After the two parted ways, Chu Menglin hurried to the capital alone. It took him several days and nights to reach his destination. The first thing he heard was the news of the witch being executed a few days ago, as well as the Chen family being annihilated by the Devil Cult for no reason. There were many different opinions, the discussion was abuzz. Along the way, some busybodies made up stories, and the rumor became even more amazing. Another major event was the imperial examination results. Although the imperial notice had been posted for several days, there were still many people gathered around to look at it, pointing and discussing.
A pale-faced scholar angrily said, "Did you hear? That Zhuangyuan Gong Tang Yuancheng is just a kid who is still wet behind the ears, how much ink can he hold in his stomach? I heard that quite a few old scholars who have been studying all their lives have been kicked out. I say, there must be something fishy going on here. "
Another person said, "Do you still need to say it? This Zhuangyuan Gong is simply a good-for-nothing who relies on women to eat soft rice. Rumor has it that he is an old acquaintance of Consort Yun. Because of this relationship, His Majesty made an exception and promoted him to be the Head Scholar of the Hanlin Academy. Pei, what old acquaintance, I think he is Consort Yun's private gigolo! "
Another person said, "Turns out Consort Yun likes gigolos. Erhei, you won't be able to please her. Otherwise, everyone will have a fair competition. Even our Erhei Ge won against him." Amidst the roaring laughter, a short dark man laughed apologetically and said, "Don't talk nonsense. Who doesn't know that Xiongdi has a hag at home? When I walk on the street, I don't even dare to look at other women, let alone having an affair. Aren't you trying to kill Xiongdi?"
The first person said with a mischievous grin, "Hey, hey, turns out Erhei Ge is afraid of his wife. As the saying goes, women are like clothes. Xiaodi is not talking too much, but if Saozi is really hindering your official career, why don't you kick her out? When you become the 'Black Zhuangyuan', you won't have to worry about not finding a beautiful woman to be with you."
Erhei said, "Who said it isn't …" Before he finished sighing, he repeatedly screamed 'aiyo', 'aiyo' like a pig being slaughtered. Everybody looked toward the source of the noise and saw a fat woman twisting Erhei's cattail leaf fan-like ears and shrieking, "Good, you dead ghost, are you going to overturn the heavens? What did you say behind Laoniang's back? I dare you to say that again! " Erhei cried out, "Madam, please calm down … I said that my Madam is as beautiful as a fairy. After seeing you, I don't want to look at other women … Aiyo, have mercy. If you use more strength, my ears will be twisted off!"
"You gave birth to a pig's ear," the fat woman shouted, "All day long you only listen to the family's gossip, but you won't listen to Lao Niang's lecture. Why should I keep you?" And then she spread out her hands and threw a tantrum on the street, shouting, "What's the use of being a man? He was like a stone in a latrine pit, lazy, smelly and dirty, but he just couldn't get hard! Marrying you is truly the greatest misfortune of eighteen lifetimes … "Er Hei's black face had already swelled to the color of a pig's liver. He straightened his neck and said," I'm not bragging! We are talking about how the Zhuangyuan Gong is ignorant and incompetent. Even I, Erhei, am better than him! "
The plump woman smiled and said, "That's right. My family's Erhei is the most promising. Although he's a blacksmith, he can still recite the Tang Dynasty's Li Taibai's' Quiet Night Thoughts'. Husband, show them what you've got! "
Er Hei cleared his throat and was just about to raise his voice when he heard a clear voice from the crowd say, "Who said the Zhuangyuan Gong is ignorant and incompetent?" A beautiful young man in bright clothes leisurely walked out, holding a folding fan made of pure gold in his hand, which he continuously waved. Although they had not seen each other for many days, his temperament and appearance were very different from before, Chu Menglin could still recognize that this young man was Tang Yuancheng. He immediately suppressed his laughter and quietly observed the situation.
Tang Yuancheng walked straight to Er Hei and his wife and deliberately pretended not to see them. He repeated, "If a real man dares to do something, then he dares to admit it. If he dares to say something, then he dares to admit it. Who said those words just now? Stand out." Er Hei only thought that he was a young master. Moreover, he had lost a lot of face earlier, so he was anxious to recover. He stuck out his chest and said, "That was me. Kid, what do you want?"
