I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 18 Various aspects of life

Sparse raindrops fell, and along with the raindrops, there was a spring thunder from time to time. The students in the inn seemed to be stunned by the spring thunder, standing stupidly in the drizzle inside and outside the inn.

This alley is a gathering place for students from other places who are going to Beijing to take the imperial examinations, so there are a lot of students. The officer's shout put the students into a very strange atmosphere.

After a while, some students reacted and ran towards the Imperial College.

Afterwards, other students also flocked to the Imperial College in the rain.

"Brother Hou, don't you want to go to the Imperial College to take a look?" Sun Yunnian tried hard to suppress the joy in his heart, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

"If you win, there will be messengers to announce the good news. There is no need to rush now."

Hou Jichang shook his head and said with a smile: "Today, the two of you have been admitted. As a native of Kyoto, I naturally have to do my part as a good host."

As the saying goes, family members know their own affairs. Hou Jichang actually knew very well that he must have failed the exam.

Firstly, with his talent, he might not be able to stand out among the many candidates. After all, there were too many learned people who failed in previous years, and the competition was too fierce.

Secondly, his reputation was too bad. In the eyes of court officials, he was just a rebellious person with some talent. Even if he could stand out in the examination, he probably would not be selected in the end.

Although Tang Qingnan knew that he had won the first-class Jinshi, he still wanted to go to the outside of the Imperial College to take a look. However, as soon as he shouted, he was stopped by Sun Yunnian.

Sun Yunnian just shook his head at him, then bowed to Hou Jichang and said with a smile: "We are short of money, so we won't be polite to Brother Hou."

"As it should be."

Hou Jichang laughed loudly and shouted outside: "Waiter, bring us some good wine and food."

Soon, the waiter brought a new table of food and wine.

The innkeeper also came to congratulate them, and the general meaning was that he would not charge them any money, and would waive the room fees for Sun and Tang for the next few days. The two of them naturally thanked him, but rejected the innkeeper's kindness.

Their idea was simple: some loopholes could not be opened. If they accepted the kindness of the innkeeper today, then after becoming officials, if other people offered kindness to them, they might not be able to control their hands.

Looking at the two people at the same table, Hou Jichang was a little dazed. He raised his glass and poured it into his throat. He seemed not to feel the spicy taste of the wine. He was still in a trance and said, "I didn't expect it. I really didn't expect it."

"Brother Hou, what didn't you think of?" Tang Qingnan asked subconsciously.

"I think Brother Hou didn't expect that the Third Prince could actually make the Jinke Spring Examination fair and just."

Hou Jichang laughed loudly, slapped the table heavily, and said, "It is just as Brother Yunnian said. I really didn't expect that the Third Prince would be able to give me a fair treatment, and I didn't expect that the court would allow a fair Spring Examination."

He picked up the wine jug, filled the glasses of his two friends, raised his glass to invite them, and said excitedly: "Come, let's toast to His Highness the Third Prince."

"Cheers!" Sun and Tang had no time to say anything and drank their glasses excitedly.

The Qing Kingdom's officialdom has been plagued by long-standing corruption. Although everyone knows that it is impossible to completely change this situation just by relying on the Third Prince to preside over a spring examination, they are all scholars and know that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. As long as there is this change, and His Majesty has discovered the problem and is willing to solve it, these young, energetic, and even extremely naive scholars all believe that the future of Qing Kingdom will definitely become better.

On the other side, outside the Imperial College and Imperial Examination Hall.

At this time, many students had gathered.

Sometimes some poor students would shout excitedly: "I won, I won!"

Among those who made the list, some were crazy, some were crying with joy, and some were very calm.

In short, the joy is beyond words.

As for those students who failed the exam, they were naturally bitter and dejected. They couldn't even tell whether the water on their faces was tears or rain.

There is nothing better than this in all aspects of life.

Looking at the students below, one of the rich and powerful second-generations who were drinking in the restaurant outside the Imperial Academy said angrily, "Li Chengzong is such a loser, he really doesn't follow the rules at all."

The people at the same table ignored him and looked at the young man sitting in the main seat and said, "Brother Guo, Li Chengzong stole your father's position as the chief examiner and did not follow the rules. He really didn't give him any face. When will you teach him a lesson? Then we brothers will go to cheer you on."

The person addressed as Brother Guo was none other than the current Minister of Rites’ son—Guo Baokun.

Originally, the chief examiner of this year's spring examination was his father Guo Youzhi, but because of Li Chengzong's relationship, his father didn't get any benefits. Guo Baokun was naturally very angry, so he contacted some of his friends to teach Li Chengzong a lesson.

However, to this day, Guo Baokun dares not even have any idea at all.

He had already become a disciple of the prince, but he knew that Li Chengzong had sent someone to deliver a human head to the prince's mansion a few days ago.

