The Marquise: I Earn My Own Worship

On March 29th of the 17th year of Mingde, Concubine Shu behaved improperly in front of the palace. The emperor was furious and demoted Concubine Shu to Concubine Shu, fined her salary and confined her to house arrest for one year.

"Bitch, bitch Ning, how dare she?! I am the biological mother of the prince and the elder sister of the Right Prime Minister, and she, the daughter of a fifth-rank official, dares to ride on my neck and act wildly. Ah!"

"boom!"

In Yushu Palace, Concubine Shu swept everything on the dressing table to the ground. Still not satisfied, she grabbed a blue and white glazed vase beside her and smashed it at the door.

The palace maids who were kneeling on the ground in the palace all lay on the ground and dared not make a sound. Some palace maids who were scratched by the fragments could only endure the pain and did not dare to move even a little.

On the other side, when Concubine Ning heard that Concubine Shu had smashed everything in the palace, she sneered disdainfully, saying that she deserved it.

Let her spread rumors that my son won’t live long, and your son won’t live long either.

My son lives a long life, and your son will ascend to heaven if he rebels!

Just a despised prince and concubine.

Concubine Ning has been in the palace for eleven years and has been in great favor ever since then. She can probably guess what the Emperor of Chu is thinking.

Adult tigers will drive away the old leader.

There is only one supreme position between a son in his prime and an old father in good health.

However, this plan was doomed to fail, after all, the emperor was in good health.

But no one can tell what will happen in the future. It would be great if your son were in better health.

But now, she doesn't want her son to worry and trouble himself, and she will be satisfied as long as he stays with her for a long time.

The favorite concubine's son has always been a thorn in the eyes of others. Only someone on her side can sit in that seat. She has to make good plans for herself and Ling'er.

Soon, on April 25th, the palace examination began. Three hundred candidates, including Duan Jing'an, entered the Jiying Hall from the Zhengkun Gate. They had only one chance to walk along this avenue in their lifetime.

After walking out of this door again, they are the so-called disciples of the emperor.

Everyone's face was extremely solemn, as if they had studied hard for ten years just for this day.

There is an official outside Zhengkun Gate who distributes numbers. The candidates must first ask for their numbers and can only enter with their numbers. If they lose their numbers, they cannot enter.

After receiving the number paper, Duan Jing'an put it into his left sleeve and walked towards the team.

While walking along the way, one of the candidates suddenly exclaimed:

"Oh no! Where's my number paper? What should I do? Did I lose it? Have you seen a number paper?"

The candidate looked panicked and looked around anxiously for his number paper, even pulling other candidates next to him.

The supervisor who led the way turned around and saw this scene, but he looked as if he was used to it. He just winked at the young eunuch beside him.

The young eunuch came forward with a very gentle tone.

"Don't worry, Mr. Gongshi. You might as well look for it on the way back. Maybe you dropped it accidentally. I can accompany you there. Is that okay?"

Hearing this, the candidate's face was still very anxious, but he could only nod helplessly.

Then he followed the young eunuch and walked back the way he came.

The supervisor beside him turned around without hesitation and continued to move forward, leaving the candidates where they were.

At this time, a candidate asked with a puzzled look on his face:

"Sir, shouldn't we wait for him?"

The supervisor turned around upon hearing the voice, a smile on his face. He knew that among these tribute students there might be future rising stars in the court, so he naturally had to serve them with a friendly attitude.

However, the next words that came out of the mouth of the supervisor were like a bucket of cold water poured over everyone's heads, chilling them to the bone.

"To all the candidates, let me make it clear that every year during the palace examination, some people lose their ticket. Previously, at Zhengkun Gate, I repeatedly warned you to take good care of your ticket, but there are always people who lose it. In such cases, you can only wait until the next palace examination. So, please check again to see if your ticket is still there. If you accidentally lost it, go back and look for it."

