Tranquility

The three of Tangning arrived in Yizhou the day before the government examination. It would be late at that time, so they had to find an inn to settle down first, but the question was which inn to stay in.Jin Yongfu naturally wanted to live in the best inn, and at worst it had to be an upper room in an ordinary inn. Zhao Qian thought that the cheaper the inn, the better, and it was best to sleep in a full bed. Tangning's patience was exhausted, and the small universe finally exploded.

In the end, the two of them were stuffed in an inn that Tangning randomly found.Of course, considering that Zhao Qian was really poor, Tangning shared the same room with Zhao Qian, and they shared the rent together.Naturally, Jin Yongfu couldn't leave his friend in the guest room and live in the upper room by himself. He still wanted to beg for nothing and squeeze together with Tangning. Unfortunately, the bed in the inn was too small to accommodate three people, so he had to settle for the room next door.

There are three government examinations in total, named Tie Jing, Miscellaneous Essays, and Policies. They are respectively tested on memorization, rhetoric, and political opinions and current affairs.

The government test is more formal than the county test. Each person has a small shed and is only allowed to bring the test guide, that is, the test admission ticket, and a body search is required before entering the test room.The first two exams each take one day, and the latter two consecutive exams. Food, quilts and the like are provided by the exam room, and someone has to follow them if they want to go to the toilet.

Tangning stayed up until the fourth day. After two days of writing policy, her head was already dizzy. She even put the test papers on the lid of the special box for the test papers, and covered the box with the body.When he walked out of the examination room and was blown by the cool breeze in the early summer evening, he became more sober. Thinking that there will be college examinations, township examinations, and public examinations in the future, the examination time will be longer and the discipline will be stricter and stricter. He felt that life was dark.

Tangning waited at the entrance of the examination room for a while, and then waited until Zhao Qian and Jin Yongfu. The three troubled brothers didn't talk nonsense, and walked back to the inn together, each sleeping soundly.

In the early morning of the next day, the three of them gathered in the room to review the test papers, each of them silently wrote down their own test papers, and commented on each other.

In fact, Tangning was very aware of the level of her two friends. Zhao Qian's essays were too upright and old-fashioned, but he had a good literary talent and a solid foundation.Jin Yongfu was not so good. With his level of diligence, it was no problem to pass the exam, but Jinshi was a bit of a problem. After all, reading also depends on talent.In any case, in this small government test, the three of them should pass steadily.

After the government examination, there will be the college exam. The college exam will be presided over by the Xuezheng of Weihai to the various governments. It will probably take another few months for the Xuezheng to arrive in Yizhou.Therefore, the three of them decided to rent a house in Yizhou, and they would not go back until they finished the college entrance examination.

After several days of inquiring, they finally found a small courtyard house in the north of the city. The owner dismantled the courtyard house and rented it out to outsiders according to the room. Meals will also be provided.Although the house is remote, it is very quiet. The tenants have to go out to work during the day, and sleep after a while at night. Everyone will not visit the house when they have nothing to do. Although there is no guarantee for safety, there are three of them, and they are not afraid of being caught. bully.

Jin Yongfu rented the largest room in the main house with a small cubicle; Zhao Qian rented a small room in the innermost and facing north, which was only big enough for a bed and desk, no wardrobe, and clothes were put in boxes Tang Ning looked at the middle east wing room, it was not big, so it had an extra wardrobe than Zhao Qian's house, but this room had two doors, one facing inward, and the other opening directly into the alley, so you don't have to go through the door if you want to go out.

A few days after Tang Ning and the others settled down, the results of the government examination came out. As expected, all three of them passed. Tang Ning was still the first, Zhao Qian was fifth, and Jin Yongfu was No.15.

In the evening, the three of them booked a private room in a small restaurant. This time, even Zhao Qian didn't say anything disappointing about it being too expensive.After drinking for three rounds, Zhao Qian was already on the ground in a daze. Tangning was concerned that she was still a minor, so she only drank a little, but Jin Yongfu was very happy and drank a lot.

"Brother Tang, come, let me toast you. Brother, you are my own brother. Let me tell you, you are the lucky star. Brother, I failed the entrance examination for children for several years, but I passed this time. It's all thanks to you, brother, I have to thank you for your advice, come on, do it!" Jin Yongfu drank a little too loudly, and put his arms around Tangning's neck and didn't let go.

Tangning dodged his claws and said helplessly, "Brother Jin, I don't dare to say that. You were able to pass the exam because of your own hard work. This time, it's just your hard work. I think you will be able to pass the exam this time."

"Haha, let's borrow brother Ning's auspicious words, for the sake of the scholar, come, do it!" Jin Yongfu drank another glass.

Half an hour later, the three of them were walking crookedly on the street where the curfew was about to be curfew. Tangning dragged one to the left. The two of them still had some sanity, at least they still had the strength to argue.

"Zhao Qian, since we've known each other for so many days, let me tell you, with your nature, even if you become an official, you can only be a county magistrate, and you can't do it any further. Everyone will be offended by you." Now, who will do things for you, haha."

"They are not doing things for me, they should be doing things for the country. Now that everyone thinks like you, Dazhao will run rampant with corrupt officials, the officialdom is full of smog, and the common people..."

Before he finished speaking, Tangning covered his mouth. This is the street, so you can't talk nonsense.

The three of them were fighting and walking on the empty street. Tangning looked at the dim lights ahead, feeling a little dazed.His classmates in the previous life were also drunk like this, singing loudly in the street, swaying their youth unscrupulously. At that time, he always looked at them with a sour smell of not being able to eat grapes.Now that he is like this, does he count as one of them? Thinking of this, Tangning suddenly felt a sour satisfaction.

