Chapter 228 - The Unexpected Champion of the Imperial Exam

“Since he is on the list, why didn’t you ask him in advance?” With her face turning ghastly pale, Song Yixiao stared at Qiaoqin who was in charge of this matter, “Now Cuipiao finally makes her decision but the man she chooses doesn’t agree. How should I reply to Cuipiao now? If it is disclosed to Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, she will think that I must be narrow-minded and deliberately fool the maid that she granted to Xubai!”

Qiaoqin also realized that this matter could be really troublesome. With a pale face, she replied, “Your Highness, when I asked around in the front yard, Captain Yu told me explicitly that he wanted to find a wife among the maids in the backyard! I don’t know why he changes his mind!”

Yu Shiheng was brought back from Wuhuan by Jian Xubai. Although the misunderstanding between Song Yixiao and her husband was cleared, she didn’t want to make him lose face just because of their affection.

Therefore, she held back her anger. After Jian Xubai came back at dusk, she finally told him about it honestly, “I’ve thought about it. Maybe I was too unthoughtful. These people don’t come into the inner residence but they still work in the same mansion. Perhaps they also have heard about what Cuipiao did before? After all, Cuipiao is a bit old, but Yu Shiheng is in his 20s, who is even older than her. In terms of appearance and capability, Cuipiao is not bad. Why did Yu Shiheng reject her?”

Although Cuipiao was made to get married, there was clearly nothing going on between her and Jian Xubai. At most only she held such a motive. However, as to this kind of matter, some would mind while some wouldn’t. As a saying went, nothing forcibly done was going to be agreeable. Song Yixiao wanted to let Cuipiao get married as soon as possible in order to save her some trouble, but she didn’t want to see Cuipiao suffer either. Under this circumstance, of course she didn’t agree to force Yu Shiheng to marry Cuipiao.

Jian Xubai heard her out and pondered for a moment. Then he said, “Tell Cuipiao about it honestly. Yu Shiheng may not be the best one among the candidates for her.”

Despite that, Cuipiao had been really grieved to give up being a concubine of Jian Xubai and then marry someone else instead. Now even Yu Shiheng didn’t want her. Her feelings were imaginable!

Song Yixiao also felt pitiful about her appearance of suppressing the tears. Having persuaded her for a while, Song Yixiao also implied that she would give Cuipiao a huge dowry before asking her who else she would like to choose. Cuipiao finally couldn’t help shedding tears and sobbing, “I’m old and silly. I am already very lucky to have someone marry me. How can I be particular? It is a waste of your kindness.”

“It’s my fault,” Song Yixiao said with guilt, “But it is about the rest of your life. You can’t pick one randomly just out of sorrow. Now the candidates on the list have been double confirmed. There won’t be another one of the same case as Yu Shiheng. Would you like to take a look at it again?”

However, even though she persuaded her nicely for a while, Cuipiao still appeared rather downhearted and said, “It’s up to you, Your Highness!”

Eventually, after discussing with Jian Xubai for a whole night, Song Yixiao had no other choice but to decide to let her marry a manager of a manor out of the imperial capital. The manor manager was called Fan Zhong, who was around Yu Shiheng’s age. His marriage was delayed because he had to observe mourning for his seniors several times. In terms of appearance, he was not as masculine as Yu Shiheng but he was handsome too. Moreover, he was a man of a good temper, who had a little knowledge of literature. The point was that after he were arranged to meet Cuipiao once, he was satisfied with her.

When this man was recommended to her, it seemed that Cuipiao hadn’t recovered from the sadness of being rejected by Yu Shiheng. She only nodded her head slightly, “Thank you, Your Highness!”

Because she was regarded as a spinster at her age and Fan Zhong also wanted to marry soon, their wedding date was finalized on the ninth day of the fourth lunar month after they came to a consensus. Song Yixiao wanted to compensate for her so she specially picked a set of jewelry from her own dowry and sent it to her as part of Cuipiao’s dowry.

Jinxun, Qiaoqin and the others also took out some good stuff from their past rewards and sent it to her. The other servants all followed their examples. For the moment, the backyard of Duke of Yan’s mansion became lively.

The kindness from the hostess and the other servants finally pleased Cuipiao. She also went to apologize to Song Yixiao and repent her momentary pique.

Of course Song Yixiao wouldn’t be mad at her. She comforted Cuipiao gently for a while. And the grudge between them was kind of removed.

