Chapter 307 308. New love Yan Er suffered a tragic fate...
Life in the Marquis of Changning's Mansion is good, but it's a bit boring.
Because Lin Zhong lost his status as Duke Suguo's mansion, his position as the imperial guard was permanently suspended, or in other words, he had lost his job and could not return to the palace.
Lei Zhouzhou was still an imperial guard, and after getting married he was entitled to a marriage leave of eleven days between two holidays, but he seemed to be treated coldly by the emperor, and his marriage leave was extended without a specific date for his return.
But Lei Zhouzhou didn't care.
He had never liked the confining atmosphere of the palace, and only became a royal guard because he wanted to see Lin Zhong. Galloping on the grass with Amian, hiking, fishing, and picnicking were all much more fun.
Seeing how leisurely they were, Lei Li was eager to grab Zhuang Ding's hand. After all, Zhou Yi was his husband, and he couldn't always pick on him alone.
Zhou Yi: “……?”
Hearing Lei Li's idea, he said with amusement, "Zhou Zhou has only been married for a short time, and you're still asking him to do the work. Aren't Sheng Jiang, Yu Rui, and I all helping you?"
"How can Sheng Jiang and Yu Rui help me?"
Lei Li snorted, "Sheng Jiang has her own work to do, Yu Rui needs to review her studies for the Autumn Examination in August, and Zhou Zhou and Lin Zhong are idle anyway. I'm not asking them to work for nothing, I plan to pay them."
As he spoke, he pretended to be old-fashioned and said, "Zhou Zhou is married now. How can she support the family if she doesn't make more money? Young people are full of energy and it's easy for them to have babies. Children cost the most money."
Zhou Yi was amused and said, "Do we at the Changning Marquisate still want Zhou Zhou and his wife to earn money to support their children? And all the money comes from your pocket. Are you willing to let Zhou Zhou and your little grandson suffer?"
Of course Lei Li was reluctant to do so.
He had gone to such great lengths to build up such a large family business, wasn't it just to give his children a good life? But a good life didn't mean he couldn't be conscripted.
It doesn’t matter if you are not familiar with the business of the transportation department. You will understand it after more training.
So after just half a month of leisure, the newly-loved Yan'er had to go to the transport department to help Lei Li.
Because they were not officials appointed by the Ministry of Personnel, Lei Li gave them a non-staff position equivalent to "secretary" and "assistant", and their salaries came from Lei Li's own pocket.
The work of the Transportation Department involves a lot of information and mathematical statistics.
Fortunately, Lin Zhong and Lei Zhouzhou both had good memories and were excellent in arithmetic. After a period of adaptation, they both became familiar with the business of the transportation department, basically freeing Lei Li from the work.
Any memorial that required Lei Li's signature would pass through Lei Zhouzhou's hands. If he was unsure, he would show it to Zhou Yi, and Lei Li would just sign it without thinking.
Signing your name only takes a few seconds.
With the help of the young couple, Lei Li was too lazy to even go to the morning roll call.
He slept until he woke up naturally, did a set of military exercises to feel refreshed, then had a delicious breakfast, played with the starlings and sparrows raised by his father Lei Dashan in the corridor, and then walked slowly to the transportation department.
Check-in successful.
Take a look to see if there are any documents you need to sign. If not, then go home.
Then, Lei Li began to plan what to do today. His favorite theater had a new play, he hadn't finished listening to the audiobook last time, he had forgotten to read the new comic drawn by Jingsheng, and he also had to catch up on the diary entries from the past few days.
——Yes, Lei Li is such a lazy person now, but he still insists on writing a diary every day.
At first, Zhou Yi liked to read books and take notes. He would also excerpt some of his favorite passages and write reading notes or reviews. For some books he particularly liked, he would also write recommendations and put them in "Dayou Weekly".
certainly.
Zhou Yi likes to read many kinds of books. He is interested in all kinds of books except gossip and entertainment, so he makes a lot of reading notes and recommends many books.
For example, the folk food "Xiling - Flavors on the Tip of the Tongue", the strange stories "Records of Strange Things in the Previous Dynasty", the tips for taking the imperial examinations "A Hundred Answers to the Examinations", and the traditional Chinese medicine "Huang's Internal Classic".
Lei Li is very picky about reading. He would be lucky if he is interested in one out of ten books Zhou Yi likes, so naturally he would not write any reading notes.
But when he saw Zhou Yi writing and drawing from time to time, and his sister Lei Jingsheng had many wonderful ideas and always drew many interesting little things and wrote short stories, he felt a little itchy and wanted to write something to record his life.
Commonly known as having nothing to do after eating.
Seeing that he finally wanted to use his brain and pen to do something other than making money, Zhou Yi suggested that he keep a diary to record the new things that happened every day, or interesting and meaningful things. Even if there were no "big things", he could write about some small things in life.
Lei Li thought this was a good idea, so he started writing in his diary, recording the date, weather, and mood. Sometimes, when he was in high spirits, he would write several pages in half an hour without realizing it.
And Lei Li is quite narcissistic.
When he had nothing to do, he would flip through his diary, appreciate how interesting his writing was, and pull Zhou Yi to appreciate it together.
Lei Jingsheng knew her brother was writing in a diary and was eager to read it. "How about I help him draw some interesting comics and publish a comic book?"
That's a good suggestion.
However, there are some things in Lei Li's diary that cannot be shown to outsiders - it concerns Zhou Yi's innocence, and Zhou Yi would be embarrassed to death if others saw it.
