When Mr. Wu learned that his disciple had won third place in the first class, he smiled from ear to ear, and at the same time he felt a sense of relief.
"Good! Good job! I knew that the child was extraordinary."
He stood in the yard, stroking his beard and smiling as he watched the waves of reporters coming in to report the good news.
Madam Wu at the side also smiled and said, "That's good. Ajie will definitely be able to stay in Beijing."
If nothing unexpected happens, the three top-ranked Jinshi will definitely enter the Hanlin Academy. After a few years of experience, they will have the hope of entering the cabinet.
In other words, all the cabinet officials were first-class Jinshi graduates.
Jiang Jie is so young, and in a few years he will be in the prime of his life. With the emperor's support, it will be no problem for him to rise to a high position in the cabinet.
Moreover, he came from a poor peasant family and had no complicated background, which was exactly the talent the new emperor wanted.
I’m afraid the Jiang family will become really prosperous in the future.
Old Madam Wu smiled and thought that if her granddaughter could marry into the Jiang family, her future life would definitely not be bad.
Chunniang and Yingbao were busy giving out rewards at the moment, and asked two little maids to bring a table and chairs for them to sit down and drink tea.
The Wu family servants also helped set up a tent in the yard and invited the person who brought the good news to come in and sit down.
Yingbao asked the cook to prepare a banquet with wine and food to entertain these reporters.
A lot of dishes have been prepared at home, including chicken, duck, goose, fish, pork and mutton. They were cooked early this morning and all we need to do is cut them into plates.
The remaining vegetables are much simpler to prepare. Just stir-fry a few small dishes as side dishes, and a table of food will be ready.
When Jiang Quan brought Jiang Jie and Li Xu back, people from the Luo family who came to congratulate them also arrived.
Not only the Luo family, but also people from the Wen family came. They did not come to congratulate, but to invite Li Xu to return to the Wen family to live, saying that he was originally the son-in-law of the Wen family and it was not appropriate for him to live in someone else's home.
Li Xu didn't want to go to the Wen family, but the person who came said that Old Lady Wen had personally instructed him to take him home.
There was no other way, so Li Xu had to say goodbye to Chunniang and Mr. Wu, and got on the donkey cart with the steward of the Wen family.
On the third day, the emperor held a banquet in the palace and invited all the successful candidates to attend the banquet.
Afterwards, the emperor awarded robes and hats to the scholars, and the scholars rode tall horses, led by three men from the first class, with the imperial guards clearing the way on both sides, and paraded along the Imperial Street.
Jiang Jie was riding on a tall horse covered with red silk and wearing a hat with a flowered feather. He was often attacked by flowers and silk handkerchiefs from the girls on both sides of the road, and he felt quite helpless.
When he passed by a restaurant, he saw countless flowers and petals falling on his head. When he looked up, he saw his elder sister leading two little girls throwing flowers at him. He couldn't help but smile.
Everyone also looked over here upstairs, and saw a banner hanging there that read: All seasonal flowers, fresh fruits and potted plants are half price on the first day of opening.
Turns out they sell potted plants, no wonder.
Looking at the falling flowers and petals, big and small, bright and eye-catching, there seemed to be many varieties, which made me amazed.
Almost every Jinshi was baptized by these petals, and even the imperial guards and civilians had a few petals fall on their heads.
However, people following the parade could also see clearly that the girl upstairs was really pretty. She grabbed the flower petals and threw them over and over again, just like a fairy scattering flowers.
Everyone couldn't help but look at the newly opened shop, and saw the four big words "Jiang's Bonsai" written on the doorplate on the first floor.
There were many potted flowers placed at the door of the shop. A young man in a white robe, about twenty years old and quite handsome, stood at the door and smiled at everyone.
Some people were infected by his smile and walked into the shop to take a look. They were soon amazed by the various potted flowers and fruits inside. When they came out, they were holding a pot of peony or tangerine in their arms.
As soon as one person bought, several others followed suit. In less than half an hour, Jiang Quan had sold more than twenty pots of flowers.
At this time, the entire parade had passed, but there was still a crowd of onlookers following behind.
Some people saw the petals all over the ground. Although they were trampled into a mess, they could still see the difference.
So, people continued to come into the store to look around, and when they left, a small number of them had bought potted plants.
Jiang Quan smiled so hard that his teeth were showing, and he was having a lot of fun with the driver.
By the time Yingbao brought Mudan and Xinghua down from the attic, most of the potted plants in the shop downstairs had been sold.
She priced these potted plants quite high, each pot was over ten taels. Even if there was a 50% discount today, each pot would still cost over five taels.
They’re all sold out!
The capital city is indeed different from the county town. There are so many rich people here.
"Yingbao, the potted plants we brought are almost sold out. Do you want to move some more over?" Jiang Quan asked.
Ying Bao shook her head: "No, it's already past noon. Once the things in the shop are sold out, we'll close the shop and put up a sold out sign. We'll bring in new things tomorrow."
Jiang Quan didn't quite understand his cousin's intentions, but he just had to obey her. After all, his cousin was so smart and all her decisions were right.
Yingbao took Mudan and Xinghua out and went to the pawnshop again, asking to pick a few servants to take back.
The pawnbroker had already recognized the young lady, and also knew that her brother had just won the third place in the first class, so he smiled and said, "It just so happens that a batch of good stuff was delivered the other day. I will take the young lady to have a look."
The pawnshops also sold official slaves. Some time ago, many criminal slaves were escorted to Beijing from various places. Many of them were the families and slaves of the remnants of criminals in the previous dynasty.
Many officials in the city were afraid of being implicated and did not dare to buy more of these criminal slaves. The only ones who occasionally came to pick people were the grandmothers from brothels and singing and dancing halls.
Yingbao followed the brothel owner to a large courtyard and saw wooden cage-like houses built on both sides of the courtyard.
Each wooden cage was crowded with people, young and old, including children of a few years old.
When Mudan and Xinghua saw the cages, they instinctively shrank back, but when they remembered that they were already the young lady's men, they immediately straightened their chests.
Ying Bao said to the broker, "I want two cooks, four servants around ten years old, and four maids between thirteen and eighteen years old. Their appearance doesn't matter, as long as they are obedient."
"This is easy. I'll pick a few people out right away." The broker asked his servant to open the wooden door and pointed with his fingers to pick a few people out.
Yingbao looked the ten servants up and down and asked them a few questions: "Where are you from? Why were you convicted? Is there anyone else at home?"
Most of them answered honestly, except for two girls who remained silent.
Yingbao looked at their hands and saw that their fingers were slender and covered with mud, but it was obvious that they had never done any work.
"I don't want these two. Buy two new ones." She bought slaves, not ancestors, and she didn't have the time to bully arrogant people.
The broker quickly asked his servant to drag the two girls back to the wooden cage. Just as he was about to make another selection, a woman in her twenties grabbed the wooden fence and said, "Young lady, please choose a slave. I can read and embroider. Please choose a slave."
Yingbao heard her say this, looked at the woman, and nodded: "Okay, come out and answer."
The broker let the woman out, and she was trembling and seemed unable to stand steadily.
Yingbao asked: "How old are you? What was your previous identity?"
"I am twenty-five years old. I used to be the daughter of the Minister of Personnel Wei Wanzhang. I was demoted to slavery because of my father's crime." She murmured in a low voice, her eyes filled with tears.