116. Chapter 116

==Chapter 116==

The day after the results are released is the ‘Lu Ming Banquet’. In addition to the new candidates, the chief and deputy examiners, supervisors, and all internal and external officials will be present.

As for why it is called the Deer Ming Banquet, it is reported that it was a palace banquet in which the emperor of a certain dynasty hosted imperial examination students and mainly used "deer" to show the emperor's great favor and recruit talented people. The deer has always been revered as a fairy animal, symbolizing rare talent. The emperor is regarded as the emperor, and "ming" means a gift from heaven. Therefore, this royal meal where the emperor is the host and the talented scholar is the guest is called the "Deer Ming Banquet".

There is another saying that the word "lu" has the same pronunciation as "Lu", which means fame, fortune, and wealth, and entering a new subject is the beginning of an official career. Scholars have always been reserved and restrained, so they would use deer instead. All in all, this deer-crowing banquet is a banquet to celebrate the newly elected people.

It is said to be a banquet, but in fact the banquet is not something you can eat, it is mainly just a formality. First, the chief and deputy examiners took the big and small curtain officials to pay homage to the saint, and then the new examiners paid thanks to all the examiners.

In fact, the main thing is to take the exam, and everything else is secondary.

Xue Tingyan is wearing a bright red turban, with a dogwood hairpin on the right side of the hat. Wearing hairpins is originally a custom for those who have passed the imperial examination. In order to express happiness, new members of the imperial family can also wear hairpins when they go to the Deer Ming Banquet.

But only Jieyuan can hairpin to show the difference.

A total of seventy new examiners gathered together, with Jie Yuan in the lead, followed by Ya Yuan, leading a group of new examiners. They first saluted the chief examiner Huang Mingzhong, then the deputy examiner, and so on.

Afterwards, the banquet was held, and the song "Deer's Ming" from "The Book of Songs" was sung, which was considered to be the name of this deer's croaking banquet.

In the hall, harp, drums and harp were played, there was singing and dancing, and the long red candles illuminated the whole room like daylight.

"Our Xie Yuanlang is truly a heroic boy." An official said to the people around him, stroking his beard.

But that's not exactly the case. A sixteen-year-old Juren master is extremely rare and can be called a genius.

Over there, Xue Tingyan was toasting the examiner.

Huang Mingzhong smiled without a smile, took the wine, drank it down, and said some words of encouragement.

It can be seen that he is in a bad mood. As for what is bad, only he knows in his heart.

Next was the deputy examiner Ye Ju. Ye Ju also said some words of encouragement. When it was his turn to drink, someone interrupted from the side: "Jie Yuanlang should thank Mr. Ye. If it weren't for Mr. Ye, Jie Yuan Lang’s reputation as Jie Yuan is unavailable.”

As soon as the man finished speaking, someone interrupted: "I think you are talking nonsense because you have drunk too much. This Xie Yuanlang is a young and talented man, and he will naturally have fame at his fingertips."

The man also realized his gaffe and was busy laughing and ignoring it.

Naturally, Xue Tingyan couldn't pretend not to hear, but he couldn't ask for specific details. He could only smile and salute Ye Ju again: "Student, thank you again, Deputy Examiner."

Ye Ju supported him: "When the imperial court opens a new subject, it is to recruit good talents. Xue Jieyuan is a talented person, and it should be like this. There is no need to thank me."

Others just regarded it as a formality, but Xue Tingyan had a clear idea. It seemed that the reason why he was able to win this Jieyuan was probably because of something that happened during the period, and what Ye Ju did from it.

After the Luming Banquet, everyone drank a lot of wine. Fortunately, there were carriages and horses to see them off, otherwise news would have spread the next day about the new candidate living on the street.

There have been a lot of anecdotes about this kind of thing in recent days. Most of them are about a certain candidate who failed in the examination room and got drunk on the street, or a certain candidate was kicked out of a brothel because of lack of money, etc. It would be great fun if there was an anecdote about a new candidate.

After the Luming Banquet, there were some celebratory cocktail parties and tea parties, all organized by the candidates or new candidates. However, Xue Tingyan was in a hurry to return to his hometown, so he did not attend.

