jing'er!"

After He Guan bowed outside the door, he was led by the palace maid to the outside of the palace.

After Sun and the Queen said a few more words about setting rules for Xu Zaijing, they stood up and said goodbye.

As soon as they left the Queen's palace, they saw Madam Chai and Chai Zhengzheng walking towards them.

After approaching, Chai Zhengzheng smiled and bowed in a very standard way, saying: "Madam, how are you!"

Sun smiled and nodded in greeting.

Mrs. Chai, who was standing by, was all smiles: "Madam, what are you doing?"

"The Queen asked me to talk about something!"

"Oh! By the way, how did Jing-ge feel after his college entrance examination?"

"The scholar said so, and it seemed very good."

Chai Zhengzheng, who was listening on the side, had a smile in his eyes.

Mrs. Chai nodded happily: "That's good, that's good! I'll go to have tea with Madam when I'm free!"

Then the three of them separated.

Outside the palace gate,

Sun saw the 'bodyguard' that the Queen had 'introduced' to her youngest son: a very strong young man.

Around the hour of You (after 6pm)

Sheng Family

School time,

After everyone bowed to thank him, Zhuang Xuejiu walked out leisurely, fanning himself.

Xu Zaijing and Yun Xiang, who were standing at the back of the crowd, gestured, and then, in the curious eyes of Gu Tingye, Changbai and others, they quickly chased out.

On the path leading to the courtyard of the academy,

In front of the moon gate, beside the bamboo forest

"Academy!"

Academy Zhuang turned around and looked at Xu Zaijing who caught up with him: "Zaijing? What's wrong?"

Xu Zaijing bowed slightly and said with his hands clasped: "Academy, I'll be here in two days."

Listening to Xu Zaijing's words, Academy Zhuang slowly stroked his beard.

After Xu Zaijing finished speaking, Academy Zhuang let out a long breath and said solemnly:

"Zaijing, what you did in Bianjing before, I also heard from Lao Gu (Kaifeng Prefecture Governor) and know that you are a capable person!"

Xu Zaijing bowed: "Academy, you are too kind!"

Academy Zhuang waved his fan to indicate that he did not praise the wrong person, and continued:

"You have a heart to serve the country and I should not stop you. But! Including this time, you will not be able to attend classes for two months in the past six months, or even more time!"

"Next year is the provincial examination. Have you ever thought that you might fail like this?"

Xu Zaijing nodded to indicate that he had thought about it.

Zhuang Xuejiu looked at Xu Zaijing, shook his head helplessly, and said after thinking: "Come to the academy tomorrow, I will give you 30 questions. If you can't finish these questions when you come back, don't come to me!"

"Yes! Thank you, Xuejiu!"

Zhuang Xuejiu looked at Xu Zaijing with his hands behind his back, and said earnestly: "Swords have no eyes on the battlefield, protect yourself!"

"Yes, Xuejiu!"

Looking at Xuejiu who turned and left, Xu Zaijing bowed again.

When he returned to the academy,

Three Lans had already walked out of the academy and were curiously looking at Xu Zaijing at the intersection.

After seeing Xu Zaijing come out, the three Lans hurried to the inner courtyard.

Yongyi Marquis Mansion

Horse racecourse,

A horse was tied to a wooden fence, and from time to time it neighed at the little black colt in the field.

The horse had a complete saddle on its back, and a strong bow was inserted in the bow bag hanging on it.

On both sides of the saddle were two large tubes of feather arrows.

He Guan, the owner of the horse, was walking slowly in the field,

and from time to time he looked at the two dragon horses and the little black horse in the field with envy.

Then he would look at the target placed on the side.

He was similar to Xu Zaijing, and he practiced martial arts diligently, and he was not an ignorant person.

He Guan looked at the marks on the target and smacked his lips. When he walked to Yin Bo beside the wooden house, he bowed and said, "Old man, can I see Jing'er's bow and arrow?"

Yin Bo stood up and nodded, and after opening the wooden house behind him, he said hoarsely:

"Mr. He, please!"

He Guan bowed slightly and walked in.

Looking at the fine steel long spear placed horizontally on the table in the most conspicuous position in the wooden house, He Guan slowly approached.

First, he tilted his head to look at the luster of the spear blade, and then he sniffed it. He raised his eyebrows and thought: This matter seems not as difficult as I imagined.

It was dark.

After dinner,

Chai Family

Qiu Sheng Garden,

"Miss? Miss?"

