After the family fell, I wanted to lie down

"Who are you talking about, little brother?"

"Who else could it be? The famous young master of the Chen family!"

Although many people still don’t know about their poetry bet, there are no secrets between students and everyone will know it if they ask around.

"He made it clear this time that we were not going to write poetry, but play Cuju."

"But even if it's Cuju, we'll still lose!" Several young men following Liu Ziheng said.

“Hahaha, hahaha, hahaha”

Several people burst into laughter. Yingge smiled and shook his head. They were indeed young men. They all found this funny.

"Alright, alright, do you still want to play Cuju? Let's go!"

Liu Ziheng and his companions continued walking forward with a smile, but before they got close, they were stopped by a team of patrolling soldiers.

"The river is under martial law. Don't go any further."

What happened? Apart from the prefect Liang whom they met at Duanwu, they had never seen such a grand and impressive person in Mo City.

"I heard that a high-ranking official has come from the capital." A young man who came with them said in a low voice.

"Yes, yes, the prefect is here with us. This place is under martial law now, and no one is allowed to approach or enter."

Someone nearby, who wanted to get some fresh air at the canal, answered.

The three of them didn't say anything and could only return the same way they came. However, they didn't expect that the closer they got to the city gate, the more congested it became. It was no exaggeration to say that there were so many people.

Liu Ziheng stepped forward and asked, "I heard that they all seem to be some noble families, sending their daughters to visit their relatives."

"No, it's so late, do you want them to go out?"

"Well, yes, maybe it's because it's too hot during the day, is this understandable?"

A few people waited at the gate for a while, taking the time to turn left and right to shuttle through the crowd, and finally approached the city gate. Yingge suddenly stopped and said: "That's not right, it's impossible for all the girls from the noble families to go back to their grandparents' home to visit their relatives tonight."

Because of Yingge's words, everyone suddenly stopped. "What does this mean?"

On hot summer days, each family's carriage was covered with thin summer curtains. When the summer breeze blew, you could vaguely see the girls sitting in the carriages. The servants waiting beside the carriages whipped the horses. The streets were crowded, and the lanterns hanging on the carriages illuminated the shadows of more carriages behind.

It's a bit like rushing to avoid something.

There were more and more carriages at the city gate. Liu Ziheng stopped standing by and watched, but stepped forward and asked directly what was going on.

One family said that their grandparents were sick and they were back to visit their relatives, and the other family said that someone else had a banquet and they wanted to go and congratulate them in advance...

Although it seemed strange that so many carriages were traveling together, the young men did not continue to inquire and separated at the city gate to go back to their homes.

Yingge walked along the street and back to the mixed residential area. The shadow of the carriage that was going away had gradually disappeared. The sunset in Mo City in summer was still very long.

The fishmonger was not selling fish as usual. She was eating melon seeds and chatting with another aunt next to her. When Yingge passed by, she skillfully handed Yingge a handful of melon seeds. Yingge thanked her and continued walking forward. When she passed the blacksmith shop again, Yingge stopped and observed for a while with interest. The blacksmith seemed to be unaware and continued to be busy.

After a while, perhaps feeling uncomfortable being stared at intently, he turned around and said in a hoarse voice, "Brother, is there something wrong?"

"Uncle, I see you making weapons every day. Is it possible for me to make a spear for you?"

"Iron spear?"

"Yes, that's about it."

The basket in one hand slipped and hit the elbow. It was drawn with a pen about this long. Be gentle. Both ends are sharp. Remember, don't make it too heavy. If it's too heavy, I can't lift it. I have one at home, but it's not very easy to use!

"Young man, you've described it in such detail. Weapons like this probably cost a lot of money."

"No problem, ten dollars, right? I'll give it to you."

Yingge was not troubled by the monthly salary she received from the Liu family. Generally speaking, the Liu family was quite generous.

The blacksmith took the money from her and returned 5 to her.

"I don't need that much now, you can give it to me when the delivery is ready."

Yingge reminded him again and again, don't make it too heavy, too light, too long or too short.

After returning to the mixed residence, Yingge put down the bamboo basket and went to the Liu family's backyard to practice martial arts as usual. The Liu family's martial arts teacher was quite dedicated and had already been waiting at the venue in advance.

"Master Yingge, what weapon do you want to practice today?"

"Is it a stick or something, or a spear?"

There were all kinds of weapons of different lengths on the weapons rack, including spears, long and short ones.

Yingge picked up the weapons on the weapon rack one by one with surprise in his eyes. Master Wu saw the situation clearly. He had taught many people before. Every newcomer was like this when they first approached weapons. After a while, they would become annoyed and disgusted.

After all, practicing martial arts is a boring and uninteresting thing.

There were also two unexpected onlookers present, Liu Ziheng and Yu Feng.

"Is it a club or a spear?"

"Is this a disguised form of private friendship?"

Before Yingge could answer, Yufeng beside her responded first.

