Niu Laosan left, but he did not return to his cell.
Instead, he escaped from the prison alone.
Later I found out that the two jailers who were on duty that night had received benefits from someone unknown. They let Niu Laosan go, and fled Mang County with their families. They soon became wanted criminals by the county government, but this
The two disappeared and were never seen again.
Therefore, it is impossible to have definite evidence to identify the person behind the scenes.
Although Bai Song was sure that it was the Zheng family who was behind the scenes, without evidence, he could only keep the account in mind.
The next day, the cow was let loose.
He was the one who was beaten and never fought back from the beginning to the end.
It is obviously unreasonable for such people to be convicted.
On the same day, the Xiao Sui Ping, which attracted the attention of the entire Youzhou, began.
Not only inside the Lin Mansion, but also outside the Lin Mansion, there were countless scholars gathered.
This is the busiest time in Mang County in the past ten years.
In fact, Bai Song was looking forward to Xiao Sui Ping. He wanted to see what ancient literati gatherings were like.
But it is a pity that he will not have the chance to participate in this year's annual review.
At noon, Xiaocui came to visit the prisoner with wine and food, and brought her favorite donkey tongue roasted with green onions to her uncle.
The wine is Xia's wine. After drinking Maotai, it's natural to despise it.
But it's better than nothing, some drinking is good.
It was so lively today, even the jailers were discussing what happened in Xiao Suiping.
But Xiaocui didn't seem interested. Seeing that no one came to evict her, she stayed in the prison with her uncle.
Bai Song had eaten and drank enough and had nothing to do. Seeing Xiao Nizi guarding him honestly, he felt a little strange: "Hey."
"Huh?" Xiao Cui shook her head, eyes darting.
"Have you transitioned?"
"Ah?" Xiaocui didn't quite understand.
"Didn't you feel uncomfortable looking at me before? Why don't you even look at Xiao Sui Ping now? Instead, you are guarding me in this damp prison?"
Xiaocui's face was slightly red, and she pouted her little mouth with disdain: "What! It doesn't look good at all! They are all pretty boys holding books, shaking their heads, and not knowing what to say. It's so boring."
"Isn't it more boring in this prison?"
"The lady said, let Xiaocui spend more time with my uncle. Otherwise, who would care to be with you!"
"Why don't Xiang'er come to see me?"
"The lady said she was afraid of people gossiping."
"What's there to gossip about?"
"You...you don't want to look at me, do you?"
Bai Song shook his head cheerfully: "Not really, mainly now that you have become obedient and don't quarrel with me anymore, it's a bit boring."
"Who... who... who is so obedient!" Xiao Cui said dissatisfied, "I see how pitiful you are in prison, otherwise I won't treat you well."
"Okay, you can do whatever you like, uncle, I'm going to bed."
"Then...then Xiaocui is gone."
"Let's go, let's go and read the Xiao Sui Ping. Tomorrow I will tell my uncle about the strange things in the Xiao Sui Ping."
…
This year's New Year's Eve review is a bit unusual.
It’s not just the introduction of “sponsors” that is confusing.
Many people are talking about how this year's New Year's Eve review is full of copper odor, but at the same time, they also receive many gifts from sponsors.
On the other hand, among the children of the aristocratic family, there were fewer people discussing the article, but more people discussing the Lin family's son-in-law and the Zheng family's young master.
These overtones have somewhat changed the flavor of this year's New Year's Eve review.
But when it comes to the most important book review session in history, children from all families are also very concerned about it.
There are more than thirty articles to be reviewed this year. The main reviewer is Mr. Qin, a famous scholar who is over seventy years old, and several heads of the Zheng family, including the head of the Zheng family, serve as reviewers.
The book review takes two days.
On the first day, more than a dozen articles about children of aristocratic families were also published.
Although the main reviewer was full of praise and praise, the articles written by the children of the aristocratic family were worse than the previous year.
The articles and comments were circulated, but they did not cause any sensation. Instead, they were ridiculed by some poor people who had not entered the Xiaosui Ping.
This incident made all participating aristocratic families feel humiliated and even a little embarrassed.
The first day of the New Year's Eve ceremony ended hastily, and the children from all the families mingled together and joked and joked again. There was no sense of urgency at all. On the contrary, the flower house in Mang County was full of music and singing that night.
The heads of the families above were filled with worries about this, saying that if things continued like this, their families, which had been passed down for hundreds of years, would probably have no successors.
…
the next day.
Xiaocui still came at noon and changed some exquisite side dishes for her uncle.
Bai Song was eating vegetables and drinking, and asked: "Is there anything strange about yesterday's Xiao Sui Ping?"
Xiao Cui shook her head: "Is there anything strange? It's just the legend that some uncles beat up the young master of the Zheng family. They are all nonsense. They are annoying to death."
"Isn't there a decent article? No, there should be many stories at a gathering between literati. I heard that in previous years, many works would be circulated for discussion at the beginning."
"Uncle, when did you start to like articles?"
"Hey!" Bai Song sighed, "I negotiated for the sponsorship. At that time, I promised with confidence that the Xia family's wine would become famous all over the world with the help of Xiaosui Ping. Now that Xiaosui Ping has passed a day, it's a little
There's no trouble at all. Doesn't it mean that the Xia family's sponsorship has been wasted? How will they sponsor again next year?"
