On April 27, the ninth year of Zhengtong, it happened to be in the flowering period of peonies. At this moment, the fragrance of flowers was already scented in Zhanyuan of Duke of Wei’s Mansion.

From the early morning, the servants in Zhanyuan were already busy, cleaning the courtyard, preparing to eat utensils, and receiving visiting guests, etc.

Compared with the family banquets at the Duke of Chengguo’s Mansion before, the specifications of this flower viewing tour in Zhanyuan are not that high. At least the officials of the honorary and relatives are no longer the main body of the tour meeting, and focus more on the scholars and young ladies.

Therefore, the entire Zhanyuan was also divided into three parts. Several officials from the great and relatives led by Duke Xu Xianzong of Wei sat in the Jingmiao Hall. While savoring tea, they were pleasantly talking about their children and nephews, which was not as serious as in the past officialdom.

The location of the fan pavilion in Zhanyuan was surrounded by light gauze, and inside were the ladies of the official families in Nanjing.

Although this time, the formal defense between men and women still has to be done. Separate it with a light veil and the etiquette is done well. The ladies of the official family can also see the appearance of those literati masters clearly, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

As for other places, they are public free areas, and young literati and young men can walk around at will, without restrictions.

Because Zhanyuan is nominally known as part of the Duke of Wei’s Mansion, it is actually a semi-independent garden, so you don’t have to worry about walking around, which will cause any ritual mistakes.

In the fan pavilion, Chen Qingtong leaned against the fence of the pavilion, and sprinkled fish food into the water, attracting the koi raised in Zhanyuan to compete for food, and splashed water.

Seeing the lady's behavior, the maid Xueer shook her head helplessly, then put her ear close to her ear and whispered: "Miss, if you feed this fish, you will be able to die. Don't you look at the literati and young masters of today's tour?"

“What’s good to look at.”

Chen Qingtong had no interest in other literati masters at all, and she had already belonged to her.

"Miss, look at it now. Maybe you can win someone you like. If you don't, what if the Marquis will marry you one day?"

"Then I'll run away from marriage!"

"Where can you escape?"

Xueer's rhetoric left Chen Qingtong speechless. With the status and identity of Taining Hou, there was no place for him to hide in the world.

Seeing that the lady was not very interested, Xueer naturally understood the depression in her heart, so she sat down and said, "Miss, Xueer also knows that Mr. Shen is very good, and now she is working very hard on the imperial examination and has become the head of the palace."

"But it's still too far to wait for Mr. Shen to take back Long Biao..."

That day in the alley, Xueer quietly told Shen Yichen that she hoped that he could win the Dragon Biao as soon as possible and convince the Marquis with the top scorer.

But the top scorer is not so easy to take. The lady is already fifteen this year, and it is the year of her birthday. The wedding date is gradually coming, and she may be suddenly engaged one day. Even if she attends a flower viewing tour today, she only came by the Marquis’ order.

Even if Mr. Shen is a talented man, he will be on the list of gold medals and be on the streets with a tall horse and a flower in his arms.

And can my ladies wait for that day?

"Xue'er, what are you talking nonsense? What does this have to do with Mr. Shen!"

Seeing that Xue'er exposed her thoughts, Chen Qingtong became a little embarrassed and quickly denied it.

"Miss, if others don't know, can I still not know? Sometimes, you have to consider yourself in the future."

The maid Xueer and Chen Qingtong grew up together as a master and servant, but in fact they are like sisters.

It doesn't matter if you have something to do with Chen Yichen, but you can't hang yourself on a tree. There are many literati and young masters present today, and there are also many outstanding ones. The lady is interested in someone who is more outstanding in terms of love. When the Marquis wants to marry forcibly, she can at least have some room for her own choice.

Just when Chen Qingtong didn't know how to answer, a lady from the official family wearing a light blue collar jacket and a horse-faced dress leaned over and smiled at her, "Sister Qingtong, why are you here alone and not going to see your future wishful husband?"

The official lady who said this was named Xu Yan. She was the daughter of Xu Heng, the Marquis of Xing'an who had just been promoted to the ninth year of Zhengtong. She was a few years older than Chen Qingtong and had already married another woman. She came here today as a person who had experienced it and was checking these young sisters.

"Sister Yan, don't make me funny, there is no such thing as a good man."

"Don't the literati and talented people present now fall into the eyes of my bronze sister? I want to see which young master from my family can win your heart."

"No, Sister Yan, don't talk nonsense."

After all, Chen Qingtong is a big girl. When faced with a woman like Xu Yan's joke, she naturally got a disadvantage and soon blushed.

At this moment, the "Young Master" who was able to win Chen Qingtong's heart also appeared at the gate of Zhanyuan.

"Yichen, after you go in, our mansion will visit Duke of Wei, so you can ask for it yourself."

"Yes, I will follow the instructions of the prefect."

Chen Yichen bowed and said yes, but in fact, after standing at the door for a while, he roughly understood the current situation.

The biggest difference between the flower viewing tour and the family banquet of Duke Cheng’s Mansion is that in addition to the young ladies and ladies of the powerful class, there are also many knowledgeable talented men who can attend the meeting.

