Prime Minister.

Chapter 71 070 [Preparing for a Rainy Day]

When Xue Huai came out of the palace, he heard from the eunuch who was leading the way that Qin Zhang, Cao Xuan and six other sons of noble families had been beaten badly.

The eunuch was quite eloquent, describing Qin Zhang and the others' miserable condition in great detail, such as their skin being torn open and their flesh dripping with blood, and that they would have to stay in bed for at least a few months to recover.

Xue Huai remained unmoved.

He felt no remorse for Qin Zhang, a domineering son of a powerful family, but he was not particularly excited either, because he was merely using Qin Zhang to achieve his goals. However, his little scheme could not escape the emperor's notice.

It can only be said that he still appeared quite naive in front of the emperor.

Xue Huai was not one to easily get caught up in internal conflicts. As he boarded the carriage to return, he began to reflect on the day's gains and losses.

This time he had definitely offended Marquis Qin Wanli of Zhenyuan, but Xue Huai was not worried about it. Even if he had used Qin Zhang, it was the other party who took the initiative to cause trouble, and he had already confirmed that Qin Zhang was not clean.

Given Qin Wanli's cunning and shrewdness over the years, his wisest choice would be to keep Qin Zhang in check and prevent him from provoking Xue Huai again, thus avoiding a repeat of the same fate as Xue Minglun.

As for that one in the palace...

Xue Huai frowned slightly. On the surface, the emperor was reprimanding him, but in reality, he was using this method to express his expectations for Xue Huai. This was a common tactic used by those in power to win people's hearts.

Xue Huai wouldn't let it go in one ear and out the other, but he also wouldn't consider himself a close advisor to the emperor and become complacent.

On the contrary, he became increasingly clear-headed.

The emperor's favor is not necessarily a good thing; some poisons are coated with sugar to make people lower their guard.

Back at the Xue residence, Cui, who had already learned the news, looked at Xue Huai with great heartache and repeatedly asked the doctor she had invited in advance to examine the wound on Xue Huai's forehead.

After the doctor reapplied medicine and bandaged Xue Huai, and repeatedly assured Cui that he was alright and would not leave a scar, Cui finally felt relieved and allowed him to leave. She did not forget to have the steward present him with a generous red envelope.

"Huai'er, did you hear what the doctor said just now?"

Madam Cui turned around and looked at Xue Huai, who was sitting in the armchair, and said, "You must stay at home and take good care of yourself. You are not allowed to go out anymore."

Xue Huai smiled and said, "Mother, that's exactly what I was planning to do."

Cui looked at him with suspicion, unable to discern the depth of his thoughts, and said to Mo Yun standing beside her, "These next few days you must keep a close eye on the young master. Unless summoned by the palace, he is not allowed to go out and must stay at home obediently."

Mo Yun was taken aback.

She glanced timidly at Xue Huai, thinking to herself, "I'm just a maid, how dare I interfere in the young master's affairs?"

Xue Huai nodded solemnly and said, "Alright, then let Mo Yun watch over me."

With only six days until Lunar New Year's Eve, he wanted to stay home and calm down to think about his plans for the coming year, and also to avoid the limelight.

It wasn't because of the brawl at Zhanxue Pavilion, but rather because, judging from the reactions of prominent Confucian scholars like Zheng Yuan, the poem about plum blossoms was very likely to stir up a storm.

For Xue Huai, gaining fame through the gifts of his past life was enough; there was no need to face the flattery and praise of a large group of people all day long.

After meeting the emperor, he told himself that he needed to keep a clear head at all times.

Seeing that his expression did not seem to be feigning, Cui felt relieved.

From then until New Year's Eve, Xue Huai indeed hid in his small building and became completely isolated, ignoring the changing winds and clouds outside.

Just as he had predicted, the poem about plum blossoms swept through the capital like a hurricane. Scholars and literati treasured it, and a flood of praise poured in, hailing Xue Huai as a genius in the world of poetry. Some even openly asserted that if Xue Huai could write a few more poems of similar quality, he would be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the few poets who stood at the pinnacle in the more than one hundred years of history of the Great Yan Dynasty.

The poem is being sung in brothels and taverns everywhere, and has become the hottest topic in the capital at the time.

If you ask people who Xue Huai is, most will be unfamiliar with him, but if you mention "By the Broken Bridge outside the post station", most will be able to reply with "Lonely flowers bloom without an owner".

Amid this trend, a large number of literati came to the Xue residence every day, hoping to meet Xue Huai in person and seek his guidance. Some organizers of the literary gathering in the spring of the following year also sent invitations to Xue Huai, making appointments months in advance, hoping that he would be able to attend.

Xue Huai naturally declined all offers, citing his injury as the reason.

His combined knowledge from both lifetimes was enough to handle these situations, but he understood the importance of maintaining an air of mystery; frequent exposure would only diminish outsiders' expectations of him.

As New Year's Eve approached, the area outside the Xue residence finally quieted down.

On this day, the Xue family held an ancestral worship ceremony at their ancestral hall, with Cui presiding and Xue Huai accompanying him.

With reddened eyes, Cui spoke her heart to Xue Mingzhang's portrait and recounted Xue Huai's recent outstanding performance.

Xue Huai listened from the side and couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.

During the night watch, Xue Huai chatted with Cui Shi for a long time, from Cui Shi's experiences in Yangzhou to his own plans for the future. The mother and son finally had a deep heart-to-heart talk.

The following day, the nineteenth year of Taihe arrived as promised.

Once the first month of the lunar calendar arrived, Xue Huai could no longer stay cooped up in his residence; he had to accompany Cui Shi to visit some old friends and acquaintances.

