The Lucky Farmgirl

Wei Zhi was very satisfied, stroking his beard and said, "Although it was my proposal to let you enter the Hanlin Academy, it was His Majesty who personally selected you. Among the many scholars who took the Ministry of Personnel examination with you, only three have this honor, and you are the youngest one."

Not only is Bai Shan the youngest, but he was also the scholar from two years ago, earlier than the other two selected this time, so technically, he’s their senior.

Thinking of this, Wei Zhi couldn’t help but smile.

Bai Shan invited Wei Zhi to sit down and turned around to greet State Duke Zhao... and Zhao Liulang, who came to celebrate.

This time, the three families held the same banquet simultaneously and at the same place, and quite a few people came. They also noted on the invitations that it wouldn’t be appropriate to demand too much, so everyone attending the banquet only needs to bring one gift.

How the three families ultimately divide the gifts is their own business.

But State Duke Zhao still sent three gifts, each marked with a name, and Zhou Man’s gift list was the longest, more than twice the sum of Bai Shan’s and Bai Erlang’s.

Even though the gatekeepers didn’t announce the gifts, as soon as people arrived, the servants carrying boxes of gifts poured in, along with the three gift lists sent out. When someone opened the list that Zhou Lichong had in his hand, it was so long that it was hard for everyone not to notice.

Some officials who saw this couldn’t help but mutter, "Since when did State Duke Zhao become so close with Zhou Man?"

"Tsk, perhaps he is atoning for last time’s incident?"

The other party took a moment to recall what incident he was talking about, then said, "How long has it been since that incident? And isn’t State Duke Zhao already the Minister of Ministry of War?"

"That’s not necessarily the case. Before, Zhou Man was in the imperial estate, and the Zhou Family didn’t have anyone who could make decisions for her. But now she is out, they have to atone for the offense eventually, and the Zhao Family’s difficulty with Zhou Man offended not only Zhou Man but also the Imperial Hospital."

The other sneered, "The Imperial Hospital is just a group of medical craftsmen, they eventually have to obey their superiors’ orders."

The official speaking quietly distanced himself a little, smiling, "Let’s go in; I see even Lord Tang has come. We came to have a wedding feast during lunchtime, so we don’t have to worry about being impeached."

Today, an unusual number of guests came.

In fact, Zhou Man and the others initially didn’t plan to invite so many people. Apart from those whom they had friendly relations with, they didn’t intend to invite many people from the court.

But they couldn’t withstand the number of people inquiring over the past two days.

Since people proactively asked, the three of them naturally could only smile and say they would invite them for a drink, then the others would follow with eager anticipation, and they naturally had to send out the posts, otherwise, it would offend people too much.

And so posts were sent out more and more, leading to today’s bustling scene.

The road out front, which could accommodate four carriages side by side, was utterly blocked now, as carriages continued to jam the area from both sides of the road.

The Bai Family’s manager came out to ease the congestion, quickly arranging the carriages to go in or out, not keeping guests waiting long.

But the number of people coming was still unexpectedly large, making it seem even busier than Liu Huan’s banquet.

It’s no wonder people are so keen; honestly, Bai Shan, Zhou Man, and Bai Cheng all have promising futures, whichever way you look at it.

If one can deepen relations with them when they are still less known, wouldn’t it be easier to mingle in the future?

The current emperor is very generous and never stingy with granting nobility titles to meritorious officials. Massive achievements in wars, grant! Significant contributions in affairs of state, grant! Bringing great benefits to the country and having a good reputation among the people, grant!

With the Emperor’s perspective, if the national treasury is short on funds, he would rather not confer high nobility titles but directly allot a piece of land as a reward.

There is still quite a bit of unused land under the court’s name.

The previous dynasty had too many casualties due to wars.

But even with such generosity from the emperor, there haven’t been many titles conferred in recent years.

Certainly, Bai Shan and the others are not the highest, as marquis and count titles have been conferred in recent years.

But these few definitely have the most promising futures.

As for Zhou Man, no need to say more; just look at her promotion path over the years. The Chongwen Pavilion side is silent, and someone once privately inquired about her, and currently, no one could find a fault in her writings.

She specializes in her field, and even for the books they compile for the use in the Imperial Academy, occasionally she can make some worthy remarks, which brightens it up quite a bit. Libationer Kong has frequently used the analyses she has meticulously crafted.

Medical craftsmen aren’t intimidating, but what if she isn’t merely a medical craftsman?

It’s worth noting that her rank in the Chongwen Pavilion is higher than in the Imperial Hospital, so while she is an imperial physician, she is more notably a civil official.

The position as a compiler at Chongwen Pavilion is considerably prestigious. Had she not been a woman, and only worked on medical books, given the quantity of her work now, she might well progress further, possibly working part-time at the Imperial Academy, perhaps even becoming one of the candidates for the three prime ministers someday.

Her future is thus hard to predict because there are no precedents for her path. Who knows where she might end up?

When she first became an official, everyone thought that if she could maintain the fifth-grade official position her whole life, it would be worthwhile. Yet now, she’s already fourth-grade.

Many struggle their entire lives at the hurdle from fifth to fourth grade.

Zhou Man’s future is unpredictable, but Bai Shan’s is clearer.

This person truly is a young talent. Without Yang Heshu’s brilliance to precede him, he might have amazed the court severely.

But even with Yang Heshu ahead, Bai Shan still manages to impress.

Moreover, he possesses an advantage over Yang Heshu.

His family background is prestigious yet humble, unlike Yang Heshu, whose family is powerful, with a concubine in the palace and even has a prince, so when people first used him, there was some reluctance.

It was Yang Heshu who openly declared his aspirations and voluntarily chose the remote and impoverished Luojiang County for training, while the emperor cherished talent and was unwilling to let go of such people.

Thus Yang Heshu was repeatedly promoted.

But Bai Shan doesn’t have such concerns, and his reputation is actually better than Yang Heshu’s. Before he even began his career, he already had a good reputation for fearlessness towards authority and loyalty in the scholarly community.

Because of the Prince of Yizhou, officials and students from Jiannan also recognized him, and he was from Longzhou within Guan Inner Dao...

This is very subtly favorable.

Coupled with his own talent, this person’s path may proceed even smoother than Yang Heshu’s.

Unfortunately, they are not the same age or in the same tier, otherwise, one might say it could be a meeting of titans.

Bai Cheng’s future is even clearer, merely relying on the Emperor’s love for Princess Mingda, he is likely to live well even without an official position.

The best part is, the Crown Prince deeply cares for Mingda as his sister, which means, barring unforeseen events, he might be in the Emperor’s heart across two reigns.

So how could anyone not attend such a banquet for their nobility titles?

They must attend, else when these individuals advance further in the future, they might really miss the chance to participate.

Thus everyone entering is warmly greeted by Bai Shan, Bai Cheng, and Manbao. They can only respond passionately, and even with small companions helping to share this enthusiasm, their smiles were still stiffened.

So much so that when turning to face Yin Huo and Liu Huan, their expressions were still those stiffened smiles.

Yin Huo: "...If you don’t want to smile, then don’t."

He looked a bit creepy.

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