Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 56 The end of the examination
In March, flowers are already in full bloom and grass is growing in the south of the Yangtze River, but Beijing is just entering spring.

The willows beside the river bank are sprouting new buds, the elm seeds are turning green, and the melted snow water gathers into the river, turning into rolling spring waves.

Spring is here, and it is time for animals to reproduce.

The city of Beijing also became extremely lively as the imperial examination began.

Thousands of candidates from all over the country, bringing their friends, made the already prosperous city of Beijing even more noisy.

In the examination hall, Zhang Yunxiu sat upright in his small room, writing furiously.

Those who passed the examination were called "Gongshi". This was almost the last examination of the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty.

Although there is a palace examination later, it is just a ranking. In other words, as long as you pass the examination, you will become a Jinshi.

The top three in the first class: Jinshi.

Several second-class candidates: Jinshi graduates.

Several of the top three: all Jinshi graduates.

Admission is almost equal, as long as you don't curse the emperor or say anything treasonous during the palace examination.

The emperor would give him the status of a Jinshi and send him away.

After all, candidates who failed the exam have always been an extremely terrifying existence in every dynasty.

Huang Chao of the Tang Dynasty had nothing to do after failing the imperial examination and almost overturned the table.

Zhang Yuan of the Northern Song Dynasty fled to Western Xia because he failed the imperial examination, and ended up bringing great harm to the Song Dynasty.

Oh, and there's also a mustache guy from the West.

"call"

After writing for more than two hours, Zhang Yunxiu's forehead was sweating and his wrists were sore.

He wanted to stand up and move around, but the small room was too narrow. This was also a VIP room, and there were examination rooms that were worse than this one.

After taking a few deep breaths, Zhang Yunxiu worked hard and finished it in one go.

After finishing writing, he immediately signaled to the examiner.

The inspecting official hurriedly picked up his robe and strode over.

"Hand in the paper." Zhang Yunxiu said, pointing to the filled answer sheet.

The examiner motioned Zhang Yunxiu to stand up and walk outside the shed, then he went inside to take a look. He saw that the rice paper was already filled with densely packed small characters written in neat regular script.

Regardless of the content, at least the words are pleasing to the eye.

"Okay, but there's not much time left before the end of the exam, so I dare not let you go easily." The inspector collected the test papers and looked at Zhang Yunxiu with a pleading look, "Mr. Zhang, would you mind staying here for a while?"

"Ok."

Zhang Yunxiu nodded in agreement and sat back in the shed.

The examiner felt relieved and hurriedly asked the soldiers to bring food and water to Zhang Yunxiu.

Perhaps they noticed that Zhang Yunxiu had handed in his paper, and the candidates who had not yet finished their papers suddenly became nervous. Many of them had thick sweat on their foreheads, and their hands holding the pens could not stop shaking.

Three hours passed like this, the sun began to set, and the blood-red sun struggled not to fall.

The invigilator stood up and ordered someone to ring the pendulum to signal the end of the exam.

"Dangdangdang..."

There was an instant commotion in the examination area.

"I haven't finished answering yet, wait until I finish."

"Why didn't you do it earlier? If you don't let go, you will be treated as a cheater!"

"Get out of here, get out of here, and wait for me to finish answering. Otherwise, after I am found guilty, I will definitely punish you petty officials."

"Come here, take this law-defying lunatic away!"

Zhang Yunxiu ignored the farce, and walked out of the examination room door slowly with a relaxed look on his face. Outside the door, Zhang Fu was waiting early, and then Zhang Yunxiu came to a secluded place.

After a while, Zhang Fu smiled and handed him a towel to wipe his face, saying, "Sir, today's exam is finally over. It's time to have a good rest."

"That's right." Zhang Yunxiu nodded, and then said, "By the way, have you bought the house I asked you to help buy?"

"I've bought it. It's right next to East Street. It's a large mansion with three entrances and three exits. Although it's not as prosperous as Dengshi Street and Fugui Street, it's still acceptable." Zhang Fu replied respectfully.

"How much did it cost in total?"

"Fifty taels."

"Fifty taels?!" Zhang Yunxiu's face was filled with disbelief. He thought he had heard wrongly, and stared at Zhang Fu with wide eyes and asked, "Are you sure it's fifty taels of silver, not fifty taels of gold?"

Zhang Fu nodded, then suddenly blushed and muttered, "The owner of that house was originally an official in the Imperial Palace. He committed a crime and was thrown into the East Factory prison, so the house became empty."

"You want to intercede for them?" Zhang Yunxiu heard some hidden meaning and stared into Zhang Fu's eyes and asked, "Or did you accept benefits from them?"

Zhang Fu's eyes were evasive and he told everything.

It turned out that after the owner of this house was thrown into the East Factory, his family moved around everywhere.

It happened that Zhang Fu was helping Zhang Yunxiu buy a house, so the family simply sold the house at a low price and gave it to Zhang Fu with 100 taels of silver.

Just so that the master can be released from prison soon.

"You are so funny. You dare to take any money." Zhang Yunxiu was unhappy and couldn't help but sneered.

Zhang Fu was uneasy at this "stab". He rolled his eyes and said tentatively, "If you don't like it, I will return the house and money and find another house."

"No need, let's go to this place." Zhang Yunxiu waved his hand and asked, "What crime did the owner of that house commit? If he committed a crime, don't blame me for not helping him."

Seeing Zhang Yunxiu give in, Zhang Fu hurried forward and said, "It's not a big deal. He just drank and had sex with prostitutes. He was impeached by the Fengxian official, so the emperor ordered Eunuch Feng to arrest him and bring him to the East Factory."

You're taking this money too?
Zhang Yunxiu was filled with anger and kicked Zhang Fu.

Zhang Fu screamed "Ah!", lost his balance, stumbled and fell to the ground.

He struggled to get up and explained, "The emperor only said to give a slight punishment. Besides, how could the emperor remember to come to such a small official?"

"Whether to release him or not, and when to release him, isn't it just a matter of a word from Eunuch Feng?"

Zhang Yunxiu realized that visiting prostitutes was not a sin at all.

But he was quite unhappy that Zhang Fu made the decision behind his back and dared to do such a big thing without consulting him.

After a few seconds of silence, he looked at Zhang Fu coldly and shouted, "Go back and get fifty strokes from You Qi yourself."

"Yes."

Zhang Fu lowered his head and agreed.

"Give it here." Zhang Yunxiu stretched out his hand.

"What?" Zhang Fu asked.

"You promised something to someone else, you get the money, but I still have to do the job for you with a shameless face. How can such a good thing happen in the world?" Zhang Yunxiu waved his hands and shouted.

Zhang Fu's face was full of grievance. He bit his cheek, and two hot tears welled up in his eyes.

Tell me, who was he running around for? Not only did he not get a penny, but he was also beaten with a stick.

Where can I reason from this?
As he thought about it, tears were already dripping onto his hands as he touched the silver.

Zhang Yunxiu's heart softened, and he opened his mouth to tease, "Are you angry?"

"I dare not." Zhang Fu wiped his tears with the back of his hand and replied with his head lowered.

Zhang Yunxiu patted Zhang Fu on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Uncle Fu, I know you want to save money for me. I don't want to do the trick of "no fish in clear water". However, when you work with me, you must know clearly what money you can take and what money you can't take."

"I know I was wrong. Next time I encounter something like this, I will definitely discuss it with you, sir." Zhang Fu blushed.

"That's right. Since you already know, you don't need to be punished." Zhang Yunxiu smiled and took out half of the silver and slapped it into Zhang Fu's hand. "Take it and buy something for your new wife."

(End of this chapter)