28 Chapter 28
◎Master Wei, how are you?◎
By mid-March, most of the candidates who would take part in the imperial examination had arrived in Beijing. The streets were almost crowded, with new faces appearing every few steps. Everywhere were candidates holding books and studying, either in groups of three or four, or studying classics alone.
The streets were bustling with activity. Wei Che sat in a private room in the teahouse to seek some peace and quiet, but it was not quiet enough as the sound of reading aloud from outside the window often drifted in.
He was not the only one who was disturbed. He regarded the sound of reading as pleasant to the ears, but others found it noisy. A nobleman next door sent his followers away.
"What are you saying? You're disturbing my young master, you know!"
For a scholar, the most important things are the books he treasures. The follower arrogantly tore up the scholar's books, and felt very proud when he saw that he was unable to resist.
In the teahouse, the private rooms were separated by only a wall, and the windows were adjacent to each other, so the laughter of the nobleman next door floated in.
"What kind of wretch is that? He doesn't even know his own limitations. He has no background at all, yet he still dreams of getting into high school? What did he rely on to get into high school? Those tattered books? Or those washed-out clothes?"
The people around him naturally laughed as they heard this. "Now anyone can take the imperial examination, but in my opinion, the top spot in this exam will naturally go to Young Master Wei."
This resonated deeply with the young master, who said smugly, "Of course. My eldest brother is a child prodigy, so it shouldn't be easy for him to take first place."
Seeing him like this, others naturally rushed to agree and praised Wei Ming for his bright future.
Wei Che could no longer hear what was said afterwards. He closed the window and said to his attendant, "Go and see who's next door."
After a while, the attendant returned and reported, "My Lord, it's the second son of the Wei family and several young masters from the Shangshu Mansion."
Wei Che played with the teacup on the table and laughed.
He is indeed the second son of the Wei family. He has no special abilities and brags about his eldest brother all day long. Except for Wei Ming, the others in the Wei family are really just so-so.
He tilted his head back, drank the tea in the cup, and figuring that the boasting over there had ended, he pushed open the window.
The scholar whose book was torn up by the Wei family servants was still sitting there, looking helplessly at the debris on the ground. But when the spring breeze blew, the debris on the ground was rolled up, some white and some black, swirling in the air.
The scholar rummaged through his purse and poured out the last of his copper coins, which amounted to only a few cents, not enough to buy new books.
He sighed, helpless, and had to stagger to his feet.
"Sir, please stay."
Suddenly, a man dressed as a servant ran out of the teahouse and called him.
Although he was a servant, he was wearing clothes made of expensive fabrics that he dared not look at. He must be a servant of a wealthy family.
The scholar bowed to the servant and asked, "Young man, what do you want from me?"
The servant took out a purse from his bosom, presented it to him with both hands, and said respectfully, "My master sees that you may be in trouble. He admires scholars very much, so he asked me to give you this bag of silver. You can go to the bookstore to buy some new books and prepare well for the imperial examination tomorrow."
The scholar took the purse, which was heavy, weighing about twenty taels.
Twenty taels was his family's food ration for a year.
"This... this is really too much. Please thank your young master for his kindness on my behalf. This is too much. I dare not accept it." He was flattered and did not dare to take the money, so he quickly returned it.
The servant simply stuffed the purse into his hand and said, "My master has given it to you, so you should accept it. I wish you success in the imperial examination."
After saying that, he bowed again and turned back to the teahouse.
The scholar looked at the purse with mixed feelings. When he looked up, he saw a young man in red clothes beside the bed on the second floor looking at him. The young man smiled and raised his glass to him.
This must be the young man who gave him the purse. To be able to take out so much money at will, he must be either rich or noble.
The scholar bowed quickly to him, and when he looked up again, the window over there was closed. He sighed, feeling grateful for his good opportunity, and quickly packed his luggage and went to the bookstore.
As the imperial examination approached, there were many scholars receiving assistance in the streets. However, Xu Qinghe, who was still under house arrest, was unaware of this.
She was confined by the Queen Mother Wei and was forced to copy Buddhist scriptures every day. On March 18th, the Queen Mother Wei took her to bathe and change clothes in advance so that she could worship Buddha with all her heart.
Nine days later, after the examination was over, Queen Mother Wei put the hanging heart back into her belly, mercifully pardoned Xu Qinghe's punishment, and lifted her ban.
"Finally, the princess doesn't have to kneel anymore."
After wiping her body at night, Nanzhi applied medicine to the princess. Because she had been kneeling for most of the day to worship Buddha in the past few days, the injury on her knee became more serious.
"Fortunately, the skin isn't broken. If you let it rest for a few days, it shouldn't leave any scars on you, Princess."
Xu Qinghe nodded and said "hmm", and asked Nanzhi to take out the Wei family map that Lin Xiao had taken from Wei Che earlier.
The young lady from the Wei family once said that because her father was the Minister of Justice, he sometimes brought official business back home, but he was afraid of thieves stealing, so he set up several study rooms in the front yard.
Some of them belonged to her brothers, and some to her uncles and elders. The rest were used by him for his own office work, and he changed them almost every day to prevent thieves from finding the right location to steal.
The imperial examination is over now, but in a few days it will be Old Man Wei’s 60th birthday. Because the Wei family is very confident in Wei Ming’s performance in this imperial examination, this birthday banquet will be a grand event and will become one of the ways for Old Man Wei to pave the way for Wei Ming.
If you want to find the secret letter that may be hidden in the Wei family, this birthday party is the best choice.
She spread the map on the table. Nanzhi brought a lamp and moved closer, looking at the densely packed map, many of which were marked as study rooms.
