You have to pay more!

Xu Yanmiao held back for a month, and only handed the results of the investigation to the Minister of War on New Year's Eve, pretending that he had spent a lot of effort to investigate.

Fortunately, the Minister of War only asked a few questions about the investigation process and reported the results without further investigation. Less than half a day later, the old emperor's reward came.

"Xu Lang, His Majesty said that the New Year is coming soon. Here are five pieces of colorful silk, eight pieces of silk, and eight pieces of cloth. I will give Xu Lang new clothes."

Xu Yanmiao bowed in the direction of the palace: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

The eunuch who came to give the gift held up a big red box, the silk cloth inside was also red, and a jade pendant was slightly sunken in the middle.

"Xu Lang, His Majesty said that if you hold this item, you can enter and leave the tiger house freely."

In other words, he can touch the tigers at any time in the future!

Xu Yanmiao's expression suddenly became uneasy: "Thank you, Your Majesty!!!"

The eunuch pursed his lips and smiled: "In this case, I will take my leave first."

After he left, Xu Yanmiao put the jade pendant into the purse he carried with him, and looked at the cloth again. After picking and choosing, he picked a blue one to make an outer robe, a white one to make an inner garment and pants, and finally a black one to make a shoe upper. He clapped his hands and said: "Done! This is my new clothes for this year!"

When he went out with the cloth, he met an old woman in the next house who liked to weave some silk flowers to sell at the market. She was coming back with a basket, and there were only three or two silk flowers left in it.

Xu Yanmiao was in a good mood and called out, "Grandma! Are you selling silk again?"

When the old lady saw that it was Xu Yanmiao, her face was filled with smiles, "Yes! Business is very good today - young master Xu, the cloth is beautiful! Just like in the painting. You see you are in a hurry to go out, are you going to make new clothes?"

"Yes! The New Year is coming soon, and it's a new year and a new atmosphere. I'd feel embarrassed to go out if I don't wear something prettier."

The old lady said enthusiastically, "Why are you still going out to find someone? Bring it to grandma, and I'll make it for you. When I was young, I was a famous embroiderer in the surrounding area. I guarantee that after you put on the clothes, you will be the most beautiful one in the whole capital!"

Xu Yanmiao's eyes widened unconsciously, "Huh? This..."

"Huh! You're still being polite to grandma!"

"Then... thank you for troubling grandma..."

"That's right!"

The two chatted briefly at the door and explained Xu Yanmiao's body size. The old woman happily walked into the house with the cloth in her arms. She saw her poor son standing on tiptoe to pick up the jar of red wrapped meat. He couldn't wait to take the meat out of it. The red, square and thick meat fell "pa" into the plate along with the gravy. He immediately complained as much as he could: "How come you only know how to eat! Look at young Master Xu, he is so popular in front of His Majesty at such a young age, and he can still do things for His Majesty during the almost New Year. His Majesty must value him so much. Look at you!"

"Oh! Mother, I'm very popular too, isn't there any war?"

The deputy commander of the left army came over with a silly smile, his eyes lit up: "Mom! You have to make clothes for me! This cloth is beautiful!"

He reached out to touch it.

The old woman patted his hand and said, "This is the cloth of Mr. Xu. I saw that there is no adult or woman in his family. He has to take the clothes out to have others make them. If an official does this, people will laugh at him. I thought of bringing it back to make new clothes for him." The

deputy governor of the left army laughed when he heard it, "Mother, you don't understand. He is a wonderful person. He is not afraid of being laughed at. Not to mention taking the cloth out to make clothes, he also cleans the house and washes his own clothes. When he goes out, he buys delicious food and eats it while walking. He has never acted like an official. He just wants to live comfortably."

The old woman said, "Oh my!" and asked her son to get scissors to cut the cloth, and said, "There are such officials."

*

It's almost the New Year, and there are a lot more carriages and sedan chairs on the road. They are full and blocking the road, moving slowly.

There were actually several urchins shooting cannons on the road, including Europeans.

When a carriage was approaching, they lit the gun and ran away quickly. The cannon barrel jumped up, fell down again, and hit the ground with a thud. Sometimes it also hit other people's carriages, startling the coachman. They were laughing nearby.

Xu Yanzhao was also startled. When they didn't light the cannon, he quickly got between the cars and walked to the fork in the road. He was about to go to Dongshi when he suddenly heard someone shouting: "Xu Lang!"

Xu Yanzhao turned his head and saw a black-covered carriage coming from the other road. The Minister of War poked his face out of the window: "Come up!"

Xu Yanzhao's heart skipped a beat.

【No way? It won't happen again! 】

The Minister of War coughed and said, "Come quickly! His Majesty has a secret decree."

Xu Yanmiao: "..."

What else can I do? Just do it, he is the emperor.

I got into the car with my head held high, and then I was stunned: "Minister, this..."

The carriage was almost full of miscellaneous items. There were piles of official documents on the specially built desks, and scrolls were casually placed there, with most of the scrolls opened and hanging down on the table. Letters were scattered around, and some exquisite books were piled up within reach.

Some were documents from the Ministry of War, some were letters from family members, some were classics, and there were also discarded papers thrown casually in the carriage. Of course, these waste papers had another use, which was to wipe pens.

The Minister of War quickly took away a teacup, and there were still traces of ink on the cup. Then he pushed the waste paper and letters aside and said, "Come, sit here. It's almost the New Year, and there are many things that need to be done before the grand court meeting, so it's a bit messy... I'm sorry to embarrass you, Mr. Xu."

"No, the Minister is busy..."

