Hao Cheng couldn't believe his ears: "What did you say?"
The messenger had almost caught his breath, but his expression was still very excited: "The results of the provincial exam are out, and you have won the first place!"
The first place in the provincial exam, that is, the first place in the candidates in Mingzhou City, if this happened in her previous life, she would have been the provincial champion in the college entrance examination. Hao Cheng was stunned by the good news and was a little bit unbelievable.
The maidservant took the list from the man and held it with both hands and presented it to Hao Cheng: "Please take a look, Master."
Hao Cheng flipped open the gilded booklet and the document that contained her identity and name, and read it several times with his eyes wide open. It was indeed her name that was written on it, and the other information on the identity document also matched. It was absolutely impossible that there was someone else named Hao Cheng who had got first place in the exam and then got it by mistake and brought to her.
Jiang Mengzhen was also somewhat surprised, but since Hao Cheng was happy, he was also happy, so he called the steward over and said, "Take her to the storehouse to collect the fifty taels of silver reward."
Just by reporting the news and delivering the goods from Mingzhou City, the courier received fifty taels of silver at once. The courier suddenly felt full of energy and couldn't help but thank him happily: "Thank you, Zhengjun!" Then he happily followed the manager towards the accounting office.
Hao Cheng took the booklet and rubbed the area where his name and ranking were written several times, and then asked Jiang Mengzhen: "Did I really win the first place, or did the officials in Mingzhou City just do it for your sake?"
Although he answered the questions smoothly, Hao Cheng never thought that he would win the first prize. Jiang Mengzhen shook his head: "They only promised me that you would not fail. The first prize is decided by the people above, and it must be true that you have real talent and knowledge. Even if they are bold, they will never dare to mess around with the title of first prize after the cheating incident."
It was beyond his expectation that Hao Cheng could win the first prize. Hao Cheng smiled again, and when the excitement in his heart subsided, he realized the reward silver belatedly: "Did I give too much reward silver just now?"
She had never had any money, and now that she was rich, she still valued money. Although Jiang Mengzhen was rich, Hao Cheng didn't know how rich he was. She always felt pained by his lavish spending.
Jiang Mengzhen smiled and said, "In the capital, ordinary families will give five taels of silver to anyone who passes the exam, and wealthy families will give twenty taels. If someone wins the first prize, the reward will be doubled. She brought such good news, so fifty taels is not a lot."
Hao Cheng said "Oh", then lowered his head to look at the booklet, with a smile that he couldn't hide in the corners of his eyes and brows.
Jiang Mengzhen looked at her for a while, then carefully considered his words and said, "Let me take care of the expenses of the mansion. If you want to withdraw money, just ask the accountant. If it is more than five thousand taels of silver, just tell me what it is for. Don't worry, I will never pretend to be rich, and I won't let our mansion spend more than it earns."
Hao Cheng finally diverted her attention from her academic records. She had originally thought of letting Jiang Mengzhen take care of the accounts: "If I become an official in the future, I will give all my salary to you. You don't have to tell me about any daily expenses. If there are major events that require spending, I still hope you can discuss it with me first."
She paused, and then continued, "You don't have to handle all the things in the inner house by yourself. No matter what unhappy things you encounter, you can tell me."
In her world, women who were in charge of the household in ancient times had a very hard life, but in this world, it was men who managed the inner house. As the husband of the household, Jiang Mengzhen helped her manage interpersonal relationships, manage such a large mansion, and take care of so many people, so it must not be easy.
She is not a woman from this world, so how could she just focus on working hard outside and not know how to share some of the burden with Jiang Mengzhen
"It's enough that you understand my thoughts. These things are not very troublesome and I won't be very tired doing them." Jiang Mengzhen knew that Hao Cheng was considerate, but he didn't expect her to be considerate to this extent. His tone became a little gentler.
There weren't any messy people around Hao Cheng, so there was no need for him to be jealous and scheming. The maids and servants in the mansion were all carefully selected by him, so there naturally wouldn't be any evil slaves who were cunning and deceitful, or who deceived their superiors.
As for those matters of managing interpersonal relationships, he was good at it, and he enjoyed it. Moreover, it was more appropriate for him to handle matters between men. Even if Hao Cheng wanted to share the burden, he would not let her do it.
Hao Cheng only thought he was being considerate, but she still found the words very useful. She immediately took Jiang Mengzhen's hand and squeezed it, looking at him with a warm smile.