Hearing Yunmu's shout, Chai Zhengzheng woke up from his distraction and said, "Ah? What's wrong?"

"Miss, it's time to look at the next page!"

"Oh!"

Looking at the messy account book, Chai Zhengzheng closed the account book irritably, put down the brush, and said, "Forget it, let's look at it tomorrow!"

"Yes, Miss!"

Yunmu reached out to put away the account book on the table, and walked out with it.

Yunmu came to the outer room, and looked at his own girl who was distracted again with one hand supporting her chin through the bead curtain, and said to Zi Teng beside him, "What happened to the girl tonight?"

Zi Teng shook her head and said, "I don't know, the girl and the lady came back from the palace, and it was like this!"

After placing the account books,

When Yunmu and Fuyi were going to the inner room to make the bed for their girl,

The little maid outside the house opened the delicate bamboo curtain and walked in. She bowed and said:

"Two sisters, the mother who is in charge of the front yard has sent a message, saying that the British father-in-law, the fifth mother of the Zhang family, has invited us girls to taste tea at the Beishan Teahouse on Old Caomen Street tomorrow."

"Sister, wait a moment, I'm going to tell the girl!"

With that said, Yunmu walked inside.

Chai Zhengzheng, who was still listening to Yunmu's words, suddenly sat up straight: "Wu Niang? Is her eldest brother under the command of Marquis Yongyi?"

After Yunmu thought for a while, he nodded and said, "Yes, girl!"

"Go! We must go tomorrow!"

On the second day after the college examination,

Old Caomen Street,

Beishan Teahouse,

Private room on the second floor.

Zhang Jiawu Niang sniffed the tea soup in the tea cup, nodded with approval and said:

"I heard from Miss Feiyan before that the new tea from this teahouse smells delicious, and it's true after I tried it today! Zhengzheng, what do you think?"

Chai Zhengzheng hummed in agreement.

The two chatted about Bianjing gossip for a while. Chai Zhengzheng put down the teacup and said, "By the way! When I entered the palace yesterday, Wanniang heard that Wulang of the Xu family was going to serve under Marquis Yongyi!"

Wu Niang: "Ah? Could it be that Brother Jing doesn't want to take the imperial examination?"

Chai Zhengzheng said uncertainly: "I haven't heard of it. He must be taking the imperial examination!"

Wu Niang: "Oh!"

Chai Zhengzheng waited, looked at Wu Niang who had no words to say, and could only say: "Wu Niang, isn't your eldest brother also under the command of Marquis Yongyi? If Wu Lang of the Xu family goes, won't he be able to help you carry your things?"

Wu Niang's eyes lit up: "Huh? That's right! I wonder if Brother Jing has ever passed by Taiyuan Mansion. If so, he could help Chaoyun carry things!"

Chai Zhengzheng: "How about we go and ask?"

"Let's go! It's a pity that Brother Jing will never pass by Brother Xiao! Alas!"

Wu Niang stood up and walked downstairs with Chai Zhengzheng.

The two ladies took a carriage to Quyuan Street.

Before entering the Xu family gate, I heard some noise in the yard.

Wu Niang opened the curtain and looked around, and saw several carriages with awnings in the Xu family's yard: "Brother Jing, are you going to the northwest or moving? Why are there so many carriages?"

Chai Zhengzheng took a look and said, "Maybe they are relatives of the Sun family and the Zhu family. They also need to prepare things for Xu Jiawulang to bring!"

Wu Niang nodded: "That's what Zhengzheng said!"

Later, after the carriage entered the mansion, Chai Zhengzheng and Wu Niang walked through the somewhat busy yard to the mistress' courtyard together.

After seeing Mrs. Sun, Wu Niang smiled and saluted: "Madam, we are here to cause trouble for you!"

Mrs. Sun smiled and said: "What are you talking about, Wu Niang! Come on, Wu Niang, Zheng Zheng, sit down quickly!"

As soon as the two sat down, Mrs. Xie came over looking at a piece of fur in her arms. As she walked, she said, "Mother-in-law, look at this fur. Oh! Wuniang and Zhengzheng are here!"

Sun said: "Bring it to Zai Duan!"

Xie then smiled at the two girls and left.

When Wu Niang was about to speak, Hua Lan held a piece of material in her hand and said, "Mother-in-law, do you think this piece of material can be used to sew a new quilt cover? Hello, Wu Niang, and Miss Zhengzheng!"

