Turning over and dismounting, Zhou Jun stood in front of his home. He turned around and glanced at Xiao Qingchan who was pulled out of the carriage, stroking his forehead in distress.
Watching the Jiaofang carriage leave, Xiao Qingchan stood in the street, dressed in mourning clothes, pear blossoms with rain, and kept choking.
Seeing that all the neighbors were looking over, Zhou Jun waved to Xiao Qingchan, gesturing for her to follow him.
After entering the concierge, Zhou Jun led Xiao Qingchan towards the hall. Before he entered the door, he heard his parents' noise.
Just listen to Zhou Dinghai shout: "Don't go to him! Just pretend that the Zhou family has never had that traitor!"
Luo Sanniang said: "The palms and backs of your hands are full of flesh, not to mention that Ze'er has been awarded the title of Juren. Why are you doing this?"
Seeing Zhou Jun walking in wearing official robes, Zhou Dinghai raised his hand and said to Luo Sanniang: "Jun'er is back, I won't argue with you."
Luo Sanniang looked at Zhou Jun and saw Xiao Qingchan behind him. She first chanted "Buddha" and then asked: "Whose girl is this? Why is she wearing Ding You's mourning clothes?"
Zhou Jun said helplessly: "This is the eldest lady of the Xiao family. I was just appointed as a maid by the palace."
Zhou Dinghai and Luo Sanniang were both stunned and looked at each other.
Luo Sanniang asked cautiously: "Which eldest lady of the Xiao family?"
Zhou Jun: "Who else could it be? Of course it is the Xiao family of Yongningfang."
When Zhou Dinghai heard this, his eyes widened and he choked in his abdomen, causing him to cough violently.
After a while, Zhou Jun waited for his parents to calm down before telling them all the cause and effect of the incident.
After hearing what happened to the Xiao family, the Zhou family and his wife couldn't help but sigh.
Zhou Dinghai glanced at Xiao Qingchan and sighed: "A certain person used to despise himself back then, but he didn't know that the world was unpredictable. Madam Xiao, who he wanted to ask to be Jun'er's wife, has now become his maid.
"
Luo Sanniang looked at Xiao Qingchan and was quite pleased with her, so she said, "Since it was given to Jun'er by the palace, let me just keep her here and I will ask my servants to find clothes for her later."
His parents were sighing at the side, but Zhou Jun was thinking about the palace appointing Xiao Qingchan to him as a maid.
Gao Lishi's words left a deep impression on him.
"The right prime minister once told the saint that you came to ask for marriage."
Zhou Jun thought to himself that the subtext of this sentence was that it was Li Linfu's idea that Xiao Qingchan was accused of being his maid.
Li Linfu once heard that he went to Xiao's house to propose marriage but failed and was humiliated instead. Was his purpose of doing this just to show his favor, or did he have a deeper meaning?
Zhou Jun, who was puzzled by the explanation, simply stopped thinking about it and asked his parents: "Just now did you hear the news that you have a brother?"
Speaking of Zhou Ze, Zhou Dinghai looked angry and said nothing.
Luo Sanniang said to Zhou Jun: "Someone told us that Ze'er is currently living in the Luo family."
Zhou Jun: "Luo family?"
Luo Sanniang: "Zhou Ze has a classmate named Luo Yingcai. The eldest son of his family is the deputy supervisor who will be the supervisor."
After hearing what his mother said, Zhou Jun remembered.
Luo Yingcai, that young man who was carefree and chatty at banquets and poetry clubs.
After asking for the location of the Luo Mansion, Zhou Jun asked his parents to calm down and go find out what his eldest brother had to say first.
After changing into regular clothes, Zhou Jun mounted his horse and galloped all the way to the door of Luo's house.
Zhou Jun reported his name and official status to the porter. After waiting for a while, he heard hurried footsteps inside the door and thought it was Zhou Ze who had arrived.
When he turned around to look, he saw an unexpected person.
Luo Anyuan, the escort accompanying Fan Jianjun's mission, a loyal theater fan of Song Ruo'e, and the deputy lieutenant of the Yulin Army who almost died at the hands of Basimi assassins.
Seeing Zhou Jun, Luo Anyuan was so excited that he couldn't control himself. He walked over quickly and wanted to hug the former, but as soon as he raised his arms, his face showed pain and he just smiled and said: "Zhou Jun is here!"
Zhou Jun was a little confused. When he was confused, Zhou Ze and Luo Yingcai also walked out.
