Chapter 1169: Jealousy makes people unrecognizable, and rebellion is necessary
"Congratulations to Master Jia Ying of Rongguo Mansion for winning first place in the provincial examination and becoming the champion of this provincial examination in Gyeonggi Province!"

On August 18th, just after the hour of Chen, people who came to announce the good news came one after another, beating gongs and drums, to the Rongguo Mansion to announce the good news.

The housekeeper of Rongguo Mansion was not tired of doing this. He rewarded silver or money to anyone who came to report the good news or to express congratulations!
So, people who came to announce the good news and congratulate started to disperse from the Chen hour until noon.

Inside the Rongguo Mansion.

Su Mingzhe, with the help of several maids, changed into new clothes and went out to accept everyone's congratulations.

As mentioned before, if one passed the county examination and became a scholar, one could wear a square scarf to distinguish oneself from commoners.

After passing the academy examination and becoming a scholar, one can not only wear a Confucian scarf (square scarf), but also wear a lanshan (commonly known as a blue long gown).

Now, Su Mingzhe has passed the provincial examination and become a juren, and his clothing has changed again.

The original cyan shirt now had a darker color and became a dark blue round-neck, long-sleeved shirt.

In addition to different clothing, there are also changes in titles.

Before, when Su Mingzhe passed the examination and became a scholar, several maids would call him "husband" when they were playing around.

Now that Su Mingzhe has passed the imperial examination, these maids will start calling him "Master" at night.

When Su Mingzhe arrived in the courtyard, all the maids and several servants bowed and saluted in the courtyard with a smile, congratulating him:

"Congratulations, Master, for passing the provincial examination!"

"Reward! Ten taels of silver per person!"

Su Mingzhe responded with a smile and walked towards the backyard where Lady Jia was.

The maids and servants of friends on the road congratulated him one after another.

Su Mingzhe directly shouted for reward.

Xiren gave each person a piece of loose silver.

This is called a happy ending.

When Su Mingzhe arrived at Lady Jia's place, the women from the Rong and Ning mansions had already arrived.

Youshi and Qin Keqing were considered guests, so they immediately stood up to congratulate Lady Jia, and then asked Su Mingzhe for the wedding money.

Aunt Xue and Mrs. Wang sat together, also with the same happy expressions, and kept congratulating their elder sister.

When Xue Baochai looked towards Su Mingzhe, a strange look began to appear in her eyes.

In the flower hall, only the Sanchun sisters and sister-in-law Li Wan congratulated and then sat down quietly.

Su Mingzhe looked for a while, but didn't find his own Lin Daiyu. The joy on his face suddenly faded, and he turned his gaze to Tanchun.

I saw a few sisters pursing their lips and laughing quietly.

Finally, Xichun laughed and said:

"Second brother, are you looking for Sister Lin?"

Su Mingzhe used his spiritual sense to find that Lin Daiyu was changing clothes in the green gauze cabinet, so he did not fall for it and changed the subject directly, asking with a smile:

"Today I am a juren, have you prepared any gifts for me?"

"How can you ask for a gift for your sister?"

Xichun was a little money-grubber, but she still took out a jade pendant from her sleeve and handed it over:

"I spent several taels of silver to buy this jade pendant, specially as a gift for my second brother."

Grandmother Jia, Mrs. Wang, Mrs. Xing, Mrs. You, Aunt Xue, Li Wan, Qin Keqing, Xue Baochai, Yingchun and Tanchun also prepared gifts.

At this moment, a girl in a pink skirt walked quietly into the flower hall with lotus steps.

Su Mingzhe turned around and immediately widened his eyes.

Lin Daiyu is naturally beautiful, with a tall figure and graceful curves, but she usually likes to wear plain clothes and skirts, and her hairstyle and makeup are also very simple, so she doesn't give people the oppressive feeling of being "outshining all the other beauties".

But today, when Lin Daiyu walked over gracefully, everyone immediately noticed that she was wearing some light makeup.

Her lightly made-up face was as white as the first snow, and her already delicate and fair skin was now like jade porcelain, emitting an intoxicating luster.

The jade belt tied around her already slender waist made her look even more graceful, and when she walked, she looked as light as a willow branch.

At this moment, Qin Keqing and Xue Baochai, who had been relatively confident about their looks, simultaneously developed a sense of shame and dejection.

"It turns out that Sister Lin is so beautiful!"

"The fairy Chang'e in the sky is nothing more than this!"

