NABC Chapter 168 Difficulties
Chapter 168 Difficulties
The girls were not surprised by Li Shu's sudden outburst of anger and quickly hid far away.
Those who knew the inside story quickly spoke up, and everyone then remembered that Wei Gongming had once caused trouble with the Liu family over the kite-themed marriage selection, and had even publicly rejected Li Shu.
But so much time has passed, and Liu Yuechu is already married. Why should Li Shu keep holding a grudge and be angry all by herself?
If you feel you've lost face, then don't choose the Zhenning Marquis's residence... The young ladies should stay far away from her, after all, they want to share in the joyous occasion.
But Li Shu was resentful after throwing a tantrum and being ignored.
She suddenly turned her head and saw Princess Luoyue.
Princess Luoyue is the daughter of Consort De, who was recently reprimanded by the Emperor because of the Bai family's affairs and was unable to attend the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet.
She calmed herself down and leaned over to start a conversation.
The conversation occasionally veered towards the Liu family, causing Princess Luoyue's brows to furrow deeply. Although she didn't explicitly express her dissatisfaction with Liu Yuechu, a seed of resentment had been planted in her heart.
Once the birthday banquet begins, Li Shu is naturally not entitled to enter the inner hall.
Princess Luoyue turned around and instructed the nanny beside her, "From now on, let her come to my sight less often."
"That Liu Yuechu is greedy and arrogant, and she's no good either! The Li family is all very intelligent, how could they have given birth to such a stupid child!"
The old woman immediately obeyed the order and also instructed the palace maids following behind Princess Luoyue.
Li Shu, of course, was oblivious and quite pleased with herself. She was simply waiting to see Liu Yuechu make a fool of herself…
Unfortunately, the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet ended several days ago, and the Liu family remained unharmed.
The hot summer winds gradually cooled down, and it was September.
A piece of good news arrived at the Liu family—their son-in-law, Yuan Cuo, had become the top scholar in the imperial examination.
The Liu family was overjoyed and extremely happy.
Liu Yuechu had already anticipated this. Although she was happy, there was no surprise. After all, apart from Li Shu's father, the other four examiners this year were all disciples of Master Zhuang and were also familiar with Yuan Cuo.
"Is this considered cheating?" Liu Yuechu muttered to herself, but still asked Huajiao to give a reward to the person who delivered the good news.
The messenger weighed the red embroidered bag in his hand and grinned so hard his back teeth were showing. "The top scholar still has to go to the palace to see His Majesty. He probably won't be back for another two hours. If you're in a hurry, you can wait for him at the palace gate."
"I strongly advise you to go, because when the top scholar parades through the streets later, many young ladies will see him. It would be bad if they snatched him away!"
The second half of this sentence, though said in jest, is also true.
It's just that Yuan Cuo married her early; otherwise, she would have been chosen as a son-in-law by many other families.
However, if Yuan Cuo hadn't married her, perhaps he wouldn't have stayed in the capital?
Liu Yuechu put aside her distracting thoughts, smiled, and said, "I'll go right away, whatever you say."
"Let's book the whole Guiyue Tower. Let's spend a generous amount today to liven up the atmosphere for our son-in-law."
Her shout earned her a thumbs-up from the messenger.
With Lady Liu's extravagant spending of gold and silver, no mansion could compare, so naturally they dared not even dream of becoming the top scholar.
Granny Fang was overjoyed. "I'm so happy! I'll send a letter to the princess right away so she can share in the joy."
"When you chose him as your son-in-law, the princess was actually unhappy, but she went along with it. Now that your son-in-law has become the top scholar in the imperial examination, the princess no longer needs to blame herself!"
"It's a pity the master isn't here, otherwise he would also be happy for the master." Uncle Chun cried tears of joy, reaching out to wipe the corner of his eyes. He truly missed Liu Zhong.
Liu Yuechu did not miss her father, who had disappeared without a trace.
