Extra 2: Anxious? That's it?!
Seeing that the two were silent, Jiang Xuezi was afraid that the couple would run away, so he wondered if he should get a discount.
"Brother, it seems that we get along very well. How about..." He wanted to say that he could give me a discount.
"I have ten thousand taels."
Gu Zhizhuo pulled a banknote from his purse, held it between his fingers, and waved it in front of him. Jiang Xuezi could clearly see the words "Fenglong Bank" on it, as well as the denomination...
Ten thousand taels! ?
This pair of suckers could actually come up with ten thousand taels at will!
Jiang Xuezi was stunned. He instinctively reached out to grab it, but Gu Zhizhuo twisted his wrist and slipped the banknote back into his palm. He snorted, "Ten thousand taels is so easy to take? Who knows if your paper is real or fake?"
Jiang Xuezi licked his dry lips and said, "Of course it's true. This is the East Factory..."
"I don't care where you come from. If you run off with my money today, I can't catch you."
"What does Madam mean?"
"One thousand." Gu Zhizhuo crossed his arms and said, "If your question is true, I'll pay the balance after the exam."
Jiang Xuezi rubbed his hands: "This, this is not good."
"You're afraid I'll owe you nine thousand taels, but I'm even more afraid you'll blackmail me for ten thousand. Forget it," Gu Zhizhuo said, turning to Xie Yingchen. "Let's go. Even if you pass the exam, you'll still be a poor county magistrate in a remote village. What's so great about that? At worst, I'll accompany you to take the exam, and we can buy a farm in the capital."
"That's right." Xie Yingchen seemed to be persuaded.
Gu Zhizhuo pulled his sleeve and was about to leave. Jiang Xuezi was anxious and quickly stopped them, saying, "Okay, okay, just one thousand taels. Then nine thousand taels..."
"Businessmen keep their word."
Gu Zhizhuo took out another silver note of one thousand taels and handed it to Xie Yingchen.
Jiang Xuezi called him to a corner and surreptitiously slipped him a piece of silk paper. He then took the banknote, examined it carefully, and asked, "Where do you live, my dear brother?"
Xie Yingchen randomly named an inn. —One of Gu Zhizhuo's dowry.
"I wish you success in the imperial examination."
Having said that, he took the banknote and ran away.
Xie Yingchen made a gesture, signaling the secret guards to follow.
He took Gu Zhizhuo out of the mountain gate as if nothing had happened.
"You're running so fast, I guess you'd only sell it to someone else for a hundred taels." Gu Zhizhuo came up to him, tilted his head, and said cutely, "What a sucker."
"you?"
"you!"
Xie Yingchen pinched her cheek, it felt so good!
Xie Yingchen: "Let's go and see if this test paper is real."
If it is fake, he is just a liar, no big deal, just let the secret guards catch him and send him to Jingzhao Prefecture.
If this is true, it would involve a major case of leaking questions or even cheating in the imperial examination.
The carriage stopped at the mountain gate. As soon as he got on the carriage, Gu Zhizhuo couldn't wait to urge him to take a look.
Xie Yingchen unfolded the silk paper, and Gu Zhizhuo came over and asked with great interest, "Is the title true?"
The exam questions were finalized at the end of last month and sealed with wax.
Gu Zhizhuo was not very interested in the imperial examination and did not look at the questions, but Xie Yingchen did review the questions and he was the one who set one of the questions.
He read it quickly and nodded to Gu Zhizhuo: "Indeed."
Wow!
Gu Zhizhuo blinked.
So, it's a fraud case?
She clapped her hands and said, "No wonder those students' divinations are so strange. They must have bought the questions too."
If you prepare in advance according to the test questions, it will not be difficult to pass the exam.
But if you are caught cheating, you will be stripped of your title.
One step to life, one step to death.
According to what the young master said to them, the hexagram changed to "Gen represents mountain", which means failure in the imperial examination.
Xie Yingchen gave her the silk paper and said, "Let's go back to Beijing first and watch the fireworks."
The cheating has already happened. Anyway, there is still some time before the Enke exam, so half a day won’t make a difference.
Gu Zhizhuo leaned lazily, and after reading it, he stuffed the silk paper into his pocket and asked casually, "Why do you want to bring up the East Factory?"
Xie Yingchen: “Someone wants to pull Shen Xu down.”
Gu Zhizhuo sat up straight, raised an eyebrow and looked at him, only a little bit late, and said suddenly: "I understand."
"That Jiang guy is too stupid and too greedy."
She glanced in the direction of Taiqing Temple.