Su Mingzhe stared with his eyes wide open, and wanted to take a few more glances, but several sisters directly kicked him out of the flower hall!
While Xichun was driving them away, she shouted:
"Second brother, there are many guests in the front yard, please go to the front to entertain them!"

"You girl, my second brother's love for you in vain!" Su Mingzhe was unwilling, but the girls in the hall had surrounded Lin Daiyu, so even if he wanted to squeeze in, he couldn't.

"Sure enough, jealousy can make a person look completely different!"

Su Mingzhe left angrily, planning to go to the Bisha Cabinet later and ask Lin Daiyu to put on makeup just for him.

Inside the Hall of Rongxi.

Jia Lian, four retainers, and Lin Jing were all there; Jia Cong, Jia Rong, Jia Qiang and others had also arrived.

Passing the provincial examination and passing the examination for a scholar receive completely different treatments.

When Su Mingzhe passed the examination and became a scholar, although the Rongguo Mansion was bustling with activity, it was only his former companions and friends who came to congratulate him.

Now that the news of his success in the imperial examination had spread, the four kings and eight dukes, many nobles, and all the old relatives, regardless of their social status, had come to congratulate him.

In order to receive many distinguished guests, Jia Zheng, Jia She and Jia Zhen gathered together.

Su Mingzhe went in and took a look around, politely declined everyone's invitation to sit down, turned back to the porch, and entertained friends and relatives of the same age and generation with Jia Lian and others.

"Congratulations, junior brother!"

Lin Jing's mood at this moment was extremely complicated.

At first, he just wanted to earn a little money, and after hearing Su Mingzhe's "Ode to the Plum Blossom", he was moved, so he agreed to come to Rongguo Mansion and teach Su Mingzhe some test-taking skills for the imperial examination.

Who would have thought that in less than two months, Su Mingzhe would actually win the provincial examination and stand on the same level as himself.

"I would also like to thank you for your tireless teachings, Senior Brother!"

Su Mingzhe bowed respectfully to express his gratitude.

Although he already had the ability to win the championship, Su Mingzhe was still very grateful to Lin Jing for his patient and diligent teaching every day and his style of never hiding anything.

Not long after.

The important guests have arrived.

The banquet begins.

As the champion of the provincial imperial examination, Su Mingzhe's official status and position actually surpassed Jia Lian, the donated sixth-rank Tongzhi.

However, according to etiquette, he still let his cousin Jia Lian sit above him.

As Su Mingzhe's teacher for one month, Lin Jing was also invited to sit in the seat of honor.

Su Mingzhe then asked everyone else to sit down.

After three rounds of drinking, everyone was toasting to Su Mingzhe, the newly-promoted scholar, when the doorman suddenly ran in with a pale face and shouted:

"Second Master, the angel is here again! The angel is here again!"

When everyone heard that a eunuch was coming, they immediately went out to greet him in a panic.

Not long after.

Xia Shouzhong, the current emperor's confidant, was welcomed into Rongxi Hall.

Before Jia Zheng had even had time to set up the incense table, he was hurriedly summoned to the Daming Palace to meet the emperor.

After the angel took Jia Zheng away, the guests didn't know why the emperor summoned Jia Zheng, but they remembered that Emperor Longqing had a bad relationship with the Rong and Ning families.

After a while of wild thoughts, everyone did not dare to stay any longer and said goodbye and left.

Even Lin Jing said goodbye to Su Mingzhe.

Su Mingzhe couldn't keep him, so he could only order someone to take out 100 taels of silver and send him away.

At this moment, everyone in the backyard learned the news that Jia Zheng had been called away, and they all looked sad.

It’s not everyone’s fault that they have poor psychological endurance. It’s really because the Rong and Ning mansions offended Emperor Longqing in their early years, and the relationship between the two sides is too bad.

Moreover, not long after Xia Shouzhong came here last time, the prefect of Chang'an beheaded more than 30 housekeepers and managers of the Rong and Ning mansions, and two or three hundred people were sent to the border as slaves.

This time, it was Xia Shouzhong who came again, and everyone had a premonition that a disaster was about to happen.

Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai were even more frightened. They returned to Lixiang Garden and packed up their luggage and left this place of trouble.

Su Mingzhe was upset when he saw that a good banquet had been turned into this by Emperor Longqing.
"Indeed, in ancient times, if you were not an emperor, your life and death were not decided by anyone!"

"We must rebel!"

"We must rebel!"

(End of this chapter)