Women Wearing Men: The Growth Path of the Bastards of the Aristocratic Family

After coming out of the Jiangnan Association, Gu Yunji was still a little worried, and took Cheng Yan and Su Qi to Rongfa Bookstore, wanting to find out the truth.

The three of them are all wearing ordinary clothes, but because they have been officials in the court for a long time, they faintly exude the majesty of the superiors, which makes people dare not take it lightly.The shopkeeper greeted him enthusiastically, nodded and said:
"Three distinguished guests, what do you want to buy? We have all kinds of books, whether it is a book about the wit and beauty, or a collection of classics and history for the imperial examination, as long as you ask, we will keep them to your satisfaction!"

Gu Yunji ignored him, walked into the store on his own, walked around leisurely, and then asked, "Are there any reference books for preparing for the exam?"

"Of course there is!"

The shopkeeper responded, then turned around and brought a bunch of books, and introduced them while showing them: "This is the "Excellent Model Essays of Jingfeng Years Examination". There are also these few books, which are must-buy books for exam candidates, which one do you want?"

Gu Yunji read these books one by one, and found that Bai Xingjia's "Jingfeng Eight-Year Examination Simulation Test Collection" was not there, so he clicked his tongue lightly, and asked pretending to be disgusted: "How do you feel... these books look a bit cheap ? Is there a better one?"

It seemed that he felt that his words were absurd, so the shopkeeper smiled: "The reference books for exam preparation are all expensive because they are practical. If you blindly pursue exquisite packaging, they are also flashy. Besides, most of the reference books are at this price, almost If there is no more than ten taels of silver, if we raise the price regardless, wouldn’t that be a scam?”

"The excellent I mean is excellent in content, not in excellent packaging. What's more—" Gu Yunji glanced at him carelessly, "Who said there are no reference books that exceed ten taels of silver? I heard that your Rongfa Bookstore has a set of imitation books. The test set, each book will sell for 20 taels of silver."

The shopkeeper immediately became alert when he heard the words, looked at the three of them suspiciously, and asked, "Where did you hear about it?"

Gu Yunji casually said: "I heard from the vicinity of Wenda Lane that my younger brother lives in the guild hall over there. He will take the general examination this year. I heard that you have a very good set of mock test questions here, so I wanted to help him. Buy a copy."

Hearing that the news came from the guild hall, the shopkeeper dispelled some of his doubts, but he was still cautious: "Who are you?"

"we are……"

Gu Yunji wanted to answer that he was an ordinary scholar, but he was hesitant because he was worried that the credibility would be too low. Su Qi answered, "We are the supervisors of the Imperial College."

"The three of us are from the same town, and our hometown is in the Jiangnan area. My brother's family can only scrape together money to buy a supervisory place, and finally gave it to him. His younger brother had to take the imperial examination by himself. The two brothers have a good relationship. He My brother was busy preparing for the exam, so he came out to buy books for him."

Gu Yunji quickly echoed: "That's right, my brother also said that we need the reference books from Rongfa Bookstore, which are effective and practical, and are better than books from other places."

In addition to being the children of high-ranking officials in the capital, ordinary gentry families can also "donate" a quota of supervisors by spending money. Supervisors do not need to take the imperial examination, and they can automatically become officials as candidates after graduation.Because enrolling in school is equivalent to stepping into the officialdom with one foot, so the supervisors often regard themselves as "quasi-officials", and behave a little arrogantly.

The three people in front of them are very young and have an extraordinary bearing. It would make sense if they were supervisors. After hearing Gu Yunji say that they must distribute the books of the bookstore, the shopkeeper felt relieved, and said with a proud expression: "This is considered to be here for you! We Among other things, Rongfa Bookstore is the only reference book for this year's exam questions!"

Cheng Yan became interested: "Oh? How did you see it? After all, there are so many bookstores selling reference books, why is your family the only one?"

The shopkeeper looked around and saw no one around, so he leaned over and said mysteriously: "Because our book——has information about the exam questions for this meeting!"

The three people's hearts skipped a beat, and they exchanged glances with each other calmly, and then Qi Qilu looked surprised: "How is it possible to know the exam questions? The exam questions are all secretly drawn up by the chief examiner. You are a small bookstore. , how can I know the information about the exam questions? It’s really not afraid to flash your waist when you talk big!"

Seeing that they didn't believe it, the shopkeeper became anxious: "Who's talking big? It's true! The exam questions are strictly guarded, but our boss is a well-known figure. Isn't it easy?"

Gu Yunji became sharp in an instant: "Your boss? Who is your boss?"

