Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 707 Exam Preparation

While it was bustling outside, Xia Lin was preparing for her exam inside the house.

He claimed to be preparing for exams, but in reality, he was hiding away for some kind of spiritual retreat. As for what he was cultivating, well, it was the bitterness of love, of course. What else could he be cultivating? The Nine Yin Manual?

Emperor Jingtai, who hadn't heard from Xia Lin for several days, secretly came here, but was turned away by his sister, who told him that Xia Lin was preparing for an exam and that no one else should disturb her.

"I am the emperor... Sister, you're going a bit too far."

"The late emperor left instructions that scholars should not be disturbed while they are preparing for the imperial examinations. Even if it means execution, it must be done after the examinations are over."

"Eh...you..."

Emperor Jingtai jumped up, ready to argue with his sister, but was pulled back by Old Zhang: "Never mind, Your Majesty, let's go back first and talk about it later."

The two left in a huff. On the small boat back, Emperor Jingtai said angrily, "If she weren't my own sister, you'd see how I punished her!"

"Your Majesty, there's no use in making threats now," Old Zhang reassured him. "In that case, why not try a different approach?"

"You said."

"Now that it is the time for the grand harvest festival, Your Majesty might as well hold a gathering in the palace. After all, quite a few royal daughters have married out over the years. It would be a good opportunity to call all the sisters back for a get-together."

Old Zhang's words made Emperor Jingtai raise his head: "That's fine, there's no need for any preparations, just have the palace arrange some food and drink."

"Yes, they're both princesses, right?"

“That little one isn’t,” Emperor Jingtai scratched his face. “But she did marry my sister and pay respects to her mother, so she’s not really part of my family.”

"The princess's father was posthumously granted the title of Prince."

"Good heavens... the Ministry of Rites would actually agree to that?"

"Why won't the Ministry of Rites agree? There are quite a few cases of posthumously conferring the title of Prince. Besides, I remember that the Princess Consort doesn't seem to have any brothers, only one daughter. If the daughter is a Princess Consort, what's wrong with inheriting her father's title of Princess?"

"Yes!"

Upon returning to the palace, Emperor Jingtai urgently summoned the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs and the Ministry of Rites to discuss the matter. He explained that he was grateful for the Prince of Teng's years of hard work in assisting the government, but since he was a prince, there was no further title to bestow upon him. He wanted to grant his wife the title of princess, but as a junior, he felt it inappropriate to do so. Therefore, he decided to posthumously confer the title of prince upon his wife's father.

Who could possibly disagree with this? The Prince of Teng's family is already powerful enough; there's no problem in posthumously granting his father-in-law a prince title. It's not worth offending people over such a trivial matter.

So when the matter was brought up in the morning, it was almost settled by the afternoon. In order to respond to the national call to reduce waste and not hold useless ceremonies, even the messy rituals were omitted, and all the money spent on preparations was converted into cash and given away as gifts.

At 3:30 p.m. that day, the imperial edict arrived at the Prince's residence, and the Princess's deceased father was promoted from Duke to Prince, and all his children were directly elevated to the rank of imperial relatives.

The eldest princess couldn't be mentioned, but according to the Ministry of Rites' investigation, the princess had an adopted daughter, so the promotion naturally went to the adopted daughter.

Then at 4:45, Tang Bao'er, who was holding a meeting with the thirteen branch merchants, suddenly received an imperial edict. She didn't quite catch what the edict was saying, but in the end, she was granted the status of a princess and a crown.

Princess Le'an was conferred the title of Princess.

Although she is of a significantly different rank from the Grand Princess Taiping, she is a princess personally appointed by the emperor, making her far more powerful than a typical county princess.

Tang Bao'er, holding the imperial edict, exclaimed: "???"

She turned to look at the eunuch who had delivered the decree: "Ah?" The eunuch dared not offend the newly promoted princess, so he quickly said: "Please remember to attend the ceremony in the palace tonight, Your Highness."

Tang Bao'er scratched her head, holding the imperial edict. She couldn't understand why she had suddenly become a princess, let alone what ceremony she was supposed to attend that night.

Of course, this matter seems trivial, but upon closer examination, it reflects the extent to which the emperor controls power. The reason why emperors are not free is that their imperial careers are mostly constrained. Let alone this kind of thing, even digging a pond behind the palace to raise some frogs requires layers of approval, and in the end, it may result in a waste of resources and manpower.

Even if all he wanted was a two-meter square puddle.

However, after all these years of turmoil, the emperor's power has clearly increased. This is most likely a byproduct of the power struggle, because the current environment is not very stable, so the emperor naturally became the ultimate beneficiary.

If Xia Lin hadn't been there, Emperor Jingtai could have easily become a tyrant with just a thought. For example, he could have wanted to build hundreds of giant dragon boats to tour the world, or select beauties from all over the country to enter the palace, or even build a huge city comparable to the new Xianyang.

However, because he was worried that Xia Lin would rush over and grab him by the neck and scold him, he only chose to grant Xia Lin's father-in-law a prince title and invite a royal princess to the palace for a meal so that he could play with Xia Lin.

It didn't hurt or itch, and it didn't even cost much money.

In the evening, hundreds of princesses and noblewomen gathered in the palace, almost all of them looking bewildered, and then sat down to eat with a group of sisters they didn't know or even recognized.

Tang Bao'er and the Princess were also there. Although the scene was grand, the atmosphere was awkward...

"Why so suddenly?" asked an older sister who was on good terms with the princess. "I hadn't heard this news for the past few days, and today I was suddenly told that there would be a banquet tonight."

Princess Taiping shook her head blankly...

"His Majesty also said he would arrange for us to visit West Lake..."

"Huh?" Tang Bao'er was taken aback. "Visiting West Lake? Can't we skip it?"

"How can that be? That would be disobeying the imperial decree!" The princess was also full of worry. "My son is taking the exam in a few days. What am I going to do without him by my side..."

"I have a lot to do too..." Tang Bao'er sighed deeply, "Never mind, let's just go to West Lake then."

Meanwhile, on the island in the middle of the lake, Emperor Jingtai was poking at the beef in the casserole with his chopsticks: "Where's my beef? You've all eaten all my beef?"

"There's still some in the pot, just ask Dou'er to get some more." Xia Lin summoned Dou'er: "Go, get another bowl of beef."

At this moment, Emperor Jingtai picked up his wine cup and said, "My sister is so disrespectful. She wouldn't let me see you, so I'll just send them all to tour West Lake."

"You're abusing public resources," Xia Lin said, holding her chopsticks and looking at Emperor Jingtai. "You should do this kind of thing less often."

"Oh, it's alright. I'm not extravagant, greedy, or ambitious. It's just organizing a trip for my sisters and cousins ​​to travel and enjoy the scenery. How much money could that cost?"

As Emperor Jingtai spoke, he looked at the pills spread out on the table behind Xia Lin and pointed at them, asking, "What are those?"

"nothing……"

"Do not believe."

Emperor Jingtai walked straight over, picked up a pill, smelled it, then stuck out his tongue and licked it before swallowing it and starting to chew.

Then he narrowed his eyes: "Well, Xia Daosheng, you've been preparing for the exam. I really thought you were being serious. So this is what you're preparing for!"

(End of this chapter)