"You haven't even grown all your hair yet, and you still want to tease your sister." The girl was stunned for a second after Zhu Ping'an's teasing, then she smiled and teased.
I don't know who was so scared that he pulled out the knife.
Zhu Ping'an responded with a disdainful smile, then sat down at the table and began to eat breakfast with relish.
"Aren't you curious why the Jinyiwei came to search but ignored me?" The girl was sitting opposite Zhu Ping'an, eating fried dough sticks in small bites. Finally, she couldn't help but raised her head and asked Zhu Ping'an.
Zhu Pingan stopped eating, shrugged slightly, and said calmly, "It's just that you were masked when you committed the assassination, and it was night time, so no one could recognize your appearance."
"You are such a boring person!"
The girl curled her lips when she heard that, lowered her head to eat her fried dough sticks and tofu pudding, and after a while she kicked Zhu Ping'an's chair.
"What's wrong again?" Zhu Ping'an was speechless and put down his chopsticks and asked.
"How much money do you have left?" The girl randomly swiped the tofu pudding in the bowl with some disgust.
"What?" Zhu Ping'an asked casually and continued to eat his breakfast.
"I think there are a lot of fat sheep in the inn. Wait for you to pick me up in the evening, and we..." The girl's eyes were shining as she spoke, and she looked like she had been injected with chicken blood, as if all her injuries had completely disappeared.
puff
Zhu Ping'an, who was drinking tofu pudding, spat it out.
At the critical moment, the girl across the table, holding a fried dough stick in one hand and tofu pudding in the other, instantly moved to the side, just avoiding the tofu pudding sprayed by Zhu Ping'an.
Even rabbits don't eat grass near their nests, but this little girl wants to start from the inn where she lives, and the mess of the assassination hasn't been cleaned up yet, and there is another thief or robbery. Do you want the Jinyiwei to rest? They are not vegetarians. Besides, it's not like my uncle and the others don't know you. It's too late to hide, but you are rushing forward.
"If you weren't so poor, I wouldn't have thought about this. I'm not Old Man Kong, who can kill people if he doesn't taste meat." The girl pushed all the blame onto Zhu Ping'an.
Zhu Pingan...
In the end, Zhu Ping'an did not agree to the witch's proposal, but only promised to add a meat dish every day. Of course, he compromised only after the girl wrote an IOU for ten taels of silver.
The time that followed passed slowly like this, practicing calligraphy, morning reading, and studying eight-legged essays, as if the evil woman in the room who could not calm down for a moment did not exist.
After practicing calligraphy and reading in the morning one day, he returned along the same route, but was stopped by a group of students.
"Isn't this my dear brother Zhu who always flies into the reeds? It's really better to meet by chance than to meet each other by chance. What a coincidence." The first person to greet was a polite scholar dressed like a nobleman. It was Xia Luoming from Tongcheng who was praised by Zhou Xuezhen at the Jingxian Poetry Meeting. At this moment, he had a humble smile on his face, but there was a sense of pride between his brows.
"Brother Zhu, I've heard of you for a long time. I'm Feng Shanshui from Susong County." Following Xia Luoming closely was a student in his early twenties. He was also very handsome and his looks were much better than Zhu Ping'an's.
Afterwards, the others followed suit and greeted each other in a familiar manner.
"Oh, good morning, everyone." Zhu Ping'an held a black wooden board and exchanged gifts with several people.
"What a coincidence. We, the top-ranked students from various counties, have gathered on the shore of Taihu Lake to exchange our experiences and compose a few poems. This is the last poetry gathering before the provincial examination. Brother Zhu, you must not miss it." Feng Shanshui from Susong County exchanged a few words of greeting and then invited Zhu Ping'an to join them in the poetry gathering.
It was another poetry meeting, so Zhu Ping'an naturally didn't plan to go.
"Oh, sorry, sorry, I have something important to do. I am very grateful for your hospitality. I am afraid that you will be disappointed in this poetry meeting." Zhu Ping'an held the black wooden board, bowed and apologized, and prepared to turn around and leave.
Zhu Ping'an had just begun to apologize when Xia Luoming said, "Brother Zhu, please don't refuse. We are already by the Taihu Lake, so why not go? Besides, the top candidates of the county examinations in several of our counties are all here, so brother Zhu, please don't miss it."
After Xia Luoming finished speaking, Feng Shanshui continued, "Brother Zhu's words 'flying into the reeds and never disappearing' really express the artistic conception of snow. We are all gathered together as the top list, and we all admire Brother Zhu's literary talent, but if Brother Zhu never shows up, wouldn't it disappoint us?"
"I really have something important to do, and I'm not good at this, so I won't bother you anymore." Zhu Ping'an bowed again.
"Brother Zhu, you are so polite. Brother Zhu is a man of talent. Whether it is the farewell or the snow poem, we are all amazed. Today, at the poetry gathering, why don't you leave a piece of calligraphy for us to talk about after we finish? It will be a good thing."
"That's right, if Brother Zhu leaves behind another piece of calligraphy, it will surely become a good story in the future palace examination."
"Yes, let's go together."
The people around also chimed in.
Zhu Pingan just held the black board and politely refused everyone, saying, "I'm so sorry, I'm not good at poetry, and it takes me several days to finish a poem. I'd better not go to a poetry gathering like this to embarrass myself."
"Brother Zhu, you are too modest. Your words, "I will never see you again if you fly into the reeds," have already made us feel ashamed."
"That's right, Brother Zhu, please don't be polite and come with us."
"We are still waiting for your masterpiece."
Several students and scholars who were accompanying him spoke up and wanted to pull Zhu Pingan over to participate in the poetry reading.
"I'm really sorry, I have something urgent to do, so I won't bother you this time. Excuse me, bye." Zhu Ping'an bowed and squeezed out of the crowd holding the black wooden board.
Seeing Zhu Ping'an's back, these people began to talk.
"Really? What are you so proud of? This poem is so inappropriate. Only the last line of this poem about snow is worth reading."
"Too ostentatious."
"To gain fame and reputation."
"He must be afraid, worried that he won't be able to compose poetry in public..."
"Forget it, Brother Feng, Brother Li... Let's go to the Taihu Poetry Festival."
People were talking in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for some of the scattered sounds to reach Zhu Ping'an's ears.
Zhu Pingan didn't care about it at all. He returned to the inn leisurely, ordered two dishes and a soup in the lobby, put them in the food box and went upstairs. What kind of poetry meeting is this? It's all useless stuff. It's better to read more books while you have time.
The poetry gathering at the Taihu Lake was in full swing, and the top students were vying for the top spot, writing poems one after another, and there were actually a few good poems circulating. Of course, the news that Zhu Ping'an refused to participate in the poetry gathering was also spread, and was considered that he was afraid of not being able to write poetry, which became the background of this poetry gathering and could be regarded as a contribution to this poetry gathering.
Time passed very quickly after the poetry meeting, so quickly that the provincial examination began in the blink of an eye.