Outside the window, the flowers are blooming and the willows are green, full of spring, but inside the study of Bai Yushi's family, there is a rustling autumn wind and silence.
After finally reading the stereotyped essay in his hand from beginning to end, Bai Yushi sighed and looked up at his beloved son. There was no need to ask, Bai Duan knew what his father's evaluation was, and silently lowered his head.
Seeing Aiko's appearance, and thinking about his hard work all the time, Bai Yushi couldn't bear to say anything but to blame besides sighing.
The Bai family has always been a scholarly family, and Bai Yushi is a clean and honest official, and he never bothers to follow any heresy. He wanted his child to be an official in the imperial court, so he would inevitably require him to take the imperial examinations like all the students in the world, and become a disciple of the emperor with his true talents and learning.
As the only son of Bai Yushi, Bai Duan studied hard under the supervision of his father since he was a child, and quickly showed his intelligence and talent. Not only did he learn everything quickly and well, he was not as playful and slippery as other children. It has always been Bai Yushi's greatest pride.
When he was only eight years old, Bai Duan successfully passed the examination as a scholar, and won the provincial examination three years later. Although the ranking is not high, it is absolutely unique in the current dynasty to become a juren at such a young age, and it immediately aroused widespread attention from the people and even the court.
—However, the miracle of the white satin ends here.
In the second year after the township examination, Bai Duan failed in the general examination. Although everyone regretted it, they still had great expectations for him. Then came the rumor that "it's too late, it's not necessarily good".
Of course, Bai Yushi did not admit that his clever son would hurt Zhongyong. He hired a famous teacher and personally supervised him.
Bai Duan is familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, from breaking the topic, inheriting the topic to the back, and the knot is not bad, and there are always some eye-catching ideas in the content of the concept—but it lacks the kind of touching and sighing contagious.
Rather than saying this is an article, it is more like a boring manual. Although the truth can be explained clearly, it is too strict and boring, making people have no desire to read it. Even Bai Yushi, who loves his son like his life, always feels heavy eyelids and drowsy every time he reads Bai Duan's stereotyped essays.
Such shortcomings are not obvious in the college and township exams where the exam questions are simple and the competition is not too fierce. In addition, Bai Duan is young, so no one cares about it. However, once it comes to the exam, which is full of talents, it is really a big problem-it makes people unwilling to read, how can it be possible to get a good result
For this reason, Bai Yushi was really grimacing. He tried his best to improve his son's literary talents, but Bai Duan seemed to be born with such a string. If you can't write stereotyped essays that don't require high literary talent, let's not mention reciting poems or composing Fu.
In this way, Bai Yushi gradually calmed down the idea of letting Bai Duan continue his scientific research. Anyway, he can be regarded as a scholar, and he can barely enter the court as an official.
Bai Yushi gave up embarrassing Aizi, and what followed was Aizi's marriage. As the so-called "start a family and start a career", most people pay attention to "starting a family first and then starting a career". Although Bai Duan is only fifteen or sixteen years old, he can already meet people and find a woman of the right family to get engaged.
Although Bai Yushi has some status in the court, he is an upright and upright official. He lives only on his salary and does not have much money in his family. Coupled with the fact that the Bai family members are weak, Bai Duan has become "injured Zhongyong", and his future is rough and uncertain. Therefore, there are no ladies from aristocratic families who are willing to marry him.
For this, Bai Yushi accepted it frankly, and from the bottom of his heart, he was not willing to be favored by those aristocratic ladies. After all, rich and noble families always have all kinds of bad things. The gentle and virtuous Xiaojiabiyu—of course, the most important thing is that Bai Duan likes it.
Because Bai Yushi's requirements are not high, there are many women who meet the requirements, but what is difficult is Bai Duan's liking.
Bai Yushi and his wife have been childhood sweethearts and childhood sweethearts since they were young, and after marriage, they are even more affectionate and loving. Even after Mrs. Bai died of dystocia, Bai Yushi did not marry Xuxian, but raised his only son by himself as a father and mother.
Because of the deep relationship with his wife, Bai Yushi hopes that his beloved son can also have such a happy marriage, instead of obeying "the orders of the parents and the words of the matchmaker" like most couples until the hijab is lifted, Only then did I know what my wife looked like.
It's a pity that Bai Duan doesn't know whether it's because he has high vision or not enlightened. He has no interest in women at all. He would rather hide at home alone and read books than go out with his peers to enjoy flowers and "coincidentally meet" those young and young women. girl.
Putting down the stereotyped essay in his hand, Bai Yushi stroked his beard: "Three days later, the Eldest Princess will hold a flower viewing feast, you must remember to attend."
Bai Duan twitched the corners of her mouth, feeling extremely unwilling in her heart, but she also knew that the eldest princess could not refuse the invitation, so she could only silently nod in agreement.
The eldest princess son-in-law died young and had no children. Now that she is getting older and wants to keep out of sight and out of mind about all kinds of absurd things in the court and harem, she simply likes to be a matchmaker for the younger generation. Bai Duan is handsome and beautiful, with a quiet and well-behaved personality. Although he is "Shang Zhongyong", he has always been liked by the elders, so it is logical that he is on the list that the eldest princess hopes to be a matchmaker for. Thought of inviting him to come.
Bai Duan originally thought that this time would be just another boring banquet as usual, but he didn't expect the world to change, and he actually tasted the taste of love at first sight at the banquet.
