Chapter 133 Release of List
In ancient times, when a princess got married, it was called "marrying a princess". After getting married, the princess did not live in her husband's home, but in the princess's mansion.
The prince consort is more like a son-in-law who lives with the wife's family, and the kind that cannot inherit the family business.
In the Song Dynasty, the son-in-law of the emperor's wife could not hold an actual position. Princess Funing's son-in-law, Li Jie, now holds a nominal position as the governor of the Pinghai Army.
If this happened in the Tang Dynasty, the Jiedushi would have great power and control the military and political power of a place, almost like a local emperor.
By the Song Dynasty, the Jiedushi had become a nominal position with no real power. Generally, members of the royal family and relatives by marriage would be given the title of Jiedushi or something like that.
Li Jie is an extremely talented person with extremely high attainments in calligraphy and painting. Now he is only in his thirties, and his calligraphy and painting are very popular among scholars.
This caused Li Jie to have a high opinion of himself, but because of his status as a son-in-law, he could not truly serve as an official, and he disliked Princess Funing as his wife.
Although Princess Funing was of noble status, Li Jie was both the official's cousin and the official's son-in-law.
In addition, after his uncle passed away, even though the government knew that Li Jie was not good to Fu Ning and that the couple were not getting along, they only scolded Li Jie a few times and did not punish him.
This made Li Jie even more unscrupulous.
At this time, Li Jie was hugging girls on both sides and flirting with two maids. When he heard that Princess Funing had returned, he straightened his clothes and went to Princess Funing's yard.
According to the rules, the prince consort should also bow when meeting the princess, but Li Jie did not do so. He came to the room and sat down next to Princess Funing and asked, "Did His Royal Highness the Crown Prince agree?"
Princess Funing asked about the fragrance, frowned slightly, disgust flashed in her eyes, and said, "I have already asked, but His Highness did not agree."
"How could it be?" Li Jie said in disbelief, "You are His Highness's eldest sister. Could it be that His Highness would not agree to such a small matter? Didn't you tell His Highness?"
"If you don't believe it, just go to the East Palace and ask it yourself." Princess Funing said calmly.
"you…"
Upon hearing this, Li Jie glared at Princess Funing with some anger.
Princess Funing was not afraid of this at all. Li Jie dared to ignore her, but he did not have the courage to touch her.
"Hmph!" Li Jie snorted coldly and walked away.
"Princess, why don't you tell His Royal Highness the Crown Prince about your husband's attitude towards you? I have lived in the deep palace for a long time and don't understand some things. In addition, the Li family is the maiden family of your biological mother, so you have some concerns. But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince may not care about these." The old nanny said somewhat irrelevantly.
"Forget it. Not everything can go as planned. My background is already better than most women in the world. How can I expect more? I won't cause any trouble to my royal brother." Princess Funing waved her hand.
……
On the ninth day of April, at daybreak, the Dragon and Tiger Wall outside the Imperial Examination Hall was surrounded by crowds of people.
The joint examination is not the palace examination. If a candidate is on the gold list after the palace examination, his/her name will be called out at the Donghua Gate, and then a yamen runner will go to announce the good news according to the address left by the candidate.
When the examination results are posted, you need to run over to see them yourself, or you can send a servant to come.
However, most students want to know whether they have passed the exam or not as soon as possible and cannot wait, so they come to check the list in person.
In addition to some relatives and people who came to join in the fun, there were also some wealthy businessmen with their servants and followers who were eyeing the list covetously, ready to snatch a son-in-law from the list at any time. Every time the results of the imperial examination were announced, it was extremely lively.
It is a tradition to find a son-in-law from the bottom of the list. For those wealthy businessmen, since their sons cannot pass the exam, they will find a son-in-law who has passed the exam.
They don't choose a son-in-law just because he passes the exam, but choose one based on his clothing ranking.
Those who are ranked too high will never get a chance, and the officials in Bianliang will not let them go.
As for those who dress well, they all come from powerful families, and no matter what their status is, it is impossible for them to marry the daughter of a wealthy businessman.
Catching a son-in-law does not mean forcing a marriage, the other person must be willing.
Every time the results were announced, there were many yamen runners patrolling nearby. If they saw someone trying to capture a son-in-law, they would not stop them but would just follow behind.
The purpose is to ensure the safety of students who pass the exam.
Those wealthy businessmen would capture people and if the other party was unwilling, they could only pay a little money to send them back.
Therefore, the targets of those wealthy businessmen are those students who are poorly dressed and ranked in the middle or lower levels.