Moreover, his father Guo Youzhi had repeatedly warned him not to provoke Li Chengzong.

In order to prevent his son from not listening to his advice, he also specifically told the origins of the guards around Li Chengzong. Face?

Li Chengzong didn't even give the prince any face. The prince's people said to kill him if they wanted to, so what did the Guo family count for?

Give Li Chengzong a taste of his own medicine, do you really think the Blood-robed Guards around him are vegetarians?!
Those people are ruthless and kill without blinking an eye. They are also very skilled in martial arts. Killing them is no different from killing a chicken.

At this time, Guo Baokun had drunk a lot of wine, but he was still sober. He shook his head and said, "I was ignorant before, so don't mention it again. Oh, I suddenly remembered that my father asked me to go home early today. It's not early now, so I'll go first. Brothers, eat slowly, and I'll pay for today's wine."

Seeing Guo Baokun get up and leave in a hurry, the people present were stunned for a moment, and it took them a long time to come back to their senses.

"What's going on? Has the fool from the Guo family grown a brain?"

"Did we overact and make him discover something?"

"Let's ask him out for a drink tomorrow and give him another try. If he doesn't work, forget it."

"Don't you want to teach Li Chengzong a lesson?"

"Why, Zhou Dewang, you still want to do it yourself? Don't blame me for not reminding you. Even if Li Chengzong is a loser, he is still a prince, and he has the Qin family behind him. The Qin family's bunch of stinky soldiers will not reason with you, they will only beat people up."

Li Chengzong naturally didn't know that these second-generation officials were going to teach him a lesson. Of course, even if he knew, it wouldn't matter. When he asked Emperor Qing to take over the Spring Examination, he was ready to face trouble.

After all, the Spring Examination touched the interests of too many people.

If these second-generations really dare to cause trouble for him... Li Chengzong can only say that killing the prince is killing, and killing a group of second-generation officials is also killing, and he doesn't mind wielding the butcher knife.

Dingwangfu.

Ever since Liu Qing moved into the palace, he would wait anxiously at the door every day for Li Chengzong to come back.

He wouldn't listen to anyone's advice, so within a few days of arriving at the palace, the old man's reputation as a stubborn person had spread throughout the palace.

As usual in the past few days, Fan Wujiu also accompanied Liu Qing at the gate today, chatting about the Spring Examination while waiting for Li Chengzong to return home from the palace.
After waiting from morning till sunset, the royal carriage finally showed up. When Liu Qing saw Li Chengzong getting off the carriage, he was about to speak, but Li Chengzong got ahead of him and smiled, "Congratulations, Mr. Liu, for winning the second place."

"Master, what about me?" Fan Wujiu, who was accompanying him, asked hurriedly.

"Forehead……"

"It looks like it didn't work."

Fan Wujiu sighed in disappointment, subconsciously touched the book on his waist with his right hand, and said with a forced smile: "In fact, I have communicated with Mr. Liu in the past few days. I also know that I can't pass, but I believe that I will be admitted one day."

"Well, come on!"

Li Chengzong stretched out his hand, wanting to pat Fan Wujiu's shoulder to show encouragement, but found that he couldn't reach it. He retracted his hand embarrassedly, coughed, and asked Liu Qing as if nothing had happened.

"Are you disappointed with this spring exam, old sir?"

"Never disappointed, never disappointed." Liu Qing shook his head and bowed down with a big bow: "I would like to thank His Highness on behalf of all the students in the world. Thank you for being willing to give poor students like me a fair treatment."

“Just don’t be disappointed.”

Li Chengzong helped him up and found that the old man's eyes were red. He couldn't help but sigh: "After this, I hope my father can see some changes and make the future spring examinations fairer."

"It seems that Your Highness doesn't know yet?"

"What should I know?" Li Chengzong was a little confused.

"Your Majesty has issued an edict a few days ago, changing the spring examination from being held every three years to being held every year. This is all the change brought about by Your Highness. There may still be cheating in the spring examination in the future, but I believe that with Your Highness here, it will get better year by year."

"No, old sir. This spring examination alone has exhausted me to death. If I were to be the examiner every year, I would not be able to survive." Li Chengzong did not want to go through it again. It was too tiring.

Not only is it tiring, it’s also expensive.

Providing food, writing brushes, paper and inkstones to the students taking the spring examination, as well as the loss of the restaurant due to being closed for a few days, all added up to a huge sum of money.

Distressed!

Not wanting to pay attention to this ignorant old man, Li Chengzong turned to look at Fan Wujiu and asked, "How are the banquet arrangements going?"

"Old Zhao and the others have already prepared everything and are just waiting for you to return home to host the banquet."

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's have a feast!"

(End of this chapter)