Rui Hegui

In the sixth year of Ping Chong, Kyoto was soaked in cold rain throughout the late autumn. The water in the streets and alleys was so deep that it was impossible to walk out.

The weather has rarely turned sunny recently, and people have moved out for activities for a long time. In addition, in the spring of the coming year, people from all states and counties will go to Beijing to take exams.

At the end of Shenshi that day, a dilapidated carriage drove up outside Nanping Gate. It was inconspicuous among the people entering the city, like a withered yellow leaf washed here by the river.

The driver of the carriage was a young man with a piece of plum cake in his mouth. He raised his hand and handed the road citation document to the city gate soldiers for inspection. Then he swung the whip and drove the carriage into the capital.

"Give back, back down! General Hussars is here!"

There was a long shout, and before the crowd could react, some soldiers had already cleared the way on horseback, forcing a way through the dense crowd, and everyone was forced to retreat to both sides of the street. The commotion was overwhelming, and the vegetable sellers and candied haws were dropped all over the floor, and even the elderly and children who fell were involved.

In the chaos, thanks to the young man's skill, he was able to stabilize the carriage and stop at the side of the road, otherwise this old thing in his house would have been torn apart on the spot.

"Youbai, go and help bring out the old man and the child so as not to get hurt." A clear voice came from inside the carriage.

"It's time to order!"

Youbai swallowed the plum cake in one gulp, got up and jumped up, and went into the crowd, swimming through it like a fish in water, with a figure like the wind, and brought out a few children and old people who had fallen down in a short while.

"Thank you benefactor, thank you benefactor!" A woman came over and hugged her child, bowed to the carriage repeatedly, and was grabbed by Youbai when she was about to kneel down.

Youbai smiled and said: "You don't need to thank my son, it's nothing to worry about."

Several other children and the elderly were also taken away, and the chaotic scene was resolved only after people from the Jingzhao Yamen arrived.

On the city tower, there was another group of people who came after hearing the news. Although the handsome man at the head was in ordinary clothes, the golden waist plate engraved with the words Ministry of Punishment on his waist clearly showed his identity. He looked down at the city. There was a movement at the door, and he ordered his subordinates to act, with obvious impatience on his face, and he seemed to be swearing some dirty words. When he looked towards Youbai and the others, it happened that the wind was blowing and the car curtain was lifted, but the man was He was taken aback for a moment, and suddenly fell silent.

Inside the carriage, Zhao Liangyue was looking down at several volumes of books. He was dressed in a simple green shirt, but his eyebrows were as clean as dust, with stones like jade and pines like emerald greens. It seems that the world does not have the feeling of this person.

Youbai sat back on the shaft of the chariot, turned to the carriage and said, "My lord, who is this Hussar General? Such a powerful official, if I wasn't saving people just now, I ordered to see what kind of face he has."

"It's Wang Yunming, the eldest son of the Wang family in the east of the capital city. He is currently in charge of the hussar battalion and is responsible for the security of the capital."

Youbai was stunned on the spot, the scar burned in his memory was torn open again, causing the blood in his body to churn and scream.

Zhao Liangyue sighed, looked at Youbai, and said softly: "When you come to the capital, you will face him sooner or later."

Youbai nodded, he was not in the mood to eat the plum cake in his hand, he just waved his whip silently, and drove the carriage to the south of the city.

After a while, the man on the top of the city tower came down to look for someone, and walked around several times.

"My lord, have you found a suspect? I'll post the arrest warrant later."

The man glanced at his subordinates, patted the ashes on his robes, and snorted coldly: "We post arrest warrants for everything, isn't this the only way our criminal department can do it?"

The subordinates dared not speak any more, for fear of offending this Rakshasa.

The man searched around again without giving up, but still couldn't find it. Guessing that he had gone far away, he squinted his peach blossom eyes in displeasure, and looked for a tea shed to ask for a bowl of tea—if he hadn't lost a large ingot when he left. Yinzi, just because of his sullen face, the peddler thought that this old man was going to overturn his stall and break his legs, he was really sweating from shock!

In Pingxuan Lane in the south of the city, Youbai parked the carriage in front of an old courtyard and helped Zhao Liangyue get off the carriage.

