After a few days of indulging in wine and women and feeling uneasy in Dingjing, the day of the results announcement finally came.
On the day of the results announcement, Guo Juli got up early in the morning, bathed, burned incense and prayed, and then urged Mu Zhuohua to get up.
"Miss, the results are announced!" Guo Juli was very nervous, but Mu Zhuohua looked indifferent.
"I want to sleep!" Mu Zhuohua hugged the quilt tightly, "I won't go!"
Guo Juli said anxiously, "Miss, why don't you care? They are all rushing to see the results announcement!"
Mu Zhuohua closed her eyes and said, "It's so cheap! How can the champion wait under the list? The champion is sitting at home and waiting leisurely!"
Guo Juli also felt that what Mu Zhuohua said made some sense, and hesitated again.
"Then...Miss, I'll go to see the results announcement, you wash up, don't sleep in bed when the person who brings the good news comes."
After Guo Juli left the door, Mu Zhuohua poked her head out of the quilt, her eyes were round, and she looked a little sleepy. "Oh my god, I'm so nervous." Mu Zhuohua shivered, "What if I don't pass? I don't want to be laughed at by others!"
Mu Zhuohua knew that her essay was too dangerous. Liu Chen and Liu Yan were in favor of war, and Chen State had won more than it lost in foreign wars for many years, so naturally there were more in favor of war. The possibility of her failing the exam was very high... But she couldn't write an essay to please others against her will.
"Why not take advantage of this time to pack up..." Mu Zhuohua sighed, "Fortunately, I've earned five thousand taels, so I'll go to another place to study for three years before coming back."
Mu Zhuohua couldn't sleep either, so she got up, washed, changed into a blue shirt, and started to pack her luggage.
When Mu Zhuohua was packing, she suddenly heard a knock on the door. She was startled and looked back, and it was Song Yun.
When Song Yun saw Mu Zhuohua packing, she immediately understood her intention.
"Miss Mu, are you going home?"
Mu Zhuohua laughed dryly: "Miss Song, you came here to..."
Song Yun sighed and said with some regret: "The sisters liked the sachets you gave them a few days ago, and they wanted to order a batch from you, but you are leaving... In fact, with your medical skills, even if you don't take the imperial examination, you can settle down in Dingjing."
Mu Zhuohua saw that Song Yun was really reluctant to let her go, and she felt a little touched. "Dingjing is a bustling city, not a place for studying. I'd better find a quiet and cheap place to study hard. Passing the imperial examination and becoming an official is my lifelong wish. Practicing medicine is just a way to make a living."
Song Yun smiled and said, "Miss Mu, you are too modest. We will all miss you when you leave."
Mu Zhuohua said, "I will leave the formula of the sachet to you."
"This is inappropriate." Song Yun was surprised and doubtful, and did not dare to accept it. "The doctors' prescriptions are all secrets that are not passed on..."
Mu Zhuohua smiled and said, "These are not of much use to me."
She originally wanted to make money with her medical skills, but she didn't expect to make a few thousand taels, which was faster than selling sachets. As
Mu Zhuohua said this, he found a pen, ink, paper and inkstone from the box and sat down to write the formula for Song Yun.
As she was writing, she suddenly heard hurried footsteps outside, accompanied by Guo Juli's scream as he lifted the roof: "Miss - Miss -"
Mu Zhuohua stopped writing and turned her head to look, only to see Guo Juli's face flushed red, running in breathlessly, with a smile almost overflowing from her face.
"Miss - you won -"
Mu Zhuohua was stunned: "You are so happy... Did I really win the first prize?"
Guo Juli rolled his eyes: "Miss, you really dare to think about it, the first prize must be Mr. Jinghong."
Mu Zhuohua: "Oh..."
Guo Juli grinned: "Miss, you won the seventeenth place!"
Mu Zhuohua scratched her head: "Seventeenth place..."
Before she could react, Song Yun next to her had covered her mouth and screamed.
"Ah——Miss Mu, you passed!"
Song Yun turned around and ran out, shouting as she ran: "Miss Mu passed! Miss Mu passed!"
It was daytime, and most people in Huaxiang were still dreaming. Many people had known Mu Zhuohua these days. In fact, few people believed that this female scholar who knew medicine could pass the imperial examination, but when they suddenly heard such a shout, they woke up immediately.
