Do You Know?: Rule the World.

Chapter 99: Autumn Examination Results Announced, Grandson Born

As soon as he finished speaking, another gust of wind rushed into the ancestral hall, making the window frames on both sides bang.

Xiang Mama's legs felt a little weak. She believed in God, but Xiao Qinshi didn't.

"The Marquis worships the Maitreya Buddha every day in his room. Do you know what he is praying for?"

He hurriedly shook his head to his mother, "I don't know."

Little Qin sneered, "Maitreya is the future Buddha. He is praying that he and big sister can continue their relationship in the next life."

The elder Qin was named Qin Yanyun and the younger Qin was named Qin Yanxi.

As legitimate daughters of the Dongchang Marquisate, the two sisters had a very good relationship before they got married.

In terms of appearance alone, Da Qin is better, but she has been weak and sickly since childhood, just like a sick beauty.

Noble families attach the most importance to the inheritance of offspring, and no family in Bianjing is willing to marry a sickly woman as their principal wife.

Unfortunately, the small Dongchang Marquisate looked down on her, so Daqin had not married for a long time.

Since the eldest sister's marriage has not been decided yet, Xiao Qinshi naturally cannot discuss marriage before her sister.

Fortunately, Gu Yankai fell in love with Da Qin at first sight. He ignored the opposition of his elders and clan elders and insisted on marrying Da Qin.

After Da Qin came to the Gu family, she was unable to serve her mother-in-law or take care of the rear house, and she also refused to allow Gu Yan to take a concubine.

Sisters in the family always share the same fate.

Da Qin's behavior gave Xiao Qin, who was still waiting to be married, a reputation for being jealous and disrespectful to her mother-in-law.

Da Qin died of illness shortly after giving birth to Gu Tingyu. Of course, this was somewhat related to the huge deficit of the Gu family.

Although Gu Yankai married Bai for the sake of exchanging interests, over time, the two of them developed some feelings for each other.

Seeing that Bai, a merchant girl, could become the wife of Marquis Ningyuan, while no one was interested in her, the legitimate daughter of Marquis Dongchang, Xiao Qin's heart became increasingly twisted and dark.

At that time, the Dongchang Marquisate had already fallen into decline, and his brother who inherited the title had lost a lot of family property due to poor management.

The brother and sister-in-law originally planned to give Xiao Qin to Gu Yankai as a concubine, in order to cling to the support of the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion and restore the relationship between the two families.

Second, to save some money for dowry.

After Xiao Qinshi learned about this, she could neither resist her brother and sister-in-law's arrangement nor be willing to live under a merchant girl for the rest of her life.

She repeatedly found excuses to come to the Marquis' Mansion and instigate Gu Tingyu that it was Bai who killed his mother.

The Bai family was upset by this and two lives were lost.

After Bai's death, Gu Yankai regretted his decision and decided not to marry again in his life.

However, under the persistent persuasion of Marquis Dongchang and the elders of the Gu family, and for the sake of his deceased wife Da Qin, he had no choice but to agree to marry Xiao Qin as his second wife.

After marrying Gu Yankai, Xiao Qinshi also wanted to be a loving couple with him.

Gu Yankai missed Da Qin in his heart and felt guilty towards Bai, but he had no feelings for himself.

The son he gave birth to was neither as noble as the eldest son born to Daqin, nor as respected as the son born to Bai.

In her opinion, the Gu family was a blood-sucking den that ruined her life.

Only if Gu Yankai died, destroying Gu Tingye, whom he had carefully cultivated, and his own son inherited the title in the future, could he vent his anger.

"Does Dalang know about Erlang's affairs?" Xiao Qin asked softly.

He nodded to his mother and said, "I know everything."

"If there's any movement from Erlang's side, the servants we've placed there will immediately report to Dalang."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Qin slowly stood up, picked up three incense sticks, lit them with the candlelight, and said softly, "I hope Dalang can test Erlang's current strength for us first."

After saying that, she gently blew out the flame on the incense, inserted three incense sticks steadily into the incense burner, and the green smoke rose straight up.

