Chapter 1177: Fengzao Palace holds a banquet, and Madam Wang gives a maid

Entered Rongning Street.

Su Mingzhe saw a stage set up on the side of the road.

On the stage, the sheng, dan, jing, mo and chou characters appeared back and forth, winning bursts of applause.

"Second Master is back!"

The gatekeeper of the Rongning and Ning mansions had already seen the imperial guards leading the way and escorted them, so he hurried over and kowtowed to congratulate them!
"no!"

Su Mingzhe waved his hand, asked several people to stand up, pointed at the stage curiously and asked:

"What's going on? Why is the stage placed at the street corner?"

"Second Master, you don't know!"

The doorman explained with a smile.

It turned out that the people from the Rong and Ning mansions had long predicted that their second master Bao would definitely get a good ranking, so they invited the four major Huiban troupes to perform in advance.

Not only were there ones at the entrance and end of the street, but there was also one inside the mansion.

At the same time, in addition to setting up the stage, the Rongning and Ning mansions also announced that they would hold a three-day buffet banquet on Rongning Street.

The so-called buffet banquet was to set up a hundred tables. As long as passers-by said congratulations to the Jia family, they could sit down and eat.

According to this arrangement, four tables have to be changed in about an hour.

Each table was worth at least three taels of silver. Adding in the performances by street troupes, the total cost was definitely more than ten thousand taels of silver.

One celebration cost tens of thousands of taels of silver. It has to be said that the expenditure of the Rong and Ning mansions was quite extravagant in the entire Chang'an city.

Su Mingzhe shook his head secretly, feeling sorry for the silver in the treasury, and arrived at the gate of Rongguo Mansion accompanied by eight imperial guards.

After getting off the horse, Su Mingzhe was about to invite the eight people into the mansion for a banquet and to take a rest, but he saw that there were actually more than a dozen imperial guards standing at the gate of Rongguo Mansion.

After asking the doorman, I learned that when the eldest sister Jia Yuanchun learned that she had won the top prize, she sent eunuchs out of the palace in the morning to reward him with many things.

The eunuch didn't meet Su Mingzhe, the real boss, and is still waiting in Rong Xi Tang.

Su Mingzhe couldn't neglect his elder sister's people, so he could only take out a stack of banknotes from his pocket and stuff them into the hands of the eight imperial guards captains:
"We still have eunuchs at home who need to be entertained, so I can only ask you brothers to find a place to have fun on your own!"

The captain of the imperial guards was also a descendant of nobles, and was an old acquaintance of Su Mingzhe. He immediately returned the greeting with a smile:

"Brother Bao, you are too polite. Since there is an imperial decree, it is important to accept it!"

With that, the captain stuffed the banknotes into his sleeves and left with the guard of honor.

Su Mingzhe came to Rongxi Hall under the guidance of an eunuch.

Everyone in the Rong and Ning mansions had already set up the incense table.

When the eunuch who was announcing the decree saw that the real master had arrived, he was stunned and read out the imperial decree.

After Su Mingzhe received the imperial edict, the eunuch smiled flatteringly and said:

"Congratulations, my uncle, for winning the first place in the imperial examination. Empress Yuan said that this is the first time in Daqing that three people have won the first place in the imperial examination. She has specially requested an imperial decree to allow Fengzao Palace to hold a banquet and invite the family members of Rongguo Mansion to Fengzao Palace to express their gratitude and reminisce about the past."

Passing the imperial examinations and passing the imperial examinations has been considered a "good omen" in all dynasties.

What's more, Su Mingzhe was the fifth highest scorer in the imperial examination, second only to Huang Guan of the Ming Dynasty who was the sixth highest scorer. He can be said to be the second person in the history of the imperial examination to have created such a record.

Therefore, it was not difficult for Jia Yuanchun to obtain imperial decree and hold a banquet in Fengzao Palace.

Su Mingzhe, Jia Zheng, Jia She and others heard this and immediately bowed their hands to express their gratitude:

"Thank you, father-in-law!"

Jia Lian simply took out a stack of banknotes and stuffed it over.

Seeing that it was getting late, the eunuch took the banknote, said a few polite words, and then turned to leave.

Because the family members were going to attend a banquet in the palace tomorrow, Jia Zheng, Jia She and others did not dare to delay, and hurriedly brought Su Mingzhe, Jia Lian and other younger generations to the backyard to report the good news to Jia's grandmother.

Soon, everyone arrived at the flower hall in the backyard.

Mrs. Wang, Mrs. Xing, Mrs. You, Qin Keqing, Aunt Xue, Li Wan, Sanchun, Sister Lin, and Sister Bao are all here, watching the play.

Jia Zheng kowtowed to his grandmother and greeted her, and reported that Jia Yuanchun had invited everyone to the palace for a reunion banquet.

When the female relatives heard this, they naturally congratulated again.

Among them, Mrs. Wang, Mrs. Xing, Mrs. You and Qin Keqing were all considered female members of the Jia family and were also on the list of people entering the palace.

After some discussion, they decided on a plan. The women stayed to watch the show, while the men returned to the front yard to continue drinking.

Originally, Grandmother Jia wanted to keep Su Mingzhe to watch the play together.

But this time, Su Mingzhe took the initiative to refuse.

It’s different in the past.

Now that he has become the top scholar, he has become an official.

