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

Lin's wife was busy with the household finances, and from time to time she would be distracted by the fact that her husband had not returned home for a long time, and she was a little absent-minded in doing her work.

"Ouch—"

With a shake of his hand, a stream of oil flowed out of the funnel and onto the oil pot.

Lin's wife had been selling oil for so many years and had never spilled it, so she quickly apologized to the customer who bought the oil.

"Why is Miss Liu still selling oil? Mr. Lin will surely pass the imperial examination. Why would he need to sell oil for a living?"

Lin's wife smiled and said nothing, but she felt uneasy.

Several days had passed since Lin Zhaotang came back from selling oil that day, and he still hadn't returned. Lin's wife guessed that her husband was most likely infected.

Just counting the days, the palace examination should have been over long ago. Even if the return journey is delayed, I should be home by now, right?

Why haven't you come back yet?

As I counted the days, I couldn't help but feel worried.

The customer probably wanted to please Mrs. Lin, so when she didn't say anything, he said, "When Mr. Lin becomes an official, you will be his wife. By then, we won't be able to eat such good oil anymore..."

"Hey, what's the point of being an official's wife? It's not certain that you will win..."

Mrs. Lin suddenly became a little worried.

He hasn't come back in these days. Could it be that he really won't come back?

You won't be like the people in the opera, abandoning your wife once you pass the imperial examination and get a good horse to ride...

No, no, the lord is not that kind of person...

...But who can say for sure? They were not a good match in the first place, and now Lin Shu has achieved fame...

...Can it still be the same as before?

Mrs. Lin was a little upset.

The sound of gongs and drums came from somewhere in the distance. Lin's wife collected the gas money and pushed the cart forward.

Today is the day to deliver oil to several old customers. After this one, there are still two left.

Lin's wife knocked on the wooden door in front of her, and someone opened the door soon.

"Madam Liu is here, wait a moment while I get the oil bottle."

Lin's wife prepared the oil funnel and waited for the customer to bring out the oil bottle.

There was the sound of footsteps behind me.

"Mrs. Lin! Mrs. Lin!"

Lin's wife looked back in confusion.

Occasionally, some people would call her Mrs. Lin half-jokingly and half-flatteringly, but most of the time people still called her "Madam Liu".

The person who came behind was a neighbor from the same alley. The two families had a good relationship and usually took care of each other.

"Madam Liu, hurry back! The official messenger has come to deliver the good news. Master Lin has passed the imperial examination!"

Although she was mentally prepared, when she heard the news, Lin's wife was so happy that she was in a panic and rushed home without even bothering to push the cart.

As soon as I took a step, I remembered the need for oil and came back to push the cart.

The neighbor was worried about her: "Why bother pushing the cart? Go back quickly. The registrar is waiting. I'll push the cart back for you!"

When Lin’s wife heard this, she thanked him repeatedly and ran home.

The customer who bought oil came back with the oil bottle. Lin's wife had already left, and the neighbor was pushing his cart back.

"Hey, where's Madam Liu? I haven't received my oil yet."

The man looked back and continued pushing the cart back.

"What's the use of Madam Liu? You have to call me Madam Lin from now on. Mr. Lin has passed the imperial examination and will be given an official title in a few days. The official who registered the title has arrived home."

When the woman heard this, she cried out and quickly went to call her husband.

"Mr. Lin has passed the imperial examination and will be an official in the future. We may not be able to curry favor with him in the future. So hurry up and take some money to congratulate him."

When Lin's wife rushed home, the door was already crowded with people, the gongs and drums had stopped, and someone had set off firecrackers, leaving debris all over the ground.

"Please make way..."

When the neighbors who were there to watch the fun heard that Lin's wife had returned, they quickly made way for her and congratulated her.

"Mrs. Lin, you're back. I heard that Mr. Lin won first place..."

"Congratulations..."

The onlookers didn’t quite understand the difference between first place in the second class and first place, they only heard the first place.

Lin's wife hurried in and saw the parents of the neighbor who came to call her. The man was entertaining the registrar at home, while the woman took Lin Yun aside to play.

When the neighbor saw Mrs. Lin coming in, he hurriedly said, "Sir, Mrs. Lin is here. This is Mrs. Lin."

The reporter who was sitting and drinking water stood up quickly when he heard the main person coming.

"Congratulations, Madam Lin. Congratulations, Madam Lin, Master Lin has been admitted as the first in the second class of high school. I am here to give you the good news."

Mrs. Lin bowed quickly and said, "Thank you for your hard work, please take a seat. I will go and prepare the wine and food."

The woman from the neighborhood came over and whispered, "Don't bother with anything else. Prepare some reward money for the reporter first..."

Lin's wife then remembered this and felt a little embarrassed.

It's not like the family is completely penniless.

But before, when Lin Zhaotang passed the imperial examination, each person had to be rewarded with several hundred yuan. Now that he has passed the imperial examination, shouldn’t each person be rewarded with one or two taels of silver?

"Aunt, I don't understand this. How much should I give? We don't have much money at home."

The woman didn't understand and hesitated, "We don't know either... How much money should each person give? Not too much. I'll help you make up the difference."

Mrs. Lin looked at the people who were reporting the incident and gritted her teeth and said, "Aunt, how about you help me get two taels of silver first..."

"Sure, just wait."

The woman didn't hesitate to hear that. She handed the child to Lin's wife and went home to get it.

After the woman brought the money, Lin's wife hurried over to give silver to the reporters, which naturally earned her auspicious words in return.

