Force a good concubine

Gu Yan didn't argue, and silently bowed to Xu Zhixuan, followed behind the yamen servant, and left the yamen of the Ministry of Punishment through the corner gate.Just after leaving the door, a jailer came up from behind and delivered a package to Gu Yan: "This is the little lady's luggage, just sign the receipt."

The package was as light as nothing in his hand, and obviously there was nothing else except a few changes of clothes. Gu Yan smiled wryly, without arguing, borrowed a pen and ink from the porter, and signed his name on the receipt.The little jailer took it in his hand and blew it, and gave her a thumbs up: "Young lady understands the rules and the times, so it will definitely happen in the future!"

Xu and Li got the news early, and they waited outside the yamen of the Ministry of Criminal Justice early in the morning. When they saw Gu Yuan coming out, they hurriedly dragged her into a small tea shop, ordered a few fine teas to pad their stomachs with Gu Yuan, and asked for details.

Gu Yan didn't hide anything, and told the whole story.After hearing the whole story, Xu Xi slapped the table: "That's unreasonable! Why is the official so confused? It's still early, and Ah Qing and I will accompany you to beat the Dengwen drum!"

"Beating Deng Wengu will not help." Li Qing grabbed her, "Eleven Niang's identity is unknown, as long as Mr. Xu insists that she is a bandit, it will be difficult to reverse the case." She said and looked at Gu Yuan, "Ah Yuan, we also went to Baoguo Temple to inquire about it these few days, those monks evaded it completely, and that housekeeper Cui was nowhere to be seen, you get along with them more, but what else do you know?"

"From the tone of Mr. Xu, the tea leaves are very precious, and ordinary people can't touch them." Gu Yuan said, "Eleven Niang is very familiar with Chengjue Kao, and she is very careful about the time and writing. If Lin's surname is true , It must be a clan. Lin Jiuniang's commentary on contemporary literature is very accurate, and her age and temperament are somewhat similar to the rumored His Royal Highness Sui Wang, but I clearly feel that Eleven Niang seems to have a higher status than her, which is not alike. "

Xu Xi thought for a while, and suddenly his eyes lit up: "Could it be that Eleven Niang is His Majesty today?"

Gu Yuan smiled wryly, but shook his head.Li Qing saw that she hadn't touched the refreshments, so he pushed a plate of sweet-scented osmanthus cakes in front of Gu Yan, and explained to her: "I heard that today I have devoted myself to learning, and the sacred learning is very profound, and the emperor's teachers are all from Hanlin. I will definitely not do it today." I can't even write the time. What's more, His Royal Highness Sui Wang is ranked 21th, and today he is ranked [-]st, which is not right. Besides, there are at least a thousand people in the imperial clan in Beijing, and they all have to pass the imperial examination. There will never be only one Sui Wang Hello, Your Highness?"

"It's difficult like this," Xu Xi frowned, "It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, how do we do it?"

"First try to post the missing person post, and then go to the various government offices to hand over the name post. Even if you can't pass it in, you might be able to meet it." Li Qing said, "I'm worried about another thing. Although Master Xu is hateful, There is a saying that is very true. These nobles are not easy to get along with. I think that Eleven Niang is also very arrogant. I don’t know if it’s because you, A Yuan, offended her by saying something wrong. She thought of such a way to come Retaliation? Otherwise, we didn't say a word to those soldiers escorting the boat on the way, so why did we climb up on you for no reason?"

This is exactly what Gu Yan has been puzzled these days. She remembered the appearance of Eleven Niang standing in front of her that day, talking eloquently and then leaving in a panic. Putting down the cake, he said with a wry smile: "If you talk about offending her, you really offended her."

"It's even more difficult." Xu Xi said, "As long as she escapes August [-]th in the mansion, when you are driven out of Beijing, I'm afraid it will be even more difficult for us to find."

"Whether you find it or not, you have to try." Li Qingdao, "Let's do it and see." Seeing that Gu Yan was still talking, she gave her a look and said, "I know what you are going to say, but it's just that you are here in Beijing. The three of us depend on each other for life, if we don't help you, who else will help you? Put those words away and save your energy!"

