Rise From the Humble

In the early morning, the red sun rises slowly, slowly revealing the horizon, like a bride wearing a red hijab at night in the wedding room. She slowly lifts the hijab, revealing a pretty blushing face, shyly looking down at the earth.

"Damn sun, why are you getting up so early? This makes me have to get up early too!"

In the courtyard of Zhu Ping'an's guest room in the Marquis of Linhuai Mansion, the naughty child looked at the eastern sky with a look of bitterness and hatred. He stretched out his chubby hand and pulled it in the air. It seemed that he was eager to take in the rising red sky in the east. The day is like a pancake and is cut off!

Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but smile as he looked at the bitter and resentful child holding a book.

Since the palace examination was over, Marquis Linhuai has been urging people to send the naughty child to him early.

Zhu Ping'an likes to get up early to practice calligraphy. Although he is now fully qualified to practice calligraphy with pen, ink, paper and inkstone, he is used to using a brush dipped in water to practice calligraphy on a wooden board, so he still practices calligraphy with his old habit of dipping it in water early in the morning.

While Zhu Pingan was practicing calligraphy, he also fulfilled his duties as a teacher and urged the naughty kid to read in the morning. No matter how naughty the kid gave him a thousand reasons, Zhu Pingan would still be defeated and had to hold the book in his hand in the bitter and resentful morning. read.

In addition to the naughty child, there is also a little lolita in the yard, the one who calls herself Niuer. This little loli also likes to go to Zhu Pingan these days, because Zhu Pingan will tell stories every time when he is tired from reading and practicing calligraphy. Whether it was a fairy tale or the story about the little monkey jumping out of the stone, the little Loli couldn't move her feet. So every time, little Lolita refuses to leave on the pretext of accompanying Brother Rui to study.

Of course, the same is true for a certain naughty child. Although he is unhappy with Zhu Pingan, every time Zhu Pingan tells a story, the naughty child always looks like "my brother-in-law has tortured me thousands of times, and I treat my brother-in-law like my first love." With a fat face, he listened with great interest.

After practicing calligraphy in the morning, the servants from the Linhuai Marquis Mansion brought breakfast for the three of them. There are three plates of lean meat porridge, appetizers, hot dishes, meat and vegetables, and some steamed buns and eggs.

It looks very appetizing.

The naughty kid felt very unhappy because Zhu Pingan was supervising his studies. When he had breakfast, his fat face was full of provocation. No matter what Zhu Pingan said, he would say something back.

Looking at the provocative fat face of the naughty boy, Zhu Pingan couldn't help but smile, then he picked up an egg from the table in a mysterious way, held it in his hand, looked at the sun, and then touched it with his fingers left and right. He put it under his nose and sniffed it, and finally pinched his fingers to calculate, and said seriously:

"These are the eggs laid by the hen."

When the naughty kid heard this, his face was full of doubts, and he immediately retorted provocatively with a fat face, "How do you know? I don't believe it!"

The little Lolita who was sipping her porridge at the table couldn't help but rolled her eyes after hearing what the naughty child said, "Idiot Brother Rui, the eggs must be laid by hens, because roosters don't lay eggs!"

Damn it, I've been fooled again!

The naughty boy choked on a mouthful of porridge and his face turned black.

Zhu Ping'an had just finished his breakfast, and before he had time to clear the table, he heard a rush of chickens and dogs outside the yard, and the sound of rapid footsteps came over.

"Master Zhu, Master Zhu, hurry, hurry, an imperial edict has arrived."

Just when Zhu Pingan raised his head, he saw a steward leading a few boys running into the yard as if they were being chased by dogs, speaking hurriedly out of breath.

Imperial decree?

Are you kidding? This is only the second day. Doesn’t the results of the palace examination only come out after three days? By the way, there is no need for an imperial edict to be sent home to release the results, right?

Although Zhu Ping'an felt strange, he still followed the steward and walked out. In the feudal era, the word "imperial edict" was worth more than a thousand pieces of gold. He would not dare to disrespect anyone with the word "holy".

When he arrived at the front hall, Zhu Pingan knew what was going on. What was the imperial edict? It was just a young eunuch from the palace who came to tell Zhu Pingan to enter the palace to meet the emperor.

According to what the young eunuch said and his explanation, the thing is probably like this. It is based on the usual practice. After the examination minister has finished reviewing the examination papers, he will submit the ten best examination papers among the palace examination papers to the imperial examination in front of the emperor. , the ten test papers were opened and sealed, and the personal information of the candidates was revealed. The emperor ranked the ten test papers, selecting the top seven, the top two, the top seven, and the top seven.

In addition, the emperor will summon the owners of these ten test papers into the palace and summon them alone. This is what is known as "Xiao Chuan Lu" in history.

The final palace examination rankings, including number one, second place, third overall, and the top seven in the second place, are all officially determined after the emperor summons them, and then the big and small gold lists are filled out. The list is officially released three days after the palace examination. The release of results for the palace examination is called "Dazhuanlu" or "Zhuanlu Grand Ceremony".

The emperor's summons this time was "Xiao Chuan Lu", but according to the little eunuch, the emperor personally read twenty test papers for this palace examination.

Why does it feel like the modern civil service examination? The palace examination is a written examination. If you are in the top ten in the written examination, no, this time it is in the top twenty, you will be considered to have passed the written examination, and you will be qualified for the interview, that is, "Xiao Chuanlu". The emperor is the interviewer, and the position is finally determined after the interview. Three out of twenty are selected, the first is the top pick, the second is the second pick, and the third is the top pick.

Zhu Pingan followed the little eunuch and rushed to Xiyuan in the Marquis's carriage. On the way, Zhu Pingan gave the little eunuch a red envelope without leaving any trace. The little eunuch touched the red envelope and smiled happily. He talked a lot and said to Zhu Pingan on the carriage. There are a lot of things to pay attention to during the interview, which are very detailed.

After entering Xiyuan, Zhu Pingan was led by a young eunuch to praise him in a palace in Xiyuan. About an hour later, another young eunuch came in and looked at Zhu Pingan and said:

"Master Zhu Ping'an, right? Your Majesty declares your presence."

"Thank you, father-in-law." Zhu Ping'an cupped his hands and thanked the visitor.

"You're welcome, Mr. Xiao Zhu, please come this way." The little eunuch had a smile on his face and stretched out his hand to lead the way.

Zhu Ping'an followed the young eunuch and walked step by step towards the palace where Emperor Jiajing was staying, rushing to meet Emperor Jiajing. Speaking of which, I was meeting Jiajing alone, so I was a little excited. Of course, nervousness was inevitable.

Zhu Ping'an followed the little eunuch for about ten minutes, and then came to a magnificent palace. The palace was covered with golden glazed tiles, brackets and cornices. There were twelve zodiac animal heads and jade pillars placed everywhere on the cornices. The stone carvings are also exquisite and gorgeous. The main colors of the entire palace are golden and red. There are two rows of stone steps outside the palace that lead directly into the palace. In the middle of the two rows of stone steps, there is what looks like a whole piece of jade carving. It is very huge and stretches for several meters. The jade is carved with A dragon rolling among the clouds. Under the early morning sun, the dragon sculpture seemed to come alive, moving its head and tail in an impressive manner.

The royal demeanor made Zhu Pingan click his tongue.

"Master Xiao Zhu, please wait for a moment, I will go and report." The young eunuch led Zhu Ping'an to the door and said.

"I'm sorry." Zhu Pingan slightly arched his hands.