"Yingge, whatever you learn is good."

Yingge did not reply to his words, but turned to Liu Ziheng and asked, "What do you feel?"

Liu Ziheng was so angry, what's the matter, you can just call me by my name now, right?

Seeing Liu Ziheng so angry, Yingge muttered, "Well, it's just like this."

It's nothing more than that. Why, do you want to make another bet?

"I think each has its own merits. It depends on your preference which weapon you choose."

Yingge smiled faintly, and understood. "Let's do this: We'll use sticks for three days and spears for two days."

Master Wu may have received instructions from Master Liu. After thinking for a while, he said, "Well, the stick is the foundation and the spear is the sharp blade. If the foundation is not solid, then the spear may not be so good. For a month, you should practice the stick for half a month first, and then the spear will be practiced according to the date of the gun."

Yingge was a person who listened to advice. Now that the plan had been made, she just had to execute it. She immediately put down her spear and followed Master Wu in practicing with a stick for a while.

"Yingge, you are the best. Yingge is the most handsome."

Yufeng was flattering him on the side, and Liu Ziheng snorted in dissatisfaction.

They are all legitimate members of the Liu family, but now, they are warned by a guest living in the Liu family not to enter or leave their territory at will. What's more, the most outrageous thing is that the guest has even been recognized by their highest elder. Isn't it infuriating?

Yingge finally brought back a long stick for practice, and played with it for a while with the women in the mixed garden, which made Chunqiao and Xiao Taohong applaud.

Xue scolded, "My son is amazing. He is a scholar and also knows martial arts. Isn't he a complete scholar and a martial artist?"

“But it’s also very hard.”

"Mom, that's not the case. But it's not the case yet. We need more practice."

Keep yourself safe.

"Mom, Liu Ziheng said that sticks are for long-range attacks and are only for self-protection, but spears are sharp weapons for killing people and must be properly managed."

"Then what if you carry a sharp weapon and people think you are up to something bad?"

Mom, if I really encounter such a situation, I will fight if I can, and run away if I can’t. If it really doesn’t work, I will act cautiously and handle it myself.

"What do you mean by weighing the consequences?"

"Of course if you can beat him, then just keep fighting. If you can't beat him, then he'll run away."

Chunqiao and Xiao Taohong, who heard it, and even Xue smiled.

Chunqiao thought, even if this is the case, Young Master Yingge has never suffered any loss in the Liu Mansion. Didn’t he knock Miss Liu down in the martial arts competition the day before yesterday? Wasn’t Young Master Ziheng from the second master Liu also defeated? And there is also the cousin young master of the Liu family. Young Master Yingge is really awesome!

After practicing martial arts for a while, Yingge soon became hungry and kept asking Xue to cook quickly.

The next day when she went to school, Yingge guessed that Zhu Nian was worried that there were still a lot of carriages on the street, so she deliberately went to Qinghe Academy a little late. As soon as she arrived at the school, Zhu Nian enthusiastically recommended the sugar cakes made by his sister. Yingge was helpless and thought, "Master Zhu, your way of being nice to people is to just feed them directly. Aren't you afraid of feeding Yingge into a fat girl?"

Before Zhu Nian could finish his words, Su Qingyu called out to Yingge.

"Yingge, Yingge, come here, I have something to tell you."

"Whatever you want to say, just say it here."

Seeing Yingge was unmoved, Su Qingyu could only call Liu Ziheng to come to Yingge together.

"I'm telling you, I know what happened to those carriages last night."

"what happened?"

"I heard that it was Lu Gongqing from the imperial court who came!"

"Mr. Lu?"

"No way, you don't know who Lu Gongqing is?"

"He's scary."

"It's scary. Is he a monster? Or does he eat people?"

"Yingge, you are too good at joking. Don't talk nonsense."

"Didn't you say that?"

"Look, when we went to the canal yesterday and it was blocked, it was to receive him. It was a big deal."

Su Qinghe's words also attracted the attention of other students in the school. How could they, who were only focused on reading books of sages, know what was going on in the court?

Zhu Nian also continued Yingge's words and said, "Is what Yingge said true? Does he really eat people?"

"Stop joking, how is this possible!"

"Okay, okay, you may not know, don't talk about the important officials of the court without permission, otherwise someone will always spread the word, and then their property will be confiscated. How can you students who don't care about the people in the court know?"

"If I hadn't heard the conversation between my father and grandfather yesterday, I wouldn't have known either."

"Okay, I won't say any more. I'm going to Xiaolin Hall to study on my own. Do you want to come with me?"

This was Yingge's initiative. It was the first time she invited them. Before that, they always came uninvited.

"You can tell that autumn is coming by looking at one leaf. Is this what you call foresight?"

"What do you think?" Yingge asked.

Su Qinghe thought for a while and said, "That's probably it. I have foresight now because of what you said. And there is also the saying that there is a golden house in the book."