Xu Yanmiao was flattering, and when he glanced, he saw a bowl thrown in the corner of the carriage. He roughly scanned it and found more than a dozen wonton skins inside, which were obviously bitten.

[Pfft, I can't believe that Minister Li is so old, but he only eats the filling when eating wontons. 】

The old face of the Minister of War turned red: "Well, let's get back to the point. To make a long story short, the reason why you were allowed to board the car this time was because of the candidate. His

Majesty asked us to discuss with him and see if he could voluntarily go to the government office to change his ancestors before the imperial examination begins." Xu Yanmiao said tactfully: "It may be a little difficult."

In his heart, he was not polite: [Going to someone's house and asking if you can change your ancestors, you are afraid that you will be kicked out, right? The old emperor is really good at giving people difficult questions. 】

"Huh! What's so difficult about this! Xu boy, you still have too little experience. Let me tell you, there are very few things in this world that cannot be done!"

The eyes of the Minister of War were burning: "Let's go! Let's finish the work quickly, and then find time to discuss the test questions. We have already thought of two of the three questions on the Four Books, and three of the four questions on the Five Classics. Now, in addition to one question each on the Four Books and the Five Classics, there is also one 'essay', five verdicts...what else?"

Xu Yanmiao added with a pouty face: "There is one question on imperial edicts, imperial decrees, and memorials, and five questions on policy essays. Among them, only I can write the 'essay', and only you can write the 'memorial'. As for policy essays, I will write three and you will write five."

The rest will be the work of the two of them.

The Minister of War made a "tsk" sound with the tip of his tongue and teeth: "I've been so busy lately that I can't remember anything all of a sudden." He looked at Xu Yanmiao again: "Do you still remember the name of that person?"

Xu Yanmiao recalled: "His name is Gao He, the same as He in the congratulations. He is from Lan County, Lintao Prefecture, Shaanxi Province."

"How is his family wealth?"

"A poor family."

An Zhuang did do something, otherwise Xu Yanmiao would not be able to "deceive the superiors and deceive the subordinates". He thought for a while and said, "An Zhuang has been to his house. It is a mud house with a thatched roof. His mother was arguing with another family in the village over the ownership of a pile of cow dung on the road."

The Minister of War showed a nostalgic smile: "You don't know, a pile of cow dung can be used to cook a big pot of porridge."

Xu Yanmiao: "?"

As soon as he saw Xu Yanmiao's expression, the Minister of War realized that something was wrong and hurriedly explained: "The cow dung is used for..."

However, Xu Yanmiao was already greatly shocked: [I've only heard of beef dung hot pot before, which is enough to test people's acceptance. This, cow dung porridge, is it too advanced...】

The Minister of War: "..." The Minister of War was also shocked, and finished what he had just said by inertia, "It's used as fuel."

Xu Yanmiao: "..."

The Minister of War: "..."

The two looked at each other, each with his own embarrassment, and then the Minister of War changed the subject expressionlessly: "In that case, just give him enough money."

"Huh?"

"For poor people, ancestors are worth a few dollars. What's more, they are not his real ancestors."

"But he is a literati, doesn't he say... that he won't bow down for five dou of rice?"

The Minister of War curled his lips: "Five dou of rice, one person can eat for a month."

The carriage drove out of the city and drove to the temple where Gao He was staying. When he saw the person, the other party was writing on the ground with a charcoal pencil.

"Confucius said: The commander of an army can be seized, but the will of a common man cannot be seized..."

Xu Yanmiao and the Minister of War exchanged a glance, and both saw some hesitation in each other's eyes.

[Looking at this, it feels like the other party really won't bow down for a fight for rice. ]

[But if this uses the imperial power to suppress others, isn't it not good? ]

More than not good! It's simply embarrassing!

The Minister of War stamped his feet and walked over quickly.

Gao He looked up in confusion: "Who are you two?"

Minister of War: "My surname is Li. I came here today to discuss something with you. Please excuse me for a moment to talk."

Gao He nodded and led them into the house. He moved a chair, took the bundle down from the top of the cabinet, took out a cloth bag tied with paper rope, untied it, took out a small handful of low-quality tea, and served tea to the two guests: "What are you doing here, gentlemen?"

The Minister of War got straight to the point: "The ancestor of a friend of mine was also the eldest prince of the Yu Kingdom, but he doesn't want to recognize another relative."

Gao He raised his eyebrows slightly: "This... I'm afraid it's not appropriate. How can I give up the matter of ancestors?"

The Minister of War told him that his ancestor was not his ancestor.

Gao He said: "I think your friend is not a legitimate descendant either. If so, why go down to change it?"

The Minister of War looked solemn.

It seems that it's time for silver to appear. Whether it will succeed or not depends on whether the silver is high enough and hard enough.

"Shua——"

a fist-sized piece of silver was placed on the table.

Gao He: "What do you mean, Your Excellency!"

Minister of War: "I also know that this matter is difficult. This silver is compensation. Please give me a favor."

Gao He shouted: "Your Excellency, what do you think of me, Gao He! Even if the royal family of Yu State is not my ancestor, I have worshipped them for so many years. In my heart, I really regard them as my ancestors. How can I change them with just money? It's really insulting!"

"Shua——"

The Minister of War put the second piece of silver, also the size of a fist.

The two pieces of silver sparkled in the sun, exuding the fragrance of money.

"Please forgive me. But my friend insists on recognizing this ancestor, so I have to ask you to give it up."

Gao He was furious: "We are scholars! How can we forget our ancestors for just two pieces of silver! Are you insulting me!"

The Minister of War's pupils trembled.

Could it be that he actually underestimated...

Xu Yanmiao said silently: [...I have to pay more? ]