Tang Yuancheng smiled and looked at him up and down. He opened his folding fan and said, "Nothing. You think the Zhuangyuan Gong is ignorant and incompetent, but I think he is very knowledgeable. Who is right and who is wrong, we have to come to a conclusion. How about this, you come and compete with me. If you win, then you are right; if I win, you can't talk too much about this matter. "Chu Menglin thought," Sure enough, a bookworm has a bookworm's solution. "
"Less nonsense," Er Hei said, "How do you want to compete?" Tang Yuancheng said, "The knowledge in the book is written in black and white. I understand that you are a blockhead, so you may not remember everything. Besides, if you only know how to memorize it, it won't be very useful in practice. I'll save you the trouble. Why don't the two of us each write an essay, talking about the Chen family massacre from beginning to end, and then take it out for everybody to evaluate? "
A man who looked like a porter called out, "No way, that's not fair! Er Hei lost to you because he didn't have the ability. Why should we lose? Only those who are willing to gamble will accept defeat. You set the rules, everybody is not convinced, we don't want to gamble. " The crowd burst into an uproar, but not a few of them had the mentality of watching a play, they wanted to see how this young man would deal with this thorny problem.
Tang Yuancheng smiled and said, "Since everybody is not convinced, there is no harm in Zaixia proposing another fair method. Zhuangyuan Gong and I are about the same age, I can be his representative. On your side, you can also choose a representative to compete with me. If you really want to talk about age, you can report your birthday first, and then choose the oldest one, and then compete. "
Immediately there were quite a few young and strong people who angrily said, "How can that be accurate? Who said that an old person must have profound knowledge? "" That's right, how can you confuse age with depth of knowledge? You think you're so great just because you came out of your mother's womb a few years earlier? What a load of nonsense! " "Even if you beat us, it's useless. There's always someone better than you, there's always someone better than you. Those who are more knowledgeable won't even bother to compete with you!"
Tang Yuancheng tapped his palm with the handle of his fan and said with a smile, "Everybody, please don't be impatient. Zaixia was just following everybody's opinion, that's why I came to this conclusion. Since everybody is clear and logical, that's very good. Seeing that most of you are martial artists, I'll give you an example of martial arts. In today's world, those awe-inspiring heroes who make people tremble in fear at the mere mention of their name, don't tell me they are all old men? Let's not talk about others, just take the newly ascended Wulin Alliance Leader, Li Daxia. Isn't he also a young and promising hero? "
Although not all the onlookers practiced martial arts, they were very familiar with the Wulin world. Seeing Tang Yuancheng leisurely fiddling with his fan, a shrill voice said, "Rumor has it that the Demon Leader of the Sacrifice Shadow Cult, 'Can Mo Xing', is young and handsome. He is used to using his fan, he kills people without leaving their bodies intact. He is an extremely dangerous murderer …" Someone else doubted, "I heard that 'Can Mo Xing' is cruel and ruthless. If he is really the murderer, how can he be so calm as to talk to us?"
"People change," a vegetable farmer said, "I heard from my Eldest Nephew that the Hall Leader's sweetheart did not want him anymore. It's hard to say that he was so shocked that his temperament changed greatly." Several days ago during the parade, An Yesun showed up and fought with the soldiers. But at that time the battle was fierce, plus Hu Wei mentioned his name, so everybody was scared and retreated far away for fear of being implicated. Nobody dared to raise their head to look at him, so nobody knew what he looked like. Tang Yuancheng did not know much about the Devil Cult, so when he casually mentioned martial arts, everybody associated him with An Yesun. Everybody's face showed fear.
Tang Yuancheng accidentally reaped a miraculous result, which was also a pleasant surprise. Raising his voice, he said, "Everybody, please be quiet. Whether I am that 'Can Mo Xing' or not, everybody's reverence toward him is from the bottom of your heart. Civil and martial arts are interconnected. He is young and has practiced martial arts, so how can he know that 'Zhuangyuan Gong' is deceiving the world and gaining fame? How can age and talent be lumped together? Besides, there is no first place in literature and no second place in martial arts. Even the most knowledgeable scholar in the world may not necessarily have participated in the examination. The top three are selected by His Majesty's imperial pen. If anybody has any objection, why don't you bring it up to His Majesty? "
Actually, no matter how reasonable his argument was, these people were all stubborn boors. They would definitely find fault with him and ridicule him to their heart's content. But this matter involved An Yesun. Who would have the guts to criticize him? Once they refuted him, it would be tantamount to belittling the Can Mo Xing's martial arts. Perhaps their heads would be separated from their bodies overnight, so they had no choice but to agree. Tang Yuancheng did not know if he was borrowing An Yesun's light or if he was relying on his own exquisite eloquence to convince the crowd, but he was immensely pleased with himself. Gently waving his folding fan, he looked around the audience, nodded and smiled.
