“Who is it?”
The Emperor asked when he heard the chamberlain’s shout.
Eunuch Huang walked to the door and glanced outwards, immediately bowing back to report, “Your Majesty, it’s Song Si.”
“Present it!”
Eunuch Huang walked to the door again and shouted, the chamberlain quickly brought in Song Si’s article, which Eunuch Huang took in his hand and held it up to the Emperor.
His Majesty took it and quickly let out a praising sound, “Good, good, good!”
The crowd of ministers stretched their necks, except for Duke Ding and Duke Qi who stood motionless.
After reading it, the Emperor was thrilled. He hadn’t read such a good article in years and asked Eunuch Huang to give it to the old man, “Old Mr Xu, take a look.”
The old gentleman took it, read it carefully, and was also full of praise, saying without avoiding suspicion, “This article is excellent, and should be among the top three.”
“The old gentleman is wrong, I think he should be the first prize winner.”
When the emperor said this, the hall was in an uproar.
In the past, after the temple exams, the papers had to be read by the Ministry of Officials and the better essays were selected and presented to the Emperor for him to decide who would be the first prize winner, but today the Emperor had actually decided after reading only one of Song Si’s essays.
The old gentleman was also surprised, then he thought of something and advised, “Your Majesty should not be too hasty, although this essay is good, there may be better ones than this.”
There was silence in the hall.
The civil and military officials seemed to be standing with their eyes and noses in the air, but in fact they all quietly raised their eyelids to look at Old Mr Xu. After Song Si had won the Huiyuan, they had also sent people to pry into Song Si’s affairs and learned that Song Si had been instructed by the old gentleman more than once, thinking that Song Si should have a mentorship with the old gentleman, but they did not expect that the first person to object would be the old gentleman.
“Duke Qi, what do you think?”
The emperor suddenly looked at the Duke of Qi and asked.
The civil and military officials were all stunned, the Duke of Qi hadn’t seen the article either, so why would the Emperor ask this?
The Duke of Qi stepped forward and bowed, “I think the old man has a point, Your Majesty can wait a little longer.”
“Fine.”
The emperor surprisingly listened to the advice and placed Song Si’s essay on the desk, waiting for the next scholar to hand in his paper.
The civil and military officials were puzzled, looked at the emperor and then at the Duke of Qi, suddenly understood something and shook their heads invisibly. If Song Si really married the princess, his life would be over, but for a country schoolboy, marrying the princess might feel like a good step to heaven.
He looked at the Duke of Qi and smiled coldly. He wanted to see what the Duke of Qi’s expression would be when he found out that Song Si was his grandson-in-law.
“Your Majesty, another person has handed in their papers.”
Eunuch Huang excitedly reported that in the previous temple exams, the students only handed in their papers at the end of the hour, but this year there were two who handed in their papers early.
The emperor was also overjoyed, “Present it.”
The Emperor read through them and was overwhelmed with praise, “This year’s candidates have really surprised me, there are so many outstanding talents.”
The civil and military officials once again stretched their necks.
The Emperor asked Eunuch Huang to bring it to him, and looking at the familiar writing style on it, Mr. Xu knew whose essay it was.
The first thing he did was to turn in his paper and bow in the direction of the Golden Palace, and was led by the chamberlain to the outside.
……
“Big brother.”
Song Wangyue saw him at a glance and waved at him as Song Si smiled and came this way.
Looking at his expression, Song Wangyue knew she was in good hands. She smiled happily and jogged up to meet him to help Song Si with his things, but Song Si dodged her and rubbed her head smoothly, “Go home.”
When she heard the sound of the carriage, she knew that she had returned, and she and Liu Cui Lan quickly went to the kitchen to cook.
The family had an early dinner and gathered in the hall to talk.
Song Wan Yue looked at Xu, who nodded slightly, she then looked at Song Si, and after seeing Song Si also nod slightly, she smiled and spoke, “Grandma, second uncle, second aunt, I want to tell you something.”
Grandma Song stopped talking and looked at her with a smile on her face, “Go ahead.”
Her grandson had finished his temple exams and was ready to be betrothed, and she was now filled with thoughts of Song Si’s betrothal.
“My mother she ……”
Song Wan Yue stretched her voice, seeing Grandma Song and Liu Cui Lan and Song Shu all look at her before she continued, “It’s Old Master Xu’s granddaughter.”
There was a silence in the room.
The three of them had heard from Song Si’s mouth many times in the past few days who Old Mr. Xu was, and they were thinking of buying some nice gifts to pay their respects when the temple exams were over. …… How did Xu become his granddaughter?
The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you’re doing.
Xu nodded her head.
Grandma Song’s heart sank to the bottom, the Xu family was a big family, they would certainly not look at Song Lin, when the time came, if they forced Xu to make a divorce-
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “You remember?”
Xu shook her head slightly, “I only remember some of it, I haven’t fully remembered.”
“Then you ……”, Grandma Song was a little anxious, but stopped in her tracks after saying two words, if Xu hadn’t lost her memory, she and their family would be a world apart, Song Lin had married her for so many years, it was already a blessing in eight lifetimes.
Song Shu and Liu Cui Lan couldn’t believe it, how could his sister-in-law suddenly become the granddaughter of a great Confucian, if so, would she still be willing to follow her elder brother? Would she still follow him back? If she didn’t follow him back, would he still go crazy?
“It’s a good thing.”
Grandma Song quickly calmed down, “Tomorrow we’ll go and pay our respects to your parents.”
Song Wangyue smiled wryly, “Make a lot of noise.”
The crowd looked towards her.
“My mother had an accident that caused her memory loss, now she still hasn’t thought about it, so we naturally want to give the person who caused her a “surprise”.”
She emphasized the word “surprise”, and Grandma Song immediately understood what she meant, “Okay, let’s do as you say, let’s make a big fuss about the recognition of the relatives.”
The following day, the family ate breakfast and waited until the hour to get on the carriage and march towards the Xu family.
On the way, they attracted the attention of many people. When they arrived at the entrance of the Xu family, Grandma Song got off the carriage first and walked up to the gatekeeper, “Excuse me, is this Mr. Xu’s house?”
Her voice was already loud, and she deliberately raised it a bit, so people passing by could hear it and looked over.
The watchman dared not be slow and asked in a respectful voice, “Are you ……?”
“My daughter-in-law is Xu Qingwan, we sent her back today.”