Chapter 255 Good News

Aunt Su looked embarrassed and remained silent.

"Mother, go and tell the Madam!" Rong Er begged.

Aunt Su lowered her head.

"Mother, what's wrong with you? Tell me, I want you to tell the Madam that you will go today!" Rong Er was anxious.

Aunt Su slowly raised her head, her eyes red, and murmured, "It's too late, it's too late."

Rong Er stretched out his hand to grab Aunt Su's shoulder, and said in panic, "What's too late? What did you say is too late?"

Aunt Su said in a difficult tone, "Today I asked Er Gou to look at the list. I wanted to see if your cousin passed the exam, but Er Gou just came back and said that he saw that Xu Jing'an won the third place."

"It's just outside the tribute courtyard. Those officials, marquises, and princes are chasing after him, vying to marry their daughters to him."

"Now there are even county lords and princesses vying to marry him. Even if we humble ourselves and go to the Xu family, we can't succeed."

Rong Er stared blankly ahead and fell down.

She fainted.

...

Two days later, Emperor Mingxi formally summoned the three top-ranked talents.

Han Qingbo, Xu Jing'an, and Qin Zhi were all well-mannered and graceful. Although the emperor was a little nervous, they behaved appropriately.

"Well, not bad, not bad, they are indeed the best talents in my Great Xia." Emperor Mingxi praised the three people.

After some consideration, Emperor Mingxi sent Han Qingbo and Qin Zhi to the Hanlin Academy.

According to Xia Miaoyuan's voice, Han Qingbo and Qin Zhi are future talents who will show unique talents in governing the country.

The Hanlin Academy is the cradle for them to learn government affairs.

Emperor Mingxi sent the runner-up Xu Jing'an to Sanshui County as the county magistrate.

Xu Jing'an saw that two of the three top-ranked candidates entered the Hanlin Academy, but he was sent out to be a small county magistrate. He couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

Could it be that the emperor had some opinion about him?

Xia Zhengqi saw his doubts and explained with a smile: "Jing'an, I went to visit you on purpose. I heard from your relatives, friends, classmates, and the people of Wuping County under your father's rule that you have the talent to investigate cases."

"You are quite gifted in investigation and trial."

"Daxia is in great need of talents like you. I really hope that one day you can grow into a great detective of Daxia."

"So, I let you be the county magistrate to train you. I hope you will not disappoint my good intentions."

Xu Jing'an's blood boiled after hearing this. He didn't expect that the emperor would be so attentive to understanding him.

"I will do my best to be a good county magistrate and live up to the good intentions of the emperor."

The three students in the first class returned happily with the imperial edict appointing them.

Xia Zhengqi also specially arranged Zhu Qi, who was in the second class, to the Ministry of Revenue.

Because there were few vacancies in the Ministry of Revenue and Zhu Qi's ranking was not very high, Xia Zhengqi arranged a position for him as a clerk in the Ministry of Revenue.

When Zhu Qi heard that he had entered the Ministry of Revenue, he was so excited that he was at a loss and couldn't believe it.

Just after Xia Zhengqi arranged the students in the first and second classes, a messenger from the northern border arrived.

When Xia Zhengqi heard that it was an 800-li express from the northern border, his heart was instantly lifted, and he paced anxiously in Yu's study.

After waiting for a long time, a messenger with a sour smell came into Yu's study in a hurry.

"I pay my respects to His Majesty!" The messenger knelt down and bowed.

Xia Zhengqi didn't care about his stench, he strode up to the messenger and pulled him up.

"Excuse me, how is the war going now?"

The messenger panted and said, "Just half a month ago, the coalition forces of Daxia and Xiaolin tribe had annexed three tribes."

Xia Zhengqi felt more at ease, paused, and asked again, "What are the losses of the coalition forces? Are the commanders all safe?"

The messenger answered crisply, "Since the war began, the coalition forces have lost more than 8,000 people. Compared with the enemy, the losses are not serious."

"The coalition forces have not lost a single commander so far."

Hearing the news that all the commanders were not sacrificed, Xia Zhengqi breathed a sigh of relief, tears overflowing from the corners of his eyes.

The commanders of this expedition were either his relatives or outstanding generals of Daxia.

Since the war began, he had been worried day and night, fearing that any one of them would die on the battlefield in the northern border.

"That's good, that's good!" Xia Zhengqi was so excited that even his voice trembled.

After the messenger finished talking about the main battle situation, he took out a small wooden box from his arms and handed it to Xia Zhengqi.

"These are their family letters to you."

Xia Zhengqi took the wooden box without waiting for Debao to come forward.

When he opened it, there were three family letters in total.

One was from the second prince, one was from Marshal Baili, and the other was from Xiao Tiehan.

When Xia Zhengqi saw that there were still family letters, he immediately asked Debao to take the messenger away and settle him down, and he sat down at the desk to read the letters.

The second prince's letter mainly described the specific battle situation and his own situation.

Xia Zhengqi was relieved to know that the second prince was not injured. He put the letter aside and continued reading.

Bailifeng's letter was a family letter, similar to the second prince's. At the end of the letter, he asked Xia Zhengqi to send a message to his family to report safety.

Xia Zhengqi folded the letter and put it aside.

When he saw Xiao Tiehan's letter, the first half of the letter was to report safety to the emperor and the empress. However, when Xia Zhengqi saw the second half of the letter, his face sank.

He pondered for a while, put Bailifeng's family letter into a wooden box, handed it to the eunuch, and ordered the letter to be delivered to the Duke's Mansion immediately.

Then, he put away the other two letters, put them in his sleeve pocket, asked someone to prepare a sedan chair, and went straight to Kunning Palace.

When Xia Zhengqi arrived at Kunning Palace, the queen and Xia Miaoyuan were making snacks in the small kitchen.

When she was free, the queen always liked to cook for her daughter herself.

Xia Miaoyuan sat on a small stool and watched the steaming steamer.

The steamer is steaming red date cakes.

The aroma of red dates spreads, and the whole small kitchen is sweet and fragrant.

"Mother, why is it not ready yet?" Xia Miaoyuan smelled the refreshing fragrance, and her saliva flowed down the corners of her mouth.

"It will be ready in a little while." The queen smiled.

Xia Zhengqi walked into Kunning Palace in a hurry. He heard from the palace that the queen and the little princess were in the small kitchen in the backyard. He couldn't wait to pass on the message, so he picked up the corner of his robe and walked to the back.

"Ruoyu, Ruoyu, our father-in-law sent us a letter!" Xia Zhengqi shouted loudly as soon as he walked into the yard of the small kitchen.