Looking for green hills

Gu Yuanshan had a long, long dream. In the dream, he went back to the year when he was five years old, sitting in the arms of his mother under the pear tree in the backyard.The mother was wearing a long white dress, and the whole body was covered with the fragrance of plum blossoms. Gu Yuanshan seemed to be sleepy, nestled on the chest of the mother in a daze, the wind blew, and the pear blossoms that were full of trees fluttered down like a rain, and landed on the shoulders of the mother , also landed on Gu Yuanshan's cheek.

Mother brushed the petals off his face with her hand, rubbed his slightly wrinkled little nose, then patted his back and hummed a soft and soft Jiangnan tune, the old but beautiful tune is like gurgling water Singing softly, Gu Yuanshan's consciousness quickly drifted away, and he fell asleep contentedly in his mother's arms.

"Yellow warbler, yellow warbler, clusters of golden clothes, double language, deep in the peach and apricot blossoms. Out of the smoke, the bees go away, wild, singing and dancing"

"Yellow warbler, yellow warbler, clusters of golden clothes, double language, deep in the peach and apricot blossoms. Out of the smoke, the bees go away, wild, singing and dancing"

......

Gu Yuanshan was trapped in a sweet dream, and was about to follow his mother's melodious voice to step into the depths of the peach and plum spring breeze, but a crisp "son" suddenly called him back from the many dreams, the voice seemed to be in the empty mountains after the rain It was as melodious and clear as dewdrops on bamboo leaves, and Gu Yuanshan could easily recognize the owner of the voice even in the deep and remote dreamland.

"My lord, are you awake?" Xiaoqing stood outside the door and called him softly.

Gu Yuanshan sat up with his arms propped up, only to realize that what he saw and felt just now was just a big dream, he smiled self-deprecatingly, got up and opened the door.

Xiaoqing was wearing a sky blue gauze dress and stood gracefully in front of the gate of Gu Yuan Mountain. Time seemed to go back to the moonlit night when they first met in the mountains. They still had those wet, deer-like eyes. Countless times are enough to make Gu Yuanshan haunt his dreams.

"Why did you get up so early today? Don't you always snooze?" Gu Yuanshan stretched out his hand to caress his brows, and slowly put his hand down when he glanced at Yun Sheng and Hai Lou behind him.

"Today is the big day for you to release the list, so I naturally have to get up early to be with you." Xiaoqing stared at Gu Yuanshan's raised and lowered hand, the loneliness in his eyes seemed to come out, but he still raised his head and smiled at Gu Yuanshan Smile, the smile is bitter and sweet, "The carriage is ready, son, let's go out, Lord Hou is already waiting outside the courtyard."

Gu Yuanshan did not expect that Gu Zhao would wake up so early and accompany him into the palace himself.It seems that he can't wait to know the result of Gu Yuanshan's palace examination as soon as possible.Gu Yuanshan suddenly thought viciously, what would Gu Zhao do if he didn't have high school this time?Will she immediately throw him into the backyard of the Hou Mansion as if she had never had his son before, leaving him to fend for herself?

It's a pity, Gu Yuanshan knew that he had no chance to verify it, and he didn't care whether it was released or not, so he could sleep peacefully until the sun was up.

He is sure that he will come out on top, he has this confidence.

Gu Yuanshan tidied up briefly, then took Xiaoqing and Gu Zhao out together.As soon as the two carriages of the Hou's mansion drove to the gate of the palace, they heard a deep and thick bell suddenly sounded from inside the palace, resounding like thunder on the ground in the early winter morning.Gu Yuanshan and Gu Zhao jumped out of the car in a hurry, and walked quickly to the palace wall to carefully identify the number of times the bell rang.

At this time, the palace wall was already full of candidates who were about to enter the palace to listen to the results of the palace examination. Everyone's expression was extremely solemn, and everyone held their breaths and counted the deafening bell.

The ringing of the golden bell is the sound of a great funeral.

Once, twice, three times... The crows on the palace wall were frightened by the deep and deep bells, inciting their black wings to "croak" and fly around. The mist shrouded the vermilion palace wall, and it was gray. Everything is silent, except for the sound of bells and chimes.

After an eerie silence, the bell finally stopped.

27 times, the Admiralty Bell rang a full 27 times—the Queen Mother died.

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief, and the tense expressions finally eased. Gu Zhao patted Gu Yuanshan's back and said with lingering fear: "Fortunately, fortunately..."

