Chapter 241: The Inn's Message
Yan Yuze walked into the hall, presented the answer sheet in his hand to Emperor Liang, and handed over the list without saying a word.
Emperor Liang did not ask why he was the one who sent the answer sheet. He put the list aside, narrowed his eyes slightly, and flipped through the answer sheet with some difficulty.
Emperor Liang's expression did not change much when he was reading the papers, except that in his slightly cloudy eyes, a hint of light flashed from time to time, and a hint of regret appeared from time to time.
When Emperor Liang put down the last test paper and reached for the list, Yan Yuze understood that Emperor Liang had already made up his mind, and asked softly:
"Brother Emperor, do you want to summon them to the imperial court to make their recital?"
Emperor Liang paused, as if thinking about Yan Yuze's words. Due to health reasons, the imperial examinations in recent years have not had the emperor personally test the examinations.
Yan Yuze continued, "I have seen the list, and there are several female students among them. Although our dynasty has opened the imperial examinations to women for several years, there has never been a precedent for a female Jinshi. I am afraid that the old officials in the court will have objections. It would be better to summon them to the court to make an answer, so as to stop the gossip."
Emperor Liang thought for a moment and withdrew his hand from the list. "Well, then order someone to prepare it. The time will be set for tomorrow's court meeting."
"yes."
…
Several tall horses stopped outside the Jiuzhou Inn. Several officials on horseback dismounted. The official in front, holding a roll of bright yellow documents, led his men into the inn in a hurry, which immediately attracted the attention of many students around, and everyone started talking about it.
"Hey, why is there an official here? Could it be that the results of the palace examination are out?"
"You must have been crazy because of the test, right? The results of the palace examination will be announced at the grand ceremony. Why would you come to the inn to announce the emperor's will?"
"What is this for?"
"I don't know. Let's go and have a look."
The official walked into the inn and said in a loud voice, "Where is Jiangzhou student Zhu Lan?"
The waiter hurried upstairs and knocked on Zhu Lan's door, telling her to come down quickly.
"Zhu Lan received the order—"
Including Zhu Lan, everyone in the inn knelt down together.
"The Imperial decree states that Zhu Lan, a tribute student from Jiangzhou, will come to the court to see me at 1:00 a.m. tomorrow. I wish to personally examine his learning to verify his talent."
Zhu Lan took the imperial edict with both hands and then stood up.
The other students around also came to their senses and looked at him with envy and a hint of jealousy.
It seems that it is a foregone conclusion that Zhu Huiyuan will get the first place in the palace examination.
Then, the students turned their eyes back to the official who delivered the imperial edict, expecting him to take out another imperial edict from his arms and announce that they had also been summoned to the court.
Unfortunately, the official handed the imperial edict to Zhu Lan, turned around and walked out, which immediately caused disappointment.
The owner of Jiuzhou Inn couldn't wait to come over with a smile on his face. He was ready to ask about Zhu Lan's personal situation and planned to ask the waiter to find someone to make a plaque immediately.
You should know that Jiuzhou Inn has not produced a first-class Jinshi for two consecutive times. In order to grab business, the opposite Bafang Inn even spread the word that Jiuzhou Inn has bad feng shui and offended Wenquxing. Now that Zhu Huiyuan finally came to support the scene, it can be considered proud and restore the reputation of the inn!
Before the shopkeeper could open his mouth, the official at the door suddenly turned back because he saw that the next candidate he was looking for was also staying in the Jiuzhou Inn.
Seeing him come back, countless eyes in the lobby of the inn rekindled hope.
"Where is Jiangzhou tribute student Zhu Qingyan?"
Zhu Qingyan had never thought that he would also be selected into the first class. He knelt down in confusion and listened to the official reading out the imperial edict. The content was almost the same as the one Zhu Lan had read out before.
"Student Zhu, please accept the order." Seeing that she did not move for a long time, the official urged her.
Zhu Qingyan then hurriedly raised her hands above her head, but until the heavy imperial edict was placed in her hands, she still felt a little unreal.
Only then did the official really leave with his men.
"Miss Zhu, Miss Zhu..." The shopkeeper came to Zhu Lan and Zhu Qingyan, looked left and right, and found that both of them had the surname Zhu. He didn't bother to distinguish them and was so excited that his tongue was tied.
Finally, the waiter understood the shopkeeper's meaning in a second, threw the towel over his shoulder, and shouted loudly:
"Our boss said that starting today, our Jiuzhou Inn will offer free food and lodging for three days!"
Although Jiuzhou Inn allows candidates from other places to stay at the lowest price, the price of meals is calculated separately, and it is not low. Although students from ordinary families live in the inn, they often choose to go out to find cheaper meals.
With three days of free food and lodging, everyone had a happy smile on their face. The slight disappointment that they had not made it into the first class was also diluted, and they all came forward to congratulate Zhu Lan and Zhu Qingyan.
At night, the shopkeeper personally brought a table full of Jiuzhou Inn's signature dishes, pointing to several of the best dishes and introducing them to Zhu Lan with a proud look on his face.
"This golden milk cake is made with cow's milk specially supplied to the nobility, with osmanthus flowers from Jiangzhou and honey from Qingzhou. These ingredients are carefully selected and ordinary people can't even have them..."
Zhu Lan raised his eyebrows. Wasn't this the recipe he passed on to Wang Yuchu back then? He didn't expect it to have spread to the capital and even been imitated by others.
You know what, this method really restores 70% of the similarity.
After the innkeeper introduced the dishes attentively, he revealed his true intention and asked if he could ask someone to paint a portrait of Zhu Lan and hang it on the wall of the inn so that future candidates and students could worship it.
Zhu Lan couldn't help but laugh, but he couldn't refuse the kindness of the store owner, so he accepted it.
The shopkeeper then left with many thanks and went to knock on Zhu Qingyan's door next door with a happy face.
Zhu Lan was not nervous at all about the imperial examination tomorrow. It was nothing more than a thesis defense, and she had experienced a lot in modern times - whether sitting on the stage or sitting in the audience, it was just like a daily routine.
When Zhu Lan was getting ready to go to bed and turned off the lights, he discovered that there was still light coming from Zhu Qingyan's room next door. It seemed that he was still preparing for tomorrow.
Next door, Zhu Qingyan was writing furiously. On the paper in front of her was densely covered thousands of words of answers to the policy essay. These were exactly the answers she had given in the palace examination. Now she wrote them down again based on her memory for review.
She circled and marked her answers, analyzing the questions that might be asked in the prelude to the Tomorrow Palace, and then went over the answers in her mind. She didn't finish the whole thing, and when she looked up again, it was already three o'clock in the morning.
Zhu Qingyan stretched his shoulders, which were a little sore from working at the desk, and finally put down his pen.
If it were a few years ago, if there was such an important exam the next day, she would definitely study all night the day before and would not rest at all.
She had always thought that Zhu Lan was the same, until she got to know him more later. Not only did he not stay up late the night before the exam, he also went to bed early and never read for even a moment.
Later, I tried it secretly and found that my mind would become extra clear when I took the exam the next day. That’s how I changed my habit of staying up late.
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