The Bamboo Horse Dressed as the Emperor

The crown prince held Song Jiao's arm and pulled him aside. Afraid of frightening him, he deliberately lowered his tone: "Your grandfather is... sick in Qiangzhou. Godfather just received the news that he wants to take you there to see him."

This was already the most euphemistic thing he could say.

But if it was an ordinary disease, how could Song Jiao rush over it?

Song Jiao's eyes turned red immediately. He calmed down and asked, "Does it matter? Is there a doctor by your grandfather's side? Shall we leave now?"

The prince didn't answer the first question, but said: "There is a doctor in Qiangzhou who is very good at medicine. Let's go now. The horses and chariots are ready. Would you like to pack something?"

"No, no need." Song Jiao repeatedly shook his head, wiped his eyes casually, and sniffed, "Then let's go now, I can ride a horse."

"Okay." The prince raised his hand and patted his shoulder, "Maomao, don't be afraid, godfather is here."

The attendant led the horse directly in front of them, and the two got on the horse and hurried out of the palace.

After leaving the palace gate and going up the long street, you will pass through Prime Minister Song's Mansion.

This was the only requirement put forward by Prime Minister Xie when he designed Fengxiang City at that time, and it was close.

Song Jiao rode a horse and passed by the door of the house. Before he had gone far, he heard a dog barking from the door of the house.

The next moment, the big yellow dog rushed out from the door and followed Song Jiao's horse.

Song Jiao turned her head, and when she saw it, the tears she had finally held back burst out of her eyes again.

A quarter of an hour later, the third stick of incense in the Enke Hall burned out, and the young eunuchs walked quietly in the hall, collecting the papers of the tributes.

The old gentlemen who sat on top managed to calm down and began to mark the papers.

Everyone has read each paper, write down the nine grades of upper, middle and lower on it, and finalize the ranking according to the overall rating.

There was silence in the hall, Wen Zhi held hands and sat upright.

He tilted his head slightly, looking at where Song Jiao was sitting just now.

The person has already left, and the papers have already been collected.

He almost lost an incense stick of time to answer, the article leads the way and the phoenix tail, Song Jiao's article ends, I'm afraid...

But even if he won like this, Wen Zhi was not happy at all.

Not sure what happened.

When he lowered his head, the old gentleman above had already announced the end of Erjia.

Next came Yijia, but Wen Zhi was obviously not listening.

"Fengxiang Chuheng, order flowers."

"Fengxiang Wenzhi, be the second place."

Wen Zhi was still distracted, until a little eunuch walked up to him and called softly, then he came back to his senses, stood up, and bowed to him.

He couldn't help but look at Song Jiao's position, Song Jiao wouldn't have slipped directly to the top three this time, right?

How can this be... obviously wrong...

He raised his head and looked at the old gentlemen sitting above, hesitant to speak: "Sir, Song Jiao..."

The old gentleman sitting in the middle made a silent gesture towards him, and then the eunuch standing beside him said loudly: "Feng Xiang Song Jiao, be the number one scholar!"

As soon as the words were finished, Song Jiao's pen was not stable on the table, and it rolled to the edge of the table, and fell to the ground with a soft sound.

It was like Song Jiao saluting.

Wen Zhi subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, paused, and then realized that he wanted to read Song Jiao's paper.

The old gentlemen who judged the papers were afraid that Song Jiao would leave the field midway and would award him the number one scholar. The other tributes were not convinced, so they had already ordered Song Jiao's papers to be taken down and copied dozens of copies.

Just at this time, the eunuchs brought the copied papers.

"This is Song Jiao's paper. Those who have objections can observe it, and those who have objections can raise it now."

While everyone was still hesitating and putting on airs, Wen Zhi and Chu Heng stepped forward first.

Of course the two of them were not unconvinced, they were simply worried about Song Jiao.

The two of them took a paper and went back to read it, their eyes quickly swept over.

Then the two said at the same time: "I have no objection."

