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Chapter 98 – Passing the Provincial Level Imperial Examination (32.1)
In February, the emperor ordered the second prince, Xuan Yuan Han Qi, to personally go to Li City to supervise the beheading of Prince Li’s wife and children. Xuan Yuan Han Qi’s trip went very smoothly. Not only did he successfully complete the task of supervising the beheadings, but he also wiped out all the remaining remnants in support of Prince Li.
An investigation into the remnants’ operations showed that they were all voluntarily carried out by Prince Li’s die-hard subordinates, and it had nothing to do with Prince Li himself.
Prince Li’s descendants have all been executed, and there’s been no traces of Prince Li found at all… It would really seem that Prince Li had died in that fire…
Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.
In March, Second Prince Xuan Yuan Han Qi returned to the capital, and he was in the limelight for a while. People say that the second prince made great achievements despite his young age. At just fifteen years old, he was able to carry out errands on his own and he did so well.
Some of the more ambitious courtiers were secretly starting to make plans. Right now the crown princess position and two crown prince cefei* positions were vacant. In addition to that, the second prince also did not have a main wife and any cefei yet…
[*T/N: 侧妃 cefei – roughly translates to “side imperial concubine.” It is a lower status than cejun, which is LJB’s title. A prince’s harem uses different titles from the emperor’s harem. Once the prince ascends to the throne, all the women in his harem get new titles.]
The second prince officially started participating in the imperial court, and thus the courtiers began to pay more attention to him…
The emperor was very gratified to see his second son also becoming independent. His two di* sons were his pride and joy… It would seem that the Xuan Yuan Empire’s golden age was not far off…
[*T/N: 嫡子 di son – a son of the main wife, in this case, the empress]
Not too long after, the prefectural magistrate of Xu Province, Shi Qi Shan, found out from an official announcement that Lin Jia Bao was promoted to the position of the crown prince’s cejun.
“This Lin Jia Bao is really going to become someone incredible in the future…” Shi Qi Shan thought to himself.
When Shi Qi Shan returned home, he told his wife the news. Madam Shi was also very surprised to hear the news. This Lin Jia Bao actually got promoted to cejun in such a short amount of time. It hasn’t even been a year yet…
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“It’s a pity that the Lin family’s second daughter is already engaged, and the remaining children are too young to be engaged,” Madam Shi said regretfully. Otherwise, they could become relatives with the Lin family through marriage, which would be very helpful for her husband’s career in the future.
“Let’s get someone to send a big present over first…” Shi Qi Shan said to his wife.
In Pei County, Du Xiang Heng, the county head magistrate, also found out about this bit of good news. He hurriedly said to his shiye*: “Quick, prepare the sedan chair. This official is going to personally head over to the Lin family to report this good news.”
[*T/N: 师爷 shiye – a literati bachelor who helps military and political officials with their affairs]
The arrival of the county head magistrate caused a stir to go through Lin Jia village. After the county head magistrate told Lin Da Zhuang and his family the news that Lin Jia Bao became the crown prince’s cejun, the entire village became lively. The people ran around and spread the news to each other through word of mouth. Someone from their little village actually became a nobleman…
Lin Da Zhuang and his family were absolutely floored by this news. Lin Da Zhuang asked in disbelief, “Jia Bao became the crown prince’s cejun? Is that really true?”
“Lord Lin, ah, it’s even written on this official announcement. It is absolutely the truth. This official came here to report the good news to you…”
“Thank you Lord County Head Magistrate for personally coming here to tell us. Please come in for some tea…” Lin Jia Wen invited County Head Magistrate Du inside the house. At this time, there were many villagers bustling around outside the Lin family’s courtyard to watch what’s going on.
Translations by Vanilla Muse.
On the same day, County Head Magistrate Du’s shiye just so happened to bump into Official Registrar Wang, so he greeted him politely and said, “Official Registrar Wang, ah… your family’s in-laws really are too incredible…” Then he told Official Registrar Wang the news of Lin Jia Bao’s promotion to cejun.
When Official Registrar Wang returned home, he also happily announced this bit of good news to his family. Lin Chun Er was both happy and jealous in her heart. At first, she thought that Lin Jia Bao becoming the crown prince’s xiaoshi was only something that sounded good on paper, but in actuality it was the equivalent of being a tongfang* in the family of a commoner.
[*T/N: 通房 tongfang – a servant that also has sexual relations with the master. The servant might get some small benefits because the master has “favored” them, but they’re not even considered an official member of the master’s harem.]
She never expected her cousin to be so capable… Fortunately, the relationship between her maternal family and her uncle’s family have been restored, so now she could really puff out her chest and straighten her spine…
Lin Chun Er was not wrong. After they learned that Lin Jia Bao has become the crown prince’s cejun, everyone in the Wang family changed their attitude towards her. Her mother-in-law even purchased two new young girls to serve her, which greatly improved her quality of life, and she even voluntarily handed over the housekeeping rights to her.
Even when Lin Chun Er sold off her husband’s two tongfang maids, her husband did not blame her. Instead, he was even more gentle and considerate towards her, and spoke only sweet words. Because of this, Lin Chun Er was extremely pleased with herself for a long time…
All the reputable families in Pei County and even in Xu Province knew that the Wang family’s young madam was Lin-cejun’s cousin. The noble ladies of these families would often invite her to participate in this flower-viewing party or that poetry gathering. She was always there as an accompaniment to Zhang Hui Niang and Lin Jin Er, but she still enjoyed these parties and gatherings immensely. She never tired of them no matter how many invites she got.
Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.
Lin Chun Er would bring her younger sister, Lin Xia Er, along to these gatherings. And she made sure to never miss an opportunity to show her face at an upper class party within Xu Province. Lin Chun Er felt that this was the kind of life that she wanted to have as the young madam of a government official family…
Lin Xia Er saw all the splendid clothes and exquisite food at these parties, and vowed that she would live such a life in the future…
Don’t bite more than you can chew
Thank you for the update
Thank you! thank you! thank you, for the update! I just love this story!
Glad you like it! ^-^