Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 348 - 346

Chapter 348: 346

After the Sacrifice to Heaven ceremony, the marriage of the First Prince was naturally cancelled.

In view of the First Prince’s statement that Master Yunfa suggested he marry a girl born in the year, month, and day of the Monkey, the Empress Dowager didn’t dare to ignore Master Yunfa’s advice!

However, among the grand families of the Imperial Capital, apart from Ruan Weizhen, there were no other girls who met the criteria.

The eldest princess, seeing the Empress Dowager distressed over this, said: "Matters of marriage are all arranged by Elder Yue, and arranged by Heaven. Perhaps the First Prince’s destined wife is among the daughters of the officials in the various states and counties."

"We can only choose from them. Fortunately, there are many illustrious families in various regions." The Empress Dowager spoke reluctantly, though unwilling in her heart.

The Empress Dowager ordered someone to bring out the list of officials from various states and counties from the Ministry of Revenue.

The list contained recorded details of their families.

The Empress Dowager, the eldest princess, and Aunt Gui spent an entire day scouring and finally found a suitable girl. She seemed somewhat unattractive compared to Ruan Weizhen, but they could find no one more suitable.

That girl was Lan Yue, the daughter of the county magistrate of Jihe County.

"Isn’t this girl a bit too ugly? And isn’t the status of a magistrate’s daughter too low?" The Empress Dowager was dissatisfied. She was even more dissatisfied with this Lan Yue than she was with the county leader of Rui’an County!

Why did the girls, who were from grand families and born in the year of the Monkey, marry so early?

The Empress Dowager didn’t consider the fact that girls born in the year of Monkey are already seventeen this year, and if they don’t marry soon, they’ll be seen as old maids and no good families will want them!

"Alternatively, we could not listen to Master Yunfa and choose a girl from the grand families of the Imperial Capital for the First Prince?" After spending a whole day choosing, the eldest princess had lost her patience. It should be enough to marry a virtuous wife, why so many requirements! Besides, what did it matter if she was ugly, weren’t there concubines?

"That won’t do. Master Yunfa is a highly respected monk. Many are seeking him for their fortunes blessed, yet he always declines. It’s rare that the First Prince has his favor, so naturally we must listen to the master’s words."

Royal Astrologer Master had predicted the First Prince’s difficult destiny since he was young, so she felt a unique sense of pity for him. Now that they had finally found a solution, the Empress Dowager had to find him a girl born in the year, month, and day of the Monkey, even if she were a merchant’s daughter. Of course, she would only resort to this as a last resort if the situation were desperate~

Thus, the poor First Prince, due to his own panic-stricken words, ended up having an ugly girl, the daughter of a county magistrate, as his primary wife, becoming the joke of the entire Imperial City.

Upon learning that the Empress Dowager had chosen such a disgraceful wife for him, he was so angry he almost choked on his own blood and died.

That would be tolerable, if not for the two previous anomalies. There were rumors among the people that the future Emperor could only be the Sixth Prince, as only he could bring peace and tranquility to the people and create a time of happiness and prosperity!

They firmly opposed the First Prince’s succession to the throne!

On hearing these words, the First Prince stormed back into the palace, flipped a table as soon as he entered the room, and destroyed a fine set of jade pots in his rage!

The First Prince continued to knock things off the display cabinet.

The maids in the room were frightened and knelt down in a corner, not daring to breathe a word.

A senior eunuch hurriedly came forward to hold back the First Prince, but was kicked away by him.

"First Prince, you mustn’t! All the items in the palace have a set value and are recorded. If the Emperor finds out, it will not be good." The eunuch held his chest in pain and tried to stop him.

The First Prince was about to sweep everything off the antique shelf when he heard these words, and he forcefully stopped.

He then pounded his fist heavily on the round table: "Get out! All of you, get out!"

Upon hearing this, the maids and eunuchs all hastily retreated.

The First Prince paced back and forth within the room, the fury within him still raging!

Eventually, he couldn’t contain himself and left the palace, heading straight for Zuifang Tower.

These rumors were not in the best interest of the First Prince, but was this not an underhanded strike against the Sixth Prince!

Shangguan Xuanyi, after reflecting on what Xiao Fuzi had said, commanded: "Let the Twelfth spread this message: the multicolored auspicious clouds are indeed dragon’s aura, yet the rainbow-colored auspicious cloud is the true dragon’s aura!"

Xiao Fuzi agreed and left.

Not before long, the rumor that the rainbow-colored auspicious cloud was the true dragon’s aura spread fast near and far.

A rainbow-colored auspicious cloud is the true dragon’s aura? Clever indeed! In a courtyard within the Imperial Palace, the owner of a pair of slender, fair hands gently turned a page of a book, murmuring to himself.

The Emperor ignored these matters and did not change his attitude towards any of his sons.

He knew clearly, in his heart, that the future ruler of the kingdom would surely be one of his sons, and he did not mind that they harbored ambitions of becoming emperor!

He had only six sons and one princess, which was considered few compared to the past dynasties. If, in his old age, only one of his sons remained alive, it would certainly not be something he wished to see!

...

One day after morning court, the Fu Yin of Shuntian Mansion requested an audience with the Emperor.

In the Emperor’s study room, after the Fu Yin paid his respects, he presented a statement: "Your Majesty, a student from Shengping County accused Zhu Jiawen of cheating in the Imperial Examination. After investigations and checking the test papers, it was found that there were suspicions of cheating by five students in this examination in Shengping County, one of whom had even bribed an official."

"Where’s the evidence?" asked the Emperor after reading the statement.

The Fu Yin immediately presented the names of the scholars and the test papers from the examination in Shengping County. The test papers of the five suspected cheaters and the accuser’s test paper were kept separate.

After reading them, the Emperor was furious, "Check all the test papers from every state and county. Those found cheating will have their qualification of passing the examination revoked! For those who cheated and also bribed officials, dismiss them from their official positions, demote them to common citizens, and never employ them again! All officials involved in leaking the examination will have their properties confiscated and their whole families demoted to commonality! They will never be allowed to hold an official position, neither will their descendants! Furthermore, this Imperial Examination is considered invalid, we shall hold another one next year. You should handle this matter with the Ministry of Justice, Imperial College, and the government personnel in the archives!"

"Does this include the Imperial Examination in the Imperial City?" The examination papers of the Imperial City were different from those of other places. This year, the Emperor had personally set the questions out of boredom.

In the Imperial City, no one dared to cheat under the Emperor’s watch, especially this year, when the Emperor had personally set the questions.

Hearing these words, the Emperor contemplated for a moment, then said: "Check them. If no one cheated, then let’s keep the results intact! However, the rural examination and the follow-ups will be deferred to next year and joined by the scholars of the other areas.

This way, the scholars of the Imperial City would have had an extra year of study than other scholars when it was time for the rural examination!

The Emperor also wanted to warn against the rampant cheating among the scholars, hence the intentionality behind his decision.

Mr. Tan’s entire family was directly stripped of their status. All their properties were confiscated and they were demoted to commonality!

The entire family hid in a broken house, as Mrs. Tan chased Shen Yuzhu to beat her while she cursed and yelled!

Shen Yuzhu has spent a miserable few months! Before, she would dare to be angry but not to voice it! Now that the whole family has fallen into ignominy and lost their status, what more was there to fear? She directly grabbed Mrs. Tan’s hair, and slapped her several times in a row! She showed the resemblance of her mother, even surpassing her in anger!