Chapter 578: Many Clues to Life Experience

Count's Mansion, Jia Cong's Courtyard.

In the main room, the bed curtains were newly hung, and the scent of grease was lingering. The window curtains were pulled back, and the morning sun of spring shone into the room, leaving pale golden light spots on the jujube wood floor.

Zhi Shao stood behind Jia Cong, helping him comb his hair, gently placing a jade crown on his bun, and then inserting a grease jade hairpin.

The harmonious morning light shone on her beautiful and lustrous face, as if it could shine brilliantly.

Her eyebrows were lightly painted, her skin was as moist as jade, her eyes were like stars, and her gaze was watery and graceful. Through the mirror, her eyes met Jia Cong's, and she couldn't help but smile slightly, like a strange flower blooming for the first time.

Jia Cong looked at the image in the mirror, a bit fascinated.

He asked, "Zhi Shao, do you still remember what other people you have in your family?"

Zhi Shao was arranging his hair crown and said, "I don't remember. Why is Third Brother asking about this?"

Jia Cong smiled and said, "I was thinking that since life is stable now, if you still have close relatives in your family, you can properly take care of them, letting them also get some of your fortune."

Zhi Shao was slightly stunned, her hands unconsciously resting on Jia Cong's shoulders, and said, "Third Brother has told me many things about the past these years. Some things I have an impression of, but some I can't think clearly about.

As for things further away, I can't remember them at all. Master often told me that cause and effect are born and destroyed, and everything is forgotten. He also said that this might be my fortune, letting me not force it too much.

I have Third Brother treating me well and always accompanying me, which is enough. Whether I can think of things from the past or not, what does it matter?"

Jia Cong smiled and patted the slender and soft palms on his shoulders, saying, "You are right. As long as we are happy now and in the future, that is enough."

Zhi Shao said, "Last time Zhao Mama was injured in her arm, when I went to visit her, she mentioned to me that I was bought into the mansion by Steward Lai when I was six to serve Third Brother.

As for the situation of my family, Zhao Mama doesn't know either, but she heard people mention in her early years that my family was a family of slaves from an official family, and it seemed that they were sold only after committing a crime.

As for the real situation, Zhao Mama doesn't know either."

Jia Cong thought that since Zhi Shao was bought into the Jia mansion by Lai Da, Lai Da should know Zhi Shao's background, but the Lai brothers had long been beheaded, and even Lai Mama had passed away from illness last year.

Those true origins, I am afraid no one knows clearly anymore...

Jia Cong knew clearly that selling slaves from a criminal official's family had a status even lower than ordinary slaves, and even ordinary families would avoid it.

Like a noble family like the Rongguo Prefecture, the slaves used were not family-inherited slaves, but had to be 'good family children' with clean backgrounds.

For example, Sister Xi Ren by Baoyu's side was from a proper poor family.

Because the Hua family was so poor they couldn't open the pot, they sold their daughter as a slave, and she was worth a few taels of silver, so they sold Sister Xi Ren to the Jia mansion as a maid.

Like slaves sold cheaply after a criminal official's house was raided, a family of Jia's status would usually disdain to buy them.

Back then, Lai Da knew Jia Mu's face, and he must have looked down on himself. Family-inherited slaves were not his turn, so he bought them from outside to send them away.

Added to the fact that Zhi Shao was only six years old back then, a yellow-haired little girl who wasn't eye-catching, others couldn't see if she was good or bad for a while.

Only then was she casually bought by Lai Da and thrown to him as a maid; otherwise, given the dire circumstances Jia Cong faced in the East Courtyard back then, how could he have chanced upon such a beautiful maid?

If it weren't for this, Zhi Shao wouldn't have been eye-catching just when she was about to grow up and bloom, causing such a big accident by being coveted by Jia She.

Now, wanting to know Zhi Shao's family background and relatives, I am afraid it is very difficult. However, this is not an urgent matter, so it can only be a long-term plan, depending on the opportunity.

