Chapter 1:

Rain in the Qingming Festival.
After many days of rain, Wushan County was damp everywhere, and mushrooms could be found in the corner of the wall if you were not paying attention.
It finally cleared up today, and the people are rushing to wash and dry, even the county official house is no exception.
A faint acacia fragrance blowing in the wind. In the study room with the door window wide open, awakened the quiet middle-aged man in the room flipping through the book.
The man paused, then raised his head and asked the loyal servant Lao Zhou who was on the side: "Is the laundry behind?"
"Hey. Isn't the sky clearing up? Madam is leading everyone in the sun early in the morning."
The man nodded: "No wonder you can smell honey locust here."
"No." Lao Zhou sighed with a smile, "The weather in the south is very different from our north. Seeing the sky is wet, when the sun comes out, you have to wash and dry it."
"A landscape and a style."
While talking, the sound of brisk footsteps came from outside. In the next instant, a small head poked into the open door: "Father? Are you busy?"
She is a cute and playful little girl with a double bun, grape eyes and a small face puff.
The man loosened his frown and waved to her: "Come in."
The little girl immediately smiled and bent her eyes, lifted the skirt and ran in happily: "Father, Uncle Zhou."
The latter smiled and bowed.
The girl's surname is Zhu, and her single name is a round character. The man in the study is her own father, whose name is Zhu Xiuqi, who is more than 30 years old this year, and is a parent official in Wushan County who just took office last year.
Zhu Yuan rushed to the desk and said, "Father, I heard that you brought a lot of books back yesterday?" His black eyes glanced at the two stacks of old books on the table.
Naturally, Zhu Xiuqi knew her careful thoughts and didn't point it out. He only asked gently: "Why come here at this time? Have you practiced the piano?"
Zhu Yuan smiled and said, "Father, are you stupid in reading? What time is it—" Before the voice fell, he suffered a brain collapse.
"Father!" she protested, clutching her forehead.
"No big or small." Zhu Xiuqi reprimanded.
Zhuyuan made a grimace, and before he had an attack, he immediately pointed to the two stacks of books on the table and asked expectantly: "Can these books be loaned to me for a few days?"
Zhu Xiu smiled, and then relentlessly refused: "No."
Zhu Yuan is disappointed.
"You should focus on your homework now. It's okay to flip through the free and miscellaneous books occasionally. There are so many, you can't come over." Zhu Xiuqi explained patiently, and started to ask about his homework after he was over. Are you all playing wild? Has "Mencius" memorized?"
Zhu Yuan pouted: "I'm not a brother, so I don't need to take the imperial examination."
Zhu Xiuqi raised his face: "Who said that reading is for the examination of the imperial examination? The purpose of literacy in writing is to make sense, argue the right and wrong, and to cultivate one's moral integrity..."
This is the rhythm to start nagging. Zhu Yuan was softened in one second and interrupted him quickly: "I just said casually-I do my homework every day."
Zhu Xiuqi's face slowly eased: "I never tire of reading old books hundreds of times, and I know that I am familiar with it. Reading is the most important thing to read. It is the beginning of memorization and memorization."
Zhu Yuan put his arms around him and acted like a baby: "I know, if you don't believe me, you will test me." Given her father's recent busy schedule, there is no time to test her today.
Sure enough, Zhu Xiuqi finally showed a smile on his face after listening: "That's OK, wait until I finish this time to check and check."
Zhu Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Also," Zhu Xiuqi didn't intend to let her go, and then asked, "How about calligraphy? Have you been slack recently?"
Zhu Yuan fell down: "Father..."
Zhu Xiuqi is clear: "It seems that calligraphy is tired and lazy."
Zhu Yuan shrank her neck guiltily. Brush writing is too difficult, she would rather pinch a charcoal strip than practice brush writing! !
Zhu Xiuqi snorted: "No matter how hard your handwriting is to practice, in the future --" He suddenly stopped, his eyes circled on the two stacks of books, and asked her, "Do you want to read these books?"
Zhu Yuan was startled, then nodded hurriedly: "Yes!"
Zhu Xiuqi smiled: "If you want to see, take it."
So refreshing? Zhu Yuan surprise: "Really?"
"But..." Zhu Xiuqi turned around.
I knew there was something to come. I wish Yuan concentrating.
"These are the county annals of Wushan County. Regardless of the local customs or the people's sentiments, they are all well written...Since you have nothing to do, make a copy of them. When you come back, you can take a look at them and increase your knowledge."
Zhu Yuan: "..."
"After all, it's the county annals. It's not easy to keep it for too long. You can start copying now." Zhu Xiuqi made a final decision and turned his head to tell Uncle Zhou, "Let people move these county annals to the study behind."
"Yes."
It's a foregone conclusion, it's useless to say more
Zhu Yuan muttered, "Just copy, not just a few books." Such a thin booklet can't be copied for a few days.
Zhu Xiu smiled and said nothing.
A quarter of an hour later, a box of county records was moved into a small study in the backyard.
"Girl Xia Zhi, wait a moment," Uncle Zhou, who moved the book, talked with Zhu Yuan's personal maid Xia Zhi with a smile, "There are two boxes at the back, please help me clean up later." After all, it's the county annunciation, so be careful.
"Eh." Xia Zhi readily responded, "I'm bothering Uncle Zhou."
