Shengshi Mingjun

After the imperial examination results were released, the atmosphere in one family was extremely embarrassing.

That is the Ji family.

Tanhualang is the eldest son of the Ji family, which has already made the Ji family very happy.

In the eyes of outsiders who are not familiar with it, the eldest son of the Ji family has won the Tanhua prize, and the Erlang of the Ji family has also been awarded the Jinshi. This family is really capable, and they should be celebrated anyway.

However, the Ji family did not look happy.

Although Ji's eldest son is also talented, the hope of the whole family is actually concentrated on the second son, Ji Si.

Ji Si's article, even the aristocratic family who despise Ji's family as eunuchs in their hearts, applauds and is even willing to ignore their status and associate with Ji Si.

Compared with Ji Pei, who was neglected in the officialdom, and Ji Heng, who didn't have too many friends, after Ji Si came to Chengdu, with a few articles, he broke into the circle of Chengdu's aristocratic family and became a celebrity.

If the selection of talents was not based on examinations, but on the old nominations, it is estimated that Keith would have been an official already.

Therefore, Ji Pei placed the most hopes on his second son.As for the eldest son, he felt that it would be enough if he could be admitted to Jinshi.

He also knew the talent of the eldest son. It was not a problem to be admitted to Jinshi, or even to rank among the top among Jinshi.But with a jewel by his side, Ji Heng doesn't seem so attractive.

The whole family, even Ji Heng himself, felt that if Ji's family had a first class, it must be Ji Si.

Others who are familiar with the situation of Ji's family think so too.

Although Ji Heng felt uncomfortable, he had no choice but to admit that such things as literary talent were tested for talent.Although he studied hard at home and spent every day in the library archives, he often used his father's identity to go to the government as a voluntary official, trying to make himself more aware of policies.

And even if Ji Si was drunk every day, the articles he wrote while he was half asleep and half awake, could immediately overshadow the limelight of his own thoughtful articles and be praised by everyone.

Ji Heng is glad that His Majesty selects scholars through examinations instead of recommendation.Otherwise, most of the family's resources must be leaning on his younger brother.Even if he learned a lot from his brothers and friends, he must have felt very uncomfortable at that time, and it might affect the relationship between brothers and hate his brother.

After all, he is not without talent, he also has ambitions, even better than many people in the current officialdom.But under the premise that the family has no way to support the two children to associate with the family, Ji Si, who is more talented than him and more in line with the family's appetite, must be the only candidate who is fully supported.He can only stand aside.

Now that there is an exam, he can't compare with his younger brother, but he can still compare with others.His younger brother was admitted to the first class, and his ranking should not be bad.At that time, the two brothers will go hand in hand, work together in the officialdom, and rely on each other, which is also a beautiful thing.

The brotherhood between Ji Heng and Ji Si has always been a bit awkward as they got older, but this crack was gradually repaired after the release of His Majesty's "Order to Seek Talents", and the two returned to their original harmony. Brotherhood.

Otherwise, the two of them would not fight together.

In fact, with Ji Heng's character, a hero doesn't suffer from immediate losses, he won't get into trouble with people on the spot, he will only write down the people who insulted him on the spot, and then come back quietly behind his back.

When his glorious younger brother rolled up his sleeves, he couldn't just watch his younger brother get beaten, he could only suffer together.

But the final ranking was really beyond everyone's expectations.Ji Si, who has no hope, is at the top of the list, but Ji Si is almost at the bottom.

If it wasn't for the fact that Jinshi can only take the exam once and cannot repeat it, Ji Si would definitely be willing to take the exam again.

Maybe it's because Ji Si has always attracted most of the family's attention, and now the family hasn't changed for a while.So the whole family gathered around Keith, comforting him, and guessing whether there was some misunderstanding, or who offended someone by Keith's article.

Tanhua Jiheng could only get Ji Pei to say, "You performed well, and you must serve Your Majesty well in the future", and then he was put aside.

