Jinghong Tower

Chapter 426 If you can’t get it, destroy it
At this time, the innkeeper came to report happily: "Mr. Shen, great news, the noble has sent someone to invite you."

The common people in the capital have all seen the world. When they see Yuan Xiaodong, they know who the master behind her is. You have to know that the only places in the capital that can still use eunuchs are the palace and the princess's mansion. The princess has been living in seclusion in recent years and would never send eunuchs to meet the new scholar.

Since the death of King Zhao, only the concubines left by the previous emperor remained in the palace, and it was even less likely that those concubines would send anyone out.

So isn't it obvious who sent this eunuch today?
The innkeeper was so proud of it that he wished he could turn into a pendant and follow Shen Yao to meet Boss He.

Shen Yao's heart sank.

Boss He had already summoned the new Jinshi candidates a long time ago. Except for the top three, it was impossible for him to summon any other Jinshi candidate individually.

But now someone was sent to see her, and Shen Yao had a vague feeling that something might happen.

Yuan Xiaodong's attitude was respectful yet firm. He showed his badge and said that Mr. He wanted to see Mr. Shen and asked Mr. Shen to follow him.

Shen Yao took a deep breath. What was coming was finally coming.

She went into the house and changed into a duck egg green Kun-style gown embroidered with green bamboo. This has become popular in recent years. It is a modification of the common gown. It is said that the first person to wear this kind of gown was Yao Linlang. Later, this Kun-style gown became popular among female juren and female jinshi. At first, only women with official titles wore this kind of gown, and later even the ladies from wealthy families followed suit.

The gown Shen Yao was wearing was sewn by her mother before she left Hangzhou. The green bamboo symbolizes continuous advancement.

Shen Yao changed into this dress in the hope of getting a good omen.

At the same time Yuan Xiaodong went to invite Shen Yao, the Jinyiwei had already started investigating the letter.

He Ran would not go to the palace unless there was something important. Today, she summoned Shen Yao to Laomofang Hutong.

It was the first time that Shen Yao saw Mr. He at such a close distance. The previous two times, she was very far away.

Although she passed the imperial examination, her ranking was in the middle. Moreover, because of the female number one scholar Xu Qiuli, the number of women taking the imperial examinations increased. This year, there were 22 female Jinshis. Shen Yao was not the most eye-catching among them, either in terms of ranking or appearance. She also deliberately kept a low profile. If she had not been the youngest, no one would have noticed her.

He Ran looked Shen Yao up and down. She had a round face with some baby fat, delicate features, especially two faint dimples. Her eyes were not very big, but their gaze was bright and clear.

He Ran's eyes fell on her figure. Unlike Yao Linlang and Xu Qiuli who looked frail, Shen Yao exuded a sense of tension all over her body, as if she could jump onto the horse at the next moment.

He Ran had seen this kind of temperament many times, but this was the first time she saw it in a scholar.

"Have you ever learned martial arts?" He Ran asked.

Shen Yao was stunned and smiled bitterly in her heart. Boss He's eyes were too sharp. She just stood here and Boss He saw it.

"Yes, I have learned martial arts, but my skills are average."

He Ran smiled and nodded, her tone relaxed, and said, "Please introduce yourself."

Shen Yao's eyes trembled, and she looked at He Ran boldly. Her eyes met He Ran's eyes that seemed to see through everything. The little man in her heart suddenly said to her: "You'd better tell the truth. Your little tricks can't deceive the boss."

Shen Yao gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, and suddenly knelt on the ground with a plop: "Boss, I am guilty. I deceived you. My identity is fake!"

He Ran listened quietly as Shen Yao told her how her mother secretly separated from the family and took her to Hangzhou to live with her aunt. She told He Ran that as the daughter of a noble family, she had practiced martial arts since childhood, so she had wanted to join He Xiulong's army at that time. However, not long after they arrived in Hangzhou, her aunt passed away. Her mother first encountered a family change and then lost her relatives, which dealt a mental blow. Her mother was worried about the brutal swords on the battlefield, and she was reluctant to leave her mother alone, so she did not join the army, but stayed at home to study. Three years passed in a blink of an eye, and she finally had the opportunity to go to Beijing to participate in the Spring Examination.

Shen Yao finished speaking in one breath, and her heart, which had been hanging for a long time, finally let go.

Since she came to Beijing, she has never felt so at ease. She said to He Ran, "My mother is just a woman in the back house. She knows nothing about the affairs of the court. My brothers are even less aware of this. I am willing to bear all the blame."

He Ran nodded: "Shen Yao, let me ask you, did your father send anyone to look for you later?"

