Extra 1 Two Years Later
The third day of the third month in the third year of Jing'an
Two years after the new emperor ascended the throne, Daqi swept away the decline of previous years and prospered.
It was the Shangsi Festival, and the capital city became lively a few days in advance. The streets and alleys were decorated with lights and colorful lanterns.
Xie Yingchen and Gu Zhizhuo left the palace together and went to Taiqing Temple.
Wuweizi is going back to Tianxin Temple.
Wuweizi came to the capital for Gu Zhizhuo. He took good care of her and helped her through the crisis of life and death. Now it was time for him to go back.
In fact, he had planned to go back after Gu Zhizhuo's wedding, but Gu Zhizhuo was reluctant to let him go and acted coquettishly to let him stay for another year and a half.
"You guys are here."
Hearing the footsteps, Wuweizi turned around and smiled.
His luggage had been packed, and Gu Zhizhuo brought some homemade snacks for him to eat on the way.
Wuweizi was in high spirits, but looking at his white hair and beard, Gu Zhizhuo felt uneasy.
"Master." Gu Zhizhuo tugged at the sleeve of his Taoist robe and shook it. "Let me go back with you. Look at you, carrying only this small bag, and it's a thousand miles from the capital to Jiangnan! You're not my senior brother, so you're not as tough and sturdy as me."
Qingping: ???
Junior sister, if you want to talk about Master, just talk about Master, don’t bring up your senior brother.
"Nonsense."
Wuweizi's whisk brushed her face gently with its silver strands. "In two years, if Master hasn't passed away, I'll come to the capital to see you again."
"No way! Master, may you live two hundred years."
In her previous life, she died but her master was still alive, and even made her cry for her.
"Okay, okay, live a hundred years."
"Two hundred years old!"
"Wouldn't that make me an old monster?"
"Master~"
"Okay, okay."
Wuweizi agreed readily, saying that delicate little girls are more lovable than the naughty boys in the temple.
He is a good master and never partial.
Gu Zhizhuo's eyes were wet, and she reluctantly helped him sit down. She smoothed her skirt and knelt in front of him.
Master, Master, is both a teacher and a father.
Xie Yingchen also knelt beside her.
Even Wuweizi was startled: "Hey, Chen'er, Zhuo'er, hurry up and get up."
"Master, sit down!"
Gu Zhizhuo forced him to sit down and kowtowed three times politely.
In past and present lives, she was willful, unwilling to accept her fate, and always insisted on doing things her own way. It was only because of her master's protection that she avoided a life of utter destruction.
Wuweizi accepted their gifts and felt warm in his heart.
Gu Zhizhuo helped him up and picked up the flat bag.
Qingping: "There are only a few Taoist robes and ordination certificates. Master can carry them."
How dare you say that! Gu Zhizhuo glared at him angrily.
Qingping touched his nose and suddenly felt that even his breathing was wrong.
"Good disciple."
Wuweizi smiled and patted her arm that was supporting him. "As a monk, you should practice in the world. It's best to keep it simple."
The three of them escorted him out of the mountain gate. Wuweizi gave Gu Zhizhuo and Xie Yingchen each a blessing bag containing a talisman he had personally drawn. He didn't even take the little Taoist boy with him. He rode on a small donkey, not wanting them to escort him any further, and strolled down the mountain.
Gu Zhizhuo stood in front of the mountain gate and watched him go away.
"I'll have someone protect you secretly," Xie Yingchen said, "so that Master won't find out."
Gu Zhizhuo nodded: "I want to go to Tianxin Temple next year."
Tianxin Temple is located in Jiangnan. In his previous life, Gu Zhizhuo never had the chance to visit his master until the very end.
Xie Yingchen agreed readily.
Gu Zhizhuo was happy: "It's a deal."
She extended her little finger to him, and they hooked their fingers together, sealing their agreement.
There was a Dharma Assembly at Taiqing Temple, and the abbot had the little Taoist boy call Qingping over to lend a hand. Since it was a rare opportunity to go out and play, Gu Zhizhuo wasn't in a hurry to leave. He returned to Taiqing Temple, and together they went to the Sanqing Hall to get a wishing sign.
"Only when you hang your wish stick on the thousand-year-old cypress tree in front of the Sanqing Temple will it be effective."
Gu Zhizhuo took his hand and walked out briskly.
The ancient cypress trees towered into the sky, their branches lush and lush, with all sorts of wish sticks hanging from their branches, red silk dancing lightly in the wind. Gu Zhizhuo looked up at them, directing him to hang them high.
"A little higher! That branch is higher."
"How about I climb up?"
Xie Yingchen glanced at her and said, "Don't even think about it."
He estimated the height, leaped lightly, and reached out to grab the branch that Gu Zhizhuo had chosen. The branch was bent by his pull, and the leaves rustled.
