The Prime Minister’s Darling-Chapter 514 - 258 Delicious (Second Update)
Chapter 514: 258 Delicious (Second Update)
Chapter 514: 258 Delicious (Second Update)
Gu Jiao: You are a good husband.
At this moment, Xiao Liulang was helping Yao Family in the kitchen. Yao Family had made peach pastry, Xiao Liulang’s favorite, for him yesterday. However, Xiao Liulang didn’t have a chance to eat it because he came back late, so Yao Family made it again for him this morning.
Xiao Liulang came to help, but Yao Family refused. After all, who ever heard of a person, who excelled in the examinations, still mucking about in the kitchen?
But every time Yao Family declined Xiao Liulang’s help in one area, Xiao Liulang simply shifted to another area, such as watering the vegetables or tidying up the chicken coop. He was just too hard to resist since he was never idle.
Soon, everyone in the house was up. Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun congratulated their brother-in-law. Even the little monk, who was often critical, didn’t voice any complaints, after all, the ornamental flower was quite lovely.
Among the three hairpins, the one for the examination laureate was the most intricately made, of the best quality, and therefore the most beautiful.
Associating the pretty flower with the laureateship, the monk decided to root himself even more deeply into his aspiration for future laureateship.
At this moment, no one knew that the initial will of the future legendary warrior from the six countries to excel in the examinations was merely for the sake of a beautiful flower.
The old lady gave Xiao Liulang a red packet and also gave one to Gu Jiao.
The old lady’s principle for giving red packets was: if Xiao Liulang had it, Jiaojiao would also have it. If Xiao Liulang didn’t have it, Jiaojiao would still have it.
The family sat down to breakfast.
Xiao Liulang sat across from Gu Jiao. Their interaction was no different from usual days, especially for Xiao Liulang, who put on a calm and composed countenance, as if he had forgotten what happened when he was drunk.
The little monk was eating a small steamed bun from his bowl and suddenly made a curious observation, “Jiaojiao, your and brother-in-law’s lips are so red. What did you eat?”
Both Xiao Liulang and Gu Jiao chocked at the same time.
After breakfast, Xiao Liulang took the little monk to school, then he went to the Yamen to register his household in the morning. After becoming a laureate, his household would move to the Hanlin Academy. From now on, he would be a resident of the Capital City, a privilege reserved for only the highest academicians.
The old tutor planned to take him out at noon to meet a friend. After that, he wouldn’t come back in the afternoon and would go directly to the Luming Banquet.
After Gu Jiao got a clear idea of his itinerary, she said nothing. She watched him leave the house and then headed to the Medical Hall.
After Xiao Liulang finished his household registration and met with a senior official from the imperial court, he went to the Imperial Palace in the afternoon.
Although it was still early days, many new scholars had already arrived at the Taihe Hall, chatting with each other. Some of them might become colleagues in the future, so it was always good to establish relationships in advance.
Fen Lin and his companions didn’t leave early last night. They watched a lot of enjoyable singing and dancing, and enjoyed their time as romantic intellectuals. All three of them got up late today, but they still managed to arrive before Xiao Liulang.
“Liulang!” Fen Lin was about to enter the Taihe Hall, when he spotted Xiao Liulang out of the corner of his eye.
Among the three, Fen Lin had known Xiao Liulang the longest, owed Xiao Liulang the most, and had gone through the most with Xiao Liulang. Hence, he always spotted Xiao Liulang first.
“Liulang.” Lin Chengye also greeted him like a little fan.
Only Du Ruohan snorted disdainfully.
“You drank too much last night, are you all right?” Fen Lin asked concernedly, then he added guiltily, “I should have taken you home yesterday.”
“Cough, I’m fine,” Xiao Liulang said earnestly.
Du Ruohan snorted, “I told you he was okay, didn’t I? He’s a married man. He went home to his warm wife and child. Why are you worried about him?”
Xiao Liulang’s face turned slightly red, he cleared his throat and said, “Let’s go inside.”
The four of them entered the Taihe Hall.
Xiao Liulang’s early departure yesterday had made some people unhappy. In such a world, if you are too clean, you will only make others look unclean.
“What’s the big deal about him? It’s not like we didn’t know how he became the laureate!”
“Lower your voice, be careful in case someone hears you.”
In the Taihe Hall, several scholars were engrossed in a heated discussion, their backs facing the entrance.