Fortunately what?Gu Zhao didn't dare to say the latter, and no one dared to say it, but everyone knew it well, fortunately it was the queen mother, fortunately it was not the emperor.

Emperor Yongchu had no heirs and no heirs. If he died now, the whole of Dayan would be in turmoil. Dayan in the north and Dayu in the southwest had long been eyeing Dayan. In the case of civil strife, the two countries will definitely attack Dayan with all the strength of the whole country. At that time, it will not only be civil strife, but the country will be ruined and the family will be destroyed.

The examinees recovered from the shock just now, when the gate of the imperial palace suddenly opened from the inside with a "squeak", and a small eunuch, holding the imperial decree in his hand, hurried to the crowd with small steps, screaming loudly while pinching his throat : "The decree has arrived!"

"The empress dowager has passed away, and my heart is very sad. The ceremony of passing on the family that was originally scheduled to be held today has been postponed in one month. During the national mourning period, all singing, dancing and entertainment activities will be suspended across the country. I hope you will bear this in mind."

After the inner eunuch read out the imperial decree, the palace door was closed again.

Still have to wait another month.

This is tantamount to a bolt from the blue for those candidates who rushed from other provinces to take the exam in the capital, but they only dare to mutter a few words in a low voice. In the important place of capital, at the foot of the emperor, if you say a wrong sentence, you may lose your head, and no one dares to complain What.

Gu Yuanshan's expression was very calm, as soon as he heard the ringing of the golden bell, he knew that today's ceremony of passing on people must be postponed.

According to the tradition of the Great Yan Kingdom, two days after the end of the palace examination, the emperor will hold a grand ceremony of passing on a group of people in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, announcing the results of the palace examination in front of all civil and military officials. There are three people in the first class, that is, the number one scholar, the second place, the third flower, the Jinshi and the first prize. Directly stationed in the Hanlin Academy, the remaining two and three top people will also be canonized according to their ranks.

That is to say, high school candidates can directly enter the imperial court as officials after the Chuanlu Ceremony, but unfortunately, the queen mother passed away at this time.

On the way back, Gu Zhao felt a little sluggish. On the one hand, he didn’t see the results of the rankings, and his desire to brag and show off wasn’t satisfied, and more importantly, it was because the imperial decree just said that there should be no singing, dancing and entertainment during the national mourning period. This prohibition made Ding Yuanhou, who had to drink and have fun every day, extremely depressed.

As the carriage drove back to the gate of the Hou's Mansion, Gu Zhao said, "Let's do it this way today!", turned around and left.

Gu Yuanshan didn't care about his attitude at all, and was about to enter the mansion with Xiaoqing, when a voice suddenly came from behind: "Young Master Gu, please stay."

The person who came was dressed in a dark robe without any extra decorations on it, making it impossible to see his status, but judging from the demeanor in his gestures, Gu Yuanshan knew that this person must be of high status.

The man handed a dark red bronzing invitation card to Gu Yuanshan's hand, "Master Gu, my master has invited you, and I hope you will come to the appointment on time." After speaking, he turned and left.

Gu Yuanshan's eyes darkened as he pinched the bronzing invitation card, he turned around and saw Xiaoqing obediently standing in front of the Hou's mansion waiting for him, he walked up to Xiaoqing, his eyes fixed on the pretty Xiaoqing's face was hot from his staring, and she hurriedly stretched out her hand to rub her face, "Why are you looking at me like that, sir? Is there something on my face?"

"No," Gu Yuanshan shook his head, and finally moved his hot gaze away from Xiaoqing's face. He seemed to have made up his mind, and said slowly, "Qing'er, go..."

Xiaoqing was stunned for a moment, the redness on his face dissipated in an instant, he lowered his head and said "OK" sullenly, then turned and walked into the gate of Hou Mansion.

Gu Yuanshan watched the sky-blue figure disappear little by little into the deep courtyard, and felt a tight pain in his chest, and the invitation in his hand was deformed by his pinching.

Enduring the throbbing pain in his chest, he turned around and stepped into the carriage. When there was no one around, he quickly opened the crumpled and deformed invitation. As expected, it was indeed a letter from the eldest princess.

Although the results of the palace examination will not be made public until a month later, Gu Yuanshan can be sure at this moment that he has succeeded.

"Yunsheng, I asked you to observe Qianjiang Youba's mansion secretly, did you find anything?" Gu Yuanshan put the invitation aside expressionlessly, and knocked on the door of the carriage.

