Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

Chapter 365 A Look at the Handsome Changquan at the Meeting
In fact, the reason why Zhongbo had such a special position in the Duke of Ying's mansion was not only because he had been with the Duke of Ying the longest and had a very strong seniority, but more importantly, it was because of his own abilities.

Despite his advanced age, Uncle Zhong is actually quite shrewd and has his own set of rules for dealing with people and things. Regardless of his martial arts skills, he was well-prepared when he accompanied Zhang Guifang to the appraisal meeting.

Before Zhang Guifang left, Uncle Zhong had already reviewed the information of all the students in the venue, which is why the scene we see today is like this.

Before Zhang Guifang could even open her mouth, Uncle Zhong was able to give her an answer immediately.

"Sheng Bianxiu's...younger brother?"

Upon hearing this identity, Zhang Guifang was completely bewildered.

Sheng Bianxiu actually refers to Sheng Changbai.

At this time, more than six years had passed. Although Sheng Changbai's official rank had been greatly improved, he still held the position of editor.

Or, to be precise, this editorship was Sheng Changbai's real job, while other positions like Hanlin Academy scribes were merely honorary titles and didn't really mean anything.

However, Sheng Changbai, a mere sixth-rank official, naturally wouldn't attract Zhang Guifang's attention. Right now, even if she racked her brains, she still couldn't remember Sheng Changbai's identity.

"Cough cough!"

Seeing Zhang Guifang's confused look, Uncle Zhong couldn't help but quietly remind her, "Miss, this Editor Sheng is actually the second son-in-law of the Hai family!"

"Oh?"

Upon hearing Zhongbo's explanation, Zhang Guifang immediately understood.

Although she had never heard of the Sheng family, she knew about the Hai family.

Because the Hai family was a renowned family of upright officials, even the Zhang family, the Duke of Yingguo, held them in high regard.

"Hai Chaoyun's brother-in-law, is that right?"

Watching Sheng Changquan's retreating figure carrying his things, a glint of shrewdness flashed in Zhang Guifang's eyes.

"By the way, Uncle Zhong, do you know what this kid's name is?"

Zhang Guifang suddenly remembered something and quickly turned around to ask a question.

"Miss, that young man's name is Sheng Changquan."

Zhongbo was indeed aware of this issue, after all, Sheng Changquan was considered a top contender in this year's provincial examination, and he was one of the candidates who had a good chance of winning the title of Jieyuan in Bianjing.

Moreover, due to the "shady dealings" of certain individuals, Sheng Changquan has become quite famous in the literary circles of Beijing. Putting aside everything else, his unique "Quan-style calligraphy" is already quite renowned.

Even if an ordinary person wanted to obtain Sheng Changquan's authentic works, there was nothing they could do. Even his father, Lord Sheng Hong, only had a few of his calligraphy practice manuscripts; he didn't have a single genuine piece of calligraphy or painting.

Getting back to the main point, in fact, when Zhongbo was investigating which young talents were participating in this provincial examination, he had already collected a list of scholars with considerable talent, including Sheng Changquan.

Moreover, Uncle Zhong paid considerable attention to Sheng Changquan because he thought Sheng Changquan was a good man and a good match for his daughter.

In fact, when the British Duke's family chose marriage partners for their children, they did not place much importance on family background.

As long as you are a good person, capable, and favored by the Zhang family's children, you will be accepted by the Zhang family.

Therefore, Zhongbo was very satisfied with Sheng Changquan's information.

Although there is a significant age gap between him and Zhang Guifang, with a difference of four years, it doesn't matter much. After all, there are many examples of wives being older than their husbands.

In some wealthy families, there are even older child brides who are kept specifically to ensure that their children are taken care of. Therefore, the age difference between the two is not a big deal.

"Sheng Changquan?"

"What a great name!"

As Zhang Guifang watched Sheng Changquan's figure gradually disappear into the distance, a smile slowly spread across her face.

She had a smile on her face and a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth, making it seem as if she had truly fallen for him.

"hehe!"

Seeing his daughter so "heart-fluttering" from behind, Uncle Zhong couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and felt a little more relaxed.

