Fortunate Young Gentleman

The provincial examination was over and the banknotes were paid out. Tangning no longer thought about these things. After running around for a few days, the third uncle had already found craftsmen and started repairing the house.

When she first bought this house, Tang Ning had already compared and considered it for a long time. She was basically satisfied with the layout of the house. No major changes were needed during the renovation. Only the green bricks on the ground, the doors, windows and the columns outside needed to be re-paved. It also needs to be repainted. The pavilion in the inner courtyard is too old. He plans to tear it down and redesign a larger one. When the weather gets better in a few days, he can stay outside to enjoy the cool weather.

There are even more changes in details.

The bathroom must be built new. He has been having problems with the latrines here for more than a day or two. The toilet is a must and is connected to the sewage pipes of the capital. It is clean and trouble-free.

The bathroom also needs to be built separately, the floor should be paved with marble, and a shower head should be built. Every time I take a bath, I have to boil a large bucket of water and wait for at least half an hour. It is too inconvenient.

A large open space must be cleared in the backyard. As a training ground, it cannot be as small as the county government's yard. Every time Tang Yaojing's sword slashed in front of his eyes, it made people frightened.

In addition, we have to ask the carpenter to customize a large bed. The ordinary size is spacious for one person to sleep, and it is suitable for two people to sleep. It is a bit too crowded for three people to sleep. Four people, not four people...

The house next door is also being renovated. Tang Yaojing has no money and all the money is taken from the Red Sleeve Pavilion. She will renovate the house here as she wants. The only difference is that she will renovate it in a place separated from the inner courtyard by a wall. Build a courtyard where there was originally an open space.

After walking out of the house and looking back, Tangning realized a problem.

When the two houses are built, won't there be two Tang mansions here, and they are adjacent?

No matter how long Tang Yaojing stays in the capital, he will always return to Lingzhou. It will be a pity that this house will be empty by then. It is better to buy it from Tang Yaojing himself, tear down the wall, and create two Tang mansions. It turned into a large Tang Mansion, which perfectly solved the problem of being unable to accommodate too many family members in the future.

He came here today to keep an eye on the progress. He was quite satisfied with the work done by the craftsmen, so he asked his third uncle to give them 20% more wages. When he walked out, the sun was almost above his head, and it was time to go back to the county office for dinner.

His mother-in-law had some objections to him moving out at first, but later she thought it was not far from the county government office, so she agreed.

Before Tangning reached the county government office, she saw several figures wandering at the door.

After showing his surprise, he strode over.

A government servant at the county government office waved his hand impatiently and said: "Where are you beggars from? This is the county government office. Go begging for food elsewhere. There is nothing here to give you!"

Tangning walked over and asked with a smile, "When did you come?"

"Gang leader!" Liu Laoer saw him and immediately said, "We just arrived today."

Tang Ning once wrote two letters to Lingzhou, one of which was addressed to Liu Laoer and the others.

It was a long way to the capital, so he told them in the letter to come over after they had handled the affairs of Lingzhou. He thought they would be faster, but he didn't expect that they didn't arrive until today.

The government officer at the door was a little stunned when he saw that he was familiar with these beggars.

Tangning looked at Peng Chen and said, "Please tell me when you go back that I won't go back for dinner today."

Liu Laoer and the others had been traveling all the way. Tang Ning originally wanted to invite them to have a meal at Tiantianju, but Liu Laoer and the others stood at the door of Tiantianju, unable to get in. In the end, they had to choose a noodle restaurant on the street. stall.

Tang Ning looked at him and said, "You are all the elders of my Beggar Clan. There will be many scenes to meet in the future. You don't even dare to enter a restaurant. How can this be okay?"

"We still think two bowls of noodles can fill our stomachs more." Liu Laoer smiled sheepishly, waved to the waiter at the opposite stall, and said, "Add two more cloves of garlic!"

Tangning stopped worrying about the matter and asked, "Why did you come here so late?"

Liu Laoer explained: "The gang leader asked us to inquire about the little beggar. Along the way, every time we visited a city, we would stop and ask, so we wasted time."

Tangning hurriedly asked, "How's it going? Is there any news?"

"Not yet." Liu Laoer shook his head and said: "But it's not that there is no news at all. Along the way, we learned that there are other little beggars who disappeared like this in the Gyeonggi area, including Lingzhou. Quite a few, there are even some children from ordinary families, and all traces point to the capital..."

Tangning looked at him and asked, "Have you found out what happened?"

Liu Laoer shook his head and said, "Not yet."

The waiter brought several bowls of noodles over and said, "Sir, your noodles are ready!"

"Let's eat first." Tangning looked at them and said, "After eating, you can settle down in the capital first. We'll talk about other things later."

Liu Laoer and the others are weak and it is not easy to get ahead among the beggars in the capital, and they need to figure it out slowly.

And this matter, at present, is not urgent or important.

Time has entered mid-April, and the provincial examination has ended for twenty days. According to the practice of previous years, Gongyuan will release news during these days and announce the release period.

During these twenty days, countless lines of sight from the capital were focused on the Gongyuan outside the city.

At this time, in the Gongyuan, many examiners gathered together, with several examination papers in front of them.

A few days ago, all the papers of this provincial exam were marked, and they also selected more than 200 papers from them, which were the winners of this provincial exam.

Most of the papers have been ranked according to the numbers, and they can remove the names and write down the names of the candidates immediately.

At this time, in front of them are the papers of three people, who are also the top three in this provincial exam.

However, the chief examiner has not made a final decision on the specific rankings of these three people.

"This one, the first round all the answers are correct, and the poems in the second round are also amazing, but this policy essay is mediocre and can only be regarded as above average..."

"These two papers, although the first and second rounds are inferior to him, the policy essays are both excellent articles..., who will be the champion, it's really hard to choose."

A gray-haired old man muttered a few words, and a hesitant look appeared on his face.

Seeing that the examiner was having trouble making a decision, an examiner stepped forward and said, "Mr. Li, the court has always attached great importance to policy essays. The first and second rounds were used for reference and comparison when the policy essays were similar. I think all three papers can be ranked first, but the champion should be selected from these two."

Fang Hong shook his head and said, "Your Majesty once said before the provincial examination that policy essays are only for reference and the focus should be on "policy" and "theory". Sir Liu forgot so quickly?"

The Minister of Rites who had just spoken was speechless.

"Your Majesty has mentioned this sentence many times." The gray-haired old man nodded, looked at several assistant examiners, and asked, "What do you think?"

Several people looked at each other, and finally one of them stood up and said, "If we don't talk about the article, but only talk about "strategy" and "theory", this one is more meaningful."

The old man pondered for a moment and nodded, "That's it, this person is the first in the three rounds, do you have any objections?"

The first round was the first, all the answers were correct, more than 20% more than the second person. If the poems in the second round were released, it would probably cause a stir in the poetry world. The third round, several assistant examiners agreed, and all three rounds were the top. What objections can everyone have?

The old man looked at everyone and said, "Since everyone has no objection, the results will be announced tomorrow!"

...

In previous years, the results would be announced at least three days in advance. Perhaps this year's announcement was delayed too long. When everyone learned the news, there was only one day left before the announcement.

This day, the sky was just bright, and the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall in the capital was already crowded with people.

Among them, only a small number were students taking the provincial examinations, and most were the citizens of the capital who were watching.

Tang Ning was called up by Xiao Jue early in the morning. Before he could see the entrance to the Imperial Examination Hall, the crowd in front was so crowded that he could hardly move.