Those students came from humble backgrounds, and even if they entered officialdom, they had no connections and no money to bribe officials.
The wealthy businessman had money, so the two parties hit it off immediately.
A horse-drawn carriage stopped by the roadside some distance away from the Imperial Examination Hall.
Rulan got out of the carriage and stood at the door, looking out. "How can we squeeze in with so many people?"
Sheng Changbai, who was riding in another carriage, got off and walked over. Seeing this, he said, "Get off quickly. This is such a shame."
Rulan stuck out her tongue but didn't dare to refute. She got off the carriage obediently. Minglan followed her.
"Second brother, there are so many people here, how long will it take to get there?" Rulan said.
"I told you not to come, but you insisted on coming. Wait a minute." Sheng Changbai shook his head.
Given his personality, he didn't want to come and check it out himself.
Originally, she wanted to ask the servant to come and take a look, but Rulan insisted on coming to see the list. Madam Wang became a little anxious and urged him to come and take a look.
Minglan was dragged here by Rulan.
The roads near the Imperial Examination Hall were well connected, and since their parking place was some distance away, it was not crowded. The three siblings stood beside the carriage and talked.
"Zhecheng!"
Just then, a carriage drove over under the protection of a group of guards.
The car curtain opened, Qi Heng stuck his head out and shouted to Sheng Changbai.
Soon, the carriage stopped on the opposite side of the road. Qi Heng got off the carriage and walked over with Buwei.
"Yuan Ruo, you came here in person too?" Sheng Changbai asked in surprise.
"My parents insisted on coming to see it." Qi Heng explained with a smile, and bowed to Rulan and Minglan, saying, "Greetings, ladies!"
Rulan and Minglan bowed and returned the greeting.
Sheng Changbai asked Rulan and Minglan to wait in the car, and started chatting with Qi Heng on the side of the road.
On the carriage opposite, Princess Pingning lowered the curtain and said, "I heard from Heng'er that the eldest son of the Sheng family is more knowledgeable than him, and the fifth daughter of the Sheng family has been appointed as the prince's concubine. The Sheng family is so lucky."
"Haha, our Heng'er is not bad either. I asked someone to read his essay, and he got a very high evaluation. He should be able to pass the exam this time. If Heng'er passes the exam, he will be the first son of a lord to pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi since the founding of the country." Duke Qi said with a smile.
Princess Pingning also smiled when talking about her son.
The Song Dynasty had been established for a hundred years, but not a single son of a new noble had ever passed the imperial examination and become a Jinshi.
"If Heng'er passes the exam this time, his marriage should be arranged." Princess Pingning said.
"Which girl did your Madam take a fancy to?" asked the Duke of Qi.
Although he is a duke, the current status of the Duke of Qi's Mansion is actually due to Princess Pingning.
Princess Pingning has a strong personality and is the one who makes the decisions on all matters big and small in the family.
When Duke Qi heard Princess Pingning say this, he knew which girl she had fallen in love with.
"I have set my eyes on the daughter of Prime Minister Shen. We are a noble family and have no connections among the civil servants. If Heng'er can marry Prime Minister Shen's daughter, his future will be much smoother." Princess Pingning said.
Although Qi Heng was the prince's companion and had a good relationship with him.
But the prince has not yet ascended the throne, and having a good Yue family to help him will be of great benefit to Qi Heng's future.
"Although Lord Shen is relatively low-key among the other Lords, the Shen family has been a distinguished family for generations and has produced two Lords. There is naturally no problem in marrying his legitimate daughter to our Heng'er. I just don't know if the Shen family will agree." Duke Qi said.
The lords may seem noble, but those ministers and the six ministers are actually not very keen on marrying with the nobles.
"It's hard to say if Heng'er didn't pass the exam. If he did, Mr. Shen wouldn't refuse. I'll go to his house in person to test the waters then." Princess Pingning said.
Qi Heng didn't know that his parents were discussing his marriage. He chatted with Sheng Changbai for a while. Seeing that the crowd outside the Dragon and Tiger Wall had decreased a lot, the two of them led their entourage to the Dragon and Tiger Wall.
With their followers clearing the way, the two of them quickly squeezed in front of the Dragon and Tiger Wall.
Although there are not many first-class surrenders, their names on the list are very large and conspicuous.
Qi Heng saw Sheng Changbai's name at a glance and said excitedly: "Zecheng, you are ranked ninth in the first class!"
(End of this chapter)