A white-bearded, white-haired old man said, "Young man, your insight is unique. Your future achievements will be immeasurable, but why do you insist on standing up for others? Who are you?" Tang Yuancheng cupped his fists and said, "Xiao Ke's insignificant name is not worth mentioning." Chu Menglin finally could not restrain herself. Pulling down her veil, she said in a crisp voice, "He is this year's new Zhuangyuan, Tang Yuancheng!" With light, graceful steps she walked straight toward Tang Yuancheng and stopped in front of him.
Tang Yuancheng was greatly embarrassed. He had always been modest and courteous. This time, it was all because he had just become the Zhuangyuan in the imperial examination, showing off his ambition, reuniting with Shen Shiyun, and being conferred an official by the Emperor. These three good things had happened at the same time, so he could not help but feel a bit smug. On the street, he heard the people in the marketplace gossiping about him, so his heart was not convinced. Therefore, he concealed his identity and spoke good words for himself. Unexpectedly, he was exposed on the spot. This was really the sign that the Zhuangyuan Gong had just erected. He really wished he could find a hole to crawl into. Ashamed and angry, he glared at Chu Menglin. Lowering his voice, he said, "How do you know …"
Chu Menglin took several more steps forward. At this time, the two of them were very close to each other, even the tips of their noses were almost touching. It was only now that Tang Yuancheng was able to see her face clearly through the thick veil. From her eyes, he also saw a unique craftiness. He said, "Ah, so you are …"
"Shh!" Chu Menglin said, "Don't say it!" Tang Yuancheng was embarrassed by her. He really wanted to return a tooth for a tooth, by revealing her identity. But he did not know that Chu Menglin was the Devil Cult's Miss. All along he thought she was just an ordinary rich family's Miss. Even if he told her, not many people had heard of her. Therefore, he did not say anything. Suddenly his nose caught a whiff of the fragrance emitted from her body. Immediately his face and ears turned red, and he hastily retreated several steps to put some distance between them.
When the crowd heard that this young man was actually the Zhuangyuan Gong himself, a moment ago he was very eloquent, repeatedly calling him 'Zhuangyuan Gong', as if the Zhuangyuan Gong wanted to be number one in the world. Originally they thought he was just a bystander who acted bravely for a just cause. Young people are hot-blooded and vigorous, so it was not a big deal. But when they found out that he was desperately trying to flatter himself, their gaze toward him was filled with contempt.
A man who had participated in the argument laughed and said, "Zhuangyuan Gong is indeed a straightforward person, everybody admires you! Today we are able to see Zhuangyuan Gong's honorable face, our ancestors have burned incense to a high place. I say there is no better day than today, why don't we invite Zhuangyuan Gong to be our host, we go together to the largest restaurant in the capital, arrange a banquet, and drink until we are drunk, so that we, a group of ordinary people, can also join in the happy atmosphere. "The crowd responded in chorus, but there were also quite a few whistles and boos mixed in.
Chu Menglin said in her heart, "Flatterer, you did not know him before, why are you blindly joining in the happy atmosphere?" She pulled Tang Yuancheng's sleeve. Tang Yuancheng did not have the patience to deal with her. "I am really sorry," he said, "Zaixia already has an appointment today, it would be better for me to wait for the Ministry of Rites' 'Grace and Glory Banquet', and then I will lead the new Jinshi and everybody to the banquet to drink to their heart's content." Tuan Tuan cupped his fist, pulled Chu Menglin's hand, and left through the crowd. Everybody was dumbstruck. It was only after half a day that someone finally said, "My, Old Ox's judgment is indeed accurate. Isn't Zhuangyuan Gong a dissolute prodigal son who shows his affection everywhere?"
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