Chapter 113 The Palace Examination Begins

The rumor that the eldest princess in the Fourth Prince's mansion was "disfigured" suddenly spread throughout the capital.

Some say that the eldest princess was kind but had a bad fate. In order to protect the fourteenth wife's belly, she sacrificed her own face.

This kind of rumor eventually spread and became the story that the Fourteenth Lady was cruel and ruthless, and actually grabbed her beautiful niece to protect herself from disaster. Wanyan was so angry about the rumor that she smashed several vases.

There are also rumors that the eldest princess caught Yihuan's eye, and joined forces with the Fourteenth Lady to stage a drama of Silang saving his mother, and finally eliminated the eldest daughter who stood in Honghui's way.

Such remarks made the eldest princess feel uneasy. She came to apologize tremblingly, saying that it was her fault that she had tarnished the reputation of her mother. Yihua said that it was all empty talk and that she wanted to get benefits more than reputation.

Some even said that it was the new Crown Princess who did it in order to avenge the Tong family. Unfortunately, she made a mistake and chose the wrong person. The eldest princess was just unlucky.

Tong Guining's heart was twisted into a pigtail, and she cried and apologized to Yinreng: "I know that you value the relationship between brothers the most, and I don't know who made up a story and said that I wanted to harm the fourth brother's wife and even implicated the eldest princess in her house."

"I died unjustly. Not to mention that I had not yet married you, the Crown Prince, even now, how could I hide what I did in Yuqing Palace from your eyes?"

Tong Guining looked like she adored Yinreng wholeheartedly, and one could see stars in her eyes even through her tearful eyes, which obviously pleased Yinreng.

He helped Tong Guining up: "Of course I believe you. Ning'er is gentle and demure, and timid. She won't interfere in these matters. And Ning'er has more important things to consider, right?"

A blush spread across Tong Guining's cheeks. She glanced up secretly at Yinreng and then quickly looked away.

Yinreng seemed to see a little rabbit with red eyes begging for touch, and was immediately immersed in the soft jade and warm fragrance.

When the love was at its peak, Yinreng seemed to be able to see his legitimate son waving at him.

It was hard to say when the legitimate son that Yinreng had been longing for would come, but Wanyan gave birth to the legitimate son as she wished.

Wanyan was very proud and happy. If there was anything wrong with it, it was that although this child was a legitimate son, he was the second in line. The eldest son Hongchun could already speak and was born to Shushujueluo.

Yihuan sent a gift, but the child's third-day birthday party lacked a bit of excitement, because at this moment the attention of the entire capital was focused on one major event, which was the imperial examination.

At this time, the imperial examination had completed the provincial examination and the metropolitan examination, and passed a national unified examination, which can be compared to the college entrance examination in previous lives.

If you pass the provincial examination, you are a juren. Basically, you will be funded in advance by wealthy gentry who have a keen eye for talent, hoping that the juren will protect the merchants after they make further progress. This shows the strict hierarchy of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans.

Those who passed the joint examination were called Gongshi. The best Gongshi took part in the palace examination, and the top three were awarded Jinshi. The first place was called Zhuangyuan, the second place was called Bangyan, and the third place was called Tanhua.

Now we have reached the final stage, just waiting for the Emperor to post the notice, and then comes the most popular stage of selecting a son-in-law.

At this time, Xinghui, the eldest daughter of the Ulanara family, was competing with her mother.

"Qinghe, what are you and mother doing? Mr. Zhong is old enough to be your father, but he is your second wife. What do you like about him?" Lady Xinghui was so angry that her teeth were itching. Mr. Zhong once worked as a tutor in the mansion for a period of time, teaching the girls to play the piano.

He taught for less than three months before leaving. Lady Xinghui tried to persuade her to stay, after all, there were too few teachers who were truly talented and willing to teach girls, but she refused firmly on the grounds that she needed to review her lessons. When the list of candidates for the palace examination was announced, her daughter Qinghe was overjoyed and acted like a little girl, telling her that she wanted Mr. Zhong to propose marriage.

What are you talking about? As the eldest daughter of the Ulanala family, it is inevitable for her to participate in the selection.

Even if there is no talent show, it will not be the turn of a poor student like Mr. Zhong who has no integrity and no background.

Qing He looked at herself in the mirror and said, "He is very good. His wife has passed away for six years, but he still remembers her. He is really a loyal man."

Lady Xinghui looked at her daughter with a look that said, "I'm afraid I gave birth to a fool." "He loves his first wife deeply, and you actually think it's a blessing to be his second wife? You've read a lot of books!"

Qinghe refused to listen and said that she would not marry anyone but him.

Lady Xinghui controlled her temper and said, "He suddenly decided to leave and stop teaching. Wasn't it because he noticed your confused mind and deliberately stayed away from you?"

"No, he's respecting me." Qing He smiled. "After all, marrying one's student is bad for one's reputation. I don't blame him."

"You two brothers and sisters are more stubborn than each other. You both think you can decide your own marriage. Then why do you need our parents' orders?!" Mrs. Xinghui couldn't understand why she and Xinghui, neither of whom put feelings above everything else, gave birth to two such stubborn children.

"Isn't the eldest princess good enough?" Qing He glanced at her mother. "Mother thinks that my eldest brother is more than qualified to marry Princess Shang, but you promised her well before. Now the eldest princess is rumored to have hurt her face, and you don't want this daughter-in-law anymore. I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain to the wife."

"Just take care of yourself." Lady Xinghui locked Qinghe up in a bad mood. As long as the son-in-law was chosen based on the list and Mr. Zhong got married, there would naturally be no place for her silly daughter.

After returning to his room, he felt even more troubled when thinking about his son Mingxuan's marriage.

My sister-in-law became an honorable royal wife, and I couldn't refuse the matchmaker's help.

Before, although the eldest princess was at a disadvantage due to her family background, she was a good match for Mingxuan in terms of appearance and behavior. With the secret support of the Fourth Prince, Lady Xinghui was also very happy about it.

However, the sister-in-law was vague about what happened on the day of the prince's wedding, and the people she sent to deliver rose perfume did not see the eldest princess in person.

The news is now spreading like wildfire in the capital. If it weren't for the imperial examination, it would probably remain the focus of everyone's discussion for a while.

Although it is said that one should marry a virtuous wife and a beautiful concubine, Xinghui once sternly warned himself not to put a maid in Mingxuan's room. I think he received the hint from the Fourth Prince.

In other words, after marrying the eldest princess, Mingxuan would not be able to take concubines in the future, which would be very unfair to him.

Now the eldest princess is highly suspected to be disfigured, so her son is at great loss. In order to win the favor of the prince, the sister-in-law cannot sacrifice Mingxuan's lifelong happiness.

But all the members of the Ulanara family were stupid. From the old to the young, they all said that they wanted to keep the marriage unchanged, and Mingxuan looked like he was in love.

She is the only villain, but she has to be the villain.

Lady Xinghui decided to send out an invitation to Yihuan to bring the eldest princess to visit. She must see with her own eyes whether the eldest princess's face was disfigured as rumored!