Mad Queen Leaves the Palace

Two days later, in the Yuzhou City Lord's Mansion, Xiao Mu'an was studying in his study. After the year was over, he would prepare to go to the capital to participate in the palace examination. (This is a fictional story; the normal imperial examination should be divided into six levels: county examination, prefectural examination, academy examination, provincial examination, metropolitan examination, and palace examination.) Due to years of war, the Great Xia Kingdom only had four levels of the imperial examination. Those under ten years old could take the exam to become a child scholar; those over twelve years old could take the prefectural examination to become a scholar; and those over fourteen years old could take the exam at the Imperial Academy or take the exams at various academies. Only after obtaining a place in the academy examination could one participate in the palace examination held every three years. The palace examination was generally supervised by the emperor. The top three in the first class were named Zhuangyuan, Bangyan, and Tanhua, respectively. The top three had the opportunity to meet the emperor and be assigned official positions by him. Other first-class scholars were assigned positions by the Ministry of Revenue "at their discretion." The so-called discretion was actually about connections, so all the candidates wanted to be in the top three. Firstly, it would allow them to gain favor with the emperor, and secondly, if the emperor took a liking to them, he would directly assign them jobs, making them a protégé of the emperor, and their future careers would be smooth sailing. However, women in the Great Xia Kingdom were not allowed to serve as officials in the court, so women were prohibited from participating in all examinations. But because the Great Xia Kingdom had a tradition of male and female students studying together, each school and academy would allocate one to two-tenths of its places to women each year.

Xiao Mu'an was exceptionally intelligent from a young age. He passed the county-level imperial examination at the age of eight, became a scholar at the age of twelve, and entered Qingshan Academy at the age of fourteen, where he studied under the great Confucian scholar Du Hengshan of Shuzhou. Therefore, his parents and teachers had high hopes for him, and he worked very hard. At this time, the academy was on holiday, and he should have been resting, but he got up early every day to do morning exercises. After breakfast, he would immerse himself in his study and read books for the whole day.

Xiao Mu'an had just finished reading Lan Gongzi's poetry collection again and couldn't help but praise him: This Lan Gongzi truly deserves to be called a renowned talent in the Great Xia Dynasty. Such writing is something that ordinary people like me could never produce. Every time I read it, I gain new inspiration.

Just as he was about to put away the collection of poems by Young Master Lan, a maidservant outside the door called out loudly: "Young Master, an urgent message has arrived from Shaozhou City. Madam wants you to come to the front hall immediately."

Xiao Mu'an quickly replied: Go and write a message to my mother. I'll get ready and head over right away.

Xiao Mu'an put the book away and hurriedly went to the hall with his page, Jian Shu. He bowed to Jiang Nihuang. When Jiang Nihuang saw her son, she pointed to a thin, middle-aged man in a blue linen robe sitting below and said, "Mu'an, come and greet your Uncle Li. Uncle Li is your Uncle Lin's right-hand man. He said he was entrusted by Lan'er to deliver a message. He also said he wanted to give it to you in person."

Xiao Mu'an cupped his hands to Li Yuan and said: "Greetings, Uncle Li. I'm sorry to trouble you to make this trip. Uncle Lin used to send Uncle Zhang to deliver messages. What happened this time?"

Li Yuan stood up, bowed to Xiao Mu'an, and said, "Zhang Biao is big and heavy, certainly a good镖师 (bodyguard/escort), but for delivering messages, someone as light as me is more suitable. A horse can carry me much more easily and faster than he can carry me. My master instructed that this is urgent, requiring a return trip within five days. Zhang Biao is currently out on a mission and not in Shaozhou, so I've come instead. Miss Lan also entrusted me to deliver this message; please reply as soon as possible after reading it so I can take it back."

After saying that, he took out the leather bag and handed it to Jiang Nihuang and Xiao Mu'an.

Jiang Nihuang and Xiao Mu'an exchanged a glance. Jiang Nihuang said, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Brother Li. You should go and rest for a while. I'll give you a reply later when we have lunch together, okay?"

Li Yuan cupped his hands in greeting to Jiang Nihuang: "Very well, then I'll trouble you, Madam." He then went with the servants to the outer courtyard to rest.

Jiang Nihuang unfolded the letter to herself, her brows furrowing with each reading. She addressed Xiao Mu'an: "The two maids your sister brought with her did some dirty work at your maternal grandparents' house, almost ruining your sister's reputation. She asked your Uncle Lin to help sell the maids, planning to replace them with two martial maids. She said the outside world isn't like Yuzhou City, and it's better to have more people around. I'll find you two more people to help you later. You're working hard studying, and one person can't handle all the sword and book work. Besides, you'll be taking the palace examination next year; we can't afford any mistakes."

