The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 526 Accompanying the king is like accompanying a tiger

In the Southern Study, Emperor Qiansheng looked at the list of successful candidates for the new imperial examination. He saw the name "Jia Huan" written at the top of the list, and he couldn't help but frown. He didn't like the people of the old noble group in the first place. Recently, because of Jia She and Jia Zhen, he hated people with the last name Jia even more. He said calmly, "It's this Jia Huan again. I remember that the champion of the Nanzhili provincial examination was also Jia Huan, right?"

Xiao Huaijin, the eunuch in charge of writing at the Imperial Household Department who had been standing by, laughed shrilly and said, "Your Majesty, remember correctly. This Jia Huan was not only the first place winner in the Nanzhili County Examination, but also the third place winner in the Boy's Examination. This time he won the First Place in the Imperial Examination as well. Oh, this is truly incredible. Not to mention our dynasty, there has never been such a person since ancient times. He is truly a child prodigy that only appears once in a thousand years. If he wins the first place in the Palace Examination again, he will be the sixth place winner, unprecedented and unparalleled."

"Unprecedented?" Emperor Qiansheng's eyes seemed to flash with a hint of teasing, and he suddenly asked, "Has this boy joined the Donglin Academy?"

Eunuch Xiao was startled and said cautiously, "I'm not sure about this."

"Go and call Yi Hong." Emperor Qiansheng ordered.

Soon, Yi Hong, the commander of the Imperial Guard, arrived and almost slid to his knees in front of the imperial desk, bowed his head and said, "Your Highness, I pay my respects to you, Your Majesty."

Emperor Qiansheng nodded and said calmly, "Get up. I want to ask you, has this Jia Huan joined the Donglin Academy?"

Seeing that Emperor Qiansheng suddenly asked about Jia Huan and also mentioned Donglin Academy, Yi Hong's mind raced and he answered carefully, "As far as I know, the headmaster of Donglin Academy, Gu Xiancheng, did invite Jia Huan, but he ended up joining Diecui Academy."

Emperor Qiansheng smiled as if to say, "It seems that the Jia family is not full of good-for-nothings. By the way, is the Seventh Brother still in contact with Jia Huan?"

"The Seventh Prince has met Jia Huan three times recently. They are now working together on a business deal, and the investment is quite large." Yi Hong answered truthfully.

Emperor Qiansheng frowned again: "What deal?"

Ever since he learned that the crown prince had connections with external officials and was involved in the illegal profiteering of smuggled salt, he has been very disgusted with this kind of money-making behavior. Now the crown prince is still under house arrest, and all the former ministers of the East Palace have been dismissed, some have been demoted, some have been dismissed, and some have been transferred.

Yi Hong observed the expression on his face and became more cautious. He answered carefully, "Honeycomb coal."

"Is it the kind of coal cakes that have just appeared recently? Could it be that this thing was also made by Jia Huan?"

Yi Hong said: "It is him without a doubt."

Emperor Qiansheng said angrily, "This kid has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. A few years ago, he made some kind of ice cream. It tastes good, but eating too much will make you fat. The obesity of the seventh child is closely related to him."

Upon hearing this, Yi Hong thought that Jia Huan was in trouble. Although you are smart and talented, you didn't use your intelligence in the right place this time. You even angered the emperor. You are finished now!
Although Yi Hong and Jia Huan had a "brief friendship", it was far from the point of being stabbed in the back, so he followed the tone of Emperor Qiansheng and said: "This kid is a little clever and likes to make trouble. He is obviously a scholar, but he loves money and is keen on the profits of merchants. The reason why he brought the Seventh Prince into the group is probably to find a backer to make money safely."

Emperor Qiansheng sneered, "This boy has won the third place in the boy's examination, the first place in the provincial examination, and the first place in the imperial examination. It's not something that can be achieved by just being clever."

Yi Hong was surprised when he heard this. It turned out that Jia Huan had won the first place in this imperial examination again. Wow.

At this time, Emperor Qiansheng said again: "However, it is better for such outstanding talents to love money. I don't like those who have extraordinary abilities but don't love money."

Yi Hong lowered his head and dared not answer, while secretly guessing the real intention of Emperor Qiansheng. Emperor Qiansheng glanced at him coldly and asked, "How much money did the seventh brother invest this time?"

"Fifty thousand taels, a fifty percent stake!"

Emperor Qiansheng was stunned for a moment. He obviously didn't expect that his cowardly, fat son would play such a big game. His face darkened and he said angrily, "Fifty thousand taels only represents 50% of the shares. Jia Huan is really calculating."

"Your Majesty, you don't know that although honeycomb coal is cheap, if you monopolize it, the profit will be huge. In the capital alone, the profit will be 300,000 taels a year. Even if you only occupy 10% of the market, you will still make 30,000 taels a year."

Emperor Qiansheng was stunned again. This thing was so profitable, so an investment of 50,000 taels was not too much and the investment would be recovered in a few years. It was obvious that Jia Huan did not take advantage of the Seventh Brother. However... this Seventh Brother was too useless.

In the eyes of Emperor Qiansheng, although Jia Huan did not take advantage of the Seventh Prince, he did not suffer any loss either. If it were him, he would never allow Jia Huan to monopolize 50% of the shares. What virtue and ability did this kid have? How dare he share the same power with the prince? It was because the Seventh Prince was cowardly and easy to talk to.

Yi Hong guessed the emperor's intention and immediately revealed his hawkish face. He grinned and said, "As long as the emperor orders, I will find a way to make Jia Huan give up the other 50% of his shares."

