Chapter 171: Appointment

"Congratulations, Lord Shen. There have been many happy events in Lord Shen's family recently. Please treat us to a drink at Tianyue Restaurant someday."

The news that Shen Su was selected as the runner-up naturally spread quickly to the Dali Temple, and officials from the Dali Temple came to congratulate him. Thinking about the future of the Shen family, one of the two in-laws is a great scholar's mansion, and the other is a princess's mansion, and the son is the runner-up in the imperial examination... In the future, no one in the capital will dare to look down on the Shen family.

"Thank you all, I will definitely treat you all to a drink someday!" Shen Yun said with a smile. As a father, he was naturally happy that his son was in high school.

But right now, there is still one thing, which is the case related to Yihonglou. Until now, no evidence has been found that Shi Jiarui committed murder. As long as the case is not solved, Shen Yun feels very frustrated.

"The doctor who treated Shi Jiarui that day has been found. There is a pulse to prove it. The doctor also said that he saw Shi Jiarui and Qianqian together at the time. According to the coroner's inference, Qianqian was killed the next day."

Xie Hui had someone examine Shi Jiarui, and there was still a wound there. There was also a doctor's pulse report to prove that he was with her before she was killed. He couldn't deny it. Even if he didn't admit it, this evidence would still be considered valid evidence.

"Shi Jiarui and Qianqian left the city, and the carriage stopped ten miles outside the city... Since there is no other way, we might as well go back to the crime scene and look for any clues or witnesses."

If there was someone who knew the truth, it must be the servant boy beside Shi Jiarui. However, after their questioning, no one could describe what the servant looked like, so naturally they couldn't draw a portrait. Moreover, for someone like Shi Jiarui, the servant boy might have been silenced by now.

Going back to where it all started may lead to new discoveries.

…

After the three men in the first class were paraded through the streets, they still had to go to the palace to meet the emperor. In the past, when they met the emperor, there were times when the emperor would directly decide their future official positions.

After the ceremony, the three heard a majestic voice calling out.

"Li Ping, if you don't want to be an official, why do you want to take the imperial examination?"

Li Ping naturally did not dare to tell the true reason. He was actually drunk and made a bet with someone. He felt that he was very talented and would definitely get the top score in the imperial examination, but his friends thought he was bragging.

"Your Majesty, I study to understand reason, and I take the imperial examination to measure my own talent. Compared with being an official, I am better at business and management, so I am very afraid of being an official."

"You said you are good at business and management. I do have a place here, Deqing, read it."

At that time, the emperor wanted to simply help Li Ping and let him continue to do business, but then he thought that it would be better to let him serve the court instead of letting this talented person go.

Minzhou is located on the coast. Since the previous emperor ascended the throne, he had always wanted to set up a port in Minzhou to develop overseas trade. However, many ministers at that time believed that Dazhao was rich in products and had trade relations with many neighboring countries, so there was no need to invest huge energy in overseas trade. The Maritime Trade Bureau established in Minzhou was almost just an empty shell.

But Emperor Zhaoming's ambitions were never limited to the earth. The boundless and unknown sea always attracted him. He wanted to continue what the previous emperor had failed to do.

Deqing had finished reading the imperial edict, and Emperor Zhaoming continued, "I want you to work as a clerk in the Maritime Trade Department. Are you willing?"

Limu, a minor official of the ninth rank, none of the top scholars in the past started from the ninth rank. Limu of the Maritime Trade Bureau was responsible for checking all kinds of goods entering and leaving the sea and registering them. The emperor arranged Li Ping to be a minor official, of course, not to teach or humiliate him, this was just a beginning, a smart person would naturally not be a ninth rank official all his life.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to do so."

Li Ping used to be a businessman, so he had naturally heard of the Maritime Trade Bureau. He had always wondered what was on the other side of the sea... Besides, the same old saying applies: the imperial edict had already been issued, so could he really disobey it?

