February arrived in the blink of an eye, and Song Yaozhu lay on the chaise lounge while Caijin painted her nails.
"Did His Highness leave so early this morning again?"
"Yes, the imperial examinations are coming up soon, so they need to keep an eye on those students and make sure they study hard!"
The students who came to take the exam stayed at the Xie family's estate outside the city. The Xie family patriarch and a headmaster lived there, keeping an eye on them to prevent them from slacking off and answering their questions.
Song Yaozhu was not very familiar with the politics of the past ten years, so she asked her housekeeper to find her the official reports from those years, which she would flip through when she was bored.
Two years ago, Jiangzhou was flooded, but the relief grain sent by the imperial court was delayed, causing many people to starve to death. The local prefect deliberately concealed the truth, leading to cannibalism and widespread suffering in Jiangzhou, becoming a shocking case.
It was the Prince of Yan who promptly led his troops to combat the disaster and opened the granaries to distribute grain, saving the people of the entire prefecture. Because of this, the emperor's reputation was damaged, while the Prince of Yan's fame soared.
From just a few lines of text, Song Yaozhu could imagine Yuwen Wuji's exasperation.
She guessed that one of the questions in this year's scientific expedition would be related to the floods in Jiangzhou, but she didn't know how the question would be phrased.
If she could think of it, then the teachers in the Xie family who had been researching scientific expeditions for so many years could naturally think of it as well. Presumably, they had already written all sorts of questions about the floods in Jiangzhou for those people.
"How's it going outside lately?"
“After His Majesty settled those poor students, the people praised him more,” Caijin said. “However, what those students are most concerned about now is probably the plays performed in theaters and the jokes told in teahouses. They all feel that those stories insult them as scholars, so they are trying every means to cause trouble.”
Song Yaozhu chuckled. These weren't all students; there were people from various factions too. Each group had its own interests to pursue, and naturally, everyone wanted to fish in troubled waters.
She merely ignited a spark, but someone else set it ablaze.
“There’s one more thing,” Caijin said hesitantly. “Someone is running a gambling den in the capital, betting on who will be this year’s top scholar, using the top scholars from all over the country as stakes!”
Song Yaozhu propped her chin up; this kind of thing had happened before in previous years.
"The largest gambling den, Tianyuan, compiled these people's information into booklets and even arranged for someone to explain their lives. Their poems and essays from childhood to adulthood are all listed in books for people to read and bet on." Caijin told him everything she had heard. "The scale was too grand; even some restaurants and teahouses arranged for storytellers to give explanations."
Song Yaozhu frowned; something was definitely not right.
In the capital, most wealthy people wielded power. Regardless of who ultimately became the top scholar, the gambling den owner would always offend a number of people because someone else lost money. Offending so many people for a little silver was not something a wise person would do.
What's even stranger is that such betting did happen in previous years, but it was on a very small scale, confined to a circle of people who knew these students, and never went beyond that circle.
This year's event was a massive success, with a kind of nationwide entertainment frenzy.
Just as she was lost in thought, Xie Liwei returned, carrying a food box in his hand.
Xie Liwei placed the food box on the table, but his gaze fell on Song Yaozhu's hands.
Song Yaozhu's nails were freshly painted, their vibrant red as the blooming red spider lilies of autumn. Her hands, nurtured for months with daily application of Jade Bone Regenerating Cream, were now quite fair and smooth. The balsam-colored nail polish made them appear even whiter and more delicate.
Xie Liwei glanced at it and felt a tightness in his throat.
He wasn't a hand fetishist, but he just felt that these hands were so suggestive.
"You brought this for me?" Song Yaozhu was quite surprised. Xie Liwei actually brought her pastries to eat. Was he trying to poison her?
"It's something I wanted to eat myself." With that, he took out a piece of peanut brittle and ate it.
Peanut brittle is indeed delicious, but there are so few people in the capital who are not allergic to peanuts that only one pastry shop in the entire capital makes it. That shop is Xu's, the largest pastry shop in the capital, and you have to queue for a long time every day to buy anything from them.