Everyone in Beilu Academy parted ways since then. Those who failed continued to study hard in the academy in order to return in three years, while those who won hurriedly returned to their hometowns.

The examination will be held in February next year, also known as Chunwei. It was already mid-September, and the journey to the capital was long. It would take at least a month or two on the road, and we had to settle in the capital. The time was very tight. Some new candidates don't want to go through the trouble, and some go directly to the capital for the examination in February next year.

However, most people still have to return to their hometowns to make peace with their loved ones at home.

Because there was no time, Lin Miao did not plan to return to Xia County. He made an appointment with Xue Tingyan and others to meet up in the capital, and then returned to Beilu Academy.

As for Xue Tingyan, Mao Badou, Chen Jian, and Li Datian, they got on the carriages and horses back to Xia County.

It was a long journey, and it would take at least half a month to get home. The four of them were eager to get home.

*

Just as Xue Tingyan and others were returning, something happened in Yuqing Village.

Things have to start from before. Ever since Wang Dazhi and his wife found Zhao'er and the sisters and were driven away, they have not been seen again.

I did come here once later, but was driven away before I even entered the village.

Country people are not very particular about what they say. When they heard that their daughter had been sold and now they wanted to take her back and sell her to another side, the cruel parents spurned her and scolded her. Those harsh people scolded them very harshly, which made the two of them really poor and crazy. They went home to have another baby. Anyway, they were just for sale, and whoever they were selling to was not selling.

The two men were scolded until they ran away, and they haven't been here since.

On the other side, Xue Cui'e returned to Zhao's house.

Because she was always missing these days. She said she was going out to dig wild vegetables and chop firewood. But when she came back from a day out, there were only a few wild vegetables and a few dry firewood in the basket.

Does this look like he went out to work? As a result, she was scolded a lot.

Especially the daughter she gave birth to, Diandian, is only over one year old now, and it is the time when she is learning to walk and running around. Although the Hong family treated Xue Cui'e harshly, Diandian was Zhao Jinrui's first child and the Hong family's first granddaughter, so she naturally loved her dearly.

But no matter how rare the child was, she couldn't bring it by herself. Xue Cui'e had been missing every day for the past few days. Hong was extremely busy, so she hated her mother even more.

That day, Xue Cui'e disappeared again early in the morning. Fortunately, she didn't even bring a machete or a basket on her back this time. Hong searched around the village but couldn't find it. When she came back, she found her granddaughter's head broken, so she was scolding her in her yard. got up.

While she was cursing, Xue Cui'e came back with her face covered. She looked very embarrassed, her face was blue and red. People who didn't know better thought she had met some bad guy.

This is what Hong thinks. Otherwise, how could it be so for no reason.

Her first reaction was not to comfort, but to ask Xue Cui'e what happened to the slap mark on her face. Xue Cui'e naturally wouldn't tell her what was wrong. She only hesitated when she answered, and she knew she was lying as soon as she heard it. This time Hong was so upset that she jumped up to three feet high and shouted to the man to call her son, saying that Xue Cui'e had met a robber.

There can be no robbers in this country place, but only bad guys.

The bad guy is naturally a man. What kind of things can happen to a woman who meets a bad guy? The other person has evil intentions. Xue Cui'e resisted, so she was beaten like this, and maybe her body was also stained.

When Zhao Jinrui heard what his mother said, he immediately turned dark and cursed: "You still have the nerve to come back!"

Uncle Zhao wanted to ask the truth, but why did he, a father-in-law, have the nerve to ask the truth in detail? He could only listen to his mother-in-law and son scolding each other, so the reason why Xue Cui'e was like this was all It's because she was raped by a bad guy.

Of course, there are also contributions from the eldest daughter-in-law and the second daughter-in-law of the Zhao family.

The Hong family was filling a house, and the two of them had always hated this old witch for teasing their father-in-law to treat their first two sons badly every day, and she often made things difficult for their two daughters-in-law. Now it was the turn of these two people to watch the excitement of the Hong family, so naturally they fanned the flames and added fuel to the fire.