With the Imperial Examination approaching, most students coming to the capital to take the test would go to Taiqing Monastery to draw a fortune stick, hoping for good luck. Furthermore, the fortune sticks at Taiqing Monastery were indeed authentic. Gu Zhizhuo had heard his senior brothers and the abbot gossip about how any student who drew the best fortune stick was guaranteed to pass the imperial examination.
The man named Jiang came here specifically to wait for something to happen.
However, it was sold too ostentatiously.
Xie Yingchen said gently, "The court always loves people trying to figure out the emperor's intentions."
"You have such a good temper. If it were me..." Gu Zhizhuo lifted his sleeves, revealing his white forearms, "Hehehe."
The carriage suddenly jolted, and before she could finish her majestic declaration, she lost her balance and fell into his arms. Xie Yingchen put his arm around her waist, her soft and fragrant body in his arms, who could resist?
Xie Yingchen leaned over and kissed the corner of her lips.
At first, it was just a light touch, but when he felt her response, his kiss gradually deepened, yet it was still as gentle as water, and their breath lingered between her lips and teeth.
The carriage rumbled forward.
When I returned to the capital, it was not yet dusk.
The sky was not yet completely dark, the twilight was like a thin veil, and the red lanterns in the streets and alleys had already been lit, one after another, with light and shadow intertwined.
The capital city is quite lively during the Shangsi Festival. The long streets are decorated with lights and there are crowds of people, all filled with laughter and joy.
When they were still half an hour away from the Meridian Gate, the carriage was stuck in the crowd and couldn't get through, so the two of them simply walked to join in the fun.
The small vendors on both sides of the street were shouting, and all kinds of small gadgets were displayed on the stalls. Gu Zhizhuo stopped to look from time to time.
"Young Madam, look at the pearl flowers. My wife made them herself."
"Come on, come on. Sugar cakes, three cents each."
"Guess the lantern riddles and you'll win a lantern. Come and see."
“…”
Boom——
A gong and drum sounded.
Gu Zhizhuo pointed ahead and said in surprise: "Chenchen, it's acrobatics!"
"Let's go and take a look." Xie Yingchen protected her and squeezed into the crowd until he reached the front, where he saw a young girl stepping on a high-hanging colorful silk.
The colorful silk hung as high as a floor, swaying gently in the breeze. The girl, with a light figure, leaped across it, sometimes flipping, sometimes soaring into the air. Several times, Gu Zhizhuo held his breath nervously. When she finally descended from the silk and landed safely, Gu Zhizhuo clapped joyfully.
She took out a silver ingot and threw it over.
She didn't like the chest-breaking scene that followed, so she pulled Xie Yingchen to play somewhere else.
The further you go towards the Meridian Gate, the more people there are.
"Yaoyao, do you want a mask?"
mask?
Gu Zhizhuo suddenly noticed that the young people around him were all wearing masks with various patterns on their faces, which were colorful and very beautiful.
"want!"
Xie Yingchen was about to say that he would go buy it, but she stopped him.
Gu Zhizhuo was eager to try, "If you don't buy it, I'll win it back for you."
She pointed to the busiest stall in front. There were three large nets erected on the stall, on which hung all kinds of small items, such as round fans, bronze mirrors, lanterns, big lucky dolls, and a pair of masks.
This is a pair of raccoon masks. The golden cat eyes are painted with extraordinary spirit, especially like a sinking cat.
Gu Zhizhuo fell in love with her at first sight.
There were a lot of people queuing at the stall and they had to wait for a long time before it was their turn.
The stall owner smiled and handed over the wooden bow and arrows: "One copper coin for one arrow."
Gu Zhizhuo gave ten copper coins, took the wooden bow and weighed it in his hand.
The bow was quite crude, and Gu Zhizhuo could sense its unstable center the moment she set it. She pulled the bowstring, and it felt loose and sagging, unlike leather.
Judging from the tension of the bowstring, it would be difficult to hit a target thirty steps away even if it was fully drawn.
It just so happens that most of the prizes on the stall are placed around thirty-five steps away.
No wonder so many people came, but no one hit the target. Most of them paid a few copper coins and went home empty-handed. Even the stall owner next to them couldn't stand it and couldn't help but say, "Oh, Old Liu, you are really dishonest in your business."
"How can I not be honest? Ah ah? Aunt Wang, please don't talk nonsense." Old Liu puffed out his chest, "The price is clearly marked. You get what you shoot. It all depends on your ability. I, Old Liu, mean what I say."
"Can I tune my bow?"
"No, no."
Gu Zhizhuo didn't force it. He picked up a wooden arrow, put it on the string and gestured.
Aunt Wang suggested, "Let your man do it. Men are stronger and aim at the bronze mirror over there. That's the best hope."
Hearing the words "your man", Gu Zhizhuo's cheeks turned red and his breath stagnated for a moment.