No wonder, the 300 tribute scholars were divided into three rows, but there were still two extra people, who were the Jinshi in the 14th year of Mingde.

When Duan Jing'an was calling for numbers, he noticed that two people behaved differently from ordinary people. They had mysterious expressions and would touch their waists whenever someone passed by them.

Duan Jing'an was secretly cautious and moved his number paper from his left sleeve to his chest. As expected, when he was entering the queue, someone deliberately brushed past him and then pretended to accidentally bump into his left arm.

The person who had just lost his number paper was standing in front of him on the left. Duan Jing'an was so frightened that his heart was beating rapidly and there was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.

It was not until he arrived in front of the Jiying Hall that he felt a little relieved. He looked at the huge blue screen in front of the hall, which listed the locations of the number distribution.

While queuing, he took out the intact number paper placed on his chest and handed it to the chief supervisor beside him before entering the hall.

After everyone was seated and Chen Zheng closed the palace door, Duan Jing'an sat a little further back. Looking around, he found three seats vacant. It seemed that they would not be able to take the palace examination this year.

The bell in the hall rang three times, and the Emperor of Chu appeared. He walked up and sat in the seat at the top of the hall, looking at the three hundred tribute scholars in the hall.

As soon as the Emperor of Chu entered the hall, everyone knelt down to pay their respects.

"My dear ministers, please stand up." The Emperor of Chu raised his hand, and there was a burst of thanks from below.

"This palace examination is intended to select talents for the country. You are all the elites of our Great Chu. You should do your best and do not disappoint me."

The Emperor of Chu looked around at everyone, and then officially announced the start of the palace examination. Each candidate was given a desk with white paper, ink and pen on it.

The examiner is responsible for distributing the test papers. After distribution, the candidates are required to copy the questions on the answer sheet and then tie the original test paper to the side of their arm to prevent it from being contaminated.

Duan Jing'an took a quick glance and felt more confident. He prepared thoroughly and started writing.

The King of Chu began to feel bored as he sat there for a while, so he stood up and walked around the hall, or stopped to look around.

Every time he stopped beside a candidate, the candidate being noticed would become stiff and his mind would go blank, and some would even forget how to write when they picked up the pen.

The King of Chu felt bored and left, then stopped beside a column at the back.

Unfortunately, this was exactly where Duan Jing'an was, but Duan Jing'an was lucky. He was so engrossed in writing that he didn't even notice the changes around him.

Seeing that this man was quite steady, the King of Chu couldn't help but look at him a few more times out of curiosity.

I glanced at the name, Duan Jing'an, the fourth child of the Duan family.

The decree stated: "A capable person for a country must possess the talent to govern and the strategies to support the ruler. Good strategies include... There are those who are upright and honest, whose father steals sheep, and whose son bears witness to their deeds. ...And there is a principle in human relations: a father conceals for his son, and a son conceals for his father... New nobles, please feel free to share your good strategies. I will personally review them."

This was an imperial question related to a criminal law policy essay. Duan Jing'an knew what he was going to write from the beginning, and he wanted to take a bold gamble.

The King of Chu saw the person in front of him write in his pen: "Law is the most important... human relations are second. If a country is governed by law, its national power will be established."

Even after Duan Jing'an finished writing, the Emperor of Chu still felt unsatisfied. He said that the younger generation of the Duan family was incompetent. He didn't even know who spread the rumor.

Duan Jing'an only discovered the Emperor of Chu at this moment, and was immediately frightened and broke out in a cold sweat.

Seeing his originally relaxed and light-hearted posture suddenly become stiff, Emperor Chu felt a little amused. Is he so scary?

But he also knew that if he stayed any longer, this kid would probably not be in the mood to answer the questions, so he would just leave with a flick of his sleeves.

Duan Jing'an listened to the footsteps gradually fading away, and slowly relaxed. He carefully checked for any typos or omissions so that he could copy them onto the answer sheet later.