Mrs. Lin thought that these people who reported the situation should be more familiar with the situation, so she asked, "My husband passed the imperial examination, why hasn't he returned yet?"

"Madam, you don't know that the masters have to wait for the court to grant them official positions after they pass the imperial examinations. They can only come back after they are granted official positions. Otherwise, they have to go back and forth twice to come back."

When Lin's wife heard that she still had to wait for the appointment, and she didn't know how long she would have to wait, she couldn't help but look worried.

The reporter observed her expression and quickly said, "But Madam, don't worry. Mr. Lin was ranked second in the imperial examinations and will be appointed an official immediately. He may have already received his official position and is on his way back."

When Lin's wife heard this, she felt relieved.

Those messengers were there to deliver the good news and to collect the reward money.

Now that he had received the reward money, he did not even wait to eat. He just said that he had to go somewhere else to deliver the good news, and then left in a hurry.

Fengle Village, Qin Family

Ever since they learned that Qin Yunhe had made the list, the Qin family began preparing to welcome the applicant.

Chen Er did not go out to the fields for the past two days and was waiting for news at home.

It’s not that there is no farm work recently. The couple rented a few acres of land before Qin Yunhe passed the imperial examination. They have already planted medicinal herbs and are currently thinning out the seedlings.

However, after learning that Qin Yunhe had passed the exam, Yunniang stopped him from going out and asked him to stay at home to help out when the registrar came.

"Now that Mr. Qin has passed the imperial examination, there is only Mr. Qin Si, the man, to support the family. You two have been good friends since childhood, so shouldn't you help take care of him now? There will be no shortage of work in the fields in the next few days, so just stay at home and wait."

When Qin Yunhe and Qin Si passed the imperial examinations, Chen Er was not at home. He only went there afterward.

Chen Er felt that what his wife said made sense, so he would wait at Qin Yunhe's house or the village entrance from time to time in the past few days, for fear of missing the opportunity to register.

He had just returned from the village entrance and thought that it should be coming soon, when he suddenly heard the sound of gongs and drums getting closer behind him.

"Whose family is having a wedding?"

Chen Er looked back in confusion.

But then I saw a few people riding horses towards me, followed by a few people playing drums and music.

One after another, villagers heard the noise and opened the door to see what was happening.

Chen Er didn’t notice it at first, but when he got a little closer, he suddenly realized: Here it comes!

Chen Er hurried over to greet them and bowed: "Are you here to report?"

The officials returned the greeting by bowing: "We are here to deliver the good news to Mr. Qin Wen and Mr. Qin Yunhe. I wonder where Mr. Qin lives?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Er quickly raised his hand to lead the way: "Sir, please follow me. I am waiting for you here."

The sound of gongs and drums was deafening along the way. Chen Er was trotting ahead to lead the way. When he was almost at Qin Yunhe's house, he started shouting, "Brother Si, Aunt Qin, the reporter is here."

Qin Si also heard the gongs and drums outside and ran over, bowing and saying, "I am Qin Si. Are you officials here to report for my brother Qin Yunhe? Thank you for your hard work. Please come in..."

Chen Er took the opportunity to run into Qin Yunhe's house.

Qin's mother and Yu Ru also heard the sound and came out.

"Auntie, where are the firecrackers? Hurry, the reporter is here."

This time the Qin family had experience, so they bought firecrackers early and prepared the reward for the reporter, just waiting for the good news.

"Side room, side room--" Qin's mother hurriedly led Chen Er to get it.

Qin Si invited the reporter to come in. Chen Er had already hung up the firecrackers and lit them. Crackling sounds immediately rang out in the yard.

Qin Si invited the reporter into the house to sit down and served him tea. When he learned that his brother had finally won the 58th place in the second class, he was very happy and quickly presented him with the reward silver.

Mother Qin was naturally happy that her son had passed the imperial examination. Thinking that she had not seen her son for several months, she could not help but miss him, so she asked.

"Sir, when will my son be back?"

The reporter naturally didn't know this, so he said, "Madam, Master Qin has passed the imperial examination and is waiting for an official position in the capital. He can come back after he is appointed."

"Oh, how long does it take for the court to confer an official title?"

"Haha, we don't know about that. But Master Qin is very talented, I think he will be promoted to an official position soon."

"Okay." Mother Qin was happy to hear that and quickly went to prepare meals.

Qin Chong also came over to support after receiving the news.

Although the reporter was about to leave after receiving the reward, Qin Si and others still insisted on keeping them at home for dinner.

After seeing off the reporter and persuading the crowd at the door who were congratulating and joining in the fun, Chen Er and the others cleaned up the yard before going home.

Qin's mother was very happy and asked her eldest son all sorts of questions, trying to guess what kind of official position her youngest son would be given.

Capital

Qin Yunhe has been going to the Ministry of Rites to learn how to walk for two days.

The so-called learning walking actually means following the person in charge and watching him work, occasionally helping out with things like recording files and copying books, etc.

In fact, it's more like a handyman.

Qin Yunhe felt that even a student could do this job well, but of course he couldn't say that.

Recently, I have heard about some official appointments from other channels.

The situation was obviously more difficult than he thought.

Not to mention those who were not ranked so high, it was said that even the top few who could be directly appointed to positions were not all granted official positions immediately because of insufficient vacancies.

Looking at Lin Zhaotang's decision in this light, it was indeed a wise one.

Qin Yunhe was lying on the bed in the inn, feeling anxious and confused.

He missed his wife, daughter and mother a little.

After studying hard for so many years, am I just going to keep doing odd jobs here?