As Song Yun ran by, the doors and windows on both sides of Huaxiang opened one after another, and people stuck their heads out: "Miss Mu passed, which place did you get?"
"Seventeenth place——"
For a moment, sincere congratulations came one after another, and Mu Zhuohua had to stand on the street and bow to the people on both sides to thank them.
"I won the seventeenth place, and it's like the first place in the imperial examination. It's embarrassing..." Mu Zhuohua muttered in a low voice.
Guo Juli was looking at her in a daze. Hearing this, he couldn't help but said angrily, "Miss, Chen is ranked 17th! Do you think it's easy? And you are the only woman on the list this year! Oh, there's more! I heard from them that you are the one with the highest ranking since the women's imperial examination began!"
Mu Zhuohua was also a layman, and now she was flattered by Guo Juli.
"Prepare some money and arrange for someone to announce the good news later."
Guo Juli said loudly, "Okay!"
Liu Chen looked at the list with a strange expression.
"Female?"
Liu Yan lowered his head and smiled.
Liu Chen still couldn't believe it: "The one who wrote the policy of raising barbarians was a woman? The one who ranked first with Shen Jinghong's Jingyi was a woman?"
Liu Yan nodded and said, "Now it seems that it is true."
If Liu Chen hadn't suppressed that policy, Mu Zhuohua's ranking might have been among the top three, but if Liu Yan hadn't supported her, Mu Zhuohua's unorthodox policy of raising barbarians would not have been on the list.
Is there any selfish motive?
Liu Yan asked himself carefully - no.
The Strategy of Raising Barbarians really opened his eyes and made him think of a direction he had never thought of before. He felt as if everything had suddenly become clear. The Strategy of Raising Barbarians might not be completely correct, but it was a completely new direction. Mu Zhuohua... that seemingly small and devilish girl could always give him different surprises.
On the one hand, Liu Chen felt that it was a bit cheap for him to be embarrassed with a woman, and on the other hand, he felt that it was even more embarrassing for him to be embarrassed by a woman. After all, he was just a young man under 20 years old, and his temper was shown on his face.
"Uncle, I want to go incognito to see this person. Will you accompany me?"
Liu Yan was stunned for a moment, and smiled bitterly in his heart - he was afraid that the devilish girl would be able to recognize them both at a glance.
"There will be a hairpin poetry gathering before the palace examination. Let's go incognito then." Liu Yan said.
The flower alley was bustling for a few days. Aunt Lu brought the sisters who had treated Mu Zhuohua to congratulate her, smiling from ear to ear: "The Jinshi master treated us, this is enough to brag about for a lifetime."
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Aunt Lu returned all the rent paid by Mu Zhuohua to her, and also gave her a gift of ten taels of silver.
"Don't refuse. It's really a great honor for you to live in my shabby house. I won't rent it out at this price in the future!"
Mu Zhuohua smiled for a few days, and her cheeks hurt from laughing.
After five or six days, the bustle finally stopped.
That night, Guo Juli fell asleep with a smile on his face. From the day the results were announced to the present, Guo Juli has always been immersed in the joy of a dream, but Mu Zhuohua felt exhausted. Only when it was late at night and everyone was asleep did she feel a little relieved.
Mu Zhuohua was chewing the tip of her pen at the desk again. Tomorrow was the Hairpin Poetry Meeting. According to convention, each candidate had to write a poem. Although there was no ranking, if she wrote poorly, she would certainly be laughed at. Especially as she was the only woman at the meeting, others would always pay more attention to her. Those men who were outranked by her would certainly embarrass her.
Mu Zhuohua was worrying when she heard a light knock on the door. She was stunned for a moment, and walked over to open the door while asking who it was.
Standing outside the door was actually Prince Ding Liu Yan.
Mu Zhuohua looked at Prince Ding standing tall and graceful in the clear moonlight, and was distracted for a moment - she almost forgot about this person.
"Your Highness!" Mu Zhuohua lowered her voice, "What do you want to see me for so late?"
Liu Yan said, "Walk with me."
Mu Zhuohua looked strange, "It's not good for a man and a woman to be alone in the middle of the night."
