The new General's Mansion is really too big, relying on Mother Liu, wishful thinking is not enough at all, even if there are thirty people allocated by the Internal Affairs Office, Xi Yunzhi feels that it is not enough, because she counted it on the first day she moved in, and there are eighty-six vacant rooms in the General's Mansion alone, and the cleaning alone is almost used by the thirty people in the Internal Affairs Office, not to mention, in so many houses, it does not even include the main courtyard where they live.

So Xi Yunzhi asked Xiao Hei to recruit workers for her by the way while they were looking for a house and selling a house, and after several days of continuous selection, Xi Yunzhi selected another twenty-two people, so that all the matters in the general's mansion could be regarded as operational.

At the beginning of March, the capital ushered in a busy season.

In early March, the second imperial examination lasts for seven days, and the results are released on the third day after the examination, and there is a Qionglin banquet after the release of the list, after the Qionglin banquet, March 15 is the holy birthday, and March 18 begins the annual draft, and the girls of the official family who are 12 to 18 years old can participate.

Xi Yunzhi was looking at the accounts in the mansion that day, and the porter Lao Lu sent someone to report it, saying that the Zuo Xiangfu sent someone to hand the post in, and Miss Li, the daughter of the left minister, asked to see him. Xi Yunzhi put down the account book and went to the hospitality hall.

Li Lanzhen and Xi Yunzhi stood up from their seats, and after the two shook hands and saluted, Xi Yunzhi invited her to take a seat, and saw that she looked depressed, as if she had something to say, so she withdrew everyone, and Li Lanzhen gratefully blessed her.

"Madam, I only blame Lan Zhen for being confused, so I didn't see the faces of others clearly, I blamed Madame for it, and I ask Madame for forgiveness."

Li Lanzhen got up as she spoke, and bowed down to Xi Yunzhi, how could Xi Yunzhi accept her gift, and hurriedly stepped forward to help:

"Miss Li, hurry up."

After helping her up, Xi Yunzhi saw that her eyes were red, so he comforted her:

"Miss Li, don't cry, I said a long time ago, Xi Gongzi is not worthy of you, you see that he is talented, but in fact, he is outside the gold and jade, and he is ruined, he approached Miss Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites must be for this scientific expedition to have more contacts, you are not deceived by him deeper, it is really fortunate."

Li Lanzhen took out a handkerchief from his sleeve, tucked the corners of his reddened eyes, and then nodded and said:

"What Madame said is that this kind of shameless person is better to see it clearly earlier, and it is better to pay infatuation than to regret it for the rest of your life."

Xi Yunzhi was also relieved to see her detached, only to hear Li Lanzhen hesitate for a while, and then said:

"Madam, I'm afraid that I won't see Madame so easily in the future, so this time I came here to apologize to Madame."

Xi Yunzhi said: "How can it be difficult? When you want to see me, just send someone to pass it on. ”

Of course, Xi Yunzhi's words are just a polite remark, now she is the wife of a first-class general, and Li Lanzhen is just the granddaughter of the prime minister, not to mention the difference in seniority, and her identity is also different.

Li Lanzhen smiled and told the truth: "I...... This month, she is going to enter the palace draft girl. Grandpa fought for me for a concubine, in this life and this life, I am afraid that it will be difficult for me to get out of the palace again. ”

"What?" Xi Yunzhi was surprised: "Miss is going...... Draft girl? ”

Li Lanzhen nodded, seeing Xi Yunzhi so surprised, she couldn't help but smile and said: "A wealthy girl like us, if she fails to set a family affair before the emperor's draft, she will be sent to the palace to choose a round, this method can not only fight for the emperor's favor, even if you can't win it, maybe you can win the favor of a prince and prince, and then the emperor will give you a marriage, marry in a beautiful way, and then ...... A lifetime has passed. ”

Xi Yunzhi looked at her appearance, as if she was willing, as if she was unwilling, and she didn't want to ask anything, and after the two chatted for a while, Li Lanzhen offered to leave.