There are still two boxes? ! When she was in the study, she only saw two stacks.
Zhu Yuan's whole person is not good: "Uncle Zhou, did you make a mistake, why are there two boxes?" She did not dare to say anything.
Uncle Zhou laughed and said, "That's right, the minion personally cleaned it up from the county office." After speaking, he bowed and retired.
Zhu Yuan: "..."
She was so naive!
Zhu Xiuqi is determined to break her calligraphy...
She looked up to the sky and sighed, "Heaven is going to die and I will—"
At the summer solstice, he gave a "pouch", and when he received a roll of his eyes, he hurriedly held back a smile, and then persuaded: "Girl, don't sigh, so many books, let's start quickly." The pen and ink are all ready.
Zhu Yuan sighed again.
Picking up the thinnest book in the box, she shuffled back to the desk.
Sit down, roll your sleeves, flip the book, take the pen.
Zhu Yuan, with a sad face, resigned and began to copy the great cause.
...
"Boom!"
"Wow!"
The wooden stool tipped over and books fell to the ground.
The tranquility of going to the study was instantly broken.
All princes and lecturers turned their heads together.
Standing alone Xie Zheng was frowning and staring at the books on the ground.
The on-duty Hanlin lecturer hurriedly came over: "His Royal Highness, but what's wrong?" He is on duty to lecture. Now when the princes are practicing calligraphy, Xie Zheng sits behind himself and reads. If something happens, you still have to ask the last sentence.
Xie Zheng paused, looked up, looked around, then slowly pointed to the books on the ground, and said casually: "There are bugs."
Everyone: "..."
Everyone's expressions were a little strange. The younger princes had not yet cultivated home, and several snorted and hurriedly covered their mouths.
His mother-in-law Xie Yao, who just turned eight years old, didn't need to hesitate and jumped out: "Brother, why are you still afraid of bugs?"
Xie Zheng didn't change his face: "What's the problem?"
No problem. Xie Yao made a grimace: "You have a stern face every day, I thought how capable you are." At this age, he was afraid of bugs. He could play with bugs when he was five years old.
Xie Yu, the second child, sneered: "The third child, you are too—"
"Cough cough." The Hanlin lecturer of the appropriate talent cleared his throat hurriedly, "It's just a small accident, your princes, please continue." Then he winked at the other lecturers.
The other lecturers are not stupid, and are busy drawing the attention of the other princes away.
The episode of Shicai is over.
When the lecturer on duty picked up the booklet, flipped through it, and found no bug, he handed it back to Xie Zheng, and whispered: "Presumably the bug has already run away." Then he asked about his homework, "His Royal Highness is watching "Zuo Zhuan"? Questions?"
Xie Zheng took the book back calmly, and went down the topic: "There are indeed some doubts, Mr. Lao will help explain one or two." Turning the pages of the book, skipping some weird things, and pointing to something Office, asked, "Sir, can you elaborate on this sentence?"
On duty, he glanced at the lecture, nodded, and said softly: "There is no stunned sun in winter, no Fuyin in summer, no sorrowful wind in spring, no bitter rain in autumn..."
Xie Zheng's gaze stopped on the page, as if listening intently.
But my heart is already stormy.
The "Zuo Zhuan" in front of him was uniformly printed and distributed by the princes and relatives. Not only the cover content, the font shape, the font size, and the ink dots on the pages of the book will be exactly the same.
Dirty pages and overlapping inks will never occur.
Even if Si Ji really made a mistake... how did they make the ink characters... come alive?
Yes, come alive.
The "Zuo Zhuan" in front of Xie Zheng has a layer of crooked ink characters in addition to the original script, which appears out of thin air, and slowly disappears.
It is precisely because of these sudden ink marks that he threw the booklet subconsciously.
The son does not talk strangely and in a state of confusion.
Although he has different experiences from ordinary people, he is still skeptical of these weird things.
Look at the on-duty lectures around me who are explaining in a low voice, with a calm demeanor, no rush or slowness, clear logic, analysis and nagging...nothing unusual.
It seems that these ink characters that keep appearing are completely invisible.
Xie Zheng suppressed his thoughts, stared at the pages of the book, and looked closely.
The crooked and twisted ink characters slowly emerge, from top to bottom, from right to left, in sequence, as if someone was writing in an invisible place.
These ink characters overlap with the upper and lower letters of "Zuo Zhuan", and the double shadow makes people dizzy.
If it weren't for the crooked fonts that were much larger than those on the pages, and awkward, I was afraid that I would not be able to read the content clearly.
"...Fifteen miles north of the county, in the west of Xiaoxian Shanxi, the two mountains stand on each other, and they are always in conflict with each other..." (Note)
This is... Topography?
"His Royal Highness, is there something unclear about the explanation of the minister?"
Mr. Lecture interrupted Xie Zheng's thoughts.
He nodded slightly: "Mr. Lao explained." These lecturers are all selected by the Imperial Academy, and even if they don't want to win, there is no need to offend them.
The lecturer smiled, arched his hands, and left quietly.
Xie Zheng retracted his gaze and continued to stare at the page.
After a while, he closed "Zuo Zhuan" and opened another book on the table.
The crooked ink characters slowly surfaced again.
Xie Zheng: "..."
The lingering spirits.