Shen Yao shook her head: "No, never."

He Ran asked again: "Your great-grandmother was not buried in the Jing family's ancestral tomb. Do you know about this?"

Shen Yao: "I know that before I came to the capital, my mother made two pairs of shoes for me to take to my great-grandmother's grave. When my great-grandmother was alive, she always wore the shoes made by my mother."

He Ran nodded again and said to Shen Yao: "Okay, you can go back."

Shen Yao didn't know what Boss He meant. She kowtowed three times respectfully and then walked out.

After Shen Yao left, He Ran said to Xiao Li, "Go check it out."

In the evening, the news from the Embroidered Uniform Guard came. After Shen Yao came to Beijing, she never participated in various book clubs, tea parties, and hometown gatherings held by the candidates. Even though she passed the imperial examination, she never attended banquets such as the farewell banquet for her teachers. Because she was on the morning newspaper, wealthy families and merchants sent gifts to the inn, but Shen Yao declined them all.

The only gift she accepted was a banquet given to her by the innkeeper.

Shen Yao had been in Beijing for three months and had contact with three people.

One of them was Zeng Ziqi, who was a successful candidate in this official examination. He was also from Hangzhou, handsome and unmarried. Perhaps he was interested in Shen Yao, so he invited Shen Yao to dinner several times, but Shen Yao refused all of them. Zeng Ziqi also gave Shen Yao four treasures of the study and several books that were hard to buy on the market, but Shen Yao also refused them.

Another one was that on the day of the official examination, someone saw Shen Yao getting out of a carriage in front of the Imperial Examination Hall. The female member in the carriage even leaned out to wave goodbye to her. The female member was an old lady with white hair, but she wore an emerald green hairpin. She was obviously an old lady from a wealthy family. Unfortunately, that person did not notice whether there was a family emblem on the carriage, so he did not know whose carriage it was.

Another person was the one sent by Morning Post to interview Shen Yao. She was a Jinshi last year, named Yang Yiyu. This time she interviewed three new Jinshi, one was the oldest Jinshi Liu, another was the highest ranked female Jinshi Wang, and the other was the youngest Shen Yao. After the interview, Yang Yiyu gave each of the three Jinshi a fan pendant with the words Morning Post on it as a gift.

Apart from these three people, Shen Yao had no in-depth contact with other people. And the person who wrote the report letter was also found out, it was none other than Zeng Ziqi.

This man was also a capable person and could write with both hands. Unfortunately, he met the Jinyiwei. The Jinyiwei started with the three people that Shen Yao had contacted, and the first one they investigated was him. Since he could be a messenger, he must have been famous before coming to the capital. If he was famous, his calligraphy must have been circulated in the world long ago. So the Jinyiwei found the different fonts he had written and soon discovered the similarities. Although they only reflected in the writing habits, wouldn't it be clear if they arrested him for interrogation if they had any suspicion?

The Jinyiwei had plenty of ways to make people talk, and Zeng Ziqi was just a young scholar, so he confessed everything in less than half an hour.

Shen Yao was the first female juren in the history of Hangzhou. She was very famous. In addition, she was young and beautiful, so many people came to the Shen family to propose marriage. Zeng Ziqi came from a poor family and could not compare with those people, so she could only keep these thoughts in her heart.

After coming to the capital, he tried every means to get close to Shen Yao, but unfortunately he was rejected by Shen Yao.

Later, he passed the imperial examination and finally gained confidence. He expressed his love to Shen Yao, but Shen Yao rejected him without even a second thought.

Zeng Ziqi was devastated and felt that he had lost all face. It only took a moment for love to turn into hate. If he couldn't get it, he would destroy it.

He originally just wanted to make up a few short stories to ruin Shen Yao's reputation. He secretly followed Shen Yao, but unexpectedly discovered that Shen Yao actually went to the tomb of Madam Renyi. He had good hearing, and he vaguely heard Shen Yao say in front of the tombstone that his great-granddaughter did not bring shame to him and passed the imperial examination.

Zeng Ziqi was not an ordinary person. He was able to pass the imperial examination and could definitely be said to be well-educated. He was also very knowledgeable about current affairs. He didn't know the name of Lady Meng's great-granddaughter, but he knew the name of her father, Jing Chongguang!
So Zeng Ziqi wrote this letter of complaint based on the information he had investigated about Shen Yao's family background in Hangzhou and his speculation about Jing Chongguang's children.

Didn’t the Morning Post interview Shen Yao? Then let the people from the Morning Post know who the young female scholar they praised is.

