Chapter 633 Competition
"I know."
Su Wenxuan took the brocade box and sent everyone out of the room. Then he placed the brocade box on the table and opened it carefully.
There was nothing else in the brocade box except a thin piece of letter paper, folded into a square.
Su Wenxuan opened it and took a look.
There was not a single word on the letter paper, but there were a few wrinkles and uneven spots on it, as if it had been wet and then dried.
It was obvious that the Fifth Princess wanted to write something, but she couldn't put pen to paper after picking up the pen for a long time. Her emotions were so complicated that the tears in her eyes fell on the paper, wetting it and leaving those traces.
Su Wenxuan could imagine the Fifth Princess sitting alone in front of the window, feeling mixed emotions and unable to fall asleep. He felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife.
It's heartbreaking.
Su Wenxuan held the piece of paper tightly and was silent for a long time. Finally, he took out a piece of paper, picked up a pen and wrote the word "An", folded it, put it in an envelope, and then put it back into the brocade box.
"Send someone to deliver it to the palace and hand it over to the Fifth Princess." Su Wenxuan ordered.
Since the Fifth Princess is worried, in addition to comforting her with words, he also needs to prove it with practical actions so that the Fifth Princess can be completely at ease.
Su Wenxuan clenched his fingers.
The next day was the registration day, and the registration location was outside the palace gate.
Early in the morning, before the ceremonial officials from the capital arrived, people had already started lining up.
Many onlookers also stopped nearby to watch, making it extremely bustling and noisy outside the palace gate.
In order to register, Su Wenxuan took a day off today and lined up in the crowd, walking slowly forward.
Many people came to sign up, and they were all officials of the same dynasty. In the capital, they saw each other everywhere. Many of them knew each other, and it was inevitable to exchange pleasantries while waiting. Some people also took the opportunity to get to know more dignitaries and make friends with them to pave the way for the future.
Su Wenxuan worked in the Ministry of Rites, and he dealt with many officials on a daily basis. In addition, the Su family now had a princess who was also a first-rank lady and a future crown princess, and was in the limelight. Naturally, many people had heard of Su Wenxuan.
Seeing Su Wenxuan coming to sign up, many people were quite surprised and talked about it.
"I didn't expect that Lord Su would also sign up."
"Lord Su is not married yet, and all conditions set by the emperor are met. Why can't he come?"
"The Emperor said that anyone who meets the requirements can sign up, but the Su family has already been favored by the Emperor and the Crown Prince, and their future is limitless. Lord Su still wants to sign up now. Isn't it a bit too eager for quick success?"
"Tsk, Lord Su always looks like he doesn't care about his official position and honor. I thought he was a noble man who didn't care about worldly things. I never thought he was a man who fawned on the rich and powerful, and he would not let go of any opportunity. He is really just a man who is busy with his own business."
"You're saying this as if signing up to be a royal consort is something that is against the will of heaven. I'm just considering my own future, and I haven't done anything that is against the will of heaven, so why not?"
"If it happened to someone else, there would be nothing wrong with it, but this Lord Su..."
"Lord Su is also a human being, can't you think about your future? It's your sister's business if she has a promising future, but you need to hold on to the real power and benefits yourself."
"That's right. No one would dislike their high official position or their great power..."
The people around him had different opinions, and many people had very complicated looks. Su Wenxuan pretended not to hear anything, just looked at his nose with his eyes and his heart with his nose, and walked slowly forward.
Soon it was his turn to sign up.
Whether it was the ceremonial officer in charge of registration, or the eunuch and the head aunt sent by the Emperor and Empress, they all recognized Su Wenxuan and respectfully called him, "Sir Su."
"Hello, sir, hello, father-in-law, hello, aunt." Su Wenxuan politely bowed to each of them, and then handed over his identity certificate.
The ceremonial officer wrote down Su Wenxuan's name and specific information. The chief eunuch and the aunt in charge looked Su Wenxuan up and down, nodded in unison, took out sachets from the box and handed them to Su Wenxuan.
"Lord Su is a man of noble character, handsome appearance, and looks like Pan An. He deserves to be selected." The aunt in charge said with a smile.
"Aunt, you are so kind." Su Wenxuan bowed modestly.
"Master Su is too modest." The eunuch at the side said, "After you are selected, you will need to go to Qionglin Garden tomorrow to participate in the first competition. As for the content of the competition, you will know it after you arrive at Qionglin Garden tomorrow."
"Thank you, eunuch." Su Wenxuan thanked him again, then took the sachet and left.
As for the rest of the people, some who received sachets symbolizing being selected were overjoyed, while those who received fans symbolizing being eliminated were mostly very depressed.
Some people were also happy because they received fans given by the royal family.
In short, everyone's emotions were expressed vividly at this time.
On the second day, Su Wenxuan arrived at Qionglin Garden on time as the eunuch had instructed.
Qionglin Garden is a royal garden not far from the Imperial Examination Hall. It is usually used for banquets and recreation for royal relatives. It is also famous for the "Qionglin Banquet" held to entertain high school students after each palace examination.
Now, those who meet the requirements and have passed the initial screening for registration are either those who have passed the imperial examination before, or those who have been blessed by their ancestors. In either case, almost all of them have been to Qionglin Garden.
Since Su Wenxuan worked in the Ministry of Rites, he had to deal with Qionglin Garden on a daily basis and was quite familiar with it.
Also because of his familiarity, Su Wenxuan noticed something was wrong as soon as he stepped into the Qionglin Garden.
Today, Qionglin Garden is much quieter than usual.
It was not because of the small number of people that it was deserted. On the contrary, the Qionglin Garden was very lively today because all the candidates who were eligible to be the prince consort had arrived.
But apart from the guards at the gate of Qionglin Garden, there were no other servants or slaves who could provide guidance in the Garden.
When I asked the guard at the door, he replied that he didn't know and just asked them to go in first. As for the exams, please feel free to do as you please.
Seeing this, everyone had no choice but to enter the gate of Qionglin Garden first, with a look of confusion on their faces.
"There is no one here to guide us. Are they just asking us to do as we please?" someone asked.
"But when we distributed the sachets yesterday, the chief eunuch said that there would be an exam in the near future, and the content of the exam would only be known after we get here." Su Wenxuan suggested, "If that's the case, why don't we look around and see where everyone is and where we should go to take the exam?"
"What Lord Su said makes sense." Some people agreed.
But some people disagreed, "I think it's better to wait a little longer. If you walk around, it will be considered impolite, which is really inappropriate."
Someone else said, "Since Lord Su feels that he needs to look everywhere, why don't you go and look for it, and if you find it, let us know."
(End of this chapter)
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