Shen Cui could already foresee the scenario where the rule would shoot itself in the foot.
But the most important thing right now is to clear the customs first, so Shen Cui said: "Since your eldest brother doesn't want others to know, don't tell your sister-in-law about this for now."
Mu Erpang still had unconditional trust in his mother and nodded, saying he understood.
Soon Zhou came over with dinner, and the others also entered the main room one after another.
Zhou asked, "Why didn't your husband stay for dinner?"
The others were also somewhat curious. Seeing Mu Yunchuan's attitude, they thought he was going to give Mu Erpang some pointers. I didn't expect to leave so soon.
Mu Erpang said, "Big brother gave me some pointers, but I didn't quite understand what he said. He said that my level of poetry and prose is definitely at the first or second class. I guess he was afraid that I wouldn't be able to learn from him and waste my own time, like learning to walk in Handan. Then he went back to take care of his official business."
This explanation neither mentioned that Mu Yunchuan was ill, nor did it help him to cover up his problem.
So no one asked any more questions, but started talking about the chief examiner of this examination - Pang Ci Fu.
Pang Ci Fu held a high position. Although he was not young for his position, he was not too old either. He was less than forty years old and was the newly crowned top scholar during the reign of the previous emperor.
His life is also quite legendary. The Pang family is a prominent family, but Pang Ci Fu was just a bastard son of a branch of the Pang family in his early years and was not taken seriously. It can be said that he relied on the imperial examination to change his destiny and get to where he is today.
Wei Shu, Wei Xi and Shen Aoshuang, who grew up in the capital, knew a lot about him, so they just explained it to everyone.
Earlier, Shen Cui didn't know much about the chief examiners, including Liu Xuezheng, Wang Shangshu, and Shen Ge Lao, because in the original book, these people had no close relationship with Mu Yunchuan.
But she knew this Pang Ci Fu.
Because this person is the main villain in the original book, and he is eyeing the position of Prime Minister.
I thought that after Lord Shen retired, that position would definitely fall on him.
Unexpectedly, a man named Mu Yunchuan who was favored by the emperor suddenly appeared and rose rapidly to prominence, even faster than his predecessors. Within a few years, he was almost on par with him.
When Lord Shen took office, the current emperor did not immediately appoint a new prime minister, but instead let Pang Ci Fu and Mu Yunchuan assist in the cabinet.
The two naturally started fighting. In the original book, it was this person who gave the original Shen a large sum of money and wanted the original Shen to frame Mu Yunchuan.
However, he thought his plan was perfect, but he didn't know that Mu Yunchuan had already seen through it, and he took the evidence directly to the emperor to apologize.
He was very smart and did not mention that someone wanted to harm him. He just said that he accidentally discovered that his stepmother was having an affair with a foreigner.
The current emperor punished the original body for treason, but he also had doubts in his heart - Mu Yunchuan was born in a poor family, and her stepmother was just a peasant woman who could not read a single word. How could she give up her position as the old lady of a scholar's family and think of treason?
There must be other masterminds behind this.
At that time, the current emperor had only been on the throne for ten years and was just beginning to gain more power, so he pretended that he had not done what he thought. After punishing the original emperor, he also praised Mu Yunchuan for his act of sacrificing his own relatives for the sake of justice.
Pang Ci Fu also knew that Mu Yunchuan and the current ruler both suspected him, but they just had no solid evidence.
He lay dormant for a while, and his dormancy was exactly the effect that Mu Yunchuan wanted to scare others. During this period, Mu Yunchuan accomplished several things with his talent.
Didn’t he say before that Mu Yunchuan was almost on par with him? From then on, the word “almost” could be removed. Mu Yunchuan could really compete with him and successfully became the youngest prime minister since the founding of this dynasty.
Mu Yunchuan is not like Elder Shen - Elder Shen knows that Pang Ci Fu covets his position, but he doesn't think about what to do. He just thinks that he is getting old and there are no younger generations in his family who can enter the officialdom, so sooner or later this position will be given to someone else.
And Mu Yunchuan, how could he allow others to sleep soundly beside his bed?
Less than three years after he took office as Prime Minister, he had collected a large amount of evidence of Pang Ci Fu's crimes and presented it to the emperor.
When Mu Yunchuan came to ask for forgiveness, the seed of doubt was planted in the current emperor's heart. It took root and sprouted at that time, and coupled with the overwhelming evidence, it brought down Pang Ci Fu, who had been glorious for half his life.
The present emperor only remembered that Pang Ci Fu was an old minister during the previous emperor's period, so he did not take his life. Instead, he was demoted to a commoner and no one in the Pang family was allowed to take the imperial examinations and enter officialdom within three generations.
Fortunately, Mu Erpang died early, and now Mu Yunchuan is still gaining experience in the Hanlin Academy.
Although the current emperor treats him a little differently, Pang Ci Fu does not take a sixth-rank Hanlin Academy editor seriously at the moment.
