A public trial turned into a victory rally, and the lobby of the county government office became a venue for celebration.

Magistrate Zhang was indeed a powerful figure who could serve as the magistrate of a stable county in Nanjing. Almost in an instant, he adjusted his mood, stood up, supported the case and walked down the hall, congratulating the three new candidates with a big smile on his face.

"Today, three successful candidates have passed the imperial examinations in succession. This is truly a great story in our county. It shows that the country's literary fortune is flourishing. It is a good omen for Shangyuan County!" At this moment, Magistrate Zhang was in high spirits. He regarded the three successful candidates as distinguished guests and treasures. There was no trace of hostility in his words and deeds. "I will report this to the court and have a monument erected to commemorate this event, to encourage the students of Shangyuan to make progress!"

After saying this, he warmly invited the three new scholars and Zhao Hao and others to the flower hall for tea, and then called the distraught Mr. Liu into his signing room.

"You can't do anything about this." Magistrate Zhang was not in a good mood to Mr. Liu who was pressing him on the stove. "It's fate, you just have to accept it."

"I, I can't swallow this..." Actually, Mr. Liu was also scared, but he was the president of Suzhou Chamber of Commerce and the second-in-command of the Dongting Merchants Gang. When had he ever suffered such a humiliating loss?

How could he face his fellow countrymen from the Chamber of Commerce who were waiting for his triumphant return?

"You have to swallow it even if you don't want to!" Magistrate Zhang slammed the table and pointed at the flower hall not far away, saying, "They have three successful candidates at once! If I dare to favor you now, you will be in big trouble at the Lu Ming Banquet. You might even lose your official hat!"

The Luming Banquet was a celebration banquet held by local governments for the newly-appointed candidates and examiners after the Autumn Examination. The Luming Banquet in Yingtian Prefecture was the most prestigious, with the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, the Imperial Censor, the chief examiner, the deputy chief examiner, and the co-examiners, and even the leaders of various ministries would attend.

There is no other way. Who made the officials in Nanjing idle? They have to get together whenever they get a chance.

At the Luming Banquet, County Magistrate Zhang would also represent Shangyuan County to congratulate. If the three candidates attacked together, he would be unable to resist. Moreover, the family backgrounds of Jieyuan and Yakui were so appalling. It was possible that some uncles and elders would be present and even say a few words to support them. County Magistrate Zhang, a small official, would be skinned alive if he didn't die!

This is the sadness of being a county magistrate in Nanjing. There are too many mothers-in-law and it is difficult to be a daughter-in-law...

Magistrate Zhang felt sorry for himself for a while, then softened his tone and advised: "You know which side is right in this matter. Even if I want to be a strong order, I have to be able to withstand the retrial of the higher-ups! I don't have the ability to cover up the truth, so Mr. Liu, please don't force it."

"Alas..." Mr. Liu looked at the cracks in the bricks on the ground with his head down for a while. How could he not know the seriousness of the matter when he was able to sit in this position? Fang said in a hoarse voice, "I withdraw the lawsuit."

"That's right!" Magistrate Zhang smiled immediately, stood up and escorted him out of the county office, saying: "Don't you businessmen believe in making money through harmony? Don't engage in meaningless disputes. Victory and defeat are common in the military. What you lose in business, you can win back in business."

"Okay." Mr. Liu seemed to have been drained of all his strength. He walked out of the county government office in a daze, and did not ask for the two thousand taels of deposit back.

Because he knew that it was impossible to get back what he had done when he hit a dog with a meat bun.

~~

Over there, County Magistrate Zhang persuaded Mr. Liu to leave, and walked into the flower hall with lighter steps, rubbing his hands.

Then he saw several people from the Zhao residence sitting or standing, talking nonsense with great excitement on their faces.

Magistrate Zhang saw at a glance that only Zhao Hao and his son were sitting there, while the other three were standing aside.

