Late at night.

A firewood ox cart "crunched" with heavy snow and entered the Pingwang Mansion in Wanghou Lane from the back door.

Two figures, one big and one small, slipped off the ox cart and entered the Yu Garden.

Yu Garden is the residence of the county lord Li Yu, she is the daughter of King Ping, the county lord canonized by the imperial court, and has an independent luxurious courtyard in the palace of King Ping.

Yu Garden covers an area of four or five acres of land, the innermost is a main house, on both sides is a row of study rooms, wing rooms, a rockery and pond in the center of the courtyard, a water pavilion, a typical Jiangnan princely mansion.

The Qiao family, who failed this time, sneaked out.

Come back, of course, quietly.

No fanfare.

Chu Tianxiu found that the lights in the main house were always on in the dark night, and his heart was a little empty.

Not sure if Li Yu found himself running away from home?

The more he was empty, the more he came to the window of the main house, and poked his head to look around, wanting to see if Li Yu had fallen asleep.

Li Yu was reading "Liutao" at the desk in front of the window, and happened to look up, her clear and agile phoenix eyes, and Chu Tianxiu's dull eyes.

She was a little stunned, "Husband, how are you... Uh, back from the garden? ”

"Ahh The night is charming, and the plum blossoms in the snow make people linger. ”

A trace of embarrassment flashed on Chu Tianxiu's face, pretending that nothing had happened, putting his hands behind his back, and said, "I had a whim, I had something important to write, so I slept in the study at night!" ”

Of course, even if he didn't write, he couldn't sleep in the main house.

His son-in-law, who was knocked unconscious by the old faint marquis last night and sent to the door, only stayed in the Pingwang Mansion for one day, and has not yet "chosen an auspicious day and made a big gift" with the county lord Li Yu, so naturally there is no way to overcome.

As for Zu'er, she was an accomplice who helped her aunt escape from the family, and she was even more nervous and didn't dare to show it in front of the county lord, so she went straight to the study with a weak heart as soon as she came back.

...

Back to the study.

Zu'er had already raised the charcoal stove to keep warm, and the room quickly warmed up.

Chu Tianxiu took and instructed Zu'er to take a roll of bamboo slips, grind the ink, and prepare to write a self-recommendation letter overnight.

He had given up the idea of entering the palace to persuade the emperor to change his son-in-law's decree.

The Confucian scholars of the Hongmen Inn poured a basin of cold water on him, and these Confucian scholars and ordinary people all felt that he was too poor to die, and he deserved to be demoted to a son-in-law by the emperor.

He alone raised his voice against it, and the emperor did not listen.

Instead of working in vain, it is better to think of another way out.

This way out is the "year move" - to participate in the imperial court policy assessment presided over by the emperor himself, and become an official.

He is not afraid of assessment or anything.

Looking at the history books of the Great Chu, you will find that the annual assessment of the imperial court is surprisingly pragmatic.

There is no need to memorize a large number of Confucian Four Books and Five Classics in later generations, and specialize in every red tape between the lines.

Just "Q&A".

To put it simply, it is the emperor Lao'er who came up with a question.

For example, "I'm short of money, how can I get some money back?" ”

"The barbarians in southern Xinjiang rebelled, and there were rogues in the middle of the river, how to kill them?"

"I am the Son of Heaven, a fire has fallen from the sky, is this God angry with me?"

The specific exam questions are known only to the emperor alone, and they will not be leaked in advance.

Then, a bunch of candidates who are eligible to participate in the annual examination answer the emperor's exam questions.

The emperor looked satisfied, "Ah, you kid is good, you have a bright brain!" ”

As soon as the board is made, he will pass the assessment and give you a small county order.

If the petty officials do a good job, the officials will praise them, and they will be added to the ranks.

All the way to the three major ministers of power in the government and the opposition - the prime minister in charge of government affairs, the lieutenant in charge of war, and the imperial envoy doctor in charge of supervising hundreds of officials.

Da Chu is ranked as the third duke, and he can be crowned a marquis.

Sealing the marquis, this is also the ultimate dream that countless officials have been difficult to realize in their lifetimes.

