Even though everyone was extremely astonished and curious, with Emperor Yu Qian present, they could not discuss it spiritedly. After all, the imperial edict had already been finalized, what use was it for them to give comments?
Furthermore, the imperial edict was drafted by the Ministry of Rites before being decreed to the public. Presumably, before this, Emperor Yu Qian must have discussed the matter with all the important officials before issuing this decree.
As a result, it would be better for them to observe the facial expressions of the few important officials, instead of making any judgements against Han Che and Han Shao Mian"s capabilities to a.s.sume their positions as the a.s.sistant minister and the important official of the Imperial Hanlin Academy. They needed to see if they could pry out the thoughts going through the faces of theo officials so as to avoid offending the one who would bring trouble to their families in the future.
In a short period of time, everybody"s thoughts turned over many things. But their expressions remained the same. Aside from their cheerful faces, there were no other expressions.
Emperor Yu Qian who was sitting on the dragon throne wearing a warm simple smile on his face. Chen w.a.n.g, Hai w.a.n.g, Chu Fei Yang and the others were preoccupied with tasting the tea in front of them,
not in the slightest degree of being distracted by the sudden announcement of imperial decree, causing those people who were attempting to obtain information from them to regain their gaze one by one, feeling disappointed.
"Thanks for your grace, Your Majesty!" Han Che and Han Shao Mian naturally had the same astonishment as everybody else. Han Che"s initially peaceful face slightly turned serious, and Han Shao Mian casted a quick glance at Duan w.a.n.g in a distant place. He saw Duan w.a.n.g calmly nodding his head at him. Then he expressed his grat.i.tude together with Han Che. Afterwards the two of them quickly retreated back to their seats.
While the big officials still had various opinions, the women were all already quite excited. When Han Shao Mian entered the venue he had obtained the favor from all the women. As for the newly appointed Han Che, those furen and xiaojie immediately abandoned their prejudice and discrimination earlier. They were quickly a.s.sessing how far his official career could reach in the future, or if he will be able to become an important minister in just one leap just like Chu Fei Yang.
In addition to Han Che"s body build being tall and straight, with an attractive and intelligent appearance, plus his unyielding and unforgiving personality traits, it had made many xiaojie"s cheeks blush. This made the furen start comparing him with the others, intending to take this newly appointee into their own families, and to become their own son-in-law.
Yun Qian Meng took a quick glance at Emperor Yu Qian. She saw his eyes smiling, his expression being amiable, looking at Han Shao Kian and Han Che feeling pleased. Perhaps he had already considered them as the emperor"s disciples, not only planning to pave way to their paths to their official careers, but also to cultivate new sources of powers which he would be to take control with his own hands.
Her gaze s.h.i.+fted towards Chu Fei Yang, yet she saw him staring directly back at her, being able to guess the thoughts she had in her mind. Chu Fei Yang smiled in a simple and elegant way, giving her the a.s.surance. The two of them smiled at each other, all the thoughts being expressed in a nonverbal way. It made Jiang Mu Chen, who was watching Yun Qian Meng attentively all along, suddenly wrinkle up his brows, the air in the surrounding turned cold in an instant.
"Who would have thought that Imperial Top Scorer Han actually had such outstanding ability, being personally appointed by His Majesty as the ‘Shu Ji s.h.i.+"! That Mister Han is also quite a talented young man, being a newest member of the imperial court he managed to achieve the position as a.s.sistant minister of the Ministry of War, that is truly outstanding!" Regaining her gaze from the current scene, Qu Fei Qing slightly leaned closer to Yun Qian Meng, and said this in a lowered voice.
But, Qu Fei Qing s.h.i.+fted her gaze at Qu Zhang Qing who was sitting upright in the opposite side.
After all, Qu Zhang Ching was the son of the first wife of Fu Guo Gong Fu. Since he was young he had campaigned in the battlefield and was designated as the a.s.sistant minister of Ministry of War after
achieving outstanding military service.
Yet unexpectedly this Han Shao Mian, by relying on his t.i.tle of being the Imperial Top Scorer of the military exams, had effortlessly obtained the same position. That truly made people feel envious.
And furthermore, although Han Fu and Duan w.a.n.g Fu became related to each other through marriage, Fu Guo Gong Fu was still higher in status by a little. With such a decision from Emperor Yu Qian,
perhaps it will become the reason for destroying the harmony among these four major family clans.