"That's right." Xu Xi poured a cup of tea for Gu Yan, and urged, "Eat quickly, eat enough, there are many palaces in this place, we will write posters and go out in a while, and go to the palaces to try our luck. Maybe we can How about meeting one or two people who know?"

The three of them finished the discussion, bought a few blank name cards from the street and filled them in, then went to various palaces to try their luck.This luck was really bad. They traveled around for a few days and went to more than ten clan mansions without even handing in a post. This day they went to Prince Yu's mansion, a well-known domineering figure, Lian Jiaomen. The servants on the street raised their eyebrows and stared at each other, unlike good citizens, Gu Yuanli hesitated for a while on the opposite side of the street, and then said: "Don't go, I will go by myself."

"Then how?" Xu and Li said in unison, "It's this kind of place, so we want to go together!"

Several people were still arguing, when a man in green clothes came out of the corner door, glanced at the three of them, and scolded: "What kind of place is this, are you here—Miss Gu?"

Hearing the familiar tone of this man, Gu Yan was also taken aback when he saw it. He straightened his clothes and saluted the man: "Why is Master Zhou here?"

"It's hard to explain!" Zhou Zhou looked around and sighed, "Why did you ladies get here? What's the matter?"

Li Qing winked at Gu Yuan, seeing Gu Yuan shaking his head slightly, he hurriedly said: "It's nothing - Master Zhou has entered the palace, and his temper has improved a lot."

"I'm almost turning into a pug dog!" Seeing the actions of the two of them early on Thursday, he pointed to the tea shop opposite, "I'm still a bit of an underdog in the palace now, and some of the ordinary things can be said If you don’t mind, my lady, let’s go there and have a sit together—no one in this mansion speaks uprightly, it’s so boring to kill!”

Gu Yan saw that although his tone was tough, his expression was extremely gloomy, and his heart moved, so he also saluted and said: "I'm bothering you."

Sure enough, after hearing Gu Yan’s intention of coming here on Thursday, he sighed: “This is the way of the world! I think I was in Zhoujia Lane when I was in Zhoujia Lane. Don’t tell me, even if I sold the yard to His Royal Highness King Yu, I didn’t ask for a penny more. I hate that bull-nosed man, but he insisted on saying that Lao Tzu’s destiny is all four pillars, and he insisted on forcing me to write a letter of refuge. Take care of the yard for him--I am! My mother is a fan in Zhoujiaxiang, and she left early. She doesn't even know who her father is. Who knows whether the horoscope is true or not? I am in Zhoujiaxiang Here, there is no shortage of wine or meat, is it happier than here? But no matter how wronged I feel, I still have to put on a smile every day to curry favor!"

"Master Zhou was really wronged." Li Qing interrupted after listening to his long speech, "Master Zhou is now following the nobleman, and has much more knowledge than us. Have you ever seen a son of the clan who looks like this?"

"I follow that Niubi, and I see that they are all children who are good pills, and I have never seen the daughter of the clan." After thinking about it on Thursday, he suddenly had an idea, and said to Gu Yan, "That Niubi is used to giving orders, little Ladies follow me to see, maybe there is some news."

He led Gu Yan and others into the corner gate, turned into a bluestone path next to it, turned around and passed through several courtyards, stopped at a alchemy room, went in to report, and invited a few people to enter the door.Inside, sitting on the futon in the quiet room was an old Taoist priest with white eyebrows, wearing a Luyang scarf, and wearing a crane cloak. He opened his eyes and looked at Gu Yuan and the others, then closed his eyes and said: "If you are destined, you will be a thousand miles away." Yes, if you don't have a fate, you don't know each other. The little lady has a lot of fate with that person, so I will definitely meet him."

Gu Yuan originally had the idea of ​​trying it out, but at this moment, hearing his strange words, he said: "It's destiny to have a deep relationship, but where should I go to find that person right now?"

"Don't look for it, don't look for it." The old Taoist shook his hand and said, "The three-year Lantern Festival will naturally tell the difference."