Liu Yan laughed and knocked on Mu Zhuohua's forehead, "You are just a little girl, how can you be a woman? Let's go."
Liu Yan always relied on his age to not treat her as a woman, and it was also because she looked tender and petite.
Mu Zhuohua closed the door and followed Liu Yan to walk on the deserted street.
"I haven't congratulated you on your success yet." Liu Yan smiled.
Mu Zhuohua showed a proud and reserved smile, "Many people have congratulated me and sent me gifts these days."
The word "congratulations" was particularly emphasized. How could Liu Yan not understand what she meant? He immediately took out a jade pendant from his sleeve and gave it to her.
Mu Zhuohua took the jade pendant curiously and looked at it. She shone it in the moonlight and saw that it was transparent and warm to the touch. It was indeed a treasure.
"This must be worth two thousand taels..." Mu Zhuohua smacked his lips, "Prince, how much is your annual salary? I feel embarrassed to blackmail you."
Liu Yan chuckled, "I won't let you blackmail me to the point of poverty. A gentleman cannot live without jade. I see that you don't have any accessories on you, so I'll give you this jade pendant." After a pause, he added, "Don't pawn it."
"I'm not that stupid. That's why the pawnshop can't sell it for a good price." Mu Zhuohua snorted twice and happily put away the jade pendant.
"Tomorrow is the hairpin poetry gathering, how are you preparing?" Liu Yan asked.
These words immediately pierced Mu Zhuohua's inflated heart, and she collapsed in despair: "Nothing..."
Liu Yan said frankly: "I've read your poems, and they are indeed too...unremarkable."
Mu Zhuohua smiled and said: "Your Highness, are you here to give me a good poem to help me become famous?"
Liu Yan knocked on her head with a smile: "You are thinking of some unorthodox ways, do you still have the character of a scholar?"
Mu Zhuohua rubbed her forehead and said shamelessly: "Your Highness, this is not the first time that I have blackmailed you. Don't you know your true nature? If character is worth two cents, I'm afraid I would have taken it for granted. If it is worthless, what do I need it for?"
Liu Yan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and shook his head gently: "You...are eloquent, thick-skinned and black-hearted."
Mu Zhuohua smiled and said: "Your Highness, you are too kind to praise me. I am ashamed to accept it."
"I'm here to remind you that the eldest prince will make a secret visit tomorrow. He is a staunch advocate of war, and your strategy of raising barbarians has completely angered him."
Mu Zhuohua had an expected expression on his face: "I've been mentally prepared. But..." Mu Zhuohua glanced at Liu Yan, "Prince, aren't you also an advocate of war? Do you think I'm right?"
"I can't say whether it's right or wrong without verification." Liu Yan had room for maneuver in his words, "If I were the me in the past, I would probably fight to the end like Liu Chen. It's just that..." Liu Yan lowered his eyes, sighed, and smiled bitterly, "After experiencing some things, ideas will naturally change. Your strategy is a direction that I have never thought of. Maybe I can give it a try."
Mu Zhuohua lowered his head and thought for something. After a moment, he suddenly realized something. He looked at Liu Yan with bright eyes and grasped Liu Yan's sleeve with his small hands: "So, it was you, Prince, who protected me, right?"
Liu Yan was stunned for a moment.
Mu Zhuohua's eyes seemed to be filled with starlight, so bright that people could not look directly at them: "Your Highness is just hard on the outside but soft on the inside. He said he would not help me, but he helped me anyway. I was saying that I was going to go back home, but I didn't expect to get a good ranking. Your Highness is so kind, Zhuohua has no way to repay me, so I can only work like a slave..."
Liu Yan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and shook off Mu Zhuohua's hand, saying in defense: "This prince only talks about the facts, and has no selfish motives!"
Mu Zhuohua had an "I understand" expression on her face, and said with a smile: "Prince, you don't need to say it, I understand, I am your person in life and your dead person in death, a man will die for his friend, of course it would be better if I could not die..."
Liu Yan really couldn't stand this little mouth, and couldn't help but reach out to cover her. Mu Zhuohua's face was small, and when Liu Yan's big hand covered it, only a pair of black and moist almond eyes were exposed, but her soft lips were pressed against Liu Yan's palm, rubbing out a burst of itchy wetness.
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