On the sixth day of the first lunar month, officials were set to resume their duties. Before going to bed that evening, Yao Huang took a red python robe from the wardrobe and laid it out on Prince Hui's wheelchair in advance.
Whether before or after his legs were crippled, Zhao Sui rarely wore red robes. Except for festive banquets where he occasionally had to wear red to suit the occasion, he had only worn a dark red python robe once when entering the palace for duty. Even then, his princess had seemingly seen through his intention to please her after he had made her angry.
"Why take this set out?" Zhao Sui asked, looking at his wife from the bed.
Yao Huang replied, "A new year brings a fresh start. Since it is Your Highness's first day back at work after the holidays, wearing red will bring good luck and prosperity."
Zhao Sui considered that officials of the fourth and fifth ranks all wore scarlet official robes. His outfit wouldn't stand out too much in the imperial court or the Ministry of Works, so he accepted her arrangement.
Lying in bed, Yao Huang curiously asked Prince Hui, "Your Highness finished reading all those files before the new year. Are you going to start taking on assignments this year?"
Zhao Sui held his wife's hand and asked, "Do you want me to?"
Zhao Sui never took whatever Imperial Consort Du said about him to heart, nor did he care what others thought of him. He was only afraid that his princess would lose face because of him.
Yao Huang said, "I don't understand the ins and outs of the Ministry of Works. Your Highness is the one doing the work, and only you know if you are truly ready. I was just asking casually. I also want to know what Your Highness is busy with at the Ministry of Works all day. Otherwise, am I supposed to drag Your Highness into chatting about domestic trivialities every day? We need some fresh topics to talk about."
Zhao Sui replied, "Yes, I plan to look into the pending construction projects. If there are suitable ones, I will take them on."
Yao Huang hugged his shoulders and smiled, "You're already confident after only preparing for two months. My prince is truly amazing!"
Zhao Sui was left speechless.
After the morning court was dismissed, the Minister of Works, Yan Lun, accompanied Prince Hui back to the Ministry of Works' office. If the princess knew that Prince Hui had finished reading that roomful of files, the Minister who presided over the Ministry every day was even more aware of it. He wanted to see whether Prince Hui would continue patiently reading files this year or if he had new plans.
Zhao Sui ordered, "Send all the pending construction proposals from last year to my office."
If a construction project was pending, it basically came down to four unresolved aspects: whether the project was necessary, whether the officials and craftsmen had the ability to complete it well, whether the estimated project funds were accurate, and whether the imperial court had extra silver to support it.
The three-year war with the State of Wu had only ended over a year ago, so the imperial treasury was not abundant. Many large and small construction projects that would benefit the country and the people were stuck due to a lack of silver. The Ministry of Revenue could only prioritize approving funds for urgent projects.
Hearing this, Yan Lun knew that Prince Hui was finally going to make a move. He immediately sent clerks to fetch those pending memorials. Then, he quietly took a batch of project proposals that he thought were feasible but had been blocked by the Ministry of Revenue and placed them right on top.
Zhao Sui flipped through a few books and saw through Yan Lun's intentions. The Ministry of Revenue naturally had its reasons for holding them up, and these were all major projects closely watched by court officials, easily costing millions of taels of silver. Zhao Sui was very clear about the state of the national treasury. He directly set these memorials aside, trying to pick out projects with short construction periods, low silver consumption, and a genuine need to start as soon as possible.
In just one day, Zhao Sui selected seven project proposals that could be afforded by the silver vaults of local prefectural and county offices. He had the officials responsible for calculating project costs estimate the funds. If the estimates matched or were very close to those calculated by local officials, such proposals could be directly submitted to the Ministry of Revenue and the Secretariat for approval. If local officials falsely reported too much, the Ministry of Works would correct the amount in the memorial.
When Yan Lun received the news, he instantly understood Prince Hui's way of being an official: doing practical work without showing off.
If it were an ordinary official with talent, Yan Lun could push them to stand out. If it were a mediocre official, Yan Lun could just let them do mediocre tasks.