Xiao Qinshi is best at killing people with someone else's knife.

Gu Tingyu is a man of strategy and calculation. Although he knows that Xiao Qin is using him, he firmly believes that the Gu family married Bai into the family in order to fill the deficit, which led to his mother's death.

As a member of the Gu family, he couldn't blame the Gu family and could only put all his hatred on Gu Tingye.

As for those short-sighted people in the fourth and fifth rooms, they were played around by her at her fingertips.

-

On August 9th, the middle of autumn, the autumn examination of the fourth year of Jiayou began with the fragrance of osmanthus.

Gu Tingye arrived outside the Imperial Examination Hall early, and Duke Qi and Princess Pingning came together to send Qi Heng into the examination room.

The servants were carrying examination baskets, food boxes, and towels, and lined up in a mighty procession.

Hanlin Lane, Zhao Mansion, early this morning.

Hualan specially set up an incense table, lit three incense sticks with her own hands, and bowed down to the statue of Emperor Wenchang, praying that Changbai and Changfeng would be able to win the first prize.

Although she also disliked Lin Qinshuang's behavior, Changfeng was the blood of the Sheng family after all.

If he could really pass the imperial examination, it would be icing on the cake for the Sheng family.

Gu Yankai, who was far away in the northwest, bowed left and right to the statue at dawn.

After a moment, he stood up, rubbed his hands, his eyes gleaming, "Brother, your daughter reached marriage last year. If my Erlang can pass the high school entrance examination, why not..."

Before he could finish his words, Zhang Fu ruthlessly interrupted him, "Absolutely impossible! Give up this idea right now!"

"Your devil is really thinking about my girl?"

Gu Yan laughed heartily twice, still unwilling to give up, saying, "What young man doesn't have his moments of absurdity? My Erlang has reformed himself now. I think he will definitely pass the Autumn Examination."

Zhang Fu put down the teacup and saw that there was no one around, looking at him meaningfully.

"To be honest, I think my daughter has probably been chosen by an official."

"Last year, during my coming-of-age ceremony, the emperor sent a lot of gifts. When I brought Fen'er to the palace to express my gratitude, the emperor said a lot of confusing things."

"I didn't take it seriously at first, but now the more I think about it, the more I feel that the emperor probably intended for Fen'er to marry His Highness in the future."

Hearing this, Gu Yankai couldn't help but take a deep breath, "In that case, I'd better take a look at the women of other families later."

In early September, the results of the autumn imperial examinations were announced. Gu Tingye and Qi Heng were both on the list, and ranked among the top.

Princess Pingning was extremely happy, and that day she had people set off firecrackers for ten miles and distributed porridge to celebrate.

On Zhao Han's side, Hualan is about to give birth, and the emperor and Empress Cao attach great importance to it.

The imperial physicians were sent repeatedly to diagnose the patient's pulse, and all kinds of precious supplements were sent to the Zhao Mansion like water.

Six midwives with rich experience, clean family backgrounds and good conduct were arranged to come to the Zhao Mansion early on.

If the Eastern Palace was not still under renovation, he would have wanted to bring Hualan directly to the palace to give birth.

That morning, Cai Huan, Wang Ruofu's first-class maid, hurried to the Zhao residence and politely bowed, saying, "Greetings, Your Highness, and Madam."

Hua Lan was taking a nap on the couch. Hearing this, she looked up and asked, "Did Changbai send someone back with the news?"

Caihuan nodded vigorously, a bright smile blooming on her face.

"To answer Madam, my second brother passed the imperial examination and ranked among the top three in Jiangning Prefecture!"

"Your Highness, this is great! Changbai has lived up to our expectations!"

Hua Lan turned her head to look at Zhao Han. A huge weight lifted off her shoulders and she couldn't help but let out a long breath.

Zhao Han said gently, "I've already told you that with Changbai's knowledge, he'll definitely make the list, but you're just worried."

Hua Lan snorted softly, then turned her attention to Cai Huan again and asked, "What about Chang Feng?"