Wu Niang and Zheng Zheng stood up quickly and saluted: "Hello, Sister Hualan!"

Sun said: "Then we have to ask the female envoys to hurry up!"

"Yes, mother-in-law!"

Wu Niang and Zheng Zheng looked at each other awkwardly. It seemed that they came at the wrong time.

Afterwards, Wu Niang asked about it as soon as possible. Knowing that it was the morning after tomorrow, she took Chai Zhengzheng's hand and left the Xu family as if running away.

The third day after the college examination

Palace East Gate

donghuamen

He Guan walked out with Xu Zaijing.

Behind the two men were three carriages filled with arrows.

"Wu Lang, you must remember clearly the three rules set by the Queen!"

Xu Zaijing nodded: "Brother He, remember it clearly! If you don't rely on your mount, you will fight; second, if you can use a bow and arrow, don't get close; third, protect yourself before making meritorious service."

He Guan smiled and said, "Just remember it clearly!"

Looking at the captain of the imperial army who was bowing and saluting in the doorway, He Guan asked casually: "Where is Rong Xian?"

"Back to the festival level, Erlang of the Rong family will have a rest today!"

He Guan nodded.

Walking outside Donghua Gate, Xu Zaijing rode on the little Liju and said, "Brother He, shall we meet again tomorrow morning?"

"good!"

After saying that, the two separated.

Xu Zaijing looked at Qingyun who was waiting aside with a happy face, and said with a smile: "Qingyun, how about I pass the college examination?"

Qingyun cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Young master, you passed! Eleventh place!"

"Where are my brother, Chang Bai and the others?"

"Brother Bai is seventh, Brother Ye is thirteenth, Third Young Master is fifteenth, Young Master is twentieth, and Brother Feng is twenty-ninth and almost failed!"

Xu Zaijing smiled and nodded.

Rong family

Return to Snowyuan

Rong Feiyan was sitting in front of the embroidery frame, threading needles and embroidering something.

The female envoy walked over in a hurry with careful steps.

Seeing Xinbu, Rong Feiyan smiled and said, "How about it, can he pass?"

Xinbu squatted in front of Rong Feiyan and said urgently: "Girl, you have passed it, you are eleventh!"

Rong Feiyan smiled and nodded. With a smile on her lips, she lowered her head and threaded the needle faster.

Xi Bu said urgently: "Girl! There is one more thing!"

Rong Feiyan looked over with a smile: "What's the matter?"

"When I went to the Hai family, I told Sister Zhujian who was next to Miss Chao Yun that I couldn't go to Miss Zhengzheng's shop to listen to the pipa as promised tomorrow. She said she wanted to see Wulang Xu off!"

"What? Sending off? Hiss!"

Rong Feiyan quickly retracted the finger that was pricked by the needle, and then put it in her mouth. She looked at Xin Bu with urging eyes.

At dinner in the evening,

The eldest lady of the Rong family glared and said, "Yan'er, are you going to go outside Ansumen tomorrow morning?"

Rong Feiyan nodded and said: "Go and enjoy the autumn scenery, and then go to the plantation garden to collect some dew!"

Mrs. Rong curled her lips and said, "You are so free! Just go if you want!"

Early on the fourth day,

West of Huihe Square,

On Yanglou Street, which runs north to south, there is the sound of cars.

In the Chai family carriage,

Yun Mu lifted the curtain, looked at the lantern on the carriage not far ahead, and said, "Girl, this is the Rong family's carriage!"

As he spoke, the Rong family's carriage slowed down.

When the two cars were side by side, he slowly opened the curtain and said, "Is this Miss Chai?"

Yunmu replied: "Yes! Sister Xibu, is Miss Feiyan in the car?"

Then, Rong Feiyan and Chai Zhengzheng appeared in the carriage window.

"Miss Feiyan, where are you going?"

"Sister Zhengzheng, I'm going to Ansumen, and I'll stop by the plantation garden to collect some dew. What about you?"

"I'm also going to Ansumen to accompany Wuniang to see her off."

On the fifth day,

Shengjia Book School,

Minglan, who was in the last row, looked at the desk vacated by her cousin on her right.

Xiao Tao, who was behind Chang Feng, also looked at the wooden platform with neither Sister Qingcao, nor Sister Hua Xiang, nor Sister Yun Xiang next to her.

The master and servant both sighed.