As the last two people to see the emperor, Zhang Chen and Zhu Er came out of the Qianqing Palace empty-handed. When people outside saw this scene, they naturally thought that the two people with the most noble family backgrounds got nothing this time, but only those who accompanied the emperor in the Qianqing Palace knew how lucky these two guys were.
It was incredible that he was not punished for almost quarreling in front of the emperor and saying such an extreme thing. Moreover, Zhang Chen expressed such an unreasonable idea, and although he was scolded back by the emperor, it was still very exciting.
However, as those who had seen the emperor gradually left the palace, more people learned that the emperor had invited Zhang Shou, a doctor of the Imperial College, to accompany him in the selection process, and they were immediately shocked and angry. When they counted the people who had received the rewards, they found that except for Xiao Yun, the son of the doctor of the Ministry of Personnel, who had received a complete set of new books, the rest, such as Zhang Wu, Zhang Lu, and others, were almost all children of nobles from Banshan Hall, and some people became even more dissatisfied.
Under the gazes of many envious and jealous people, when Zhang Wu returned home dizzy holding the plum blossom brush washer, the entire Nanyang Marquisate was in an uproar. As the fifth illegitimate son, he was a transparent person at home. If it weren't for Zhang Chen's big golden thigh, other brothers would not take him seriously at all, and even the servants were mostly just going through the motions in front of him.
Later, Zhang Wu and Zhang Wu took turns in holding the imperially bestowed ruler in Banshan Hall, assisting Zhang Chen, the head of the hall, in supervising the students. Seeing this, the wife of the Marquis of Nanyang gave him two more followers. When he proposed to apply for the Ministry of Rites, she hesitated for a moment and then agreed. But no one expected that Zhang Wu seemed to have a little hope this time!
The wife of the Marquis of Nanyang waited patiently until she had learned the follow-up news, and then she called the bastard who had been neglected for many years to her side. After washing her hands carefully, she carefully took the official kiln-fired brush washer with exquisite patterns from Zhang Wu's hand. After looking at it over and over for a long time, she returned it to Zhang Lu with a faint smile on her face.
"Don't just put the things the emperor has given you on the shelf. Put them on the desk and use them. This is worthy of the emperor's painstaking efforts. I will ask him to vacate the courtyard where your house is and give it to you. The rest will be used as a study. Go and pick two more people to serve in the study. Remember, pick people whose whole family lives in the mansion. This way, if something goes wrong, the whole family will be implicated, and you won't have to worry about them doing bad things."
"Of course, I will also give instructions to prevent those who are blinded by jealousy from embarrassing themselves. You should prepare yourself well these days so that you will not be caught off guard when good news comes."
Although Zhang Wu had told Zhang Shou that he hoped to find a strong wife and live alone in the future, he was still stunned by his stepmother's kindness. It took him a long while to realize the last sentence, and he was immediately happy and terrified.
"Mother, what... what good news? Although the emperor gave me this money, he didn't say anything else. Maybe someone else also received the emperor's reward?"
Compared to Zhang Hanzhou, Marquis of Nanyang, who was just a small soldier at first, the wife of Marquis of Nanyang was born into a legitimate military family. Her ancestors were hereditary commanders, and Emperor Ruizong himself acted as a matchmaker. But after she got married, she found out that her husband had many concubines, most of whom were trophies won as victors, and a few were bought maids.