83Chapter 83 Old Acquaintance

After the Qionglin Banquet, the Ministry of Personnel began to assign a new batch of Jinshi. Xiao Yuan was so busy that he didn't have time to rest until mid-March.

Because of the small incident of Tanhua Lang presenting flowers, all the requests for the establishment of a crown prince in the court stopped. I don't know what Emperor Hongzheng was thinking, so he let the fourth prince Jingyu take charge of the Ministry of Justice. The tribute of foreign countries was handed over to Wenyuan Hou. Although foreign people only came a few times a year, Mu Hanzhang at least had a practical job.

The second and third Jinshi had to take another exam to get a position, but the three people in the first class were directly given an official position.

"The second place went to the Hanlin Academy to be an editor, and Ma Tanhua went to the Ministry of Rites." Xiao Yuan drank a sip of tea. The affairs of the Ministry of Personnel finally came to an end. Last year, there was a major investigation in the Ministry of Rites. This year, he was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and encountered the Spring Examination. There was really no day of rest. Looking at the two people sitting opposite him who were idle from beginning to end, Minister Xiao suddenly felt that the world was unfair.

"We have been fighting for half a year, so we should take a break." Jing Shao seemed to see the resentment in Xiao Yuan's eyes, and said as a matter of course.

"Where did the champion go?" Zhou Jin came over with a plate of pancakes, and asked with a smile when he saw Xiao Yuan's angry look.

"The fourth prince wanted to ask him to go to the Ministry of Justice, but that person asked to be a parent official." When talking about Qin Zhaoran, a strange look appeared on Xiao Yuan's face. Usually, the successful candidates would be eager to stay in the capital, but this person did the opposite.

Jing Shao snorted coldly. King Rui admired Ma Zhuo's quick response at the Qionglin Banquet very much. The Ministry of Rites just needed someone who was good at speaking, so he asked Emperor Hongzheng for him. Jing Yu, that idiot, actually went directly to ask for the champion, for fear that others would not know that he wanted to suppress his brother.

"In the current situation, being a relocated official is actually better than being a Beijing official." Mu Hanzhang said slowly. With Qin Zhaoran's personality, he must not want to participate in the fights among the princes. If the fourth prince tries to win him over, he will only drive him away.

"Jingyu has always liked to compete with his brother since he was a child. When he was given a name, he insisted on having a jade in his name." Jing Shao said disdainfully, saying that Jingyu was the eldest son of the queen and should be the same as Jingchen.

Mu Hanzhang couldn't help but chuckle. The name was not given by the fourth prince, so he was blamed.

Qin Zhaoran stood in front of the palace, looking at the magnificent gate. It was much more imposing than the Beiwei Marquis's Mansion where he went in and out when he was young. The six big characters "Chengwang Wenyuan Marquis' Mansion" were written on the door. It looked very strange, but it was in that clumsy title that a little intimacy was revealed that was not known to outsiders.

"Sir, what's the matter?" Mr. Yun, who was out on business, saw the young man standing in front of the door in a daze. Seeing his gentle and refined appearance, he thought he must be a visitor, so he asked.

Qin Zhaoran wanted to say nothing, but after a pause, he couldn't help asking: "I am Qin Zhaoran, an old friend of Marquis Wenyuan. May I ask if the Marquis is at home?"

"The Marquis went out with the prince and will not be back until after noon. If you are not in a hurry, you can go into the mansion and wait." Mr. Yun said politely.

"No need." Qin Zhaoran waved his hand, looked at the door plaque with a look of disappointment, and turned away.

When the two came back from Huiwei Tower, Mr. Yun told them about the visit of the champion. Jing Shao thought that since he was a classmate of his princess, he should treat him to a meal, so he asked Mr. Yun to send a letter and invite him to the mansion tomorrow.

"He won't come." Mu Hanzhang looked at the invitation. The man was a righteous scholar at heart, and he always looked down on the princes and dukes.

"After all, he is your classmate and a relative. After the invitation is sent, it's his business whether he wants to come or not." Jing Shao said nonchalantly.

The invitation was handed over to the new champion. Qin Zhaoran hesitated again and again, but finally did not go.

The servants said that the champion was modest about his low status and did not want to cause trouble to the prince and the marquis, but asked someone to hand over an inkstone to Mu Hanzhang.