It was time for the palace exam then. The palace exam was still presided over by Emperor Xianjia. However, he didn’t make it to the end of the exam and got persuaded to return to his bedroom by his eunuchs and the officials because his face turned astonishingly pale.

After receiving the news, Jian Xubai and Xu Xishi went into the imperial palace to visit the emperor. Yet, they came back with a sullen face, “I’m afraid that Uncle has to spend the rest of this year on recuperation.”

“What about Her Highness Princess Yushan?” Song Yixiao asked subconsciously.

The first time Emperor Xianjia passed out this year, his condition was not that serious. Although the imperial doctor also advised him to rest quietly, he didn’t need to rest for as long as one year. His condition worsened, which was obviously caused by being irritated by Princess Yushan while he was sick.

Back then, the Empress Dowager had Princess Yushan grounded as the punishment, which put an end to the matter that the princess demanded to marry Su Shaoge.

However, given Emperor Xianjia’s current situation, it remained unknown whether Princess Yushan would be held accountable.

Princess Yushan irritated her father for two reasons. Firstly, she was too captivated by Su Shaoge; secondly, Yuan Xuepei’s idea of adding fuel to the flame was an important reason. One thing led to another. Perhaps, some would suspect that the Crown Prince had the intent of killing his father.

“In the imperial palace, Aunt Daiguo talked of it and then she was stopped by Grandmother.” Jian Xubai reached out his hand to loosen his collar and fetched the tea from his wife. After taking a sip of it, he said, “But the Virtuous Consort still apologized on behalf of Yushan but she kept saying that Yushan was not a girl with no sense of propriety though she was arrogant, who wouldn’t make Uncle so mad unless she was cheated. The Noble Consort was not there and the Virtuous Consort didn’t point it out clearly. The Crown Princess didn’t say anything due to her inferior identity.”

Song Yixiao thought, “This time even Virtuous Consort Jiang hates the Crown Prince and Noble Consort Cui is still being grounded. The Eastern Palace is at a disadvantage too. Things will be really thorny.”

However, maybe after a storm came a calm. The next day, a piece of good news came from the Crown Prince that Princess Consort of Liang was pregnant!

This was not the point. The point was that Princess Consort of Liang, Sikong Yihan was a concubine’s daughter of the Sikong Family. When Prince of Yi passed away, she attempted to frame the Crown Prince in order to seek revenge on the Crown Princess. As a result, the Sikong Family made it clear that they would give her up. Afterwards, Song Yixiao persuaded her husband to intercede for her in consideration of her sister, Sikong Yiluo so she finally survived.

Therefore, it was reasonable that when she was pregnant, she requested that her mother-in-law, Noble Consort Cui could be released to look after her instead of wishing her maiden family to visit her, though she might be suspected of being ungrateful for her maiden family.

After all, the Empress Dowager approved her request. Yet, Empress Su said, “According to the imperial doctor, His Majesty should rest quietly throughout the following year. If he gets mad because the Noble Consort is released, I’m afraid that this will be detrimental to His Majesty’s health,” As to her objection, the Empress Dowager replied without hesitation, “All of you just watch your mouth and not mention those messy things. In this case, why will the emperor think of those annoying people and matters?”

Hence, Noble Consort Cui, who was grounded since the Lantern Festival, finally could go out of doors!

The first thing she thought of was to show concern for her daughter-in-law of the younger son. The second thing was to send a gift to Song Yixiao secretly in reward for her kindness of saving Princess Consort of Liang. Song Yixiao not only kept the eldest legitimate son of Prince of Liang but also provided a fabulous reason to release the Noble Consort.

Song Yixiao knew that Noble Consort Cui was taking the opportunity to restore the trust gap caused by Cui Jianlian’s matter apart from expressing her gratitude.

Therefore, Song Yixiao accepted the gift after saying a few humble words.

The next day when Noble Consort Cui was released was the date when the golden list of the palace exam came out.

Unexpectedly, the champion was not Su Shaoge, the one who got the first place in the metropolitan exam, but a scholar from Jiangnan called Helou Duhan, whose style name was Junfeng. This scholar finished fifth in the metropolitan exam, who was three places away from the one who got the first place, Su Shaoge.

