"Thank you, eldest son."

Shen Yichen thanked him, it was a blessing or a curse, it was a disaster that could not be avoided, as long as he was in the Chengguo Mansion for a day, he would still have to face the Lin family and son after all.

"It's late at night, so I won't bother anymore, you can prepare for the exam with peace of mind."

Everything that should be said has been said, and Zhu Yi can clearly perceive that Shen Yichen still has a deep estrangement from him, the de facto brother, and the two of them can't talk together.

Zhu Yi thought that according to Shen Yichen's character, he would only raise his hand to send off guests, but he didn't expect the other party to speak: "Eldest son, do you think that there will inevitably be a conflict between me and Zhu Ji's mother and son?" ”

Shen Yichen's words are a kind of temptation, and it is also a kind of solution.

The temptation lies in the fact that those who have watched a little palace fighting drama in later generations can understand that this kind of plain and unprovoked come to remind you that there will be people looking for trouble, and most of them have ulterior motives.

There is even a high probability that the person who told you would have a dispute with the person looking for trouble, so as to form a situation where two tigers would fight and one would be injured, and he would eventually benefit the fisherman.

The solution lies in the cause of death of Zhu Yi's biological mother Wang, and at present, only herself, her mother Shen, and Lin herself know.

However, it is difficult to keep any permanent secrets in the Gaomen mansion, and Shen Yichen doesn't know if Zhu Yi knows something, so he wants to find out.

"Yes, because you are now valued by your father."

Through this period of contact, Zhu Yi also has a deep understanding of Shen Yichen's intelligence.

So the other party's words have already been made clear, and he doesn't need to hide anything anymore, just explain the reason.

"Even if I enter the genealogy, I am just a concubine, and I don't have any essential conflict of interest with Zhu Ji."

"On the contrary, you and Zhu Ji are both sisters-in-law now, and theoretically the conflict of interest is much greater than mine."

Listening to Shen Yichen's explicit words, Zhu Yi showed a meaningful smile on her face.

"Yichen, I didn't expect you to live outside the mansion since you were a child, but you are so clear about the open and secret battles within the high walls."

"What you said is right, but I forgot one thing, that is, the second brother can become a sister-in-law, who dares to guarantee that you will not in the future?"

After saying this, Zhu Yi turned around and left the North Courtyard of the West Chamber, leaving Shen Yichen standing in place.

Seeing Zhu Yi's figure go away, Ah Niu came over at this time, and asked Shen Yichen with a confused face: "Brother Chen, what did you say to this eldest prince, how do you feel that you can't understand a word." ”

At this moment, Shen Yichen's face was a little serious, Ah Niu didn't understand, but he understood.

How Zhu Ji's mother Lin became the Duchess of the Kingdom, no one knows better than Shen Yichen.

In ancient times, the concubine had to become a wife, and she had to meet two necessary conditions, that is, the position of the wife was vacant, and she had a son, so that the mother and son were expensive.

If you want your mother Shen to take the throne, aside from the factors of Cheng Guogong himself, at present, he only satisfies the article of "mother is expensive by child", that is, he has received Zhu Yong's attention.

But another vacancy in the position of the main wife is more important, otherwise no matter how much you spoil the concubine and kill the wife in ancient times, it is impossible to support the concubine to take the position.

How do you make the position of a wife vacant? Lin has already performed it once, does Zhu Yi mean to stage it again?

If this is the case, it means that Zhu Yi already knows that there is something strange behind the death of his biological mother, and even knows that it is related to the Lin family.

Most of the second-generation officials that Shen Yichen had come into contact with before were of a low level and had no hope of becoming a lord in the family, so they became more of a gentleman who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun.

Now when I see Zhu Yi, an authentic eldest son who has received elite education and is cultivated according to his successor, he can clearly feel the gap between the two.

Ability, city government, and strategy are all not in the same rank, it's really not simple, it's not simple.

If it weren't for the fact that he was always wary of the people in the Chengguo Mansion, I am afraid that he would have stupidly thought that he had met a good brother who took good care of him.

This is really thanks to Zhu Yong's cheap old man, if it weren't for his words and deeds, how could Shen Yichen understand how cheap family affection is for the princess?

"Brother Chen, what's wrong with you?"

Ah Niu looked at Shen Yichen standing there for a long time without replying, and looked thoughtful, and couldn't help but ask again.

"It's okay, let's go back to the house."

Shen Yichen came to his senses and didn't say anything to Ah Niu, but turned around and returned to the study.

The current information can only know that Zhu Yi is not a simple person, and he is showing favor to himself, revealing that he wants to join forces.

But whether Zhu Yi really knows the cause of her biological mother Wang's illness is still doubtful.

Maybe Zhu Yi felt the threat brought by the ambitions of the Lin family and Zhu Ji, so he would win himself over to achieve a balance of power in the public mansion, and by the way, he could also warn the other party.

It is even possible that Zhu Yi is ruthless, using his wife and sister-in-law as conditions and bait, tempting himself to use as a gun to help him get rid of the Lin family.

After all, the successful case of the Lin family is right in front of you, and under normal circumstances, for a servant like Shen Yichen, who can't even get on the genealogy, the temptation of the identity of the son-in-law is too great, and it is difficult not to be moved.

Onigiri reads a book

Or he was valued by Zhu Yong, the Duke of Chengguo, and Zhu Yi was simply envious, jealous and hateful, so he provoked infighting with Zhu Ji.