"Sigh! This girl has finally made a move!"

At this moment, Zhongbo felt a surge of excitement. He felt that he was even more excited than when he first went to the battlefield!
It's really not easy; our young lady has finally shown interest in watching other people.

However, Zhongbo was unaware that Zhang Guifang's performance was nothing more than an act.

In fact, Zhang Guifang didn't have any particularly strong feelings for Sheng Changquan; at most, she only felt a sense of admiration for him.

After all, compared to that group of amateurs, Sheng Changquan's extraordinary performance naturally attracted attention, especially his spirited demeanor, which drew admiration from the athletic girl Zhang Guifang.

Of course, Sheng Changquan's good looks also gave him a lot of advantages. Otherwise, if he were replaced by an ugly man, no matter how sunny or energetic he was, he would never attract anyone's attention.

On the other hand, the reason Zhang Guifang made such a gesture in front of Zhongbo was to lull him into a false sense of security for a while, at least to ensure that he wouldn't be disturbed while preparing for his "departure".

Because she also knew that Zhongbo was actually a spy planted by her father, and as long as she could get rid of Zhongbo, the old Duke of Ying would naturally not find out anything.

That's why Zhang Guifang deliberately acted as if she really liked Sheng Changquan in front of Zhongbo.

"girl!"

Seeing that Zhang Guifang already had a target, Uncle Zhong asked somewhat greedily, "Besides this Sheng family boy, do you want to look at any others?"

Because they were all secretly observing from the shadows, Uncle Zhong didn't think it was a bad thing for his daughter to have more backup options. In fact, which of the many girls present wasn't like that?

Indeed, Zhang Guifang was not the only girl hiding to secretly observe the candidates at the provincial examination venue. Crowds of people were also hiding in the corners of the venue from all directions.

In this crowd, besides the noble ladies from wealthy families, there were also a large number of servants and guards. It was precisely because of these people that every corner was crowded with people.

In fact, although these people tried their best to hide, due to objective factors, all the students participating in the provincial examination in Bianjing noticed the clues and knew about this group of people.

However, they did not feel it was impolite; in fact, they were quite excited about it.

"That's great! If I can catch the eye of these noble ladies, then my trip will have been worthwhile!"

Apart from a small number of people, the other students participating in the Bianjing urban and rural examinations all stood tall and proud, trying their best to present their best selves in an attempt to attract the favor of the girls.

Unfortunately, having suffered so much from the imperial examinations, they were hardly in good shape now.
Therefore, these self-satisfied scholars actually presented a very funny situation in the eyes of the girls.

Those scheming individuals all ended up making things worse, displaying the most clumsy performances with an extremely confident mindset.

The scene was truly hilarious, making one burst into laughter. "Hehe, that guy is so funny!"

"Yes! Yes!"

"Look, he's wearing his robe inside out, yet he dares to walk right in the middle of the avenue! Doesn't he realize how impolite that is?"

"Hehe, it's not just him, look, there's that one too..."

"..."

Those noble ladies all have their own social circles, so right now they are all gathered together in groups of three or five, pointing at the clumsy students in the distance and chuckling to themselves!
"Hey? Look, whose young master is that?"

"How can he be so handsome?"

Suddenly, someone cried out in surprise!
At that very moment, Sheng Changquan slowly emerged from behind the crowd.

"Ok?"

Hearing the girls talking like that not far away, Rong Feiyan slowly peeked out and looked over curiously.

That's right, Rong Feiyan was also present.

Both were forced into it by their families, and Rong Feiyan was no different from Zhang Guifang.

However, compared to Zhang Guifang's initiative, Rong Feiyan was much more gentle. Apart from an old nanny waiting by her side, she didn't have any elders watching over her.

After all, if it weren't for Uncle Zhong accompanying Zhang Guifang, who knows where she would be today!

Although Zhang Guifang and Rong Feiyan held similar positions in their respective families and were both extremely favored, with Rong Feiyan even being slightly more favored in the Rong family, the Zhang family, the Duke of Yingguo, was much more stable and had a historical weight that was "as heavy as Mount Tai" compared to the superficiality of the Rong family.