Thanks to Xue Huai's performance in the Ministry of Works' corruption case, coupled with the popularity of his poem about plum blossoms in the capital, those families treated the Cui family with exceptional respect this year, daring not to neglect them in the slightest.

Xue Huai didn't feel anything special about this. It was perfectly normal for people to look down on the lowly and flatter the high. As long as those people hadn't previously bullied the Xue family, he could still greet the various masters with a smile.

On the seventh day of the first lunar month, Xue Huai visited the Shen residence. On the eighth, he paid a visit to Lin Miao, a Hanlin Academician. On the ninth and tenth, he gathered with his colleagues from the Hanlin Academy. During the gatherings, he was naturally asked if he had any new works published recently, to which Xue Huai simply smiled and remained silent. On the twelfth, a carriage left the Xue residence, exiting Dayong Ward and heading straight for the Qinglv Villa in the northeast.

May Xue Shidu enjoy a long and prosperous New Year!

Jiang Sheng, a guard from the princess's residence, stepped forward, greeted her with a smile, and appeared quite enthusiastic.

Xue Huai nodded and said, "Brother Jiang, you've worked hard. May you enjoy good health in the new year."

He glanced to the side, and his attendant Li Shun took out a prepared red envelope and handed it to Jiang Sheng and the guards beside him.

Everyone politely declined, but Xue Huai smiled and said, "Please accept them all. This is a New Year's gift, and His Highness will not blame you."

The guards all knew that this young scholar had a good relationship with the princess, so they thanked him and accepted the gift.

Xue Huai asked Jiang Sheng to deliver the gifts he brought to the villa, and then followed Su Erniang, who came to greet him, into the depths of the courtyard.

Inside the warm pavilion of the flower hall, Jiang Li wore a bright red feathered palace dress, which added to her beauty and radiance.

Upon seeing Xue Huai enter, she smiled and said, "Oh my, isn't this 'Xiang Rugu'?"

Xue Huai pretended not to hear and cupped his hands, saying, "Your Highness has auspicious signs for the New Year. Your subject respectfully offers New Year's greetings."

Seeing his serious expression, Jiang Li could only cough lightly and say, "Reader Xue, there's no need for such formality. Please sit down."

After Xue Huai sat down, Jiang Li said again, "I thought you wouldn't come in person."

"Your Highness saved my life and has helped me on many occasions since then. How could I not come here to pay my respects?"

Xue Huai remained cautious and self-possessed.

Jiang Li smiled and said bluntly, "From now on, when we're alone, you don't need to address me as your subject anymore. Since we're going to cooperate in the long term, there's no need to be too distant."

Xue Huai agreed.

Have any new words emerged recently?

Jiang Li looked up at Xue Huai's forehead and saw that it was as smooth as ever, without any scars. Her resentment towards Qin Zhang lessened a little, but she still did not intend to let that unruly son of a military family go.

Xue Huai replied truthfully, "I have no new words. I've been busy welcoming and seeing off guests lately, so I haven't had time to think."

“You’ll be even busier from now on,” Jiang Li said with a complicated expression. “You should know about the palace’s arrangements for this year’s imperial examinations, right?”

Xue Huai nodded and said, "My teacher told me about it on the seventh day of the month."

In two months, the triennial spring imperial examination of the year Guiwei will be held.

The imperial court has made a decision: the chief examiner for the Guiwei year spring imperial examination will be Sun Yan, a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet; the vice examiner will be Yue Zhongming, the newly appointed Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites; and the coordinator will be Fan Dongyang, the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

Most of the eighteen examiners in the inner circle were from the Hanlin Academy, and Xue Huai was naturally among them.

Although the chief examiner held the highest position in the examination hall, the power of the co-examiners should not be underestimated; they had the authority to grade and select papers.

There is a crucial point here: the only way for candidates to be admitted was through the recommendation of examination papers by the co-examiners. In principle, the chief examiner only reviewed the recommended papers and had no right to review the papers that were not recommended. If a co-examiner did not recommend a certain paper, that paper would fail to be admitted.

Generally speaking, examiners do not recommend papers randomly, because they must write down the reasons for recommending the paper in their comments for future review, and they must also be subject to the review of the chief examiner.

However, when comparing two exam papers of similar quality, the examiner may be biased due to personal preference.

Sometimes, this bias may also stem from collusion of interests.

Even today, the measures to prevent cheating in the imperial examinations are very comprehensive, such as anonymizing names, locking the examination halls, and conducting searches. However, these measures still cannot completely eliminate cheating, since there are always more countermeasures than laws.

Xue Huai understood Jiang Li's implication: he wasn't a candidate for this year's imperial examination, so what was there to be busy about before entering the examination hall?

This naturally refers to his role as an examiner.

Xue Huai calmly replied, "Your Highness, I am just an ordinary examiner."

Upon hearing the word "ordinary," Jiang Li couldn't help but smile. She then tentatively asked, "If... I mean, if someone asked you to be lenient when grading papers, to select some papers containing special words and recommend them to the examiner, how would you respond?"

"Could there really be such a person?"

Xue Huai was slightly puzzled. Could there still be people in the court who didn't know his temperament and reputation?
He even dared to impeach Xue Minglun, who shared the same clan, earning him the description of being "ruthless towards even one's own family" from some officials. Under such circumstances, would anyone still dare to proactively hand over incriminating evidence to him? Weren't they afraid that he would retaliate by submitting an impeachment memorial to the emperor?
"Most people don't dare to come after you, but there will always be one or two exceptions."

Jiang Li lowered her voice and gazed into Xue Huai's eyes as she asked, "If His Highness the Crown Prince were to approach you, what would you do?"

Prince...

Xue Huai's gaze sharpened slightly.

He wasn't sure if Jiang Li had received any inside information, but what she said was indeed a possibility.

(End of this chapter)