Chapter 23

A big, happy occasion naturally calls for a reward. Just like when my brother got married, the maids and servants in the mansion each received a two-liang reward, while the stewards and attendants received three liang each. Even Kong Qing and the others who had married along received a reward. Two rewards were given in three days, and the entire mansion was filled with joy.

On the way, my mother and I went to tell my grandmother the good news in person, and we got a lot of goodies. In the evening, my mother drank with the third princess, and I finally got to talk to my brother alone.

"How are you these days? Are you adapting?" I leaned closer to my brother.

The brother glanced at the third princess, and the third princess turned around sharply and smiled at the brother.

"It's fine. Except for the need to sort out the situation in the mansion at the beginning, everything else is fine. I am the boss." My brother was very confident about this.

"That's good, but there must be no evil servants." I was very worried.

My brother patted my head and said, "Don't worry, I've learned some tricks from you over the years. Besides, I really don't have any, at least not now."

I glanced at the Third Princess and asked, "Are you sure there aren't any servants in the mansion who are as charming as a foxy woman?"

My brother laughed and said, "You don't believe her, but you also don't believe me?"

That's true. Brother can solve the problem, and if not, he can solve the problem of people.

My brother looked at me, his eyes gradually becoming complicated. I opened my eyes wide and looked back at him in confusion.

"Have you made any progress with Chen An?"

"What progress?" I didn't quite understand. "Speaking of Chen An, I don't know how I offended him. He always glares at me when he sees me, and he won't tell me why."

My brother was speechless. "You're really clueless! When I saw him in the palace that day, he was so shy in front of me. I thought you two were secretly in love."

Luckily I swallowed the snack in my mouth, otherwise it would have been spat out. My eyes were filled with panic.

"No, I haven't seen him for a long time because I've been preparing for the exam. You know that." This kind of rumor must not be spread randomly.

My brother took a sip of tea slowly and nodded, "Does that mean Chen An is interested in you?"

I was getting a little anxious. "No way, we haven't seen each other much in the past few years. How can we develop feelings for each other if we don't know each other?"

I still want to follow the modern path of dating and getting married, and I don't want to be forced into anything. But if Chen An has his own ideas, it would be really dangerous, and he would most likely be forced into a relationship by both families at the same time.

The brother sighed and said, "You should find someone you like as soon as possible, or get to know Chen An better. Our situations are different."

I am the eldest daughter of a marquisate who needs to set up a household. I am destined to marry a legitimate son of equal status, and I cannot completely control my feelings.

Personally, I have no intention of shirking the family's burden. For my mother and father, for my brothers and sisters, and even for my married uncles, the Marquisate must prosper, or at least remain stable.

Therefore, I have very high requirements for my future master. At the very least, this person must be well-educated, intelligent, smart, and have a dignified style of behavior.

Instead of going out and relying on luck and chance to meet such a person, it is better to choose directly from a powerful and noble family, and there will basically be no mistakes.

I suddenly felt a bit heavy. I hadn't considered it before because I was too young. But now it's definitely on the agenda.

There are almost no older single women or men like the third princess and her brother. Moreover, although they are not engaged, everyone basically assumes that they will be a couple in the future.

For example, I am seventeen this year, and there are still three years until I am twenty. That means I have to get engaged within two years, and there are many good men to be found.

I'm a little worried. I've been busy with exams in the past two years, and I didn't do any diplomacy in the past few years. There are really not many young men I know outside.

My brother was a little amused when he saw my gloomy face. "Does our An Lan still worry about finding a partner?"

I felt like my brother was gloating, "It's all your fault. I'm feeling the pain of being pressured into marriage in advance."

"Don't worry, let dad watch it in advance, and you can also go to some disguised blind date banquets. At this age, everyone is organizing various parties. Maybe you will meet someone you like." After a pause, he said, "Of course, if Chen An has made up his mind before you, then you can go along with it. I like that kid very much. Trust your brother's judgment!"

Not only did we both fall silent at the same time, but my brother added, "I think my current vision is okay."

Okay, okay, whatever my brother says is right, I nodded without any objection.

Looking at Mother and the Third Princess, who were still drinking, my brother pursed his lips. Resigned to my fate, I stepped forward and took the wine jug away, saying, "Mother, you have to attend the morning court tomorrow. Drinking too much will inevitably give you a headache, and Father will be distressed."

"This girl is too nosy!" Although the mother said this, she silently put down the wine cup in her hand.

My father kept looking at my mother with a pursed smile, saying nothing. When my mother put down her wine cup, he signaled Mu Mian to serve the sobering soup.

As the night deepened outside, the third princess and her brother said goodbye and left.

I spent the next few days preparing for the exam, and even on the day of the palace exam, I stood obediently in the queue with my head down. Seeing how obedient I was, Qiu Fei glared at me several times. I secretly winked, and she was speechless in return. Okay, I wasn't too obedient.

I followed everyone else's example, respectfully half-bowing my head as I entered the hall and took my seat as instructed. Although I was very familiar with this place, I couldn't show off too much, as that would upset the others.

When everyone was ready, the Emperor's Aunt finally arrived. After everyone finished paying their respects, the Emperor's Aunt said, "Let's begin." The examiner began to read out the questions, and the students listened carefully and answered them.

I felt as at home here as I did at home. I wasn't nervous at all, my mind was perfectly poised. I was already surrounded by court officials, and after a while, the Emperor's aunt also came down for a visit. Many of those with a bad mindset made mistakes one after another, and the sound of them swallowing their saliva was especially noticeable in the silent hall.

