Chapter 102 Tianyi
Winter passed and spring came, the seasons changed, and in the third year of Tianyi, the Great Liang presented a vibrant new scene.
Perhaps encouraged by policies that promote women's education, or perhaps inspired by the successful examples of Yu Mingshu and Yang Leyi, more and more female students are emerging in government-run and private schools across the country.
This year, female candidates finally appeared outside the examination hall for the imperial examination.
Now it was Yu Mingshu's turn to sit in the chief examiner's seat, witnessing all kinds of candidates undergoing name verification and body searches, and watching them enter the examination hall to complete the answer sheet that would change their fate.
Sitting in this seat, she realized that some candidates' brilliance could not be hidden in the crowd.
After the exam began, Yu Mingshu, accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Rites, toured the examination hall. The rest of the matters did not require her, as the chief examiner, to handle personally.
Back outside the examiners' resting room, some unpleasant sounds came from under the door.
"The area outside the exam hall is packed with people. The aisle is only so wide, and they even had to create a separate passage for those dozen or so female candidates. It's convenient for them; they got into the exam hall early this morning, comfortably set up their books, and waited for the exam to start. But there are still hundreds of candidates outside, stuck and unable to get in..."
"This is only the third year that the government schools have been recruiting female students. In the future, there will only be more and more female candidates for the imperial examinations."
"Tch, when Vice Minister Yu encouraged women across the land to enroll in school, he said that a knowledgeable woman could change the fate of three generations. That's all nonsense." The man suddenly lowered his voice. "Look at her herself, she's studied and entered officialdom, but does she still have time to be a good wife and mother?"
"But you could say that to change the fate of the next generation, there must first be descendants, right?"
Their conversation came to an abrupt end.
Yu Mingshu pushed open the door and entered, completely ignoring the two people's pale faces, and walked straight to the main seat.
One of them reacted quickly, immediately standing up and bowing to her with a perfectly standard fake smile on his face. "Minister Yu is back. Since you, Minister Yu, implemented the new imperial examination system, a spirit of valuing learning has arisen throughout the Great Liang Dynasty. Every year, various prefectures send countless students to the court. This year, the number of candidates has reached a new high. Therefore, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works have worked together to expand the examination venues to accommodate so many candidates coming to the capital for the examinations."
Another person chuckled and said, "Just look at this year's examination hall. Our Great Liang is truly full of talented people. It is evident that the reforms advocated by Vice Minister Yu have achieved remarkable results and have made great contributions to the country."
Yu Mingshu was already used to this kind of flattery. Without changing his expression, he asked the clerk to bring paper and pen and said, "You gentlemen have been appointed as examiners, so you must all be the best in the previous imperial examinations. The exam will last all day. We have nothing better to do than answer the questions at the same time as the candidates. This will be a good way to test the quality of the exam questions."
The smiles on the two men's faces froze instantly; they were dissatisfied but dared not speak out.
Yu Mingshu smiled and said, "You two don't need to be nervous. We're just treating this problem as entertainment, it's not a result."
The two men reluctantly took the answer sheets, exchanged a glance, and thought to themselves: Why doesn't Vice Minister Yu write the answers himself?
But he agreed without any backbone.
Before long, Yang Leyi returned from inspecting the examinations. She sat down, took a sip of tea, and looked at Yu Mingshu with great interest: "You saw that Miss Xun too, didn't you?"
Upon hearing this name, Yu Mingshu immediately recalled a woman among the candidates who stood out from the crowd.
Some people are obviously science whizzes just by looking at their faces, while others are clearly learned scholars just by their demeanor. The young woman surnamed Xun standing among the test-takers didn't look like a student; she looked more like an excellent teacher with over ten years of experience.
"Such an outstanding temperament is hard to ignore."
Yang Leyi put down her cup and said, “I heard that she is a well-known ‘shrew’ in Pengzhou. She has only two hobbies in her life: reading and debating. Some famous scholars in the area have been refuted by her, and she has offended many people because of this. Fortunately, the Xun family is also a prominent family. Ordinary people do not dare to cause her trouble. They only dare to talk about her in private, saying that she is rude and unruly and laugh at her for being too old to marry.”
"A love of debate is not a bad thing; it just depends on where the employer chooses to use that talent."
As Yu Mingshu spoke, he turned around and glanced at the two people who were forced to accompany him to the exam. Sure enough, he caught them exchanging glances with strange expressions.
After being swept over by her cold gaze, the two of them quieted down again.
At the end of March, the results of the imperial examinations were released, and the top spot was prominently marked with the name of Xun.
Once something happens, it will happen again. Having witnessed the brilliance of Princess Huailing and Yu Mingshu, the people of Daliang were no longer surprised to see a woman's name appear on the list of successful candidates.