He smiled and urged, "Come on."
Okay!
Gu Zhizhuo carefully tied the wish sticks with red silk.
Xie Yingchen let go of his hand, and the branch suddenly bounced back to its original position, shaking the branches and leaves.
Gu Zhizhuo stood on tiptoe to look. The wishing stick swayed with the branches and leaves, and the red silk fluttered, reflected in her pupils.
"Is it high enough?"
A gentle voice rang in her ears, with a smile. Xie Yingchen hugged her from behind, his breath brushing against the tip of her ear.
"That's enough."
Gu Zhizhuo was satisfied. She leaned back as usual, leaning on him and letting him hold her in his arms.
She pointed to the wishing stick on the ancient cypress tree and said proudly, "We are the tallest."
The Shangsi Festival was packed with pilgrims, and before they knew it, there were even more people around. Xie Yingchen helped her stand and walked towards the mountain gate. Going back to the palace was out of the question, but returning to Beijing now would give her a good spot to watch the fireworks.
"Brother Chen, I heard that the most effective place in the capital is Taiqing Temple?"
"Of course. Even the Imperial Preceptor is hanging out at the Taiqing Temple. What fortune did you get, Brother Liu?"
"A good sign."
"Congratulations, Brother Liu, your writing is so beautiful! You will surely pass the exam."
Gu Zhizhuo looked in the direction of the sound and saw a few young men wearing scholarly attire and wearing silk scarves on their heads.
The first year of the Jinghe era was a three-yearly imperial examination, so Xie Yingchen decided to hold the special examination this year, at the end of March. The candidates had already arrived in the capital around the New Year.
"Ah, my emperor is more practical. The essays of the top three students are simple and unpretentious, yet every word is precious. My essay is still a bit complicated after all."
Hearing them talking about Xie Yingchen, Gu Zhizhuo glanced over. Huh? Her eyebrows twitched slightly, and she let go of Xie Yingchen's hand, silently calculating.
"Chenchen," she leaned close to his ear, her breath ruffling his hair, "Look at the guy in blue. He'll pass the exam."
Xie Yingchen took a look secretly: "Where are the others?"
"As for the others...something's a little off. Let me do the math."
Gu Zhizhuo became interested, so she took out the compass she carried with her, leaned against him, and let him put his arm around her, turning the outer disk in a unique rhythm.
The magnetic needle suddenly stopped and pointed to a certain direction.
When Gu Zhizhuo was studying with Wuwei Zi over the years, Xie Yingchen would come to listen from time to time, and now he can understand some of the compass hexagrams.
"Nine-three Yao...Mirror Flower, Water Moon?"
Yes, yes.
Gu Zhizhuo gave him a thumbs up.
"They will either ascend to the sky in one fell swoop, or their achievements will be wiped out. This imperial examination is nothing but a mirage for them."
"All of them?"
"Except the one in blue, all of them."
Something was definitely wrong. Xie Yingchen said thoughtfully, "Let's go over and ask."
"You go, I'll play with Turtle."
Gu Zhizhuo sat on a big rock by the lake. The big turtle in the lake had recognized her. It swam over and lay beside her to bask in the sun.
Gu Zhizhuo touched its head, but it didn't hide.
She placed the compass on her knees, her fingers resting on the Tianchi Lake, gently rubbing it with her fingertips.
The stationary magnetic needle began to vibrate without warning, and the hexagrams were changing.
Gu Zhizhuo looked at Xie Yingchen's back. He was having a pleasant conversation with several students. From a distance, she could even hear them affectionately calling him "Brother Gu".
The hexagrams on the compass are still changing.
Gu Zhizhuo waved to a passing Taoist boy and asked him for some fish food and apples.
Not long after, Xie Yingchen came back and sat next to her. Seeing that she was feeding the turtle an apple, he also casually scattered a handful of fish food. The koi in the pond swam over, shaking their heads.
"How about it?"
"They look like ordinary students. The one in blue you mentioned does have some talent, and there's nothing particularly wrong with the others."
The big turtle finished eating the apple, and Gu Zhizhuo wiped his hands with a handkerchief.
Several students have already walked away.
Xie Yingchen smiled, his voice as gentle as ever: "To be able to reach this stage of the Imperial Examination, there is no student who is particularly bad. Aside from the few at the top, the ones who pass the list are more likely to have had a lot of luck as they move forward."
As he spoke, his eyes fell on the compass in Gu Zhizhuo's hand, and the direction of the magnetic needle changed.
"Gen means mountain?"
"After you finished talking to them, the hexagram changed." Gu Zhizhuo held him, "What did you say to them?"
"They are all from Yizhou, students from the Qingyang Academy in Yizhou. They asked me to go with them to the poetry gathering in three days."