"This man is cautious." Jing Shao listened to the servant's report and said to his own princess.

Mu Hanzhang frowned and looked at the inkstone in his hand. It was made of a kind of inkstone produced in Qin Zhaoran's hometown. It was rarely sold on the market because the ground ink was not of the best quality, always with some impurities, and it was fragile and difficult to carve. When Qin Zhaoran was a child, he told him that his family was poor and he couldn't buy a good inkstone, so he went to the river to find this kind of inkstone. He could produce ink by grinding any pit, and because there was a kind of miscellaneous stone inside, the handwriting would have a little indigo. He was curious at that time and wanted to see this kind of inkstone. He didn't expect that Qin Zhaoran would still remember it after so many years.

"Now is the cusp of the storm, it's better for him not to come," Mu Hanzhang put the inkstone aside, "Brother asked for the third place in the imperial examination, which is already eye-catching. We should not get too close to others."

Jing Shao nodded and asked the servants to return some gifts to Qin Zhaoran. Thinking that he was a good friend of his princess, he told Xiao Yuan not to transfer him to a poor and remote place, and find a place with rich products and easy to make political achievements.

Until Qin Zhaoran left Beijing for his post, Mu Hanzhang had never seen him, and Jing Shao also put this matter behind him, because in mid-March, Jing Chen left for Jiangnan, and the couple became busy.

Before leaving, Jing Chen gave some of his connections to Mu Hanzhang, asking him to handle some urgent matters in Beijing, and also gave him the third place winner, asking him to give more advice.

"Brother trusts you more than me now." Jing Shao said sourly as he approached his own princess.

Mu Hanzhang wrote comments on the official document in his hand, and patted the big head hanging on his shoulder: "Who told you to run away when you saw the official document? Brother has long stopped counting on you."

Since Mu Hanzhang was able to attend court, Jingchen often asked him to go to the Rui Wang Mansion to participate in some things, and gradually transferred some affairs to him to handle. It seemed that he placed all his expectations for his brother on this brother-in-law, so after he left Beijing, Mu Hanzhang did not rush.

Jing Shao hummed and groaned, unwilling to get up. Xiao Huang came in through the crack of the door and looked at the table leg on the table. There was a plate of fresh mulberries on the table, which were slightly purple in bright red, just when they were delicious.

"What's the matter with that Ma Zhuo? I always feel that he and my brother are old acquaintances." Mu Hanzhang knocked the hairy paw that stretched to the plate with the pen.

"Well, I don't know, but my brother mentioned vaguely that he seems to be from the Zhuo family," Jing Shao pinched a not-so-red mulberry and stuffed it into the little tiger's mouth, and immediately shook its head in sourness, "Ma Zhuo's surname is not Ma, but Zhuo."

Mu Hanzhang stopped writing and turned to look at him. He actually used a pseudonym to take the imperial examination. There must be some unspeakable secrets in it.

"I was still young when the Zhuo family got into trouble, so I don't know much about it, but I guess my brother may have been in contact with them over the years, otherwise how could this Ma Tanhua have the ability to forge his place of origin to take the imperial examination?" Jing Shao whispered. In his previous life, he paid little attention to the things in the court, so he didn't know the people around Jing Chen.

Although Mu Hanzhang was young at that time, he had heard his father mention it when Minister Zhuo was convicted and his family was confiscated and exiled to a remote place. He nodded slightly when he heard it, and it was better to talk less about it.

"That Ma Zhuo is really a wonderful person. He got familiar with the Ministry of Rites in a few days. Even those old men were friendly to him." Mu Hanzhang pinched a mulberry to eat, but Jing Shao took it into his mouth first.

"These mulberries are sweet and sour. Let someone send some to mother." Jing Shao licked the slender and slender fingers while eating, and felt the fingertips tremble slightly, and then let go with satisfaction.

"I've sent someone to deliver them," Mu Hanzhang was helpless about Jing Shao's increasingly childish behavior. These mulberries were grown by the palace itself, and now that Qiu was pregnant, she was just enjoying these sweet and sour things. "I sent some to the Rui Palace as well. I heard that my sister-in-law wasn't feeling well recently. Let's go see her tomorrow."

"Yes." Jing Shao responded, and soon he heard the servants come to report that Lord Ma from the Ministry of Rites was visiting.