Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

Chapter 337 The Reasons for Welcoming
The Shen family acted this way in order to minimize the anger in the official's heart.

After all, although the emperor was a benevolent ruler and not known for his cruelty, he was still, in any case, an ordinary person living in the mundane world, with the same human emotions and desires.

Even the emperor, high above all others, was no different from the common people living in the mud.

They all have their own emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, resentment, hatred, and resentment...

All these emotions are the same, and they all disturb the heart.

Therefore, the old fox of the Shen family, known for his caution and prudence, naturally wanted to express his respect for the emperor through this behavior.

After all, he was living under someone else's thumb, so how could he be careless?
Although it was tough on their daughter, it was unavoidable.

Moreover, if other girls don't participate in the beauty pageant, they still have to wait three years.

If one wanted to get married, one had to postpone it for three years. Although this rule was not explicitly stated, every household followed it, seemingly to demonstrate the majesty of the royal family.

However, this is still considered good, since the emperor did not directly issue an order requiring everyone to participate in the election. Compared to the previous dynasty where families were torn apart, the rules of this dynasty are much better.

……

"Brother!"

Just as Shen Li was secretly feeling lucky, a familiar voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

"Huh? Who?"

Shen Li was taken aback upon hearing this and quickly turned to look back.

However, upon hearing that familiar voice, Shen Li instinctively had a bad feeling.

"That voice... seems to be... my own older sister?"

In fact, there's no need to distinguish whether the voice is familiar or not; you can tell who this person is just from what they say.

After all, there aren't many people who call Shenli "brother".

really!

When Shen Li turned around and looked at the person who had come, he was devastated to find that the person who spoke was none other than his own sister, Shen Jun.

"Ah...elder sister!"

Shen Li blinked instinctively and stammered, seemingly unable to believe it. However, with the person standing right in front of him, how could Shen Li not see him?
So he quickly grinned, then swiftly regained his composure, took two steps forward ingratiatingly, and said directly to Shen Jun in a friendly tone, "Sister, you're finally back!"

"I've missed you so much these past few years!"

Over the years, Shen Li has not remained unchanged or failed to grow at all.

To put it simply, when he's with his family, he's become much more eloquent than before, and he's started saying a lot of nice things.

In fact, Shen Li's change was also thanks to Sheng Changquan. It was Sheng Changquan who explained this to Shen Li in his correspondence, advising him to say more nice things when interacting with others, so as to improve his interpersonal relationships.

Although the Shen family is of noble birth and most people don't need to care about them, even so, if Shen Li can make these changes and become more talkative, it will definitely benefit him greatly.

Sheng Changquan's words were ultimately for Shen Li's good.

After all, Sheng Changquan didn't want to sever ties with the Shen family.

This is especially true given that Lord Shen Shouzheng has "made progress" once again.

In the past six years, Shen Li's father, Lord Shen, has far surpassed Sheng Hong. Lord Shen has now "advanced" to a higher level and has become the Minister of Revenue.

The Minister of Revenue is in charge of the imperial treasury. He is a first-rank official, second only to the Grand Secretaries, and can be considered a high-ranking figure in the dynasty, just one step away from the very top tier.

In addition, Shen Shouzheng had already gained experience in several departments of the Six Ministries of the Imperial Court due to his own abilities and background. His qualifications and achievements were all top-notch, which is why he was able to become the Minister of Revenue and a powerful official.

Moreover, and most importantly, the current Grand Secretary, Grand Secretary Yu, who is also Yu Yanran's grandfather, is in poor health and often feels powerless to handle the heavy political affairs of the court.

Therefore, for the sake of his own health and that of his family, Grand Secretary Yu decided to petition the Emperor to retire and prepare to make his decision. So far, he has already submitted one memorial.

According to the tacit understanding between the cabinet and the emperor, unless there are special circumstances, a cabinet minister's resignation is usually requested and refused three times. Therefore, as long as Grand Secretary Yu comes twice more, he can go directly back to his hometown.

Moreover, as a former Grand Secretary who once held power in the imperial court, he was well aware of just how attractive the position of Grand Secretary was to others.

