Chapter 47 The strongest enemy without compare!
With Zhang San, a veteran Beijinger, leading the way, Ou Zanghua and his party arrived at Chongwenmenli Street before dark.

Although Zhang San didn't know where Cheng's house was, he knew that area was not Cheng's house.

So he took Ou Zanghua and others, and after searching for a while, they found their destination.

Xiang Danian and Qu Yang walked up with the token and knocked on the door. A middle-aged man opened the door, looked at the strange old man and young man, and asked in confusion, "Who are you?"

"Excuse me, my son's surname is Ou and his name is Zanghua. He is a friend of Miss Cheng Zhirou. Miss Cheng once said that we can stay here temporarily when we arrive in the capital."

As he spoke, Qu Yang motioned to Danian to take out the token, the iron plates with the word Cheng on them that had a chip on them.

When the middle-aged man saw it, he quickly took out another iron plate from his arms and pressed it against the gap. The two iron plates fit together perfectly, and it was the words "Cheng Mansion" on them.

After confirming that there was no problem with the token, the middle-aged man smiled and immediately opened the door: "It turns out that you are Miss's distinguished guest, please come in quickly!"

"Thank you!"

Qu Yang secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time, he felt a little more respect for Miss Cheng.

Xiang Danian happily ran back to the carriage and told Ou Zanghua the situation.

So, Ou Zanghua and Qu Feiyan got off the carriage, walked up to the middle-aged man, and said with a bow, "Excuse me, may I ask your name?"

"Mr. Ou, please don't be so polite. If the young lady knew, she would probably scold me severely." The middle-aged man quickly returned the greeting and said, "I am Wang Qin, a servant of the Cheng family."

Ou Zanghua nodded and walked in under the guidance of Wang Qin.

Behind him, Qu Feiyan took out a tael of silver from her bosom and handed it to Zhang San, saying seriously: "Come back here tomorrow and wait for us. My young master needs to go to a few places and needs your help. This is the deposit. I will give you another five taels after the work is done."

"Great! Thank you for the tip, miss. I will come over early tomorrow morning." Zhang San took the silver with both hands, his eyes narrowed into slits with a smile.

These five taels of silver can buy four hundred kilograms of rice, allowing the whole family to have a good New Year.

When Ou Zanghua walked into the courtyard, he was greeted by a screen wall inlaid on the south gable of the east wing, which was called the Zuoshan Screen Wall.

You can enter the inner courtyard through a small door on a low wall facing west. There are three main rooms and one ear room on the left and right. This layout is called "three main rooms and two ear rooms".

There is a ginkgo tree planted in the inner courtyard, but unfortunately all the leaves have fallen at this time, leaving only bare branches.

Wang Qin opened the door of the left wing and bowed to introduce: "Mr. Ou, the bedding in the ear room was washed last month. I clean it every seven days. The last time I cleaned it was two days ago, so the room is very clean. You can rest assured to live here."

Ou Zanghua nodded with satisfaction, "Thank you for your hard work."

"It's my job. Mr. Ou, please come in and sit for a while. I'll go and light a stove for you. The temperature in the capital is low in winter, and the room will be warm with a stove." Wang Qin said as he left the room and walked towards the back house in the outer courtyard.

By the way, tell Qu Yang where to drive the carriage.

After Qu Yang parked the car, Qu Feiyan and Xiang Danian started moving things.

Books, musical instruments, pots and pans, etc. It took the two of them a long time to move all the things.

Then, Qu Feiyan walked into the kitchen and started preparing dinner. Because it was a little late, she chose simple pasta.

She cooked a big bowl of noodles, fried some minced meat and fried an egg on top, and when she brought it to Ou Zanghua, she said apologetically, "Sir, just eat it tonight. I'll buy some vegetables tomorrow and make you something delicious."

"This one is also very good!" Ou Zanghua smelled it and the fragrance was so strong that he started to drool.

Qu Feiyan handed him the chopsticks and said seriously, "Young Master, you are going to take the imperial examination, so you must eat well."

"Haha. Okay, okay." Ou Zanghua couldn't help but laugh, and followed Qu Feiyan's wishes.

Early the next morning, Ou Zanghua put on her clothes and tied her hair with the help of Qu Feiyan. When she went out, she saw Zhang San squatting at the door eating a steamed bun.

Seeing Ou Zanghua and the others coming out, he immediately stuffed the unfinished steamed buns into his arms and greeted them cheerfully: "Good morning, gentlemen. Where are we going today?"

"Let's go to the Ministry of Rites. You should finish your meal first. There is no rush." ​​Ou Zanghua smiled and said gently.