"I can't say that!" The shopkeeper subconsciously covered his mouth and waved his hands again and again, "I don't know who it is, I only know that it is a high-ranking official in Beijing. Anyway...you can't afford to provoke it. For your own good, you should be ashamed." inquire about."

Gu Yunji didn't insist if he couldn't get the words out, and instead asked: "Since you said that there is information about the examination questions in the book, what kind of information is it? Can you take the original questions?"

The shopkeeper smiled meaningfully: "It's up to the three of you to comprehend it yourself. It's up to you to understand whether it's the original question or something else."

Cheng Yan said unhappily: "Neither did he say who the boss was, nor did he say what the information was, but he touched his lips and said that this book contains information about the exam questions, we believe you to be a ghost, really. Waste of time, let's go!" After that, Cheng Yan looked impatient, and pulled Gu Yunji and Su Qi to leave.

"Hey, wait a minute, honored guest, wait a minute, honored guest." The shopkeeper hurriedly stopped the three of them with a smile on his face, "You have to understand us, if I tell you the specific information, I'm afraid the government will come to your door right away Not to mention the test information aside, our test question set itself is also worth buying."

As he said that, the shopkeeper took out a few books from the inside and put them in front of the three of them. Gu Yunji took a look and found that it was the "Jingfeng Eight Years General Examination Mock Test Questions Collection", which was the same as the one in Bai Xingjia's hand.

Next, the shopkeeper opened the book and carefully introduced the origin of the test questions to the three of them. The speaking skills were similar to what Bai Xingjia said, and it was nothing more than something that was close to the examiners' preferences and increased the probability of being admitted.

"The explanations of the classics and theories in this book in your hand are respectively imitated by Cheng Yan and Gu Yunji, the champions of the previous session. As first-class Jinshi, the two of them became famous at a young age, and the writing of the articles is particularly good. Follow They are always right, and this is the best book in our store..."

"Hey -- stop first!" Su Qi made a gesture to stop the shopkeeper's chatter, "Since Yijia Jinshi is so famous, why do you only listen to the introduction of No. [-] scholar and Tanhua instead of imitating Fang Zigui's article ah?"

The shopkeeper chattered on and on for a long time, only introducing how to imitate Cheng Yan's article, how to imitate Gu Yunji's article, but he didn't mention Fang Zigui at the second place, as if he was missed.

Hearing Su Qi's question, the shopkeeper replied: "There are also articles that imitate Fang Zigui's style, here, the last few pages." Then, the shopkeeper turned to Fang Zigui's part, but there were only three or four pages, and The ten or twenty pages of Gu Yunji and Cheng Yan are in stark contrast.

Su Qi asked: "We are both top three, why are there so many Cheng Yan and Gu Yunji, but so few Fang Zigui? Speaking of which, Fang Zigui is still second in the list, and his ranking is higher than Gu Yunji's. Could it be that you are against him?" And discrimination?"

The shopkeeper quickly explained: "Of course not. The main reason is that Gu Yunji and Cheng Yan are both from the Songjiang Prefecture. They participated in the township examination, general examination, and palace examination together, and they won the rankings together every time. In addition, they are the same age and handsome. Chic, so people often talk about them together, called "Songjiang Twin Bi".

As he said that, the shopkeeper suddenly noticed something, and looked back and forth between Gu Yunji and Cheng Yan, with a strange expression on his face: "Hey—speaking of it, this is a bit similar to the two guests, with similar age, same height and body, company commander You must all be talented. Judging from the appearance, you are simply a replica of the 'Songjiang Twins'!"

The two looked at each other, with an unspeakable meaning flashing in their eyes, they changed the subject and said, "So, just because of the title of 'Songjiang Shuangbi', you have reduced Fang Zigui's part?"

The shopkeeper scratched his head: "Not all of them. The main reason is that Fang Zigui's part didn't sell very well, so it was adjusted to this way later. After all, although Fang Zigui is 23 years old, he is also very good at the second place in the list, but he is not as good as the one who made the gold list. Compared with Gu Cheng and the two, they are still a bit worse."

"Besides, Gu Yunji and Cheng Yan both have their own specialties. Gu Yunji is good at strategy and theory, and Cheng Yan is good at classics and righteousness. Fang Zigui is similar in every aspect. There is no difference, and there is nothing particularly outstanding. It is difficult to write and imitate, so simply reduce it. his part."

"You guys are superficial." Su Qi shook his head, disapproving all over his face, "Fang Zigui is similar in all aspects, doesn't this mean that he is even in the rain and dew, balanced in the mean? Smooth and stable, solid and excellent, this is what stands out place."

