It stands to reason that on the day of the Golden Palace, the ranking of the Jinshi can be known, but in fact, on the day before, the Son of Heaven will summon the top ten in the Jiying Palace, commonly known as "Little Chuanyi".

The purpose is naturally that the Son of Heaven will have an interview in person to avoid any accidents.

The day before Xiao Chuanlu, Honglu Temple sent officials to notify the relevant candidates and tell them what they should prepare.

Wei Chen is Huiyuan, and it is natural for the palace to try to enter the top ten, so he and Zhuang Jun were not too excited when they got the news.

And the Sheng family got the reward, but the whole family was overjoyed. Sheng Hong couldn't believe it, he felt that his son was lucky to be able to enter the second grade, and now he actually entered the top ten, could it be that God opened his eyes?

Early the next morning, Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai arrived outside the Donghua Gate. After a while, the other eight arrived. After greeting each other, they waited quietly for the summons with apprehension and excitement.

Compared with the extremely grand ceremony, the whole process of the small ceremony is extremely quiet, with neither a guard of honor nor music.

The official of Honglu Temple held a green sign with the candidate's name written on it and presented it to the Son of Heaven, and then the Son of Heaven summoned the candidate by name.

The Son of Heaven has seen the appearance of the candidates, and if he asks a few more questions, he will gently encourage him, and then give a jade belt, so that even if the audience is over, the whole process will not take more than half an hour.

After the first nine candidates were summoned in turn, the officials of Honglu Temple finally called Wei Chen's name.

Wei Chen sighed in his heart, I won't fall to the tenth place, right?

However, Wei Chen, who was still secretly complaining, didn't know that after he was summoned to the palace, the other nine people were sent out of the palace by the officials of Honglu Temple.

In other words, Wei Chen was left alone.

When Sheng Changbai and the other nine people who had left ahead of time were thinking about it, Wei Chen had already entered the Jiying Hall and saluted the Son of Heaven who summoned him.

On the throne, Zhao Zhen played with a green head stick, looked at Wei Chen under His Majesty Dan, and asked softly: "Name, hometown, three generations?" ”

Wei Chen replied calmly: "Weichen Weichen, a person from Jingxi in Youyang, my grandfather is secret, and my father is secretive. ”

"My grandfather is a child, my father is a student, and your Wei family can be regarded as a farming heirloom, but in your generation, it can really be regarded as a light lintel."

Zhao Zhen smiled and nodded, and had a few rounds of conversations with Wei Chen, most of which were asked by Zhao Zhen and answered by Wei Chen.

The questions asked by Zhao Zhen are also very common, including articles and poems, current affairs and policies, as well as local customs and customs.

Wei Chen bowed his head and played right, his logic was clear, his speech was dexterous, and there was no mistake or omission.

"It's nice to be young!"

Feeling the vigor and vitality of Wei Chen, Zhao Zhen, who finished asking, couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "Although Aiqing is young, he should also be ambitious, be loyal to the way of the monarch and love the people, and promote the style of a pure gentleman." ”

"Wechen respectfully follow His Majesty's teachings."

For the encouragement of the Son of Heaven, Wei Chen was "excited" and bowed down again to thank him.

Just when Wei Chen thought that this interview was over, he saw Zhao Zhen take the tea and moisten his throat and said, "It's not too early, stay and dine with me." ”

Seeing that Wei Chen was stunned in place, the chief chamberlain next to him hurriedly reminded: "Lord Wei, this is Your Majesty's grace, why don't you thank you quickly?" ”

Wei Chen reacted at this time, and hurriedly thanked him with fear: "Minister, thank Your Majesty for your grace!" ”

Zhao Zhen smiled slightly, waved his hand and instructed the waiter on the side: "Pass the meal." ”

After a while, the dining table was set up, a total of two tables, one simple and one abundant.

