The Lucky Farmgirl

The Ministry of Personnel examination concluded in half a day, and the results started coming out the next afternoon. By the third day, which was also the morning of the banquet set by Zhou Man, the results were already out.

The Ministry of Personnel examination had no rankings, only two outcomes: pass or fail.

If you pass, you can start waiting for a post assignment. If you fail, naturally, you will have to wait until the next year to take the exam again.

Bai Shan never doubted that he would pass, so in the morning, he leisurely washed up and then invited Manbao to check the results after everything was set.

He was confident about passing. The reason he invited them was because he wanted to inquire about available vacancies when picking up the results, to select which position he wanted to fill.

Liu Huan also took part in the Ministry of Personnel examination, so they invited him along the way.

Liu Huan walked beside the two, feeling somewhat disappointed, "It’s a pity that Bai Er and Yin Huo are studying in the palace."

Manbao said, "They’ve taken leave and will be out of the palace shortly. If you want, you can go pick them up."

"Oh, right," Liu Huan replied, "Your family is hosting a banquet today; it’s also a good day for Bai Er."

Quite a few people came to the Ministry of Personnel to check their results, but they didn’t expect Bai Shan to arrive so early. Wasn’t his family hosting a banquet today?

Bai Shan, ignoring their thoughts, pulled Manbao forward to check the results. Right at the top, he saw his name and lowered his voice to say excitedly, "See, it’s so far ahead. My results must be very good."

Unfortunately, the Ministry of Personnel examination doesn’t rank; passing means getting on the list.

Even though the list doesn’t rank, the officials from each department who reviewed the papers know the candidates’ backgrounds.

Every year, the Ministry of Personnel examination is a way for the Three Departments and Six Ministries, along with the Nine Temples and Five Supervisories, to select officials. Department heads oversee it, and some even personally review the exams.

So, how each person did is well known among the officials.

Bai Shan quietly wanted to come early to say hello and choose his preferred external posting, but they had already selected a position for him.

After seeing his name, Bai Shan immediately pulled Manbao to find someone, wanting Manbao to help check the current openings.

As soon as they heard that they wanted to see the external positions, the Ministry of Personnel officials smiled and looked at Liu Huan, praising, "Young Master, you have great ambitions."

Liu Huan: ... What does that have to do with him? He didn’t want an external posting.

In consideration of serving in the same dynasty as Zhou Man, and the titles of Bai Shan and Liu Huan, the Ministry of Personnel officials turned a blind eye and showed them the current external positions.

Bai Shan immediately looked down to review them, and after looking for a while, he found that all the openings were quite far away. They were either in Jiangnan or in the Lingnan region, with almost none in the Central Plains or the north.

Bai Shan rubbed his chin, pondering, and finally, a little disappointed, pointed to a place and asked, "Sir, this Rui’an County is in Kua State?"

"That’s right."

Bai Shan gritted his teeth and said, "Then I choose that one."

The official didn’t expect him to be so straightforward and looked at Liu Huan, "Have you decided?"

Liu Huan: "...He chose, why are you looking at me?"

Official: "...Weren’t you the one looking to be posted externally?"

Liu Huan widened his eyes, "Who said I wanted to be posted externally? I, if there aren’t any positions left in the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Public Works, I could also go to the Ministry of Rites, you know."

Official: ...

The official then looked at Bai Shan.

Bai Shan also looked at him with a puzzled expression, "This was my choice. He’s not going for an external post; I’m the one who is."

Official: "...Deputy Magistrate Bai, your post has already been arranged."

He directly took back the list, not letting them see anymore.

Bai Shan was surprised, "I haven’t even asked for a position yet; how could there already be one?"

"It’s arranged by the officials above," the official said, "This position, seeking it is one thing, but what is given is another, and your post isn’t bad at all, quite good."

Bai Shan: "What position?"

"Hanlin Academy," the official looked at Bai Shan with a bit of envy and jealousy, "This was personally selected by Lord Wei, and His Majesty approved it as well. Congratulations to Deputy Magistrate Bai."

Going round and round, it still leads to studying.

Bai Shan, who had already envisioned how he would govern as a county magistrate, felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.

He paused for a moment and then turned to look at Manbao.

Manbao, particularly understanding, looked at him and could only pat his hand and console, "Don’t be upset, Hanlin is at most three years. If His Majesty favors you, he will definitely send you out for training."

An official nearby: ... Going directly to Hanlin, becoming the emperor’s close minister, what more could one want?

Liu Huan was also puzzled, but in front of outsiders, he didn’t voice it. He only asked after they walked far away and there were only the three of them and the carefree guards on the empty imperial city avenue, "Isn’t entering the Hanlin Academy a good thing? Every day you can study, edit books, even draft edicts for the emperor, how great is that? If I could enter Hanlin Academy, my grandfather would hold a banquet for seven days and nights."

Bai Shan: "If it’s so good, do you want to go?"

Liu Huan shook his head directly, "I’ll pass; I don’t love studying."

Bai Shan muttered something, but Liu Huan didn’t hear it clearly and asked, "What did you say?"

Bai Shan maintained a cool expression, "Nothing."

Manbao then said, "He said he doesn’t love studying anymore."

Bai Shan looked over with a glare.

Liu Huan had a face full of disbelief, "Impossible, how could you not love studying? I’ve always seen you read books with great interest."

"That’s because I got interested; I also have times when I’m not interested," Bai Shan, having been found out, didn’t bother to hide it. "I just don’t want to do coursework anymore. There are still plenty of entertaining books in this world."

In essence, he enjoys reading books but doesn’t like reading because of coursework, and "I’ve learned so much, especially about laws and regulations, and I just want to display my skills in a place. In the Hanlin Academy, it’s not much different from studying at the Chongwen Pavilion."

It’s just that in the latter, he met the crown prince every day, and in the former, he met the emperor every day; the latter involved studying with the prince, and the former involved studying with the emperor, while occasionally being drafted by the emperor to write some edicts.

He was naturally aware that the connections he would build at Hanlin Academy could not be matched by an external position, not to mention the feelings and insights he could develop by being close to the emperor.

However, he just wanted an external post.

It’s like, in an open room filled with gold, silver, and jewels—every precious thing in this world is in the room. Once you go in, those things are yours;

But outside the room is a horse, just one horse, followed by an endless prairie. Riding the horse, you can gallop across the prairie.

All the food and drink, everything you want, needs to be gained through great effort. To achieve the wealth inside that room requires ten times, or even a hundred times, the effort of simply walking in.

Yet, he still yearned to ride the horse.

Unfortunately, now someone has put a rope around him, pulling him into the room, Bai Shan...

He sighed and thought of going in obediently.

Manbao leaned close to his ear and whispered, "I still have experiments at the imperial farm."

Bai Shan snapped out of his reverie. Okay, the discontent in his heart faded quite a bit. He couldn’t really go for an external post all alone, could he?

I need to wait for Manbao.

Suddenly, Liu Huan stopped, "Wait a minute, was my name on the list?"

Bai Shan and Manbao stopped in their tracks, turning their heads in unison to look at him.

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