My Husband is a Drama King [Book Transmigration] 61p1

Chapter 61p1: The Palace Examination

After the metropolitan examination, Song Changxu returned to the inn exhausted. He ate a little and then slept for a whole day.

When he woke up, he felt that his energy had recovered a little. He went out for a walk. Hearing the hawking of the vendors and the endless stream of people on the street, his mood improved.

A carriage was rumbling on the road. Song Changxu saw a very magnificent carriage with the character “Xiao” carved on it.

Everyone who saw this carriage quickly moved aside.

A beautiful ge’er lifted the curtain, looked at the bustling Chang’an Street, and revealed a charming smile. His laughter was like a bell, crisp and pleasant.

After the carriage had left, someone sighed, “Just a concubine has such a grand display. The power of the Xiao family is truly astonishing.”

“Who says not? I heard that this concubine was a country bumpkin before. He was taken a liking to by the third young master of the Xiao family when he was on a trip. Now he’s a sparrow turned into a phoenix, brought to the capital to enjoy a life of luxury.”

“If our family had such a beautiful ge’er to offer to the Xiao family, wouldn’t we also be blessed with wealth and honor?” someone speculated.

Merits that shake the throne are like cooking with oil on a raging fire. A slight carelessness and you’ll be shattered to pieces. To be so ostentatious now is to court death.

Song Changxu overheard the gossip and went back to the inn to continue his studies.

On the other side, the Xiao family’s concubine returned to the Xiao residence. He walked in and saw a young man in the garden, lost in thought with his head down.

The man was slender and had an extraordinary temperament, as if shrouded in mist, like a piece of jade, with an outstanding and dignified bearing. He had a high nose bridge, thin lips, and the posture of a dragon and the grace of a phoenix, truly extraordinary.

The Xiao family’s concubine had seen many people with Xiao Bang. He had never seen such a young gentleman with such an extraordinary temperament, outstanding appearance, and heavy pressure.

He put two fingers to his lips and twisted them, then walked over gracefully, his voice soft, his beautiful eyes looking around. “Greetings, young master. I have not yet seen you in the Xiao residence. May I know your name?”

Emperor Pingjing frowned. He had encountered such familiar fawning behavior many times in the palace and was very disgusted by it.

As expected, there was no quiet place in the Xiao residence.

“Leave,” he said coldly. His natural authority and condescending tone stunned the Xiao family’s concubine, but his heart grew even more eager.

“Young master is admiring the flowers in the garden. I can explain a few things to you and accompany you to relieve your boredom,” he said, lowering his posture even more, his voice soft and gentle.

Emperor Pingjing’s gaze turned completely cold. Truly ignorant and audacious.

He was about to lose his temper.

Another voice sounded, “Elder Brother, you should control the people in your house. How can any cat or dog dare to appear in front of my cousin? It’s so unruly. Don’t tell me you want to enter the palace to be a concubine.” Xiao Yurong had only been gone for a while, and a little slut had already approached his emperor cousin. He was jealous and his mouth was poisonous. He wished he could drag this person down and beat him to death.

Xiao Ding sighed. “It is I who have not been strict in my discipline. Third Brother, hurry and take your shameful thing away.”

Xiao Bang’s face turned cold. He had his attendant drag his favorite concubine away. No matter how he cried and wailed, it was useless.

“Third Young Master, please spare me. I was wrong. I will never dare to do it again. I just saw this young master here and thought he was bored, so I went up to talk to him…”

The Xiao family’s concubine was filled with regret. He had only exchanged a few words with this young master of unknown status. Wait, that ge’er had just called Xiao Ding “Elder Brother.” The Xiao family’s direct line only had one ge’er, and that was the current Phoenix Lord, who was renowned throughout the capital for his beauty.

The identity of the man in the garden was self-evident. The Xiao family’s concubine shivered. He really didn’t know anything. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have approached him.

Xiao Yurong hurried over. “Cousin, it’s all Third Brother’s fault for the lack of discipline in his courtyard that has offended you. Please don’t be angry.”

Emperor Pingjing smiled. “How could I? We’re all one family.”

Xiao Ding and Xiao Bang did not dare to take this sentence seriously. The two of them bowed respectfully.

Emperor Pingjing only saw the tops of their heads. He felt a little more comfortable. He helped Xiao Ding up. “Alright, get up. Originally, Rong’er wanted to come and see you today, so I accompanied him. It’s a private visit. You can just treat me as a relative who has come to visit.”

Hearing this, a brilliant smile appeared on Xiao Yurong’s beautiful face, even more captivating.

“Cousin is the best.”

Emperor Pingjing smiled warmly and patted Xiao Yurong’s hand affectionately.