As soon as this sentence came out, Gu Yuan knew that the Taoist priest was just bluffing, and thought for a while and said: "Master, God's will is like this, and it cannot be changed. But manpower may also have room for recovery. I don't know if the master can give me some pointers." ?”

"If you want to go against the will of the heavens, there is nothing I can do." The old Taoist listened to her words very upright, and did not expose his tricks. He was overjoyed, put on a show and twitched his beard, and said with a smile, "That man is not an ordinary person. It's hard to see each other. But now there is an opportunity: the empress dowager and the concubine are all good at Buddha, but monks and nuns have always been forbidden to enter the inner court, so they have chosen maids to take care of it. I am familiar with the steward, and I had a hand-in-hand conversation with him a few days ago Hearing what he said, the Empress Dowager vowed to print [-] copies of scriptures and distribute them to pray for the late emperor. Now the factory is short of proofreaders, and she is looking for some good families. The little lady has no fame now. Enough, why not give it a try?"

Before Gu Yan could answer, Xu Xi had already said, "If you enter the palace like this, you won't be able to get out?"

The old Taoist chuckled: "No, no. As usual, the maids are no more than thirteen years old, and the oldest one is no more than sixteen. The little lady is over the double tenth year, so she will not be able to pass the test after all. However, as long as she passes the first test, she must Stay in Shangyi Division and wait for the re-examination. The Shangyi Division's external duty room is at Xihua Gate. On August [-], the clan will give a banquet. There are many people who come and go from here. The young lady can go to recognize people. If not, re-examination Naturally, I also left the palace at that time, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Seeing a few people hesitate, he smiled fairy-like again, “Little lady, go back and think for yourself. If you want to go, you can go to Chongyun Temple tomorrow, and it will be just as successful. of."

"Ah Yuan," Xu Xi didn't speak all the way, until he returned to Cishou Temple, Fang pulled Gu Yuan's sleeve and said, "After thinking about it, the Taoist's words are not very practical, why don't we just forget about it?"

"I went to ask the monks in the Baoguo Temple, and they also said that it is true that the Empress Dowager wants to print scriptures, and there are [-] copies to be sent to the Baoguo Temple." Li Qing hurriedly entered, picked up the tea bowl from the table and drank it down , "It's just that the words of this Taoist priest are credible, but we don't know yet."

"Since they want to distribute scriptures, they must also know that the manager of the scripture factory." Gu Yan bit his lip and raised his head, "If the name and description are correct, then seven points are true. Today is the beginning of August Seven, that person has no clue yet, why not just try his luck." She said with a smile, "The Taoist priest is absolutely right, how could I be selected into the palace at my age? It’s just a visit to the palace for nothing.”

"That's true." Xu Xi clapped his hands and smiled, "I heard that the dim sum in the palace is a must, and Ah Yuan has seen it, so why not bring us a few pieces to try. Even if you can't, it's good to talk about it when you come back."

"Nothing. A Yuan has business to do. How can you worry about it for you?" Li Qing glared at her with a stern face, and said to Gu Yuan, "A Yuan, you went to the palace by yourself, so be careful everywhere. I heard that the palace The rules here are very strict, you can't take more than one step, you just guard outside the Xihua Gate, don't enter. I heard that one hundred and eight lions were raised on the screen wall outside the Xihua Gate, when you get tired of waiting , May wish to count and see if it is right."

"Isn't this Xianxin?" Xu Xi held Gu Yuan with one hand and said, "A Yuan, come and judge!"

Knowing that the two of them deliberately made jokes to ease her heart, Gu Yan also smiled leisurely: "I heard that the ceremonial stele in the Shangyi Division is the imperial pen of Emperor Mingzong. If no one sees it, I will quietly make a copy. It will definitely sell for a good price.”

"In this way," Li Qing smiled and bowed to Gu Yuan, "We will rely on you, A Yuan, for our travel expenses back home!"

The three looked at each other and laughed together.Gu Yan smiled on his face, but made up his mind in his heart: Seeing that the big exam is coming, she can no longer delay Xu and Li's homework, and she can't go back to her hometown with such a grievance.