Yu Shu drank two glasses of wine with Pei Jing last night and had an inexplicable dream. She felt a little dizzy when Yun Dou woke her up in the morning. Fortunately, she felt refreshed after washing her face.
Yu Xiaoxiu had dressed up early and was waiting in the hall outside her room. Recently, he had been eating and sleeping well, so he had grown a little taller. Compared to Yu Shu's slim figure, he just reached the tip of his sister's nose. He wore a blue shirt issued by the academy and combed his hair neatly. He looked obedient and quiet.
The weather in March was getting warmer and warmer every day. Yu Shu didn't have any good clothes to wear, so she found a green pleated skirt that Zhao Hui had made for her last year in Yiyang. She changed it into a newly knitted belt and tightened the waist. Even if it was a few inches shorter, it wouldn't be seen.
Yun Dou combed Yu Shu's hair and wanted to put some rouge on her face. But Yu Shu waved her hand and said no. Zhao Hui bought her a few boxes of rouge for the New Year, but she disliked it. She didn't want to put it on her face again after using it once.
Yun Dou thought that Yu Shu didn't like fancy things, but she didn't know that she had been in the workplace in her previous life. She put on makeup every day as if she had a stupid face. Now that she finally got rid of makeup, she didn't want to waste her time in a foreign country.
After tidying up, Yu Shu carefully put away her name card and examination card, fastened the money bag, and walked out of the room. She waved at Yu Xiaoxiu and said with a smile, "Let's go, I'll take you outside to eat breakfast. Tell Yun Dou to wait for Father and Mother to go and inform us when they wake up."
Yu Xiaoxiu nodded happily and went forward to hold Yu Shu's hand. She pulled him out of the door and sat on the carriage that Pei Jing had ordered people to pick her up early in the morning.
Not long after they left, someone came to send a congratulatory gift.
*
*
*
The siblings ate sesame seed cake and beef meatballs on West Street. They each drank a big bowl of soup and ate until they were full.
The Celestial Commissioner Office was built in the north of the city. It took less than an hour to get there by car from the west of the city. When Yu Shu and Yu Xiaoxiu arrived and got off the car, the sun had just risen.
"Coachman, please wait at the corner of the street. I'll come out once I'm done."
Yu Shu told the coachman what to do and led Yu Xiaoxiu forward for another half of the road. In the middle of the endless street, they saw the symbolic gate of the Celestial Commissioner.
The main gate of the Office of the Celestial Commissioner was comparable to a small city gate. It had a deep doorway and a ten feet high wall. Guards were patrolling under the door day and night, and they were all real soldiers with blades and swords.
"Stop right there. What are you doing?"
As soon as the siblings approached the gate, they were stopped by two guards and interrogated meticulously. It seemed that they didn't look like they could go inside to work.
"Sister." Yu Xiaoxiu pulled Yu Shu's hand nervously.
"It's okay." Yu Shu took out the name card she had prepared and handed it to a guard. "I'm Hidewon of the Dayan Strange Arts this year. Today, I was informed to come to the Office of the Celestial Commissioner to write a reply. Can you let us in?"
To put it bluntly, the so-called reply was to show one's face in front of the examiner. After the candidates of the Dayan Strange Arts passed the list, they couldn't change their faces immediately. Those who were not in the top three had to go to the Office of the Celestial Commissioner for an interview to check if there were any fake candidates to avoid suspicion of corruption.
As for the top three, they had to go to the Office of the Celestial Commissioner and meet with several senior officials in person.
Yesterday, when Yu Shu was in Qiongyu Building, an official of the Celestial Commissioner went to her house to post a name card. He also informed her that she had to go to the Office of the Celestial Commissioner today to receive a stamp from the Celestial Commissioner that represented the identity of a Hidewon.
The guard was surprised to see such a young female Hidewon. He carefully checked her name card. After confirming it, he didn't make things difficult for her and let her pass. He also told her which way to go after entering the gate.
Yu Shu swaggered into the door of the Office of the Celestial Commissioner with Yu Xiaoxiu. This was the second time she came to this place that all the Hidewon in the world yearned for.
Last time, she was tied up and dragged in, but this time, she walked in openly.
During the day, the Office of the Celestial Commissioner was very different from her impression of a dangerous place. Here, there were birds singing and flowers fragrant. The grass and trees were flourishing. In the distance, there were buildings and up close, there were pavilions. It was like a huge garden.
Yu Shu leisurely took Yu Xiaoxiu to look at the scenery as she walked. Unknowingly, they actually took a wrong turn and couldn't find the direction that the guard had pointed out at the beginning.
"Sister, didn't we just walk through this place?" Yu Xiaoxiu rubbed his head and looked at the surroundings strangely.
Yu Shu pulled him to stop at the entrance of a long corridor. Looking left and right, she stared at a familiar octagonal pavilion not far from the flower pond. There seemed to be a person sitting in the tall pavilion.
She muttered, "Oh, it seems like we just came here. Then let's go back."
"Okay."
The siblings went back and followed the way they came. They went around a painting altar, passed a row of rockery, went through a small path, and stood at a fork in the road. They chose the road that they didn't walk through just now.
After a cup of tea, Yu Shu stood at the entrance of the long corridor with black lines on her forehead. Looking at the octagonal pavilion in front of her, she didn't want to admit that she was lost.
