Ersu and Zhang Yue were still waiting outside Chongzheng Hall.
At this time, a young man from the Huangmen came and said: "Your Majesty has decreed that today is too late. You guys should go back and wait, and we will announce your admission to the palace tomorrow."
The three of them all thought they would be ranked today, but they didn't expect that they still didn't know anything until now. Could it be that something went wrong during the exam?
The three of them all had some ups and downs in their moods, and they were a bit impatient.
However, the three of them left Chongzheng Hall as promised. When they arrived outside Donghua Gate, they saw two carriages waiting here.
Family members on both sides greeted them.
"Third brother, third uncle."
"He Zhong, Tongshu."
Zhang Yue saw Zhang Shi, Zhang Qiu each lit a lamp, and Tang Jiu sat in the car with a smile on his face.
Zhang Yue turned around and saw Su Shi and Su Che talking to Su Xun. The three of them, father and son, are enjoying themselves happily.
Zhang Yue greeted Zhang Shi and Zhangqiu, then saluted Su Xun and said, "I have met the distinguished man."
"This must be the number one scholar."
Su Xun nodded, his expression a little calm. Zhang Yue looked at the other party's expression and understood the subtle relationship between them. Su Xun should regard himself as the competitor of his two sons.
Zhang Yue could understand his love for his son and stepped aside.
Su Xun asked his two sons with concern: "What is the rank of the imperial examination?"
Su Shi said: "Tomorrow the emperor will call us into the palace to announce the order."
Su Xun frowned at first, then relaxed and said: "It doesn't matter, good things come hard."
Hearing that the results of the imperial examination had not yet come out, Su Xun smiled and said to Zhang Yue, who had returned to his family: "The number one scholar, the husband of the Zhang family, after the examination, I invited you two to come to my home in Yiqiumen to talk."
Zhang Yue cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
After saying that, Sansu got on the carriage.
Su Zhe said to Su Xun on the carriage, "Dad, Zhang Sanlang is a gentleman."
Su Xun said: "I know that Zhang Sanlang is a gentleman. There are no brothers or fathers in the examination room. Back then, I saw my best friend turn against me because of an examination, and I suffered a loss because of it. As for making friends slowly in the future, it is not too late. Do you remember what I said?"
Su Shi and Su Che all said so.
Su Xun said: "Tell me your strategies for the imperial examination. He Zhong, you tell me first."
Su Shi touched his belly and said, "Daddy, do you want my belly to read?"
"how?"
"I'm so hungry."
When Su Xun heard this, he laughed and scolded: "You are so unserious, how can you be as stable as my uncle?"
Su Shi knew that his father felt more sorry for Su Che.
Su Zhe saw this and said, "Dad, I'm hungry too."
The three people in the car laughed together.
In another carriage, Zhang Yue was chewing braised donkey meat. The fragrant braised donkey meat was truly a delicacy in the world.
"My brother is very attentive and knows that I am hungry after taking the exam."
Hearing Zhang Yue's praise, Zhang Shi rubbed his hands with a smile and said, "As long as it's delicious, don't buy it if it's not enough."
Zhang Yue said: "Enough, enough, otherwise my sister-in-law will not be able to eat the food at home."
Zhang Yue was eating fire when he heard a sound coming from outside.
Zhang Yue asked: "What's the matter?"
Tang Jiudao: "It's the Wu Mansion who sent someone here."
Zhang Yue devoured the remaining donkey meat in two mouthfuls, opened the curtain of the carriage, looked outside and said with a smile, "Isn't this Wu Dadu's responsibility?"
The other party said politely to Zhang Yue: "Knowing that Mr. Sanlang is taking the imperial examination today, the old lady and the two gentlemen in the mansion are very concerned about him, so they asked me to inquire."
Zhang Yue said: "Lao Taijun, the two gentlemen are thinking about you. I will go to the palace tomorrow to declare the ranking, and then go to the mansion to report."
Wu Dadu Guan Daxi said: "I know this, so I will go back to my house and report it to the old lady and the two gentlemen."
Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Wu Dadu will take care of it if you can."