If Grand Secretary Yu were to retire at this time, then no matter what, the successor would have to be grateful to him for making room for him.

After all, if Grand Secretary Yu clings to power and refuses to step down, there's nothing anyone can do about it.

In the unspoken rules of the imperial court, if the successor is recommended by Grand Secretary Yu, it will further deepen the causal relationship between the two, making them have a closer sense of gratitude. Consequently, the new Grand Secretary will silently take care of and protect the family of the former Grand Secretary.

After all, every Grand Secretary in office will benefit from this rule, so as beneficiaries, everyone will naturally do their utmost to maintain this rule so that it can continue.

Of course, if the newly appointed Grand Secretary is not the one recommended by the previous Grand Secretary, then there is not much to say about their relationship. At most, they might help each other once in the future based on their relationship.

This kind of affection, however, is rather weak.

After all, the succession of this new Grand Secretary was not recommended by the previous Grand Secretary, which means that it was the new Grand Secretary's own method and had little to do with others or the previous Grand Secretary. So apart from a little bit of personal favor, there was nothing else to care about.

However, generally speaking, after the former Grand Secretary is appointed, the Emperor will ask for his opinion to see if he has any suitable people to recommend. If the person's qualifications and abilities are suitable and there are no other factors to consider, then the person recommended by the former Grand Secretary will have a great chance of entering the Grand Secretariat.

Moreover, even if one cannot enter the cabinet, as long as the former Grand Secretary mentions it before leaving, the Emperor will surely remember it.

Although it may not necessarily be useful, it will definitely be useful. Who knows, it might be remembered by the officials at some point in the future and then be reused.

However, precisely because Grand Secretary Yu is about to retire, there will inevitably be a vacancy for the position of Grand Secretary in the cabinet. Therefore, Shen Shouzhen, as the person in the first tier below those top bigwigs, naturally also has his eye on that position.

In fact, it could be said that the new Grand Secretary position will be chosen from among people of Shin Shou-jung's social class.

Therefore, Sheng Changquan would naturally not let go of Lord Shen, who had the potential to rise to the top or was about to join the cabinet, and would maintain a stable relationship with him.

Needless to say, Shen Li was a man worth befriending.

After all, Sheng Changquan doesn't just value people's backgrounds when making friends. If someone is not someone he can befriend, then no matter how strong their background is, they won't be on his radar.

……

"Humph!"

Seeing Shen Li's frivolous and playful demeanor, Shen Jun couldn't help but let out a soft snort.

"Brother, are you telling the truth?"

Shen Jun squinted, looking at her younger brother with suspicion.

In a moment, she stepped forward and tapped Shen Li's head with her slender finger, questioning him incredulously, "Brother, if you really miss me, why don't you go to the Sanqing Temple?" "And another thing!"

"How dare you be late today when you came to pick up Mother and me?"

"Is it that you miss your older sister that much?"

Although she was exposing Shen Li's past, Shen Jun's tone did not show any anger.

On the contrary, her words carried a hint of happiness, as if she had encountered something joyful.

However, Shen Jun does have reason to be happy.

After all, the fact that she was able to return to the capital today means that her time to pray for the Emperor has passed.

As a young girl, no matter how sensible Shen Jun is, or how willing she is to contribute to her family, she would not like to stay in the Taoist temple all the time.

"hey-hey!"

Seeing that Shen Jun had seen through his thoughts, Shen Li was a little embarrassed. However, since they were siblings, he quickly recovered. In addition, he noticed that his sister was in a good mood, so he took the opportunity to speak.

"Sister, I was just so engrossed in reading these past few days that I forgot about it."

"Please, sir, be magnanimous and forgive my mistake this time!"

Shen Li tugged at Shen Jun's sleeve, pleading softly, "At most..."

"At most, if anything happens in the future, I'll listen to you, sister!"

"Is it alright, sister?"

At this moment, Shen Li suddenly spoke in a coquettish tone, just like when he was a child.

However, Shen Jun didn't pay attention to any of that. Instead, she looked at Shen Li, frowned, and asked, "Oh? What did you say?"