A group of young people went to Xiaolin Hall chatting and laughing. As soon as they sat down, Su Qinghe said, "I want to drink tea."

Ying Ge: "Heaven has bestowed a great mission on this man... I have tea here, there is a can of water over there, just drink it. You come here to sharpen your mind, there is no other place to enjoy such pleasure."

Yingge no longer paid attention to them and only practiced calligraphy. Su Qinghe stopped joking and took the initiative to sit next to her. "You know this Lu Gongqing. It is said that he was the minister in charge of military affairs in the Zhou Dynasty. Before the Emperor of Zhou was ready to meditate, someone recommended him to accompany him. The original intention was to inspect the military situation in various places at any time during the meditation. This gave him the opportunity to accompany him."

"Who would have thought that it was just a coincidence that the Emperor of Zhou was seriously ill, and they urgently needed to send someone to escort the Crown Prince back to the court to take charge of the situation. You know, he was among them, and he ended up encountering that incident. I heard that he tried his best to escort the Crown Prince back, but he was no match for the enemy and was seriously injured. It hurt the foundation of a man. Fortunately, he got married and had children early, otherwise he would have been afraid of having children and would have cut off his incense."

Yingge made a guess based on his description. "So, the reason why so many girls from noble families were in urgent need of leaving the city last night was because after Lu Gongqing was injured, he had developed some special hobbies?"

After all, Yingge has watched a lot of modern costume dramas, such as eunuchs and palace maids having sex, and some incomplete men with mental abnormalities...

Su Qingyu saw through Yingge's conjecture: "Everyone sees what is good, every one sees what is good, every one sees what is good, every one sees what is bad."

"Everyone has their own opinion. Tell me what it means. I want to hear it. I'm afraid you two are not doing anything bad."

Liu Ziheng strode in and interrupted the conversation between Su Qingyu and Yingge. Su Qinghe, who was following behind, felt that this was a little inappropriate, but he just frowned slightly.

It was hot in the summer, and Xiaolin Hall was narrow on the mountain. The coolness of the morning had passed, and the afternoon was hot and humid. The boy's cheeks were a little red due to the heat, but the rest of his skin was relatively white, which seemed to be somewhat beautiful..., although it was not appropriate to use this word on a man. "Don't talk about state affairs."

Su Qinghe got a little mad when she came here, as if she was in a bad mood today? So she tried to ask

"Why are you so curious about everything?"

"Don't you feel like this situation is not right?"

"It is said that this Lu Gongqing not only came down to supervise the affairs of the Military and Political Affairs Department, but was also responsible for selecting palace maids and concubines for the current emperor. It is widely rumored in the court that the former Concubine Liang, now the Empress Dowager, feels that your Majesty has not been educated by the Emperor since childhood, and has been neglected. Therefore, she specially needs to select some women who can read and write and understand things from the people or ministers every year to serve in the palace."

"I heard that the palace is almost full now, and they are selecting the top three candidates from among these women."

"This matter caused quite a stir for a while, especially among the students. If anyone could become the top scorer in the imperial examination, it would be a mess."

No wonder these students are always laughed at when compared with some girls in the boudoir and eunuchs in the court.

"The Queen Mother is also strange. She particularly likes intelligent and sensible women. Lu Gongqing is his scout in the previous dynasty. Wherever he goes, he takes in many women. Although they can serve in the palace in the future, they will separate their family members. In any wealthy family, no one wants to separate their flesh and blood, so..."

Therefore, when some women from aristocratic families heard that the court minister Lu Gongqing was coming, they all left their homes to take shelter as if they were fleeing famine.

"It's not possible that all women have to be screened, right? There must be a limit, right?"

"You guessed right. I heard that the Imperial Observatory calculated that girls between the ages of twelve and seventeen would be suitable. They said that girls of this age are most suitable for His Majesty the Emperor. My two cousins ​​are exactly the right age, and they both left home yesterday to take shelter."

Yingge didn't quite agree with this, but then she thought about herself. Fortunately, she was dressed as a man, otherwise, wouldn't she also be among the candidates for selection?

"Fortunately, the court only chooses maids and not eunuchs, otherwise the world would be in chaos."

When everyone heard Yingge's words, they all burst into laughter. "Yingge... Yingge, what's wrong with your brain?"

“It’s so strange.”

"What you said, even powerful people like the current emperor and the queen mother would not dare to do such a thing. All men who can read and write and understand things are from noble families. If the court did this, it would be challenging the noble families in the world. This is simply a humiliation rather than an honor."

Compared with men, women in ancient times were the shackles of marriage between families. Women were inferior to men. This was the meaning of their existence and also their tragedy.

After playing for a while, Yingge picked up the book and started reading again. People always need to look forward. Her current task is to read the book well and learn martial arts well. She will worry about the other things when she encounters the opportunity.

Sorry, I changed the name. It should be Lu Gongqing who is coming. I confused the characters.