Ming Dynasty: At the beginning, the house was ransacked and the ancestral temple was burned down.

Chapter 208: The emperor who fell seriously ill! Fraud for personal gain! Reincarnation!

Zhu Yijun's question confused Zhang Cheng. Zhang Cheng looked bewildered, thinking:

"Why is His Majesty suddenly asking about having a baby?
The key is... who gave birth? Could it be that the emperor was... crazy from the fever?"

Zhang Cheng was full of confusion, and just at this moment, Chen Ju came in a hurry.

Chen Ju has been very busy lately. He has to take care of the East Factory and help the Emperor choose a son-in-law. As a result, he has basically no time to serve in the imperial court.

Not long ago, after hearing the news that His Majesty the Emperor had suddenly caught a fever, this devoted old eunuch came running over in worry.

Seeing Chen Ju coming, Zhang Cheng felt as if he had been pardoned. He left without saying anything.

What Zhang Cheng fears most is serving the emperor when he is unconscious, so it is better to let Chen Ju do this kind of weird job!

……

After Zhang Cheng left, Chen Ju also received the same question. After thinking for a moment, he replied:
"Your Majesty, Zhang Chonghui's wife gave birth to a boy a long time ago."

"Ah?" Zhu Yijun, who was confused by the fever, was a little confused after hearing such an answer. He said weakly:
"What Zhang Chonghui? I'm talking about Liu Lang."

This time it was Chen Ju's turn to be confused...

Rokuro? What Rokuro?
Chen Ju racked his brains to figure out who the 'Liu Lang' that the Emperor was talking about was.

However, before Chen Ju could think of an answer, the emperor had fallen asleep.

……

Outside the Imperial Examination Hall.

Seeing the person in Yang Chunyuan's mirror getting closer, the two of them simply turned around and looked.

The man was in his early twenties, tall and thin, with a handsome face. At first glance, he gave people the impression of being gentle and calm, like a gentleman with the gentle breeze and bright moon.

The young man almost ran straight towards Zhang Chonghui. Before Zhang Chonghui could ask anything, he started talking to himself:
"Forgive me for being so presumptuous. I only saw you from a distance just now, and I felt that you have a divine appearance. Would you like to get to know me?"

As the saying goes, if someone shows kindness for no reason, he is either a traitor or a thief. Zhang Chonghui instinctively wanted to say he was unwilling.

But looking at the man's attire and the several servants following him, one can tell at a glance that he has a good family background and is also a candidate who has come to Beijing to take the imperial examination.

After a brief moment of thought, Zhang Chonghui raised his hand and bowed, smiling gently, "Of course I am willing."

"Great!" The young man seemed very happy, his eyes sparkling as he introduced himself with a smile:
"My surname is Wen, my given name is Tiren, my courtesy name is Changqing, and I am from Wucheng County, Huzhou Prefecture."

"So you are from Zhejiang." Zhang Chonghui nodded without any concealment, as if he thought of something. After a moment, he also introduced himself.

"My surname is Zhang, my given name is Chonghui, and my courtesy name is Minghe. To be honest, my ancestor is Zhang Taiyue."

Zhang Chonghui's self-introduction was quite meaningful. He immediately revealed his past as a criminal, which was tantamount to driving the other party away.

After all, no normal person wants to have anything to do with the descendants of a criminal, especially the descendants of a criminal like Zhang Juzheng.

Wen Tiren was obviously stunned for a moment, but soon he smiled calmly and said:
"Although my grandfather had no official title, my great-uncle won the third place in the imperial examination in the 32nd year of the Jiajing reign."

Wen Tiren answered very naturally, as if he thought Zhang Chonghui was just talking to him about whether his grandfather had any achievements.

"Oh, right." Wen Tiren finished speaking and asked, "Minghe, I see that you seem to be younger than me. I was born in the first year of the Wanli reign. I wonder if you are...?"