The family didn't even dare to make too much publicity, fearing that Ji Si's mental state would not be very good after being stimulated by the release of the rankings.

Although Ji Si is arrogant, he is not a conceited person.It's just that he can admit that he is inferior in other aspects, but he can't bear to lose in the article.

Ji Heng knew that his younger brother was suffering, so he was very considerate and didn't bring up the imperial examination at home, and even went into hiding.

Although Tanhua Jiheng's name is already well-known in Chengdu, it will soon spread to the whole world.But people can't associate Ji Heng's name with him at present.

There were many scholars in Chengdu at this time, and Ji Heng walked around alone without recognizing him.

When Ji Heng is in a bad mood, he likes to go out alone on horseback.This time is no exception.He rode a horse to the outskirts of the city, and somehow he came to a not-so-high hillside.

On the hillside, a temple is billowing with smoke.

At this time, the cloudy sky began to drizzle, and Ji Heng immediately drove his horse to the temple on the mountain.

When he goes home now, he will definitely get wet from the rain, so he should hide in the temple first.

Today is not a good day for outings, so there are only a few people sheltering from the rain in the temple.

Except for Ji Heng, the others should be colleagues.

Those people seemed to be headed by a young man who looked like a dandy, and the young man was still yelling to run in the rain, but he was firmly held by the two people around him - Ji Heng felt that he might not be mentally retarded.

It is obviously impossible for Ji Heng to say hello to this kind of dandy who doesn't know what to think in his head, and even this dandy seems to have a problem with his mind.He stayed silently in the corner alone, looking up at the increasingly dense rain curtain, a trace of grievance involuntarily appeared in his heart.

When the ranking was announced, Ji Heng was very happy in his heart.

Of course, at this time, he should use words such as happy or excited to describe his mood. It's not right to use secretly happy.But it was indeed the word that best suited his mood at the time.

People around him said that he was a thousand miles away from papers, and gradually he himself recognized this statement.But now he won.

He also knew that Ji Si's literary talent shouldn't be ranked so low.Maybe Ji Si committed some taboos in the article, or maybe there was a real aristocratic family who feared that Ji Si, a talented son of the common people, was deliberately suppressed, but he was always the top one, and he beat his younger brother once.

The family members must also think so, thinking that his victory over Kiss is an invincible victory, and this victory is not counted.But he was still happy.

Because he knew intellectually that he didn't count, and he was really happy in his heart.Therefore, intellectually, he knew that there was nothing wrong with his family's reaction, but emotionally he still felt a little uncomfortable.

Even if he becomes the No. [-] flower, in the eyes of his family and even his friends, he is definitely not as good as Jis.

I heard that Yijia was handpicked by His Majesty, maybe Keith's test paper did not reach His Majesty?However, according to the rules of public examination papers, with Jisi's ranking in the general examination, the examination papers should be directly read by His Majesty.

Ji Heng, full of grievances, really wanted to ask His Majesty the Emperor, did he really choose him?Isn't there some misunderstanding?Does he really think that Jis is great?

I heard that the test paper will be published publicly, and the comments of the examiner and His Majesty will also be annotated on it.From the comments, can he get the answer he wants?

Or, will there be a day in the future when he will be able to ask such a question himself?

"Hey, brother!" Ji Heng didn't want to pay attention to the dude who seemed to have mental problems, but he came to provoke him.

Ji Heng is a well-rounded person in dealing with people. He has always adhered to the philosophy of not actively offending others. He thinks that the person you look down on now may be someone you can't afford to mess with in the future. No, little people may also give you a chance to trip you up. One thing more is worse than one thing less.It is also true that Ji Si's equally talented family members do not like him, thinking that he is too "wooden", too "vulgar", and too "fake".

Now facing a dude who made him despise in his heart, Ji Heng also showed his usual skills in dealing with people, and his displeasure towards that dude could not be seen at all from his expression.

Ji Heng pretended to be humble and said, "Is there something wrong, young master?"