The dismissive one, Wang Yuan, came from the aristocratic Jiangnan Family. He, like Lin Chengye, was a son from a concubine in his family, but he had a better reputation and was more successful. He made it to the top ten in the spring examination. The concubine was betting that he would become the third place laureate, however, the Emperor did not show him favor in the Palace Examination.
His was the exam paper that had made it to the top twenty but was rejected by the Emperor.
Finally, he was ranked seventy-fifth, lingering at the tail of the second class.
When the fellow scholars advised him, he not only didn’t listen, he became even more disdainful: “Why should I fear being overheard? Have I spoken anything incorrect? Is it that he alone is allowed to act, but others are not allowed to speak? Is it not because he bears a resemblance to the deceased youngest son of Marquis Xuanping, that he won the Marquis’s partiality? He really considers himself a young marquis!”
Being in the imperial palace after all, Wang Yuan dared not speak too blatantly, or it would be an open challenge to the Emperor’s impartiality.
However, just because he did not mention it here, doesn’t mean he did not say it elsewhere. In fact, rumours about him started spreading in the inn immediately after Xiao Liulang and Ning Zhiyuan left last night.
Thus, the event of Marquis Xuanping rushing in to dress Xiao Liulang on the day of the Palace Examination had gained a reasonable explanation.
Not only that, but Xiao Liulang’s past achievements were thoroughly dug up as well.
“He entered the Tianxiang Academy with the worst score, and continued to stay at the bottom. Despite that, he managed to take the top spot in the county exam a few months later, can you believe that?”
“Why is that?”
“What else could it be? The headmaster of Tianxiang Academy is the senior disciple of the grand priest and the senior disciple brother of the young Marquis! Because of his resemblance to the young Marquis, the headmaster showed him favor, bought off the County Magistrate, and helped him score the first rank.”
“What about… the government exam?”
“The government exam is even more obvious, don’t you think? The examiner for the government exam is Governor Zhuang. You all must’ve heard of him, right? He used to be the teacher of the crown princess. The young Marquis grew up with the crown princess and had also attended the classes of Governor Zhuang, making him half a student of Governor Zhuang. Tell me, seeing that familiar face, how could Governor Zhuang not remember the young Marquis?”
“Then… why didn’t he rank first in the college examination?”
“Because the topper of the college examination was He Jinghong, a relative of the Luo Family! Who’d dare to mess with him?”
Such statements lacked logic completely.
Let’s not mention that Xiao Liulang was indeed the first in the college examination, except that He Jinghong switched his examination paper. Even if Xiao Liulang truly exploited every means to achieve his position, why did he lose to He Jinghong in the college examination, but won against him in the provincial examination?
He was afraid of the small college test, but not the grander provincial test?
This conversation was widely circulated last night. Fen Lin and Lin Chengye were drunk at that time and didn’t quite remember it, but hearing Wang Yuan’s derision now, everything came rushing back to them.
The two were extremely enraged, ready to dispute with Wang Yuan, but were stopped by Xiao Liulang: “Don’t make trouble in the palace.”
Fen Lin gritted his teeth: “But…”
Seeing Xiao Liulang, Du Ruohan said to Fen Lin and Lin Chengye: “If he’s not angry himself, why are you angry? Besides, mouths are on other people’s faces, can you sew them shut?”
A scholar from an impoverished family becoming the exam champion had threatened many people’s positions. Smearing and discrediting were just the tip of the iceberg; the real exclusion was yet to come.
The Luming Banquet was about to start, and everyone found their own seats and sat down.
There were no formal rules for the seating arrangement, but it was generally agreed that people would sit according to their examination rankings. For example, the seats at the lower left were usually for the top three scholars, whereas the seats at the lower right were reserved for the top scholars from the second and third classes.
However, after Prince An, injured, entered the Grand Hall, he didn’t sit at Xiao Liulang’s side, instead, he walked to the opposite side and sat in the position originally meant for the top scholar of the second class.
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His actions marked an unmistakable line of division. It was barely short of writing “I have parted ways with the champion” on his face.
As he did not sit next to Xiao Liulang, no one else dared to sit there either, so the seats next to Xiao Liulang were left vacant.
The seat for the third place laureate was also empty as Ning Zhiyuan had not yet arrived.
Ning Zhiyuan arrived late and found out that the seats for the second and third place laureate were still empty. He stole a glance at Prince An, who was already comfortably seated on the opposite side, and without saying a word, quietly took his seat next to Xiao Liulang.
