Pinecone Village.
Qi Ermao paced back and forth at the entrance of Chu Xun's courtyard for quite a while.
It had been many days, and Brother Xun still hadn't returned.
He had gone to the Bai family's old shop in town to ask, and Master Chu hadn't co to buy wine.
The doors of the Zhang family courtyard were tightly shut, long since empty.
Qi Ermao returned anxiously. Many people in the village were asking, leaving him not knowing how to answer.
Without Chu Xun, Pinecone Village was like a body without a backbone.
Back when the old village chief Li Shoutian passed away, it was rely that the grief outweighed everything else.
Muttering to himself for a long ti, Qi Ermao still couldn't hold back and went around to the side to climb the wall.
What if... what if Brother Xun had already returned?
After climbing the wall, all he saw were the little weasels, field mice, and rabbits in the courtyard, squatting at the door basking in the sun.
Hearing the noise, these animals turned their heads to look one after another.
Qi Ermao looked towards the doors and windows but didn't see what he wanted to see.
His gaze then shifted to the doorway, sweeping past.
But he felt as if sothing wasn't quite right.
He turned back to look carefully, and suddenly his face turned ugly, his whole body stiffening.
"Heavens kill ! Who the hell pulled out the grass Brother Xun was raising!?"
That stalk of grass, Chu Xun had raised for more than half his life.
Ever since Qi Ermao was little, he knew that Brother Xun valued it highly.
Where's the grass?
Where's the grass!?
The grass!!!
---
The distance from the Capital City to Fenggu City was naturally farther than from Pinecone Village to the Capital City.
Chu Xun was not in a hurry to return. When he ca, he was in a rush, only focused on traveling to save soone.
Now walking back, he wanted to carefully look at the place he was in.
The rice in the fields grew sturdy, swaying with the wind.
"In a few more days, it will be ti to harvest. The village should have a good harvest this year," Chu Xun thought.
With a good harvest, the villagers would also be happier.
Past the fields, ahead was a mountain forest.
Chu Xun hadn't seriously climbed a mountain in this world yet, and subsequently thought of the mountain forest the old crows had been to.
Before returning to the village, he had to make a trip to see what the so-called fierce beasts actually looked like.
If possible, he would help the crows get their revenge in passing.
Walking unhurriedly like this for hundreds of miles, Fenggu City was close at hand.
Looking at the city walls that were almost the sa as in his mory, just a bit older and more worn, Chu Xun suddenly rembered a poem.
"Since we parted like floating clouds, ten years have flowed by like water."
He stood with his hands behind his back, sighing aloud.
A laugh ca from the side. Chu Xun turned to look and saw a young man carrying a book box on his back.
He looked around twenty years old, having just co out of the city, his face full of high spirits.
Chu Xun asked, "Why is Brother laughing?"
The young man said with a chuckle, "You are so young, yet you shake your head and recite such a poem full of twilight gloom. It looks very amusing."
Perhaps feeling that laughing at soone like this was truly impolite, the young man added, "Looking at your attire, you don't seem to co from a family of high officials or nobles. Don't learn from them to fish for fa and groan without being sick."
"The youth should be full of youthful vigor, like the vegetation in early spring, thriving and prosperous."
"If everyone started lanting life at your age, wouldn't everywhere be desolate, and every day a setting sun."
Chu Xun looked at the young man. It had been many years since anyone dared to lecture him like this.
Glancing at the other party's book box, Chu Xun asked, "Is Brother here to take the imperial examinations for an official rank?"
The young man slightly raised his head, carrying three parts joy and seven parts pride, "I am untalented, last year's autumn examination Jieyuan (Top Scorer), Song Qizheng."
Chu Xun was dumbfounded. No wonder he liked to lecture people; it turned out he was the Jieyuan of the autumn examination.
"So it is Jieyuan Song, pardon my disrespect."
Song Qizheng's raised chin did not lower as he said, "This is nothing, rely a Jieyuan. When I go to the Capital City to participate in the spring examination, I will definitely place high as the Bangyan (Second Place)!"
