The beloved baby has a space

Chapter 649 The Top Scholar's Wife
Hua Rou felt truly apologetic. She had misunderstood A Yu before, and then her adopted cousin almost implicated her fiancé.

Regardless of whether the other party has suffered any real harm, they must make some kind of gesture; this is the most basic principle of the Hua family.

"No need, right? I don't know anything about what's going on inside the examination hall, and I can't find out now. Let's wait until after the exam and see what the examiners say." Ayu listened to Tuanzi's account of the events and now knew that Qin Huai had been completely cleared of suspicion and was retaking the exam, so she was naturally relieved.

She wasn't worried that her brother Ayou would be implicated, because he was a smart and upright person, and he certainly wouldn't do anything that violated the law.

Thinking of some of the things Qin Huai had done before, Ayu added in her mind, "Even if he violated the law, it must be because there is something incomplete about the law."

What she was worried about was that her brother Ayou wouldn't be able to keep his promise to her, which would affect his mood, prevent him from becoming the top scorer in the exam, and make him unhappy again.

Others may not know, but she knows very well that her brother Ayou values ​​his promises to her very much, and he's the kind of person who gets hung up on them.

He wanted to become the wife of the top scholar.

“In that case, let’s leave it for now. If it is determined that my brother is indeed at fault, our family will definitely not shirk our responsibility,” Hua Rou said. “Besides, you asked my father to go and rescue the people at the quarry before, and my father was also commended. We should also repay this favor.”

However, before receiving praise, General Hua was impeached. Some said he had abandoned his post, while others from the Ministry of Works accused him of forcibly seizing equipment.

But compared to saving the eldest prince, all of this is nothing.

In the current imperial harem of Da Chang, no one is fighting alone. For example, although the eldest prince's mother is not favored, her family is a true aristocratic clan. More than a dozen first-rank officials have come from her ancestors. The newly appointed Grand Secretary is the eldest prince's maternal grandfather.

Therefore, the safety of the eldest prince is extremely valuable.

For example, not only did General Hua's salary double, but the Grand Secretary also curryed favor by allocating a portion of the jurisdiction of the Military Affairs Battalion to General Hua.

The Military Affairs Battalion was a special place. It commanded 230,000 armed soldiers within the Great Chang Imperial City. Among them, 30,000 were the Emperor's personal guards, 50,000 were relatives of nobles of the third rank or above from various families, forming an elite force composed of true imperial relatives. The remainder were patrol soldiers and guards stationed in the Imperial City.

It can be said that these 230,000 people represent all the troops that Wanning City can openly mobilize.

As for those operating in the shadows, and the retainers that each family keeps, that's another matter entirely.

The Military Affairs Bureau was jointly managed by the Ministry of War, the Cabinet, and the Imperial Family, and ordinary military officers rarely had the authority to manage it.

Most of the generals on duty in Wanning City, such as General Hua, actually held sinecure positions. They could usually lead their soldiers out to scare people or save people in critical moments, but taking them to fight and kill people required approval.

The soldiers in the camps he previously commanded did not have the authority to make arrests, and their sphere of activity was extremely limited.

Now, General Hua also has a small amount of real power in the Ministry of War in Dachang. The soldiers he leads are capable of suppressing bandits. If used properly, these soldiers can help him rise to a higher position.

Therefore, this gain can be described as substantial.

"General Hua is a very good person." Ayu had a good impression of General Hua. She had used Murong Run's name to invite him out, and he hadn't pursued the matter afterward, so she thought he was a kind and gentle person.

If we really pursue that, then there will be some trouble.

Hua Rou and A Yu hit it off immediately. They agreed to have dinner together after their shifts the next day and then parted ways.

After returning to the Wang family, everyone learned that Ayu had passed the Astrology Department's examination and had even become the Commander of the Astrology Department. They all showed an expression of "I knew it," without any sense of surprise.

It was as if nothing that happened to Ayu was surprising.

Hearing that she had become friends with Murong Run's wife, Old Mrs. Wang said, "You can decide on your own when it comes to making friends. I've heard of Hua Rou's reputation; she's not a bad child." In Old Mrs. Wang's eyes, there was only one type of bad child: those she couldn't stand.

Hua Rou clearly does not belong to this category.

As a result, Ayu and Huarou started to get along. Huarou would often go to Ayu's astrologer's office after training, and occasionally choose a few books and ask her to talk about what they were about.

Ayu's stories were very interesting, and Hua Rou listened with great interest. She would often tell a story for half an hour at a time. After she finished, a large circle of palace servants would gather around her, eagerly waiting for Ayu to continue, which made Ayu both amused and exasperated.

Hua Rou said, "I think you're not that old, but when they're with you, you seem more like the leader of the kids."

Ayu accepted this statement with a smile: "Whether you're an adult or a little adult, loving to listen to stories is innate; it doesn't discriminate by age."

“You’re right.” So, Hua Rou naturally asked A Yu to tell a new story.

For some reason, she felt that Ayu's stories were incredibly vivid, a hundred times more exciting than those told by storytellers.

The two were ten years apart in age, but because Ayu had a wide range of interests and could handle any topic, they were able to have a pleasant conversation.

Before we knew it, the day of the end of the imperial examination had arrived.

This year's imperial examination was marred by a cheating scandal, and the examiners were very nervous. Even though the examination period had already passed, there was still no sign of the candidates being released.

Ayu and the others waited at the entrance of the examination hall early in the morning, but then they heard someone inside say, "You don't need to wait today. The candidates will be allowed to pass after the results are announced tomorrow!"

Everyone was dumbfounded; the results were released the very next day?
What about the palace examination?

Ayu couldn't wait any longer and asked Tuanzi.

Fearing unforeseen circumstances, the examiners, who would be grading the papers around the clock, have already invited a group of renowned scholars.

I've seen Qin Huai's exam paper. He's among those recommended for the top rank. If nothing unexpected happens, he'll participate in the final imperial examination after the results are released to select the true top three.

The first, second, and third ranks of the imperial examination are different from those of the palace examination. For example, the first and second ranks of the imperial examination consist of twenty people. These twenty people will participate in the palace examination, and then the top three will be selected. These three people are the top three ranks, also known as the top scholar, the model scholar, and the third scholar.

What they didn't expect was that that very night, some of these exhausted candidates were secretly sent to the Dachang Palace.

As dawn broke and the light shone on the entrance of Qin Chen Palace, Emperor Minghua summoned them.

The next day, the families of the candidates waited anxiously at the entrance of the examination hall.

Before long, the gate opened, and out came not the examinees, but the people who posted the results.

They hung up the notice in front of everyone.

Then, someone spotted Ayu at the front of the crowd, smiled and bowed to her, saying, "Congratulations, Miss Scholar! Your fiancé has become the top scholar!"

"Huh?" Ayu didn't even react.

"So fast?" Hua Rou raised her voice. "You finished grading the exams and even decided on the top three overnight?!"

(End of this chapter)