After bumping in the carriage for a whole day, Zhao Liangyue felt that his bones and frames were scattered into a pile. He rubbed his sore neck and looked around. The head finch was singing happily, and I couldn't help feeling that such a secluded alley is rare in Kyoto.

"My lord, this is the yard I bought."

Zhao Liangyue followed Youbai around the carriage and looked at the small courtyard in front of him.

The small courtyard should be quite old. There is a decades-old willow at the door. Although the door and wall have been repaired, it is still easy to see the old and mottled.

"My lord, the gate of the courtyard is a bit dilapidated, but it is said that the courtyard is not bad." Youbai said as he led Zhao Liangyue into the courtyard.

As Youbai said, the small courtyard is not big, but there are pavilions, pools and stone forests, and the green bamboos are scattered around.

Zhao Liangyue nodded and said with a smile, "It's really good."

"Right, right, especially that pavilion, where you can play the piano and read books when you have nothing to do, how nice it is!"

"So, this is the surprise you mentioned along the way before? This time it was really good." Zhao Liangyue thought for a while and asked, "However, Beijing is no better than other places. There are a lot of people, and there are many refined people. Although the courtyard is not as good as the mansions of the gentry in the east of the city, it is still a livable small house, with the few silver notes I gave you, how did you buy it?"

"Well, it's the chance that the young master often talks about." Youbai recalled, "At that time, the owner of the courtyard was going to settle down in the south of the Yangtze River with her husband, and was in a hurry to deal with the courtyard, so we happened to bump into it."

"Oh, young master, watch first. I'll go to a stall not far away to buy you some food. When the cook arrives tomorrow, we can start cooking." Youbai said and ran out.

Zhao Liangyue walked around the yard, and then went into the house, and found that the small courtyard was a bit too particular, not the Danying carved jue that the rich and the rich pursued, but exquisite thoughts in every place, standing at will Looking around, there is a poetic and picturesque feeling. It can be seen that this small courtyard has put a lot of thought into it, and it can't be done by piles of gold and silver.

This is not like ordinary chance to live in.

"My lord, I'm back!" Youbai quickly ran back with the food boxes, and put them on the table one by one, the fragrance instantly wafted away.

Zhao Liangyue sat down to eat with Yubai, both of them ate a lot, and in the end the plate was as clean as the bluestone slab washed by the rain in front of the hall.

"My lord, do you also think this food is pretty good?" Youbai said as he remembered something, and approached mysteriously, "Do you remember the surprise I said?"

Zhao Liangyue took a sip of tea: "Remember, you have already claimed credit."

"Oh, no." Youbai said, "I mean, the real surprise is not that the yard is nice."

Zhao Liangyue looked up at Youbai, smiled slightly, and asked, "Is there a better surprise than this?"

Youbai frowned: "That is, after all, it is the place where we will live for a long time, so I must choose carefully."

Zhao Liangyue became interested when he heard this, but he asked Youbai a few words and refused to say anything, so he had to follow him to sit in the pavilion and wait.

"My lord, I dug out this small stove from the backyard, and there are some remaining charcoal fires beside it, just to warm the wine."

Youbai got busy while talking, and after a while, the pavilion that was still blown by the autumn wind became warmer.

Zhao Liangyue watched Youbai go out again to buy some snacks and come back to put them on, with an expression of "I'm bound to impress you today", and looked west from time to time.

But there was nothing to see to the west except a wall.

Zhao Liangyue had an ominous premonition, since childhood, whenever Youbai caused trouble for him, or gave him some weird things, he would have this premonition.

"My lord, it's about to start!" Youbai suddenly howled excitedly, Zhao Liangyue lost the tea bowl cover in his hand and fell out, Youbai quickly caught it with quick eyesight.

"Your son, if I am older, I will be shocked to death by you."

"Where is there? Young master, you live a long life."

Zhao Liangyue was about to say something, when the sound of gongs and drums came from the west, drawing people's attention away, and then the rush was like a waterfall, as if they were making trouble on the stage.

"My lord, I didn't expect that." Youbai leaned over, "This is a surprise prepared for you. The theater troupe lives next door. When I come back later every day, I always get used to practicing a few paragraphs."