It would have been fine if Tang Youde was just a businessman, but the newly crowned Jie Yuan and Ya Kui, two young masters from aristocratic families, actually stood on the left and right of the young boy, vying with him to fawn on him.

This left County Magistrate Zhang completely puzzled, but now was obviously not the time to think about this. The right thing to do was to quickly restore relations with the Zhao family.

Thinking of this, he put on his most sincere smile, walked in and said, "Greetings, gentlemen."

Seeing the dignified governor of a county so humble, how could the three newly-appointed candidates be so arrogant? They hurriedly stood up, clasped their fists and returned the greeting, saying, "Mr. Shi, I don't deserve it. I am honored to meet you, senior."

"You and I are truly close brothers." Magistrate Zhang said warmly, "The chief examiner for your subject, Mr. Wang Nanchang, was the director of the Imperial Examination when I was in the capital..."

"Then you really are my brother." The three of them greeted Magistrate Zhang again.

Zhao Hao, who was watching from the side, got goose bumps all over his body. It was really difficult for the old county magistrate to figure out how to connect all these people in such a complicated way.

But when it was Zhao Hao's turn, the old county magistrate was embarrassed...

Normally, since he recognized his brother, he should treat his brother's master with respect as a junior. But fortunately, the other party was the son of another brother, so it was fair.

Finally, everyone decided to treat each other as equals. Zhao Hao called him "senior" and he called Zhao Hao "friend Zhao"...

After some polite exchanges, everyone sat down again, and Magistrate Zhang recounted the story of how he persuaded Mr. Liu to resign, and naturally he added some exaggerations and boasted about himself.

"Then I have to thank you for handling the matter impartially." Zhao Hao was not stupid enough to get angry with the head of a county... Caijia Lane and Xiaocang Mountain were under his jurisdiction. He smiled and returned the favor, saying, "As the people of the old man, we will naturally obey your orders."

County Magistrate Zhang thought, this is not the time for you to hide in the mountains. But he was happy to take advantage of the situation, so he said with a smile: "I should have held a banquet to celebrate the three brothers, but I think your family is still waiting to go back to celebrate, so I won't force you. Let's prepare wine and hold a banquet another day."

As he spoke, the servants brought two plates of silver ingots. Magistrate Zhang said, "It's just a small gift. It's not a sign of respect."

Looking at the large official silver ingots worth twenty taels each, with ten in one plate, Zhao Hao no longer felt the joy he had before.

Thinking back to the time when two taels of silver were worth a lot of money, it was only half a year ago.

Alas, the diminishing marginal returns are so terrible...

However, this is normal social interaction. Not accepting it would seem unkind and would damage the relationship.

Zhao Hao stood up and accepted it with a smile, and everyone said goodbye and left.

Magistrate Zhang accompanied them all the way to the gate of the county government office before he waved goodbye reluctantly.

“I must come again!”

~~

There were crowds of people outside the county government office, and the people all wanted to see who the new champion was. When they saw Zhao Hao and others coming out, they squeezed forward.

Fortunately, the men in Caijia Lane were strong and sturdy, and they had already lined up in two rows, hand in hand, from the entrance of the government office to the screen wall, forming two human walls, separating the people who were watching the excitement from outside.

Under the screen wall, four sedan chairs had been prepared long ago. Dozens of strong men dressed in new clothes, some holding gongs, some holding plaques with the first and second place winners, were waiting there excitedly for them to come out.

As soon as they saw the four people coming out, the sedan bearers immediately opened the curtain and respectfully invited the three scholars to get in. Zhao Hao originally planned to take a carriage with Fatty Tang, but the students forcibly dragged him into the second sedan and refused to let him out no matter what.

Zhao Hao sat in the sedan chair carried by four people with satisfaction, with his father's sedan chair leading the way in front and two students' sedan chairs escorting him from the back. He felt extremely satisfied in his heart and felt that all the hard work over the past six months was worth it!

ps. The eighth update!!! Please give me monthly and recommendation votes!!!