As for those candidates who were not satisfied with the emperor, they were directly rejected and let them go home.

The assessment process is somewhat less rigorous and complicated.

However, before the imperial examination system prevailed in the Tang and Song dynasties, the imperial court generally selected officials in this way.

Chu Tianxiu didn't think that there was anything to ask him in this era.

If you don't have money, you will get money, and if you rebel, you will kill him!

There are a lot of ideas.

Emperor Xiang Yanran is wise and martial, and he will definitely find that hidden under the bad reputation of Xiao Duhou is an incomparably bright and dazzling night pearl in the dark night.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the emperor can change his bad impression of him and accept his self-nomination letter.

This is extremely difficult!

The emperor had long looked at him and felt that he was a waste material. will ignore the discussion of the world, make use of his dignified marquis's son, demote him to a son-in-law, and inherit the lineage for the Ping Wangfu.

Even those sour Confucians could see the emperor's likes and dislikes.

He Chu Tianxiu naturally knew this.

He wrote a letter of recommendation.

I'm afraid that the emperor won't bother to take a look, so he will directly throw it aside and reject it, and he may not even let him enter the palace gate, let alone participate in the annual examination.

"The Emperor must be asked to pick up my letter of recommendation and take a look! With just one glance, I impressed him from now on! ”

Chu Tianxiu pondered and pondered how to write this "Self-Recommendation Book" submitted to the imperial court.

"Well, just write all the shining points all over my body, there is always something the emperor likes. Maybe he will be happy and give me a big official! ”

Chu Tianxiu thought of a legendary figure and couldn't help but smile lightly.

He immediately wrote on the bamboo slips, quickly.

Fortunately, although he selectively lost his memory of many things, he still remembers how to write the pre-Qin seal script font of this era.

"Chen, fair skin, straight nose, eyes like beads, red lips and white teeth..... The face is also crowned with the world! ”

"Minister, the air is lofty, and the eyebrows are starry... There is a heroic and brave spirit. ”

"Minister, at the age of four, he wrote a hundred poems... At the age of ten, he was familiar with the art of war and tactics... Now twenty years old, he has read thousands of books, and he is the most erudite in the world. It's a pity that the talent is extraordinary, and the talent is not met! ”

"Minister, brave as Jing Ke, honest as Uncle Bao, and faithful as the tail of life. I am not a pillar of the imperial court, who is up to the task? ”

The more Chu Tianxiu wrote, the more comfortable he became.

It took a whole volume to write about his face.

One more volume, praising your own spirit.

Boast about yourself.

It feels cool!

Zu Eryu held her face in her hands, lying next to her, curiously looking at what her uncle had written on the bamboo slips.

Her innocent eyes widened, and she gradually gasped, and a pair of small jade hands covered her face and couldn't bear to look at it.

Uncle!

Do you want face?

You have red lips and white teeth, gentle and delicate, but does this have anything to do with being an official?

The people of Jinling City say that you are the thickest skinned of the four major gentlemen in Jinling. Judging from the thickness of his skin, my uncle is very hopeful to become a big official!

...

Late at night.

Di Er followed the ox cart back to the house, and reported to Li Yu about Xiao Duhou's every move outside - from fleeing from Qiao's family, to the Duanhou Mansion, to scolding the emperor's uncle Shen Dafu, and finally quarreling with a group of corrupt Confucians at the Hongmen Inn and swearing poisonously.

"County Lord, you really know your uncle too well.

He was outside, and he didn't hold on for two or three days... It was only two hours before he ran back in a gloomy manner, and walked around the palace garden as if he was fine, and then went into the study. ”

Di'er said, couldn't help laughing, and covered her mouth with a coquettish smile.

"His delicate body... It's good to be able to endure the cold wind in the middle of the night outside. ”

Li Yu chuckled and flipped through "Liutao", but his mind was not in the book.

