Red Chamber 12

The Fourth Prince was also worried that the talent he had his eye on would be snatched away by others, so he mobilized his informants in the palace to have someone mention Jia Daishan and Jia Hu to the old Emperor.

The old Emperor, as expected, began to consider forming a marriage alliance with Jia Daishan, so he began to sift through his granddaughters.

Those around him seized the moment to bring up the Fourth Prince's legitimate daughter.

The Fourth Prince's legitimate daughter held the highest status and was the most suitable age among all his granddaughters.

The other granddaughters were either born of concubines or had too large an age gap.

Thus, the old Emperor summoned Jia Daishan and finalized the marriage between Jia Hu and the Fourth Prince's legitimate daughter.

Not long after, the imperial decree arrived at the Rongguo Mansion.

Everyone in the Jia family was overjoyed, with the exception of Wang.

The other families, upon learning that Jia Hu had been claimed by the Emperor, could only wring their hands in regret.

Mother Liu, knowing that Jia Hu's marriage had been settled, could no longer sit still and began thinking about helping Liu Zhong find a match.

Liu Zhong was now a Juren, so his status was no longer low.

With the backing of the Li Duke Mansion, the range of potential brides would not be small.

She would start looking now, and once Liu Zhong passed the Jinshi examination, they would finalize the engagement and hold the wedding.

Once Mother Liu began making moves, she was quickly approached by many matchmakers.

As Jia Hu's best friend, Liu Zhong was also a popular candidate for a son-in-law.

However, because Liu Zhong was only a collateral branch of the Li Duke Mansion and had already been branched off, those who would choose him as a son-in-law were mostly families of sixth or seventh-rank officials or collateral branches of dukes and marquises.

Mother Liu also understood that their family status could not secure a bride of too high a standing, so she set her mind at ease and began selecting from these candidates, determined to find a daughter-in-law who was perfect in every way.

Jia Hu approached Liu Zhong: "Is your mother helping you pick a wife?"

Liu Zhong: "You've already gotten engaged, so my mother can't sit still anymore."

Jia Hu: "What do you think of my eldest cousin?"

Jia Yuanchun?!

Liu Zhong was surprised.

The Jia family wanted to marry Jia Yuanchun to him?

Liu Zhong asked: "Do your second uncle and second aunt agree?"

Jia Hu chuckled: "My second aunt is certainly unwilling, but the Rongguo Mansion is ruled by my grandfather. Besides, my second uncle is very eager to have you as his son-in-law."

Jia Zheng prided himself on being a scholar and was fond of scholars.

In this lifetime, Jia Daishan did not die early, but he still used his merit in saving the Emperor to secure an official post for Jia Zheng.

However, it was not in the Ministry of Works, but in the Ministry of Rites.

By following the regulations, Jia Zheng did not end up as idle as he had been in the Ministry of Works.

Moreover, with Jia Daishan there, no one would make things difficult for him, and over a dozen years, he had actually been promoted twice.

Jia Zheng lamented that he had studied for over ten years but could not participate in the imperial examinations, which was a great regret—he lacked a correct assessment of his own academic abilities—and thus he highly valued those with scholarly honors, keeping several Juren as his personal guests.

The Rongguo Mansion was wealthy and could afford to keep guests, so even Jia Daishan did not interfere with him.

Now that he would have a young talent who was certain to pass the Jinshi examination as a son-in-law, Jia Zheng was overjoyed. As soon as Jia Daishan brought it up, Jia Zheng was the first to nod in agreement.

Lady Jia Shi and Wang were both unwilling.

Although the two could not send Jia Yuanchun into the palace to seek wealth and status because of Jia Daishan's suppression, they both harbored thoughts of marrying Jia Yuanchun into a higher station.

Lady Jia Shi had privately agreed with the Princess of Dong'an to marry Jia Yuanchun to the Heir of Dong'an as a successor wife.

However, because the Heir of Dong'an's wife, though gravely ill, was still alive, this matter had not been brought out into the open.

Wang strongly supported Lady Jia Shi's decision, single-mindedly wanting her daughter to become the Heir's wife and eventually a Princess.