Bai Duan has never been interested in all kinds of banquets. Firstly, he doesn't have the thoughts of his peer Aimu, and secondly, he has no friends to talk to.
When he was a child, he was educated at home by Bai Yushiquan, who was expecting his son to become a dragon. When children from other families were still playing with cats and dogs, Bai Duan's reputation as a young genius had already spread throughout the capital—such a child from "other people's family" would inevitably attract hatred. .
As he gets older, Bai Duan becomes "Shang Zhongyong". Young people with outstanding talents and talents disdain to make friends with him, while those dudes who are not doing business still remember Bai Duan's early years and treat him all the time. Cynicism. As for Bai Duan's indifferent personality, he's not someone who would take the initiative to show favor to others, so naturally he couldn't fit into the circle of his peers.
If that's the case, then that's fine, what's more important... Bai Duan has a good face that is outstanding and enviable.
He is as beautiful as a crown jade, with bright eyes and bright teeth; his attitude is calm, indifferent and elegant, he is really like a son of Moshang, a man in the dream of thousands of spring girls. Even if those young ladies know that it is impossible for their family members to marry themselves to the powerless and mediocre Bai Duan, once he stands there, few people can take their eyes off him and observe those... more A well-matched son of a famous family.
As a result, Bai Duan naturally became more and more unpopular, and he also enjoyed this kind of ostracized loneliness very much. After going through a cutscene in front of the eldest princess to prove that he was invited to come, he planned to find a deserted place to hide , Spend the rest of the banquet time leisurely and leisurely.
Familiar with the crowd, walking farther and farther along the quiet and quiet path, the white satin spreads the flowers and willows all the way, and walks slowly towards the lotus pond covered with thick green lotus leaves, and then unexpectedly saw a... unknown Not a slim figure.
Bai Duan's footsteps stopped, and her first reaction was to find another place. After all, although the name of this banquet is "Blind Date" in fact, men and women still have to abide by it. It is still indecent and criticized for lonely men and widows meeting in private.
However, for some reason, even though his reason told Bai Duan to leave as soon as possible, he couldn't move at all, he could only stare blankly at the beautiful figure in the long skirt, his heart beating fast.
Perhaps Bai Duan's eyes were too focused, which attracted the attention of the girl by the lotus pond. She turned sideways slightly, turned her head, and looked behind her. After meeting Bai Duan's eyes, she was stunned for a moment, then turned her body around completely, and stood face to face with Bai Duan.
The girl also looked fifteen or sixteen years old, she had just reached the age of hairpin, and there was still a bit of childishness in her brows. Her facial features are not as delicate and soft as those of other women, on the contrary, she exudes a youthful heroic spirit, and her stature is quite tall, almost on the same level as Bai Duan, without any sense of clinging to others.
This female-like appearance is probably not good for a woman, but it has a unique charm in Bai Duan's eyes, which makes his heart beat even faster and it is difficult to look away.
The girl's makeup is not very delicate, and the material of the clothes is good, but it has obviously been worn for a long time, and it has been stained with a bit of old color. She is alone, without a maid by her side. She should be a concubine who is not favored by a high school , neglected and neglected.
Thinking about how the girl was struggling in the deep house, Bai Duan felt a strong pity in his heart. Under the gaze of that Yingying gaze, he was clearly aware of his heartbeat - he had indeed fallen in love at first sight with this girl who did not know her name or identity and did not even say a word to her.
There was a tinge of red on the face, and Bai Duan hesitated to go up to talk to her, but she was worried that she would be too abrupt and offend the beauty. While he was hesitating, he suddenly heard footsteps and conversations not far away.
Bai Duan frowned, turned her head to look in the direction of the voice, then took a deep look at the girl, and quickly backed away to avoid damaging her sweetheart's reputation.
After waiting anxiously and anxiously for a long time, Bai Duan finally waited for the group of people to pass by, and hurried back to the lotus pond, only to find that there was no one there.
He stood by the lotus pond in a daze for a long time, but he still didn't wait for the beautiful woman to return, so he couldn't help feeling depressed and lonely.
In order to find his sweetheart, Bai Duan showed up again before the banquet was over for the first time. His focused eyes kept wandering among the female guests, arousing a throbbing heart, but in the end he was disappointed. Look away.
"Why, brother Bai, which lady are you looking for?" A young man in Chinese clothes noticed Bai Duan's abnormality, and took the initiative to talk to him, his tone full of interest.
Bai Duan glanced at him and saw that he had malicious intentions, so it was impossible for him to be stupid enough to tell him about the girl.
The young man was half-deadly angry by Bai Duan's cold attitude, but he had to maintain his demeanor at the princess's banquet, so he could only grunt heavily, flicked his sleeves and walked aside, joining other people's circle.
Bai Duan knew that the boy would definitely talk to others about how his eyes were high above his head and how he was arrogant and rude, but he was not moved in the slightest. He raised his head again and continued to search for the girl by the lotus pond without giving up, but he still found nothing.
Until the end of the banquet, Bai Duan did not achieve his wish. He reluctantly lingered at the gate of the Changchun Garden where the banquet was held for a long time, until all the people dispersed, and then turned back gloomily.
That girl seemed to be just a dream, so beautiful and sweet that people were caught off guard, but it was so fleeting that it made people feel lost.
——Really, "There are beauties, you never forget them when you see them, you never meet them when you search for them, and you think like crazy."