"Then you are indeed older than me. I was born in the seventh year of Wanli." Zhang Chonghui turned away slightly while answering, with a somewhat cold attitude.

Wen Tiren noticed this subtle move. He passed the imperial examination at the age of 16 and worked as an aide to Zhang Chaorui, the deputy envoy of Jinqu Road in Zhejiang Province, for three years at a young age. He had already become a "semi-official" who was very good at reading people's expressions.

Wen Tiren saw that Zhang Chonghui was doubting him and even rejecting him.

Wen Tiren, who knew that one had to play the long game to catch a big fish, immediately bowed and said goodbye very tactfully.

"I'm going to the Imperial Examination Hall first, Minghe, please wish me success in the imperial examination."

"Of course, I will burn incense and pray to the Buddha when I get back, and ask the Buddha to bless you to get into high school!"

"Haha, then I'll lend you my good words."

After saying this with a smile, Wen Tiren left.

Looking at Wen Tiren's graceful back as he left, the polite smile on Zhang Chonghui's face gradually disappeared.

Zhang Chonghui didn't know why Wen Tihen, a man he had never met before, wanted to approach him deliberately. And judging from the other party's reactions just now, it seemed that he didn't know that he was the descendant of Zhang Juzheng beforehand.

So, what is the other party planning?
Zhang Chonghui didn’t know what Wen Tihen was trying to do. He only cared about whether Zhang Yunxiu could make the list.

As for the rest, it’s not that important for now.

"Minghe."

The sudden voice in his ear made Zhang Chonghui stunned for a moment. Only then did he realize that there was another Yang Chunyuan next to him.

"Renfu, you haven't gone back yet?" Zhang Chonghui asked.

Yang Chunyuan's face looked very ugly, as if he had suffered a great blow, and he said resentfully:

"I've been here the whole time. When did you go back? You started chatting with that Wen guy and forgot about me. You two are so abominable!"

"Uh..." Zhang Chonghui didn't know what to say. After all, he had indeed forgotten about Yang Chunyuan.

It turns out that there are more than just these 'pain points' that make Yang Chunyuan unhappy.

Yang Chunyuan looked Zhang Chonghui up and down carefully, and while examining him, he stroked his chin and wondered:
"It's strange. I'm obviously more handsome than you, but why didn't that Wen come to get to know me, but instead wanted to get to know you, the descendant of a criminal?

He left a handsome man like me standing aside without even looking at me. Does he have bad eyesight? Or is he plotting against you?"

"I don't know." Zhang Chonghui said calmly, "As the descendant of a criminal, what else can I plot?"

Unless that person has other purposes.

……

As time passed day by day, the students in the Imperial Examination Hall spent their time writing furiously and staying awake at night.

Finally, it was February 17th.

This is also the last day of the third examination.

The outside of the Imperial Examination Hall was bustling again, as everyone was waiting for their own successful candidates who had been locked up in the hall for nearly ten days.

In fact, many people could have handed in their papers one day in advance, but most candidates still waited until the last day to hand in their papers.

As for why, maybe he wanted to check it a few more times, or maybe there was some other reason.

Zhang Yunxiu was one of the people who waited until the last day to hand in his paper.

After checking the test paper for an unknown number of times to make sure it was neat and the content was correct.

Zhang Yunxiu finally saw the figure of Ye Xianggao, the deputy examiner of the imperial examination, walking by "inadvertently" in front of his own room.

Recalling what Zhang Chonghui had told him, Zhang Yunxiu took a deep breath, calmed himself, and prepared to pack up and hand in the paper!

Zhang Yunxiu knew very well that this was the only chance!
As for whether it will succeed in the end...

It all depends on his own ability and luck!

……

When Zhang Yunxiu handed in his paper, Ye Xianggao had already returned to his position as deputy examiner and was sitting upright.

It is worth mentioning that the chief examiner Zeng Chaojie happened to be away at that time.

According to regulations, the examiner who is responsible for collecting the papers needs to stamp the examinee's paper first.