At this time, the door of the main room was pushed open, and Wu'er entered with a large copper basin, in which was hot water with steam rising.

She placed the copper basin on the washbasin stand, wrung out the face towel, and handed it to Jia Cong to wash his face.

She said, "Third Brother, Second Mistress sent a message yesterday, but Third Brother was writing in the study last night, so I didn't disturb you.

Second Mistress said that the twenty-first of this month is Third Brother's 'Wu Xiang' (fifteen years old) birthday. Now Third Brother is the master of the two prefectures, which can be considered a big day. According to the usual practice, a birthday banquet should be held in the two prefectures to entertain guests.

Second Mistress also said that this is Third Brother's first birthday after inheriting the Rongguo title, so it is better to organize it, which is also a face for the inside and outside of the Jia family."

Jia Cong heard Wu'er's words, but tasted the hidden meaning in Wang Xifeng's words.

Since Jia Cong inherited the Rongguo title, the Jia family's First Branch had become the legitimate line. Wang Xifeng, as the First Branch's daughter-in-law and Jia Cong's sister-in-law, shared honor and disgrace with Jia Cong.

Wang Xifeng now not only relied on Jia Cong as her backing, but Jia Lian would be exiled to Liaodong for fifteen years. With such a long time, her unborn children would also need Jia Cong's protection in the future.

Although Wang Xifeng was also a ruthless woman, she was more sensible and flexible than Lady Wang. She also calculated that if Jia Cong was stable, she would have a guarantee.

Last time at the East Courtyard birthday banquet, she saw Lady Wang and Mother Xia colluding, mostly secretly plotting for Jia Jia Yuanchun's noble position in the inner palace.

She naturally couldn't take it lightly. This was probably the tricks and secret fights of inner-chamber women.

She advocated organizing Jia Cong's fifteenth birthday on a grand scale, just using the opportunity to spread the word inside and outside, with guests filling the door, to solidify and publicize Jia Cong's status as the head of the family and the legitimate position of the First Branch.

Even if the second branch really produced an Imperial Consort, the First Branch's name had long been solid. No matter how her aunt tossed, she couldn't turn the sky.

Since returning to the mansion from the East Courtyard birthday banquet, Jia Cong had long heard the sisters mention the words and actions of Mother Xia at the women's banquet in the main hall that day.

Wang Xifeng could guess the matter because of this, and Jia Cong could naturally think of it too.

But in this matter, Jia Cong had already laid the groundwork with Jia Jia Yuanchun in advance. Neither Lady Wang nor Wang Xifeng knew the inside story.

Therefore, Jia Cong would not worry at all about Lady Wang secretly stirring up this matter.

You must know that the Supreme One in the Imperial City was someone who couldn't tolerate sand in his eyes. He had already laid the groundwork in advance. No matter how Lady Wang tossed, it was all a joke.

Jia Cong said, "Second Sister-in-law is thoughtful, but I am afraid I will disappoint her good intentions.

A few days ago, the palace had already issued the edict for the Spring Examination subordinate officials, and the Ministry of Rites had also issued the Spring Examination schedule.

The eighteenth of this month is the day to enter the examination, and I have to stay in the examination hall for nine days, taking three consecutive exams, and won't be released until the twenty-seventh of this month.

The birthday on the twenty-first will have to be spent in the examination hall, so there is no need for me to hold a birthday banquet in the mansion."

Wu'er asked, "Then why not tell Second Mistress to move Third Brother's birthday banquet forward a few days? Wouldn't that be good?"

Jia Cong smiled and said, "That is not necessary. Now it is only ten days away from the Spring Examination. Once the birthday banquet is held, with the coming and going of social engagements, it won't be quiet for three or four days, which is too delaying.

For the remaining time, I will focus on studying for the exam, which is the most appropriate.