She harbored resentment toward Jia Daishan in her heart; with Jia Yuanchun's fate, if she entered the palace, she would absolutely become an Imperial Consort, and who knows, perhaps even the Empress Dowager one day.

She was born on the first day of the Lunar New Year, after all.

That was the fate of a phoenix.

Yet she did not stop to think that there were many girls born on the first day of the Lunar New Year; were they all destined to be phoenixes?

Regardless of how unwilling Lady Jia Shi and Wang were, the one who made the decisions in the Rongguo Mansion was Jia Daishan, and since her own father, Jia Zheng, had agreed, the marriage between Liu Zhong and Jia Yuanchun was settled just like that.

When Mother Liu heard the Jia family's intentions from Liu Zhong, she was pleasantly surprised.

She had not expected to be able to marry a legitimate daughter of a Duke's mansion as her daughter-in-law; although she was only a daughter of the second branch, she was still the Duke's own granddaughter!

This status was far higher than any of the girls she had been eyeing.

Moreover, with a cousin like Jia Hu, Jia Yuanchun's character should also be quite good.

Mother Liu immediately found a matchmaker to go to the Duke's mansion to propose the marriage.

Because it was Jia Daishan's own intention, the Rongguo Mansion did not make things difficult for the matchmaker, and the two families quickly exchanged their horoscopes.

After that came the betrothal, the inquiry of names, and the auspicious omens...

The wedding date was set for after Liu Zhong earned his jinshi degree.

Afterward, Liu Zhong and Jia Hu used the excuse of needing to focus on their studies for the metropolitan examination to decline many social banquets.

The two were waiting for the examination two years later, never expecting how quickly the world would change; only a few months had passed when the emperor changed.

It happened because the old emperor fainted during a court session; although he was revived, his body was extremely weak, and he could no longer handle state affairs.

The old emperor then made up his mind to abdicate in favor of the Fourth Prince, becoming the retired emperor himself to recuperate.

With the new emperor ascending the throne, it was only natural to hold a special imperial examination.

Thus, the two did not have to wait two years and participated in the metropolitan examination the following year.

Although the timing was a bit rushed, both had solid knowledge, so taking the examination early was not a problem at all.

Moreover, Jia Hu had the secret backing of both the old emperor and the new emperor.

The old emperor could no longer obtain the auspicious omen of a scholar winning first place in all six levels of the examinations, but the new emperor could.

The new emperor wanted the auspicious omen of a six-time champion even more than the old emperor, as it would prove that he, as emperor, was favored by Heaven.

Jia Hu learned of the intentions of both emperors from Jia Daishan and knew that the positions of huiyuan and zhuangyuan were well within his grasp.

Although he felt a bit uncomfortable, thinking that with his own strength, he could have easily won the zhuangyuan title on his own.

But he quickly leveled his mindset.

There was nothing wrong with being looked after by the emperor; at the very least, it would make things much easier for him.

Jia Daishan was very satisfied with his eldest grandson's performance.

With an heir like Jia Hu in the Rongguo Mansion, he could go to meet his ancestors with peace of mind.

As for his two good-for-nothing sons, who were they again?

Jia Hu entered the examination hall with a relaxed mindset, answered the questions with ease, and ended up performing even better than usual.

The chief examiner had received hints from the emperor to select Jia Hu as the huiyuan.

He had thought that if Jia Hu's exam paper was inferior to others, he would have to risk his reputation to make Jia Hu first.

But after seeing Jia Hu's paper, the chief examiner was delighted.

With such excellent literary talent, even if the emperor hadn't hinted at it, he would have chosen Jia Hu as the huiyuan anyway.

Liu Zhong's examination was equally relaxed.

Mainly because he had participated in countless examinations in his previous life, his mindset had long since been tempered.

With a good mindset, his answers were naturally good as well.

His exam paper also satisfied the examiners, earning him a place in the top ten.

When the results of the metropolitan examination were posted, it was naturally another lively affair.

After that came the palace examination.

Everyone knew that Jia Hu had already won five first-place titles, so the position of zhuangyuan belonged to him without question.

The others could only scramble for the positions of bangyan, tanhua, and chuanlu.

However, the position of tanhua fell to Liu Zhong.