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In March of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the Qinhuai River from the East Water Pass to the West Water Pass is the most beautiful season, the green willows are like smoke and the gold powder is gently brushed on the gold powder tower, the ten miles of bead curtains are swinging in the spring breeze, and the boats and drums are painted day and night.

Looking at it from afar, a moat of spring water and half a city flower, outside the city, Lin Palace Fanyu, Biwa Zhuyong, in the Six Dynasties, it is four hundred and eighty temples, to this day, not to mention four thousand eight hundred temples, streets and alleys, together together, there are six or seven hundred large and small restaurants, more than 1,000 tea houses;

No matter how remote the alley is, there is always a place where lanterns hang to sell tea, flowers are inserted, rainwater is cooked, and the tea house is full of people eating tea.

On the Meixiang upstairs on the riverside, the carved curtains of the Xuan window are half rolled, and Qin Mu, who has just returned from the list, has no intention of appreciating the spring light outside the window, and is borrowing wine one after another to drown his sorrows.

In front of the qin table opposite, Li Xiangjun, a famous prostitute in Qinhuai, caressed her jade fingers, and the elegant sound of the piano flowed from her fingertips like a lover's whisper.

She is wearing a cloud-white soft silk wide-sleeved roll-back orchid shirt, a purple Hangzhou silk moon skirt, a petite and delicate figure, eyebrows and eyes are looking forward to autumn waves, pretty and shining, and her small lips are slightly upturned, showing a little playful, and the whole person looks like a lovely child.

Qin Mu still had a bookcase beside him, and his body was stained with wind and dust, and he hadn't returned home after returning from the list, so he went directly to this Meixiang Building to buy a drunk.

The sound of the piano faded, Li Xiangjun walked lightly to Qin Mu's side, holding the pot in his hand, and poured two glasses of wine with his jade wrist, and said warmly: "Qin Gongzi is old and crowned, full of economy, even if he is not successful today, why should he care?" ”

"Why bother?" Qin Mu was a little drunk, and said indignantly: "It's really the death of the country, and there will be demons."

"Qin Gongzi is cautious!" Li Xiangjun was taken aback and hurriedly dissuaded.

"Caution? This Ming national situation, presumably Xiangjun girl also knows it in her heart, now Liaodong is lost, the Tartars frequently knock on the pass, come if you want to, go if you want to, burn and loot to Shandong, the court in addition to watching, helpless, Li Zicheng has millions of soldiers, has been called king in Xiangyang, and may attack the capital at any time; After several wars in the Central Plains, the traitors came to burn it again, the officials and soldiers came to rob it again, the white bones were exposed in the wilderness, and there was no rooster crowing for thousands of miles, which was really miserable. However, even if the country's situation is in danger, the princes of the DPRK and China are still tilting each other, each seeking their own interests, and the eunuch party gains power, then Donglin will be degraded, and Donglin will die, and Donglin will be in power, and they will also be killed. ”

"Qin Gongzi's words are a little biased, right? How could the sages of Donglin be so unbearable as Qin Gongzi said? "Li Xiangjun's father was originally a military minister, a lineage of Donglin, and she was killed by the eunuch party before she fell into the dust, Qin Mu not only criticized the eunuch party, but also attacked Donglin, she naturally did not agree.

Qin Mu was cold for ten years, and all his hopes were pinned on the imperial examination, and he fell for the third time, which made him full of indignation: "In the fourth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Pu, the leader of the Fushe Party, and Wu Weiye participated in the Ministry of Rites Examination together, Wu Weiye's manuscript of the Hui Yuan should have been written by the examiner, but Zuihou was actually written by Zhang Pu, who was also a candidate, so that Zhang Pu became Wu Weiye's teacher, why should Zhang Pu be?" Why is he? is nothing more than because he is the leader of the Fushe Party, in other words, the Fushe has overridden the imperial court, opened a branch to win scholars, and the major affairs of the country have been played by some people, Donglin! Resumption of Society! Haha"

Li Xiangjun was speechless for a while, although she was inclined to Donglin and Fushe, but Qin Mu gave such a conclusive example, how could she refute it?

"God is unfair." Qin Mu poured a sip of wine, and then sang loudly: "On the gold list, I occasionally miss the leader's hope. The Ming Dynasty temporary relics of the Xian Fireworks Alley, according to the Danqing barrier. Luckily, I can find someone."

This song "Crane Rushing to the Sky" was composed by Liu Yong in the Song Dynasty, and Qin Mu chanted at this time with some sympathy.

"Fortunately, I have a crush on someone, I can search for it" Li Xiangjun carefully recalled this sentence in his heart, Qin Mu was looking for her twice when he fell off the list, and he meant who he was referring to was about to come out, Li Xiangjun's pretty face was inexplicably dyed with two faint flushes.