Xue Cui'e opened her mouth to speak. Even if she wanted to tell the truth now, she couldn't explain it clearly. As soon as she said that she was going back to her parents' home, someone blocked her and told her that she was deliberately deceiving her.

The more Zhao Jinrui heard, the angrier he became. He grabbed Xue Cui'e and went back to the house and beat her.

Diandian cried hoarsely, and the Zhao family was in chaos. Some villagers heard the news and came to inquire. Under the propaganda of the eldest daughter-in-law and the second daughter-in-law of the Zhao family, the story of Xue Cui'e's loss of virginity became known to the whole village.

Xue Cui'e was unable to argue in the end and was beaten to death by Zhao Jinrui. As soon as Zhao Jinrui came out of the house, Hong said: "Dive her, you must divorce her!"

In fact, by this time, the Zhao family also knew that there was a misunderstanding, but the Hong family already hated Xue Cui'e, and now she made such a fuss again. It is easy to spread rumors, but difficult to explain clearly. If Xue Cui'e is really left at home, Zhao Jinrui will become a green cloud in the eyes of outsiders.

However, the Zhao family was quite smart and allowed Xue Cui'e to stay at home to recover from her injuries before sending her back to the Xue family.

When Ms. Zhao heard that her daughter was divorced by her parents, she fainted on the spot.

The Xue family was upset for a while and asked a doctor to treat Zhao. When Zhao woke up, she faced the fact that her daughter was divorced. The Zhao family insisted that Xue Cui'e was raped, so she must be divorced. During this period, the two Xue Qingbai brothers almost got into a fight with the two sons of the Zhao family, but fortunately they were stopped by the elders of the two families.

The two families sat down and discussed the matter. Even if Mr. Xue testified that his daughter did come back and the slap marks on her face were caused by him, the Zhao family's attitude towards divorcing his wife was also very firm.

However, Uncle Zhao also said soft words and explained his difficulties, but the words he said were taught by the Hong family. It was probably because Xue Cui'e was seen by the villagers when she came back from Yuqing Village that this kind of rumor spread in the village. Now the matter cannot be explained at all. Even for the sake of Zhao Jinrui's future, this wife must be divorced.

What can Mr. Xue say? Can he say that he has done the evil?

Divorce, divorce, the man wants to divorce his wife, but the woman cannot stop her. Even if you can call your relatives to go to the man's house and threaten him with smashing it, Zhao is still there, not looking at the monk's face but the Buddha's face. Besides, Mr. Xue was also afraid that the matter would spread to Yuqing Village, and the Xue family would not be able to see anyone in the future.

This marriage shouldn't have happened from the beginning. If Xue Cui'e hadn't failed to live up to her expectations...

After all, it was all her own fault, and she couldn't blame anyone else.

After a long period of bargaining, the two families reached the following agreement.

The Xue brothers went to Zhaojia Village to cause trouble, and the two families collaborated to put on a play, which meant that it was all a misunderstanding, but because the Zhao family slandered their daughter so much, even if the Zhao family came to ask for help, the Xue family would not Got my daughter back. As for the Zhao family, what should they do if they should divorce their wives?

In fact, this play is performed for outsiders. As for the ups and downs of each, only you can taste it.

Xue Cui'e and Zhao had naturally protested, but this time Mr. Xue was very firm.

After the matter was done, Mr. Xue suddenly aged more than ten years. Ever since Xue Qingshan was born, Mr. Xue's body and bones were not as good as before, and he fell ill this time.

There is no need to go into details when asking for medical advice. Zhao never regretted it, and others didn't know it. Anyway, the three and four bedrooms were very busy.

But at this moment, another thing happened, something happened on the top of the hill.

The Xue family is now in a state of chaos. In order to raise a child in peace, Zhao'er simply moved to live with Zhao Di on a hill.

If she had been hesitant about moving before, and Xue Cui'e was sent home, she no longer had to think about it. The two of them have fallen out with each other. Who knows what will happen to Xue Cui'e if they live together.

The hilltop is clean, the environment is good, and it is far away from the Xue family's troubles. Zhao'er lived a happy life every day, teasing his nephew about raising a baby, so his life should not be too beautiful.

