The next day, Chen Nian'an left the palace with Concubine Xian and went to the residence of the Minister of Rites. Zhou Zhaonuan and Zhou Zeyun clamored to go too, so he had to give them a temporary leave.
All in all, the few of them had a very pleasant stay at the Minister of Rites' residence. Unexpectedly, Shen Nian'an and the wife of the Minister of Rites got along very well, and the feeling between the two of them was as close as mother and daughter.
Three days later, several people returned to the palace.
It happened to be the day of the imperial examination, and Shen Zishan got up early in the morning in high spirits, intending to supervise this very important imperial examination.
With Zhou Beichen's appreciation, he worked even harder.
As soon as the examination papers were collected, Shen Zishan confidently assured Zhou Beichen that he would check all the examination papers by himself and not even a fly would be able to fly in. Zhou Beichen paused and reluctantly agreed to his request.
At the morning court on the third day, the ministers looked at the two panda eyes on the top of Shen Zishan, not knowing whether to cry or laugh, or even call him stupid. Shen Zishan just laughed off all the remarks. He still had one day left, and he would definitely be able to finish reading it if he didn't sleep at night.
Following the announcement that the emperor has arrived, there were three shouts of "Long live the emperor".
Zhou Beichen laughed heartily, "My dear ministers, please stand up."
His eyes swept downwards and stopped on Shen Zishan, and Zhou Beichen's expression changed.
This guy really works hard as soon as he gets some praise. Look at these two dark circles under his eyes. He is not afraid of working himself to death.
No, he can't let such a good official go to hell so soon, thinking about it, Zhou Beichen said quietly.
"I see that the Minister of Rites has been overworked these past few days. How much of the examination papers have you reviewed?"
Thinking that Zhou Beichen didn't want him to watch, Shen Zishan knelt on the ground dejectedly.
"Your Majesty, I have read almost five hundred copies."
Then, there are still more than 300 copies. Zhou Beichen made a prompt decision, "In this case, you hand over the passed papers to me, and I will give the rest to others to read. Mr. Shen, you should also take a two-day rest. When the time comes to issue the imperial edict, I will still rely on you."
Shen Zishan's eyes lit up immediately, "I understand. I thank the emperor for his consideration."
Ministers: “…”
He is truly a rare good official. Generally, they would not work so hard for such a thing.
Since that day, Zhou Beichen has not been to the harem for nearly a month. The only thing that has remained unchanged is that his daughter is tied up in the Qianyuan Palace. Except for going to the Shangshufang, she has to stay in the Qianyuan Palace for the rest of the time.
Zhou Zhaonuan's life was extremely miserable.
Shen Nian'an became more and more confident. If she continued like this, she would be able to enter his heart in time and become the queen. Then her daughter and son would become the eldest son and daughter.
......
The palace examination is usually held one month after the joint examination of the same year, and a total of one hundred people are selected from the joint examination.
In this palace examination, in addition to a chief examiner and a deputy examiner, there was another person, Zhou Beichen, who was wandering around the examination room with nothing to do.
It was not for any other reason, but mainly because he believed that being an official required not only cultural knowledge and ability, but also psychological quality. If the selected person fainted after being scolded or slapped by him, he would be so angry that he would die.
I guess he would be so angry that he would drag the man out and behead him.
The exam paper was titled, "On the Merits and Demerits of the Opening of the Grand Canal?"
Zhou Beichen would stop in front of one candidate, then look at the test paper in front of that candidate, then go to another one and look down. Listening to the "thump, thump, thump" sound of the candidates' heartbeats beating abnormally fast, Zhou Beichen felt depressed.
Is he really that scary? Is he a tiger? He doesn't eat people.
However, as he walked, Zhou Beichen discovered a scholar who was different from the others.
The man was wearing blue clothes and was as short as a dwarf. Out of curiosity, Zhou Beichen strode towards the "dwarf".
Looking at what he wrote and his fearlessness in the face of danger, Zhou Beichen's eyes lit up.
Great! Great!
What a good kid! Zhou Beichen suddenly thought of what Shen Zishan had said to him before. Among the successful candidates this time, there was a particularly outstanding eight-year-old boy who could be called a child prodigy.
The child in front of me has a chubby face and a pair of bright eyes. He looks very likable.
Zhou Beichen nodded in satisfaction and left. However, halfway through the journey, he noticed that a fat and big-eared scholar, about twenty years old, was shaking violently as he passed by.
He paused and looked back again. When he saw something suddenly shaken out from the ground, Zhou Beichen's eyes became cold.
The air is filled with solemnity and murderous aura.
Deshun was tactful enough to pick up the thing and handed it to Zhou Beichen. After reading the note, Zhou Beichen smiled and threw the note hard at the fat and big-eared scholar.
"Alright! You actually dared to peek right under my nose? I think you don't want to live anymore. Come, take me outside and watch him. Let him eat up this long speech mixed with ink."
All the candidates' hearts were beating even faster. They had never imagined that today's palace examination would have such a scene.
Zhou Beichen was so furious that he couldn't control his anger. Seeing that the two examiners and all the candidates present had all lost their good looks, he kept moving among the candidates with his hands behind his back.
Therefore, just half an hour later, Zhou Beichen scared three scholars unconscious.
Seeing the person being carried out, Zhou Beichen did not forget to add, "Waste."
In the entire examination room, only ten people were not affected by Zhou Beichen, and the rest were all trembling with fear.
Shen Zishan and the frightened Prime Minister Li saw that there was no use. They had to get rid of the emperor, otherwise, they would fail the palace examination. The two adults asked for instructions cautiously, but Zhou Beichen still got angry and scolded them both.
Seeing that both examiners were walking on thin ice, the candidates felt even more unbearable.
Just as Zhou Beichen was furious, no one noticed that a little girl came in from the door of the hall.
As soon as she saw Zhou Beichen, Zhou Zhaonuan showed her two little fangs, ran to Zhou Beichen with a smile, and immediately hugged his thighs, calling him sweetly.
"Daddy~"
Zhou Beichen's expression was still grim. "Why are you here instead of studying hard in the Shangshufang? Are you trying to piss me off?"
He tapped Zhou Zhaonuan's forehead and picked her up in an instant. Deshun breathed a sigh of relief. The emperor was still a father. If he really lost his temper with the princess at this time, he felt that the emperor really didn't deserve it.
Nuannuan breathed a sigh of relief. Just now, she was afraid that her father would beat her.
"No, no, Daddy, the students in the Shangshufang are out of school, and Nuannuan is playing outside. Before I knew it, she ran here. Just now, she saw Daddy was angry and scared some of them to pee their pants, so Nuannuan came in. Daddy, it's not good to be angry, it will make you ugly. Daddy, please don't be angry with them, okay?"
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