Yun Sheng and Hai Lou were driving outside, and when they heard Gu Yuanshan's question, they immediately replied: "My lord, Hai Lou and I squatted outside his mansion for two days, and we didn't see any suspicious people, except some adults from the Imperial Academy. I often go to his mansion, but I have never seen anyone in the palace."

Gu Yuanshan pondered for a moment, then said in a low voice: "Understood, keep watching, and now take me to another garden in the suburbs of Beijing."

"Yes."

The carriage drove through the bustling downtown and headed towards the suburbs of Beijing. There is a magnificent royal garden in the northwest corner of the suburbs. Outside the garden, there are guards with swords ten miles away. Ordinary people dare not approach, but Gu Yuanshan's carriage But all the way was unimpeded, and finally stopped in front of the gate of Bieyuan.

There was already someone waiting at the gate, and it was the person who sent invitations to Gu Yuanshan at the gate of the Marquis Mansion before. I come."

"Thank you." Gu Yuanshan bowed in return, and followed him to the depths of the garden.

Although the courtyard was built in a remote suburb, the interior is very elegantly arranged. Two steps away, there are rockery and flowing water, and the nine-curved corridor extends to the depths of the courtyard.

Sitting in the courtyard is a beautiful woman, dressed in a purple gauze dress, with large blooming peonies embroidered with gold thread on the satin, she looks graceful and luxurious. She is the eldest princess of the Great Yan Kingdom, Emperor Yongchu. The only daughter - Li Changting.

Seeing Gu Yuanshan approaching, Li Changting raised his head and smiled at him, "Master Gu is here, the tea is almost cold."

Gu Yuanshan was about to kneel down to plead guilty, but Li Changting motioned to the guards beside him to stop him, "Since Mr. Gu has not yet entered the court as an official, there is no need to pay attention to the etiquette of monarchs and ministers between you and me. I will invite Mr. Gu out today. It's just a casual chat, Mr. Gu, please sit down."

"Thank you, Eldest Princess." Gu Yuanshan lifted the hem of his gown, and sat upright opposite Eldest Princess.

After the eldest princess waved the guards to retreat, there were only the two of them left in the courtyard. Gu Yuanshan lowered his head and stared at the tea set on the stone table without looking sideways. He knew that the eldest princess had been watching him.

"I've heard about Mr. Gu's talent and name for a long time, but I've seen him today, he's really extraordinary." Li Changting always had a smile on his face when he spoke. It looks so innocent.

"The eldest princess is showing love." Gu Yuanshan replied in a deep voice.

Li Changting lowered his head and smiled, and fiddled with the tea leaves in the cup with his fingers stained with Dan Kou, "Young Master Gu, do you know why I came here today?"

"I don't know."

"Hahaha," Li Changting raised his hand and spilled the tea in his cup on the ground, "Mr. Gu is dishonest in saying that. If you didn't know, you wouldn't be here today, don't you think so?"

Gu Yuanshan slowly raised his head and looked at Li Changting, "The eldest princess asked me to come, how dare I not come."

The eyes of the two finally met in the air, and Li Changting showed a meaningful smile in the blink of an eye, "Mr. Gu is really neither humble nor overbearing. If that's the case, I'll get straight to the point."

Gu Yuanshan nodded calmly, "Princess, please tell me."

......

As the dusk fell, the light in the courtyard gradually dimmed. The tea in Gu Yuanshan's hands was already completely cold, and there was an imperceptible coolness in his voice, "I only have one condition, and I hope the Eldest Princess can agree."

Li Changting stared at Gu Yuanshan playfully for a while, then shrugged his shoulders indifferently, "Of course I can agree, but you must do what you promised me, so that our cooperation can continue."

"Deal." Gu Yuanshan said coldly.

Li Changting stood up slowly, picked off the fallen leaves on the purple gauze, and crushed them with his feet, "Okay, after ten days, I will bring my father to the Star Picking Tower as promised, and I hope that Young Master Gu will not let me down." .”

Gu Yuanshan stood up. He was tall and slender. After standing up, he was much taller than Li Changting. Inexplicably, he gave Li Changting a sense of oppression, "I will definitely not let the eldest princess down."

No one knows what the eldest princess of Dayan Kingdom and the newly promoted champion Lang talked about in the Beijing suburb that evening, only know that when the guards next to the eldest princess sent Gu Yuanshan out of the garden again, their expressions were a little more reverent and prudent.

Remarks: Oriole, Oriole, Cluster of Golden Clothes, Bilingual, Deep in Peach and Apricot Blossom.Out of the smoke, the bees go, madly, singing and dancing——"Singing the Yellow Oriole with Fingers Open"