Emperor Qiansheng hesitated for a moment, waved his hand and said, "That's not necessary. I am not so petty as to give up a few tens of thousands of taels of silver. But Jia Huan is so shrewd that I can't help but worry that the Seventh Prince will be fooled by him." Yi Hong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he had made some personal investments in Jia Huan, and this kid always seemed to bring him good luck. Since the emperor didn't want to touch this kid, that was the best. He smiled and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I have sent people to keep an eye on him. If Jia Huan dares to bully the Seventh Prince, he will be punished."

Emperor Qiansheng waved his hand and said calmly: "Back off!"

Yi Hong hurriedly bowed and left the Southern Study, but his mind became active. The emperor suddenly summoned him and specifically asked whether Jia Huan had joined the Donglin Academy. It was obviously because Jia Huan took the first place in this joint examination, and the chief examiner of this examination happened to be Hanlin scholar Zhao Mingcheng.

Thinking of this, Yi Hong couldn't help but feel something in his heart. He was cunning and suspicious by nature, and was also a veteran in the officialdom with rich experience, so he immediately smelled something unusual.

Zhao Mingcheng, as the leader of the Donglin faction, was fostered by the emperor. He was the emperor's trusted adviser and literary advisor, and was undoubtedly deeply favored by the emperor. However, some time ago, the Donglin faction went too far. Not only did they use the case of reselling salt permits to attack the old royal faction, they also took the opportunity to exclude dissidents and place people to strengthen their own power. This obviously caused the emperor's dissatisfaction.

This time Jia Huan won the first place in the imperial examination. The emperor probably suspected that Zhao Mingcheng was manipulating things behind the scenes, so he specially asked him whether Jia Huan had joined the Donglin Academy. It can be seen that the emperor no longer trusts Zhao Mingcheng unconditionally as before. Fortunately, Jia Huan did not join the Donglin Academy, otherwise not only Jia Huan would be in trouble, but Zhao Mingcheng would also be in trouble. It can be seen that the saying "serving the emperor is like serving a tiger" is no joke!
When Yi Hong thought about this, he felt a chill in his heart. From then on, he would be more cautious and tread carefully as if he was walking on thin ice.

After Yi Hong left the Southern Study, Emperor Qiansheng picked up the list of successful candidates again and said jokingly, "Even if you are a rare child prodigy, you can't escape my control. Can you get the sixth place? I have the final say!"

…………

The first day of March is the day when the results of the imperial examination are announced. Early in the morning, the candidates rush to the Ministry of Rites, because according to convention, the list of successful candidates in the imperial examination will be announced on the notice board outside the Ministry of Rites. Since March is the Osmanthus Festival when apricot flowers are in full bloom, it is also called the Apricot List. All successful candidates will obtain the status of Gongshi and can participate in the subsequent palace examination.

Since the palace examination was presided over by the emperor himself and no one was demoted but only the ranking was re-determined, in other words, as long as the candidate passed the joint examination, he would be a quasi-Jinshi and only needed to take part in the palace examination. No matter whether he performed well or not, he could obtain the title of Jinshi and then become an official.

In short, as long as you pass the joint examination, it is basically equivalent to passing the imperial examination, and from then on you can enjoy the fruits of your hard work with peace of mind.

Therefore, at this moment, thousands of candidates were waiting outside the Ministry of Rites with hope and anxiety for the announcement of the results, and Zhang Pu and others were among them.

The twelve Diecui Academy examinees, led by Liu Yi, were all present, except Jia Huan. Li Baidu could not help but complain, "Student Jia is so calm, but he is not here yet. Is this kid not coming?"

Zhang Zhilong laughed and said, "It's not surprising that Ziming didn't come. He is a sure thing anyway. He might be sleeping in with his beautiful maid. The cardamom flowers are in full bloom on March 3rd, and a bug is trying to get in. Wow, it's so beautiful. I would be too lazy to get up early in the morning and wait for him."

"Bah, he deserves to die even more!" Everyone couldn't help but laugh and curse.

At this moment, Lu Xiangsheng suddenly pointed and said, "Ziming is here!"

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed and saw Jia Huan getting off a carriage. They waved their hands and shouted, "Ziming, this way!"

Jia Huan also waved his hand to indicate that he saw it, but there were too many candidates looking at the list, and he finally squeezed in next to the crowd under the cover of Shitou and Mu Ye.

Li Baidu smiled and said, "We thought that classmate Jia would not come. Zhang Rugui was just framing you. Do you know what he said... I..."

Zhang Zhilong covered Li Baidu's mouth with his hand. Jia Huan smiled and said, "A dog's mouth can't spit out ivory. It must not be a good thing."

"Haha, Ziming still understands me!" Zhang Zhilong said shamelessly.

Everyone burst into laughter, and immediately attracted the attention of everyone around. Zhang Pu and others happened to be standing nearby and looked over. Jia Huan made eye contact and nodded calmly. Zhang Pu nodded back and smiled, but he secretly clenched his fists.

As mentioned in the previous article, Zhang Pu was not willing to lag behind others. He even intended to recruit Jia Huan to join the society as a younger brother. Later, he found that Jia Huan was not easy to manipulate, so he decisively gave up and even developed a competitive spirit.

To be honest, Zhang Pu was somewhat dissatisfied with the fact that Jia Huan won the first place in the last Nanzhili provincial examination. So he was determined to make a comeback in this examination. Even if he could not get the first place, he would at least have a higher ranking than Jia Huan.

Moreover, Zhang Pu was quite confident this time. After all, the dean had given him special lessons before the exam, and he had predicted many of the test questions. He thought he did quite well.

(End of this chapter)