The dude smiled and said: "The wind is so strong, why don't you come over and have a pot of hot tea together?"

Ji Heng, who had been immersed in his own thoughts, glanced at the direction the dude was pointing at. A bamboo table and chairs had been moved to the place where they were, and there was a steaming kettle and a few rough cups on it.

Ji Heng did feel the cool wind entering his body, a little cold.In a few days, he will go to the Saint Parade and attend the Qionglin Banquet, so he must not catch a cold.

Ji Heng thought to himself, he thought this dude had some brain problems, but looking at it now, maybe he just behaved a little weirdly, but he is actually a good person.

Well, maybe the family members are all that weird?Keith's friends are also acting strangely, and even Keith has picked up some bad habits of drinking.

"Thank you, Mr. Ji Heng." Although Ji Heng didn't get into the hearts of those aristocratic family members who behaved strangely, he still got along well with them on the surface and knew how to get along with these people.Therefore, he appeared to be natural and generous, without pretending to be polite.

As expected, the dandy smiled more genuinely, and then he turned around and asked, "Hey. Did you know him? Now that he's straightened up, can you see clearly?"

Ji Heng: "..."

The person next to him coughed dryly twice, and said: "See clearly, see clearly, it's Tanhua Lang. Ji Tanhua, long time no see, don't come here without any problems."

The speaker was Xu He.

Xu He felt that he had eaten too much to support himself, so he went out with His Majesty the Emperor to relax when he was so busy.

Well, what His Majesty said is that these days are too busy, I can't take it anymore, I want to skip work, let's go, let's take Zijie to skip work together.

So His Majesty the Emperor ran away like this, and Xu He also ran away with him.

In the past, Xu He would never be able to do this kind of thing like "I feel very tired too" and then sneak away with His Majesty the Emperor, which made Xu He very terrified.He felt that he must leave His Majesty's side as soon as possible and hide far away.If he continued to hang out with His Majesty, His Majesty would take away his remaining cautiousness.

But Xu He also secretly blamed Si Jun.How can such a calm person like the company let His Majesty the Emperor mess around?After seeing the emperor coming to look for him, he left a lot of work and followed without saying a word.

Xu He felt that other ministers would cry, and they would really cry for them!

Liu Xun: "Hahahahaha, that's so interesting!"

Xu He found sadly that he also found it very interesting.

He must leave His Majesty's side as soon as possible!

The weather wasn't great, and they didn't run very far.The three of them took two guards and walked around indiscriminately. Seeing that it was going to rain, they came to this small temple to hide from the rain.His Majesty the Emperor didn't stop, insisting that running against the raindrops was such a chic, artistic and romantic thing, so he wanted to run outside twice before the rain started to fall heavily.

Fortunately, the company grabbed His Majesty the Emperor, and knocked His Majesty on the head hard, asking him if the water in his head had shone.

Xu He learned new words.It turns out that His Majesty's state is called water accumulation in the head.

Very vivid, very vivid.

His Majesty finally gave up his plan to run around in the rain, and asked the monks to bring tables and chairs to drink tea facing the rain.

Well, this is acceptable.

When His Majesty the Emperor kindly asked him to invite the scholar next to him who was also sheltering from the rain to drink tea, he realized that the scholar looked familiar.

If it looks familiar, let’s say it’s familiar. We’ll be working with people in the future, so it’s okay to meet in advance now.Anyway, Tanhua will definitely be a close minister of His Majesty the Emperor in the future, and maybe he may succeed his Majesty the Emperor.

Who knew that after His Majesty the Emperor knew who the other party was, he jumped to the other party's side in three steps and two steps, and it was enough to invite him personally, and he came up with this sentence.

Xu He felt very tired. He looked at Si Jun with help-seeking eyes, but Si Jun's face was spoiled and spoiled, almost blinding his eyes.

Xu He gasped, thinking that those ministers were so blind that they couldn't see the relationship between the company and His Majesty.