"Oh?" Zhao Liangyue glanced at Youbai, and said, "I didn't expect it, this is the most reliable thing you have done since you were a child."

"Obviously it has always been reliable." Youbai muttered.

On the side of the west wall, the sound of gongs and drums slowed down, and a singing voice floated over:

"The night is dark and empty, and there is a single tree among the pine trees. It's just that the lights are dimmed, and I feel lonely and cold!"

As soon as this sound was heard, Zhao Liangyue knew that the person on the west wall was not only a Lianjiazi, but also a little master.

In fact, Zhao Liangyue didn't like to listen to operas at all, but the teacher used to love them, so he listened to them a lot. After the teacher passed away, he used to go to the theater occasionally, and he didn't comment on the operas, just sat quietly in the audience , listen to so few paragraphs.

Youbai has always been sloppy, but sometimes he is careful, Zhao Liangyue smiles at Youbai knowingly, and Youbai himself is also happy.

It's just that this blissful flower is more short-lived than the epiphyllum, and soon wilted, because Youbai saw Zhao Liangyue's smile just hanging on for a moment, then collapsed in an instant, and then frowned.

Yuanyin sang on the side of the western wall:

"In this scene, only the moon shines on Fanglang. Outside Du Lin, the boat is hard to sail. Looking at the boatman, he looks childish and has no hair. He can be called an old man by others. It is clear that he is a banished immortal. He wants to save us!"

"Grand...Sir, what's wrong?" Youbai saw that Zhao Liangyue's expression suddenly became solemn, and he began to feel apprehensive—could it be that he messed up the matter again?

Zhao Liangyue sighed: "This is a part of "Fu Xiaoyao"."

Hearing this, Youbai found the words "Fu Xiaoyao" somewhat familiar, thought about it and recalled it, and then exclaimed, not daring to go to see his son, knowing that he tripped the Bodhisattva this time by burning incense.

"Floating and Happy" was originally a play made by a young man in a dark alley in Maozhou. It was sung with broken sleeves and peaches, and there were some ugly words and sentences. It was really something that was not on the stage. There was an uproar, the government had already come forward to rectify it, but for some reason, it has spread to the capital, and they are still practicing singing beside their own yard!

Youbai wants to find a crack in the ground to stuff himself in, and then bury it, it's better to step on it with two feet to compact it.

"Youbai." Zhao Liangyue called, and Youbai lowered his head as if admitting his mistake.

"Go and check to see if there are people from Xuefangyuan on that side." Some fragments in Zhao Liangyue's memory were suddenly connected.

Seeing that Zhao Liangyue didn't ask for responsibility, Youbai was stunned for a moment, looked at Zhao Liangyue, and carefully asked: "The person who sang this play is probably not a serious person, why should we investigate him?"

"When you go to investigate, don't be aware of your mistake." Zhao Liang ignored Youbai's question and continued to order.

Youbai was starting to lose his mind: "My lord, are you asking me to steal chickens and dogs on the first day I come to Kyoto?"

Zhao Liangyue glanced sideways at Youbai, and it was an obvious warning, "Now we have to get down to business, hurry up and be obedient".

Youbai could only be confused, and under the cover of the growing night, he groped towards the side of the west wall.

"Yunxi came out, and a cloud of smoke entered the deep pool."

A chorus came into my ears again, Zhao Liangyue sighed, and took two small drinks of warm wine from the stove.

After a while, Youbai came back, and as soon as he landed from the wall, he eagerly approached Zhao Liangyue and said excitedly: "My lord, guess what I saw?"

Seeing that he was extremely unwilling to go, Zhao Liangyue jumped back, so he asked him to speak quickly.

"I saw a person inside, the one who sang the opera." Youbai thought for a while, and described it with his own poor words, "In the words of you young masters, it's that...someone who looks like a moon, anyway. , that person is really good-looking, but his good-looking is not the same type as yours, young master. He can only be described as a beauty, and he should be called a beautiful boy. Yes, yes, he is a beautiful boy! He is very white, very white!"

"..." Zhao Liangyue, "What you describe is a ghost."

Youbai also felt that he was short of words, and wanted to try his best to explain what he saw clearly, but was interrupted by Zhao Liangyue directly: "Get down to business."