“Those who are the dealers of the gambling games on the golden list must lose miserably!” When the golden list came out, all the families sent their servants to take a look at it just in order not to make themselves appear ignorant whether there were participants of the exam in their families. Moreover, Song Yixiao still cared about the ranking of the fiancé of her cousin, Cheng Chongjun, so she had ordered a servant to wait for the golden list to come out.

The servant sent to check the golden list came back, who didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, saying, “This year, almost everyone bet the Second Childe of the Su Family would be the champion. Especially after the apricot list came out, he got the first place at that time. It was generally believed that he must be the champion but it turned out that he only got the third place!”

“Easy said. Is it so easy to get the third place in the palace exam?” Song Yixiao knew that Su Shaoge only got the third place not because he was less talented than the second place. Just as she told Wei Yinlian, among the currently young and handsome scholars who made it to the top three of the palace exam, if one failed to get the first place, he must acquire the third place, which was only to meet the common sense of the third-place winner’s graceful and yet not showy bearing.

Now as the servant seemed to belittle the third-place winner, she couldn’t help laughing, “The exam is held every three years, which puts the talents in the world on one list. Those who can make it to the top three are the best of the best. Judging from your tone, only the champion is worth mentioning?”

The servant knew that she was not a harsh person. Faced with her question, he was not afraid. Instead, he bowed to her with a grin and said with flattery, “For others, getting the third place is good enough, but it is nothing for Your Highness! Your father was a champion of the palace exam back then and His Highness is also a great talent. Your sons will be the champions in the future too!”

“You’ve talked too much. You were sent to learn about the ranking of Mr. Cheng. Did you see it or not?” Qiaoqin heard him mention Song Yixiao’s father and instantly worried that Song Yixiao would be annoyed, so she hastened to urge him snappishly, “Answer now. Hurry!”

The servant didn’t know that Song Yixiao was respectful to Song Yuan but the relationship between her and her father was actually very cold and unfamiliar. Yet, upon seeing Qiaoqin’s stern face, he didn’t dare to flatter anymore and hurriedly said, “Mr. Cheng got the 87th place of the second class this time, which is enough for him to bring glory to his ancestors!”

Instantly, he recalled that he just belittled Su Shaoge’s getting the third place. Now Cheng Chongjun only reached the second class and he was even ranked as the 87th. Yet, he said that Cheng Chongjun’s score was good enough to bring glory to the ancestors. It sounded kind of like a satire so he couldn’t help feeling embarrassed.

Song Yixiao didn’t mind such a trivial thing. She thought, “The ranking must have been arranged. After all, this man even failed the metropolitan exam. Now that he not only enters the second class but also acquires a medium ranking. It seems that Jian Xubai must have spent a lot of effort in speaking for him in front to His Majesty.”

She knew that her cousin Wei Chan was not the best in terms of appearance or family background. Even if she didn’t lose virginity, she was a girl of medium level.

Therefore, she didn’t feel that her cousin’s fiancé was disappointing. Then she ordered the servant to prepare for a gift and send it to the Wei Family, “Tell my grandmother that as to Mr. Cheng’s job placement, I will ask Xubai to help take care of it.”

Qiaoqin took the order and then said with a smile, “You have agreed to help observe the man for Miss Wei when the apricot list came out. However, it has been postponed until now and you haven’t seen her fiancé’s appearance yet. Since I will send a gift to the Wei Family, if the Elder Lady asks about that, when do you think is convenient to you?”

“Even if I have time in the following days, Mr. Cheng may not be free,” Song Yixiao said with a faint smile, “Putting aside the Qionglin feast, even the gatherings of classmates, peers enrolled on the list and fellow provincials won’t be finished until half a month later. I’ll think about it later.”

She was talking with Qiaoqin when a servant came inside to report, “A rumor just came that Lord Gu will move to Chunnong Venue soon.”

Chunnong Venue was the ancestral residence of the Gu Family in the imperial capital.

“Jian Xubai just told me that it was strange that Lord Gu sojourned in the Song Family’s mansion two days ago, and now he is moving back to his own residence?” Song Yixiao felt quite surprised, “Does he stay in the Song Family’s mansion temporarily only because Chunnong Venue is not ready for the moment?”

However, Gu Shao’s nephew was in the imperial capital. Even if his nephew’s residence was not large enough, Gu Shao didn’t bring his family here. Just as Jian Xubai suspected, why did he have to sojourn in the Song Family’s mansion?