Two days before the first provincial examination, everything was calm.
The sun is scorching in the sky every day, and there is no sign of rain. The confined space intensifies the sweltering feeling. Fortunately, we are along the river, and it is already mid-August. Once the sun sets, the temperature immediately drops.
The examination room was quite comfortable.
If it were placed in Fujian or Guangdong, it would probably be like a steamer in the morning and evening, and the whole body would be soaked.
On the third day of the exam, the candidates became obviously nervous.
The patrol officer enters the examination room early in the morning and accepts candidates' submissions at any time.
Zhu Hao finished transcribing the papers the afternoon before, and checked them over again this morning when he got up.
Seeing someone entering the venue to collect the paper, Zhu Hao checked it again and felt that everything was safe, so he immediately applied for handing in the paper.
When he walked out of the examination room, Zhu Hao suddenly discovered that he was the first to hand in the paper... His biggest thought at the moment was to leave this hellish place quickly, even though he knew he would come back this afternoon.
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…
Zhu Hao came to the entrance of the examination room and waited for his appointment.
After a while, Sun Ru appeared from outside another examination booth, followed by an examinee. Judging from the way they were whispering to each other, they must be acquaintances.
The examinee had a playful smile with a teasing expression on his face. He kept talking as if he was teasing Sun Ru, but he did not dare to make a loud noise because he had not left the examination room.
When Sun Ru saw Zhu Hao, her eyes widened with admiration in shock. She seemed impatient and wanted to tell her husband... Sir, you bet on a total of twelve questions, and you hit two, and you also wrote a sample essay.
I memorize it and it is simply the guiding light in my life.
But this was an examination room, and Sun Ru didn't dare to speak, and kept his mouth tightly shut, as if he was enduring a lot of hardship. At this time, the examinee beside him kept talking.
When the Gongyuan gate opened, Zhu Hao and Sun Ru were the first to walk out of the examination room.
"Young Master Zhu, you really have a great apprentice... He just told me that he performed very well in this provincial examination and will definitely pass the high school. So I am here to wish you both master and apprentice the best."
I will pass the Jinshi next year...hahaha..."
When it came to the latter part, the examinee was amused by his own humor, but Sun Ru didn't notice it at all and was grinning happily.
Zhu Hao thought to himself, no wonder you kid is always used as a joke. You don't react at all when others laugh at you. This mentality... is quite good, at least you won't offend others.
Finally said goodbye to that person.
When they reached the corner of the street and there was no one around, Sun Rucai said with surprise on her face: "Teacher, you are truly a god. This competition..."
"Didn't you just hit two questions? What's so surprising?"
Zhu Hao didn't want to get too entangled with Sun Ru, "I said, Sun Ru, you have to remember that besides you and I, don't tell any third person about this matter, otherwise others will think that I got the test questions from somewhere."
"Yes Yes."
Sun Ru is no longer stupid now.
Zhu Hao finally figured it out. This Sun Ru was very face-conscious and liked to put on a show in front of others. Anyone who said a few nice words to him would be treated as a confidant. He didn't know that other people's "nice words" had thorns in them and were obviously used against him.
As a joke.
However, in terms of understanding right from wrong, at least in the past few years, Sun Ru has made great progress under Zhu Hao's cultivation.
As his eldest disciple...Zhu Hao didn't know how to evaluate him.
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Back at his residence, Zhu Hao wanted to have a good sleep and recharge his batteries.
But Lu Song came over and talked about the results of the communication with Huguang Dusi.
"...Now that the war is over, what is the practical significance of communication? Lu Dianzhan's current focus should be on protecting the lady."
Zhu Hao reminded Lu Song.
Don't come to see me whenever you have time. Protecting Lou Suzhen's safety is more important than anything else.
Lu Song said: "We have asked Master Yu to send people to keep an eye on her and guard her tightly. We also hired a maid who didn't know the reason to keep an eye on her to prevent her from getting distracted."
This shows that Lu Song still has a brain.
He knew that the two biggest problems in protecting Lou Suzhen were to prevent Lou Suzhen from running away, and to prevent her from committing suicide. There were not many external interference factors. After all, this was not Jiangxi, and Wuchang Prefecture had not launched a search for rebellious parties on the ground.
After Wang Shouren put down the Chenhao Rebellion, he implemented the strategy of calming and appeasing the people. Moreover, according to official rhetoric, Lou Suzhen had jumped into the lake and died. Even if there was a massive search in Huguang, it was impossible to search for the female family members of Prince Ning.
Zhu Hao nodded.
Now Yu Sandao has become the main force under his command. This is something he can only believe. When he came here, he thought everything depended on Lu Song. However, it turned out that Lu Song only played the role of liaison.
Jin Yiwei's name is deceiving, but the actual person doing the work is Yu San.
Zhu Hao felt that it was time to give Yu San some processing money when he returned.
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The second exam is coming soon.
After Lu Song left, Zhu Hao had no time to rest and had to prepare what he needed for the second exam, especially the food he would eat in the next three days.
Preparations were being made here. Su Xigui came to visit in a hurry. As soon as they met, he looked at Zhu Hao with sympathetic eyes: "The young master has gone through a hardship, are you okay?"
Zhu Hao asked curiously: "What is the tribulation? Has Dongzhu Su not left?"
Su Xigui originally said that he would leave Wuchang within half a month, but now he has not left and is still thinking of visiting, which shows that Su Xigui is not in a hurry.
"Oh, they say that if you go to the Rural Examination Courtyard, your skin will peel off even if you die. Mr. Zhu has been pampered in recent years, and Su is afraid that you won't be able to adapt... Otherwise, I have prepared some dried abalone and dried abalone here.