Nowadays, everyone in the village knows that Zhao'er is rich. Who doesn't know that Zhao'er runs the well-known Wangji Vegetable Shop in the county. As time went by, the small workshop became widely known, and many women in the village came to ask for work. Anyway, Zhao'er was short of people now, so he picked out those who were good at needlework and stayed to do the work.

They used to hide it because they were too weak. Now that Xue Tingyan has become a scholar, and with the Xue clan at his back, and the intimidation of Magistrate Xu, he has to think carefully about himself if he wants to be jealous.

But since ancient times, people will care about money. No, there was a thief on the hilltop that night.

This thief was not very courageous. He stole chickens twice at first because there were many chickens on the hill. In addition, the Xue family had a lot of things to do recently, and the Zhou family and the Sun family didn't keep count, so no one knew about it.

Who would have thought that the thief would become more and more courageous and even touch the room where Zhao'er lived.

He was under the window and was held down by Heizi, who had been watching him silently for a long time. The thief was so frightened that he cried for his father and mother. Zhao'er, Zhaodi and Aunt Gao all got up when they heard the noise.

Especially Zhao'er, who easily picked up a shovel, pointed it at the thief with his stomach raised, and looked like he would start beating him if he disagreed with him.

In fact, due to the carelessness of recruiting children, Gao Sheng was not at home, so three women's families and a baby boy lived on the top of the mountain. Forget about her sister, Aunt Gao is old, this old one is old, and the young one is young, so she only has a lot of strength.

"Don't do it, don't do it, I am Hei San."

It was so dark that he couldn't see the person's face clearly, but the thief recognized the identity and announced his name. It was also true that the shovel against his head was too scary. He felt like his head would be wiped off at the next moment. Originally, Hei San planned to run away just because he was a man.

"Hei San? You're so brave, you stole it on me!" Zhao'er sneered and asked Aunt Gao to get a rope and tie up Hei San.

"Sister Zhao'er, please forgive me. I was confused for a moment. It's really that my family's life is almost unbearable, so I lost my head for a moment."

"Don't tell me, I'll talk to the clan leader Li Zheng later!"

Aunt Gao held a lantern and went down the mountain in the dark to call for help. Heisan was thrown into the yard, while Zhaoer and the two sisters went into the house. As for Heizi, he has been squatting next to Heisan, planning to bite him if he disagrees.

Xue Qingbai and Xue Qinghuai arrived quickly, along with Xue Qiang and the others.

"You little bastard, you got under the nose of my sister Zhao'er!" Xue Qiang and several other young boys came up and punched and kicked Hei San until he cried for his father and mother.

"Sister Zhao'er, what should we do about this? Just beat him up?"

"Lock him up first and send him to the clan leader, Li Zheng, tomorrow."

Although Xue Qiang and others felt that Zhao'er was making a fuss, they had always been convinced by Zhao'er and didn't say anything. Only Xue Qinghuai saw Zhao'er's intention. I'm going to be lenient this time. Someone will definitely do it again next time. Anyway, they are all from the countryside. What can you do to me? Someone will definitely follow suit by then.

So Zhao'er is planning to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys!

Chief Xue always protects his family members, and Hei San is from a different surname. Needless to say, he will be expelled from the village.

As soon as he heard that he was going to be sent to the clan leader and Li Zheng, Hei San, who covered his head, immediately stopped pretending to be dead and cried: "Sister Zhao'er, please be merciful, please don't send me to the clan leader, Li Zheng."

Zhao'er had a straight face and ignored him, just asking Xue Qiang to get Hei San to be locked up.

"Sister Zhao'er, I know I'm wrong. I really know I'm wrong. Don't send me to the clan leader. They won't be able to spare me. I still have my mother at home. My mother can't stand this stimulation..."

Seeing that Zhao'er remained unmoved, Hei San was disheartened and was about to give up begging for mercy. Suddenly an idea flashed in his mind: "Sister Zhao'er, I have something to tell you. I know how Widow Xue died. I told you Can you please let me go for a while?"

Zhao'er looked over immediately.

Heisan felt happy and told what he knew.