After looking at Luo Anyuan and then at Luo Yingcai, Zhou Jun understood somewhat: "Are you brothers?"
Luo Anyuan smiled and nodded, Luo Yingcai could only say yes.
Zhou Jun looked at Zhou Ze again and said, "Brother, that..."
Zhou Ze looked sad: "If Heng is here to be a lobbyist, please come back."
Luo Anyuan stopped smiling, looked around, and said to Zhou Jun: "Mr. Zhou, can you speak first?"
Zhou Jun nodded, and the group followed the side corridor and entered the inner hall of the right wing.
After everyone was seated, Zhou Jun first said to Zhou Ze: "My brother wants to marry Yu Junniang. I'm afraid this matter needs to be discussed in the long run."
Zhou Ze's words were filled with sadness: "I thought that if I won the prize, my parents would relent, but I didn't expect that it would lead to such a disaster."
Luo Yingcai rolled his eyes, shook his head and said, "I've already advised you, why don't you just accept her as a minor?"
Zhou Ze turned around and glared at Luo Yingcai, who just pretended not to see him.
Zhou Jun smiled bitterly. Based on Qu Yujun's reputation and net worth, it shouldn't be difficult to find a merchant or scholar with a good family background to marry as his wife. How could he agree to be his brother's child?
Zhou Jun thought of this and said to Zhou Ze: "Since my brother has won the imperial examination, why not work hard and try Chunwei?"
Zhou Ze was stunned: "Chun Wei?"
Zhou Jun nodded and said: "If I pass the provincial examination, my father will have no reason to hinder my brother's marriage."
Zhou Ze frowned and said: "Spring Wei is not as good as Qiu Wei. In terms of knowledge, I still have some self-awareness, so I'm afraid it will be difficult to achieve what I want."
Zhou Ze was pessimistic about whether he could qualify, but Zhou Jun didn't think so.
The imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty was different from other dynasties.
Answers to the test paper are not copied by name. The examiner can see the name of each candidate when correcting the test paper.
This creates a drawback. The examiner will unconsciously check the name of the candidate before making corrections, thus creating a preconceived subjective consciousness.
If a candidate is well-known and has many famous works, the examiner will subconsciously give him high marks.
So how to get the examiner’s impression score?
In the Tang Dynasty, there was a behavior called Xingjuan.
To put it simply, before taking the exam, candidates would submit their essays or poems in the form of scrolls to high officials and even the examiner.
If the article is favored and can be appreciated by high-ranking officials in the DPRK and Central Government, then passing the provincial examination will be half the battle.
Therefore, Zhou Jun planned to prepare some world-renowned masterpieces before Zhou Ze attended the Spring Festival, and submit them to the examiners in Zhou Ze's name to build momentum.
In this way, Zhou Ze's journey to spring will be easier.
After making up his mind, Zhou Jun persuaded Zhou Ze for a while. Seeing that the other party had regained his confidence and decided to participate in next year's Spring Festival, he planned to leave first and rush home to tell his parents.
When the Luo brothers stood up and were about to see Zhou Jun off, Luo Anyuan staggered and almost fell to the ground.
Seeing this, Zhou Jun quickly went up to check.
After some questioning, Zhou Jun finally found out what was going on.
It turned out that Luo Anyuan was wounded by an arrow in the ambush of Basimi assassins, but later he was bandaged and given medicine.
However, due to the bitter cold in Mobei and the hard work of the expedition, Luo Anyuan's wounds never healed intermittently.
After finally making it back to Chang'an, the Luo family found many doctors for him and prescribed many medicines, but the wound still swelled, hurt and pus leaked, and turned into a sore.
At present, Luo Anyuan has already applied for a long leave to the Yulin Guards because of his injuries. If things don't get better, he may have to submit a letter of termination.
When Zhou Jun heard this, he had an idea.
He first asked Luo Anyuan to take off his shirt and looked at his arrow wounds.
Using first aid knowledge from his previous life as a policeman, Zhou Jun determined the size, depth, and degree of infection of the wound, and then took out the bottle of garlic essence from his arms.
Since it was a new medicine that had not been tested yet, Zhou Jun did not dare to use the original concentration of garlic essence to try to treat Luo Anyuan's injuries.
Using the steamer in the Luo family's kitchen, Zhou Jun first collected some distilled water, then used it to reduce the concentration of garlic essence, then applied it to the sore, and wrapped it with a clean cloth.
After taking the medicine, Zhou Jun told Luo Anyuan some basic taboos in life, and then left the Luo family.