Both of them opened their mouths, and the others also stepped forward to get the papers to read.

Song Jiao’s article, the old gentlemen’s comments are all top-notch, together with Wen Zhi’s and Chu Heng’s, they showed it to other old gentlemen of Taixue, and their opinions were exactly the same.

Compared with Song Jiao's exam articles in previous years, he has improved a lot.

Hearty and hearty, like a river rolling eastward; and then there was not enough time, Song Jiao simply marched dangerously, causing the article to stop abruptly, like a huge stone blocking it.

The last sentence released the flood with a bang, like a waterfall rushing from a cliff.

This is not in line with the regular pattern of imperial examination articles.

But the article is born by absorbing the essence of the sun and the moon, how can there be a formula?As long as it is written well, it is the champion.

Song Jiao's article opened up another possibility for everyone, and everyone couldn't put it down, and talked about taste happily.

Wen Zhi and Chu Heng exchanged glances, and left worriedly.

On the official road, Song Jiao had already forgotten about the palace examination. He put the big yellow dog on the horse and drove it to Qiangzhou.

Qiangzhou is still some distance away from Fengxiang City, even if it is a fast horse, traveling day and night, it will take at least five or six days.

What's more, it is impossible for the crown prince to let Song Jiao go on the road day and night, he can't stand it, and it's not just Prime Minister Song who will fall down.

After driving for a day and a night, at the strong request of the prince, Song Jiao was carried off the horse and thrown on the bed in the posthouse, where he was forced to sleep.

Where can Song Jiao sleep?I just hugged the big yellow dog and boiled with my eyes closed.

The system spoke to him, but he didn't respond much.

Before midnight, he heard the sound of the watch and got up.

As soon as he went out, he saw a bench outside the door. The prince was sitting on the bench with a long knife in his hand.

"Go in and sleep."

Song Jiao opened his red eyes: "I can't sleep."

The prince still said: "Go in and sleep."

Song Jiao thought for a while and said, "Is grandpa very sick? Is he not sick? Has something else happened to him? Isn't it?"

The prince also tried to comfort him: "The prime minister is fine, godfather promises."

"But grandpa is usually in good health, and has never suffered from any serious illness before." Song Jiao said solemnly, "Godfather let me know, so I can be prepared."

The prince glanced at him, sighed, and finally said, "It's poison."

Song Jiao's eyes were red: "Poisoned? How could it be? Who poisoned Grandpa?"

"I don't know yet." The prince said softly, "This time the prime minister went out because the people on the border were fluctuating. Later, when you had to take the imperial examination, the prime minister rushed back and settled down in Qiangzhou. It was poisoned in Qiangzhou."

"The defense of Qiang Province..."

Song Jiao paused for a moment, Qiangzhou Shouwei is... Qiangzhou Shouwei's surname is Liu, his name is Liu Zhi, and he is the third grandpa's nephew.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this relationship that Grandpa chose to settle in Qiangzhou.

But... who would poison grandpa, and who could sneak into grandpa's side and poison him quietly.

The prince said: "The Liu family was originally a family of the Qing Kingdom, and the Liu family took in many scholars who came from the Qing Kingdom. Now they are still investigating, no accidents, there should be someone who hates your grandfather, so they sneaked into the Liu residence..."

Song Jiao couldn't help but shed tears, and she didn't want others to see her, so she wiped her eyes, then retreated and closed the door: "Godfather, I'm asleep, we'll go on our way tomorrow morning."

Song Jiao sat on the edge of the bed, motionless, in a daze.

For a moment, he didn't know what to think, whether to worry about grandpa, or to resent the person who poisoned him, he didn't know.

Song Jiao wiped her eyes, but the tears flowed more and more.

The system was attached to the big yellow dog, and he gave him all the medicines in the mall: "Mamao, don't cry, I will give you the detoxification pill, and this medicine, it is very useful."

Song Jiao stroked its head, then lay on the bed with all clothes on, closed his eyes, forced himself to close them for a while, and continued his journey before dawn.