Wu Dadu went back to report to the old lady, Wu Anshi. The old lady asked a few questions about when Zhang Yue took the exam and had he eaten?
Wu Anshi paced back and forth: "Why didn't the officials declare inferiority at this time?"
Wu Anshi has been somewhat unhappy with Fan in the past few days. Wu Anshi wanted to take in a concubine, which caused great dissatisfaction with the Fan family because this concubine had been a singing girl.
What Fan means is that if you raise a girl from such a family, I can turn a blind eye, but I can't marry her into the family.
But Wu Anshi insisted on marrying, which alarmed her father-in-law Fan Zhen. Fan Zhen wrote a letter to express his objection to Wu Anshi and reprimanded him, but Wu Anshi still married his concubine.
As a result, Fan was so angry that he moved out of the main courtyard.
Wu Anshi also said that the other party was just being petty, but later she panicked when she saw that Fan had moved for more than a month. It happened that he was also tired of his concubine. He knew that Shiqi Niangsu had a good relationship with Fan, so he came to look for his sister.
The day before the Royal Examination.
The Seventeenth Mother was playing the piano in the piano pavilion when she saw her brother hurriedly entering. The Seventeenth Mother didn't ask any questions and just played the piano alone.
Seeing that her sister ignored her, Wu Anshi said, "Your sister-in-law treats me like this, and so do you."
Seventeenth Mother stopped playing the piano, took off the jade pick from her fingertips and said, "Brother, what you did will be decided by the family. I dare not say anything about it, and you don't want to hear what I have to say."
After speaking, Shi Qiniang walked to the window and turned her back to her brother.
Wu Anshi said angrily: "Why do you think I want to reconcile with your sister-in-law? Firstly, it is for the sake of harmony in the family, and secondly, it is not because Lao Taishan is now the imperial examination examiner..."
The Seventeenth Mother turned around and said: "Then I really want to thank my brother for the husband of the Zhang family. But I heard that Mr. Fan is an upright man and never shows favoritism. I think it's okay if my brother doesn't mention it. If he does, he will be laughed at by the Fan family. ."
Wu Anshi said: "It's not because of you that I want to ask people to show favoritism. Huh, third place in the Imperial Examination is indeed remarkable, but Zhongshu has already said that there is only one third place in the Imperial Examination."
"If you think about it, our eldest uncle got the third class in the royal examination, and my Wu family rose from an ordinary official family in Fujian to a prominent family today. You should also think more about the future."
Seventeen Niang said: "Brother, if you really wanted to, you would not have taken a concubine in the first place, let alone make Mr. Fan the laughing stock of others. I am on good terms with my sister-in-law, but if you treat her like this, no matter how shameless I am, I won’t ask her about this private matter.”
Wu Anshi said: "Let me ask you again, do you really mean this?"
Seventeen Niang looked at Wu Anshi and said: "Brother, although it is an imperial examination, the court has its own rules and it is difficult for the examiner to show favoritism. Mr. Fan is not accommodating. What's more, you have treated him badly now. If Mr. Fan is not impartial, just take revenge." ."
Wu Anshi laughed angrily and said, "You can do whatever you want. As an elder brother, I'll just be meddling in my own business. I wanted to find other examiners for you, but I'll let that go."
Seeing that Seventeenth Mother didn't answer, Wu Anshi rolled her sleeves and left the house.
Wu Anshi walked to the door and paused: "You said Mr. Zhang will take the exam based on his ability. I believe that he is sure of it based on his talent. But whether he can beat Ersu, who is famous all over the world, what rank will he get in the exam?" Wait, don’t you know? Just don’t regret what you said today.”
This is the day of the Royal Examination.
Wu Da Du Guan reported back to Wu Anshi. Wu Anshi thought for a while and sent her confidants to ask Lao Taishan for advice.
But the confidant was kicked out without even entering the Fan family's door.
When Wu Anshi heard about this, her face suddenly hurt.
Li Taijun scolded: "Now that you are in the officialdom, you will have to rely on the Yue family to take care of you when you get to the officialdom. It would be better for you to offend the entire Fan family just for the sake of a singing girl."
