The falling sky is like an endless wing, covering all the beauty, but also containing endless filth.
Looking at the endless sky, Su Zijin took a deep breath and walked into the room carefully guarding the oil lamp in his hand.
Although the window was open to the fourth quarter, a gust of wind came in from time to time, blowing the thin wick to the point of falling, and the already unclear room suddenly became bright and dark.
After placing the oil lamp on the desk, Su Zijin suddenly paused, looking as if he was in a trance. After a long while, he bent down and took out a book from the half-old book box.
Just as he was about to open it, there was a sudden commotion outside.
Su Zijin was stunned for a moment, then jumped up like a frightened bird: "Who is it?"
"Zijin, open the door! It's us!"
Hearing the familiar voice, Su Zijin's nervous expression suddenly relaxed. He quickly took a cover to cover the wick and trotted out of the yard.
The door to the courtyard was made of Chai Fei, and was only half a person tall. Although it was pitch dark when you came out of the house, you could see a group of people standing outside.
Su Zijin paused for a moment, then immediately stepped forward and opened the barely concealed door, with a bit of surprise in his eyes, "Brother He Feng, Brother Chang Qing, what are you doing..."
Although he was in a hurry, the person at the door still waited for Su Zijin to open the door completely before going in. Before he could finish speaking, he punched Su Zijin on the shoulder with a smile and said with a smile: "You guy! You have such a
Why didn’t you tell us the big things?”
"What's going on?" Looking at the group of former friends who were going to take the scientific examination this year, Su Zijin lowered his eyes somewhat uncomfortably, and clasped his hands at his side.
"Are you still pretending to be stupid?" The young man who led the group laughed, "We will all be cheering for you at the Kyoto Poetry Festival the day after tomorrow, so just relax and fight!"
"You...all know?" Upon hearing this, Su Zijin froze suddenly, and his face suddenly turned pale.
"Yes." Another young man nodded with a smile, "The agreement between you and Zhong Qingyun has been spread throughout the entire capital. Zijin is so good, let's go and rub their prestige, so that those rich and noble children can also
You know, you know, what is the character of a humble family!"
"That's right!" The rest of the people echoed with excitement in their tone, and they all cheered for Su Zijin, "It's so hard for a poor family to produce a noble son, let's show them! Lest they always think that they are superior to others!"
"Yes, they took advantage of their power to occupy the best schools and the best teachers. But even if Zijin could only sit in as an observer, his work would not be as praised by his teachers as theirs!"
"No, now I can rub off their prestige before the scientific examination!"
…
Words came one after another from his ears, hitting Su Zijin's heart hard, punch after punch.
Looking at the group of friends in front of him who had expectant smiles on their faces and whose eyes were shining with hope even in the dark night, Su Zijin twitched the corners of his mouth, not daring to tell the truth after all.
How should he tell them that he was unable to participate in this year's scientific examination because he was "accidentally omitted" from the registration list?
How should he tell these people in front of him that he actually had no intention of going to the Kyoto Poetry Society?
But now...
"You mean, everyone outside knows now?" Su Zijin took a deep breath and forced his tone to sound normal.
"Yes." One person nodded, "Now the most exciting thing in Beijing is this matter. It has been spread all over the streets and alleys. I heard many people saying that they want to go see it. I'm afraid it's the poetry festival the day after tomorrow. I'm afraid it will happen.
It’s as lively as it was ten years ago!”
"You mean... you will all go too?" Su Zijin's lips twitched.
"That's natural!" The man raised his eyebrows, "In such a scene, of course we are going to cheer for you!"
Hearing these ambitious words, Su Zijin's legs went weak and he almost lost his balance, feeling full of powerlessness in his heart.
"What's wrong?" Perhaps Su Zijin's reaction was too obvious, and the person who was immersed in excitement and joy finally discovered that something was wrong with him.
"It's okay." Su Zijin waved his hand and forced a smile, "I just didn't expect that this matter would cause such a big fuss."
"What are you afraid of?" When Su Zijin said this, someone immediately stood up and patted him on the shoulder, "Although our Dahui scientific research has been going on for more than thirty years, the poor family is still weak.
We, the people, are just waiting for you to show off your talents and win face for us poor students!"
"So, we specially brought all our treasures here today!"
"Yeah……"
As he said that, everyone opened the book boxes on their backs.
Under the dark night, Su Zijin looked at the hard-earned books that were regarded as treasures by his friends and stuffed them into his hands. His heart felt unprecedentedly difficult.
The reason why he doesn't want to go is not because he is afraid of losing.
Rather, he was afraid of losing his character as a student from a poor family.
Originally, he had made up his mind to come back for another three years. Life is full of seas, thirty years east of Hedong and thirty years west of Hexi. Three years are fleeting. He is only twenty, so why worry about not having these three years?
But now, if he doesn't go, those sons of powerful people will become even more outrageous and make fun of him; and he will naturally become a coward who doesn't keep his word.
He also failed to live up to the expectations of his former friends and the entire poor family, and he was bound to break the hearts of his friends.
But if he goes, it will be a good thing to win.
But if you lose...
If he loses, and there are so many people present, he will not lose face alone, but lose the face of the entire humble family.
The result is self-evident.
Not only were wealthy families ridiculed and humiliated, but even poor families would naturally have people who laughed at him for not overestimating his abilities.
By then, he will have no place to stay!
Do you really want to push him into such a desperate situation?
He turned around and took a look at the dim candlelight in the room. It looked like a firefly reflecting the snow, or like cutting through a wall to steal the light.
The scene of dancing mosquitoes in summer and listening to the sound of snow in winter seems like yesterday.
Seventeen years passed by and life turned out to be like a dream, so ridiculous and ridiculous.
But can he really just let others slaughter him?
Narrowing his eyes, Su Zijin held up the heavy volume in his hands.
Why should they?!
At the same time, in the study room of the Prince's Mansion.
Mu Qing stepped forward quietly, looked at the long and graceful figure, and bowed respectfully, "Your Highness, I am useless. Although Mr. Xiao Zhang has been out of the house every day recently, all the people he sent have been lost as soon as he goes out.
I don’t know where she went.”
The fingers holding the scroll moved slightly, and his tone was calm, "Yeah."
A drop of cold sweat fell on Mu Qing's forehead, "But my subordinates found out another thing. A new fortune-telling stall has opened in the capital these days. There is a young gentleman who is known by the people as a fortune teller who answers all requests. And it was recently reported that
The Kyoto Poetry Festival, which has become a hot topic, also originated from this stall."
After a pause, Mu Qing slowly raised his head and said, "That fortune teller calls himself... Zhang Xiaoxian."