Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

Chapter 391 A Visit to the Yu Residence
As for what happened back then, Sheng Changquan and Minglan have reached their own conclusions. As for who was right and who was wrong, that will have to wait and see.

As for Xiaodie, she was ultimately unable to meet Minglan during this trip, and simply returned with Aunt Wei.

Unfortunately, with everything still unresolved, Sheng Changquan could only try to minimize Minglan's contact with old friends and past events to avoid affecting his plans.

As for the mastermind behind it all, the siblings also began their own plans at the same time.

……

After the autumn imperial examinations, the spring imperial examinations will follow immediately.

However, there are still six months until this year's imperial examination.

For some candidates who barely passed the provincial examination, this was undoubtedly the last chance to cram before the exam.

However, for Sheng Changquan, this was not the most important thing; he valued two other things.

Firstly, he hoped to guess who the chief examiner for this year's imperial examination would be, so as to understand the person's political views and writing style.

Of course, Sheng Changquan couldn't simply pander to the examiner's temperament and lose his own edge; his intention was simply to know himself and his opponent.

The more important the exam, the more careful you must be. If you flatter the examiner too much, unless you two have a tacit understanding and no one has investigated, the outcome will be difficult to achieve.

Some examiners might even deliberately reject exam papers that "preference them" to avoid suspicion of impropriety.

In short, this matter is too complicated to be controlled by anyone. Even if Panzi came, he would still end up like Ga Zi.

The last thing that caught Sheng Changquan's attention was his rivals, such as Li Yancheng, Yuan Shanjian, and Lou Ben.

Of course, it was them, but not only them.

After all, these people were merely opponents in the Bianjing urban and rural examinations.

The world is vast, and there are countless people with extraordinary talents. How could Sheng Changquan, a man of the Way of the Gods, dare to underestimate the people of the world?
To be honest, Sheng Changquan was somewhat confident that he would become the top scholar in the provincial examination.

You should know that he went to great lengths to win over the examiners before the exam. He not only gathered information about Lord Zhai Jingnian from his own father, brothers, teachers, and friends, but he also went to the home of the Minister of Rites to inquire about his temperament and political views.

Of course, it wasn't just the Shen family; Sheng Changquan also shamelessly sought advice from the Yu family as well.

Therefore, Sheng Changquan dared to make a bold statement to Minglan, saying that he would definitely pass the provincial examination this time!
As for the top scholar in the imperial examination, that was simply a matter of luck.

If this was the case for the autumn imperial examinations, then the spring imperial examinations would be even more so. Sheng Changquan had already begun taking action long ago.

Since the imperial court had not yet announced who would be the chief examiner for the imperial examination, Sheng Changquan planned to go to the Shen family to sound out who Shen Shouzhen, this "cunning fox," might have any advice.

After all, he was Shen Li's closest friend.

They are the kind of dearest friends and family you'd have to pay extra to be sold!

However, before Sheng Changquan went to the Shen residence, he had to go to the Yu residence first today.

After all, he had exchanged letters with both families before the autumn examination, and he had to settle this matter.

……

"Tap Tap!"

After traveling for some time, Sheng Changquan arrived at the entrance of the Yu residence in a carriage.

"Ok?"

However, he suddenly felt that something was wrong with what he was seeing.

"Why is the main gate of the Yu residence closed in broad daylight?"

"Could it be that there's no one home in the manor?"

Sheng Changquan shook his head inwardly.

impossible!
Even if the entire Yu family goes out, the servants of Tar still have to stay in the mansion, right?

Especially the gatekeeper!
"Perhaps the gatekeeper was being lazy?" Sheng Changquan thought to himself.

After all, what could possibly happen in the capital?
"Changqing!" Sheng Changquan turned around and said, "Go!"

Nodding to Xu Changqing, Sheng Changquan gestured for him to go forward and knock on the door.

As for Xu Changqing, he was already prepared. He replied with a very considerate "Yes, young master!" and then immediately jogged forward.

Judging from his appearance, he was indeed quite obsequious. Actually, it's not that Xu Changqing was inefficient in handling matters before, but rather that he was sometimes rather rough in his dealings with small things.

Of course, it's not that he's incapable of being attentive, but rather that he simply didn't notice.

Perhaps this is a common problem among scions of military families: they are generous but lack attention to detail.

If Gu Tingye hadn't been through so many setbacks and persevered through repeated failures, he probably wouldn't have been as meticulous as Xu Changqing!

These people can only be described as clear-headed on important matters, but indifferent to trivial ones.

However, for Sheng Changquan, who had been cautious since birth, this was absolutely intolerable!
However, despite Sheng Changquan's six or seven years of training, Xu Changqing's problem was not very effective and he was unable to completely get rid of it.

This guy only remembers what he was taught a lesson after two or three days, but after a while, it resurfaces.

Repeated attempts to correct the mistake will hardly be effective.

Ugh!
In short, it's a long story!

Just like this time, Sheng Changquan only took the opportunity of the day the results were released to properly "discipline" him.

However, he guessed that Xu Changqing's nature was hard to change, and it would probably take "several" methods before he could completely change his ways.

"Knock! Knock!"

At this moment, Xu Changqing knocked on the gate of the Yu residence for a long time, but no one came out.

"Strange? Why is there no one here in broad daylight?"

After knocking for a long time, no one in the Yu residence responded, so Xu Changqing couldn't help but feel puzzled.

"Where is the gatekeeper of the Yu residence?"

Because Sheng Changquan had already sent someone to the Yu residence to deliver a visiting card before today, Xu Changqing was certain that the Yu family knew that Sheng Changquan was coming today.

However, the current situation made him feel uneasy: "Could it be that the Yu family doesn't want to see us? Are they deliberately avoiding us?"

"wrong!"

Xu Changqing shook his head, secretly mocking, "How is that possible?"

"Even if a great figure like Grand Secretary Yu didn't want to see Sheng Changquan, he wouldn't stoop to such petty behavior!"

Just imagine, the grand residence of a high-ranking official, just to avoid seeing one person, they even moved away the gatekeeper?
is it possible?

Obviously not.

"Could it be that something happened at the Yu residence?"

With this in mind, Xu Changqing didn't dare to delay any longer and turned around immediately.

"Master?"

"This……"

"Ok?"

Seeing that Xu Changqing had been knocking for a long time but no one from the Yu residence came out, Sheng Changquan frowned deeply.

"Changqing, when you delivered your visiting card yesterday, did you notice anything amiss in the Yu household?" He began to have doubts.

"Something's wrong?"

Xu Changqing thought carefully for a while before replying, "Young Master, the Yu residence was perfectly fine yesterday; there was nothing wrong with it!"

"you sure?"

"Yeah, sure!"

Xu Changqing nodded affirmatively, and then said, "Young Master, I also saw Old Madam Yu at the time!"

"She happened to be going out at that time, so when I handed over the invitation, I also greeted her. I didn't expect her to remember me!"

Because of the friendship between Old Madam Sheng and Old Madam Yu, and the close friendship between Minglan and Yu Yanran, Sheng Changquan and others also became acquainted with Old Madam Yu.

I haven't gotten used to my sleep schedule lately, so please forgive me. This book isn't going to be abandoned, so I'll take my time.

(End of this chapter)