Chapter 328: Will not let it go

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation  Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Seeing Xiao Yuanshi’s merciless figure making a move first, Ge Chunru’s heart also grew cold.

How could he treat her like this?

He said that he would pamper her for the rest of her life.

Since he loved and pampered her, so what if she financed her younger brother and sister?

Shouldn’t he tolerate her when she made a mistake?

She was blind to fall in love with him.

How could he treat her like this? He had gone too far.

It must have been that slut Tao Liu who instigated it.

She was a thick-skinned slut.

Hence, she got up from the ground and wanted to rush to Tao Liu’s courtyard.

However, she was stopped by Xiao Yuanshi’s men.

No matter how much trouble she caused, they would not let her out.

The incident during the day had already spread throughout the capital.

Naturally, the servants of the general’s residence had also heard about it.

Many servant girls and boys secretly cursed Ge Chunru, their madam, for being shameless.

Back then, it was already contemptible for her to rely on her status as a concubine to rise to the top. Now, she actually went to steal someone.

Ge Chunru had also become the joke of the entire general’s residence.

Even the servants despised her.

She had also lived to the point where she disliked it the most.

In the beginning, she would cause a ruckus in the general’s residence’s backyard every day.

After receiving a letter from Ge Chunyi, she suddenly stopped causing a ruckus.

She drank her medicine and ate her meal properly.

She asked her servant girl to invite Xiao Yuanshi over, wanting to speak properly, but this time, Xiao Yuanshi was determined to make her change her temper, so he did not come.

This time, Ge Chunru did not smash anything again.

Instead, she began to copy the scriptures every day, looking like she was suddenly remorseful.

Xiao Yuanshi heard the servant report every day. Seeing that Ge Chunru knew she was wrong and was remorseful after copying the scriptures, he was not so angry anymore.

However, he still did not go to see Ge Chunru.

The moment he saw her, he could not help but think of the matter of her going against her husband.

After returning from the manor, he had also become a housebound person.

He did not need to investigate to know what was going on outside.

He did not know how many people in the imperial court would laugh at him for being cuckolded.

Therefore, he told his people not to investigate, not to report, and not to go out.

This way, he would pretend that he did not hear anything.

Thinking of how Mdm Kong had despised him, he calmed down and began to practice his calligraphy.

The more he calmed down and practiced his calligraphy, the more he could not help but think of Mdm Kong’s current lively appearance.

He even thought that if the madam of the general’s residence was Mdm Kong, would he not have been humiliated so much?

The outsiders were indeed mocking Xiao Yuanshi.

At the same time, they don’t talk to Xiao Yuanshi at all.

His wife had already stolen someone, but he still hadn’t divorce her.

If Ge Chunru had done this in any other places, she would have been drowned in a wicker basket.

If Xiao Yuanshi didn’t pursue the matter further, it would naturally be put to rest.

It also made the Zheng family heave a sigh of relief.

Zheng Tongfeng’s reputation was completely ruined for stealing the general’s wife.

It was impossible for a girl from a good family to marry him from now onwards.

Therefore, he took the opportunity to propose to his true love.

Master Zheng found it embarrassing was afraid that he would do something even more shameful, so he agreed after the persuasion of his other two sons.

He gave the brothel girl an identity of her coming from a small family, and then let Zheng Tongfeng bring her into the family.

He was prepared to split up the family in the future, and the assets that were supposed to be given to Zheng Tongfeng would also be reduced.

Xiao Hanzheng naturally would not let off Zheng Tongfeng, who wanted to harm his sister.

Therefore, the news of Zheng Tongfeng marrying a new wife, who was actually a prostitute raised at the brothel, quickly spread throughout the capital.

The Zheng family was once again humiliated severely.

There was no other way.

Master Zheng could only send Zheng Tongfeng, the prostitute, directly back to his old home with his servants.

On the way back to their old home, they encountered bandits.

Zheng Tongfeng was almost beaten to a pulp by these people.

Although he could barely walk after being rescued, he was almost like a eunuch.

Of course, this was Xiao Hanzheng’s doing, but he did not leave any evidence behind.

In the end, even the Zheng family thought it was a coincidence and only lamented that Zheng Tongfeng was unlucky.

Soon, it was the day of the court examinations.

On this day, Xiao Hanzheng dressed neatly and went to the imperial palace to participate in the court examinations.

The court examinations only had policy-related questions.

The duration was one day and the papers should be handed in at dusk.

During this period, the emperor would personally come over to take a look.

Naturally, the results would not come out on the same day.

They would wait for the examiners to review the papers and present them to the emperor.

After the emperor had decided on the first grade candidate, there would be a ceremony to announce the results of the court examinations.

When Xiao Hanzheng received the questions, it was indeed within his expectations.

The topic was on the livelihood of the people and how to strengthen the country.

The overall theme was how to let the people live a stable and good life.

Were there any strategies that could make the country richer and stronger?

This kind of topic could be easy, but also could be difficult.

To say it was easy meant that the scope of the topic was wide and there was a lot of room for development.

What was difficult was to write new ideas or give effective suggestions.

In particular, one could not write anything that touched the interests of the aristocratic families, or else it would be easy to step on the aristocratic families’ landmines.

Even if you were a scholar and become an official in the future, you would still be punished.

Xiao Hanzheng was naturally not stupid enough to write about the interests of the aristocratic families, so he focused on how to develop the people’s livelihood.

He had already lived for a lifetime, and in his previous life, he had become a first-grade official, so his horizons were not low.

In addition, he would occasionally chat with Shi Qingluo about the country and the people’s livelihood, and he had also received a lot of advice from her, and also inspiration from her words.

Therefore, Xiao Hanzheng mainly talked about “With a strong country and rich residents, the society would be safe and peaceful,” but he did not mention much about the country’s policies.

He had avoided almost all the landmines.

After all, he hadn’t entered the civil service yet, so he didn’t need to mention these things so early.

If he met a conservative marking officer, his results would probably be directly ranked below the top ten.

And the emperor usually only looked at the top ten papers to decide the first grade candidate.

He picked up the brush and wrote very smoothly.

After Xiao Hanzheng finished writing and checked that there were no problems, he copied it on the exam paper.

Feeling a bright yellow figure standing next to him, he didn’t panic and continued to copy steadily.

After a moment, the people around him left.

Wherever the emperor passed by, everyone else was extremely nervous.

There were even a few examinees who had written wrongly or had accidentally stained the examination paper with the grindstone.

After the emperor left, they only wanted to cry.

The emperor stayed for about two hours before he left.

Once he left, all the examinees in the examination was relieved.

There were also some people who felt regretful that the emperor did not come to take a look at them.

At dusk, the gongs and drums that signified that it was time for submission rang.

After Xiao Hanzheng handed in his papers, he left the hall with a calm and indifferent expression.

Many people were observing Xiao Hanzheng.

After all, he was a huiyuan, and it was very likely that he would compete for the top scorer.

Seeing his indifferent appearance, other than those who were jealous and envious, they could not help but sigh that Xiao Hanzheng was indeed a huiyuan.

Just his steadiness and composure was something that few people present could compare to.

After the court examination, everyone would wait for the ceremony.

After Xiao Hanzheng finished his examination, Shi Qingluo accompanied Xiao Baili to the general’s residence.

Xiao Yuanshi had not left his house recently.

Every day, he would either practice calligraphy in the study room or accompany Liu Ru in the courtyard.

He deliberately ignored Ge Chunru, his wife.

He really did not know how to face her.

That day, he was in the study room. When he heard the butler report that Shi Qingluo and Xiao Baili wanted to see him, he could not help but feel a headache.

However, he still asked the butler to bring them over.