Youbai immediately withdrew his smile, and said seriously: "The layout in the courtyard is similar to ours, except that there is an extra stage dedicated to singing operas, and there are especially many costumes in the wing room, which are often decorated with gold silk, which is very precious. The table next to it There is an invitation card on it, and it does have the words Xuefang Courtyard. Besides... I think that the courtyard is full of things, but it is actually a bit deserted, and there should be no permanent residents."

Zhao Liangyue nodded, thought about it, and raised his chin slightly to Youbai: "Are the letters from the owner of the courtyard in Kyoto and the firm still there?"

"Listen to your son, keep them all." Youbai said as he went into the house and took out a box, put it in front of Zhao Liangyue and opened it, there were a dozen letters in it.

Zhao Liangyue opened them one by one, looked at them, thought for a while, and said: "It seems that living here is not by accident."

"Ah, so could it be that someone wants to kill us?" Youbai racked his brains for a while and said, "I see, someone must have known that you, a great talent from Maozhou, had come to Beijing, and deliberately set up this plan to let you Living next to a guy who sings that kind of stuff ruins your reputation and makes people think you're that kind of guy too, which discredits you and can't compete with him for the number one spot!"

The more Youbai talked, the angrier he became, as if he was about to stab someone with a knife in the next moment.

Zhao Liangyue looked at his fangs and claws, shook his head and smiled and said, "Chunwei and the palace examination haven't even started yet, so you decided to be my No. [-] scholar in advance?"

"Then what reason can there be? Besides, Zhizhou did take your article to Beijing to show off after Qiuwei. It is said that it has spread in the Imperial College." Youbai was even more puzzled, "If it wasn't like this, could it be possible? Are you helping the young master?"

Zhao Liangyue looked at Youbai, smiled and nodded.

Youbai couldn't believe it, and asked again: "My lord, do you want us to live in this kind of place or help us?"

"What is this kind of place? If you say that, the teacher and the old man will have to lift the coffin to clean you up."

Youbai was shocked again: "What?!" It turned out to be what Old Wang meant?

Youbai recalled Senior Wang's face of worrying about the country and the people, and he couldn't believe that the old man actually arranged for his students to live in such a place.

and many more!

Youbai half-closed his eyes and looked at his young master, with a frightened expression of "could it be that young master is such a person".

Zhao Liangyue naturally knew what Youbai was thinking, so he didn't bother to explain. He read the letters again, thought for a while, and said to Youbai: "Tomorrow, we will find an excuse, and we will make amends to the neighbor next door."

"apologize?"

Zhao Liangyue nodded: "Just because you climbed over the wall to dig out bird eggs and disturbed people a lot."

Youbai was full of doubts: "Did you dig out the bird's eggs? How old am I!"

"Only fifteen, very young." Zhao Liangyue slowly twisted a piece of tea.

In fact, Yubai looks small, looks like he is only 13 years old, and his face is still a little chubby, very cute and pleasing - of course, if you see the horrible body under his clothes that has been trained for many years Muscles don't feel that way.

Youbai knew that he had made up his mind when he saw his young master's leisurely appearance, and he had no way to object, so he could only grab the tea in front of Zhao Liangyue and run away, halfway through the run, he turned back, and threw a piece to Zhao Liangyue angrily. , and then disappeared in a flash.

"He said he wasn't a child."

Zhao Liangyue took a bite of the refreshment left by Youbai, and looked up at the front of the pavilion.

The night is as dark as ink, only a few stone lamps are left in the sky. The rain is getting heavier, accompanied by the roar of thunder, and it has long since disappeared before it looks elegant.

"The wind and the rain."

Zhao Liangyue frowned slightly, turned his eyes away, and looked at the letters spread out on the table.

The teacher has been showing people a false identity during his lifetime, and even he himself has never known his real identity, so he promised to be in this capital.

So, when he came to Beijing to take the exam, was it actually a move that the teacher had made long ago?So, who is the chess player, and what does he need to do in this game?

Everything seems to be an unknown fixed number somewhere.

The author has something to say:

Welcome to all the cuties. After the end of this article, a lot of revisions have been made, and it has a new look~ Thank you for meeting~