"Are you so engrossed in reading?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Jun's heart skipped a beat, sensing that something was amiss.

"Brother, what's wrong with you?"

"Have you forgotten what your father warned you about before?"

"Huh? What?"

Upon hearing his sister's words, Shen Li immediately regretted it!

"Damn it, how could I have forgotten about this?"

Shen Li inwardly slapped himself in the face, and couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

"Sister, I...I misspoke!"

"Actually, what I wanted to say was... I... I..."

Shen Li is still Shen Li after all. Even though he has changed a bit, just like before, he gets stuck whenever he tries to lie and can't say anything.

"Alright, Shenli!"

"Explain yourself clearly what exactly happened here!"

Shen Jun's eyebrows furrowed, she was somewhat angry!

Actually, Shen Jun wasn't deliberately making things difficult for her younger brother; it was just that Shen Li himself was experiencing some health issues.

As mentioned earlier, Shen Li was not very talented. He barely passed the preliminary examination for the first degree, and even now he has only passed the lowest level of the imperial examination.

Compared to Sheng Changquan, who had already obtained the title of Xiucai six years ago, Shen Li failed the exam several times. He finally passed the provincial examination with great difficulty in the most recent one, and he was among the last few in the rankings, almost failing again.

Such results, compared to Sheng Changquan's achievements or his own family background, are truly dismal.

However, although he is not very old and can achieve higher academic honors in the future, his family knows his own situation. Whether it is Shen Li himself or his relatives such as Shen Shouzhen and Shen Jun, they all understand that, given Shen Li's aptitude, becoming a Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations) is already the ceiling of his life.

Unless there is some special "opportunity", it would be difficult for Shen Li to achieve success in the scientific expedition.

Before this, Shen Shouzhen had always thought that Shen Li would never pass the academy examination.

It was precisely because he foresaw that Shen Li would not become a scholar that Lord Shen believed he would not be able to inherit the position of clan head of the Shen family in the future, and would only be able to live a life of wealth under his family's influence.

Therefore, Lord Shen would not allow him to use the Shen family's name outside, lest he offend anyone. Instead, he kept him at home to cultivate his character and live a peaceful life.

However, to everyone's surprise, Shen Li, despite the risk of going astray, managed to overcome this obstacle and obtain the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations).

Although it was a difficult task, it was ultimately successful. This demonstrates that Shen Li not only preserved the legitimacy of Shen Shouzheng's direct lineage, but also ultimately succeeded as the head of the Shen family.

With the protection of the Shen family patriarch, Shen Li no longer feared that anything unspeakable would happen.

After all, as a long-established and prestigious family, the Shen family would not allow their patriarch to be put in danger.

However, Shen Li's success in passing this test came at a price. After passing the academy exam, he went back and slept for three days and three nights, barely escaping death!

It was precisely for this reason that Shen Shouzhen strictly ordered Shen Li not to be so mad in the future. Otherwise, Shen the Old Fox would really be worried that his lineage would be wiped out!
Therefore, from that time on, the entire Shen family understood the taboo of the Shen family, which was that Shen Li must never be allowed to study too obsessively.

After all, Shen Li is so stubborn; if things go wrong, he might just be meeting his ancestors!
"Sister!"

Shen Li was somewhat embarrassed and didn't want to explain it explicitly.

"Shenli!"

Shen Jun was somewhat angry: "What else do you want to hide? Do you really want me to tell Father about this?"

"Ah? No, please, sister!"

"I'll talk, I'll talk!"

Upon hearing Shen Jun's trump card, Shen Li broke out in a cold sweat and immediately admitted defeat.

Shen Jun didn't speak, but just kept looking at him quietly, her eyes filled with solemnity.

"Sister, actually, I wanted to take this opportunity to participate in this year's autumn imperial examination with Brother Changquan."

Long live China! Happy National Day to everyone! (Many thanks to the generous donations from the following readers: 无事的大咸鱼 (Wu Shi Shi De Da Xian Yu), 20190127155949451, and 20190923170849776!)

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(End of this chapter)