"Sister, why don't we go back and take another road?" Yu Xiaoxiu looked at Yu Shu's expression and asked carefully.
Yu Shu guessed that they had encountered some tactical array. The Celestial Commissioner was the highest point of the Da An Yi School. Every flower and grass in the courtyard must have a mystery. Ordinary people might not be able to walk out when they came here.
When she was hesitating whether to take out a copper coin to see the direction, she heard a hearty laughter coming from afar. She turned her head and looked around. Her eyes skipped over the large clusters of blooming begonia and azaleas in the flower pond. She saw the figure in the pavilion stood up at some point. She couldn't see his face clearly, but she knew it was a man with a tall and straight posture. He raised his hand and waved at them as if he wanted them to go over.
"Sister, is that person calling us?"
Yu Shu hesitated for a moment and decided to go up and ask for directions. It would save her trouble.
"Let's go."
Yu Shu and Yu Xiaoxiu went down the long corridor and went around to the flower pond. They stepped on a path made of pebbles and walked to the pavilion. Yu Shu then saw the person in the pavilion. She couldn't help but secretly applaud — what a handsome young man!
"Where are you going? Why did you break into my Tianyuan Platform?" The young man stood in front of the stone table in the pavilion with one hand behind his back and the other holding a jade chess piece. On the stone chessboard on the table, there were chess pieces of the same color scattered, and there was a chess record upside down next to it.
Yu Shu's eyes flashed. She could tell from his words that his identity was not ordinary, so she politely cupped her hands and apologized, "I was rash. I only cared about the scenery, but I mistakenly entered a tactical array and lost my way. Please tell us how to get out of the array, Young Master. "
"Haha." When the young man heard Yu Shu's words, he actually laughed again. He tossed the chess piece in his hand and said, "No, no. I don't have any tactical array here. It's just four identical courtyards connected together, surrounding this pavilion. You came out of that courtyard and then entered this one. You thought you were lost, so you went back and walked again. It would be strange if you didn't get lost."
When Yu Shu heard this, she knew that the other party had seen her and Yu Xiaoxiu for a long time, but let them go around in a big circle. He only gave them advice after he had seen enough of a joke.
She secretly rolled her eyes. Her impression of this person was greatly reduced. She didn't say anything more and said, "Thank you for telling me." Then she pulled Yu Xiaoxiu away.
The young man didn't stop them. He stood in the pavilion and watched them go away. Then he shook his head and sat down again to read the chess record.
Yu Shu knew that there was something strange about this courtyard, so she quickly found the door and walked out with Yu Xiaoxiu.
On the way, they met an ordinary official who asked the examinees where the 'Solemn Pavilion' was. This time, they met a good person. The official very enthusiastically offered to lead the way and only left after he led them to the place.
She didn't know if it was deliberately arranged, but Yu Shu was brought into the pavilion by a low-ranking official. After waiting in the tea room for the time it took to drink a cup of tea, she was called out and told that the high-ranking official in charge of her return today was that Junior Eunuch Ren.
"Lord Junior Eunuch has arrived. Miss Yu, please follow me to the second floor."
Yu Shu had an extremely bad impression of Ren Qiming. Whenever she thought of him, her little finger, which hadn't been able to move properly, would ache. She couldn't be blamed for being narrow-minded. Anyone who was sitting in their own shop drinking tea was tied up and taken away. They were indiscriminately tortured and almost forced to confess. After that, they wouldn't easily forgive the instigator.
Moreover, Ren Qiming probably didn't have a good impression of her. After all, because of her, Jing Chen had threatened to break one of his fingers.
"I'll have to trouble this official to lead the way." Yu Shu politely treated the official who led the way.
The other party smiled modestly at her and said, "I'm just a small scribe, so I don't deserve to be called an official. My surname is Zhao. You can call me Scribe Zhao."
Yu Shu had thought that the officials of the Celestial Commissioner were all arrogant and eccentric, like the youth she had met in the pavilion before. Who would have thought that the two she met after that were both so warm and easy to talk to? For a moment, her impression of the Celestial Commissioner changed.
"Thank you very much, Scribe Zhao."
Yu Shu told Yu Xiaoxiu to obediently wait for her in the tea room. She followed Scribe Zhao upstairs and saw Ren Qiming in the hall on the second floor.
"Lord Junior Eunuch, this year's Hidewon Yu Shu from the Department of Magical Arts has arrived." Scribe Zhao was obviously very respectful to Ren Qiming. He bowed his body and lowered his head to report. It seemed that he didn't dare to speak too loudly. It was enough to show his prestige.
After the previous night interrogation, it didn't seem awkward for Ren Qiming to face to face with Yu Shu again. Ren Qiming still looked serious. He looked at her and asked Scribe Zhao to leave. He pointed to the empty chair under the window and said to Yu Shu, "Sit down. There is still one in the top three who hasn't arrived. When he arrives, I will question him together."
Yu Shu was happy to play dumb. It was of course what she wanted not to become enemies with Ren Qiming. So, she sat on the chair and waited.
There was no top three in the Magical Arts. There was only her, the Hidewon, and a fragrant man. The fragrant man was Wen Shaoan, whom she knew.
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