"The wife of the wife is so angry that she can't save her face and come to apologize. However, you asked your sister to intercede on your behalf and even made some excuses. I feel sorry for you."
Wu Anshi was scolded by Li Taijun and her face turned blue and white.
The next day.
In the Chongzheng Hall, Zhang Yue, Su Shi and Su Che were all waiting in green robes.
Soon a young man from the Huangmen came and said, "Your Majesty has decreed that Su Shi should be proclaimed, and Zhang Yue is the right one."
The emperor gives me a meeting?
Zhang Yue had no time to think too much and said: "I accept the decree."
Why don't you tell me we'll see you later? But why didn't Su Zhe see him?
Su Shi was very happy to know that he was the right one, but he asked again: "I don't know why I don't have a brother-in-law?"
Xiao Huangmen shook his head and said, "This is difficult for a villain, Mr. Su. How can a villain dare to ask what the official means?"
Su Zhe said: "Brother, the official family has given me this gift. This is an unparalleled grace. Don't miss me. I'll just wait here."
Xiaohuangmen led Su Shi and Zhang Yue walked a long way in the imperial city and finally entered the imperial garden.
Xiaohuangmen asked Zhang Yue to wait outside the imperial garden gate, and he led Su Shi inside first.
Zhang Yue waited for more than a quarter of an hour but saw Su Shi walking out the door nervously and happily.
Zhang Yue can understand this feeling very well. Don't talk about the lingering feudal poison. If it were him, and a leader who usually held a high position took the initiative to say a few words to you, his mood would be as overwhelming as the sea.
Looking at Su Shi's high spirits, it is obvious that Caijun's prelude was very good.
Su Shi nodded to Zhang Yue, who was about to step forward to inquire. At this time, another little Huangmen came out of the garden and said, "Master Zhang, come in with me."
Zhang Yue had no choice but to smile with Su Shi and follow him into the garden.
After entering the garden, Zhang Yue followed the little Huangmen with bated breath. Along the way, I saw many strange flowers and plants, rocks and pines planted on all sides.
After passing through a Ningmen gate, Zhang Yue walked on the cobblestone road to an imperial pond that was about an acre in size.
But I saw a huge yellow umbrella holding a sunshade beside the imperial pond, and an official was sitting under the umbrella and fishing with a fishing rod.
Xiao Huangmen made a silent gesture to Zhang Yue, telling him to stand where he was and not move, and then left.
At this time, the autumn sun was shining brightly, making Zhang Yue's body feel a little hot.
Zhang Yue didn't know if he should wait for the officials to finish fishing. Anyway, he couldn't say anything. It would be a serious crime if the fish that voluntarily took the bait ran away.
However, the official did not let Zhang Yue wait long. He turned around and saw Zhang Yue and waved.
Zhang Yue then avoided the sun and walked to the official's house to pay homage.
The official smiled and said: "This place is no better than the court hall. There is no need to observe the red tape between the monarch and his ministers. Sit down."
Zhang Yue looked at the futon placed next to the emperor and immediately thanked him and sat down.
The official waved his fishing rod and said, "I've been fishing here for half a day and I haven't seen a single fish take the bait. Compared to Emperor Zhenzong, I'm really not good at fishing."
Zhang Yue replied: "Your Majesty, it's not that your Majesty is not good at fishing, but that the fish in the imperial pond know etiquette."
The official turned his head to Zhang Yue and asked, "Why do you see it?"
Zhang Yue said: "There are poems to prove it."
Zhang Yue immediately thought: "Several feet of silk fell into the water, and the golden hook was thrown away without a trace."
"No fish dares to approach the emperor, long live the king only fishes for dragons."
Official Zhao Zhen was stunned for a moment, then Long Yan was delighted.
Just when Zhang Yue was about to feel that the dragon's fart was finished, he saw the fishhook sink in the official's hand. It turned out that a fish had been hooked.
Zhang Yue's face turned dark when he saw this. This was a slap in the face.
But when he saw the official untying the fish from the hook, he looked at the confused Zhang Yue and said with a smile: "This fish doesn't know etiquette. I order you to go back to my house and cook it."
