Aunt Su looked embarrassed and remained silent.
"Mom, please go and talk to the Madam!" Rong Er begged.
Aunt Su lowered her head.
"Mom, what's wrong with you? Tell me, I want you to tell me that you will go to see the lady today!" Rong Er was anxious.
Aunt Su slowly raised her head, her eyes red, and murmured, "It's too late, it's too late."
Rong Er reached out and grabbed Aunt Su's shoulders, saying in panic, "What do you mean it's too late? What did you say it was too late?"
Aunt Su said with difficulty, "Today I asked Ergou to check the list. I originally wanted to see if your cousin passed. But Ergou just came back and said that he saw that Xu Jing'an won the third place."
"Just outside the Imperial Examination Hall, officials, marquises, and princes were all chasing after him, vying to marry their daughters to him."
"Now, even county ladies and princesses are vying to marry him. Even if we humble ourselves and go to the Xu family, it won't work."
Rong Er stared blankly ahead and fell down.
She fainted.
…
Two days later, Emperor Mingxi formally summoned the three top-ranked talents.
Han Qingbo, Xu Jing'an and Qin Zhi were all well-mannered and graceful. Although the emperor was a little nervous, they behaved appropriately.
"Well, not bad, not bad, you are worthy of being the best talent selected from thousands of miles away in my Great Xia." Emperor Mingxi praised the three of them highly.
After some consideration, Emperor Mingxi sent Han Qingbo and Qin Zhi to serve in the Hanlin Academy.
According to Xia Miaoyuan's thoughts, Han Qingbo and Qin Zhi are future talents who will demonstrate unique abilities in governing the country.
The Hanlin Academy is the cradle for them to learn government affairs.
Emperor Mingxi sent Xu Jing'an, the second-place scorer, to be the county magistrate of Sanshui County.
Xu Jing'an saw that two of the three people in the first place had entered the Hanlin Academy, but he was the only one who was sent out to be a small county magistrate. He couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
Could it be that the emperor has something against him?
Xia Zhengqi saw his doubts and explained with a smile, "Jing'an, I have made a special trip to visit you. I have heard from your relatives, friends, classmates, and the people of Wuping County, where your father governs, that you have the talent to investigate and handle cases."
"He has a talent for investigation and trial."
"Daxia is in dire need of talents like you. I really hope that one day you can grow up to become Daxia's top detective."
"So, I'm letting you be the county magistrate to train you. I hope you won't let me down."
After hearing this, Xu Jing'an's blood boiled. He had never expected that the emperor would be so attentive to understanding him.
"I will do my best to be a good county magistrate and live up to the emperor's good intentions."
The three members of the first group returned happily with the imperial edict appointing them.
Xia Zhengqi specially arranged Zhu Qi, who was ranked second, to work in the Ministry of Revenue.
Because there were few vacancies in the Ministry of Revenue and Zhu Qi's ranking was not very high, Xia Zhengqi arranged a position for him as a clerk in the Ministry of Revenue.
When Zhu Qi heard that he had actually entered the Ministry of Revenue, he was so excited that he was at a loss and couldn't believe it.
Just after Xia Zhengqi had arranged the students in the first and second classes, a messenger from the northern border arrived.
When Xia Zhengqi heard that it was an express message from the northern border, his heart instantly jumped up and he paced anxiously in the imperial study.
After waiting for a long time, a messenger with a sour smell came hurriedly into the imperial study.
"I pay my respects to His Majesty!" The messenger knelt down and bowed.
Xia Zhengqi didn't care about the stench on his body. He strode up to the messenger and pulled him up.
"Tell me, how is the war going now?"
The messenger panted and said, "Just half a month ago, the coalition forces of Daxia and Xiaolin annexed three tribes."
Xia Zhengqi felt more at ease. After a pause, he asked, "What are the losses of the coalition forces? Are the commanders all safe?"
The messenger replied succinctly, "Since the start of the war, the coalition forces have lost over 8,000 men. Compared to the enemy, the losses are not severe."
"The coalition forces have not lost a single general so far."
Upon hearing the news that all the generals were not sacrificed, Xia Zhengqi breathed a sigh of relief and tears welled up in his eyes.
The main generals of this expedition were either his relatives or outstanding generals of Daxia.
Since the war began, he has been worried day and night, fearing that any one of them would die on the battlefield in the northern border.
"That's good, that's good!" Xia Zhengqi was so excited that even his voice trembled.
After the messenger finished describing the main battle situation, he took out a small wooden box from his arms and handed it to Xia Zhengqi.
"These are their letters home to you."
Xia Zhengqi didn't wait for Debao to come forward and took the wooden box.
When I opened it, there were three letters from home.
One was from the Second Prince, one was from Marshal Baili, and the other was from Xiao Tiehan.
When Xia Zhengqi saw that there was a letter from home, he immediately asked Debao to take the messenger away and take good care of him, while he sat down at the desk to read the letter.
The second prince's letter mainly described the specific battle situation and his own situation.
Xia Zhengqi felt relieved when he learned that the second prince was not injured. He put the letter aside and continued reading.
Baili Feng's letter was a family letter, similar to the one from the second prince. At the end of the letter, he asked Xia Zhengqi to send a message to his family to let them know he was safe.
Xia Zhengqi folded the letter and put it aside.
When he saw Xiao Tiehan's letter, the first half of the letter was to report safety to the emperor and the empress. However, when Xia Zhengqi saw the second half of the letter, his face darkened.
He pondered for a while, put Baili Feng's letter home into a wooden box, handed it to the eunuch, and ordered it to be delivered to the Duke's Mansion immediately.
Then he put away the other two letters, put them in his sleeve pocket, asked someone to prepare a sedan chair, and went straight to Kunning Palace.
When Xia Zhengqi arrived at Kunning Palace, the Queen and Xia Miaoyuan were making snacks in the small kitchen.
In her spare time, the queen always likes to cook for her daughter herself.
Xia Miaoyuan sat on a small stool watching over the steaming steamer.
The steamer is steaming red date cake.
The aroma of red dates filled the air, filling the entire small kitchen with a sweet fragrance.
"Mother, why aren't you feeling better yet?" Xia Miaoyuan smelled the refreshing fragrance, and her saliva flowed from the corners of her mouth.
"Just wait a little longer." The queen said with a smile.
Xia Zhengqi walked into Kunning Palace in a hurry. When he heard the palace servants say that the queen and the little princess were in the small kitchen in the backyard, he didn't wait to be informed and just lifted the corner of his robe and walked to the back.
"Ruoyu, Ruoyu, my father-in-law has sent us a letter!" Xia Zhengqi shouted as he walked into the yard of the small kitchen.
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