Inside the Liangyi Hall, an elderly black cat lay quietly on the desk like a sculpture, while Princess Fu'an knelt on the other side, resting her chin on the table, idly poking the black cat's belly.
Mo Tiao opened its eyes several times, its green eyes sweeping over the little girl in front of it before calmly closing them again.
Fu'an's eyes darted around, and he secretly glanced at the manuscript in Liang Yuanjun's hand. When he met Liang Yuanjun's inscrutable eyes, he pretended not to care and turned back to tease the cat.
Children's thoughts are written all over their faces; they may be clumsy, but they're still quite adorable.
Yu Mingshu said from the side, "The princess is exceptionally intelligent and can memorize anything she reads. These few pages of dictation were written under my supervision; there's no way to fake it."
Liang Yuanjun finally put down her manuscript and said to Fu'an, "You did well today. I'll allow you to take the ink stick to Tianrui to play for an hour. Make sure the nanny brings the ink stick back before dark, understand?"
Upon hearing this, Fu'an's eyes lit up, and he jumped up with joy, "I will obey Your Majesty's decree!"
Liang Yuanjun immediately frowned, "How many times have I told you not to call me 'Royal Sister' without permission?"
Fu'an pretended to cover her mouth, but her eyes still held a smile as she muttered, "I didn't shout randomly. I only shouted because there were no outsiders around."
Yu Mingshu and Yang Leyi exchanged a glance and couldn't help but laugh.
Liang Yuanjun waved her hand helplessly, beckoned the palace maids outside the hall to come in, and sent the exhausted black cat and the overjoyed princess to the Empress Dowager's palace. The Liangyi Hall became much quieter in an instant.
Looking at the departing figure outside the palace, Liang Yuanjun said solemnly, "I intend to establish Fu'an as the crown prince."
Yu Mingshu and Yang Leyi were not surprised at all.
They had suspected this ever since Liang Yuanjun appointed the two of them as the princess's teachers two years ago.
The Empress Dowager took good care of Fu'an. The princess was healthy, had a generous and cheerful personality, was neither spoiled nor unruly, and at a young age knew how to maintain a proper and respectful distance with her subjects.
Only when the roots are upright can the branches and leaves have the hope of flourishing.
Yu Mingshu and Yang Leyi were both pleased to see that the Great Liang had such a handsome and charismatic crown prince, but there was always a group of conservative old-fashioned people in the court who refused to agree.
The current emperor's gender is a mystery, a secret tacitly known among the court officials.
They did not truly accept a woman as ruler; it was simply that the retired emperor had few children, and his only son, Liang Tianrui, was physically weak and suffered from some mental retardation. Given these realities, how could they not blindly submit to the new emperor, or would they emulate the Prince of Qin's rebellion?
In the eyes of these people, it would be best for the emperor to have a son of his own to inherit the throne, or at the very least, to sift through the Liang family genealogy and adopt a boy of good character.
In any case, there is no reason to make the emperor's younger sister the crown prince.
Liang Yuanjun knew that the court officials would not agree, and after saying this, she stared sadly at the childish handwriting on the manuscript paper.
Yu Ming opened his mouth slightly and said reservedly, "There's plenty of time in the future."
Fortunately, Liang Yuanjun and Yang Leyi could understand her unspoken meaning—they were still young and could outlast those conservative and stubborn forces.
…
Another winter arrived, and news came from the imperial palace that the retired emperor's days were numbered.
To show her filial piety, Liang Yuanjun took the Empress Dowager, Princess Fu'an, and Liang Tianrui to the imperial palace to celebrate the New Year, and the whole family accompanied the retired emperor on the last journey of his life.
As early as the first year of Tianyi, Liang Heng had awakened from his coma, but he had been bedridden for too long, and his bodily functions had deteriorated, with his limbs noticeably atrophied. Even when he was conscious, he was unable to return to the court.
After many years of separation, he lived in seclusion in the imperial palace. Under the care of eunuchs and palace maids, his health did not improve at all; on the contrary, he became increasingly emaciated.
When Liang Yuanjun led Princess Fu'an into the palace, she saw the terrifying human figure on the bed. Fu'an gasped in fright, but quickly realized that she had lost her composure. She restrained herself, pursed her lips, and hid behind Liang Yuanjun.
Hearing the exclamation, the person on the bed suddenly became agitated and flailed away the medicine bowl from the palace maid's hand.
The porcelain bowl fell to the ground with a jarring sound, but the palace maids and eunuchs, already used to such occurrences, quickly squatted down to clean up the mess.
He Ning entered from outside the palace and said to Fu An's nanny, "Take the princess away first."