My peripheral vision swept over the places where Auntie Emperor passed by, and some students' hands were shaking. Auntie Emperor stood behind Qiu Fei for a moment and said, "Not bad!", which made me look over.

When the Emperor's Aunt came to stand next to me, I was not nervous and let her look at me confidently. The Emperor's Aunt smiled and said, "It's okay." I curled my lips. What do you mean by "it's okay"?

An hour passed in a flash. After the examination papers were collected, the students went to the adjacent side hall to wait. Although there were three hundred of them, no one dared to be rude. Those who knew each other gathered together to discuss quietly.

As the champion, Qiu Fei received special attention. I didn't take the initiative to go there, but Qiu Fei took the initiative to come to me.

Qiu Fei raised an eyebrow at me, and I leaned closer and whispered, "I think it's okay. You know, I have the advantage of not being nervous here."

The people around us didn't hear our discussion, so they paid less attention to us. But occasionally I heard words like "Houye," "Ministry of Revenue," and "Ten," probably because some students were asking who I was.

Qiu Fei nodded and said nothing more.

After everything was verified in the main hall, the guards led everyone out of the palace. Qiu Fei and I agreed to meet again tomorrow, and then we went home.

My family members were very confident about my palace examination. Of course, there was no point in worrying, and the dinner went by uneventfully.

The next day, we all gathered at Baiweizhai again. This time, everyone was there. We had finally waited for Qiu Fei and me to finish our exams, and it had been a long time since we last got together. As soon as we posted the message yesterday afternoon, everyone responded.

Early in the morning, I sent someone to greet them in advance. When I arrived, it was still early in the morning, and two people had already arrived.

"How is it? How is it? Is there any hope of making it into the top three?" Zheng Qingzhi, my aunt's cousin from the Anguo Marquis family, came up to me when she saw me.

I pushed her face away.

"Stay away! I'm so awesome! I jumped from eleventh to third in one go." I responded unhappily.

Qian Bai, the eldest daughter of the Minister of Revenue, said quietly, "That's not necessarily true. That's your home turf."

I knocked over with my fan. Really, you're not afraid of walls having ears. You can't say such things carelessly. Qian Bai smiled and dodged.

I had just sat down when Qiu Fei and Wei Dedao, the second daughter of the Minister of War, arrived.

Qian Bai was a chatterbox, and no one could stop her. "Two masters are here, come sit down, and whoever arrives last will treat us next time."

One of them is "Qiu Fei" and the other is "De Dao." Both are people of high realms, or simply "experts." Everyone has been calling them these nicknames since they were young. It's strange that these two, one a scholar and the other a warrior, can actually get along well.

Of course, this nickname was retained, firstly because Qiu Fei did not care, and secondly because Wei Dedao was outnumbered and the suppression by force failed.

After a while, Lin Leyu, the second daughter of the Minister of Personnel, and Shen Hui, the eldest daughter of the Vice Minister of Justice, also arrived.

"The only ones left are Chu Rong and Song Shuyi. Let's see who will be the last one."

After Qian Bai finished speaking, he explained it to Lin Leyu and Shen Hui.

As he spoke, Chu Rong from the Imperial College's family walked in, followed by Song Shuyi from the eldest uncle's family.

Everyone started laughing when they saw them come in, leaving the two of them completely confused.

"What's going on? Is there something wrong between us?" Both of them looked down at themselves.

"No, no, it's just that we're making a fuss and the one who comes in last will treat next time." Qian Bai explained with a giggle, and walked forward to pull them to sit down.

It was lively and everyone was concerned about Qiu Fei and my exam results, and then attacked me.

Qiu Fei was universally acknowledged as a talented scholar, destined to take the top spot. But I, on the other hand, had been secretly working on my own, secretly stabbing everyone in the back. When the results came out, I had everyone at home scolded for a while.

They all talked about interesting things happening around them, and then inevitably talked about some real-time gossip about other people's lives. For example, the master of the Anguo family, Yu Zichu, finally got pregnant, but was miscarried by his servant, which caused chaos in the family for a long time.

I listened happily and glanced out the window casually. "Huh?" I didn't care about my friends and stuck my head out. My friends also came over.

It was my brother taking the little prince shopping. I couldn't shout, so I waved my hands vigorously. My brother saw me and said something to the little prince. The little prince quickly looked up, glanced at me, and then lowered his head again.

The meal was almost over, so I said goodbye to my friends and hurried downstairs. I could faintly hear Song Shuyi saying bad things about me, "How come An Lan still sticks to him whenever she sees him, even though her brother is married?" Then there was a burst of laughter.

I didn't bother to argue with them and went up to greet my brother. Well, the little prince glared at me again. "Brother, where are you going?"

"I came out to inspect the shop and happened to meet Chen An, so I took him for a walk." My brother glanced at the little prince and looked at me with a smile.

"Have you had lunch? Are you tired? Do you want to go in and rest?" After I asked, my brother looked at the little prince, "I just came out after lunch. Where's Chen An? Are you tired?"

The little prince shook his head and said, "I just left the palace and I'm not tired yet."

I glanced behind the two men and saw that they were very brave, each bringing only one person with them. I felt reassured about the security of the capital.

"I'll accompany you." I said, then turned around, "I'll talk to Qiu Fei and the others."

"Let's go together." The elder brother followed with the little prince.

My friends stood in a row and greeted my brother and the little prince. After a few words, I said goodbye to them. Before I left, a group of them even made faces at me. Fortunately, my brother and his wife had turned around early.