I used to receive a letter every few months, but now it's been half a year since then and there's been absolutely no news.
"When we're happy, let's not talk about unhappy things. Today, let's all go to Guiyue Tower!"
She, along with Huajiao and Granny Fang, went back to the inner room to change into a festive outfit before preparing the carriage to leave.
Liu Musheng happily followed, "I knew my brother-in-law was extraordinary a long time ago, I never expected him to actually become the top scholar!"
Liu Yuechu was in a good mood and, unusually, didn't argue with him.
……
The Liu family made a grand entrance at Guiyue Tower.
At this moment, Yuan Cuo was in Yonghe Hall, dressed in a red robe, and kowtowing to Emperor Qi Xiao.
Emperor Qi Xiao sat firmly on the throne, looking at the person in front of him.
His long-buried memories resurfaced. He and that woman were almost identical; they didn't resemble each other at all!
His genes are good too, so why didn't he inherit any of them?
"Ahem, Your Majesty," Cheng Hai gently reminded Qi Xiaodi when he saw him staring blankly at the people below.
Yuan Cuo knew who the person on the dragon throne was and why he had such a cold expression, but the second and third place scholars did not!
If they keep staring at each other like this, it doesn't look like they're meeting the top three champions; it looks like they have a grudge.
Emperor Qi Xiao paused for a moment before asking, "I've heard that you once had ambitions to depict the borderlands of Great Qi. Is that true?"
He asked the question knowing the answer, after all, he was the one who assigned the task to Yuan Cuo in the first place.
Yuan Cuo bowed solemnly and said, "It is indeed the lifelong wish of every student, but unfortunately it has never been realized. I am sorry that Your Majesty has made me laugh."
"There's nothing to laugh about. Your thoughts coincide with mine. If I can see the map of the Great Qi before I pass away, I will have no regrets!" Emperor Qi Xiao said earnestly.
"Your Majesty, you can't say such things!" Cheng Hai trembled beside him.
The Empress Dowager is still alive, and you're already talking about passing away? Besides, it was a joyous occasion, why are you suddenly saying this!
Emperor Qi Xiao ignored him, his eyes fixed on Yuan Cuo, unblinking.
The courtiers nearby were also puzzled. Even if he was the top scholar in the imperial examination, why would they stare at him like that?
Qin Mushuo and Qin Muyan were also puzzled and wanted to see something different about Yuan Cuo.
Emperor Qi Xiao paused for a moment, then said, "So I'm entrusting you with the task of drawing a map of the Great Qi's territory. Are you willing?"
“The students are willing,” Yuan Cuo said without hesitation.
“Father, it seems we don’t have an official position specifically for this matter?” Qin Mushuo suddenly interjected.
Qin Muyan asked curiously, "Indeed, although the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue have surveying officials, they are not required to personally travel all over the Great Qi."
"Can't we just create one if we don't have one?" Emperor Qi Xiao sneered. "Governing a country naturally requires adapting to local conditions. There are indeed many maps of those territories, but they are all old artifacts from many years ago and are no longer consistent with the actual situation."
"Besides, how many of the imperial censors sent to supervise these cases are actually local officials who are just filling in the numbers and deliberately defrauding the national treasury? Don't you know that?"
As soon as Emperor Qi Xiao uttered these words, the court fell silent.
After all, quite a few officials have lost their heads because of this.
"Father is wise."
"Father is benevolent."
The two princes immediately stepped forward to praise him.
Emperor Qi Xiao gave him a look, and Cheng Hai immediately issued an imperial edict: a new Surveying and Mapping Department was established, under the Ministry of Revenue. Although the Surveying and Mapping officials were of the sixth rank, they were required to regularly attend court to report to His Majesty.
Although Yuan Cuo felt that attending court was necessary, he still knelt down to express his gratitude.
But Emperor Qi Xiao suddenly spoke up, "Now that you've become an official, it wouldn't be appropriate for your family to continue engaging in business, would it?"