This is the daughter of a traitor. In the past, she would be sent to the Music Bureau or sent to the military camp to be a prostitute and could be slept with by anyone.

If you can't get it, then destroy it. If it was the previous Jing Qianqian, Zeng Ziqi would not dare to provoke her, but what does the current Jing family have? The only respected lady of benevolence and righteousness was not buried in the Jing family's ancestral tomb, and she had to divorce the Jing family after her death. So the current Jing family is even worse than the beggars on the street. Fortunately, Shen Yao did not agree to him, otherwise he would have been deceived.

He was born in a clean family and was a member of a noble family. With Shen Yao's status, she was not even worthy of being his concubine.

So Zeng Ziqi wrote this letter of denunciation in a very eloquent manner, disguised himself, and put the letter into the submission box when no one was paying attention.

However, Zeng Ziqi never expected that after he submitted the letter in the morning, several ferocious-looking Jinyiwei appeared in front of him in the afternoon.

"Are you Zeng Ziqi?"

"Yes, please."

“Are you from Hangzhou?”

"Yes, please."

"take away!"

In the imperial prison, Zeng Ziqi burst into tears. He really wanted to keep the court clean and prevent spies from the Later Zhou Dynasty from sneaking in. His loyalty was known to all.

The carriage that took Shen Yao to the Imperial Examination Hall to take the exam that day was also found out.

The carriage belonged to a family surnamed Jiang in the city. The old lady of the Jiang family was the wet nurse of Shen Yao's mother, Li. Shen Yao went to visit the old lady after coming to Beijing. She didn't want to cause trouble for the old lady, so she didn't plan to visit her again. However, on the day of the exam, the old lady prepared things for her to use for the exam, and personally went to the inn to pick her up, and personally sent her to the Imperial Examination Hall, making her feel the care of her relatives.

A couple who guarded the tomb of Old Madam Meng also confirmed that there was a young girl who had come to sweep the tomb of Old Madam Meng three times. They were all former people from the Dingguo Mansion. At that time, they felt that the girl looked familiar, but did not dare to step forward to recognize her.

With this, the matter was investigated clearly.

Shen Yao is indeed Jing Chongguang's daughter, but she and her mother and brothers had cut off contact with Jing Chongguang before he escaped. When Jing Chongguang left, he didn't even go home to see him.

Whether Shen Yao was in Hangzhou or later in the capital, she never had any dealings with people from the Later Zhou Dynasty. She always behaved herself and did things in an honest manner.

Three days later, she would go to the Ministry of Personnel to await assignment. Shen Yao was a little nervous as she didn't know if she could still go for internship like the others.

She had a small dream. She hoped that one day, after completing her internship, she would be able to become a local official. She would be a good official and would bring her mother to live with her. In this life, she had never thought about getting married. She did not feel that there was anything good about getting married from her great-grandmother and mother, so she did not want to get married. She just wanted to spend her life with her mother.

Seeing that it was getting late, Shen Yao took another deep breath. She walked out of the inn and saw a carriage parked on the side of the road. Nanny Jiang poked her head out of the carriage and waved at her: "Young lady, get in the carriage quickly. Nanny will take you to the Ministry of Personnel."

Sitting in the car, Nanny Jiang said to her with a smile: "Young Miss, please don't think I am nagging you. When you leave the capital to be an official, I am too old to know whether I can wait until you return to the capital to report on your work. Now, while you are still in the capital, I want to see you more."

Shen Yao felt a lump in her throat. She might disappoint Nanny Jiang. She was afraid that she would not be able to continue this official position.

On the way, Nanny Jiang was still nagging. She told Shen Yao that it would be best if she could stay in the capital for internship. There were many female Jinshi in the past, and they all stayed in the capital, such as Yao Linlang, the academician of the Yao family, and Xu Qiuli, the female top scholar. They were all in the capital.

Shen Yao was embarrassed: "Mammy, how can I compare with Mr. Yao and Mr. Xu? They did much better than me. I only ranked more than 40th."

Madam Jiang glared and said, "Is ranking in the top 40 not good enough? My dear little lady, you are ranked in the top 40 in the whole world!"

Shen Yao's face turned even redder. They finally arrived at the Ministry of Personnel. When Shen Yao got off the car, she felt her legs go weak.

What would she do if someone told her to get out?
Should I roll away smoothly or just throw a tantrum and refuse to roll?
But throwing a tantrum and rolling around is still rolling around.

Even Shen Yao herself didn't understand why she could still think of all these things at this time.

In the previous chapter, Jiaozhi was changed to Chengying. This is a fictional story, but Jiaozhi really existed in history. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, we should change the name.