"I'll bring you some shrimp next time." Gu Zhizhuo said goodbye to the turtle, took his hand and jumped up, walking out of the mountain gate while talking.
Crossing the bluestone path and passing through the hanging flower gate, a strange man called out from behind them, "Young Master, please stay."
The man was in his thirties, wearing a round-necked robe. Even in the March weather, he was pretentiously fanning himself with a fan, slowly waving it.
"I heard that you also came to the capital for the imperial examination?" He said with a familiar smile, "My surname is Jiang, and I am a student at Ruhe Academy."
Ruhe Academy is located in the capital, and Gu Zhizhuo has also heard of it.
Xie Yingchen smiled and replied "yes". When he had just spoken to those students, he had said that he was an undergraduate candidate. However, they had not seen him when they spoke.
"Your Excellency speaks well in Mandarin. Where are you from?"
"I'm from Northern Xinjiang," Xie Yingchen said in his Northern Xinjiang accent. "Because of this special exam, my parents kicked me out right after the Lunar New Year."
Jiang Xuezi asked enthusiastically, "Sir, do you have relatives in the capital?"
"No relatives at all." Xie Yingchen waved his hand and said indifferently, "My parents saw my wild nature and were afraid that there would be no one to control me in the capital, so they asked my wife to come with me to keep an eye on me."
Xuezi Jiang has been paying attention to the two of them for a long time.
The couple was dressed in rich clothes, and they didn't look like they came from a poor family. They were either children of officials or they would be children of officials. But children of officials would not go out without even bringing servants with them.
He asked tentatively, "Sir, are you a businessman?"
Xie Yingchen smiled but said nothing.
Xuezi Jiang apologized repeatedly.
It seems that they are indeed a merchant family!
According to the law, merchants are not allowed to take the imperial examinations. However, over the years, the current emperor has given several imperial examination quotas to the children of several big merchants. Everyone knows about this, and some people in the court have impeached him several times.
Xie Yingchen said casually, "I'm too lazy to study, so how could I possibly pass the exam? If it weren't for my parents' earnest expectations, I really wouldn't want to go through this."
Jiang Xuezi's triangular eyes rolled around as he chuckled, "You can't say that. If you can pass the imperial examination, it will be the fulfillment of your father's and mother's wishes."
Xie Yingchen didn't beat around the bush with him any more: "Hey, Brother Jiang, just speak frankly."
Jiang Xuezi looked around and confirmed that no one was around. He then leaned closer and said, "If you can pay me some money, I can guarantee that you will pass the imperial examination this year."
Gu Zhizhuo touched the compass in his sleeve, seeming to be lost in thought.
Xie Yingchen was puzzled: "Could it be that Brother Jiang has some way?" He quietly pulled Gu Zhizhuo and hooked his finger at her.
Jiang Xuezi saw this and thought: It seems that this young wife is really here to take care of him, even his money.
Gu Zhizhuo reluctantly took out a banknote and said, "Yes."
Xie Yingchen thrust the banknote in his hand, his attitude suddenly warming up: "Brother Jiang, please have some tea. Well, if you can really pass the imperial examination, it will be worth spending any amount of money."
Jiang Xuezi took it and looked at it. It was a full one hundred taels! Merchants really had endless silver to burn.
He waved his folding fan and said calmly, "My dear brother, you are absolutely right. We study so hard just to get a place on the imperial examination. I wonder how much money you are willing to give?"
As he spoke, greed filled his eyes.
"One hundred taels!"
Before Xie Yingchen could speak, Gu Zhizhuo spoke first, "I've already given you a hundred taels, I'll treat it as sending away a beggar. Why are you still blabbering? What's the matter? You're not thinking of saying you have the test paper, are you? Are you trying to take us for a ride?"
"Our master is easy to coax, but I'm not. If you don't get out of here, do you want to get beaten?!"
As soon as Gu Zhizhuo spoke in standard and fluent Northern Xinjiang dialect, the last bit of doubt in Jiang Xuezi's heart disappeared.
They say the women of Northern Xinjiang are tough and control their men like a rock. Sure enough! They're incredibly fierce.
"Go, go, go, don't talk to liars."
Seeing them about to leave, Jiang Xuezi hurriedly called out to them. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "To be honest, brother, I do have the test paper for this exam."
Xie Yingchen paused, pretending to be surprised: "Really?"
"Guaranteed genuine." Jiang Xuezi patted his chest and said in a very low voice, "It came from the East Factory. It's absolutely authentic."
Gu Zhizhuo: ???
"My dear brother, you may not know that the Emperor has great confidence in the East Depot and has entrusted them with important tasks. The examination papers for the Imperial Examination are kept secret from others, but the master of the East Depot has seen them."
"One..." Jiang Xuezi raised a finger. Seeing that he was being taken advantage of, he said loudly, "Ten thousand taels. Then you can get this special examination paper."
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