***

In the evening, Xi Yunzhi and Bu Tan talked about Miss Li going to the draft, but Bu Qin had a tone that he had known for a long time, his eyes were still fixed on the book, and he said:

"Well, before Lord Li begged the Queen Mother for her, saying that as soon as she entered the palace, she would be a concubine, and she would be accompanied by Concubine Li Gui, who was happy to have dragon seeds."

Xi Yunzhi was embroidering, and was a little surprised by Bu Qin's words: "Who is Concubine Li?" ”

"Li Lanji's sister-in-law, Li Lanshi, entered the palace three years ago, and she was pregnant a while ago, so the Li family sent Li Lanzhen in to consolidate her favor."

“……”

Xi Yunzhi only then understood the sorrow of these ladies in Li Lanji's words, thinking that the emperor was already fifty or sixty years old, even older than Li Lanji's father, but for the sake of the family, they had to serve the monarch with the style of twenty-eight years, and since then they have lost themselves.

Not wanting to continue this heavy topic, Xi Yunzhi suddenly remembered the Xi Yun who had lost Miss Li, and couldn't help but ask again:

"By the way, is this expedition over?"

Bu Qin heard the word scientific examination, put down the book, looked at Xi Yunzhi, and then nodded silently, and listened to Xi Yunzhi ask:

"Zhuangyuanlang is surnamed Xi?"

Xi Yunzhi wanted to ask directly if the champion was Xi Yun's, but then thought that it might be too direct, so he asked like this, only to see Bu Qin constricting his gaze, and after a little hesitation, he said:

"Now that you know everything, what else are you asking?"

Xi Yunzhi exclaimed: "It's really him." ”

Bu Qin frowned, wanting to ask her how she knew, and after thinking about it, he said again: "Is he bad?" He's finally proven what he's capable of, hasn't he? ”

Xi Yunzhi felt very annoyed after hearing this: "Of course it's not good." An ungrateful and shameless villain like him only won the top prize by nepotism, what is there to be proud of. ”

When Bu Qin saw her indignant appearance, he felt that he couldn't cry or laugh:

"Madam, do you think that the champion of the examination is selling vegetables in the vegetable market, if you want to climb nepotism, won't you want to climb to the emperor's harem?"

"......" Xi Yunzhi was speechless for a while, then closed his mouth, said nothing, continued to lean on the soft pillow to embroider, and muttered after a long time:

"Anyway, I think he has a bad character."

Bu Qin also looked at her for a long time before saying, "Maybe, he has a hard time?" ”

“……”

Xi Yunzhi simply put down the needle and thread, walked off the soft couch, and went out to wash, I don't know what medicine her husband took the wrong tonight, but he actually spoke for Xi Yun's bastard, feeling that if she continued to talk to him, she would not be able to help but scold him, so she came out to breathe, stood on the Jiuqu corridor, looked at the sparkling lake, and after blowing the night breeze for a while, she returned to the room in a huff.

***

Early the next morning, after Bu Qin went to the court, Xi Yunzhi had just found something to do in the mansion, and the porter came to report again, saying that Princess Ji had arrived.

Xi Yunzhi hurriedly rushed to the flower hall again, feeling strange in his heart, didn't King Ji say that he wanted the princess to keep a distance from the Bu family, not to be too close, and it was best not to even come and go on weekdays, but today Princess Ji suddenly came to the door, I don't know what happened, I won't quarrel with King Ji again.

When Zhen saw Xi Yunzhi, he was not polite, and said straight to the point:

"In a few days, it will be the emperor's birthday. King Ji ordered me to handle this matter, but ......" A trace of embarrassment appeared on Zhen's face, and Xi Yunzhi saw this and hurriedly replied:

"If there is something Yunzhi can help, please don't be polite to the princess."

Zhen listened to Xi Yunzhi's words, smiled at her gratefully, and then said to the point:

"The situation of the Jiwang Mansion over the years, you must also know. There is no money left in the house for a long time, the example silver issued a year ago was used by the prince to dot the gifts, there is not much silver left, this time the emperor's birthday, Ji Wangfu is no longer good, you can't let the prince go empty-handed, so ......"

When Zhen said this, Xi Yunzhi had already understood what she wanted to say, so she was silent, went to the inner courtyard, took out more than a dozen 10,000 taels of silver tickets from her black treasure box, took them to the flower hall, and handed them to Zhen.