When she mentioned Chang Feng, Cai Huan's tone immediately changed, and she curled her lips, "Third brother is lucky. Although he is at the bottom of the list, he still made it to the list."

"Mrs. Lin is so happy!"

Both of her two younger brothers were on the list, which made Hualan's face even happier.

Just as she was about to speak, she felt a pain in her stomach and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.

"Your Highness..." Hua Lan called out reluctantly.

Seeing this, Zhao Han, who was always calm and composed, hurried forward to support Hua Lan and shouted, "Call the midwife!"

Soon, six well-trained midwives came in one after another and moved Hualan to the delivery room.

The eldest, Madam Li, leaned over to examine her and said calmly, "The Madam is about to give birth. Hurry and report to the palace!"

After Shang's mother went to report the news, Zhao Han was also asked to leave.

Caihuan stood outside at a loss, planning to wait until Hualan gave birth before returning to the Sheng family to announce the good news.

Shulan rushed over after hearing the news and saw Zhao Han standing in the corridor pacing back and forth with a frown on his face.

She softly comforted him, "Your Highness, don't worry. The imperial physician said that the pregnancy is stable and the delivery will be smooth."

Looking at Shulan's pretty face, Zhao Han nodded reluctantly, but the worry between his brows did not diminish at all.

Since ancient times, giving birth has been like walking through the gates of hell for women, let alone at this moment.

The Imperial Palace, inside the Funing Hall.

When Zhao Zhen and Queen Cao learned about this, they were both excited and worried, because this was the first imperial grandson of the Great Zhou.

Empress Cao, dressed in a crimson-purple palace dress, stood up and looked at Zhao Zhen with anxious eyes.

"Your Majesty, I want to leave the palace to see Hualan!"

"Daddy, I want to go with the Empress Dowager too!" Huirou raised her little face and echoed.

Zhao Zhen raised his eyes, his gaze gentle and deep, "Okay, go, go!"

He also wanted to personally witness the birth of the emperor's grandson, but as an official, leaving the palace rashly would alarm the court and the public.

At the Zhao Mansion, when Zhao Han saw Empress Cao and Huirou rushing over, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

"Your Highness, how are you?" Zhao Han bowed.

Empress Cao reached out to support him and asked anxiously, "How is Hualan?"

"The midwife just said that it will inevitably take a little longer for a woman to give birth for the first time."

Empress Cao nodded and stood guard in the corridor with Zhao Han, while Huirou stood on tiptoe and looked inside through the window from time to time.

About half an incense stick of time later, a loud baby cry suddenly came from the inner room, breaking the solemn atmosphere around.

Then the midwife pushed the door open and came out with excitement on her face.

"Congratulations, Madam Queen, congratulations, His Highness, it's a healthy grandson!"

"How is Hua'er?" Zhao Han asked impatiently.

The midwife bowed and replied, "Your Highness, don't worry. The lady is fine. She will be fine after a few days of recuperation."

"Quick, let me in and take a look!"

Empress Cao could hardly contain her joy and stepped into the house impatiently.

After Caihuan hurriedly bowed to everyone, she ran back to the Sheng family to announce the good news.

Inside the room, Hualan was lying on the couch with a slightly pale face. When she saw Queen Cao, she was somewhat surprised and struggled to stand up and salute.

"Don't move, just lie down and rest."

Empress Cao sat down beside the couch, reached out to take the swaddling clothes handed to her by the nanny, and skillfully held the child in her arms.

Looking at the delicate and graceful grandson, she couldn't help but smile. Huirou said with joy in her eyes: "Thank you for your hard work, sister-in-law. I have a little nephew now!"

"Han'er, come and take a look too." Queen Cao turned her head and looked at Zhao Han.

After Zhao Han looked at Hua Lan with eyes full of heartache, he took the swaddling clothes with very stiff movements and was quite nervous.

Empress Cao couldn't help laughing when she saw this.

Zhao Han stared at the baby in her arms, her voice trembling, "Hua'er, this is our first child."

Hua Lan smiled when she heard this, and a blush appeared on her pale face.

(End of this chapter)