The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Sun Jiaojiao's husband is a scholar who has passed the imperial examinations and is currently preparing for the next year's examinations.

Upon hearing the news, I was not angry at all; on the contrary, I was very happy.

He didn't expect the restaurant to make money, but he hoped that by building a closer relationship with the Han family through the restaurant, it would be helpful for his future career, whether in the imperial examinations or in his official career.

It even greatly helped his father's career.

This kind of thinking is normal.

It would be abnormal if officials or their children didn't have this kind of thinking.

Even if one has the talent and learning, it is difficult to pass the imperial examination without the approval of the examiners after years of hard study.

After the Juren (successful candidate in the provincial examination), there is the Jinshi (successful candidate in the imperial examination).

It can be said that every step is a step to the top.

Many veteran scholars, who had taken the imperial examinations for decades, may have initially harbored patriotic aspirations.

But decades of failing the exams had worn down his spirit.

At this point, if the examiner selects his chosen candidate, they will be like a second parent to him.

Once you enter officialdom, you become the examiner's student, steadfastly following him and doing whatever he asks.

At that moment, he no longer cared about the lives of the common people. He no longer cared about the emperor; his heart and mind were filled with repaying the examiner's kindness in recognizing his talent.

There are countless candidates like this, and many of them even rely on connections and networks from the very beginning to get through the process smoothly.

this is the truth.

Therefore, it is perfectly normal for Sun Jiaojiao's husband to have such thoughts.

This is the current state of affairs in officialdom; as the saying goes, if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too.

The root of it all lies with Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe and his associates.

"Yes, it's opening tomorrow. We'll have a lot of our family members coming, and we can't leave anyone out."

Sun Jiaojiao said with a proud expression.

She looked down on this husband.

After all, compared to Zhou Chu, she couldn't compare in any way except for her family background.

His supposedly superior talent was far inferior to Zhou Chu's.

However, Sun Jiaojiao had no choice.

She was four years older than Zhou Chu.

Age alone makes it impossible, not to mention the mismatch in social status.

Sometimes Sun Jiaojiao envied Chu Li for being able to stay unmarried until now.

However, now that Sun Jiaojiao has married into the family, although she doesn't like her husband, she won't cause any trouble.

She had excellent upbringing from a young age. Although she had a bad temper, she was straightforward. In addition, her mother-in-law was weak-willed, so she often had to rely on Sun Jiaojiao for support when she was out.

As a result, Sun Jiaojiao's status in her husband's family rose sharply.

She's already showing signs of becoming the matriarch of the household.

"We absolutely have to go."

Sun Jiaojiao's husband hurriedly assured her.

Many officials received invitations to their homes.

Everyone thinks that Minister Han is not very bright, or that his daughter is not very bright.

"Opening a restaurant and partnering with someone? Isn't that a joke?"

"Exactly, it's just a run-down restaurant. They opened it, and now there are four or five people as partners. How can they possibly make any money?"

Several officials were together, drinking and laughing.

"It doesn't matter, we're all colleagues, I'll just go and show my support tomorrow."

"If you're going to open one, open a shop. Restaurants are too busy and don't make as much money."

"Yes."

Regardless of what others thought, the restaurant opened as scheduled.

Sun Jiaojiao and the others arrived at the restaurant early, their faces full of excitement.

Zhou Chu then instructed that firecrackers be set off on the sixth day of the lunar new year.

In addition, Zhou Chu also hired a lion dance troupe, who played drums and gongs, creating a grand spectacle.

The first person to arrive surprised Zhou Chu.

It turned out to be Yan Song, whom we haven't seen in a long time.

Zhou Chu has been paying attention to Yan Song recently.

After traveling around, he returned to the court as an official and became the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, a third-rank official.

Compared to ten years ago, this is considered a promotion.

But Zhou Chu knew very well that the so-called Imperial Academy Chancellor was just a figurehead; the purpose of this official position was to advise the monarch.

Given Zhu Houzhao's unreliable character, Yan Song would likely have wasted two more years in this position.

“Hengqi, I’ve been busy ever since we parted ways that day. I heard you were opening a restaurant a couple of days ago, so I came over here.”