Liu Xun: Isn't this because the friendship of men in your era is too gay?

Ji Heng also finally recognized Xu He, hurriedly bowed and said, "Grandfather!"

This is actually one of the three young masters who were involved in the brawl between him and Ji Si that day?He never knew the origins of the names of the three sons. His father seemed to know a thing or two, but he didn't tell him the truth. He only said that he would bring himself and Jisi to visit after the results of the palace examination were announced.

But now that the family is busy comforting Jiss, his father probably has forgotten about it.

Xu He quickly waved his hands and said, "He is not the name of a benefactor. Don't say that to Tanhua. Just call me as a friend."

Ji Heng said: "Thanks to the help of my benefactor that day, my brother and I were able to keep our qualifications for the examination."

Xu He thought to himself, this person is transparent, he said: "This is not my credit, if you want to thank, thank the young man next to you."

Ji Heng looked at the smiling Liu Xun in surprise, and quickly bowed deeply: "Is it the young master who helped? Don't say thank you for your kindness, and always repay your benefactor!"

Ji Heng's excitement is real.He only guessed that the incident that day was settled by someone he met by chance, but there was no evidence. Ji Si also said that he was overthinking, the law does not blame the public, and it is not their provocation, it is normal not to pursue it.

It's just that Ji Heng listened to his father's words and vaguely guessed that there must be something inside.When I mentioned it today, it was true.

Liu Xun smiled and said: "I should repay you. If you and Mingyou Wenda were not involved, how could I let Zijie handle this matter personally? Maybe some of these candidates will be caught by someone. This should be regarded as a model punishment. He should thank you well. But I don’t need to thank me, and I didn’t intervene in this matter because of you.”

When Ji Heng heard it, he knew that he had really misread just now.Not only is this person not a dandy with a brain problem, but he may also be a person in a high position.

This person occupies a high position at such a young age, and thinking about the age of the emperor's close officials, he can't help feeling that there are dragons and tigers hidden in the court, and he should be cautious.

"Since we all know each other, it's time to drink tea together." Liu Xun took the lead and took Si Jun to his seat. Xu He calmly poured tea for the two big men, then poured himself and Ji Heng another cup, and asked Ji Heng to sit down. Thank you quickly.

Ji Heng was a little embarrassed. Although he had the name of Tanhua, the three of them looked neither humble nor overbearing. They should all be respectable people in the court, and there was no need to look up to him as Tanhua.He actually slowed down a step, and asked the seniors in the court to pour tea for him, which is really not in line with etiquette.

Afterwards, Ji Heng cheered up, and when he saw that someone's teacup was more than half empty, he immediately mixed the tea.Although his movements are courteous, his expression is graceful, not obsequious, as if he is a junior or a junior, the etiquette he should have to his seniors, although there is respect, it is not too much.

Xu He couldn't help nodding in his heart.

He was also on the sidelines for grading the palace examination papers. Although he was not an examiner, His Majesty the Emperor would always ask him for opinions from time to time. Whether it was the examination papers of the candidates or the debates of the day, he knew everything clearly.

It was because the company and His Majesty the Emperor had good eyesight that they fell in love with Ji Heng who had no one to recommend him.

From what he has said and done so far, Ji Heng's mind is calm and careful, and he is very suitable to be an official in the court.

Judging from his current words and deeds, it is really hard to see that the sharp and even insidious suggestion came from him.

Liu Xun drank a few sips of tea, warmed himself up, and asked, "Tanhua's house should be full of congratulatory people. Tanhua is not at home busy with social gatherings. What are you doing here alone? Is it for meditation?"

Ji Heng said calmly: "It's for meditation. I hope I won't appear impetuous in front of Your Majesty."

The family ugliness is not publicized, how can outsiders know the depression in his own heart?