When they arrived in Qiangzhou, it was already five days later.

All the people in the garrison had already been brought under control, and they were replaced by those who followed the prime minister.

Song Jiao dismounted in front of the door and ran all the way into Grandpa's room.

Grandpa Song was lying flat on the bed, his face was ashen, his lips were pale, he was huddled under the quilt, more than twice as thin as when he left, he was like an old cat, huddled in the blanket.

The moment Song Jiao entered the door, he seemed to sense something, opened his eyes, and turned his head to look with difficulty.

His voice was hoarse and deep, but still as gentle as before: "Mamao..."

"Grandpa..." Song Jiao's tears came down again, and he almost rushed to Grandpa's bed.

Grandpa Song raised his hand to touch his head, tried for a while, but didn't raise it at all.

Song Jiao turned her head and said to the attendant, "Bring my luggage..."

He took his package and took out all the medicines that were unpacked and packed in porcelain bottles. He suppressed crying and pretended to be calm: "Grandpa, what kind of poison is it? I have a lot of antidotes here, all of which are useful." , what kind of poison? What kind of poison?"

Grandpa Song turned his head and smiled at him: "It's okay, don't cry."

Song Jiao wiped her eyes vigorously: "Grandpa, I won't cry, don't be angry, don't be angry..."

He turned his head and handed a pile of medicines to the doctor: "Take it down and have a look, it must be useful, take it down and look at it quickly."

Grandpa Song struggled to even speak. He took a deep breath and felt his internal organs being scraped by a knife.

He forced a smile on his face and said to Song Jiao: "Grandpa heard that you won the first prize?"

Song Jiao honestly shook his head: "I don't know."

"Grandpa heard that you have won the number one scholar. You are the first literati in the country of Qi with three consecutive awards. Do you know what grandpa is?"

"I have no idea……"

"Grandpa is Qingguo, the last person who won three yuan in a row." Grandpa Song smiled at him, "Grandpa also heard that you came out after half of the exam, and you didn't write all the articles, and they said you were a 'half essay. Champion'. You are better than grandpa, grandpa can rest assured..."

Song Jiao was quickly patted by him, and cried, "I'm no better than grandpa, I'm not good at all, I haven't got a crown yet, I can't live alone, grandpa, don't leave me, don't leave me alone." Get me..."

At this moment, a servant came in and said in a low voice, "Prime Minister, it's time."

Song Jiao wondered, "When is it?"

Grandpa Song got strength from nowhere, and gently pushed Song Jiao's hand: "It's okay, you go out first." He turned to the prince: "Prince, please, help me take Mao Mao down, don't let him see it. "

"Grandpa, what's the matter? I'm not going out, I want to stay with Grandpa!"

With tears all over his face, Song Jiao cried and was dragged out by the crown prince's arms.

Grandpa Song said in the room: "Don't let him see it."

So the prince covered Song Jiao's eyes again, and dragged him further away.

But Song Jiao had already seen that what the attendants who entered were holding in their hands were bloodletting instruments.

The poison has penetrated into the blood and cannot be eradicated. The only way to do it is to bleed several times a day, delaying time until the person he wants to see arrives.

That's why grandpa will be so thin and pale.

Song Jiao's whole body felt like falling into an ice cave, and the next moment, Grandpa Song's muffled sound of suppressing the pain came from the room.

"grandfather!"

The prince blocked his ears.

His eyes and ears were covered, so he couldn't see or hear. In an instant, Song Jiao felt his whole body emptied, as if he had returned to the original state. He came here from the five-year-old child who died in a car accident. At home, come to grandpa.

He had nothing, he had nothing, and when he opened his eyes, all he saw was Grandpa's goatee.

He stretched out his little hand to tug at his grandfather's beard, and under the guidance of the system, he called out "Grandpa" for the first time.

At this time, Song Jiao, a five-year-old child who was floating in vain, landed in this world, beside his grandfather.