The old woman bowed and agreed, then quickly led Princess Fu'an away.
He Ning noticed that Liang Yuanjun's body stiffened slightly, so he gently patted her shoulder, then walked to the inner hall and sat down beside Liang Heng's couch.
The person on the bed had lifeless eyes, and his withered hands groped around as he cursed with hatred: "Vile woman! I was wrong to trust you, and this is how things have come to this!"
The palace maids and eunuchs bowed their heads and left the hall, seemingly ignoring the Emperor Emeritus's angry words.
He Ning smiled and covered him with the blanket, took out the pills from the drawer beside his bed, and personally put the pills into his mouth, gently persuading him, "Your Majesty, please calm down. We can talk slowly after you take the medicine."
Liang Heng gritted his teeth, struggled to spit out the pill, grabbed a pillow from the side with his left hand, and swung it hard forward.
"Take your pills and get out! Don't even think about poisoning me again!"
He Ning easily dodged him, her gaze growing cold. "This prescription was written by Imperial Physician Zhong. Doesn't His Majesty trust Zhong Ping the most?"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Liang Heng exhausted himself and lay face up, his chest heaving violently, his breathing heavy and labored, making it hard for anyone to breathe.
He seemed to still be cursing. Liang Yuanjun stepped forward and could only vaguely hear words like "poisonous woman" and "bitch".
She carefully examined her father's current appearance: his cheeks were sunken, his hair was dry and white like weeds, and his arms were scarred. He didn't look like a living person at all.
A chill ran through Liang Yuanjun's heart.
If no one had noticed the unusual nature of the drugs Zhong Ping offered that day, and had allowed her to become addicted to them, she would be the one who has become this inhuman and terrifying state today.
The thought that the person who had harmed her was her own father made Liang Yuanjun stare at the person on the bed without feeling any pity.
"You mother and daughter murdered the imperial heir, plotted rebellion and murdered the emperor. You are like hens crowing at dawn, disrupting the court... He Ning, Liang Qingluan, you will be punished, you will die a horrible death!"
After listening calmly to this scathing rebuke, Liang Yuanjun sat down by the bed and said to the person on the bed, "During the five years that Father Emperor was recuperating in the palace, the Liang state was stable, the people were well-fed and clothed, the learned were able to put their knowledge to use, and the people of the world were able to reap what they sowed."
“If there truly is cause and effect, then Liang Yuanjun has no regrets.”
Her voice was clear and steady, without the slightest emotional fluctuation, a stark contrast to Liang Heng's agitated state, making the person on the bed seem utterly devoid of imperial majesty.
And that is indeed the case.
Now, Liang Heng hates the pills psychologically, but his body cannot live without their comfort. In the dead of winter, it feels as if a fire is burning inside him, making him emotionally manic and restless.
In the past six months, his eyesight has deteriorated, and he can no longer see things clearly. He can't even make out the outlines of things that are close at hand, let alone distinguish whether the person guarding his bedside every day is a person or a ghost.
How can an emperor who can't even control his own body control the world?
Countless times in the dead of night, Liang Heng regretted that he hadn't seen through He Ning's true colors.
Where is the virtuous wife? This is a wicked woman.
…
Liang Heng did not survive the harsh winter of the fifth year of Tianyi.
With the passing of the retired emperor, the Ministry of Rites drew upon the pre-prepared procedures and carried out the national mourning process in an orderly manner.
The funeral seemed to have little impact on the people, who were already accustomed to the new look and atmosphere of the Tianyi era.
Six months later, when Liang Yuanjun first brought up the matter of establishing an heir, she unsurprisingly met with much opposition. However, many people, in order to show their loyalty, praised the ten-year-old Princess Fu'an to the skies, calling her an auspicious omen for the Great Liang and a divinely ordained sage ruler.
Upon hearing the rumors, Princess Fu'an pointed incredulously at herself, "Auspicious omens, the Holy Emperor, Teacher Yu, are they talking about me?"
Yu Mingshu, burdened with heavy teaching duties, took the folded book from the princess's hand and placed the imperial textbook with a dark blue cover in front of her.
"Your Highness, today we will study the article 'Zou Ji Advises King Qi to Accept Criticism' from the 'Strategies of the Warring States'."
Fu'an blinked, reluctantly shifting his gaze from the memorial, and instead picked up the book, reading the article word by word.
Hearing the little girl's tender and clear voice reading aloud, Yu Mingshu's expression softened.
How could there be such an obedient student in the world?
As she taught Fu'an more and more, she would occasionally have some outrageous thoughts—if Fu'an weren't the crown prince, she really wanted to take the child back and raise him herself.
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