Ning Jiang picked an ancient ink, and Yang Futian bought an extremely exquisite wolf pen. With their respective gifts, the three of them walked towards Huaishu Hutong together.

Locust Tree Hutong was named after an old locust tree, but until the old locust tree died, this alley was also not famous. But as two court officials lived here successively, this alley gradually became known to the people of the capital.

Xu Jie's mansion is close to the outside of the alley, and Wu Shan's mansion is located in the innermost, so the protégés who come to Xu Jie's house to pay their respects will naturally have to pass through the door of Xu's mansion.

The Xu Mansion looks very ordinary, the courtyard not only looks short, but also looks dilapidated, like an ordinary small family, I am afraid that few people will think that there is a second assistant of the Ming Dynasty living here.

It's just that this kind of superficial kung fu has no effect on Lin Haoran and the others. Not to mention how the Xu Jie clan is in the area of Songjiang Mansion, the fertile land in their name is second only to Yan Song, and their morality is also debatable.

After careful consideration afterwards, the three of them all thought that Xu Jie actually wanted to set them up, trying to deduct a fraud hat for Guangdong Township, so as to muddy the fraud case caused by Wang Yongbin.

In particular, there is news that Ding Shimei has confessed to cheating in the township test, which makes it even more difficult for them to have a good impression of Xu Jie, presumably he used some means against Ding Shimei.

In addition, the three of them are now Xia Yan's protégés, and they have been forced to stand in line politically, so they naturally have to draw a clear line against Xu Jie, a "traitor".

"Whew!"

Ning Jiang was a vicious and hateful character, and he didn't forget Xu Jie's yin moves last time, maybe it was also for Ding Shimei's grievances, and he couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of thick phlegm in the direction of the gate.

Lin Haoran couldn't do this kind of childish behavior, but naturally he would not object, and witnessed this scene with a smile.

But the three of them deserved to be unlucky, and when the thick phlegm was still in the air, the red lacquer door suddenly opened, and a kind-faced little old man was standing in the center of the door, with a faint smile on his face. Naturally, I saw the three people who happened to pass by in front of the door, saw the spitting Ning Jiang and the face with a disgusting expression, and even the schadenfreude on Lin Haoran's face.

Lin Haoran reacted quickly, hurriedly reached out to cover the left half of his face, and sped up to leave.

It's just that his heart is furious, his face, which is dazzling everywhere, must be seen clearly by Xu Jie, and he is afraid that he will be implicated by Ning Jiang's shameless spitting behavior.

Ning Jiang was stunned for a moment, but he also hurriedly turned his head to cover his face, and followed Lin Haoran to flee here in a hurry. But he didn't expect that an impulsive move would end up in the eyes of the parties.

This is not a cat or a dog, but the second assistant of the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, and now the only court boss who has the strength to fight with Yan Song.

"Wait for me!"

Yang Futian didn't seem to know what was going on, and shouted loudly in the back, and the two of them scolded this pig teammate in their hearts.

It wasn't until he hid on the side of the stone lion in front of the Wu Mansion that Lin Haoran dared to look back, but saw a small sedan chair leisurely heading towards the mouth of the alley, afraid that he would go to Xiyuan to face the saint.

Ning Jiang and Lin Haoran looked at each other helplessly, but the matter was irreparable, and regret was useless. I only hope that Lord Xu Jie has a lot of them, and he doesn't take this matter to heart, otherwise the three of them may not be able to move an inch in the officialdom in the future.

Seeing that there were several tribute students coming out of the Wu Mansion together, it was obvious that they had just visited Wu Mountain. They greeted each other, but they didn't mean to exchange names, and they bowed their heads.

Coming to the gate of the Wu Mansion, Lin Haoran and the three of them solemnly handed over the protégé's post and gifts to the concierge. This protégé post can't be voted out casually, once the other party accepts the signature, the two sides can easily conclude a teacher-student relationship.

Jiang once cast a "protégé post" to the Qinggang boss Huang Jinrong, but later after Jiang made a fortune, Huang Jinrong did not dare to recognize this protégé, knowing that the identity of the gang would discredit Jiang, so he secretly returned the "protégé post".

In this day and age, more attention is paid to this kind of "protégé post". The master will not accept protégés casually, and protégés can't worship casually, this relationship will accompany them for a lifetime.

It is worth mentioning that in the early Ming Dynasty, the chief examiner and the tribute students were more "gentlemen's friends", and when they became "masters and apprentices", they were more about your love and my wishes, rather than accepting all the orders like the current 360 tributes.

It's just that the attributes of feudal society dictate that interests are destined to be tilted upwards and bullied by the upper and lower.

How did Hai Jui's "Sea Pen Holder" come about? Naturally, there is no regulation for the lower officials to kneel to meet the officials, and there was no such bad habit in the early Ming Dynasty, but this set of rules has gradually become popular in the officialdom and has become an "iron law" that every official must abide by.

In the period of the Jiajing Dynasty, Lin Haoran was able to learn from Hai Rui to make a "sea pen holder"? Following the public announcement of the world, Wu Shan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, is a bird, he has never taught me anything, I don't recognize him as my teacher?

If he is really like Hai Rui who followed Wu Shan to "deal with Bo Gongtang" and took out the Daming Law to veto the master-apprentice relationship between the two, not to mention that he would be rejected by the entire Daming official place, and the second-grade officials of the dynasty could drown him with a single spit.

It is precisely because of this that Lin Haoran not only can't be "more serious" with Wu Shan, but also has to obediently come to vote for a "protégé post", and declare to the world with tears in his eyes, "I am here to beg Wu Shan to accept me as an apprentice."

Although Lin Haoran was thinking about Xu Jie's big tree, the reality was so bloody, his first tree in the officialdom must be under the small tree of Wu Shan first, and he must obediently send a protégé post to Wu Shan.

After tearfully sending the protégé's post, the three of them followed the porter inside, and then followed a servant who looked like a steward through a corridor planted with green bamboo, and the winding path led to a side hall.

In the side hall, there are already more than ten tribute students waiting here.

The three of them came in, and they didn't get acquainted with each other rashly, but just greeted each other.

As long as you can't participate in the temple exam without accidents, everyone will form a close "same year", but now is naturally not the time to make friends. This is about to be a teacher's salute, and now playing here will give Wu Shan a bad impression of frivolity.

But the three of them seemed too young, and the people here were mainly forty years old, which attracted a lot of curious eyes.

A fat man sitting in the center arched his hand towards Lin Haoran who came in, and pointed at Lin Haoran with a smile with his companion and said a word, but his companions looked at Lin Haoran in shock, as if they couldn't believe their eyes.

Obviously, this fat man has exposed Lin Haoran's identity.

Lin Haoran didn't expect to be an acquaintance here, and Xu Wei, who followed this person to the exam, arched his hand. I wanted to go up and chat with him for a few words, but a housekeeper walked in and called Xu Wei and the other five away.