Chapter 175 He Won Second Place Because of the crown princess
On the day of the imperial palace exam.
On Duke Anyuan’s way to the Taiji Palace, many officials praised Qiao Lu and said congratulations to him.
Duke Anyuan thought that they complimented him just because of Qiao Jinniang.
But when he entered the Taiji Palace, he saw Qiao Lu standing at the head of the examinees.
Only then did Duke Anyuan remember that his eldest son seemed to have participated in the Imperial Examination this spring, but he never expected him to win first place! So this kid was not blindly confident.
Lu Chen had already known that Qiao Lu was the youngest examinee who won first place in the history of Imperial Examinations.
From the article Qiao Lu wrote, it was hard to imagine that he was the son of a duke who grew up privileged.
The number of examinees this time was quite a lot, and the Taiji Palace was almost full of examinees.
The palace exam was more challenging than the written exam, and it would be held over the course of the whole afternoon.
Eight examiners would mark the papers, and the results would not be released until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.
After the examinees left the palace gate, Qiao Lu was surrounded by other examinees.
In the face of this, Qiao Lu was gracious and generous, and he invited the other examinees to dinner at Tasty Pavilion.
However, several examinees scoffed at Tasty Pavilion.
Wu Wen said, “The owner of Tasty Pavilion is a person of no morality, a small plate of flower cakes there costs a farmer as much as he and his family spends in a year.
“How can we be so extravagant, not to mention that Tasty Pavilion was obtained by squeezing the blood of the Qiao clansmen in Lin’an.”
The examinees who were friends with Wu Wen had once followed Tong Yingying to scold Qiao Jinniang for disrespecting the clan behind her back!
But now, they were only one step away from becoming an official, and they dared not scold Tasty Pavilion again in case they would be deprived of the chance of becoming an official.
Qiao Lu frowned and said, “What are you talking about? Why are you scolding my sister?”
The examinees asked curiously, “Your sister? Is the owner of Tasty Pavilion your sister?”
Qiao Lu nodded and said, “Yes, my sister is the Crown Princess.”
Wu Wen narrowed his eyes. “No wonder you could win first place the first time you took the Imperial Examination and at such a young age as well. It turns out that you’re the brother-in-law of His Royal Highness, hehe…”
He implied that Qiao Lu won first place because of the help of the Crown Prince.
Qiao Lu frowned and said, “I could take first place because I’m more talented than you. As a young scholar, you don’t concentrate on study but only know how to help the clan oppress a weak woman!”
Wu Wen said sarcastically,
“Yeah, you are the heir to a duke and the younger brother of the Crown Princess. How dare I compete with you for first place?” The other examinees meditated and said to Qiao Lu, “Young Master, it’s getting late. Let’s just go to the restaurant.”
“Yeah, don’t take Wu Wen’s words seriously. His fiancee has just been sold as a slave, and he has suffered from poverty since childhood. Don’t mind his words.”
Seeing his friends who had surrounded him in the past all fawning on Qiao Lu, Wu Wen angrily cursed them of being spineless and not worthy of becoming literati.
On the day the results of the imperial palace exam were released, the golden roll was covered with a red cloth, and many people came to see the results.
There are also some wealthy businessmen who wanted to take the chance to choose a good husband from the examinees who had passed the Imperial Examination for their daughters.
“Qiao Lu, who got first place in the written exam, is just under seventeen. He is so young!”
“Qiao Lu is the younger brother of the Crown Princess. Even if you want to take him home and make him your son-in-law, you won’t have the guts.
“I think Wu Wen is a good choice. He failed in the last Imperial Examination because he had diarrhea, but this time, he won second place!”
Duke Anyuan and Zheng Xiao finally took some time out of their busy schedules to accompany Qiao Lu to see the results.
Seeing Qiao Lu nervous, Zheng Xiao said, “You are the first in the written exam, so you will definitely be in the top three in the imperial palace exam.”
As the golden roll was opened, Qiao Lu closed his eyes, not daring to look at it.