"Great! The Ministry of Rites is on the east side of Daming Gate. It will take us half an hour to get there." Zhang San nodded with emotion when he heard it, and mentioned it while taking out the steamed buns.

"It's still pretty close!" Qu Feiyan asked with a smile, "Is there a gathering nearby?"

"Yes, yes. Miss, if you want to go, we can find a brother to lead the way and help you carry things and bargain for you."

"That's great, let's go after we get back from the Ministry of Rites!" Qu Feiyan happily agreed. She felt that her cooking skills were not fully utilized because the ingredients and seasonings were not enough.

At this time, Qu Yang and Xiang Danian drove over in a carriage. Ou Zanghua and Qu Feiyan got on the carriage and, led by Zhang San, walked towards the Ministry of Rites.

As a newly-appointed juren, Ou Zanghua originally had a benefit, namely, "official reports were sent to the Ministry of Rites for the joint examination", which meant that local governments provided food, accommodation and transportation to Beijing.

It was just that Ou Zanghua was planning to visit Huang Zhonggong in Hangzhou, and wanted to gain more reputation points along the way, so he did not use this "benefit".

Now that I have arrived in the capital, I need to bring various identification documents to report to the Ministry of Rites and tell them that I have arrived.

The Ministry of Rites in the capital was built by order of Emperor Xuande, and its layout was completely modeled after the regulations of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing.

Afterwards, under the leadership of Emperor Xuande's successor, the Ming Dynasty's God of War Zhu Qizhen, the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Works, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of War and other institutions were built like mushrooms on both sides of Chengtian Gate.

We have to mention here the general layout of the capital.

There are four gates in the imperial city: Chengtian Gate in the south, Dong'an Gate in the east, Xi'an Gate in the west and Bei'an Gate in the north.

These four city gates have two things in common. First, their architectural forms are exactly the same. Second, they all highlight the word “安” (safety).

Um.
Although the Zhu family has the emperor guarding the country's borders, their sense of security seems to be slightly lacking.

Outside the Ministry of Rites, Qu Yang parked the carriage and bowed slightly to invite Ou Zanghua to get out.

Xiang Danian also looked nervously at the soldiers who were standing on guard every three steps and every five steps, as well as the civil servants in their official robes who were walking hurriedly.

Will the eldest brother also wear this kind of official uniform in the future?

He is so well-dressed, so enviable!

If Ou Zanghua knew what Xiang Danian was thinking, he would definitely hit him on the head.

Who are you cursing, you idiot?

These officials wore green robes and were minor officials of the eighth and ninth ranks.

If Ou Zanghua passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, he would at least be a seventh-rank official.

"Young Master, please go in! We will be waiting for you outside. Don't be nervous!" Qu Feiyan pulled Ou Zanghua's sleeve and whispered to him.

nervous?

Ou Zanghua glanced at the little girl who lowered her head. He didn't know who he was talking to.

Patting the other person's head, Ou Zanghua smiled silently and walked towards the Ministry of Rites at a leisurely pace.

The guarding soldier glanced at him, did not stop him or question him, and let Ou Zanghua in directly.

But after coming in, Ou Zanghua was a little confused. Where should the candidates taking part in the Spring Examination report?

Why isn't there even a sign?

At this moment, a gentle voice came from behind: "Brother, are you here to report to the Ministry of Rites for the Spring Examination?"

Ou Zanghua looked back and saw that the man had lips as red as vermilion, eyes as black as lacquer, and a face as white as jade. He was a guy who was only slightly less handsome than him.

"That's right, but this is my first time here, and I'm a little confused about the direction for a moment." Ou Zanghua bowed and said with a wry smile.

"Haha. The Ministry of Rites has a lot of affairs to do, and people come and go. It will indeed be affected when you first come here. When I first came here, my reaction was exactly the same as yours!" The man laughed heartily and comforted Ou Zanghua in turn.

"I just so happen to be going to report as well. Shall we go together?"

"Thank you, brother!" Ou Zanghua bowed his hands in thanks, and then said: "My name is Ou Zanghua, with the courtesy name Jingyu, and I am a candidate from Huguang. May I know your name, brother?"

"Oh? You are Ou Zanghua, the top scholar in Huguang?" The man's eyes lit up, and he looked at Ou Zanghua and said happily, "My name is Yang Shen, with the courtesy name Yongxiu, and I am from Sichuan."

"Oh, long."

Damn it? !
Ou Zanghua suddenly came back to his senses, and looked at Yang Shen with a look that seemed to say, "You are Yang Shen?!"

(End of this chapter)