However, Di Er was a little worried, "County Lord, you said that Uncle Shen was scolded by my uncle so ruthlessly, if the Shen family went to the emperor and the Empress Dowager Shen to complain... Will my uncle be in trouble? ”

"Don't worry, when the old and old Marquis Mansion was old, I still owed 10,000 taels of silver to the Empress Dowager Shen, and I didn't see the Empress Dowager urging the Empress Dowager to pay back.

Shen Da was the richest man in Jinling City, and he almost monopolized the silk business in Jiangnan, and he was not short of this silver.

I don't know how much the Duhou Mansion owes, and the Empress Dowager Shen doesn't care. If the complaint is to be useful, the emperor has already sent someone to raid the Marquis Mansion! ”

Li Yu didn't care.

Shen Dafu ran to the Dummy Marquis Mansion in the middle of the night to block the door and collect debts from the Dull Marquis's father and son, and it was she who instructed Di'er to ventilate and report the news.

She naturally knows the difference.

It's just that in the Hongmen Inn, after the little dusk marquis scolded the Confucian students in a battle, her brain was hot, and she actually planned to recommend herself to the imperial court to be an official, which was a little unexpected to her.

As a hereditary marquis, the son-in-law of the Ping Palace, he is destined to enjoy endless wealth in his life, and he doesn't have to do anything at all.

Xiao Duhou wants to be an official... Naturally, I don't want to stay in the Pingwang Mansion all the time and be angry.

"County Lord, my uncle is thinking about writing the "Self-Recommendation Book", and I have been in the study for a long time... Would you like to see him? ”

"Hmph, your aunt is too thin-faced and suspicious. If I go to see him, I am afraid that he will think that I have found out that he is a family and deliberately ridiculed him, so I will not touch his bad head. ”

Li Yu pursed his lips, thought for a moment, and commanded. "You instructed the dining room to make a ginger porridge for supper for my uncle and Zu'er, and use the venison I hunted in Zhongshan in the eastern suburbs a few days ago.

Warm up a glass of wine with cinnamon, cloves and orange peel to keep the chill away! He was freezing outside for half the night, don't frostbite his bones.

"Yes, County Lord."

Diel went to do it immediately.

...

The night was getting deeper.

Li Yu's clear eyes stared out the window, in the study opposite the courtyard.

It's also lit up all night.

The husband should be sitting at the desk all night and reading books!

Li Yu had a lot of thoughts.

His father was in charge of the Taiwei Mansion of Dachu, and he was busy with government affairs on weekdays, and rarely returned to the house, so it was difficult to take care of the housework of the palace.

Her mother also went early.

The second lady in charge of the Pingwang Mansion is now in her thirties, Xie Liyuan, who was born in one of the top ten gate valves in Jinling, Xie Liyuan.

The second lady looked at the little faint marquis inexplicably.

When she came to the door from Xiao Duhou, she had a cold face, and everyone could see that she was indifferent to Xiao Duhou.

There is an example of the second lady.

Up and down, the head of the money took the chicken feather as an arrow, and although the other servants didn't dare to be disrespectful to the little dusk on the surface, they inevitably muttered behind their backs, with a respectful and distant attitude!

The Ping Wangfu couldn't give the feeling of the little dusk marquis's house.

Since Xiao Duhou wants to become an official, this is not a way to improve his status.

If you can become an official, even if it is a small county order, you can move out and live.

He is finally a self-motivated son-in-law in front of his father, and he has a little more status in the Ping Palace, and he is a little less angry.

It's just that the emperor had a hard time.

The emperor has always disliked the Marquis of Xiao Du, and he is afraid that he will not give him an official.

Should she go to Princess Xiang Ling and take a break with Princess Xiang Ling?

Princess Xiang Ling is her best sister and the most favored princess of Emperor Xiang Yanran.

Ask her to say a word or two in front of the emperor, and give Xiao Duhou a chance to come out!

If Princess Xiang Ling still can't persuade the emperor, then she can only ask her father to go to the emperor in person and say good things for her son-in-law.

As the hereditary King Ping, the third prince of the dynasty, the emperor's brother-in-law, his father still has a lot of weight in the eyes of the emperor.

She gradually had some ideas in her mind.

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[Big envelope, ask for recommendation votes, ask for new book investment! ] 】