After being stamped, the papers are sealed in a box and then sent together to a heavily guarded paper collection center.

The officials at the paper collection office will first conduct an initial screening and classification of the candidates' original papers, the so-called "ink papers".

Those test papers that have obvious marks, ink spots, water stains, tears, etc. on the surface that are not neat will be picked out and copied with a blue pen after verification by the invigilator, commonly known as "being listed on the blue list."

Being on the blue list means: there is no hope.

Those ink scrolls that are neat and have passed the screening will be sent to the sealing office.

The officials at the Sealing Office will cover the names of the candidates with thick paper, which is the so-called "covering the names".

After the name is covered, the ink scroll will be sent to a special place and copied again with a red pen by a special official.

The copied duplicate papers are called "red papers".

It is worth mentioning that during the copying process, the transcribers would also copy down the typos on the examinees' papers, and even mark the errors at the top of the page. After so many complicated procedures, the completed black and red papers would be sent to a special reading office for another check by the officials of the reading office.

After ensuring that the contents of the two scrolls are exactly the same, the ink scroll and the red scroll will be sent to a special scroll-handling office for numbering.

The numbered black papers will be sealed with the roots, while the red papers will be divided into four parts by the supervising officer and handed over to different examiners in batches, who will take turns to mark and evaluate the papers.

Such a complicated process is designed not only to prevent favoritism and fraud, but also to ensure the fairness of the imperial examination.

But there is no fairness in the world. No matter how perfect it is, it will eventually pass through the hands of countless people.

Money comes and goes, but the final result is still determined by humans.

Zhang Yunxiu handed the test paper to the examiner and left. During this time, there was no eye contact between him and Ye Xianggao.

……

Outside the Imperial Examination Hall.

Nearly ten days of "imprisonment" was really exhausting. Looking around, almost all the examinees coming out of the Imperial Examination Hall had tired faces, as if they had been drained of their energy by a female ghost.

Zhang Yunxiu's face didn't look very good either, but when he strode out of the Imperial Examination Hall and saw his family waiting for him not far away, his spirits suddenly brightened up a lot.

"My husband! You have suffered!" Li ran up crying. If there weren't so many people around, she would have wanted to throw herself into her man's arms.

At the same time, Zhang Chonghui, who had been waiting for a long time, also stepped forward quickly and asked:
"How's it going? Have you handed in all the papers?"

"Yes." Zhang Yunxiu pulled the crying Li away and said to Zhang Chonghui seriously, "All handed in!"

"Are you all here?" Zhang Chonghui asked again.

"Well, not all of them!" Zhang Yunxiu replied.

Zhang Chonghui breathed a sigh of relief and sighed, "Next, we just have to leave it to fate."

Zhang Yunxiu nodded, his eyebrows slightly lowered: "Well, yes..."

The somewhat inexplicable conversation between Zhang Chonghui and Zhang Yunxiu is really confusing.

Only the two of them and the person in the examination room knew about it.

……

With the last candidate leaving the examination room, all three exams were over.

The spring examination of the twenty-sixth year of Wanli's reign was over.

Next, there is a long wait.

After the examinees' papers were roughly screened for the first time by the examiners, they were sent to the sealing office together, waiting to be covered with names.

Eunuch Zhang Cheng had been waiting in the Mifeng Office for a long time. When a Mifeng official was about to write the name of a candidate on the test paper, Zhang Cheng suddenly interrupted.

"By the way, the handwriting on this policy paper is really beautiful! Eh? Why is the paper dirty?"

……

Zhang Cheng left after completing his mission.

Soon, Ye Xianggao, the deputy examiner of this examination, arrived.

It seemed that Ye Xianggao just came to chat with the officials and express his admiration for this year's students.

As they were expressing their feelings, they started talking about other things.

"Just now I saw from afar that Eunuch Zhang went out. What is he doing here?"