She didn't know if it was her illusion, but she felt that Jiang Mengzhen looked more charming recently than before. He was originally good-looking, and now it seemed that there was a touch of spring in his eyebrows and eyes, more intoxicating than the peach blossoms in spring, and more tipsy than the cool breeze in the summer afternoon.
Although this beautification has some elements of the saying "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder", a man who has experienced love/affairs is indeed more beautiful than an inexperienced virgin. Of course, the premise is that this affair was experienced with the person he likes.
As Hao Cheng was looking at him, he suddenly leaned over and bit his neck, leaving a clear mark. He said sourly, "My husband is so handsome. I really want to build a golden house to hide you so that other women can't see you."
Jiang Mengzhen burst out laughing. After a moment, his words became more sorrowful: "The people I deal with are all the rulers of the inner court. But if you enter the court in the future, I'm afraid there will be many people who want to marry their sons to you."
Hao Cheng said disapprovingly: "They are not as good as you. I have a husband and that's enough for you. What do you need them for?"
Jiang Mengzhen was very pleased with these words. Although those little brats were young, they certainly could not help Hao Cheng as much as he did in his career. His appearance was not bad either, so those people were naturally not as good as him.
But he thought of the twists and turns of the love affair last night, and those young men were still a little better than him. Hao Cheng was young and energetic now, and it was okay for the two of them to be in a period of love. If the feelings faded and he couldn't satisfy her, he was a little worried that he would not be able to keep it.
He definitely couldn't take drugs that could help with sex, and he had to take good care of his body. Before he got married, the Lin family's royal doctor had prescribed a prescription for him to take every day.
Now he is not young anymore, and the husband-wife relationship should be done more often, so that he can get pregnant as soon as possible. Recalling the wedding night yesterday, his face turned slightly red, and after thinking it over again and again, he decided to find some time to collect some books and find a grandfather who is good at sex in the palace to teach him experience.
Hao Cheng didn't know that Jiang Mengzhen had already thought about having children. She carefully put the document away and asked Jiang Mengzhen, "Does Mengzhen know anything about the palace examination?"
The news came a little late, and she had never thought that she would win the first prize. Calculating the time of the palace examination, it was only two months away. She had previously focused on the provincial examination content, and had no idea how to deal with the palace examination.
It seems that in the previous life, what we watched on TV was the emperor asking questions directly, and those were the top three. But there were so many top scorers in the provinces and cities of Jin State, and we didn’t know how they were ranked.
Jiang Mengzhen nodded: "I know a little bit, but not much. But my cousin is an official in the court, so she should know a lot about this matter."
Hao Cheng raised his eyebrows and recalled: "The cousin you are talking about is the one who wore dark blue clothes on our wedding day?"
Jiang Mengzhen said: "I stayed in the house at the time and didn't know what she was wearing."
Hao Cheng described the woman's approximate age and appearance, and Jiang Mengzhen responded, "It's her, for sure. My cousin is an official in the court, but she holds a sinecure. She likes calligraphy and is known as the Lay Buddhist Bingxin. There is one thing I forgot to tell you. I wrote some random things and published them in the bookstore she opened. If you hear your future colleagues talking about the Lay Buddhist Mingxin, that's me."
Hao Cheng didn't expect him to be so versatile, but when Jiang Mengzhen mentioned the cousin Bing Xin, she felt jealous again: "How come you are so familiar with this cousin? You like whatever she likes."
Jiang Mengzhen sighed and said soothingly, "It's just that I was alone and helpless when I was young. My cousin is the only daughter of the Duke's Mansion, so I naturally thought of ways to please her. She has a good temper, so we were closer at that time. And she already has a husband, so how could I have anything with her?"
He paused for a few seconds and continued, "I told you about her because I hope you can get along better with her. My cousin is very smart. With her guidance, you will feel more relaxed when you first enter the officialdom."
Hao Cheng grabbed his hand and rubbed it: "I know you are doing this for my own good." She was just a little indignant. She drank several glasses of wine that night, all of which were made by this cousin Bing Xin. It was inevitable that she would think too much.
Jiang Mengzhen was relieved to see that she had listened. After walking with her for a while, he suddenly remembered something: "Oh, it's the return day in a few days. Can you accompany me to the Jiang family, please?"