Chapter 066 Blind Date Conference
On April 27th of the ninth year of the Zhengtong reign, the peonies were in full bloom, and at this moment the fragrance of flowers filled the Zhan Garden of the Duke of Wei's mansion.
Since early morning, the servants of Zhanyuan have been busy cleaning the courtyard, preparing tableware, and receiving visiting guests.
Compared with the previous family banquet held at the Mansion of Duke Chengguo, the specifications of this flower-viewing party in Zhanyuan were not that high. At least, nobles and officials were no longer the main participants of the party, and more emphasis was placed on literati, young men and women.
Therefore, the entire Zhanyuan Garden was divided into three parts. Several officials, including Duke of Wei Xu Xianzong, sat in Jingmiao Hall. While sipping tea, they talked about interesting stories about their children and nephews, without the seriousness of the officialdom in the past.
The fan pavilion of Zhanyuan Garden was surrounded by light gauze, and inside sat the young ladies from official families in Nanjing City.
Although this was not called a blind date, the formal separation between men and women still had to be done. With the veil separating them, the officials' daughters could also see the appearance of the scholars and young men, which was killing two birds with one stone.
As for other places, they are public free areas where young scholars can move around freely without any restrictions.
Although Zhanyuan is nominally a part of the Duke of Wei's Mansion, it is actually a semi-independent garden, so there is no need to worry about wandering around and causing any etiquette errors.
Inside the fan pavilion, Chen Qingtong was leaning on the fence of the pavilion, scattering handfuls of fish food into the water, attracting the koi raised in Zhanyuan to scramble for the food, splashing water.
Seeing the young lady's behavior, the maid Xue'er shook her head helplessly, then whispered in her ear: "Young lady, if you continue to feed this fish, it will be stuffed to death. Don't you want to see the scholars and young masters at the party today?"
"What's so good about it?"
Chen Qingtong had no interest in other literati at all, she already had someone in her heart.
"Miss, take a look now. Maybe you will find someone you like. If you don't, what if the Marquis marries you to an ugly person someday?"
"Then I will run away from marriage!"
"Where can you escape to?"
Xue'er's question left Chen Qingtong speechless. With the status and identity of Marquis Taining, there was no place for him to hide in the world.
Seeing that the young lady was not in a good mood, Xue'er naturally understood what was bothering her, so she sat down closer and said, "Young lady, Xue'er also knows that Mr. Shen is very good, and he is working hard on the imperial examinations and has become the first in the mansion."
"But waiting for Master Shen to regain the dragon flag is still too far away..."
That day in the alley, Xue'er whispered to Shen Yichen that she hoped he could regain the dragon flag as soon as possible and use his status as the top scholar to convince the Marquis.
But it is not so easy to pass the exam to become the top scholar. The young lady is already fifteen years old this year, and has reached the age of marriage. The wedding date is approaching, and she might be engaged suddenly one day. Even today, she came to the flower viewing party because of the order of the marquis.
Even if Mr. Shen is very talented, he will pass the imperial examination one day, ride on a tall horse, and parade in the streets with flowers in his hair, attracting the attention of the whole world.
And can my young lady wait until that day?
"Xue'er, what nonsense are you talking about? What does this have to do with Master Shen?"
Seeing that Xue'er had exposed his secrets, Chen Qingtong became a little embarrassed and quickly denied it.
"Miss, others may not know, but how can I not know? Sometimes, you have to think about your future too."
The maid Xue'er and Chen Qingtong grew up together. They are master and servant in name, but in reality they are as close as sisters.
It doesn't matter if you have someone you love, Shen Yichen, but you can't just hang yourself on a tree. There are many scholars and young men present today, and there are also many outstanding ones. The young lady has chosen a good one. If the day comes when the marquis forces a marriage, at least she can still have some room for choice.
Just when Chen Qingtong didn't know how to answer, a young lady from an official family wearing a light blue cross-collared jacket and a horse-faced skirt came over and smiled at her, "Sister Qingtong, why are you here alone? Aren't you going to see your future ideal husband?"
The official lady who said this was named Xu Yan. She was the daughter of Xu Heng, the Marquis of Xing'an, who had just been promoted to the title in the ninth year of Zhengtong. She was a few years older than Chen Qingtong and had already married someone else. Today, I came here as an experienced person to check on these young sisters.
"Sister Yan, please stop teasing me. There is no such thing as an ideal husband."
"Are all the talented scholars here not worthy of my sister Bronze's attention? Then I want to see which young man can win your heart."
"No, Sister Yan, please don't talk nonsense."
After all, Chen Qingtong was a virgin, so when faced with the teasing of a woman like Xu Yan, she was naturally at a disadvantage and her face soon turned red with embarrassment.
At this moment, the "young master" who could win Chen Qingtong's heart had also appeared at the gate of Zhanyuan.
"Yi Chen, after we go in, this government will go to visit Duke Wei, so please do as you please."
"Yes, I will follow the orders of the prefect."
Shen Yichen bowed and nodded. In fact, after standing at the door for a while, he roughly understood the current situation.
The biggest difference between the flower-viewing party and the family banquet at Duke Chengguo's mansion is that in addition to the young men and women of the powerful and wealthy class, many knowledgeable and talented people are also able to attend the party.