Having acknowledged the worried look of his younger sister, Qu Zhang Qing just nodded his head at her indifferently. he did not get angry because of being exceeded by the younger generation in the starting point of the official career. His moderate and calm expression immediately made Qu Fei Qing feel impressed by her older brother"s maturity during these recent years, and immediately felt relieved.
And during this, Yu Gong Gong summoned the remaining four persons left behind to approach the emperor. He took out another imperial edict and announced the appointed positions of Kong Fan and the others. For the person with powerful connections, the official posts of these people who had just revealed their outstanding talents by means of the imperial examinations were not significant. But for these children of poor and humble families, it was like they were carps who leapt through the dragon gate.
Kong Fan was being appointed as the editor of Imperial Han Lin Academy. Compared to Han Che"s sixth-rank position in the Imperial Hanlin Academy, the editor was actually a seventh-rank official position. Compared to Han Che who had earlier been put in the limelight, this time Kong Fan seemed to have obtained lack of interest from the audience.
Kong Fan felt extremely upset at having only a few observants. He endured the flame of anger in his heart silently as he thanked the emperor for the favor. Then the returned back to his seat with the others.
"Brother Han, Congratulations, indeed! In the future we will be colleagues! I hope Brother Han will show me forebearance!" Sitting down again, Kong Fan"s eyes smiled. With a relaxed tone he congratulated Han Che beside him. His eyes were actually observing Han Che"s every action.
"Same to you! I hope Brother Kong would also show be more considerate!" Han Che faintly restrained his gaze, when he lifted up his eyes again, it turned cold and cheerless just as before, fortunately everyone knew quite well about his nature, they weren"t being oversensitive.
"Today it is actually the night of the New Year"s eve, but I really appreciate all the exam candidates" hard work, in that case I have issued the imperial order in advance, thus, this will also be considered as the Feast of King Lam! I hope these scholars will never forget their aspirations in serving the royal court, and to be able to obtain success in their respective positions!" This time, Emperor Yu Qian and the Empress Dowager simultaneously stood up and lifted up their cups.
Upon seeing this, everyone respectfully stood up one by one. Together they said "Long live the Emperor!"
After speaking, all the people lifted up the wine in their cups, then they sat back to their seats after seeing Emperor Yu Qian sat down.
This time, Yu Gong Gong had already arranged everything, after all the people took their seats, he nodded at the palace eunuch waiting at the entrance who was in charge of everything. Everyone heard
the musical instruments and then a group of female dancers walked in in a line, dancing lightly and gracefully in the midst of the snowy imperial garden. Their light dancing dresses slightly floated up along with their movements, carrying an absolutely beautiful chilly grace, making all the people stare in awe.
And following the sound of musical instruments, the atmosphere inside the imperial garden appeared to be much lively and relaxed. All the officials were proposing toasts and exchanging conventional greetings to each other. The newly appointed literary and military top scorers were being surrounded by a lot of people, some of them making discreet inquiries, also some of them having the intention to get involved with them, a seemingly simple palace feast, yet it contained countless schemes and intentions.
Yun Qian Meng behaved contrary to the usual reaction of the others, her eyes were not focused on Han Che and his group, but instead she s.h.i.+fted her gaze on Emperor Yu Qian and the others. Although the Empress Dowager was wearing a smile on her face today, but ever since she arrived at the imperial garden she remained quiet. The Empress behaved gently and virtuously just like her usual ways. This time she was attentively attending to the needs of the young princess beside her. As for the Rong Gui Fei who was sitting lower than the Empress, she was wearing an ordinary expression on her face. It was not
possible to determine her current mood. Her crimson colored royal dress seemed to make her like the most beautiful fairy that descended from heaven, as compared to the honorable Empress" phoenix design royal court dress, the peony flower embroidered on Rong Rong"s royal dress appeared to be outstandingly beautiful, completing her prettiest appearance. No wonder all the women had secretly started to discuss about this eldest xiaojie of Rong family.
Carefully observing Rong Rong today, Yun Qian Meng"s gaze suddenly deepended. Her eyes fixated on the edge of her skirt which was slightly being moistened by the snow water, then her heart immediately tensed up!