Xie Yingchen leaned down and whispered in her ear, "She's right."
What.
Gu Zhizhuo glared at him, and Xie Yingchen immediately said innocently: "I mean, Auntie is right... The bronze mirror is the closest."
It’s about thirty-two steps.
I don’t believe it! Gu Zhizhuo hummed, turned around and thanked her affectionately: "Thank you, auntie. But I want that pair of masks."
The mask was the furthest away and small, making it difficult to get. Aunt Wang was worried for her.
Gu Zhizhuo drew his bow and shot the first arrow, but the force faded as it reached the middle of the path. Two or three steps away from the mask, the wooden arrow wobbled and fell.
Aunt Wang slapped her thigh regretfully.
Old Liu pretended to be regretful and said, "You still have nine arrows. You will definitely hit the target."
"Thank you for your good wishes."
The second arrow also missed. Gu Zhizhuo pulled the string to its full extent, and the distance was closer, but the aim was even further off, at least one step off, and almost hit a round fan next to him.
“What a shame.”
The onlookers sighed in regret.
"This one's easy." Someone pointed to a bamboo basket.
"And that straw hat is close too."
They chattered and gave advice, and in their opinion, as long as they could hit the target, it didn't matter what it was.
When the third arrow was halfway through its flight, a gust of wind suddenly blew. The wooden arrow was very light, and the wind blew it off course and it fell down again.
Alas, the people around sighed and thought: Old Liu is going to make these ten copper coins in vain again.
"Chenchen, watch me!"
Gu Zhizhuo had already figured out the workings of this bow. When it came to the fourth wooden arrow, her posture suddenly changed a little. She was still bending the bow and pulling the string in the same way, but compared to the casualness just now, she was more serious.
whoosh!
An arrow hit the mask steadily, and the raccoon mask hanging on the net fell off.
Xie Yingchen applauded her enthusiastically.
Old Liu picked up the mask, his smile a little stiff. It was a coincidence, it must be a coincidence.
The fifth arrow.
Another mask fell, completing the pair.
Gu Zhizhuo took the mask from Old Liu's hand. Seeing that he was about to cry, he smiled and said, "Didn't you say that it all depends on your ability and that you have no right to change your mind?"
Old Liu's smile was uglier than crying. He watched her shoot the next five arrows, all of which hit their mark.
He took an ebony comb, a wooden box and a pair of clay dolls.
However, the most valuable item on his stall was a pair of silver bracelets. Seeing that she didn't take them, Old Liu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and happily gave her all the worthless trinkets.
"Old Liu, you've finally gotten what you deserved," Aunt Wang and several other acquaintances said, "I told you not to cheat people."
"Go away. I, an old man, have my way..."
Gu Zhizhuo said, "Then shoot ten more arrows."
Old Liu bowed repeatedly: "No, no, aunt."
Gu Zhizhuo smiled and took back the copper coins. He then gave the ebony comb and wooden box to Aunt Wang who had kindly reminded her, and squeezed out of the crowd with the clay doll and mask.
"Bow your head."
Xie Yingchen lowered his head obediently as she said, allowing her to put the mask on him and then tighten the rope.
Each of them had a mask, and they smiled at each other.
Young boys and girls hurried past them, calling out to each other:
"Hurry up, the fireworks are about to start."
"Wait for me."
The two followed the crowd at a leisurely pace. When they reached the Meridian Gate, the night sky suddenly lit up. The first firework exploded above their heads, blooming with brilliant light, instantly covering the entire sky.
Fireworks bloomed one by one.
Unable to squeeze through, the two of them simply gave up going up to the city wall and stood in the crowd to watch the fireworks together.
There was joyful laughter all around.
After the fireworks faded and the crowd gradually dispersed, the two of them walked slowly towards the palace gate.
Just walked out of the crowd.
Gu Zhizhuo paused and nudged Xie Yingchen with her elbow, motioning him to look to the right.
Then they saw a familiar figure in bright red brocade clothes standing in the candlelight of a big red lantern, looking at them with a half-smile.
Gu Zhizhuo raised his hand and beckoned: "Here."
Chen Xu: “…”
The sarcastic look on his face showed that he had been waiting for them for a long time.
Chen Xu came over and bowed.
"Master Shen," Xie Yingchen smiled slightly, his tone as gentle as ever, "Are you here about the cheating in the imperial examination?"
Shen Xu raised his eyebrows, a little surprised.
Xie Yingchen: "I was just about to ask you to come over to discuss this. The Enke exam is coming up, and now there's a fraud case. It's really worrying."
Chen Xu: “…”
He silently looked up at the raccoon masks on their foreheads, the lanterns in their hands, and the pile of "junk" in their arms.
Anxious? That's it?!
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