Shen Su and Xu Heng had been standing on one side. After talking about Li Ping, Shen Su knew that it was his turn.

"Shen Xu, Li Ping is very courageous, and you are also very courageous."

It was impossible to tell whether the emperor was happy or angry in his words. Shen Su had heard his father talk about the eighteen rules for survival in the officialdom. Normally, at this time, one would just kneel down.

"The common people know their sins."

"Hahahahahaha look how scared you are, hurry up, we will be a family sooner or later, what are you afraid of."

Shen Su became even more frightened... He wanted to ask the emperor, is it okay to say such things?

Seeing Shen Su stand up, the emperor said, "Okay, I won't scare you anymore. I have also arranged a good place for you."

Then Deqing began to read the imperial edict. Shen Su was not surprised to hear his official position: Deputy Director of the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Department, which was in charge of the selection, promotion, and transfer of civil servants.

What he wrote in his policy paper was related to the selection of officials, so it was not surprising that the emperor asked him to go to the Ministry of Personnel.

"I accept your order."

After talking about Shen Su, it was the turn of the third place winner Xu Heng. The emperor directly asked someone to read out the imperial edict, appointing Xu Heng as the deputy director of the Guest Office of the Honglu Temple.

The Honglu Temple was in charge of the reception of foreign guests, court etiquette and other matters, while the Sibin Office, as the name suggests, was specifically responsible for the reception of foreign guests.

The emperor arranged Xu Heng to be the governor of the Daohonglu Temple because of his good looks. When receiving foreign envoys, they naturally wanted to send handsome people, so as to show the excellence of the Dazhao people.

Xu Heng naturally accepted the order and thanked the emperor.

Among the three of them, the one with the highest official position was naturally Shen Suo, who was the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Selections, a sixth rank. Xu Heng was the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Revenue, a seventh rank. The lowest was naturally Li Ping, who was a ninth rank.

After being appointed as an official, one does not have to take up the post immediately. According to the rules, after being appointed, the court will give each person a two-month leave to visit relatives. After all, after becoming an official, if one lives far away from home, he may not be able to go home once a year.

"Brother Shen, where does Brother Xu live? Is it convenient for us?"

"Brother Li, just follow me. My home is in Gaotou Lane. Go south from here."

"My name is Xingyu. I went to the capital with my sister. It was inconvenient to stay in an inn, so I rented a yard to live in. It's in the north of the city."

"Well, unfortunately, we are not going the same way, so let's say goodbye." Li Ping bowed to the two of them and was about to leave.

Shen Xu listened to his words and quickly reminded him: "Brother Linfeng, there is a Qionglin Banquet tomorrow, we can meet again."

"Ah? Really?" Li Ping was surprised. He was just about to go back to the inn to pack up his things and go home. The inns in the capital were extremely expensive, and it was not easy for him to make some money by doing business.

"See you tomorrow then."

Seeing Li Ping leave, Xu Heng said to Shen Su: "Brother Linfeng is very talented. I thought he would go to the Imperial Academy."

"The emperor has his own reasons, which are beyond our control. My family is still waiting for me, I will go back now, and see you tomorrow."

"Brother Jinxing, take care."

——

"Brother, you're back, what happened?"

Xu Ying saw that her brother Xu Heng looked unhappy and hurriedly expressed her concern.

"It's okay. The emperor has given us all official positions."

Xu Ying didn't understand why her brother was unhappy. "Isn't this a good thing? How good is it?"

"The Secretary of the Honglu Temple is a seventh-rank official."

"What about the other two? Are they much taller than you, brother?"

"The highest among the three of us is from the sixth rank."

Xu Ying was even more confused. In her opinion, since her brother was the third place winner, it was normal for the two candidates in front of him to be taller than her brother.

"You don't understand. The difference between the seventh rank of the Honglu Temple and the sixth rank of the Ministry of Personnel is not even a little bit."