In any case, the emperor has spoken, the rankings are set, and there is no point in thinking more.
After calming down their thoughts, the three of them bowed together to express their gratitude.
The emperor raised his hand and said, "Stand up!"
But just as they stood up, the emperor seemed to suddenly discover the black jade worn around Zhao Yiming's waist.
After being stunned for a moment, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and almost lost his composure as he stepped forward, directly took off the black jade, and rubbed and looked at it in his hand.
Everyone was confused by the emperor's actions and speculated about what was going on. The ministers looked around and exchanged glances, but no one knew any useful information and could only shake their heads at each other helplessly.
After a moment, the emperor looked at Zhao Yiming in disbelief, stammering for a moment before saying, "Is this jade pendant yours?"
Zhao Yiming shook his head and said calmly, "This jade pendant belongs to my father."
The emperor immediately asked, "Who is your father?"
…………
What follows is an extremely vulgar and clichéd scene of recognition of relatives.
Basically, the emperor recognized his nephew who had been missing for many years through an ink-colored jade pendant. During the recognition process, he even shed tears in the hall.
Before everyone could react to this sudden change, the emperor came up and took action as fierce as a tiger. He directly ordered Zhao Yiming to inherit the title of Duke of Zhao and become the new Duke.
What Zhao Ningsong had been coveting all his life was given to Zhao Yiming so easily. All his jumping around for so many years became a complete joke.
In addition, in order to compensate Zhao Yiming for the suffering he had endured during all these years of wandering outside, the emperor granted him a request.
Zhao Yiming did not seek power or wealth, but only asked the emperor to grant him a marriage with the woman who had accompanied, cared for, supported him and shared his hardships for many years.
The emperor did not say much, and did not even ask in detail about the woman's name, appearance, and family background. He only said that a woman who could remain loyal to him when he was down and out must be a good person.
He immediately issued an imperial decree to grant the marriage, and sent someone to inform the Queen to start preparing the betrothal gifts for him. He also ordered his personal eunuch, Lord Defu, to go to the woman's house on his behalf and to ensure that the marriage was arranged within the day with him as his wife.
Before everyone recovered from their shock, he continued, "You've just returned to the Duke's Mansion, and everyone here must be unfamiliar to you. You'll have to start working after you're assigned an official position. It's not good to have someone around you who understands your needs."
Having said that, he immediately sent someone to summon the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, and asked the Imperial Astronomical Observatory and Defu to go to the girl's house together, and pick a nearby wedding date based on the birth dates of the two.
He said bluntly: "Get married as soon as possible. With someone to take care of the chores in the backyard for you, you can concentrate on serving the country."
He did not mention the group of people currently living in the Duke's Mansion in his words. He not only identified the new Duke, but also directly decided on the candidates for the future mistress of the house, without caring about their situation.
After so much trouble, the emperor was tired and arranged a team of guards to escort Zhao Yiming to the Duke of Zhao's Mansion to take over the mansion.
He just waved his hand and asked everyone to leave.
The ministers looked at each other in confusion.
Of course, smart people quickly realized that the emperor should have been with Zhao Yiming a long time ago, no, he should be called Duke Zhao now, the emperor should have recognized Duke Zhao a long time ago.
What happened today was just to take advantage of the palace examination as an opportunity to find a way out.
No wonder the emperor did not choose the new Duke of Zhao as the top scholar. It turned out that he did so to avoid suspicion. He was afraid that the people would find out later and think that the top scholar was chosen by the royal family, and thus lose confidence in the fairness of the court.
Before those ministers could talk to Zhao Yiming, he was escorted out of the palace by the imperial guards.
Seeing this, the remaining ministers also left the palace. Although it was not easy for them to go and see in person, they could still send their servants to inquire about the news.
This is a big melon of the royal family, it would be a waste not to eat it.
As soon as the ministers left, the bewildered scholars were led out of the palace by the palace servants.
Walking quietly on the palace road, everyone felt mixed emotions at this moment, but fortunately, there were still people who remembered them and could take them out of the palace.
Just now, they almost thought that everyone was shocked by the news of the return of the new Duke of Zhao and had forgotten about them, a group of newbies.
At the entrance of the hall, Tian Mingwu waited until everyone had left before he came out carefully. However, he was caught red-handed by Eunuch Dove as soon as he stepped over the threshold.
Father-in-law Dove smiled brightly and said, "General Tian, let's go together!"
Hearing this, Tian Mingwu hurriedly glanced around, and only after making sure that the officials had gone far away did he breathe a sigh of relief and grinned, "Don't you think the eunuch still has to wait for the Empress to prepare the betrothal gifts? I'd better go ahead and return to the palace to prepare some good tea for you!"
Just now, everyone's attention was on Zhao Yiming, and they had not yet realized that the person the emperor had granted marriage to was his daughter.
The reason why he waited until everyone had left before coming out was that he didn't want those civil servants to know that he was Zhao Yiming's father-in-law and get harassed by them.
If he went back with Eunuch Defu, he would know everything! He would definitely not be able to rest in peace from tonight on.
Unfortunately, Eunuch Defu didn't give him a chance to refuse: "The preparations for the betrothal gifts are for everyone to hear! The betrothal gifts have already been prepared by the Empress. The general only needs to wait with me at the palace gate for a quarter of an hour before we can set off."
Tian Mingwu: “…”
Everything was ready, so he had no reason to refuse and could only follow Eunuch Defu miserably.
After the ministers left the palace, they finally remembered a problem they had forgotten.
"Which daughter did the new Duke of Zhao ask the Emperor to grant him marriage?"
"Hiss! Duke Zhao didn't seem to mention it!"
"How could it be that he didn't mention it? Why didn't you explain clearly how His Majesty granted the marriage? What if he made a mistake? I overheard it at the time, and the girl's surname seemed to be Tian."
"Surname Tian? Is there a family with the surname Tian in the capital?"
"Nonsense! Isn't General Zhongwu's surname Tian?"
The official standing in front of Tian Mingwu suddenly realized and said, "No wonder the emperor allowed General Tian to remain under observation today."
"General Tian is under observation today? Where is he?"
…
Tian Mingwu didn't know that the ministers had already deduced that he was Zhao Yiming's father-in-law, and he was still thinking of escaping in the chaos as soon as he left the palace.
However, he didn't expect that as soon as he left the palace, he was discovered by a sharp-eyed minister.
"Everyone, look, General Tian is there!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