"Who knows? But Eunuch Zhang has a good eye. He even reminded me that one of the candidates' essay papers was dirty."

"Really? Since it's dirty, pick it out."

"It has been picked out, but Eunuch Zhang was extremely angry. He scolded the person who checked the previous paper for not checking it carefully enough, and he was so angry that he burned the dirty paper directly."

"Ah...it was burned directly. I don't know who is so unlucky."

"It happened suddenly. Before I even had time to take a closer look at the candidate's name, the paper had already been snatched away by Eunuch Zhang.

It’s not easy for these candidates. Just because there is a little stain on their papers, they have to wait another three years.”

"Haha, yes, but who among us didn't come here this way?"

While Ye Xianggao was chatting and laughing, he took advantage of the fact that the officials were busy covering up their names and had no time to look at him.

A test paper slipped silently from his wide sleeves and fell into the pile of papers waiting to be named.

It's like, it's always been there.

……

Time flies, more than half a month has passed.

It was the tenth day of March in the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli reign.

According to reliable sources, the results of the imperial examination will be announced the next day.

Upon hearing the news, Zhang Yunxiu was so nervous that he couldn't sleep at all. He just waited for the next morning to go to the place where the results were announced to see whether he had passed the exam or not.

Zhang Yunxiu was actually a little unsure of himself. Although he had been taught to read by his older brothers who were successful in the imperial examinations since he was a child, he never took studying seriously when he was young.

Before his property was confiscated, he was an official with good connections and could enjoy a happy life without studying for the imperial examinations.

After his property was confiscated, studying was of no use to him anymore. As a criminal, he could not enter the officialdom, so it was useless for him to study.

In fact, it was only in the past two years that he really began to take studying seriously.

Zhang Yunxiu didn't know whether he could pass the exam with his own abilities.

After all, Ye Xianggao was only responsible for helping him escape the emperor's targeting.

As for whether or not to be on the list...

It also depends on how well his article is written, and more importantly, whether his article can catch the examiners' eyes.

In other words, both ability and luck are indispensable!

This night was destined to be a sleepless night for Zhang Yunxiu and other candidates taking part in the imperial examination.

At the same time, Qianqing Palace.

His Majesty the Emperor has been ill for more than half a month. He first had repeated fevers, then developed coughs and rhinitis. He took bitter medicine for more than half a month, and only felt a little better in the past two days.

Illness comes like a mountain down, sickness goes like a thread.

Zhu Yijun became suddenly much weaker due to his illness. While lamenting that he was no longer young, he also lamented the pain and torture he had suffered from the illness during this period of time, which almost took his life.

People were almost dying of illness, and Emperor Wanli, who didn't want to take care of government affairs, had no time to read memorials or take care of government affairs.

So, when Zhu Yijun felt better, he was ready to take a look at the memorial to see if any major events had occurred recently.

The Ministry of Rites has already prepared the list of successful candidates for this imperial examination and submitted it.

Looking at the list of successful candidates presented by the Ministry of Rites, as well as the papers of the top three candidates in the imperial examination, Zhu Yijun actually had no desire to check them.

It's just a bunch of names. I can't remember them all and there's no point in reading them.

Especially before this, Zhu Yijun had learned from Zhang Cheng that Zhang Yunxiu's policy essay paper had been specially picked out and put on the blue list because the paper was not neat, and it was also burned.

As a result, the relieved emperor didn't want to watch it anymore.

For some unknown reason, Zhu Yijun somehow flipped through the list of successful candidates and took a quick look at it.

It would have been fine if he hadn't looked at it, but when he did, he was shocked!
Because he actually saw a very familiar name among a large number of unfamiliar names!

"Zhang Yunxiu?"

Zhu Yijun widened his eyes and asked loudly in disbelief:
"What's going on! Why is Zhang Yunxiu still here?"

The test papers had already been burned to ashes! How could he still pass the exam?

Could it be...the same name and surname! ?

(End of this chapter)