If Su Mingzhe were to shamelessly sit at the same table with the women as he did before, people would laugh at him for being unruly.

Grandmother Jia had no choice but to let her grandson leave. She waited until the sound of the street-cleaning drum sounded, and the day's excitement came to an end.

Su Mingzhe came to pay his respects to his mother, Mrs. Wang.

Jinchuan, Yuchuan, Caixia and Caiyun were serving outside. When they saw Su Mingzhe coming, they knelt down and saluted.

Su Mingzhe saw Caixia and Caiyun were also there, so he didn't want to play around with Jinchuan and Yuchuan, so he asked gently:

"Is the wife in there?"

Jin Chuan immediately reported:

"Replying to the Second Master, the Madam has just eaten a little and is reciting sutras. Xiu Luan and Xiu Feng are waiting on her inside."

"In that case, you guys continue playing."

Su Mingzhe pushed open the door and walked into the Buddhist hall, and heard Mrs. Wang kneeling in front of the Buddha statue, reciting the "Ten Wheels Sutra of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva" in a low voice.

After a while.

When Mrs. Wang finished chanting, she noticed her son coming and her eyes welled up with tears. She could no longer control her emotions and hugged her son and burst into tears.

Ever since her eldest son Jia Zhu passed away and her eldest daughter Yuanchun entered the palace, Mrs. Wang has been protecting Su Mingzhe like a hen protecting her chicks, and she does not allow anyone to hurt him in the slightest.

Unfortunately, when a boy grows up, he is no longer under the control of his father, and when a girl grows up, she is no longer under the control of her mother.

Su Mingzhe is now the top scholar, and it is impossible for him to need his protection like before.

Today, after returning from watching a play in Lady Jia's courtyard, Mrs. Wang for some reason thought of her deceased eldest son, Jia Zhu.

After eating a little dinner, she recited a sutra to Jia Zhu, hoping to pray for blessings for her deceased eldest son.

Su Mingzhe knew that Mrs. Wang was very emotional, so he sat down and tried to comfort her for a while.

After Mrs. Wang had controlled her emotions, Su Mingzhe told her about his plan to "divide the family."

According to the old system, at the Qujiang Banquet, the emperor not only appointed officials to the Hanlin Academy and the Hanlin Academy Editor, which was a sixth-rank official position, but also awarded a mansion.

Su Mingzhe asked the officials of the Ministry of Rites and was told that the residence of the number one scholar could be chosen from vacant courtyards in the city, or the court could pay for the purchase of a mansion. In either case, the original owner's consent was all that was needed.

After much thought, Su Mingzhe decided to build his own No. 1 Scholar's Mansion on Rongning Street.

"Mother, I've taken a liking to the Lai Mansion. It's close to the Rongguo Mansion. Even if I move out, it will be convenient for me to visit and pay my respects every day. What do you think?"

The Lai Mansion was originally the residence of Lai Da and Lai Er. It had four courtyards and was worth more than 100,000 taels of silver.

Lai Da's family was either killed or exiled, and the mansion was returned to Rongguo Mansion by the prefect of Chang'an.

If Su Mingzhe wants this mansion, the Ministry of Revenue will give Rongguo Mansion about 30,000 taels of silver as compensation.

Of course, the value of the Lai Mansion is naturally far more than 30,000 taels, and it cannot be bought even with 100,000 taels.

But that's just what I mean.

Anyway, it is impossible for the Jia family to ask Su Mingzhe to make up the difference.

"The Lai Mansion is really nice. Since you like it, Ying'er, I will talk to the old lady about it!"

Mrs. Wang has always been very supportive of her son's affairs, not to mention that her son now just wants a mansion.

Su Mingzhe chatted with his mother for a while and was about to leave.

Mrs. Wang called her son:
"Ying'er, since the court has awarded the top scholar a mansion, it is natural that there will be slaves and servants. I have six maids by my side. Whichever one you think is useful, I will give it to you."

Su Mingzhe wanted to refuse, but when he saw the eyes of the sisters Xiu Luan and Xiu Feng shining, he hesitated for a moment and said:

"The maids that mother has trained are naturally excellent. However, mother now only has these six maids by her side, while I already have ten maids and four servants by my side. How can I still steal mother's love?"

"You kid, you're still being polite to your mother!"

Seeing that her son did not speak for himself, Mrs. Wang simply promised:

"I told your father before that the gold and jade bracelets are great. I will give them to you after you get married. I will give them to you in advance now!"

When the sisters Xiu Luan and Xiu Feng heard that there was no share for them, they immediately lowered their heads in disappointment.

Su Mingzhe naturally didn't want to be picky, so he thanked him immediately:
"The child thanks his mother for the reward."

Mrs. Wang then called the sisters Jinchuan and Yuchuan who were outside the door in and told them what had happened. The two sisters naturally thanked her profusely and went to pack their luggage.

Su Mingzhe also thanked him, and then said:

"Mother, you gave me your gold and jade bracelets, and you only have four maids left. It's a bit too shabby. I will go find Butler Shan later and ask him to fill in the maids!"

"It's up to you!"

Mrs. Wang didn't have much to do on weekdays, and now she didn't need a housekeeper. She had four maids serving her, so she didn't feel shabby at all.

Just a moment.

Jinchuan and Yuchuan packed their luggage and followed the man out of Lady Wang's yard.

(End of this chapter)