late at night.

A firewood ox cart "crunched" and chased Houxue, entering the Pingwang Mansion in Wanghou Lane from the back door. Old Man Zhang tied the reins and stopped quietly in the firewood room.

Two figures, one big and one small, slipped out of the ox cart and entered Yuyuan with their hands and feet twisted.

Yuyuan is the residence of Princess Li Yu. As the daughter of Prince Ping and the princess canonized by the court, she has an independent and luxurious courtyard in Prince Ping’s Mansion.

Yuyuan covers an area of ​​four or five acres, and the innermost is a main house, with a row of study rooms, a wing room, a rockery and pond in the center of the courtyard, a waterside pavilion, and a typical residence of the kings and princes in the south of the Yangtze River.

The Qiao family, who failed this time, sneaked out.

Of course, you must be silent when you come back.

Can't make a big fuss.

Chu Tianxiu found that the lamps in the main house were always on in the dark night, and she felt a little relieved.

Not sure if Li Yu found out that he ran away from Qiao's family?

The more weak he became, the more he came to the window of the main house, and looked around with his feet, trying to see if Li Yu had fallen asleep.

Li Yu was watching "Six Strategies" at the desk in front of the window, and happened to look up at her. Her clear and lively phoenix eyes met Chu Tianxiu's dull eyes.

She was a little surprised, "Husband, why...uh, are you back from the garden?"

"Ah! The night is charming, and the plum blossoms in the snow make people linger."

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Chu Tianxiu's face, pretending that nothing had happened, carrying his hands on his back, and said, "I suddenly had an idea that I had an important thing to write, so I slept in the study at night!"

Of course, even if he doesn't write anything, he can't sleep in the main house.

His son-in-law was knocked unconscious by Lao Hunhou last night and came to his door. He only stayed in the Prince Ping's Mansion for one day, and had not yet "selected an auspicious day and gave a great gift" with Princess Li Yu, so naturally he could not overcome it.

As for Zuer, she was an accomplice who helped her son-in-law Qiao's family escape, and she was so nervous that she didn't dare to show it in front of the princess. As soon as she came back, she went straight to the study with guilt.

...

Back to study.

Joey had already raised the charcoal stove to keep warm, and the room quickly became warm.

Chu Tianxiu took Zuer to get a roll of bamboo slips, grind the ink, and prepared to write a self-recommendation letter overnight.

He had given up on the idea of ​​entering the palace to persuade the emperor to change his son-in-law's imperial edict.

The Confucian scholars at Hongmen Inn poured him a basin of cold water. These scholars and ordinary people all felt that he was too stupid and deserved to be demoted to a son-in-law by the emperor.

He shouted loudly and opposed it alone, but the emperor didn't listen.

Instead of working in vain, it is better to think of other ways out.

This way out is the "Senior Era" - to participate in the court investigation and assessment personally presided over by the emperor, and become an official.

He is not afraid of assessments or something.

If you look through the history books of the Great Chu, you will find that the court's annual assessment is surprisingly pragmatic.

There is no need to recite a lot of Confucian books and five classics in later generations, and specialize in studying every red tape between the lines.

Just a "question and answer".

Simply put, it is the emperor who asked a question.

For example, "I am short of money, how can I get some money back?"

"The barbarians in the southern border rebelled and bandits appeared in Sichuan. How could they kill them?"

"I am the emperor. Fire fell from the sky. Is God angry with me?"

The emperor only knows the specific test questions and will not be leaked in advance.

Then, a bunch of candidates who are qualified to participate in the New Year's Eve will answer the emperor's test questions.

The emperor was satisfied with it, "Oh, you guy is pretty good, you're so smart!"

I will pass the assessment as soon as I make a decision and I will give you a small county magistrate Dangdang.

If a small official does a good job, the officials praise him and then become an official.

He was promoted to the three major ministers who were in power all the way - the prime minister in charge of government affairs, the Grand Marshal in charge of war, and the Imperial Officer in charge of supervising all officials.

Those who are ranked among the three Dukes of the Great Chu can be granted the title of marquis.

Being a marquis is also the ultimate dream that countless officials have been unable to realize in their lives.