Prince Hui was naturally talented, but he was still a prince—a prince who had long given up on advancing further. With no benefits to tempt him, Yan Lun could only let Prince Hui pick his own assignments and only bother him when his presence was absolutely necessary.
By the end of the month, there were only nine days left until the spring imperial examinations began, and the provincial graduates from all over had basically all entered the capital.
Yao Huang learned from Prince Hui that this year, there were over 5,600 candidates participating in the civil spring examination, and over 1,500 participating in the military spring examination.
Although the military examination was a month later than the civil one, most of the military candidates had also entered the capital by this time. This caused groups of candidates to frequently appear on the four main streets of the capital, either dressed in green shirts looking gentle and refined, or standing tall, mighty, and robust.
These were the most promising group of people in the entire Great Qi Dynasty!
Yao Huang's cousin Luo Yue was sixteen this year. Ever since Yao Huang married into the royal family and became Princess Hui, the number of official families going to the Luo family to propose marriage had increased. Some wanted to marry their daughters to the three Luo brothers, while others wanted to marry Luo Yue to be their daughter-in-law.
The elders of the Luo family felt that these people were all aiming to cling to Prince Hui's mansion, so they didn't agree to a single one. The three Luo brothers could wait until they finished the military metropolitan examination before slowly choosing suitable brides. As for Luo Yue, like many minor officials and wealthy merchants in the capital, the Luo family also had the idea of choosing an ideal husband from among the new civil and military metropolitan graduates.
Since it concerned her own marriage, Luo Yue directly moved into her aunt's house in the capital. Sometimes her aunt accompanied her to stroll down the streets to get an early look at those local talents with considerable reputations. Other times, Yao Huang would call her out, and the two cousins would have fun and shop together.
Somehow, Empress Zhou found out about this. She specifically called Yao Huang into the palace and asked her what deeds of the talented scholars she had heard about.
Seeing the Eldest Princess sitting to the side blushing slightly, Yao Huang teased, "Does Mother also want to choose a consort for my sister from this batch of graduates?"
Empress Zhou smiled and said, "She is already seventeen. If there is a suitable one, your Imperial Father and I will naturally make the decision for her."
Yao Huang directly asked the Eldest Princess, "Which kind of talent does my sister prefer? A jade-like gentleman from the civil graduates, or an extraordinarily heroic military graduate?"
The Eldest Princess blushed deeply and refused to say.
Yao Huang simply recounted all the news she had gathered about the talented scholars from various places. They were all young men in their early twenties who had never been married. As for which one was more suitable for the Eldest Princess, it would depend on the wishes of the mother and daughter as well as Emperor Yongchang. Yao Huang wouldn't specifically recommend anyone, lest the couple have marital discord in the future and blame it on her.
The civil spring examination began on the ninth day of the second lunar month. Three consecutive sessions were held, concluding on the fifteenth.
On the twelfth day of the third lunar month, the results of the civil spring examination were announced, with over three hundred people making the list. Considering that her future cousin-in-law might be among them, Yao Huang had someone copy a list and bring it back. She then called her mother and cousin to the royal mansion. The three women looked at the several pages full of names and first checked off a dozen names that they had inquired clearly about and could match faces to.
While checking them off, Yao Huang saw a familiar name near the very end of the list: He Wenbin.
Luo Yue asked, "Do you know this person, Sister?"
Yao Huang smiled and said, "I met him a few times when I was out escaping the summer heat. He's decent-looking, but unfortunately, his whole family isn't very likable."
Fearing that her cousin might take a fancy to He Wenbin, Yao Huang specifically marked an X over He Wenbin's name.
In the evening, Prince Hui returned and saw these pages of the list on the table in the side room.
Yao Huang asked, "Has Your Highness seen their exam papers?"
Zhao Sui replied, "I have not."
Before taking up an official post, reading past spring examination papers was considered studious. However, after taking office, it was inappropriate to read these sealed files. This was especially true for this year's spring examination; Zhao Sui had paid no attention to it from beginning to end.