Zhao Zhen sat down at the simple table, pointed to another table of exquisite dishes and said to Wei Chen, "That table is yours." I know that no one can eat well with the emperor, so I specially instructed the imperial dining room to open a table for you. ”

Hiss~~

Looking at Zhao Zhen's warm smile, Wei Chen couldn't help but gasp.

is worthy of being an emperor for decades, and this set of heart-to-heart and corporal Lixian is too much.

Fortunately, it was Wei Chen, who came over with a young man who had never been in the world, and when he received this kind of courtesy, he must have been moved to tears, and he couldn't wait to smear Zhao Zhen's liver and brain.

Of course, Wei Chen did behave (perform) like this at this time.

I saw that Wei Chen's eyes were slightly red, his right hand holding the silver chopsticks was trembling slightly, and his voice was still a little choked: "Your Majesty's kindness, the minister has nothing to repay, but not to be stingy, to saddle the horse for Your Majesty." ”

Seeing Wei Chen's true feelings, Zhao Zhen was also very happy, just one meal, he captured the loyalty of a courtier, it was really a benefit.

Zhao Zhen is old, his appetite is not very good, and the meals on weekdays are indeed very simple, but today because of happiness, he ate half a bowl of pearl rice.

Seeing this, the chief attendant who had been by Zhao Zhen's side all the year round was a little surprised, and his gaze was a little more cautious when he looked at Wei Chen.

had a happy lunch, and the relationship between the two gentlemen and ministers unconsciously became much closer.

Zhao Zhen looked at Wei Chen with gentle eyes and said: "You have done me a great favor this time, I accept your favor, if you have any wishes, as long as I can do it, just put it forward." ”

Helped you?

Wei Chen was a little unclear when he heard this, so what could he do to help the emperor with his thin arms and legs?

Although Wei Chen's heart was full of doubts, looking at Zhao Zhen's appearance, he didn't mean to explain to himself at all.

Of course, people are the supreme of the Ninety-Five, and there is no need to coax themselves at all.

Wei Chen couldn't figure it out after thinking about it, and he could only attribute everything to Zhao Zhen's further overtures to him.

"But no matter what, you can make a request to the emperor, this face is too big, you need to make good use of it!"

Wei Chen's eyes lit up, and he suddenly thought of a difficult matter that had been bothering him for a long time, and he could just ask the son of heaven in front of him for help.

……

Following.

On the fourth watch, the Bianhe River was still shrouded in a gauzy morning mist, and Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai boarded the carriage bound for the imperial city.

On the thoroughfare leading to the imperial city, it gradually began to be noisy, with chariots and horses galloping by, dusty and noisy, shouting and horses' hooves, and converging towards Donghua Gate.

Today is the day of the Jinshi roll call, not only the court officials will arrive, but also the clan, the horses, and the lords will be present.

The female rolls of various families were also invited, accompanying the queen to watch the ceremony on the stage.

With Sheng Hong's official status, his family's female scroll was not qualified to participate in this kind of event at all, but this time the old lady of the Sheng family received an invitation from the queen for the first time.

The palace specially sent a palace car to pick up, and the old lady Sheng brought the family's female roll into the palace to watch the ceremony, the old lady and Wang Ruofu in a car, and the three granddaughters in a car.

In the palace car with the curtain closed, Mrs. Sheng looked at Wang Ruofu, who looked nervous, and asked with a smile: "This is still your head back into the palace, right?" ”

Wang Ruofu's old face turned red when he heard this: "I have seen Aoshan in Xuande Gate on the Shangyuan Festival, but I have never entered the palace. ”

"I'll get used to it in the future."

Mrs. Sheng said: "Actually, there is nothing good in the palace, there are many people and noisy, but I like to be quiet at home on weekdays." ”

"That's what Mother said." Wang Ruofu responded, and said with some doubts: "It's just that I don't know why the queen invited us to watch the ceremony this time, and we haven't had it before?" ”

"Maybe it has something to do with Changbai's participation in this imperial examination." Mrs. Sheng smiled: "In short, it's a blessing or a curse, it's a disaster that can't be avoided, and you'll know when the time comes." ”