Zhen counted the amount, and was immediately taken aback, and waved his hand again and again: "No, no, no, it doesn't need so much." ”

Xi Yunzhi asked her to accept it and said:

"On the birthday of the Queen Mother in November last year, Zuo Du Yushi spent a full 500,000 taels to buy a pearl boat to give to the Queen Mother as a gift, even if King Ji doesn't have to send it so expensive, but these are still necessary."

Zhen was embarrassed and said to Xi Yunzhi: "Don't talk about the pearl boat sent by Zuo Du Yushi, the Queen Mother likes it, but after knowing the price, she will be unhappy." The Queen Mother was frugal by nature, and after telling the emperor about the matter, the emperor asked the Metropolitan Procuratorate to thoroughly investigate Lord Yin's family property on the spot to see if he was corrupt. ”

“……”

Xi Yunzhi didn't know that there was this allusion in this, and immediately sneered in his heart, he didn't expect Xi Yunzheng to end up, or the bamboo basket was empty, Lord Yin didn't please in front of the holy car, and he would definitely not give Xi Yunzheng a good look when he went home, no wonder Xi Yun was forced to take a risk, and he became the son-in-law of the Ministry of Rites in spite of his reputation.

In the end, the Zhen family only dared to take Xi Yunzhi's 50,000 taels of silver, so he didn't stay anymore and quickly left the general's mansion.

***

After the imperial examination, Zhuang Yuanlang really had the surname Xi.

Xi Yunzhi only felt that this world was not good, and even people like Xi Yun could win the champion, so he didn't pay much attention to it, and embroidered at home with children.

Xiao An can now stand on people's laps and jump, the house is full of his giggling laughter all day long, Yiyi will call Dad, Bu Tan has to play with him for a while before returning to the room after coming back every night.

Qionglin banquet because of the emperor's draft, and moved back for five days, these five days, all the ladies from all over the country are full of energy, rushed to the golden wire cage, Li Lanzhen has the support of the concubine sister in front of her, and the prime minister's grandfather recommended it, but she just showed her face slightly on the stage of the draft, and was included in the harem by the emperor, named Concubine Yan, and lived in the same palace with her concubine sister.

The emperor accepted a total of seven talented people, two beauties, and one concubine in this draft, Xi Yunzhi was completely speechless to this ridiculous and lewd old man, so when Bu Qin later told her that the emperor's body was not as good as before this year, and less than ten were selected, Xi Yunzhi felt surprised, and was joked by Bu Qin that he didn't know it.

Xi Yunzhi has no interest in this kind of palace secrets, he only thinks that the three thousand beauties in the harem are a little sad to pet that person, but it is none of his business, so he doesn't bother to ask.

On the day of the Qionglin banquet, the top three will wear red silk flowers on their chests, ride on a tall horse to greet the people of the capital, accept the envy and admiration of the people, and then, directly enter the palace from Zhengyang Gate to participate in the Qionglin banquet.

Xi Yunzhi happened to be in the shop this day, and I heard the guys say that the champion and Tanhua their horses were about to arrive on Suzaku Street, Xi Yunzhi, who was not very interested in seeing Xi Yun's scumbag, was pulled by a few little girls and walked to the door, only to see three tall horses just turned into Suzaku Street, and the people on the street were looking forward to it, Xi Yunzhi stood at the door of the store, not wanting to go one step further, and the little girls squeezed into the crowd one after another.

Xi Yunzhi raised her eyes and looked at the leader of the champion, and suddenly felt a flower in front of her, and then, she reached out and wiped it on her eyes a few times, and then realized that she was not mistaken.

The procession of people marching through the street passed through the entrance of her store, and the little girls who had gone to join in the fun also returned, all with excited expressions.

"Although Zhuang Yuanlang is a little old, he is still very good-looking, and there is that Tanhua ......"

The discussion of the little girls did not arouse Xi Yunzhi's participation, she stood in front of the store for a long time, and then as if she had come to her senses, she rushed out and ran after the street team for a long time.

The author has something to say: the second more ~~~

Excuse me: Who is the champion?