Song Yaozhu took out the dragon beard candy from the second layer of the food box, in a great mood, her long legs couldn't help but shake with joy. While eating, she told him what had just happened.
"Don't concern yourself with this matter. What you need to do now is to keep a low profile and not let the Emperor notice you." He took a sip of tea to cleanse his mouth of the sweetness. "Your father and I will be staying at the estate for the next few days. Don't go out unnecessarily while you're at home."
Song Yaozhu's gaze lingered on him for a few moments, her eyes revealing a clear understanding.
"Your Highness, rest assured, I will definitely not hold you back."
Xie Li gave her a dangerous look and said, "As long as it's not royalty, I can still clean up your mess."
Wow, so domineering?
Song Yaozhu smiled, resting her chin on her hand, and said, "Then, Your Highness, could you tell me who I have the best chance of winning?"
You see, the students from the Xie family's academy all aim for the top two spots on the list of successful candidates. The Xie family should know these candidates' abilities best. If she buys the tickets of everyone Xie Liwei mentioned, maybe she'll hit the jackpot?
Xie Liwei wiped his hands with a handkerchief and threw it aside. Caijin immediately brought him clean water to rinse his mouth.
Then, he calmly said, "They have gathered renowned scholars from all over the country and exaggerated their reputations to the point that they are like the reincarnation of the God of Literature. Now, in the entire capital, even illiterate children probably know these people's names."
Having said that, what else could Song Yaozhu not understand?
If everyone in the city, even the children, knows about this, then their targets won't be the rich and powerful, but rather they'll try to trick the common people into buying!
The common people's understanding of these scholars was based entirely on the information provided by the gambling den. Since the gambling den exaggerated the abilities of each scholar to an unparalleled degree, the people, like her, thought that they should place multiple bets, betting on several people at once, hoping to win! If they won, they wouldn't have to work hard for the rest of their lives!
This is an attempt to rip off ordinary people!
No wonder the bookmakers are so fearless and unafraid to offend people. Maybe they are backed by high-ranking officials and nobles who are just waiting to take a share of the people's wealth!
"That's disgusting!" Song Yaozhu said angrily.
She had initially thought that Yuwen Wuji was simply too power-hungry, which was why he had targeted her. Now it seemed that a man who loved power above all else was only concerned with himself; how could he possibly care about the people of the world?
In his eyes, as long as his rule is not shaken, he can turn a blind eye to the corrupt officials below him!
"Don't be angry. If you get sick from anger, I'll have to buy you medicine to nourish your body." Xie Liwei smiled and poured her a cup of tea.
Seeing his calm and collected demeanor, Song Yaozhu's eyes darted around, and she quickly understood what was going on.
She pointed at him, her expression ambiguous: "Oh~"
Xie Liwei chuckled, "A meritorious official will be returning to the manor tomorrow. I will be away, so the princess consort will take good care of him on my behalf."
Song Yaozhu agreed, wondering to herself, "Has Xie Liwei really trusted me this much now? He's even letting me contact his advisors?"
Isn't he afraid that someone might turn his people against him?
The next day, Xie Liwei and Xie Lu left the palace by carriage early in the morning. After seeing them off, Song Yaozhu went back to her courtyard for a nap. When she woke up, she learned that the "meritorious official" had returned.
She dressed herself up and went to the front yard to meet this meritorious official. When she arrived, there were already quite a few people in the front yard, all of whom she had met before.
Ji Ming, who was an exceptional writer of storybooks, was also there.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Princess Consort has arrived!"
As Song Yaozhu stepped into the hall, everyone turned to bow in greeting. Only a man in a gray robe suddenly turned around, and the moment he saw Song Yaozhu, his eyes filled with tears.
He couldn't control his excitement; his relaxed face was trembling.
With a loud thud, he knelt down before Song Yaozhu, even crawling a few steps on his knees before bowing to her.
"Miss, it's been ten years since we last met. I've missed you so much!"
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