Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

April 23rd, early morning.

Kyoto, inside the imperial city.

Amidst bursts of ritual music, the messenger came to the royal road holding the gold medal and read out the imperial edict.

"Inherited by heaven, the emperor said... In the thirty-fifth year of Taiping, he planned to test the world... The first one was awarded the title of Jinshi, the second was awarded the Jinshi background, and the third was awarded the same Jinshi background..."

From the front of the palace to the steps, the guards in the palace sang in unison, all the way out of Fengtian Gate.

Lin Zhan stood among the scholars and listened to the singing.

Half a month ago, the examination results were released, and he ranked twenty-eight on the list. Three days ago, he and other scholars took part in the palace examination in the Taiji Hall, and today is the day when the gold examination results were released.

Unsurprisingly, Lin Zhan's name was not included in the first place, and Lin Zhan was not disappointed. He was well aware of his achievements.

There are twenty-eight people who will take the test. If they take the palace test, there shouldn’t be much difference.

This ranking is a bit embarrassing. If you can improve a few places, you will be a second-class Jinshi. If you are a few places behind, you will be a third-class Jinshi.

Lin Zhan naturally hopes to enter the second level, but he doesn't care about this, it still depends on the final result.

As the names came one by one, Lin Zhan couldn't help but become nervous.

Da Rong generally selects between 200 and 300 scholars for each subject. Generally, there are about 30 people in the second class, and more than 200 people in the third class.

Now Erjia has been sung by more than 20 people, and there may only be a few left.

Just when Lin Zhan thought he might fall into the top three, the song came again and again.

"Twenty-four Lin Zhan from Jing'an Prefecture!"

Lin Zhan trembled all over, and a look of joy could not help but appear on his face.

Being able to enter the second level already makes him satisfied.

After the three songs were sung, Jinshi bowed four times, and the number one scholar passed down to him, claiming the top spot.

Then there is the horse parade. The new jinshi's horse parade is a grand event held every three years in Kyoto. Every day today, many people in Kyoto will gather on the streets to pay homage to the new jinshi's elegance.

Early this morning, Yu Qingyi, Yang Mingcheng, Wang and others came to the private room of a street restaurant.

In the private room, Yu Qingyi sat in front of the Eight Immortals table, while Wang and Yang Yunxue chatted with her.

Yang Mingcheng and Yang Chengye stood in front of the window and looked at the street.

"Mom, how is that girl Zijin from the Yu family?" Yang Yunxue asked.

She had already known about the meeting between the Crown Princess and Yu Qingyi, and she also knew that Wu Zheng had recently gone to Dongping Qianhu Office to investigate Yu Zijin's situation.

Yu Qingyi smiled and said, "Not bad! My temperament is very similar to yours."

"Ah!" Yang Yunxue looked at her in surprise.

"Miss Zijin has practiced martial arts since she was a child. She has a lively and active temperament. She often catches hares in the fields. It is said that her archery skills are good and she can hit almost every shot!" Yu Qingyi said with a smile.

The Yu family is not a wealthy family, and the head of the Yu family, Yu Yuanzan, is just a member of a thousand households. Even if his daughter is elected as the princess, Yu Yuanzan is still a member of a thousand households.

Yu Yuanzan has only one son and one daughter. The eldest son, Yu Mingzhou, is forty years old this year. He is married to the deputy Qianhu of Dongping Qianhu, and his daughter is the crown princess.

He also has two grandchildren and one granddaughter. The eldest grandson Yu Zicheng is twenty years old this year, and the second grandson Yu Zizhen is eighteen years old. They are all married, but only the granddaughter Yu Zijin is not yet married.

The in-laws of the Yu family are all from the grassroots military attache families, because before, the crown princess was only Princess Cheng, and a princess would not be able to help her natal family too much.

In addition, Yu Yuanzan's temperament is not the kind of person who covets wealth and honor, so the Yu family has lived an ordinary life in these years, just like a family of a thousand households.