These were the words that Xiao Lan instructed Jiang Nihuang to say in the letter, and as expected, Xiao Mu'an did not refute them after they were spoken.

"It's all up to Mother to decide."

Jiang Nihuang thought to herself, "This son is very stubborn. If I want to discipline him, I'll have to get my daughter."

Also, your sister said that she has already asked you to do everything you asked her to do, and that you just need to reply to her after you finish reading the letter.

Although Xiao Mu'an was puzzled, he remained silent. After bowing to Jiang Nihuang, he said, "Then I will go back and write a reply to my younger sister. I will send someone to deliver it before lunch." He then headed towards his study.

Upon arriving at the study, I quickly opened the letter and found only a poem.

At dawn, amidst the profusion of flowers, tranquility reigns.

Lang Xin's old days were short.

Do not think of the willow branches swaying in the wind.

Unforgettable wine at parting

Xiao Mu'an, following the acrostic poem his siblings used to play as children, wrote the first character of the first line, the second character of the second line, the third character of the third line, and the fourth character of the fourth line, which together formed the phrase: "Xiao Xin Cui Jiu." What kind of wine is Cui Jiu? Others might not know, but Xiao Mu'an knew perfectly well. The character "Cui" was misspelled; it should clearly be "Cui" (翠). His sister had deliberately written it incorrectly to prevent him from understanding. "Cui" was a surname. The poem continued: "Cui Jiu Cui Jiu, Cui Jiu Han, be careful of Cui Jiu, be careful of Cui Jiu Han." This Cui Jiu Han had come to Qingshan Academy a couple of years ago and had met Xiao Mu'an through a classmate's introduction in the past year. After they met, Cui Jiu Han frequently sought Xiao Mu'an's help with his studies. Since they were both from Xiwu Prefecture, although one was from Yizhou City and the other from Yuzhou City, they were practically fellow townsmen. Xiao Mu'an usually didn't like to pry into other people's family affairs. All he knew was that Cui Jiuhan was a year older than him, the ninth son of the Cui family in Yizhou City, and that the Cui family was in the medicinal herb business in Xiwu Prefecture. Although their old residence was in Yizhou City, they also had a Cui family pharmacy in Yuzhou. He recalled that Cui Jiuhan had mentioned once while drinking that one of his ancestors had been imperial physicians. But he knew nothing else.

However, just a few days ago, Cui Jiuhan had sent her an invitation to a poetry gathering with fellow townsmen in three days. She had initially thought that since she was always reading, it would be good for her to get out and about. But since her sister had warned her to be careful, something must have happened. So she summoned Jian Shu and said, "Go to the Cui family pharmacy and have the manager tell their young master that he's been busy with family matters lately and hasn't had time to attend the poetry gathering. Please forgive him."

Then he wrote back to his younger sister, informing her that he had been busy lately and might not be able to attend the poetry gathering with Cui Jiu and other fellow villagers. He also mentioned that he felt his knowledge still needed improvement and that he planned to focus on his studies after returning to the academy. He said they could discuss everything in detail when he returned home for the New Year. He also reminded Xiao Lan to take care of her health. On the back of the letter, he wrote the character "寒" (han, meaning cold/cold), believing his sister would understand.

Before lunch, Jian Shu delivered the reply to Jiang Nihuang, informing her that she was busy with her teacher's assignments and needed to concentrate, so she wouldn't be coming over for lunch. If she had a personal invitation, she was to say that she had something to do at home and decline.

After lunch, Jiang Nihuang handed two replies to Li Yuan, along with five thousand-tael silver notes, saying, "Brother Li, please take these silver notes to my Lan'er as well." Li Yuan put the letters and silver notes back into his leather bag and hid them carefully. After seeing that Li Yuan had hidden the things, Jiang Nihuang had someone bring thirty taels of loose silver and a large package, handing them to Li Yuan and saying, "Brother Li, you've had a long journey. Please accept this small amount of money. Use it for lodging or buying some food along the way. That package contains tea and local specialties from Yuzhou. Please also help me take it back to the escort agency for Brother Lin and the brothers."

Li Yuan didn't want to accept the money, but Jiang Nihuang said, "Brother Li, although Brother Lin arranged for you to come, this whole trip is for my family's sake. If you don't accept it, I'll be afraid I haven't given you enough."

Unable to refuse, Li Yuan accepted the silver, thanked the man, left the Xiao residence, mounted his horse, and headed towards Shaozhou.