"There are so many study rooms here. Princess, which one will contain the secret letter Lin Xiao mentioned?"
Xu Qinghe shook his head, also clueless.
The Wei family girl said that Minister Wei's study was changed every day, but with so many study rooms, was it changed randomly or regularly?
She had to find the most likely room before the birthday party to ensure that she got it right.
Xu Qinghe pondered for a long time, and suddenly thought of something. She asked Nanzhi, "Where will the most people gather when Old Master Wei holds his birthday banquet?"
The Wei residence covers a large area, but a few years ago, when Grandpa Wei and Minister Wei held birthday banquets, Nanzhi had accompanied the princess to the Wei residence. The Wei family's large banquets, which entertained both male and female guests, were held in the West Garden of the mansion.
There are pavilions, towers and pavilions everywhere, as well as rockery and flowing water. There are places for male guests to chat and discuss, and there are pavilions and pavilions for female guests to rest.
"What does the princess mean..." Nanzhi probably already had a guess in her mind, and then, she really heard the princess continue:
"If I were Minister Wei, and the Wei family held a grand birthday banquet, there would definitely be a mix of good and bad people, making it very easy for thieves to sneak in and steal. I would then store the evidence from the Ministry of Justice in a place farthest away from the crowd."
She circled an area on the map. Nanzhi took a look and found that it was the area near the east garden. Coincidentally, two study rooms were marked there.
Nanzhi suddenly realized and said in surprise, "The evidence is most likely right here!"
"That's not certain." Xu Qinghe sighed, "We don't even know if the secret letter exists now, or if it's really in the Wei Mansion."
Everything was just their guess. They could only try their luck. If that didn't work, they could only pin their hopes on Wei Che.
Putting his hopes on others made Xu Qinghe feel uneasy, but he could do nothing about it.
**
Two days later, when Xu Qinghe paid her respects to Queen Mother Wei, Queen Mother Wei really mentioned the birthday banquet of Grandpa Wei.
"The Wei family has already sent me an invitation. Ming'er delivered it personally." Queen Mother Wei said, glancing at Xu Qinghe. The latter still lowered his head and looked obedient, which finally made her feel a little satisfied.
Although she was now the Queen Mother, which woman in the deep palace could really attend the banquet as she pleased? Not even her own brother.
So her nephew handed the invitation to her, but the person inviting him was not her, but the child's sweetheart.
"Qinghe, in a few days, you will go to the banquet on my behalf and bring my gift. If you want, you can stay at the Wei family for a few more days."
Xu Qinghe stood up, saluted, and accepted it.
On the day of the birthday banquet, Queen Mother Wei ordered someone to prepare a carriage for her early in the morning. After leaving the palace, she drove straight to the bustling street where the Wei residence was located.
As they were about to reach the street, Xu Qinghe pulled back the carriage curtain and was surprised by the sight of so many people coming to the banquet. The carriage was full, almost filling up half of the street.
There were various surname signs hanging in front of the carriages, some of which belonged to wealthy and powerful families, but also to the homes of minor officials. After a quick count, she saw more than thirty of them.
"Princess, we can't go any further. What should we do?" asked the attendant.
Xu Qinghe put down the curtain in his hand and ordered, "I'll get out and walk over. You park the car nearby. Otherwise, even if you get inside, it will be difficult to get out."
The attendant responded and placed the wooden stool. Nanzhi got off the car first and then helped the princess down.
Xu Qinghe had just stood up when a soft voice as soft as jade came from behind him.
"Qinghe."
She turned around and saw Wei Ming in a sapphire blue robe, accompanied by the second daughter of the Wei family.
Miss Wei Er has respected her brother since she was young, so she likes whoever her brother likes. When she saw Xu Qinghe, she smiled and called her "Sister Qinghe".
Xu Qinghe greeted the other party and waited until the attendants took the birthday gifts from the car before walking side by side with the two of them.
She thought that now that Wei Ming had passed the provincial examination, and the date of this year's palace examination had not yet been determined, she might as well make things clear to him first, so as to avoid delaying it and causing greater trouble.
But Wei Ming was also thinking about something. The two of them were lost in thought and did not speak for a while.
Miss Wei Er looked at her brother, then at Princess Qinghe, thought for a moment, and affectionately took Xu Qinghe's arm.
She smiled and said, "Sister Qinghe, you don't know. My eldest brother got up early in the morning and was waiting at the door. I didn't know what he was waiting for at first. It wasn't until the servants came to report that you had arrived that my eldest brother ran out in a hurry. I realized then that he had been waiting for you all along!"
Wei Ming coughed lightly upon hearing this and said, "Don't talk nonsense."
Miss Wei Er knew that he was not angry. Instead, she tugged at Xu Qinghe's sleeve and called her, "Sister, look at my brother's ears. They are as red as cherries."
Her intimacy made Xu Qinghe feel uncomfortable. In fact, she had only met all the members of the Wei family a few times and exchanged a few words with them. It seemed that she did not have any deep friendship with them.
In front of the Wei brothers and sisters, she didn't want to show too much. She just glanced at the street and was about to say something else to change the subject, such as praising the large number of officials who came to the birthday party, but she didn't expect that as soon as she looked over, her eyes met the person on the red horse.
Wei Che was surprisingly not wearing red clothes today, but a golden camel-colored round-necked robe. He sat high on the horse and rode past them.
Wei Ming immediately went around to the outer circle, separating him from Xu Qinghe.
Even so, Wei Che's gaze passed him and fell on Xu Qinghe.
He looked at Xu Qinghe, but what he said was: "Master Wei, how are you?"
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