But things are different now. Princess Cheng has become a crown princess and the future queen. The identity and status of the Yu family has also risen with the tide.

Naturally, the Yu family couldn't choose an ordinary military attache's family for another marriage.

In fact, Yu Yuanzan didn't want his granddaughter to cling to powerful people, but the princess didn't think so.

The Crown Princess naturally wanted to find a good match-in-law for her natal family, and did not want her niece to marry into a low-level military attaché family.

So she sent people to Dongping Qianhu Station to take Yu Zijin to Kyoto.

Although Yu Yuanzan was the head of the family, he could not be tough when facing his daughter who would be the queen in the future. He could only follow the princess's advice and sent his granddaughter to Kyoto.

Yu Zijin grew up in a nursing home. She was not a lady at all, but a lively little girl.

When I was a child, I often followed my brothers to run wild in the fields.

After listening to Yu Qingyi's story, Yang Yunxue felt very fond of her future niece-in-law.

She is not a lady herself. Although she learned a lot of rules and etiquette when she was in the Yang family, she is still the yellow-haired girl from the Yang family village in her heart.

It is easy to change a country but hard to change its nature.

When the Yang family rose to prominence, she was already ten years old, and her character had already been developed, making it difficult to change.

In addition, Yang Zhengshan never thought of raising her to be a lady, so her temperament was also very wild.

"Then this matter is settled?" Yang Yunxue asked.

Yu Qingyi shook his head slightly, "Your father doesn't have any objections, but I don't know if there will be any changes on the part of the Crown Princess. After all, this matter has not been made public yet."

"I plan to visit the Crown Princess in two days. If the Crown Princess agrees, then the matter will be settled."

Yang Yunxue nodded. This matter was just a hint from the Crown Princess. Neither party said it clearly, so naturally it didn't count.

If you want to settle this matter, you must not only get the consent of the Crown Princess, but also the consent of the Yu family.

So this matter needs to be done slowly, there is no need to rush.

The two of them talked without avoiding Yang Chengye, who stood by the window and listened.

The more he listened, the redder his face became. After all, this was his marriage, and after hearing what Yu Qingyi said, he was also a little curious about this Miss Zijin whom he had never met.

"Here I come!"

At this moment, Yang Mingcheng suddenly shouted loudly.

"Where?" Wang heard the words and immediately ran to the window and pushed Yang Mingcheng aside.

She looked towards the street and saw a group of Jinshi riding tall horses and wearing colorful hairpins on their heads, coming in the street.

The golden gongs led the way, and the flags were like forests. The streets were crowded and cheered.

"Here I come, mother, mother, I see Lin Zhan!" Wang shouted with joy.

Yu Qingyi came to the window and looked over. More than 200 new Jinshi, plus the officials and servants who led the way, were slowly marching in a long team, but Yu Qingyi still saw Lin Zhan at a glance.

Because Lin Zhan's temperament is too obvious. Compared with other Jinshi, Lin Zhan is not only young, but also tall and handsome. His appearance is much higher than that of Tanhua.

If his grades were not a little worse, he would definitely be the Tanhua Lang.

The team walked slowly on the street. Yu Qingyi looked at Lin Zhan with a happy face and a faint smile on her lips.

When the team came to the vicinity of the restaurant, Lin Zhan also saw Yu Qingyi and others. He raised his hand and bowed to Yu Qingyi and others with a bright smile.

Although the team was not walking fast, Yu Qingyi could not see Lin Zhan in just two or three minutes.

"Grandma, Uncle Lin Zhan should be the 24th, a second-class Jinshi!" Yang Chengye whispered.

Yu Qingyi nodded and breathed a sigh of relief, "Well, your grandfather should be relieved now."

Although Yang Zhengshan told her not to care whether Lin Zhan could pass the exam or what rank he would get, she knew that Yang Zhengshan still cared about Lin Zhan's grades.

Now that Lin Zhan has passed the imperial examination and is a second-class Jinshi, she can report back to Yang Zhengshan.