“You’re in the top three, you’re in the top three!” Overjoyed, Zheng Xiao held Qiao Lu’s wrist and recited, “Amitabha, thanks to Bodhisattva’s blessing.”
Duke Anyuan couldn’t hide his joy. “Thanks to our ancestors’ blessing! Jinniang became the Crown Princess, and Lu’er can actually win second place in the Imperial Examination!”
Seeing that he was ranked second, Qiao Lu’s face turned pale, “Why am I not the champion?!”
Duke Anyuan coughed. “Lu’er, although I’ve been teaching you to strive to be the best since you were a child, it’s already very good for you to win second place at this age.”
Qiao Lu sighed heavily. But Fulu only wanted to marry the champion.
Fortunately, the champion was over thirty-five years old. Fulu certainly wouldn’t marry a man so much older than her.
But he was still not the champion.
Qiao Lu returned to the Duke Mansion gloomily.
An official came to the Duke Mansion to congratulate Qiao Lu, only to see Qiao Lu crestfallen.
“Young Master Qiao, congratulations. His Highness and the chief examiners originally thought that you should be the champion.
“But the examinee in second place is nearly forty years old, so His Majesty appointed him as the champion and you as the runner-up!”
Qiao Lu heard his words. “Why?”
“Well, the second place of the Imperial Examination is always handsome and talented, so they have the laudatory title of “Flower-Picking Childe”. You are much more handsome than the first place, so you’re more worthy of this title.”
For the first time, Qiao Lu hated himself for being too good-looking. If he was uglier, could he be the champion?
Hearing that Qiao Lu had won second place in the Imperial Examination this year, Qiao Jinniang was very surprised.
“He’s just under seventeen but he’s already a Flower-Picking Childe. How many people will envy him!”
When she was in Lin’an, she had seen many scholars who passed the Imperial Examination when they were already over thirty.
Even Li Yun only gained tenth place in the Imperial Examination, which showed how difficult it was to be a Flower-Picking Childe.
Hongling complimented Qiao Jinniang. “Young Master is so talented. There must be a lot of matchmakers coming to the Duke Mansion for him.”
Qiao Jinniang remembered Qiao Lu’s bet last time, and said with a smile, “He already has a girl he loves, but I don’t know who the girl is. Now that he has become a Flower-Picking Childe, it might be easier for the girl to agree to marry him.”
Yuyan smiled and said, “Even if Young Master weren’t the Flower-Picking Childe, there aren’t many women in Chang’an who don’t want to marry him!”
Qiao Lu was the younger brother of the Crown Princess and the future Duke Anyuan, and was very handsome.
Except for the fact that his parents had once divorced, Qiao Lu was almost perfect.
Luhe said, “But there are people outside who are gossiping about Young Master, saying that he gained the title of Flower-Picking Childe completely because of your help, Your Highness!”
Qiao Jinniang frowned. “Those are just jealous clowns.”
The day after the results of the Imperial Examination was released, the top three would parade through the streets, and the Chang’an that was heavily guarded and soldiers could be seen everywhere.
On the streets, the stores were all offering discounts, celebrating the Crown Prince’s wedding
Tasty Pavilion and Myriad Taste were distributing free happy cakes and happy eggs every day.
Amidst the joyous atmosphere, the wedding day had finally arrived.
Today was Qiao Jinniang’s last day in the Duke Mansion. In the afternoon, she put on the crown princess’ palace dress and went to the ancestral hall of Duke Mansion to worship the ancestors.
After that, she went back to her room and waited for the arrival of tomorrow.
Although the wedding ceremony would be held in the evening, the ancestor worship ceremony would be in the early morning. Therefore, tomorrow Qiao Jinniang had to get up before dawn, dress up and put on formal clothes to go to the ancestral temple of the royal family to worship the ancestors of the royal family.
However, although Qiao Jinniang knew she had to get up early tomorrow, she couldn’t fall asleep.