Although I am the Yongzhou Jieyuan (top scholar), taking a Jinshi position in the exam is probably possible, but the Spring Examination is a gathering of talents from all over the world, so I can't be careless at all.

If I am too careless and end up failing, that would be a big disgrace.

Teacher created the pioneering feat of eight Jinshi from the Liu school. If it reaches me here and I end up smashing the signboard and ruining the reputation, I would be ashamed of the school."

Wu'er heard Jia Cong speak interestingly and couldn't help but giggle, her eyebrows curved, very charming and cute.

Zhi Shao smiled and said, "Then wait until Third Brother returns from the exam to organize it. By then, Third Brother will be on the Golden List, and we will hold the birthday banquet, a double happiness."

After Jia Cong washed up and finished breakfast, he saw Qingwen enter with a roll of paper.

She said, "Third Brother, this is the edict that the steward had people copy at the gate of the examination hall according to your instructions. He said all the names on it are complete."

A few days ago, the court posted the announcement of the Spring Examination officials at the gate of the examination hall, and he would report to Jia Cong when he got the news.

At that time, for the sake of speed, Jiang Liu only copied the names of the three chief examiners and the names of the top twenty Spring Examination subordinate officials.

Jia Cong had people copy a complete list of names, wanting to see which of these Spring Examination subordinate officials might be the co-examiners for this Spring Examination.

The Spring Examination of the Great Zhou Dynasty not only appoints two to three chief examiners, also called 'Zongcai' (Presidents).

Also, because of the five classics of the imperial examination: 'Poetry', 'Change', 'Book', 'Spring and Autumn', and 'Rites'.

It will also appoint eighteen co-examiners, who will divide the five classics of the imperial examination, called the 'Eighteen Rooms'.

After the three rounds and nine days of the Metropolitan Examination end, it enters the process of screening and grading the candidates' answer sheets.

Eighteen co-examiners will divide the five classics and screen the answer sheets, finally submitting them to the Spring Examination chief examiner to evaluate the ranking.

Although the chief examiner's status is very noble in the Spring Examination, for ordinary candidates, the weight of the co-examiner is no less than that of the chief examiner, and in some key places, it is even more important than the chief examiner.

Because the co-examiner is responsible for the initial screening of the candidates' answer sheets, if your answer sheet cannot pass the co-examiner's evaluation, it cannot reach the chief examiner's desk, let alone talk about passing the exam.

Although the Spring Examination chief examiner has the custom of reviewing the answer sheets rejected by the co-examiners to avoid 'missing a pearl in the sea', and there are candidates with outstanding talent who are re-selected.

But such lucky people are only a very small minority, and candidates who fail cannot hope to be hit by such good luck.

Moreover, the officials who can serve as co-examiners are also great talents with exquisite imperial examination skills, and usually, there are very few cases of misjudgment.

Therefore, for most candidates, the weight of the co-examiner is the heaviest, because they hold the fate of the candidates passing the Spring Examination.

The chief examiner, whose status is noble, is crucial for those candidates with outstanding talent who intend to dominate the Spring Examination, because the ranking of the selected candidates is finally evaluated by the chief examiner.

The chief examiner's role for candidates is more after the Metropolitan Examination, because once a candidate passes, they will form a relationship between 'Zuo Shi' (Master) and 'Men Sheng' (Student).

Anyone who can be selected as a Spring Examination chief examiner is a high-ranking court official with a great reputation, and their promotion and recommendation of students have a huge role for Jinshi who are just entering the official career.

The chief examiner of the Spring Examination, because of the eyes of the public, presides over the Spring Examination, so the court will announce it in writing before the Spring Examination, and both inside and outside will know.

But in the announcement of the Spring Examination, the names of the eighteen co-examiners will not be announced. Their names will be mixed with other subordinate officials.

This is also because the court knows that the co-examiner's position is special, preventing anyone from colluding with the co-examiner before the Spring Examination and causing corruption and darkness.