Chen Yichen guessed the reason for this. Perhaps these powerful people knew in their hearts what kind of virtues most of their second-generations had. If knowledgeable talents also came to participate, they might be able to find one or two potential stocks from it.

Just like the emperor's choice of a prince consort is not necessarily limited to the great ministers and nobles. Ordinary families have a chance as long as they have a clean background, talent, and beautiful appearance.

Since people from ordinary classes come in, the group will naturally be divided. High officials like Li Min have to be with the honorary and important officials, and will not be among the young literati and young masters.

So his words were also reminding Chen Yichen that what to do next depends on yourself.

"By the way, Yichen, I know that you are low-key and not easy to show off, but today is different. You have to take out something to block Youyou's mouths. Do you understand?"

After the case was investigated by the government, Li Min had already received news from the Confucian scholarship in the past few days. Several failed scholars reported that the relatives of the Chengguo Duke's Mansion had cheated and asked the Secretariat to investigate these people strictly.

Due to the fact that Zhu Yong, Duke Chengguo, is at the peak of his power, and the fact that the sages reported have not yet appeared to form a large scale, this matter has been temporarily suppressed.

However, as it spread, I was afraid that this sensation would become more and more popular, and that a large number of candidates would cry to the Confucian Temple. Is there anything wrong with Duke Cheng Guo, Li Min, didn’t know, he only knew that these few examiners might be at risk of beheading!

To be honest, when Li Min was admitted, she believed that she had a clear conscience and had no place to commit favoritism and fraud. Now it seems that if something goes big, it is not a question of whether it is a shame or not. She has to find someone to take the blame.

If you want to suppress this trend, it depends on Chen Yichen's performance today.

"Students understand."

Not only Li Min got the notice, but even Chen Yichen was dressed in a private school in the outer courtyard these days, saying that the outside world was talking about Cheng Guogong's mansion trying to cheat.

As the head of the case and the son of Duke Cheng Guo, Chen Yichen was more suspicious.

In addition, just a year ago, Chen Yichen was still a stupid and naughty object of contempt. This experience was re-recommended by the old story, as if it further confirmed that his earth-shaking changes were achieved through fraud.

To be honest, sometimes rumors cannot end if you want to be low-key. Teacher Lin Zhen is right, a young man is the young man. Today is the time to be high-profile.

Thinking of this, Chen Yichen tidied up his clothes, followed behind the prefect Li Min with his head held high, and strided into Zhanyuan.

At this moment, at least dozens of young men were standing in Zhanyuan, among which the officials and the talented scholars were basically halfway.

At the center of the crowd are Zhang Zhong, the eldest son of the British Duke Zhang Fu, Li Lian, the eldest son of the Xiangcheng Bo Li Long, and Zhu Ji, the second son of Zhu Yong, the second son of the Duke Cheng Guoguo Zhu Yong.

As the son of a super senior relative, his parents' family background is there, and it is difficult to not attract attention.

However, if you look closely, you will find that among the children of these honorary relatives, except for Zhang Zhong, who is the eldest son, the others are either concubines or the second son. Zhang Zhong became disabled in his early years because of riding a horse, and in fact he had lost the opportunity to inherit the title. The eldest son of concubines, Zhang Mao, was the candidate for inheritance of the title trained by the British Duke.

In other words, none of these people theoretically are the first candidates for Xijue.

The reason for this situation is very simple. The eldest son of Xijue shoulders the burden of the family, and their marriage is fixed on the marriage. On the contrary, the second son and the concubine son do not have the possibility of Xijue, but there is more freedom of choice.

In addition, there were several more eye-catching people at this flower viewing tour, namely, Yingtian Prefecture Jingkui Zeng Mengjian, Hangzhou Prefecture Censor Wei Zhuo, nephew Dong Shicheng, the right censor of the Nanjing Censorate, and Xu Donghai, cousin of the Nanjing Minister of War Xu Qi.

However, because Xu Donghai was only thirteen years old, he was more famous in such gatherings and had friendship with the children of honor and relatives, so the meaning of blind dates was not very important.

Some of these people know each other and some don’t know each other. After meeting, they greeted each other politely. Until one of them came in, they instantly attracted everyone’s attention and became the “protagonist” of this high-class party.

"I look familiar to this person. Is it Chen Yichen, the maid of Duke Cheng Guo,?"

"That's right, he's Chen Yichen!"

"Then he won the championship this year, right?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"Chen Yichen actually came to participate, and it is rumored that Cheng Guogong's imperial examination was cheated this year. I don't know if he has any moisture in the case."

"Speak quietly, Duke Cheng's second son is here too, don't be heard by him."

With Chen Yichen appearing, the crowd began to talk. He is now a "top" figure among all the ranks of honor, officials, literati, and scholars, and his experience is full of topics.

In addition to the recent suspicion of fraud in the imperial examination, the attention has been raised.

As soon as Chen Yichen stepped into Zhanyuan, he found that the eyes of the young men and literati in the courtyard were all turned to him.
Chapter completed!