Rebirth: From being expelled from the imperial court to becoming a high-ranking official

Qin Yunhe was stunned for a moment before he realized that he had just casually mentioned Yan Guixiang's name.

"Oh, I heard Mr. Jin mention it before, but it didn't come out of my mouth just now."

Feng Zhuo was a little drunk at the moment, so he believed what he said and didn't ask any more questions.

Qin Yunhe said goodbye to Qin Si and Feng Zhuolin Zhaotang, got on the ox cart and went back to the village.

With last year's experience, Qin's mother cooked some sobering soup early and waited for her son to come back.

Unexpectedly, when Qin Yunhe and Qin Si came back, they didn't seem to be drunk at all and they walked steadily.

"Hey, why is everything fine this year? Didn't you drink this year?"

Qin Yunhe felt a little embarrassed when he thought about getting drunk last year: "I didn't dare drink too much. If I drank too much, I would have to trouble my mother."

"Then drink the hangover soup, both of you. After you finish drinking, lie down and rest for a while."

Both of them obediently drank the sobering soup and went back to their rooms.

Qin Si was invited to come here and there, and was busy for about a month before he gradually calmed down. After that, the two brothers both devoted themselves to intensive preparations for the exam.

The Spring Examination will be held in February of next year on the ninth day of the second month, and one must enter one day in advance.

It takes about ten days to get from their county to the capital, and they have to arrive a few days in advance to familiarize themselves with the environment so as to avoid being unable to adapt to the local climate and soil and affect the exam. They also have to reserve time to avoid delays on the road.

So they had to set off after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The date they agreed with Lin Zhaotang was also the twentieth day of the first lunar month, so they would be ready to set off after the Lantern Festival.

Qin Yunhe no longer had time to teach Yu Ge'er, let alone take him out to play, so he stopped Yu Ge'er's lessons.

Although Yuger would come to play occasionally, he must have been told by the adults at home not to disturb his teacher's exam preparations, so every time he came he just brought Ruyi and Yuru to play, play with the birds, and chat about what fun things had happened recently.

The child is carefree. He does not feel that the suspension of classes will affect his homework. He just feels happy because he does not have to do homework.

Yu Ru and Lian Hua began to prepare all the necessary things for the exam for the two brothers.

The previous provincial examination was held in August, which was not particularly cold, and Qin Si fell ill in the examination room. However, this special examination was held in February, which was even colder and more rigorous than the provincial examination.

It is said that not only the dry food and stationery brought by the candidates will be checked one by one, but the body search will be even more severe than that of the provincial examination. Not only will the candidates have to undress and take off their shoes for a body search, and unpack their bedding, but even their ears and nostrils will be checked one by one. If they pass the search, they will even have to enter barefoot.

Even a strong person would easily get sick if he entered barefoot, not to mention that the two brothers were not very strong.

According to the rules of the imperial examination, once a candidate entered the examination hall, the door would not be opened no matter what happened, even if someone died of illness inside, until the end of the examination.

The two sisters-in-law were a little worried and could only prepare some nourishing meals for them every now and then, hoping to keep their bodies healthier so that they would not fall ill immediately when they entered the venue.

As for bedding, the previous felt cloth is definitely not enough. Although I heard that if you bring a quilted quilt, it will be taken apart and checked, it is still better than nothing.

How can you survive such a cold day without a quilt?

Bedding that was too thick and too large was inconvenient to carry and check, so Lianhua and Yuru discussed finding some semi-new and not-too-fluffy cotton to stuff tightly into it.

I just hope it won’t be too messy when I enter.

As the Chinese New Year approaches, the weather is getting colder.

That day, Yu Ru and Lian Hua were looking at the newly made cotton-padded clothes and beddings in Qin's mother's room when Chen Er's voice came from outside the door.

"Auntie Qin, Yuru."

Mother Qin said from inside the room: "Hey, Chen Er, come in quickly."

Soon Chen Er came in carrying a basket and wearing earmuffs on his ears.

"Put on the earmuffs. Was it made by your wife?" Mother Qin couldn't help teasing. Chen Er was really becoming more and more presentable now.

Chen Er grinned, unable to hide his happiness: "Well, Yunniang was afraid that my ears would get frozen when I went out, so she just made it for me."

"Why haven't you come these days? It's cold this winter, so there shouldn't be much work."

"I didn't go out to work much this year. Ah Wen had to prepare for the exam and didn't have time to go out and play, so I didn't bother him."

As he spoke, he took off the basket on his arm, untied the cloth on it, and said, "Today I came to give you some cakes. Yunniang made some cakes and said that she put some medicinal herbs in them. They are delicious, warm the stomach and dispel cold, and stimulate the appetite. Children will not be easily infected with colds after eating them. She asked me to give some to all the neighbors in the neighborhood."

Several people were delighted when they heard this: "There is such a good thing. Let's take a look at it. Can it only be given to children? Will it work for adults too?"

The cake was not special, it looked like an ordinary cake with sesame seeds wrapped around it. Mother Qin casually broke a piece of it and found that it was filled with stuffing. It looked a bit like the reunion cake from last time, but the stuffing was obviously mixed with some small pieces, and it smelled like a faint medicinal fragrance, probably medicinal herbs.

Chen Er scratched his head: "It should work for adults too, I'll ask Yunniang later. If not, I'll ask her to make some for adults."

"That's great, this is exactly what I need."

Then a few people told Chen Er about the situation of the imperial examination. When Chen Er heard that the examination hall was so difficult, he quickly agreed to go back and ask Yunniang if there was any good solution.

After Chen Er left, Qin's mother called Qin Shi and Ruyi who were playing on the side, handed half of the biscuit to Qin Shi, and the other half to Ruyi, and took a little from Ruyi's piece and put it into her mouth.

"It's really delicious. It has medicine but it's not bitter." Mother Qin said as she took a little dregs from her hand and put them into her mouth: "No wonder they say it's for children. It tastes good and is not bitter. Children love it."

Yuru and Lianhua also broke one open to taste, and found it tasted really good, and they praised it repeatedly.

In the afternoon, Chen Er brought Yunniang here again and told Qin's mother and others that although the bait was effective, the effect was relatively small, and the main thing was that it tasted good.

Yunniang said she had a better recipe. Boiling it into soup with meat and vegetables would be good for the body and would not make you sick easily. However, it didn’t taste as good.

Now of course no one cares whether it tastes good or not, they only care about how to make the two brothers stronger.

So Qin's mother and others quickly asked Yunniang for the recipe, preparing to give Qin Yunhe and his brother some nourishment.

The Qin family was so busy preparing the two brothers for their exams that they had no time to care about what was happening in the village.

It was not until the twelfth lunar month when I went out to prepare New Year's goods that I heard from the villagers that Yunniang's cakes were really delicious. Everyone who had eaten them thought they were good. Many people who had never received cakes from Yunniang took the initiative to ask her for them to try.

At first, Yunniang naturally gave it to everyone to taste, but she definitely wouldn't give much for tasting, and the villagers didn't want to ask for too much for free, so they offered to buy.

Anyway, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, so they might as well prepare New Year's goods. They can also bring some to visit relatives during the New Year, so the villagers started to look for Yunniang to buy cakes and snacks.