After sending the two of them back to their room, Tangning finally lay down on his own bed. He was also tired all day and soon fell asleep.

The night was getting deeper and deeper, it was so dark that you couldn't see your fingers, and there was a dead silence all around.

Suddenly there was a rapid knock on the door, pulling Tangning out of her dream. His heart skipped a beat and he sat up immediately. After all, he was not at home and he was more vigilant than usual.

The knock on the door became more and more urgent. It was the door facing the alley. While Tangning was hesitating for a moment, he suddenly heard a small voice shouting anxiously, "Help! Open the door!"

Then, there were louder footsteps in the distance.

The knocking on the door stopped abruptly. Tangning realized that something was wrong. She quickly opened the door and dragged back the little figure who had already run a few steps.As soon as he closed the door, the sound of footsteps seemed so close, and soon disappeared.

Tang Ning leaned against the door panel, and just as her beating heart calmed down, the sound of footsteps gradually grew louder, and soon came before her eyes, and then there was a knock on the door.

Tangning raised her heart, pulled open her skirt, rubbed her face, and waited for the third knock to open the door. As soon as she opened the door, she was blinded by several lanterns. He said impatiently, "It's the middle of the night, what are you doing?" what?"

The person in front of the door saw a beautiful boy who opened the door, he was stunned for a moment, and then said fiercely: "We are from Tongfeng Yahang, we lost a child just now, we should have escaped from you, what do you have?" did not see?"

"No, I've been sleeping, but you woke me up. If you're all right, I'm going to sleep," Tangning said before closing the door.

The man held out his hand and was about to walk in.

Tangning immediately pressed against the door and shouted, "What are you doing! You will be jailed for breaking into a private house. Let me tell you, I am the No. There are three pros and two shorts, and you can't afford to walk around."

When the man heard that the child was actually a scholar, although the child was young, he was sure that the child would not lie. After all, such a lie would be exposed as soon as poked, he stopped, and said in a slightly soft voice: "We just want to see See if that child hid with you, that child has signed a contract of sale, you are a scholar, you should know that it is illegal to hide escaped slaves."

"It's none of my business if you lost someone. Did you search my room whenever you want? Do you have any official documents? If not, and I didn't find anyone, I will talk to the magistrate tomorrow."

After speaking, Tangning stepped aside and motioned for him to come in.

Hearing what he said, the man hesitated. He glanced at the room with the light, saw that there was only a bed and a desk, and the door of the wardrobe was open. There was really no place to hide, so he retreated, cupped his hands and said: " Little brother, I'm really sorry, we are also following orders, we bothered you as a last resort, after all, we have lost our lives, we will also be punished, I hope little brother can be considerate."

Tangning frowned, and glanced behind him, as if it was inconvenient for the other party to be too crowded, "Okay, it's late at night, you don't mind making a fuss, if you don't sleep, I still have to sleep, tonight I just drank a lot of wine last night, and I have a headache..."

After speaking, Tangning yawned and closed the door.Then, he heard the sound of footsteps outside and went away slowly. He guessed that those people couldn't find anyone, so he didn't plan to look for them anymore. After all, how much can a child sell for.

The room was dark again. Tangning's hand slowly slipped from the door. He looked at a small black figure hiding behind the door, which was a little darker than the surrounding ones.The room was too dark, even if Tangning had good eyesight, she couldn't see the child's face clearly. He only felt that the child was very small, not even as high as his knees when curled up.

Tangning didn't dare to light the lamp - he was afraid that the person just now would look back, so he just walked up to the little black shadow, squatted down, and asked softly, "What's your name?"

The child's voice was a little trembling, but it was soft and sweet, "I, my name is Shu Hongyu, Hong of the wild goose, Yu of the universe."

Tangning was taken aback. This name didn't seem like someone who sells their children. Seeing how the child wrote his name when he declared his name, it can be seen that his family must have taught him how to sell a child. Could it be that he was Kidnapped?

"How old are you? Where do you live? How did you get here?"

"Five years old, my family is in Qi County, my mother sold me out just after my father died, they all thought I didn't understand, but in fact I know..." The child sobbed softly as he spoke.

Tangning sounded confused, "Why did your mother do this?"

"I was not born by my mother, they said I was born by a girl, young master, please don't send me back..." the child said intermittently.

It turned out to be a concubine, and the Dazhao Kingdom has a clear distinction between the concubine and the concubine. The status of the concubine is very low, and there are not a few aunts who secretly sell the concubine.Tangning sighed, stepped forward to pick up the child, and comforted her, "Don't worry, brother won't send you back. Get a good night's sleep and you'll be fine tomorrow."

After all, Shu Hongyu was only five years old, and he was tortured by Ren Yazi's hands on weekdays. He tossed and cried for most of the night, and soon fell asleep in Tangning's arms.

Tang Ning hugged him and gently put him on the bed. It was already dawn outside. Tang Ning saw the child's features clearly under the dim light of the sky. He was white and tender, and Yuxue was cute, but he was wearing a dirty cloak The clothes were torn, the shoes were missing, the soles of the feet were covered with scratches, and blood was leaking from the cuts. Tangning felt very distressed when she saw that a five-year-old child was going to suffer like this.

Tang Ning went to the kitchen to scoop up a basin of warm water. When the ancients built a stove, they would dig a small hole between the two pots to fill in the water. Usually, when cooking, the residual heat would boil the water in the small hole. The inside was always warm, and Tangning scooped up the water here.

He took off the child's clothes, washed them inside and out with warm water, and found a thin quilt to wrap him in. Seeing that it was still early in the morning, the pharmacy should not be open, so he also went back to bed and caught up on the sleep.