As for the candidates who were not satisfied with the emperor, they were directly rejected and asked them to go home.

The assessment process is a bit less rigorous and complicated.

But before the imperial examination system in the Tang and Song dynasties became popular, this was how the court chose officials.

Chu Tianxiu didn't think that there was anything in this era that could be asked about himself.

If you don’t have money, make money, and if you rebel, do it!

There are many ideas.

Emperor Xiang Yanran is wise and wise, and will definitely find that hidden under the bad reputation of Xiaohunhou is an extremely dazzling night pearl in the dark night.

Of course, the premise of all this is to let the emperor change his bad impression of him and accept his self-recommendation letter.

This is extremely difficult!

The emperor had long seen that he was unhappy with the Marquis' family and thought that he was a useless person. He ignored the world's arguments and used his dignified marquis and princess to be a son-in-law, and passed on the family line for the Pingwang Mansion.

Even those sour scholars could see the emperor's likes and dislikes.

He Chu Tianxiu naturally knew this and this.

He wrote a self-recommendation book.

I was afraid that the emperor was too lazy to take a look, so I threw it aside and rejected it. Maybe he might not even let him enter the palace gate, let alone participate in the annual examination.

"The emperor must be asked to pick up my self-recommendation book and take a look! With just one glance, I will make him look at him with admiration from now on!"

Chu Tianxiu thought about how to write the "Self-Recommendation Letter" submitted to the court.

"Well, just write down all the shining points on my body. There will always be something that the emperor likes. Maybe he will be happy and give me a high-ranking official!"

Chu Tianxiu thought of a legendary figure and couldn't help but smile.

He immediately wrote quickly on the bamboo slips.

Fortunately, although he, the little husband, had a lot of amnesia, he still remembers how to write the pre-Qin seal script fonts of this era.

"I have fair skin, straight nose, eyes like beads, red lips and white teeth... I have the most beautiful face!"

"I am so majestic, with starry eyes... I have the spirit of heroism and courage."

"I, I wrote a hundred poems at the age of four... I was familiar with military strategies and strategies at the age of ten... Now I am twenty, I have read thousands of books. I am the most knowledgeable person in the world. I only regret my talent and have no appreciation for my talent!"

"My minister is as brave as Jing Ke, as honest as Bao Shu, and as loyal as Taisheng. If I am not a pillar of the court, who can bear the heavy responsibility?"

Chu Tianxiu's writing becomes easier the more you write.

I used a whole volume to write about my face.

Let’s have another volume to praise your spirit.

Praise yourself.

It feels so cool!

Zueryu hugged her face and lay beside her, curiously looking at what the son-in-law wrote on the bamboo slips.

Her innocent eyes widened, gradually sucked in the air, and her little jade hands covered her face and couldn't bear to look at her.

Son-in-law!

Do you want shame?

You have red lips and white teeth, gentle and delicate, but is this related to being an official?

People in Jinling City say that you are the thickest among the four major playboys in Jinling. Judging from their thick-skinnedness, the son-in-law has a great hope of becoming a high-ranking official!

...

late at night.

Di'er followed the ox cart back home and reported to Li Yu about Xiao Hunhou's every move outside - from escaping from Qiao's family to Hunhou's mansion, to scolding the emperor's uncle Shen Dafu, and finally quarreling with a group of corrupt scholars at Hongmen Inn.

"Princess, you really know your son-in-law very much.

He was outside and didn't hold on for two or three days... In just two hours, he ran back in shame, and walked around the royal palace garden like a person who pretended to be fine, and then got into the study."

Di'er said, unable to help laughing and giggling.

"His delicate body...it's good enough to endure the cold wind in the middle of the night outside."

Li Yu chuckled and flipped through the "Six Strategies", but his mind was not on the book.

However, Di'er was a little worried, "Princess, you said that the son-in-law scolded Mr. Chen so cruelly. If the Shen family went to find the emperor, Empress Dowager Chen would complain... Will the son-in-law be in trouble?"

"Don't worry, when the old and old, Hunhou Mansion still owed 10,000 taels of silver to Empress Dowager Shen, and he didn't see the queen mother urging Hunhou Mansion to pay back the money.
To be continued...