Shen Yichen guessed the reason for this. Perhaps these powerful people knew what kind of people their second generation were. If they invited talented people to participate, they might be able to find one or two potential stocks.
Just like when the emperor selects a son-in-law, it is not necessarily limited to meritorious officials and nobles. Ordinary people also have a chance as long as they have a clean background, great talent, and beautiful looks.
Since people from ordinary classes have come in, the groups have to be divided naturally. High-ranking officials like Li Min have to be with nobles and important ministers, and will not mingle with young literati and young men.
So his words were also a reminder to Shen Yichen that what to do next depends on him.
"By the way, Yichen, I know you are a low-key person who doesn't like to be in the spotlight, but today is different. You must come up with something to silence the gossips. Do you understand?"
After the provincial examination was discovered, Li Min had received news from the Confucian Studies Department in the past few days that several failed scholars had reported that relatives of the Chengguo Mansion had cheated, and requested the Confucian Studies Department to conduct a strict investigation of these people.
Because Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong is now at the peak of his power, and there is no leader among the scholars who have reported the incident, this matter has been suppressed for the time being.
However, as the news spread, he was afraid that it would become more and more popular and would cause a large number of candidates to go to the Confucian Temple to cry. Li Min didn't know whether Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong was okay or not. He only knew that he and his examiners might be in danger of being beheaded!
To be honest, when Li Min was admitted, she believed that she had a clear conscience and had not done anything to deceive others. Now it seems that the matter has become a big deal and it is no longer a question of guilt or guilt, but someone has to be found to take the blame.
If we want to suppress this trend, it depends on Shen Yichen's performance today.
“Students understand.”
Not only Li Min was notified, but even Shen Yichen had been spreading rumors among the students in the outer courtyard private school these days, saying that people outside were discussing cheating in the official examination of Duke Cheng's Mansion.
As Shen Yichen was the first person in the case and the son of Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong, he was subject to even more suspicion.
In addition, just a year ago, Shen Yichen was still a stupid and naughty object of contempt. This experience was brought up again, as if to further prove that his earth-shaking changes were achieved by deceiving others.
To be honest, sometimes rumors can't be stopped just because you want to keep a low profile. Teacher Lin Zhen was right, a young man should be dressed in fine clothes and ride a horse. Today is the time for me to be high-profile.
Thinking of this, Shen Yichen straightened his clothes, followed the prefect Li Min with his head held high, and strode into Zhanyuan.
At this moment, there were at least dozens of young men standing in Zhan Garden, among whom roughly half were officials and talented scholars.
In the center of the crowd were Zhang Zhong, the eldest son of Duke Yingguo Zhang Fu, Li Lian, the eldest son of Xiangcheng Earl Li Long, and Zhu Ji, the second son of Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong.
As the son of a super-class noble, with his father's family background and status, it is hard not to attract attention.
However, a closer look reveals that among these sons of noble families, except for Zhang Zhong who is the eldest son, the others are either illegitimate sons or second sons. Zhang Zhong became disabled due to a fall from a horse in his early years, and in fact he had lost the opportunity to inherit the title. The eldest illegitimate son Zhang Mao was the candidate for the title cultivated by the Duke of Ying.
In other words, theoretically, these people are not the first choice to inherit the title.
The reason for this situation is very simple. The eldest son who inherits the title bears the family burden, and their marriages are already fixed through marriage alliances. On the contrary, the second son and the illegitimate son have no possibility of inheriting the title, but have more freedom to choose.
In addition, there were several people who attracted much attention at this flower-viewing party, including Zeng Mengjian, the top scholar of Yingtian Prefecture, Wei Zhuo, the top scholar of Hangzhou Prefecture, Dong Shicheng, the nephew of Right Censor-in-Chief of Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Xu Donghai, the cousin of Xu Qi, the Nanjing Minister of War.
But because Xu Donghai was only thirteen years old, he came to such gatherings more to make a name for himself and to socialize with the children of nobles and officials, so blind dates were not very important to him.
Some of the people in this group knew each other , some didn't. They all greeted each other politely when they met. Until one person came in, he instantly attracted everyone's attention and became the "protagonist" of this upper-class gathering.
"This person looks familiar to me. Is he Shen Yichen, the son of Duke Cheng's maid?"
"Yes, he is Shen Yichen!"
"Then he was also the winner of this year's provincial examination, right?"
"Yes, that's him."
"Shen Yichen actually came to participate. Rumor has it that there was cheating in the imperial examination at the Chengguo Mansion this year. I wonder if his first place is fake."
"Speak softly, the second son of Duke Cheng is here too, don't let him hear you."
As Shen Yichen appeared, people in the crowd began to talk about him. He is now a "top-tier" figure among the nobles, officials, literati, and scholars, and his experience is full of topics.
Coupled with the recent suspicion of cheating in the imperial examination, the issue has attracted even more attention.
As soon as Shen Yichen stepped into Zhan Garden, he found that the eyes of the young masters and scholars in the courtyard were all on him.
This kind of scene made Shen Yichen wonder in his heart, what on earth is going on? Why am I being treated like the center of the show?
