The 28th is the Emperor’s Longevity Festival.

By banning folk banquet music, this Longevity Festival was eliminated. There was no need to enter the palace to congratulate, saving birthday gifts and trouble. Jiang Changning expressed that he was very satisfied.

At the end of the month, Zhuang Qingyu was pregnant and gave birth to a son.

The Liu family came to the Prince of Jin's Mansion to announce the good news. Jiang Changning asked about Zhuang Qingyu and found out that she was fine. He then asked, "How much does the child weigh?"

"Six pounds and seven taels."

"That's a fat baby," Jiang Changning asked

The next day, Jiang Changning sent Xiulan to the Liu family with the long-life lock and other gifts that had been prepared to earn face for Zhuang Qingyu.

In the afternoon, Xiulan came back from Liu's house with an angry look on her face.

"What's wrong with you? Is it possible that the Liu family still looks down upon you?" Fang Ju asked in surprise.

"No one looked at me. I'm not angry with Mrs. Zhuang for treating Second Aunt Zhuang like that."

"What did she do?" Fangju asked curiously.

"I asked Grandma Zhuang Er for money. She said that the fourth young master wanted to take part in the imperial examination and needed to take care of it."

Fangju frowned, "What to do? Bribery the examiner?"

"Who knows? I asked Bi Cao to find out. This is not the first time Mrs. Zhuang has asked for money. She has asked for money several times, for various reasons."

"Did the banker's ruined girl who was about to get married support her parents' family?" Fu Cui sneered.

"You can't say that, Mrs. Zhuang didn't ask Aunt Zhuang for money." Fang Ju said with a smile.

"Of course she won't ask Aunt Zhuang for money. She will also subsidize Aunt Zhuang so that Aunt Zhuang can live a wealthy life in her husband's family." Shu Fei sneered, "Aunt Zhuang makes dresses and uses all kinds of materials.

Pick the best one and say money is not an issue."

"This ostentation is really off the mark." Xiulan sneered.

After the fourth maid chatted about the dealer, Fu Cui asked, "Should I tell the princess about this?"

"Tell the princess what to do? If Grandma Zhuang Ergu can't stand up on her own, the princess can't support her for the rest of her life, right?" Shu Fei didn't want Jiang Changning to worry about this matter.

Xiulan and Fangju thought so and did not tell Jiang Changning about this.

The second day of August is Zhou Chengcheng's birthday. He is in the period of mourning and cannot celebrate his birthday.

However, Jiang Changning still asked Shu Fei to send a gift and asked her to say hello to the two nannies on her behalf.

Seeing Shu Fei, Mrs. Miao smiled and said, "It's a coincidence that you are here, my mother-in-law. Yesterday, my brother from my mother's side sent me a new toy, and I was about to give it to the princess to play with."

"What good thing is it? My dear sister-in-law, let me take a look first." Shu Fei said with a smile.

Miao took out a quite large brocade box and handed it to Shu Fei, "My brother said it's called a parallel maze. It's quite fun."

Shu Fei opened the box, and inside was a square plate with exquisite patterns, covered with a thin layer...

"Is this crystal or glass?" Shu Fei touched it, "It's so smooth."

Miao smiled and said, "My brother said it's Liuli."

"How to play?" Shu Fei asked.

Miao taught her, "There is a hole here. Put these three balls in it. Seal the hole and find a way to move them to the hole on the other side. You have to pay attention when moving.

, we can’t let them fall out of these small holes.”

Shufei played with it twice, but couldn't move the ball. "I'm clumsy, so I can't do it. Princess, I can definitely do it."

She took this parallel maze back to the palace and presented it to Jiang Changning like a treasure.

Jiang Changning played with it a few times and found it quite interesting, so he asked Chun to find a craftsman and made two more pieces, one for the concubine and one for Kang Ren.

With this toy, three people can kill boring time while playing.

On the eighth day of August, the first trial of this year’s autumn game started.