"Uncle, why do you care about this? You should just care about yourself. Xiaocui hopes that the Zheng family will leave soon, so that my uncle can leave this ghost place as soon as possible."
Bai Song pondered: "No, you are short-handed and soft-spoken... After receiving money from the Xia family, you can't do nothing. Has Lin Xun's article been reviewed?"
"The second young master's article... seems to be at the end of this afternoon. With the second young master's level, what can he write?"
"Go find pen and paper right away."
Xiaocui looked puzzled, but seeing her uncle's serious face, she didn't hesitate to ask more questions and hurriedly went to find paper and pen.
A moment later, Xiaocui returned with pen and paper.
Bai Song hurriedly wrote on the paper.
Xiaocui looked curious and watched silently.
The little girl read everything my uncle wrote, but she thought the word "guye" was weird and funny. She covered her little mouth with tears in her eyes and laughed.
But Bai Song ignored him at all and kept writing for half an hour before he shook his hand, feeling a little tired.
Bai Song gently picked up the paper he had written on, blew on the ink, waited for it to dry, folded it and handed it to Xiao Cui, and told him:
"Give this article to Lin Xun, tell him that he wrote it, and ask him to comment on it for the main reviewer of Xiao Sui Ping. If someone says that the language is too white, the rhythm is different, the style is not neat, and there is no dialogue between words and cards, let Lin Xun
The answer is that good writing is casual and can be picked up at your fingertips. There is no need to organize the antithesis. Sticking to stylistic words is just a trap for incompetent people, and I don't bother to do it. If you insist on following the ancient method and the poems and prose have neat antithesis, I can also write a poem casually. Then
Let Lin Xun choose one of these poems to read in front of people."
After saying that, Bai Song patted Xiao Cui on the shoulder: "Go quickly, time is tight, don't let Lin Xun's article have already been reviewed."
Xiaocui seemed to understand, so she repeated what her uncle had said. After confirming that she remembered correctly, she ran home with the article written by Bai Song.
…
On the second day of the review, the quality of the articles improved, and the faces of the elders looked better.
However, due to the influence of yesterday, some students from poor families outside the country expressed their dissatisfaction, saying that the articles from aristocratic families were eaten by rats and ants crawled over them, and they were unspeakable.
The person who made the review was extremely complimentary, but in fact he was referring to the donkey as a horse, which was an insult to everyone's reputation.
Children from poor families were bullied a lot by wealthy families in the past. Today, no one missed the opportunity to question him in public.
One person shouted, and countless people responded positively.
The boos outside Lin's mansion grew louder and louder.
On normal days, a group of servants would have rushed out of the Lin Mansion and dispersed this group of people.
But today, all the children of the aristocratic families in Youzhou, whether they are elders or juniors, are here to watch.
No one wants to take the initiative to drive people away, everyone wants to save this last bit of thin noodles.
"Brother Lin, you see that there is so much commotion outside, it may be difficult to eliminate the resentment of the poor family. Since they are not convinced, why not let one or two people outside come into the Xiaosui Review to take a look and see how their articles are?"
Lin Tingzheng was a little surprised when he heard this and wiped his sweat: "Brother Zheng, if the articles of that humble family surpass those of the gentry like us, wouldn't they be laughed at?"
Zheng Tai'a also felt the same and took a deep breath: "There is no way. Instead of hiding one's ears and avoiding others, it is better to face them head-on. I am afraid that the children of Zheng and Lin's family will not be able to take on big positions. I only want to see if any of the other families are young.
People can..."
"That's all, I just want to save the family's face!"
Lin Tingzheng had made up his mind and asked Butler Liu to go outside to deliver the message.
The door of Lin's Mansion opened, and the literati gathered outside made even louder noises.
"Shadow! Shady..."
"What kind of bullshit scholar can be praised to such high proportions for his inaccurate articles?"
"You aristocratic families just can't afford to lose!"
"If you have the ability, come and read our articles! Although we were born into poor families, we don't need you to be inferior at all..."
Butler Liu's eardrums were buzzing from the shock, and he motioned for everyone to be quiet.
After a while, the crowd calmed down, and Butler Liu had the opportunity to speak: "Everyone, my master has said that among you, the best in literature will be selected to participate in the Xiaosui Review, and let's see if you have any real talents.
Practical learning.”
Upon hearing this, the whole audience cheered.
Although there were only two people, it was still a victory for Hanshi. It was obvious that the nobles could not bear the heavy pressure and began to give in.
"Xu Xuan, Ma You!"
"Xu Xuan, Ma You!"
"Xu Xuan, Ma You..."
The two names are shocking, which shows that these two people have high reputation among poor scholars.
It seems that it has been decided that the two of them will participate in the Xiao Sui Ping as poor scholars.
At the same time, Lin Tingzheng and Zheng Tai'a were also thinking of ways to deal with the impact of the poor family.
Lin Ting was frowning and thinking: "Those poor scholars are obviously well prepared for making such a fuss this time. If we use the articles they prepared in advance to make comments, I'm afraid it will be detrimental to us..."
"Brother Lin means..."
"This year's New Year's Eve Review has so-called sponsors. The Xia family once proposed that the New Year's Review be titled 'wine' and let them write an article, but I tried to stop it. Seeing that the situation of the New Year's Review is unclear, it is better to let them temporarily use 'wine' as the title."
If we drink and write articles, we will be more confident."
Zheng Tai'a nodded: "This is a good way to do it, just do what Brother Lin wants."