Seeing that the relationship between the emperor and the empress was harmonious, Xiao Ding and Xiao Bang breathed a sigh of relief. The two of them looked at each other, and Xiao Ding first led Emperor Pingjing for a walk.

“Your Majesty, the Xiao family has changed a lot. I will show you around.”

Emperor Pingjing nodded. When he was young, he had learned martial arts from General Xiao at the Xiao residence. The Xiao family revered martial arts, and several of the young men had practiced with him. Xiao Yurong would always secretly come to watch them.

Thinking of those days, Emperor Pingjing couldn’t help but feel a little soft, but he was the emperor, and he quickly suppressed this emotion.

Xiao Ding led them to a quiet little courtyard. Xiao Yurong cried out in pleasant surprise, “Cousin, look, the swing we made when we were children is still here.”

He sat on it happily, waiting for Emperor Pingjing to push him. Emperor Pingjing took a step forward and put his hand on the rope.

Xiao Ding had deliberately brought the emperor here to see how much warmth he still had for them. Now it seemed that the emperor still had feelings for them, but he didn’t know how long this feeling would last.

As the eldest son of the Xiao family, Xiao Ding was worried about the situation. Especially when his aunt had refused to let His Majesty take over the government before, Xiao Ding had broken out in a cold sweat at the border.

At that time, he had dragged his injured body to write a letter to the capital and had also gone to persuade his father. His aunt had used His Majesty’s marriage as a bargaining chip and had married Yurong to him, which was also a bad move.

After Emperor Pingjing had left the Xiao residence, the carriage turned and went to the suburban camp. Xiao Yurong sensed that this was not the way back to the palace. His heart stirred, but he didn’t say anything and snuggled in his emperor cousin’s arms.

.

The results of the metropolitan examination were out five days later. When the list was posted, many scholars gathered around.

Song Changxu stood on the outside and couldn’t squeeze in at all. He was a little helpless.

He thought that he had come early, but he hadn’t expected that these people had already formed four layers before dawn.

Song Changxu: “…” I can’t squeeze in at all.

Forget it. The result will be the same whether I see it early or late.

Xie Feng and the others were waiting in a private room early, having their attendant go and check the list. There were also many people like Song Changxu who had come to see the list themselves.

An official came to post the list.

First place: Shen Liang of Mingzhou Prefecture

Second place: Bai Shu of Yunzhou Prefecture

Third place: Pei Shengrong of Ningzhou Prefecture

…

Nineteenth place: Song Changxu of Yunzhou Prefecture

…

Song Changxu had waited for a long time before he saw his ranking. The Ningxing Dynasty still had many talented people. He was quite satisfied with this ranking in the metropolitan examination.

He read the list from top to bottom again and saw that Xie Feng, Luo Shuang, and Cheng Maoxue were also on it. Now, their bottom line was a third-class Jinshi.

Song Changxu was much more relaxed. There was still a month. The palace examination only tested on policy essays. He was good at that. He still couldn’t relax these days. After he had finished all the exams, he would sleep for three days and three nights.

After he had gotten his exam results, he went back to the inn. He had gotten up too early in the morning, so he went to take a nap first.

Xie Feng and the others were waiting in the private room. The attendant came and said, “Young master is thirtieth on the list, Young Master Luo is fortieth, and Young Master Cheng is forty-second.”

This time, all the talented people from the Ningxing Dynasty had come for the exam. This ranking was not bad. The entire dynasty only accepted three hundred successful candidates, and they were already in the front.

The attendant also remembered to mention the top three.

Xie Feng: “I didn’t expect this Yun Shu to be so amazing. He can even get second place in the metropolitan examination. Besides us, who else from Yunzhou Prefecture has passed?”

“I don’t remember, young master,” the attendant said, shaking his head.

Xie Feng gave him a tip and told him to leave.

“Next is to prepare for the palace examination. Also, I want to go and have a look at the list to see if Brother Song has passed,” Xie Feng said.

Cheng Maoxue readily agreed. He also didn’t believe that Song Changxu was not on the list. The three of them went out together to see the list. There were fewer people now, and they soon saw Song Changxu’s name.

Xie Feng gritted his teeth. “I was even worried that he wouldn’t pass. His ranking is so good. He’s probably secretly happy somewhere.”

Hearing Xie Feng’s words, Luo Shuang smiled. “What kind of person do you think Brother Song is?”

After the metropolitan examination, some were happy, some were sad. Some of them had already given up after this exam, while others planned to try again. None of this affected Song Changxu. He still read after eating. Now, he also went out for a walk and to move around. Otherwise, it would be boring to stay in the inn all the time. He still had to come out for some fresh air occasionally.

Song Changxu liked to go for a walk in the outskirts. That way, he could walk for a long time, and it was also good to have a look at the scenery outside.