Now that he had the list, Zhao Sui casually browsed through it. He knew that the checked names were potential sons-in-law that the Luo family might contact, while the crossed-out one...
Seeing him staring at He Wenbin's name, Yao Huang smiled and offered an explanation.
But what Zhao Sui was actually looking at was the name right above He Wenbin's: Di Xian.
Yao Huang followed his gaze and asked in confusion, "Does Your Highness know this person?"
Zhao Sui said, "No, I just remembered another official with the same surname."
Since Prince Hui remembered it, there must be a story behind it. Yao Huang urged him to elaborate.
Zhao Sui recalled for a moment and said, "It was back in the twenty-fifth year of Yongchang. During a morning court session, the Minister of Works and the Minister of Revenue got into a dispute over a canal-building project in Liangzhou. Ultimately, the project was rejected due to a tight national treasury that year. The county magistrate who proposed the project had the surname Di, though I can't remember his exact name."
Yao Huang said, "...The twenty-fifth year of Yongchang. That was six years ago. To think Your Highness still remembers something completely unrelated to you. What canal was it?"
Zhao Sui shook his head. He couldn't remember the name of the canal either, only that it was located along the Yellow River.
The next day, Zhao Sui went to the Ministry of Works. He took Qingai to the storeroom where early rejected project proposals were kept. Pushing his own wheelchair, he had Qingai search through the shelves row by row. It wasn't until the afternoon that Qingai successfully found a dusty old memorial. The cover read: Submitted by Di Yong, Magistrate of Qingxia County, Liangzhou.
Qingai used a handkerchief to wipe the memorial completely clean before handing it to Prince Hui.
Zhao Sui opened it. It was a very thick memorial that even included several location maps for the canals. The required manpower, material resources, and estimated construction time were all calculated clearly.
After finishing reading, Zhao Sui had Qingai put the memorial back in its original place.
Three days later was the palace examination for the civil service. Emperor Yongchang presided over it personally, accompanied by three princes and several high-ranking officials whom he had selected.
He Wenbin, from Lingshan County, was seated in the very last row. After entering the grand hall, he strictly observed the rules and dared not look up. He walked to his seat, received the exam questions, lowered his eyes to think for a moment, and then picked up his brush to write. An hour later, he put down his brush in accordance with the timekeeping eunuch's announcement. Only then did He Wenbin quietly peek toward the front of the hall.
The emperor's majestic aura was overwhelming. He Wenbin took one glance and hurriedly looked elsewhere. The people standing to the side were likely the princes, and the one sitting in the wheelchair was Prince Hui...
He Wenbin's eyes suddenly widened in shock.
Prince Hui met his gaze with a calm look, no different from the expression he wore during their chance encounter in Lingshan Town.
Flustered and anxious, He Wenbin withdrew along with the others. He tossed and turned all night, terrified that Prince Hui would vent his anger on him because of his mother's disrespectful words, perhaps even stripping him of the chance to become a regular graduate.
The results of the palace examination were announced the next day. Just as he had expected, He Wenbin placed in the third tier, earning the title of regular graduate, which basically guaranteed he would be sent out to serve as a county magistrate!
He Wenbin let out a deep sigh of relief.
"Brother He and I truly have a special affinity; our names are next to each other on both lists."
Di Xian, who had also earned the title of regular graduate in the third tier, walked over with a smile.
Just as He Wenbin was about to reply, a robust man dressed in commoner's clothes suddenly caught up with Di Xian. He cupped his hands and said, "Young Master Di, my master has long admired your reputation for brilliance. I wonder if I might invite you to his residence for a chat?"
Di Xian asked, "Who is your master?"
The robust man took out a waist token from his sleeve.
He Wenbin watched as Di Xian's expression changed. Di Xian hurriedly bid him farewell and left with the man.
He Wenbin was extremely envious. A master who could invite a regular graduate to his residence had to be at least a capital official. They were both in the third tier with similar rankings; why didn't he have such good fortune?