Because there are many co-examiners, besides the chief examiner, others do not know who the co-examiners are, which can be considered a big topic before the Spring Examination.

At the beginning, the blue-covered booklet appeared on the market, and the chief examiner candidates listed on it were actually only five or six.

But those candidates' wind of paying respects was not limited to the five or six chief examiner candidates, but the Spring Examination subordinate officials listed in the blue-covered booklet were all pursued and paid respects to by candidates to varying degrees.

It was because these subordinate officials listed among them might be the co-examiners for this Spring Examination. Once they pay respects and make friends, ask for teaching, and communicate with each other's literary style.

Even if the grading of the Metropolitan Examination in the future is copied and names are covered, it may not be impossible to win a glimmer of luck and opportunity for the candidates...

Jia Cong was already the Yongzhou Jieyuan and a noble with two titles. His expectation for the fame of the imperial examination was not as hot as that of ordinary candidates.

For him, taking the Spring Examination was only to win the name of Jinshi, one to give an account to the school.

Second, it was to break the bottleneck of the Great Zhou official system, where it is difficult to be promoted to a real official position above Grade 5 without being a Jinshi.

So for Jia Cong, the co-examiner was more important than the chief examiner...

In the past two years, he had been working in the Ministry of Works Firearm Division and was no longer a novice in the officialdom, knowing some figures in the current officialdom.

Therefore, he had the steward copy the complete list of Spring Examination edicts to browse and guess which officials might be the co-examiners for this Spring Examination.

Of course, this was just his natural curiosity as a Spring Examination candidate, and it wouldn't go so far as to use this to lock onto a co-examiner target and play the trick of paying respects and making friends.

The study in spring, the fragrance of books was faint, and the light was bright.

Zhen Ying Lian accompanied her mother to finish her birthday and had returned to Jia Cong's study, and was squeezing on the Luo Han couch under the south window with Lingguan, flipping through miscellaneous books while sharing snacks from the food jar.

Lingguan's bright eyes always looked at Jia Cong from time to time, seeing him sitting in front of the desk, looking at a piece of paper full of names with great interest.

Jia Cong discovered quite a few officials with great talent in the court among the subordinate officials on this copied list, and these people were very likely to be co-examiner candidates.

When he saw one of the official names, he couldn't help but be stunned: Censor of Yongzhou Road of the Censorate, Sun Shou.

Jia Cong was quite familiar with this name, because this name was once closely related to the Rongguo Prefecture.

Back then, Jia Zheng wanted to move out of the Rongxi Hall, but Jia Mu and Lady Wang both opposed it, and the matter was dragging on. I don't know how the news spread outside.

Censor of Yongzhou Road of the Censorate, Sun Shou, was a person who valued rituals and laws very much. After hearing this news, he submitted a memorial to impeach Jia Zheng for lingering in the Rongxi Hall.

Because he was only a Grade 7 official at the time and did not have the qualification to attend the morning court, the impeachment memorial was transferred to the Emperor by the Tongzheng Office, so very few people knew about this matter.

But Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao saw the memorial and praised him greatly, saying he was upright and dared to speak, strictly observing the rituals, and added grace to promote him to Grade 7 after the three-year grand examination.

When this news spread, it led to officials from various ministries impeaching Jia Zheng one after another, finally causing the Jia family's second branch to move out of the Rongxi Hall in a panic and finally sneak into the East Courtyard.

The officialdom is a place that pays the most attention to seniority. According to common sense, it is difficult for a newly promoted Grade 7 civil official to be selected as a Spring Examination subordinate official.

But this Sun Shou happened to have this honor.

Probably this person had an outstanding performance in the imperial examination back then. After all, being able to enter the Censorate as an official, at least he was a talent ranked in the second tier.

Or perhaps that impeachment of Jia Zheng made him unexpectedly receive Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao's attention and directly promoted him to Grade 7, thus making a name for himself, making others dare not ignore him.