"Peony, what are they saying over there?"

Because the two had gone through a life-or-death ordeal together, Rong Feiyan and Mudan developed a very good relationship. Although Rong Feiyan was sometimes a bit willful, she genuinely cared for Mudan and they developed a sisterly bond.

Moreover, because of this incident, the entire Rong family treated her differently, especially Master Rong, who regarded her almost as his own daughter.

Within the Rong family mansion, Peony held a somewhat different status.

"Miss, they seem to be talking about the young master of the Sheng family."

"Young Master Sheng?"

Rong Feiyan was stunned: "What kind of family is the Sheng family?"

"Could it be that there is some Sheng family in the capital that I don't know about?"

When she heard Mudan mention the young master of the Sheng family, Rong Feiyan's first focus was not on the word "young master" at the end, but on the word "Sheng family" at the beginning.

Half of the reason is that Rong Feiyan already had someone she loved, so she no longer had much worldly desire for other young men.

In her heart, her greatest wish was to find her benefactor and then repay his kindness.

Of course, there are nuances to repaying kindness.

Because Rong Feiyan was a rather traditional girl, she could only repay her benefactor by marrying him and spending the rest of her life with him.

Secondly, it was also due to the Rong family's educational issues. After all, they had only risen to prominence in recent years, so the Rong family paid more attention to family background and such. As a result, Rong Feiyan inadvertently picked up this bad habit in the environment she was familiar with.

According to Rong Feiyan's information, there doesn't seem to be any famous Sheng family in the capital.

Could it be that the Sheng family is some kind of newly emerging family?
Rong Feiyan looked into the distance with some suspicion, preparing to see who this young master of the Sheng family really was.

"girl!"

Unlike Rong Feiyan, who was completely unaware, Mudan had gathered quite a bit of information, and like Zhongbo, she had also memorized some of the details beforehand.

This included the family backgrounds of the students who participated in the provincial examinations. Moreover, the more famous and talented a student was, the more carefully Mudan paid attention to them and the more detailed her notes became.

Coincidentally, Sheng Changquan was in such a situation.

"Huh? What?"

Supported by the other maids, Rong Feiyan shielded her eyes from the glaring sunlight with her hand while looking up into the distance, preparing to catch a glimpse of the "handsome man" who could elicit gasps of admiration from the crowd.

Indeed, although Rong Feiyan didn't hear it very clearly, she did catch the key word—"handsome".

Although she already had someone she loved, that didn't stop Rong Feiyan from appreciating such things.

Yes, it's just simple appreciation!
Without turning her head, Rong Feiyan asked, "Peony, what are you talking about?"

Because there were many people when the provincial examination ended, and Sheng Changquan's location was a place where many noble ladies lingered, many self-proclaimed scholars also stopped there.

Therefore, Rong Feiyan was unable to find the target she wanted to see for a while.

“Miss, the Sheng family is actually… Sheng Minglan’s family.”

Peony still remembered what had happened, so she said, "Moreover, this young master of the Sheng family is Sheng Minglan's younger brother, named Sheng Changquan."

"Sheng Minglan?"

Upon hearing this name, Rong Feiyan couldn't help but frown, feeling a strange unease in her heart.

Because she had once had some other thoughts about Qi Heng, Rong Feiyan specifically investigated his information, with the girls around him being her main focus.

Unlike the other girls, Sheng Minglan seemed to have an extraordinary significance for Qi Heng. At the time, she was thinking about how to get rid of this trouble, but due to a series of events that followed, she was delayed.

Now, there's even less need to do anything. After all, Qi Heng, that "fallen woman," is no longer Rong Feiyan's type, and she doesn't need to do anything more to Sheng Minglan.

"girl?"

Peony looked at Rong Feiyan with some concern, her expression showing a hint of reluctance.

Peony considered herself to know Rong Feiyan's personality to some extent. At this moment, when she mentioned Sheng Minglan, she felt that her young lady was probably going to do something to her.

After all, given Rong Feiyan's arrogant nature, she would surely seek revenge on those she had disliked in the past.

Even if the other party is completely innocent and has no idea when they offended her.

(End of this chapter)