Song Changxu had arranged his schedule for this month. On the other side, Xu Zhizhou would often stay at the Song family’s for a while and then go to the Xu family’s in Qishan Village.

Xie Huaichuan had taken Xu Zhici back to the old Xie family residence. With two elders at home, it was still a bit uncomfortable and inconvenient at times.

Xu Zhizhou would just go back for a free meal and help with the digging at home.

Xu Sunzheng had bought another two acres of land and was very happy, working very hard. Xu Zhizhou said with a full of fantasy, “If we buy a few more dozen acres of land, we can just rent it out in the future, and you and Mother can just collect the rent.”

Cao Qin smiled. “We wouldn’t dare. Your father and I are still young. We still have to work for more than ten years. We’ll rest when we’re old and our bodies are not good anymore.”

The older generation were all so hardworking, but Xu Zhizhou was a person who was born to want to take shortcuts and live a good life.

“Anyway, I don’t want to work in the fields. I just want to live happily,” Xu Zhizhou said, tying his hair into a high ponytail for convenience.

The high ponytail swung behind him. Xu Zhizhou seriously pointed at his fingers. “Have a good-looking face, done. Control my weight, done. Find a potential stock of a husband, done. Make my husband dote on me, done. Have my own private money, done. Be envied when I go back to the village, done.”

Xu Zhizhou was still counting on his fingers. “There’s still more to be done…”

Xu Sunzheng found it amusing. He took a sip of water and didn’t bother with him, carrying his hoe to the fields.

Seeing that his parents were both working, Xu Zhizhou had no choice but to take a hoe and also work. It was too unfriendly to him. His husband was not here, so he had to do it himself.

Xu Zhizhou thought of Song Changxu, and longing filled his heart again. His husband had been gone for almost two months. He didn’t know how he was doing in the capital.

After they had finished their work, Xu Zhizhou went back first. Xu Zhici was already at home cooking.

“Elder Brother, why are you here?”

Xu Zhici said, “My husband has gone to town. I thought it was the spring planting season, so I came back to help.”

With Xu Zhici, they were a little more relaxed. In the afternoon, Xie Huaichuan came to help. Xu Zhizhou glanced at him, and he went back to help the Song family.

Xie Huaichuan was a young man who was as good as several men.

After helping with the work, Xu Zhizhou also went to Xigu Village to see Sun Luzhen. Sun Luzhen’s child was already over a year old, now lying on the bed, looking very cute.

“Zhizhou, you’re here. I was thinking of going to find you,” Sun Luzhen said, holding the child for Xu Zhizhou to see. “His name is Bai Cai. He’s a boy.”

The child was babbling. He looked at Xu Zhizhou and stared at him, putting his fingers in his mouth to bite them. Sun Luzhen held his hand to stop him.

“Seeing that you’re living a good life, I’m relieved,” Xu Zhizhou said, teasing the child.

Sun Luzhen: “I haven’t congratulated you on being the husband of a Juren yet. Life is always like this. My life is not bad. Now that I have a child, my husband and I are both working hard to earn money.”

Xu Zhizhou chatted with Sun Luzhen for a few more words. He asked him to stay for dinner.

“No, I’ll go back and eat,” Xu Zhizhou said, and left with a light step.

Seeing that his friend was doing well, he was also happy. It seemed that this Bai Yuan was not a bad person. He had a general impression of the Sun family and didn’t want to eat with them.

How could life be the same with anyone?

Xu Zhizhou let out a breath, went back home, had dinner, and played with a spinning top with Xu Cheng for a while.

“Zhizhou, do you want to eat loquats? We’ll go to the back mountain to pick them tomorrow,” Song Mingyan said.

“I want to go!” Xu Cheng said quickly.

Xu Zhizhou also nodded. “Alright.”

Back in his room, Xu Zhizhou started to miss him again. He was already looking forward to the third month, when he would go to the capital with Xie Huaichuan and the others to see Song Changxu.

Although he felt that his husband was very amazing, he couldn’t help but worry. Was he eating well, was he living well, was he being wronged outside?

He would always think of these things, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

“It should be fine. My husband is so smart.” He was the only Juren in the surrounding ten li and eight villages.

He hugged Song Changxu’s pillow and fell asleep.

In his dream, he saw Song Changxu becoming an official and coming to get him. He happily went with him.

Then his husband said, “I’m sorry. I’ve fallen in love with someone in the capital, so…”

So what? Xu Zhizhou was extremely angry. He jumped up and beat the pillow, using both his hands and feet.

When he woke up, drenched in sweat, it was not yet dawn.

“Could this be some kind of omen?” Xu Zhizhou muttered a few words, pinched the pillow, and continued to sleep.

.