Poet Immortal, Poet Sage, Duke of the State!

When Chen Chang'an returned to the Zhuangyuan Mansion, the maids had already prepared the meal.

Gong Yue's choice of maids is reliable. The four maids, Baoqin, Siqi, Linshu, and Shihua, not only manage the household affairs in an orderly manner, but also have excellent cooking skills. Each of the maids has several signature dishes.

Moreover, Chen Chang'an unexpectedly discovered that their names were not chosen randomly.

Baoqin really knows how to play the zither, although he doesn't play as well as Qingcheng, he's still quite good.

Although Siqi's chess skills were not as good as those of the top chess players in Yan, they were still better than those of her uncle, Gong.

She has beautiful handwriting; all the couplets for the Lunar New Year in her family were written by her.

Shi Hua's painting skills are superb. Chen Chang'an has seen her landscape paintings, which are of a quality that can be sold directly for money.

The maids in the manor each possess unique skills, and it's a mystery why they ended up as maids.

Chen Chang'an asked them, and they only said that they were children from poor families. After being sold to a brokerage firm by their parents, the brokers saw that they were very beautiful, so they selected them and trained them separately before selling them to wealthy families at high prices.

That's true. The most ordinary maids, without beauty or talent, usually only earn a few taels of silver.

In years of famine, a few pounds of rice might be enough to buy a maid.

However, maids who are beautiful and talented can easily sell for hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver.

Chen Chang'an was eating when he heard Qing Shuang's voice.

"That bastard Dou Wenhuan is going too far. He used to make me recite texts, and when I couldn't, he would slap my hands and not let me go home for dinner. Now he's making me recite texts again..."

Before Qing Shuang arrived, her voice preceded her.

Princess Zhaoyue followed behind her, and the two entered the courtyard one after the other.

Surprised by their excellent information, Chen Chang'an put down his chopsticks and asked with amusement, "He taught you?"

Qing Shuang put her hands on her hips and said indignantly, "He used to be a teacher at the official school, teaching the children of high-ranking officials. He made us memorize classical Chinese all day long. If we made a mistake or couldn't memorize it, he would slap our hands in public..."

Chen Chang'an couldn't believe Qing Shuang's reading habits, and said with a smile, "You must have gotten your hands slapped the most times..."

Qing Shuang puffed out her cheeks, still holding a grudge about what happened before. She snorted and said, "Hmph, but he didn't get away with it either. Once, he hit my palm really hard, and I got so angry that I beat him up in return..."

Chen Chang'an was surprised that Qing Shuang had such achievements even as a child, truly deserving of the title "Little Witch," and asked casually, "And then?"

Qing Shuang shrugged, looking nonchalant, and said, "Then I got expelled from the official school..."

She spoke of it very casually, as if dropping out of the official school was a very remarkable thing.

Chen Chang'an smiled. This sounded exactly like something Qing Shuang would do.

Qing Shuang clenched her fist and said, "This person is serious, rigid, and petty. He likes to beat and punish students. You should beat him up so he won't dare to bully you!"

Chen Chang'an shook his head and smiled. There is a certain difference between refusing his superior's unreasonable request and publicly assaulting a cabinet minister.

Princess Zhaoyue, standing to the side, was not as agitated as Qingshuang. Her expression remained calm. She looked at Chen Chang'an and said calmly, "Grand Scholar Dou is pedantic and rigid, and somewhat stubborn. However, as long as you stand upright, you have nothing to fear from him. As the Grand Academician, he does have the power to evaluate the officials in the academy and determine their annual performance, but he does not have the power to dismiss anyone arbitrarily."

She hesitated for a moment before speaking again: "The worst outcome would be an unsatisfactory performance review at the end of the year, but you can still request the court to review it. If that doesn't work, you can also ask His Majesty to transfer you out of the Hanlin Academy ahead of schedule..."

"Need not."

Chen Chang'an rarely runs away without a fight; no matter what tricks the opponent has up their sleeve, he will accept them.

Chen Chang'an did not want to provoke anyone. When he first entered the Hanlin Academy, he was quite polite and respectful to the head scholar.

But since the other party didn't appreciate it, Chen Chang'an naturally had to give him a little taste of his own medicine on the first day.

After finishing his meal and seeing off Qing Shuang and Gong Yue, Chen Chang'an did not practice his martial arts but went to the Chang Le Opera House.

The Chang Le Opera House is no longer the dilapidated shed it once was. The entire opera house has been renovated, and the small courtyards next to it have been rented out by the actors.

As Chen Chang'an entered the backstage area of ​​the theater, Master Liu and others immediately came forward to greet him respectfully, saying, "Young Master, you've arrived..."

To the people of Daning, Chen Chang'an was a great hero who won two cities for the country.

For these actors, Chen Chang'an was not only a national hero, but also a benefactor who changed their lives and gave them food to eat...

……

A night passes in the blink of an eye.

The next morning, all the officials went to court as usual.

Chen Chang'an, still dressed in a blue satin official robe, calmly walked into the palace, arrived at the Hanlin Academy, and sat down in his duty room.

Inside the Hanlin Academy, all was calm, as if the conflict from yesterday had never occurred.

But the officials were curious about how things would develop.

The head of the academy is currently attending the morning court session, and judging from his past behavior, he probably won't let this matter rest.

The waters within the Hanlin Academy remained calm, but after a morning, the people of the capital were in an uproar.

The story of how Dou Wenhuan, the head of the Hanlin Academy, made things difficult for the top scholar on his first day in office was only circulating among officials in the court yesterday.

This morning, someone leaked the story, and in a very short time, it spread throughout the streets and alleys of the capital, reaching the ears of the people.

From the major theaters where crowds gathered, to the streets and alleys, to the markets and market stalls, people everywhere were discussing the matter, and public sentiment was extremely high...

The repeated provocations by the Yan Kingdom have ignited the patriotic fervor of the people, and have also made Chen Chang'an's prestige among the people of Daning reach an unprecedented height.

First, he outshone the Yan delegation with his literary talent; then, he brought glory to the country in the palace examination; next, he defeated the Yan chess player; and finally, he turned the tide at the grand court assembly…

It can be said that since the founding of the Great Ning Kingdom, no subject has ever enjoyed the prestige that Chen Chang'an has today.

To ordinary people, he is not only a once-in-a-century genius, but also a young hero who brought glory to the country and protected its people, and is the pride of the people of Daning.

In the eyes of the common people, such meritorious officials should be treated well by the imperial court.

Dou Wenhuan, the Grand Academician of the Hanlin Academy and a cabinet minister, relied on his high official position to seek personal revenge and deliberately suppress newly promoted meritorious officials. He disregarded the rules of the court, set up his own office, and forcibly made things difficult for the top scholar by rote memorization of history books. It was obvious that he was bullying people.

Ordinary people can't be controlled if others are bullied, but it's unacceptable to bully the heroes of Da Ning!

When the news spread, the people were filled with righteous indignation.

"That's outrageous! Is Dou Wenhuan even human?"

"To hell with him! When the country is in trouble, he doesn't stand up for us; all he does is bully heroes and meritorious officials!"

"The Yan Kingdom has bullied us several times, but he always hid in the Hanlin Academy like a coward. It was only thanks to Lord Chen that the court was able to save face and preserve the city... Now that the Yan people have left, he's jumping out to bully us!"

"Does someone like that deserve to be a cabinet minister?"

"If the court turns a blind eye to bullying heroes and meritorious officials, who will be willing to serve the country in the future?"

……

On the streets of Chang'an, an elderly imperial censor in plain clothes frowned as he listened to the people's discussions...