He Zhengchu took six subjects in total, and passed five of them, except mathematics, which he was not very good at.
For ordinary people, the imperial examination was a major event that changed their destiny; but for the imperial court, important positions were still in the hands of various aristocratic families.
In addition, Chai Shirong was in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, so even though He Zhengchu had good grades, he was only assigned to a low-paying government office.
Chai Shijing wanted to go and help He Zhengchu, but He Zhengchu persuaded him to stop.
He was quite open-minded. Even if he were given an important position, few would care about his words. It would be better to stay in the government office for now and then find a good position in two years. Besides, he would only be sixteen after the New Year. There was really no rush!
Kang Yueran agreed with He Zhengchu's idea. The officials of Dayong were not static. Instead of fighting for them now, it would be better to wait for an opportunity. Maybe there would be a better position.
He Zhengchu's official position was thus decided, and Kang Yueran asked him to invite his classmates and friends to Four Seasons Garden to have some fun.
At the same time, she also sent invitations to Chai Shijing, Chai Shibo, Chu Yun and Yu Qing, inviting them to come and congratulate her on her new home.
Chai Shijing handed the invitation to Shunbo and asked him to prepare a gift for Kang Yueran. He also went to the Ministry of Revenue to ask for half a day off and prepared to go to her house in person with the gift to congratulate her.
The day before the banquet, starting from noon, we received gifts from various families one after another, and several families said in advance that they would bring their families.
Kang Yueran was speechless after listening to Wang Yu's report about the guests coming tomorrow. She guessed that the number of people coming tomorrow would be more than the number in the post, but she didn't expect it to be more than double.
Wang Yu said, "I just sent the servant out to do some shopping, but, young lady, the Winter Courtyard is full. The other three courtyards aren't as nice at this time. Are they open?"
There is a two-story building in the winter courtyard for viewing plum blossoms. Kang Yueran originally planned to have male guests sit on the first floor and female guests sit on the second floor.
"Open it. Tomorrow there will be mostly male guests. Open the Chunyuan. Send someone to buy two sheep and have Zhengchu take some people to the Chunyuan to barbecue."
"Then I'll have someone set up the barbecue rack and buy some spices."
After all, this is her home, not a forest, so setting up a shelf is not a good idea. "No need to set up a shelf, and no need to buy spices, just have someone buy two sheep.
I'll go to Chengyuan and ask a few cooks and waiters to come and help early tomorrow morning. I'll go find my master later and ask him to bring over the things I need.
Oh, and send someone to the Huali Garden to tell them to make sure nothing goes wrong. Go!"
After Wang Yu left, Kang Yueran closed the door and entered the space. She bought barbecue seasoning, a large barbecue grill, iron skewers, and some common barbecue foods such as mabu fish, garlic, and shrimp.
In addition to snacks from the shops in Beijing, she also bought dried meat, candied meat, and candied fruit for the women and children.
The Winter Courtyard not only had plum blossoms but also a stage. Kang Yueran contacted the Huali Tower to perform. Afraid that male guests would also come to listen, she also bought two screens made of eighteen panels and placed them on the Plum Blossom Viewing Tower.
There were no screens in Dayong, so she bought antique ones; there were no mackerel either, but there were millions of fish in the sea, so it was easy to fool them.
In the evening, Kang Yueran put all the things she bought at the gate of Four Seasons Garden, and she specifically asked Hu Dacheng to guard the gate tonight.
Hu Dacheng knew that Kang Yueran's master would come to deliver something at night, so he slept very alertly. When he heard the knock on the door, he woke up immediately and asked who it was.
No one spoke outside the door, so he opened the door and saw a pile of things at the door. He went back to the yard and called four servants to move the things into the house.
As soon as the sun rose, Four Seasons Garden became busy. In the two kitchens, people were slaughtering sheep, cutting meat, and preparing dishes. The sound of "dangdangdangdang" was heard incessantly.
He Zhengchu looked at the time and went to the main entrance to wait for the guests.
Kang Yueran was talking to the people in Huali Building, "Are you all ready? Have you memorized the lyrics?" She was the one who gave all the lyrics for today's performance.
The shopkeeper Hua from Hualilou nodded quickly and said, "I checked it last night. They have all memorized it and there will be no mistakes." Miss Kang said that all the lyrics and music for the performances were given to Hualilou for free.
"That's good, go to the Winter Courtyard and get ready!"
A light laugh came from the courtyard gate. "Oh, even Little Peach Red from the Huali Building is here. Miss Kang is really generous."
Shopkeeper Hua bowed to Chu Yun, took his men and followed the maid to the winter courtyard.
Kang Yueran smiled and said, "You're here so early!"
Chu Yun looked around and asked, "Is Prince Ping not here yet?"
"He's still in the Ministry of Revenue and will come over later."
"Prince Ping is truly dedicated to his duties!"
Kang Yueran joked, "When he comes, it won't be too late to praise him in front of him."
"Hey, look at what the girl said!"
"Today, there are many people coming. The winter courtyard is full. I have set up a barbecue grill in the spring courtyard. You can bring more people over later."
Chu Yun raised his head and said, "Leave it to me!"
More and more people came. Chu Yun helped He Zhengchu entertain the male guests, and Mrs. Lin helped Kang Yueran entertain the female guests.
Chai Rong also came. Seeing that she was very close to Kang Yueran, everyone consciously avoided causing trouble.
Princess Ning Chu Ci ate a piece of meat jerky and asked Kang Yueran, "Miss Kang, where did you buy this meat jerky? It tastes different from what we usually eat."
Chai Rong said, "This meat jerky tastes sweet, but not quite like malt sugar."
Dayong has brown sugar, but no white sugar or rock sugar. "My master accidentally got some white sugar, and I heard it was extracted from brown sugar."
Song then asked, "How is it refined? Is there any more?" After looking at the account books of coal sales in Luoyang Mountain, she no longer had any aversion to doing business.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