Qin Mu may be good, but Li Xiangjun already has a heart.

She quietly glanced at Qin Mu, this Qin Gongzi is a legendary figure in Jinling City, his father did Qipinzhi County, but unfortunately Qin Mu was born a few days ago, his father died of illness, at that time, a senior monk passed by the Qin family, saying that Qin Mu's eight characters are too hard, and his father and mother can only be resolved by fostering them in the temple;

Qin Mu's mother, Qin Wang, had just died of her husband, and only an infant son was left, how could she give it up? She ignored the persuasion of others, and after the family's savings were exhausted, she finally pulled Qin Mu up by sewing and mending for others.

Qin Mu has been brilliant since childhood, can recite the "Analects" at the age of five, can write poems at the age of seven, is known as a prodigy, and is promoted at the age of thirteen, and is famous in Jiangnan for a while.

However, on the third day of Qin Muzhongju, his mother Qin Wang also died due to years of hard work. People couldn't help but think of the rumors of his mother and his mother, and there was a lot of discussion in the market, and many people stayed away from Qin Mu.

There are also people who don't believe this, and see Qin Mu as a very potential original stock, the head of the Nanjing household department back then, and now Qian Shun, who is now the head of the Nanjing household department, was the first to make a move, and married his daughter to Qin Mu, the monk said that Qin Mu was a father and mother, but he didn't say that he was a wife?

However, in the tenth year of Chongzhen, Qin Mu took the entrance examination for the first time, but he did not pass the rank.

Three years ago, Qin Mu went to the Ministry of Rites to take the exam again, but he still lost his name to Sun Shan.

The first time Li Xiangjun saw Qin Mu was three years ago after he fell off the list, because there was nowhere to solve the thousands of sorrows in his heart, Qin Mu once came to Meixianglou to listen to her stroke a piano, Li Xiangjun had a good impression of him;

It's just that since then, Qin Mu has been studying hard at home, and he has never been to Meixianglou again, and Li Xiangjun's impression of him has gradually faded, after all, he is just a guest who has been in contact with him once.

I don't want to come back three years later, it's the time when the name falls to Sun Mountain, and it has become a little cynical, how can you not teach people to sigh?

Qin Mu expressed his intentions with poetry, but Li Xiangjun could only pretend not to know, and asked while pouring wine: "Qin Gongzi is a young talent, shouldn't he learn from Liu Tuntian to linger in the flowers, presumably Qin Gongzi must have another hill and valley in his heart." ”

Qin Mu replied with an indifferent face: "I have already gone to the Ministry of Officials to report by name." ”

Li Xiangjun's fingers trembled when she heard this, and the daughter red in the jade cup almost spilled, she really couldn't figure out why Qin Mu, who was too young and crowned, gave up the imperial examination.

According to the Ming system, if you fail to pass the examination three times, you can go to the official department to register and wait for the "big pick", and after the official department is registered, you can no longer participate in the examination.

The so-called big challenge means that there are too many officials and there are not enough jinshi, so the officials will turn out these people and choose some of them to be officials.

What is the standard of the big pick, you may not believe it, it is based on the appearance, dozens of people in a team, standing by the officials of the ministry, handsome and handsome, ugly I'm sorry, where to go back and forth, don't come to embarrass the Ming Dynasty.

From this point of view, China's beauty pageant has a long history and has a deep historical heritage, you may want to say that it is not your fault to be ugly, but this is your fault, who told you not to shoot a few cucumbers and smear a few layers of powder before you came?

Li Xiangjun subconsciously glanced at Qin Mu, Qin Mu's face was like a crown of jade, slender and straight, handsome and extraordinary, if he participated in the big challenge of the officials, it should be easy to pick.

However, the officialdom pays attention to background, and it is fortunate that people can make up for the shortcomings of a county or the main book, unless it is those poor mountains and bad waters, and others are unwilling to go, it is possible to make up for a county.

After filling the vacancy, it will be extremely difficult to be promoted in the future, and most officials with a high background will not be able to cross the threshold of seven grades in their lives.

Li Xiangjun swept her temples, she didn't know what to say for a while, for a scholar, giving up the imperial examination is undoubtedly a very difficult decision.

She showed a clever smile, and was about to say a few words of comfort, when she heard a chaotic sound downstairs, some tables overturned, some girls screamed, there were swords clashing, and some people were yelling: "Dongchang arrests the traitor, no one else dodge!" Otherwise, they will all be charged with treason! ”

"Apricot, let's go see what's going on?" Li Xiangjun hurriedly ordered the little maid who served the wine.