So now even Mu Yunchuan is not on the list in Pang Ci Fu’s eyes, let alone Mu Erpang will not be implicated.
So Shen Cui recalled the plot of the original book and didn't say much.
After the Wei brothers and Shen Aoshuang briefly talked about Pang Cifu's life, the task of collecting Pang Cifu's works fell on Lao Buyu.
He was able to thrive in Linnan Prefecture. He had spent quite a long time in the capital in his early years, so he was naturally very familiar with this aspect.
So a few days later, just after the twelfth lunar month, when other candidates had just found out who the chief examiner would be, Lao Buyu was already one step ahead and had collected a lot of poems and articles written by Pang Ci Fu.
Then he led the young men to analyze it word by word - the information given by Mu Yunchuan was still correct. He himself was not good at poetry, but his articles were very good.
Especially those he wrote when he was young, which are full of substance and sharp in their ideas. He is like a knowledgeable man who came from a noble family but had experienced the sufferings of the world and was determined to repay the court and seek welfare for the people of the world.
After reading his article, except for Shen Aoshuang, all the young men were inevitably excited and admired him.
Shen Aoshuang moved her mouth several times, wanting to say something, but Shen Cui finally noticed and interrupted her, using an excuse to let Shen Aoshuang follow her out of the classroom.
"Give them something to think about." Shen Cui said.
It would be too cruel to tell the young people now that Pang Ci Fu, who once had the world in his heart, now only knows how to fight for power.
When they finish their exams and officially enter officialdom in the future, they will naturally discover the gap between ideals and reality. Comparing their state of mind at that time with their current state of mind will leave a deep impression on them and serve as a warning.
…………
After Laba comes the New Year. This year, Shen Aoshuang did not return to the Shen family, and the Wei brothers only returned home for half a day.
Everyone still stays at home, reviews their lessons and communicates with each other every day.
Zhou stayed in Cuiwei for a while and stopped losing weight.
I had been seeking medical treatment for half a year, and even Dr. Huang, a master of medicine, said that he was powerless to save me. But now, I have just moved to a new place and haven't taken any medicine, but I seem to have recovered.
However, her strange illness was so bizarre, and it was so strange that it healed without any medicine, so Zhou didn't think too much about it. She just smiled and said to Shen Cui, "It turns out that Master Wei and Master Cui always talk about Feng Shui. The Feng Shui of our academy is good!"
Now that she was better, she would definitely take care of the New Year affairs for both families - Cuiwei's side would naturally keep it simple, with just a few New Year's goods, some Spring Festival couplets, and some firecrackers.
There are a lot of things going on at the Mu residence, especially since Mu Yunchuan is an official. His family is simple and can do whatever they want, but etiquette to the outside world is essential.
To whom to give a gift and what gift to give is a science.
In the past few years, Zhou had always discussed this with Mu Yunchuan, fearing that she would be criticized for being impolite if she was not careful.
But that didn't work this year. After entering the twelfth lunar month, Mu Yunchuan was summoned to the palace from time to time, and stayed there for several days. When he came out, he was so busy that he was nowhere to be seen.
Zhou guessed that he would probably be assigned to a post outside the capital after the New Year, so she didn't want to bother him with such a trivial matter.
So she took the gift list to Cuiwei to sort it out and asked Chen Cui to help review it.
Shen Cui laughed and scolded her: "You can't bother him, so you bother me, right?"
While Zhou was carefully looking at the gift lists from previous years and a new list that Mu Yunchuan had taken time out of his busy schedule to write for her, she grabbed a handful of peanuts and stuffed them into Shen Cui's hands, "Who taught you to be my mother? You were the one who taught me how to read and write, and how to be polite. Don't I still need to ask you for advice on the above?"
She would only act like this in front of Shen Cui, who amusedly reached out and tapped her forehead, then helped her with advice.
After comparing the past gift lists with the list compiled by Mu Yunchuan this year, Shen Cui quickly discovered that there were three more people.
These three people were not on the gift list in the past, and they only started to interact with Mu Yunchuan this year.
The names of two of them, Chen Cui, are not particularly unfamiliar. In the original book, they are the two officials who are responsible for disaster relief matters together with Mu Yunchuan, and can be considered his deputies. I think the rules moved the plot forward, but did not change the personnel configuration.
Mu Yunchuan has been going in and out of the palace frequently recently. He may have received the assignment in advance and is just waiting to leave Beijing after the New Year. It is normal to establish good relationships with your counterparts in the same field in advance.
As for the other person, Shen Cui recalled the original book, but did not recall any related plot. Zhou also said that it was the first time she knew this adult.
When giving gifts, you must know in advance the person's official position, the government department he works for, and some general information about his family members.
It just so happened that Lao Buyu had been going out frequently to inquire about news recently. Chen Cui didn't want Zhou to leave the academy for too long, so she asked him to help find out.
Soon Lao Buyu came back to her with a message saying, "This Lord Cao is the Chief of Five-organ Guards of the Imperial Observatory."
Now Shen Cui was not surprised.
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