Chu Xun was puzzled upon hearing this. Scholars taking the exams, whether aiming for Jinshi or Zhuangyuan (First Place), could all be understood.
It was the first ti he had heard of soone wanting to place high as the Bangyan.
"Why the Bangyan, and not the Zhuangyuan?" Chu Xun asked.
"For many years, the Zhuangyuan have all been diocre and unknown. Only the two Bangyan have both been n of great talent, great virtue, and great ability!"
Song Qizheng's eyes showed a bit of reverence. He cupped his hands towards the direction of the Capital City and said, "The Bangyan in the twenty-first year of the founding of the state by Emperor Taizu, the Duke of Ming, Tang Shijun, asured land properties, cleared household registers, and cleaned up the official administration for the commoners of the world."
"The Bangyan in the forty-first year of the founding of the state by Emperor Taizu, the current Minister of Revenue, Lord Zhang Jingheng, presented the national salvation policy."
"rging taxes into the land, enlightening the people's minds, and continuing the Duke of Ming's official administration."
"This is the role model for scholars all over the world!"
"So I also want to be the Bangyan. On the day the results are released, I will go and beg to enter Lord Zhang's tutelage and beco his disciple!"
Seeing Chu Xun listening with a face full of astonishnt, Song Qizheng paused, suddenly waved his hand, and said, "Never mind, never mind. Looking at your appearance, you probably haven't obtained an official rank. Even if I tell you, you wouldn't understand."
"In short, young people must straighten their spines and not be too gloomy. I tell you these principles now, and in the future, you will be proud of this."
After saying this, Song Qizheng took a step and headed towards the direction of the Capital City.
He was a Jieyuan after all, yet he was traveling alone to the capital for the exam.
It could be imagined that he must co from a poor family.
Although arrogant, it seed more like sothing learned rather than innate.
Dong Shi imitating Xi Shi's frown, drawing a tiger using a cat as a model?
Chu Xun shook his head. Whether he learned it well was one thing, but whether he was willing to learn was another.
This Song Qizheng was sowhat interesting.
Thinking of Song Qizheng's evaluation of him just now, Chu Xun couldn't help but laugh dumbly again.
Very gloomy?
But he was originally an old man, what was so strange about it.
"Who says life cannot be young again? The flowing water before the door can still flow west!"
"Life between heaven and earth is suddenly like a traveler on a long journey."
"The pri of life does not co twice, a day is hard to have a second morning."
"No, every day has a morning, that's right."
Passersby looked at the simply dressed youth muttering poems they had never heard before.
Clearly young, yet acting like a seventy or eighty-year-old, they couldn't help but find it amusing.
So laughed, so discussed, and so turned a blind eye.
Only occasionally did soone ponder that these poems seed to have so flavor, and couldn't help but recite them a few tis.
Just like this, amidst the bustling crowd, he stepped into the city.
The last ti he ca, it was to participate in the prefectural exam with Huan'er.
More than twenty years had passed, and Fenggu City had changed a lot.
Many vendors from his mory were gone, and the originally low shops had added a floor.
Various display banners swayed in the wind.
On the streets, the sounds of hawking, bargaining, and even arguing rose and fell in succession.
Chu Xun was like an ordinary person, walking forward with the crowd.
Not long after, he saw a teahouse ahead, with people both inside and outside the door.
An impassioned voice ca from inside, "Only to see amidst the glint and flash of cold steel, Lord Tang wielding the Tang family saber technique with one hand, cleaving up and hacking down, covering the front and guarding the rear, beheading several Rank 1 martial artists under his blade."
"Hidden arrows struck, and Lord Tang shouted loudly—Audacious!"
"Guess what happened?"
The teahouse was dead silent, and then soone asked anxiously, "What exactly happened, stop keeping us in suspense!"
Chu Xun poked his head in to look, only to see a storyteller holding a paper fan standing on the table.
"With a single shout, those hidden arrows were actually shattered by the yell, flying backwards and killing dozens of bandits!"
[End of Chapter]
User Comments
0 comments from readers