Zhou Duxin took the "examination preparation box" prepared by his elder sister-in-law and entered the venue to take his first autumn examination.

He was a child prodigy. When he was nine years old, he passed the child examination. At the age of twelve, he took the academy examination and became a scholar.

He is not yet seventeen years old this year, and he is participating in the first autumn college with great ambition. If he can reach high school, then the Zhou family will be one of the three outstanding students.

Zhou Chengcheng warned him, "Don't be proud and complacent."

Zhou Shouxin reminded him, "If you lose, don't lose confidence."

"Eldest brother, I will not be proud and complacent. Second brother, I will not lose confidence."

With the expectations of his family, Zhou Duxin walked into the Gongyuan.

There are three rural examinations in total, and each examination lasts three days. For all three examinations, you need to enter the examination room one day in advance, that is, enter on the eighth, eleventh, and fourteenth day of the Lunar New Year, and exit the day after the examination.

The chief examiner for this session is King Ding, and the two deputy examiners are Lord Shi, the great scholar, and Lord Chen, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Three years ago, a fraud case in the imperial examination occurred. Although many people were demoted, public dissatisfaction boiled over. After the King of Jin repeatedly submitted letters, the emperor appointed three more invigilators.

The invigilators are served by the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, the Minister of Dali Temple, and the Yushi of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. The power of these three halls is naturally greater than that of the seven-level standing committee of each ministry.

According to the law, once a living member enters the Gongyuan, he is absolutely not allowed to leave the Gongyuan unless he is dead or seriously ill.

If you insist on leaving, you may be deprived of your student status, or you may be punished as "disrespectful".

Zhou Duxin walked into the gate of Gongyuan, and under the guidance of the soldiers, went to a small room separated by a curtain, widened his clothes and belts, and let the academic and political officials inspect his clothes and body.

This was to prevent him from carrying prohibited items such as cheat sheets, so two soldiers checked the contents of his test box.

After the inspection, the academic official gave him his number plate and said, "You can look for the bathroom number first and then enter the dormitory. After entering the dormitory, you are not allowed to walk around at will. Violators will be punished with twenty rods and ten days of shackles for life."

You are not allowed to take the exam again.”

"Thank you for informing me, students, please keep this in mind." Zhou Duxin knew about this matter, but the official was willing to give him a few words, which was a good intention.

Gongyuan is divided into sixteen major areas according to "the sky and the earth are dark and yellow, the universe is primitive, the sun and the moon are waxing, and the stars and stars are arranged."

Each large area is divided into six rows facing each other, each row has thirty-six rooms, a total of 216 rooms.

There is a soldier guarding each end of the cell. In addition, there are sixteen patrol officers who patrol these large areas.

Zhou Duxin's number plate was Room No. 17 with the word "Yu", which was a little far away from the two restrooms. When he was about to go in, he saw Zhuang Zike standing in front of the building opposite.

Recalling that Zhuang Jike once called officials a coward, Zhou Duxin asked sarcastically: "Didn't the fourth young master Zhuang say that he would not take part in the imperial examination, that he would not serve as an official with benevolence, and that he did not bother to be a coward, so why did he come to the Gongyuan?"

"Do you know me? Who are you?" Zhuang Zike looked at him.

"I'm just a servant, not worth mentioning." Zhou Duxin said calmly.

Zhuang Jike was also smart, "You are a slave released by the Zhou family and the Jiang family."

"That's right." Zhou Duxin admitted frankly that he never felt inferior because he was a slave.

"You also came to take the imperial examination, can you pass it?" Zhuang Jike said contemptuously.

Zhou Duxin smiled and said: "Let's compete to see who ranks higher on the list."

"Whoever has a low ranking should not become an official." Zhuang Jike was ruthless and wanted to cut off Zhou Duxin's official career.

"Okay." Zhou Duxin raised his hand.
Chapter completed!