Shen, you can take it and prepare it for the exam. How about eating it during the exam?"
Su Xigui then asked someone to deliver abalone and ginseng wing belly, which are rare treasures among the people.
When Zhu Hao heard this, he knew that this guy wanted to ask for something.
Zhu Hao said: "If the deficiency is not replenished, I am afraid that if I eat these things in the Gongyuan, I will immediately vomit and have diarrhea, and I will not even know the way out of the Gongyuan... It is best to eat food that the stomach and intestines are accustomed to during the exam, Su Dong
I understand the Lord’s good intentions, so if you have anything to say, just say it.”
"Hey, how else can I say that the young master is aware of everything? That's it... His Majesty's birthday is coming soon. The emperor's birthday... is the so-called Qianqiu Festival. You must be prepared. By the way, you can come up with something like a glass bead.
, I think there must be better tributes. Huang Gong’s official position will be adjusted at the end of the year, and at this time... he should express something."
Normally Huang Zan and Su Xigui don't care much about what gifts to give the emperor for his birthday.
But when it came to the transfer of official positions, Huang Zan knew very well that he could not open a breakthrough from the civilian officials, so he could only start from the emperor's side.
The civil servants did not recognize me and said that I made my fortune by currying favor with the emperor!
If you say I am, then what can you do to me?
Zhu Hao said: "I am still in the examination room and Gongyuan, so I have to prepare a gift for the Qianqiu Festival for Dongzhu Su..."
Su Xigui sighed: "I also know that this is a bit embarrassing for the young master, but it will not be in vain. If I can come up with suitable things, not to mention money, even more important things... such as fame, wealth, power, etc., can
Wherever I and Mr. Huang behind me serve, the young master just opens his mouth."
Su Xigui also knew that Zhu Hao was not short of money nowadays.
It's useless to seduce Zhu Hao with money. It's better to give him something more practical. Maybe if Zhu Hao succeeds in the examination, will he be an official in the future? Or does he need some superficial things? Wherever Zhu Hao will study in the future, he must have a name.
Head, right? Or if you go to the capital to take the imperial examination, do you want to visit a famous scholar who came from the Imperial Academy?
Zhu Hao smiled.
Su Xigui would always do what others wanted. He probably just talked nonsense to others. He knew that he might soon have the honor of being a civil servant, so he came here to fool around before he passed the exam. It probably meant, you see, you all
You are so confident that you will pass the exam. I will help you arrange your reputation outside the examination room in the future, help you publish a book and write a biography, so that you can have your own reputation in the literary world... I just want to ask you, do you like it?
"Let me take a look." Zhu Hao said.
Su Xigui had a look of helplessness on his face: "My young master, you also know that I am about to go north...I am afraid that I will not be able to make it in time for many things."
Zhu Hao said: "When I'm ready, how about asking someone to send it to you? By the way, Dongzhu Su, can you help make arrangements for His Majesty's recent southern tour?"
"Um?"
Su Xigui was stunned and didn't understand the trick.
Zhu Hao smiled and said: "That's right. You also know that I am from a theater troupe. I have a lot of good scripts here, as well as some scripts, narrative scripts and so on. Why don't I deal with it for you first?"
"well!"
What Su Xigui said was tantamount to revealing that he arranged for the emperor to have fun during his southern tour.
This is also a situation that Zhu Hao has long expected.
Zhu Hao had wanted to ask Su Xigui about this before, so he told Su Xigui incidentally while the other party came to him to ask for a gift.
Zhu Hao's purpose is naturally to have channels to get close to the emperor. It is not to let him go by himself, but to let many things develop according to the trajectory of history. If there is a certain deviation in the historical direction, Zhu Hao will find a way to correct it... No matter what the means are.
Everything, there must be someone by the emperor's side.
For example, we could look for delicious and fun things to hold the emperor for a few days, so that he could visit the lake more... and engage in some entertainment projects on the lake...
Since Su Xigui is good at this, he naturally wants to lead the matter to Su Xigui. Of course, the last step is for Zhu Houzhao to fall into the water. Zhu Hao does not expect anyone because it is not very maneuverable.
Zhu Hao just wanted Zhu Houzhao to have a certain thing happen at a specific time and not let time and space change too much. He did not want to be the last person to push Zhu Houzhao.
"I don't have it with me here. Let's do this. After the exam is over, I will seize the time to write out the play text and storybook, and give it to your person to have it delivered to you. Then you can find a theater troupe to rehearse the play." Zhu Hao said.
.
Su Xigui sighed: "It would be great if I could directly buy the little master's theater troupe."
He actually came up with the idea of his own theater troupe. Zhu Hao quickly shook his head: "If you want to learn opera, you can buy a bigger and better theater troupe and send it to Anlu. I will help you cultivate it. What do you think?"
"well!"
Su Xigui was very happy to hear this.
Although the technology for buying Zhu Hao's troupe was mature, it was just like the reason why Prince Ning wanted to buy Zhu Hao's troupe but would not give it to the emperor. The men and women in Zhu Hao's troupe were not handsome enough and were not sent to the emperor.
The performance in front of me is also flawed.
You can buy very good troupes and actors from the land south of the Yangtze River, and you can buy all kinds of beautiful and beautiful actors. You only need to let Zhu Hao teach you a thing or two, and the technical matters can be easily solved.
Just this matter...
It would cost a lot of face to let a scholar or a future scholar teach an actor step by step.
Su Xigui was also ready to give Zhu Haosai more benefits.