"Let's go, it's getting late, let's go back and prepare, Lin Zhan has to attend the Enrong Banquet tomorrow." Yu Qingyi said.

Lin Zhan's success does not mean that he can relax, he still has a lot of things to do.

Attending the Enrong Banquet, and then having to express his gratitude and wait for the appointment, it is estimated that it will be May after all this busyness.

In the next two days, Yang Mingcheng helped Lin Zhan make various preparations, while Yu Qingyi delivered a visiting card to the East Palace.

When she met the Crown Princess again, Yu Qingyi still did not dare to relax a bit, and explained her purpose tremblingly.

She didn't beat around the bush and said directly: "I have liked Miss Zijin since the day I saw her. Now that my family's Chengye has reached the age of marriage, I dare to come to see the Queen Mother Dongfei to ask if Miss Zijin is married!"

The Crown Princess heard this and the kind smile on her face became even brighter.

"Zijin is not married. It is a blessing for Zijin to be loved by the Marquis's wife, but this matter still needs the consent of my father and elder brother."

"Let's do this. The Marquis's wife will find a matchmaker to go to Dongping first!"

She naturally wouldn't agree to it right away. Although she wanted to marry her niece into the Yang family, she still had to be reserved.

Of course, her words were just words. The matchmaker came to the door, which meant that the marriage between the two families had entered the formal process.

This topic was only touched upon briefly, and then the two chatted again.

It was near noon that Yu Qingyi said goodbye and left the East Palace.

After returning to the Marquis' Mansion, Yu Qingyi immediately asked Yang Yunxue to find an official matchmaker, and at the same time prepared to let Yang Mingcheng personally take the matchmaker to Dongping.

Dongping Qianhu Suo belongs to Jinhaiwei, and it is only two hundred miles away from Kyoto, so it is not a trouble to run back and forth.

Yang Mingcheng is also efficient. Three days later, he returned from Dongping Qianhu Suo.

Everything went smoothly.

The Yu family should have received the message from the Crown Princess a long time ago, so Yang Mingcheng was warmly received when he arrived at Dongping Qianhu Suo.

Yu Yuanzan was also very satisfied with Jing'an Marquis' Mansion. After all, the Yang family was a new noble in Kyoto, and Yang Zhengshan was awarded the title of Marquis by solid military exploits.

Yu Yuanzan still admired border town generals like Yang Zhengshan, and with the Crown Princess mediating in the middle, Yu Yuanzan naturally had no reason to look at the Yang family's face.

The next thing is simple. Since both families are interested, they can just follow the process.

On the first day of May, the newly-appointed Jinshi were appointed as officials. Lin Zhan was appointed as the sixth-rank official in the Ministry of Revenue's Zhifang Qingli Division. The Zhifang Qingli Division was responsible for maps, merit, review, rewards and punishments, pensions, military inspections, tests, and other matters, and was in charge of customs and sea bans.

Apparently, the court also considered the ability of the newly-appointed Jinshi when appointing officials. It was no secret in the court that Lin Zhan was a student of Yang Zhengshan, and it was not a surprise to let him join the Zhifang Qingli Division of the Ministry of War.

However, Lin Zhan did not immediately go to the Ministry of War to take up his post, but prepared to go back to worship his ancestors before returning to Beijing to take up his post.

Now the Lin family is the only one left. Whether for the ancestors of the Lin family or for his father's last wish, he must go back.

At the same time, Yu Qingyi was also preparing to return to Chongshan Town.

Yang Chengye's marriage was handed over to Yang Mingcheng and Wang. As parents, they should worry when they should.

As for Yang Chengye, Yu Qingyi planned to take him back.

Although this was his marriage, he had no say in it and could not make the decision.

Moreover, Yang Zhengshan had said before that he wanted Yang Chengye to go to the army for training for a period of time.

On the third day of May, Yu Qingyi, Lin Zhan and others left Kyoto.