Liu Xun said with a smile: "I heard that your family seems to be too quiet, and there is no sense of festiveness at all. The Ji family is really calm and very low-key. But this kind of happy event, a double Jinshi, The other one is Tanhualang, there is no need to be so cautious and low-key. If you are too low-key, you will appear high-key."

Ji Heng's heart skipped a beat, feeling that there was something in Liu Xun's words.

He thought about it carefully, and indeed, even the aristocratic family was decorated with lanterns and festoons, but his house was so deserted, it was indeed too different, as if he looked down on this Jinshi.

He hurriedly said: "The family is just used to keeping a low profile, so they dare not show it for a while."

Ji Heng deliberately smiled wryly: "Young master also knows that because the world is prejudiced against grandfather, the family thinks it's better to keep a low profile."

Liu Xun nodded: "Oh, this. In fact, I think your grandfather is a good man. Well, it's all right. The literary friends and their articles are about to be written. Once it spreads, your grandfather's name will be rectified. There are also good people among the eunuchs. , There are also good people among relatives. This is just a few rat droppings spoiling a pot of porridge. Don't be sad."

Ji Heng didn't know how to react, so he had to explain immediately: "Mr. Xie...I'm not sad."

Liu Xun said: "I don't have any strengths, but I am very accurate in judging people. When I look at you, I feel that you are sad, so I invite you to drink tea."

Xu He was surprised, so it was like this?His Majesty is such a gentle person?

However, when I get along with His Majesty on weekdays, although I am so angry at some of His Majesty's miraculous actions, His Majesty is indeed gentle and indulgent to his courtiers, especially those close to him.His group of friends who have been or will be the chief bookkeeper always get together and sigh, saying that they are afraid that your majesty will be bullied by others, but fortunately there is a company to support them.Even the murder of His Majesty the Emperor before was considered a strong request by the company.

Well, Liu Xun is still a kind, innocent, pure and flawless white lotus.

Xu He sighed: "Since the young master said you are sad, then you must be really sad. After entering the court and becoming an official, you will encounter more injustices. Now you are sad, what will you do in the future?"

Ji Heng was stunned.

It turned out that the young man came to invite himself to drink tea, not because he was recognized, but because he saw himself sad?

Was he... so obvious?

Ji Heng suddenly felt a little astringent, a little warm, a little...uncontrollable...

It seemed that for the first time he was seen through the disguise of his heart, and it seemed that he was asked for the first time if you were sad.

Ji Heng took a deep breath, maybe he was still young, maybe it was the concern on Liu Xun's face that was moving, maybe he couldn't bear it anymore and wanted to talk to someone he didn't know well.

Ji Heng blinked, and his eyes slowly turned red: "My lord...the palace test...may it be because of reasons other than literary talent that affect the ranking?"

Liu Xun was curious: "Why do you ask such a question? Could it be that someone you know thinks this evaluation is unfair? But whether it's fair or unfair, don't you know the reason after the test paper is released?"

Ji Heng wanted to squeeze out a smile, but couldn't.He lowered his head and said: "Second brother... the talent is far superior to mine, family members know it, friends know it, and everyone who knows it evaluates it like this."

Liu Xun was puzzled at first: "Who is your brother... Ah, Ji Si is your brother? That's right, I forgot about it."

Ji Heng nodded: "My lord also knows about Ji Si."

Liu Xun said: "I know, he has a brilliant literary talent, and his articles are full of flowers, which can be described as a masterpiece. Do you think his ranking is low?"

Ji Heng lowered his head and said, "Everyone who knows him probably thinks so. Tanhua... should belong to him."

Liu Xun sharply said: "Everyone? Could it be your parents and your family too? Is it because of this that you ran out alone?"

Ji Heng's throat moved, and he said, "My family members are comforting my second brother, so why should I stay at home and break their hearts."

Liu Xun said bluntly: "Are you really your own? Didn't you carry me here?"

Ji Heng: "..."

The author has something to say: Liu Xun: You must be the seed of the old king next door, right?

Ji Heng: How angry, can you speak?