"Also, you don't know enough about Fang Zigui. You only know that Gu Yunji and Cheng Yan are from the Songjiang Mansion, but you don't know that the three of them have all studied in Luxi Academy, and they are brothers from the same school!"

The shopkeeper's eyes widened in surprise: "There is such a thing? It is true that I have never heard of it. Since they are studying in the same academy, they... have a good relationship?"

Su Qi opened his eyes and spoke nonsense, telling lies without any hesitation: "Of course! The three of them went in and out together when they were in Luxi Academy. Hey! The result? It just so happens that the three of them are the No. [-] Scholar, No. [-], and Tanhua, and they won the top three. How can you say there is such a good fate in the world?"

Ignoring the weird expressions of Gu Yunji and Cheng Yan, Su Qi spoke with enthusiasm, and continued: "If you want me to say, instead of promoting the 'Songjiang Double Bibi', you might as well put the three of them together and make a 'Three Heroes of Luxi'." ’, isn’t this bigger than the name of ‘Songjiang Shuangbi’?”

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh fiercely: "That's right! The 'Three Heroes of Luxi', which includes the top three, must be more attractive than the 'Songjiang Shuangbi', which only has the champion and Tanhua. When the boss comes back, I must tell him What a great idea!"

After finishing speaking, the shopkeeper turned to Su Qi again, and said gratefully: "My dear guest... No, my honorable man! Thank you for your suggestion, it is really enlightening! Dare to ask the honorable man's name? The store will also prepare a copy in the future Thank you."

Su Qi waved his hand indifferently, and said generously: "It's not worth mentioning, you don't need to thank me, you just need to finish the new test question set as soon as possible. There is still nearly a month before the test, and scholars need to buy books. It's almost sold out, take advantage of this opportunity to spread the name of the 'Three Heroes of Luxi', and it will definitely attract a new group of people to buy."

The shopkeeper responded again and again, thanked them a thousand times, and gave them the test set for free, and then sent the three of them out.

Walking out of Rongfa Bookstore, Gu Yunji couldn't bear it anymore, and punched Su Qi: "Why did you talk like that just now? Why are you going in and out at the same time, and the relationship is so good... What relationship do we have with Fang Zigui, you don't know ? Are you afraid that you are possessed by evil spirits?"

Thinking of what Su Qi said before, Cheng Yan got goosebumps all over his body: "What about the 'Three Heroes of Luxi'? Did you forget why he left Luxi Academy back then? Being listed with him is simply a dirty academy Your reputation, bad luck!"

"Didn't you hate Fang Zigui the most before? Why did you come back from Beijiang, as if you were taken away, and you like him so much?"

Su Qi was in a hurry to get rid of the relationship with Fang Zigui, and his attitude took a big turn: "Who likes him? I said that on purpose before. If we used the store for so long, the information we got was similar to what Bai Xingjia said. Nothing was found out, not even the owner behind Rongfa Bookstore."

"Besides, the rumors now seem more like speculation. You can't sue them for cheating in the imperial examination without definite evidence. But the two of you have already been involved. Since you can't avoid the risk, then share the risk and drag Fang Zigui as well." Come in."

"I just reminded a few words, and the shopkeeper accepted it immediately, and maybe he will start preparing to promote the 'Three Heroes of Luxi' soon." Speaking of this, Su Qi flashed a sly look, "They are all listed in the first place." A, why can Fang Zigui stay out of the matter? If this matter becomes serious in the future, and Fang Zigui is also involved, his father, the chief minister of the cabinet, must be eager to find someone, and he will get you off the hook by the way. Is it equivalent to adding a way to save your life?"

Gu Yunji couldn't believe it: "Just for this?"

Su Qi nodded as a matter of course: "Yes, just for this. By the way, drag him into the water. It's a matter of a few words, and you don't need to dirty your hands. It's best if nothing happens. If something happens, he can't think about it. "

Cheng Yan was speechless for a while: "...Can't you hope that we can order? For example, this is just a means for unscrupulous merchants to attract customers. In the end, it neither affected the test nor aroused the court's suspicion. It's over. Isn't that good?"

Su Qi climbed onto the shoulders of the two of them, and comforted him: "Of course I wish you well. I just said it casually. I hope that one day it doesn't play a role. Just like what Yunji said, if this matter is really so serious, it will cause Feiyuwei to Pay attention, let them be free until now? It's just a trivial matter, don't worry about it."

Gu Yunji understood this truth, but for some reason, he was always a little uneasy.