"I'll pick some out and draw them for you."
Lei Li picked out the ones that were visible and clamped the rest with wooden clips. Although Lei Jingsheng would not peek at other parts without his consent, it was better to be on the safe side for Zhou Yi's sake.
Lei Li has already written several diaries, and he even joked that after his death, he must burn these diaries to prevent Zhou Yi from losing his reputation in his later years.
Zhou Yi: “…”
I really want to thank my gentle and considerate husband.
Inspired by Lei Li, people in the Changning Marquis Mansion also began to write diaries, but not as frequently as he did.
For example, Miao Yurui only writes once every few days, and his articles are short, just a few sentences in classical Chinese. Xiao Yuzhu is much more regular, writing one article every two days, sometimes writing in plain language and sometimes in classical Chinese. As she writes, her handwriting becomes much better.
Now, Lei Li's workload has been greatly reduced. The complaints about the dog emperor in his diary have been crossed out, and there are fewer words of praise for the wise and powerful emperor.
Lei Li took Zhou Yi for a walk around Kyoto Prefecture. He still remembered that Xiao Yuzhu told him this morning that she wanted to eat candied haws, so he bought more than a dozen candied haws. Each family member got one, and the hawthorn on Xiao Yuyan Fang Yuzhu's was the biggest.
—
The days passed slowly until August.
Autumn provincial examination.
There are three examination sessions in total. The first session is on August 9th, the second session is on the 12th, and the third session is on the 15th. The types of questions in each session are different. The last session is five current affairs policy questions, which are to express opinions or views on current affairs and government affairs at that time based on the theory of Confucian classics.
Each exam lasts three days.
When candidates enter the examination hall, they are subject to a strict body search to prevent them from hiding cheat sheets.
When the candidates enter the examination room, the door will be locked. There is only a wooden bed, a set of tables and chairs, and a toilet in the examination room. During the examination, they are not allowed to eat, drink, defecate, urinate, or sleep in the "room" until the end of the examination.
The conditions are quite difficult.
However, Miao Yurui was calm as water. When he entered the examination room and saw such a simple environment, he remained calm. He took the three exams calmly and calmly, and was the first one to leave the examination room each time.
“It feels pretty good.”
After hearing what Miao Yurui said, everyone in the Changning Marquis Mansion was no longer worried. Miao Yurui had already won the first place in the county examination, prefectural examination, and academy examination. It didn't matter whether he could get the first place in the provincial examination this time.
The title of Jieyuan is just the icing on the cake.
At the end of August, after intense discussion and deliberation among the examiners, the first place on the list was...
Changning Marquis Mansion - Miao Yurui
Unexpectedly and predictably, Miao Yurui of Changning Marquis Mansion was first again. Taking first place four times in a row would be an achievement to be proud of in any prefecture, let alone Beijing, which has the most abundant wealth and resources.
"Do it! Do it big!"
Lei Li happily held another banquet to celebrate his son Yu Rui for winning first place again.
At the banquet, facing everyone's flattery, Lei Li said smugly and hypocritically, "No, no, it's just that the smoke rising from our ancestral graves is a little more than that of other families, and our children are a little more outstanding than others."
Privately in front of his family, Lei Li patted Miao Yurui on the shoulder and laughed heartily, "Even Jiang couldn't get four first places, but our Yurui got them. Hahaha! Look how happy your father is!"
Miao Fulang never expected that his little treasure would get first place. When the list was first released, he cried with joy.
Lei Li said happily, "Maybe Yu Rui will win the 'Big Three' and bring honor to our family!"
The "Little Three Prizes" refers to those who get first place in the county examination, prefectural examination, and academy examination. There are many talented people in the Dayou court, and "Little Three Prizes" are not uncommon.
But the top three are those who have won the first place in the autumn provincial examination, the spring metropolitan examination, and the palace examination. Those who can win the top three are all gifted children with both talent and luck.
If the Small Three Prizes and the Big Three Prizes were awarded to the same person, there would be very few such people since the founding of the Dayou Dynasty.
"Don't listen to your daddy."
Zhou Yi took Lei Li's hand with a smile and a sigh, and said gently to Miao Yurui, "Do your best. It doesn't matter whether you can get the top three or not. Just calm down and concentrate on preparing for next year's spring exam. If you need anything, just tell Daddy."
"Thank you, Daddy."
Miao Yurui nodded. Although he won the top three prizes and the first place in the autumn examination, he remained neither arrogant nor impatient.
On the contrary, Xiao Yuzhu was so happy to know that her father was so capable that when she was studying with the teacher in the school, she couldn't help but ask the teacher in a boastful manner if he knew who won the first place in the autumn examination this year.
Before the Master could say anything, Xiao Yuzhu puffed out her chest and said proudly, "He's my dad! The Master isn't as good as my dad, is he?"
This teacher was already a famous scholar, but he had never won the top three places in the imperial examination. He laughed when he heard this, and then kindly encouraged Xiao Yuzhu, asking her to study hard so that she could be as great as her father in the future.
Now that boys and girls can take the imperial examinations, Xiao Yuzhu might really be able to achieve such good results, or even surpass her teacher.
The Changning Marquis' Mansion was in high spirits, but other families in the capital had mixed feelings.
Under the emperor's feet, no matter how fair the examination was, it had to pass the emperor's scrutiny. Miao Yurui's first place in the provincial examination showed that the emperor truly wanted to support him and the Changning Marquisate.
Treating Lei Zhouzhou and Lin Zhong coldly was just a form of suppression followed by praise.
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