Regardless of the reason, being able to be listed as a Spring Examination subordinate official, for Jia Cong, could be considered an interesting matter.

Rongguo Prefecture, Fengjie Courtyard.

At this time, Wang Xifeng was nearly half a year pregnant, already plump and lazy, changed into a new wide robe, and walked much less daily.

Wu'er served Jia Cong to wash up, then returned to the West Prefecture to manage household affairs, and brought Jia Cong's message to Wang Xifeng. Wang Xifeng heard it and felt sad in her heart, but fortunately, although Jia Lian was far away in Liaodong, he was stable and reliable, and didn't have to suffer any hardship, which was a great fortune.

When Wu'er went out to work, only Wang Xifeng and Ping'er were left in the room.

Wang Xifeng sighed, "Fortunately, our Second Master has a brother like Third Brother. Even if he arrived in a cold place like Liaodong, he doesn't have to suffer, which can be considered winning in defeat.

Last year, the Eldest Master and Second Master caused a huge accident. It was not easy to have Third Brother to suppress the inside and outside of the house. Originally, I hoped to live a peaceful life in the future.

But that birthday banquet of the Mistress in the East Courtyard that day made people feel panicked. I am only afraid that bad things will happen again in the future..."

Ping'er heard this and was shocked, asking, "What bad things did the Mistress see again?"

Wang Xifeng said, "The Mistress is now so close to Mother Xia, and everyone in the family has seen it. I only thought these two were compatible before.

That day at the banquet, I heard that the Xia family's clansmen served in the palace, and it seemed they had some background, and were so familiar with the eldest sister's situation in the palace.

And the proud look on the Mistress's face at that time—I know my aunt's temperament best. This matter cannot be hidden from me.

If I am not wrong, the Mistress must be using the Xia family's connections in the palace to manage the selection for the eldest sister!"

Ping'er said, "Regarding the eldest young lady's affairs, didn't Third Brother say that the Jia family is stable now and it is not suitable to handle this matter again? Otherwise, it would be risky for the family.

Why is the Mistress doing this privately? Isn't this going to harm the family?"

Wang Xifeng sneered, "The Mistress has moved to the East Courtyard now, and she was restless that day. How could she give up? If she were the kind of person who thought about things carefully, she wouldn't have reached this point today.

Although I won't guess wrong about this matter, the Mistress is acting secretly, and there is no evidence to catch her. No one can stop her.

Third Brother is a man after all. He hasn't seen the viciousness of women, and I guess he doesn't know how to speak.

You have to think, what if the Mistress really succeeds in this matter and the eldest sister really has a future? Our First Branch will have many troubles.

Taking a step back, the Mistress might not succeed, but palace affairs are not things that can be stirred up casually. If it doesn't succeed and brings disaster, even the West Prefecture will be implicated."

Ping'er asked worriedly, "Should we tell Third Brother about this? Does the Mistress have any good methods?"

Wang Xifeng said, "If the Mistress doesn't say it herself and Mother Xia doesn't reveal it, it can't be poked through at all. Telling Third Brother won't be of much use.

Actually, the second branch has become a side branch now. According to common sense, if they cause trouble, it won't be related to the main Rongguo Prefecture.

But Old Lady is biased, disrupting the rules of the clan. Now she still keeps Baoyu in the West Prefecture. If the Mistress really causes trouble in the future, it will be difficult to clear up the entanglement between these two branches."

Ping'er said, "Old Lady has doted on Bao Second Master for a lifetime. I see that she won't easily let Bao Second Master move out. The old lady only has this bit of thought left."

Wang Xifeng sneered, "That is not necessarily true. Baoyu is fifteen years old now, and he is not like Third Brother, who needs to observe mourning for three years.

As long as Baoyu gets married and takes a wife, even if Old Lady dotes on him, staying for a short time might be okay, but there is no reason to stay in the West Prefecture for a long time.