Chapter 1993 Competition
The emperor also brought his family to the palace to watch the lights come on. After the phoenix at the inner city gate was fully lit up, the accompanying royal relatives all wished him a happy Mid-Autumn Festival.
The emperor agreed with a smile and enjoyed the lanterns and the moon with everyone else.
This year's Mid-Autumn Festival was very simple. Because the empress dowager was seriously ill, there was no banquet for all officials. Even the foreign vassals who came to Beijing were not summoned. The emperor only called the royal family members who came to Beijing to the palace for a reunion dinner, and then they watched the moon together and let them go out of the palace to play.
Others could still go out, but unmarried princesses like Changyu and Mingda could not go out. Prince Gong was still recovering from his injuries and could not even attend the palace banquet.
So the two sisters looked at the prince eagerly.
The prince didn't notice. He was looking down at Chang'an, which was as bright as day, and was weighing in his mind whether to go to his villa for a drink, or to call his friends to gather at his father-in-law's house, or to go out to a restaurant?
Seeing that the prince refused to turn back, Changyu could only shake Mingda's hand.
Mingda couldn't persuade her, so he turned around and went to find the Crown Princess.
The prince refused to take them out of the palace. "It's very chaotic outside tonight. What are you doing out there? Father and Mother will definitely not agree."
Changyu didn't dare to say a word.
Mingda smiled and said, "We'll just follow brother and not run around. There's no danger where brother is."
Prince: ...He went out to drink, so what happened to him bringing his two sisters with him?
Mingda said, "Brother, Zhou Man said that you can't drink too much. Even though three people in the East Palace are pregnant now, you can't indulge yourself."
Yes, a few days ago, one of the prince's concubines was found to be pregnant again. Although she had not given birth to three children and did not know the gender, the prince and the princess were still very happy.
The prince was so happy that he made a little discount. After thinking about it, he didn't dare to refuse. Mingda was not afraid of him. She would definitely go and complain to her father, the emperor and her mother.
The prince had no choice but to tell the emperor and empress that he wanted to take Mingda and the others out for a walk.
The emperor agreed immediately. He looked at his two daughters and said with a smile, "You haven't left the palace for a long time. It would be good to go out for a walk. Just bring your guards with you and don't go to crowded places to avoid being squeezed."
Then he turned to the prince and said, "Take good care of your sisters."
The prince agreed reluctantly.
As soon as they left the palace, Mingda said, "Brother Crown Prince, please have someone take us to the Champion's Building."
The prince glanced at them and asked, "What are you doing in the Champion Building?"
"Zhou Man is there."
The prince gritted his teeth. He had guessed that they were going to find Zhou Man, and that it might be Zhou Man who instigated them to leave the palace.
Zhou Man, who knew nothing about it, couldn't help but sneeze.
Bai Shan reached out and grabbed her hand and touched it, "Are you cold?"
Manbao shook his head. "Maybe it was a cold wind that just blew through, so I sneezed. It's nothing serious."
Night has fallen and all the lights are on. Everyone is eager to go to the Lantern Festival, but the most important stage on the first floor of Zhuangyuan Building has just begun.
A new topic was posted in Zhuangyuan Building. This time it was a policy essay, which accounted for a large proportion of the Jinshi examination. Bai Shan also wanted to test his level, and several people in Chongwenguan also wanted to test their level.
For example, Feng Zongping and Yi Ziyang also took paper and pen and directly occupied a table to write.
Zhao Liulang and the others were not interested in this and just watched the fun without participating, but they did speak in a low voice.
Bai Dalang and his classmates also wanted to participate, so Bai Shan took out a few pieces of paper and handed them to Bai Dalang and his classmates so that they didn't have to run downstairs.
Zhao Liulang and his friends were sitting at another table drinking and chatting. No one knew what they were talking about, but more than a dozen people laughed in a particularly obscene way.
Manbao looked around and felt that he had nothing to do, so he simply ran to the window to look at the topic, then ran back and sat down to write an article.
The competitions were all timed. After one stick of incense, a gong was struck. Bai Shan and the others handed the written articles to the waiters and asked them to take them away.
There are many people who would discuss other topics in Zhuangyuan Building. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, so many scholars would gather here just to express their opinions on national policies, so that court officials, doctors of the Imperial College and aristocratic families could see their political views and articles and thus become famous.
After the evaluation, regardless of the ranking, the articles written can be posted on the wall of Zhuangyuan Building for one month.
After writing an article, Manbao successfully became hungry, so he sat back in his seat to eat. Zhao Liulang and his friends called over and wanted to go to another place to play after watching the result of this game.
He winked at Bai Shan and said, "Do you want to go with us?"
Manbao beside him asked curiously, "Where are we going?"
Lu Yue, who was sitting across from me, said with a half-smile, "Of course we're going to a fun place. I'm just worried that it might be inconvenient for Master Zhou."
Everyone at the table fell silent. No one could speak. Zhao Liulang frowned. Feng Zongping kicked Lu Yue under the table. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Feng Zongping turned around and said to Manbao, "Let's go somewhere else to drink. You guys don't like drinking, so why not go guess the lantern riddles?"
Others also blamed Lu Yue in a low voice. Zhou Man was not like others. They were all from Chongwenguan and had attended classes together many times. Not to mention their friendship as classmates, Zhou Man also had the job of editor.
How could you joke with her like this?
Manbao glanced at everyone, then looked at Lu Yue. He reached out and took the bottle of wine, poured a glass of wine, and said to him, "Lu Yue, you need to drink less, okay? You have dark circles under your eyes, a greasy white coating on your tongue, and your kidney qi is insufficient. If you continue to drink, you'll have to come to me for treatment in the future."
She imitated his half-smile and said, "After all, I'm the best at treating this disease in the entire capital."
Now not only the people at this table became quiet, but the people at the next table also became quiet. After a moment, everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Zhao Liulang slammed his hand on the table and said cheerfully, "It's okay. If you don't have enough money for medicine later, I'll lend it to you. Just play around."
Bai Shan raised his lips and smiled.
Lu Yue's face turned black.
They may not know what disease Zhou Man is best at treating, but there are only two diseases in the capital that she is the best at treating and no one else can treat: one is cesarean section, and the other is male infertility.
He cured the prince and became famous throughout the world.
The atmosphere became lively again, everyone toasted each other, Manbao drank the wine in his glass and concentrated on eating the food.
The judges spent half an hour evaluating the works, and finally decided that the first place winner was a student named Wang Wenzhi from the Imperial College.
As soon as his name came out, everyone in the room said, "So it's him."
Manbao had also heard of his name and heard that he was very good in the Imperial College, but this year was already his fourth year in the Imperial College.
Feng Zongping said, "He was originally going to take the imperial examination last year, but I heard his family wouldn't let him. They insisted he stay in the Imperial Academy for two more years. Only this year did they agree to let him take the exam next year. I think he's likely to be the top scorer next year."
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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