Chapter 418 - Chapter 418: Chapter 414: Sin Slave_1 (1/2)

Chapter 418: Chapter 414: Sin Slave_1

When Mr. Wu learned that his disciple had won third place in the first rank, he couldn’t stop grinning. He also felt a sense of relief.

“Good! Well done! I knew that boy was exceptional.”

Standing in the courtyard, he watched one wave after another of messengers coming to give the good news, stroking his beard and smiling.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Wu also smiled and said: “This is great. Ajie will surely be able to stay in Beijing.”

Anyone who ranks third in the first rank of the examination, without any accidents, would undoubtedly enter the Hanlin Academy. After accumulating a few years of seniority, they would have the chance to enter the cabinet.

This is to say, all the Cabinet officials are graduates of the first rank.

Jiang Jie is so young. In a few years, he will be in the prime of his life. With the emperor’s support, rising up to the high ranks of the cabinet will not be unlikely.

Moreover, he hails from a poor farming family with no complicated background, which is just the type of talent the new emperor is looking for.

In the future, the Jiang family might truly prosper.

Mrs. Wu was thinking gleefully, if her granddaughter could marry into the Jiang family, their future would surely be promising.

At this moment, Chunniang and Yingbao were busy tipping the messengers, while having a couple of young maids bring tables and stools so they could sit down and have some tea.

The Wu family’s servants also helped to set up tents in the courtyard, inviting the bearers of good news to sit inside the tents.

Yingbao asked the cook to prepare meals and a feast to feed the messengers.

There were plenty of dishes prepared at home, including chicken, duck, goose, fish, pork, and lamb, which had all been cooked in the morning and merely needed slicing.

The remaining vegetables were much simpler, just stir fry a few different kinds of small dishes as side dishes, and the banquet was ready.

By the time Jiang Quan returned with Jiang Jie and Li Xu, the Luo family’s congratulations party had arrived.

Not only the Luo family but the Wen family also sent people. They were not here to congratulate but to take Li Xu to stay at the Wen family, saying that he, as the son-in-law of the Wen family, should not stay in another’s house.

Li Xu didn’t want to go to the Wen family, but the person who came said that Old Lady Wen had personally instructed to take him back home.

With no other choice, Li Xu had to say goodbye to Chunniang and Mr. Wu, and then he followed the Wen family’s steward onto the donkey cart.

On the third day, the Emperor held a feast in the Imperial Palace, inviting all the scholars who made the list to join the banquet in the palace.

Afterwards, the emperor awarded robes and coronets, and all the scholars, riding tall horses, led by the top three among the first rank, paraded along the royal street with the Imperial Guards clearing the way on both sides.

Jiang Jie, sitting on a horse draped in red silk, wearing a feathered hat, was occasionally showered with flowers and silk handkerchiefs from young girls on either side of the road, feeling rather helplessly amused.

When passing in front of a restaurant, he saw countless flowers and petals falling from above. Looking up, he saw that his elder sister, leading two little maids, was throwing flowers at him, which made him smile.

Everyone turned their gaze to the upstairs of the building, and they saw a banner hanging there, which read: “Four Seasons Fresh Flowers and Fruit Pot Plants, Half Price on the First Day of Opening.”

So it turns out they were selling pot plants; no wonder then.

Looking at the flowers and petals that fell, large and small, brightly colored and seemingly of many varieties, he couldn’t help but marvel.

They were remarkably generous! Almost every scholar had been baptized with these flower petals, and even the Imperial Guards and the citizens received a few pieces landing on their heads.

However, the people who followed the parade got a clear view of the young lady upstairs. She was very beautiful, daintily scattering petals over and over again like a heavenly maiden.

People were drawn to this newly opened shop, and they saw four big characters on the plaque at the entrance: “Jiang’s Pot Plants”.

There were quite a few flower pot plants displayed at the entrance of the shop. A young man in a white robe, around twenty, remarkably handsome, was standing at the entrance, grinning at everyone.