The little girl was just about to open the door to visit, "Bang! With a bang, the door was knocked down, and a blood-stained strong man pounced in with a table leg in his hand, followed by a group of Dongchang fans wearing brown clothes and tied with small tapes, all carrying steel knives, chasing and killing the strong men in front of them step by step.

The strong man is cloaked, retreating while fighting, every time the table legs in his hands are reincarnated, he is extremely domineering, and several Dongchang fans are like knives like horses, and the cold rays are wrapped around the strong man, and a careless strong man may be divided at any time;

Li Xiangjun was so shocked by this sudden change that her face turned pale, and she lost her ground, and the strong man's rotating table feet were about to hit her, and Qin Mu next to her didn't know where to get the courage, "Xiangjun!" "Pounce on it, woo! The leg slammed into the back of his head, knocking him down against the wall along with Li Xiangjun.

The two sides of the fight in the room didn't care about his life or death at all, they were still fighting to the death, Li Xiangjun hugged Qin Mu and kept crying: "Qin Gongzi, Qin Gongzi, wake up, wake up."

It's a pity that Qin Mu nephrite is hugging, but there is no blessing to suffer. The blood on his head was pouring out, and he had long since lost sight of what to do

At this moment, a red light suddenly shot in from the open window, and everyone couldn't help but subconsciously look out the window, only to see that in the clear sky, a fireball dragged a long tail flame, flying west like a meteor.

There was already an uproar in the market, and many people were looking up. In an instant, the fireball smashed down like a meteor hitting the moon.

A deafening loud noise came, the smoke and dust outside the city rose into the sky, soaring dozens of feet into the air, the earth was trembling, and Meixianglou was shaking lightly, making people a little unstable.

Twenty or thirty houses near the Qinhuai River were shaken down, making a loud noise, people in the market scattered and fled, those who carried the burden threw their burdens, those who set up stalls knocked over the stalls, and the goods were scattered in a mess, screaming and crying, converging into a boiling sound rushing to the face.

This sudden vision made the Dongchang fans in the room forget to besiege the strong man, and they all looked out the window in shock, and the strong man took advantage of this gap to jump out of the window and fall into the Qinhuai River

When Qin Mu woke up again, he only felt a splitting headache, his limbs were weak, his eyelids were so heavy that he couldn't open them, and he heard a crisp voice in his ears.

"Girl, the maid just heard Ma San'er say, what fell outside the gate of Sanshan was a big black stone, smashed out of a zhang deep, a few zhang wide a big pit, the outside is talking about it, some people say that in the seventh year of the apocalypse, Yanshan also has a boulder falling from the sky, and soon Emperor Xizong died."

"Apricot, Hugh is talking nonsense!" A delicate voice shouted urgently, "Xing'er must remember to remember, such taboo words are not allowed to talk nonsense everywhere in the future, otherwise you will get into trouble." ”

"Don't worry, girl, the maid will tell you, so I won't go outside to talk about it, the maid heard that Lord Shangshu Shi of the Ministry of War also went out of the city to inspect it, and also ordered the big pit to be buried, and the people are not allowed to spread rumors, otherwise they will be arrested and punished."

The other woman probably didn't want to talk about the falling boulder from the sky, and let out a faint sigh from her mouth.

"Girl, what if Gongzi Qin can't wake up? Shouldn't we know about his family first? ”

"No, no, Gongzi Qin will definitely be fine, Dr. Li is the most Haode doctor in the city, he said that if Gongzi Qin can wake up, he will definitely wake up"

"Girl, Dr. Li just said that it was possible to wake up, but he didn't say that he would definitely wake up, otherwise let's send Gongzi Qin home."

"How's that going to work? Qin Gongzi was seriously injured in order to save me, and now that his life and death are uncertain, how can I ignore it? ”

"What then? Yes! Qin Gongzi's fingers moved, he woke up, he woke up! ”

Qin Mu did wake up, but his eyes were blank, everything in front of him made him unacceptable, he didn't understand why he woke up here after getting drunk with a few buddies in the bar.

"Qin Gongzi, you finally woke up, thank God, thank God"

No matter what Li Xiangjun said, Qin Mu's eyes were still blank, and he didn't say a word, Aunt Li, the owner of Meixianglou, was so anxious that she invited the doctor to diagnose it again, and after taking the medicine, Qin Mu still didn't talk to people, but muttered to herself from time to time: "Weishenme?" How is this possible? How did I end up here? ”

Qin Mu, who was in extreme chaos, had a frenzy in his mind, and he didn't even care if Li Xiangjun left him in the building to take care of him.

It wasn't until the next day that the Qin family's servant sent a letter, and Qin Mu's blank eyes were instantly stung

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