You must know that the news of Zhu Ji's discord with himself is not a secret in Yingtianfu, and the people on both sides have fought on the street several times, which can just be used.

It can only be said that there are too many possibilities, and Shen Yichen can't be sure what Zhu Yi thinks for a while. The reason why I fell into contemplation just now was to substitute Zhu Yi's thinking logic in my heart, and deduce the other party's ultimate purpose from this.

It's a pity that Shen Yichen still knows too little about himself, the eldest brother in the bloodline.

……

Three days passed quickly, and when Shen Yichen went to Shuntian Gongyuan to prepare for the second township test, Zhu Yi had already left the Chengguo Mansion and followed Jingyuan Bo Wang Ji to Shaanxi to patrol the border.

And after that night's conversation, Zhu Yi did not look for Shen Yichen again, and the two had a tacit understanding, depending on who would be moved by interests in the end, or continue to increase the weight.

On August 12, the second session of the township examination was the same as the first one, but the content of the examination was changed.

The second test is no longer the Four Books and Five Classics, and even the poetry is not examined, but the "Treatise". In addition, in the five articles of "judgment", as well as the edict, edict, table, and internal medicine, you can choose one to answer, which is equivalent to only three questions.

The purpose of this examination is not only to look at the candidate's knowledge, but also to test whether the candidate has the basic conditions to be an official.

Otherwise, a nerd who is dead to study and has no on-the-spot administrative ability, it will be a disaster to become an official when the time comes.

After the second exam, it will be followed by the third session on August 15.

This township test mainly examines the five aspects of scripture, history, and current affairs, which is simply understood to see whether the candidates have the ability to stabilize the country and what the overall situation is.

This is why there will be a strategy in the last palace examination of the imperial examination. Because if you can pass the palace examination, it means that you are close to the center of power, and you will rule over all the people in the world in the future.

If you don't have enough vision and the overall situation, you don't deserve to control so much power.

However, in the township test, the second and third sessions have basically been reduced to a formality, as long as you don't make taboos in your article, it doesn't matter if you write almost anything.

Even in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the atmosphere of emphasizing the first field became more and more serious, as long as the "Four Books" righteous test papers written in the first place were selected, even the examiners no longer carefully reviewed the papers of the other fields.

It has been recorded in the history of the Ming Dynasty that some candidates wrote very good papers in the first test, and the other answers were simple and poor. There are some even more outrageous, even the most basic allusions and formats are too lazy to write, and they can also be Chinese.

Of course, Shen Yichen would not do this, after all, his goal was not only to win, but to win the top spot.

Otherwise, what is the point of coming to Jingshi to bow to Chengguo Gong, and to get to know and make good friends with the examiner? It's better to try to calculate the local test in Yingtianfu.

For Xie Yuan, there can be no shortcomings in knowledge.

After the exam on August 15, Shen Yichen walked out of the examination room relaxed, at this moment the scorching sun at noon was in full bloom, and the people who took the photos were a little unable to open their eyes.

I have to say that Shen Yichenxiang had some good luck, and he didn't encounter any storms and rains during the three-day exam, and it was all the scorching warm sun of summer. Except for the heat at noon, everything else is acceptable.

In the first game of the township test, Shen Yichen handed in the papers early and went out to eat, and the third policy was not very important and there were few questions, and he handed in the papers even faster.

Just when Shen Yichen was about to find a restaurant, eat and drink enough and then return to the mansion, a servant of the Chengguo Mansion hurriedly came from a distance.

"Shen Gongzi, Grandpa has an order, let us take you back to the Father-in-law Mansion for dinner."

Pick me up for dinner?

As soon as he heard this, Shen Yichen felt a little funny, when did Cheng Guogong still have this mind to celebrate the end of his township test?

Even if you want to eat, it's a celebration banquet waiting for the results, right?

"You go back and tell Grandpa that I have eaten outside."

Shen Yichen didn't plan to go back to the mansion to have dinner with Cheng Guogong, and he and Zhu Yong had nothing to say, so it was estimated that it would be embarrassing at a dinner table, so it was better to eat outside.

"Shen Gongzi, this is a special order from my grandfather, I hope don't be embarrassed."

A pleading look appeared on the servant's face, and it was obvious that if Shen Yichen didn't go back with him, the consequences would be serious.

"Why does Grandpa want me to go back?"

Shen Yichen felt a little inexplicable, with the character of Cheng Guogong, he would not care about such a trivial matter as having a meal.

"Shen Gongzi, have you forgotten today's season?"

Season?

After the servant's reminder, Shen Yichen remembered that today is the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival.

However, Zhu Yong, the Duke of Chengguo, wanted to have a reunion dinner with him so much, and he still felt a little unbelievable.

"Okay, I'll go back with you."

Shen Yichen didn't want to embarrass people, and it was a festival anyway, so Zhu Yong couldn't help but give face. So under the guidance of the servant, he got into the carriage and returned to the Chengguo Mansion.

At this moment, the lobby of the mansion can be called lively, and the table is full of delicacies, mixed with laughter from time to time.

Shen Yichen walked to the door of the lobby, and as far as his eyes could see, in addition to seeing Zhu Yong, the Duke of Chengguo on the main seat, he also saw an old face beside him, that is, the "second brother" Zhu Ji.

Just as Shen Yichen was looking at everyone, a woman in a gorgeous costume leaned over, grabbed his arm very affectionately and greeted, "Yichen, what are you doing standing, don't you hurry up and take a seat." ”