In order to prevent all the masters from slipping and falling to the ground, each and every path leading to the imperial garden was already being covered with thick layer of red carpets by the servant of the palace. Although it was snowing, the red carpets were being swept clean by all the palace maids and eunuchs at all times, even the masters" shoes would never be moistened, let alone the edge of the skirts.
Beside, during this time, Emperor Yu Qian, the Empress and the others were all dry and clean, it could be clearly seen that on the way through it will be impossible for them to set foot on the snowy ground. Furthermore, all the royal court officials were invited to today"s feast, how could anyone not care about they look?
While Yun Qian Meng was busy staring at Rong Gui Fei, pondering, she suddenly felt a pair of eyes filled with murderous spirit shot at her direction. Those vicious currents that hit her directly on the face made Yun Qian Meng"s heart trembled a bit. After which she s.h.i.+fted her gaze and looked straight ahead on the opposite side. But she discovered that everyone was discussing everything under the sun, having a harmonious and happy scenario, once again that chilly blood-thirsty gaze had vanished once again.
"Meng"er, what"s happened to you?" Seeing Yun Qian Meng"s face suddenly turned grave, Qu Fei Qing asked feeling a bit concerned.
"It"s nothing!" Turning around looking at Qu Fei Qing, Yun Qian Meng responded with a smile, concealing her discovery and unconvincing thoughts at the back of her head.
"I really want to congratulate w.a.n.g Ye for having a reunited family!" This time, among the male guests in the opposite side, Hai w.a.n.g slightly moved his wheelchair, facing Chu w.a.n.g smiling as he
congratulated him.
"That being the case, then I shall thank you, Hai w.a.n.g!" Chu Nan Shan was not a sloppy person. He lifted up the warm wine in front of him then he slightly tossed the cup against Hai w.a.n.g"s, then both of them drank the wine in their respective cups.
"Having heard the news that Princess He Shun will be leaving for Bei Qi together with the Crown Prince of Bei Qi tomorrow, I truly admired w.a.n.g Ye"s action! Let me also offer you a toast!" And after having the wine cup filled up with wine by the eunuch beside him, Chu Nan Shan also lifted up the cup of wine as he spoke to Hai w.a.n.g. Before Hai w.a.n.g could manage to speak further, he had voluntarily consumed the wine in his cup.
Hai w.a.n.g smiled courteously, afterwhich he raised his head and finished the cup of wine in his hand. He somewhat paused a bit, then cast a glance at Yun Qian Meng, then s.h.i.+fted towards Chu Pei and Chu Qing Yang who was sitting nearby, then he spoke "w.a.n.g Ye, right now your family is already jam-packed with a lot of descendants. Now that your granddaughter-in-law has also joined the family, I"m afraid come next year you will be having your great-grandson soon! It can be clearly seen that, among the people in our Western Chu, w.a.n.g Ye is indeed the luckiest person! I believe Mister Chu is also a
talented person, in the future he will also be able to render service for the imperial court, becoming a man like Chu Xiang with a lot of achievements. When that time comes, the Chu family will soon turn into an unrivalled rich and powerful distinguished family!"
Since the few w.a.n.g Ye, Jun w.a.n.g and the first-rank officials" seats were the nearest to the dragon throne of Emperor Yu Qian, consequently even if they were to use their normal voice to communicate with each other, Emperor Yu Qian was still able to hear them clearly enough.
With Hai w.a.n.g"s unrivalled prestige, perhaps only his position alone appeared to be above the four major clans! Now that Chu w.a.n.g is the one in control of the ma.s.sive military force, Chu Fei Yang is the one taking the lead among the hundred officials, Chu Pei is also a major minister for the army and government in a specific region, the three generations in the family being the major officials in the royal court taking control of the real powers, if they were to expand the family into the number one aristocratic family in Western Chu, perhaps there will soon be a big risk for them to get killed.
Hai w.a.n.g"s statement, seemed to be praising and admiring them, but in fact it was actually a sign of their future fate. But as long as one remained to be a sovereign king, perhaps he would not have the tolerance to allow the supreme authority to be inclined towards the other members of the court, and for them to be overflowed with powers.
Chu Nan Shan just smiled as he listened to Hai w.a.n.g"s words, his gentle gaze did not appear to be arrogant, he also was not timid or having a guilty conscience. Using his unique calmness facing the difficult and dangerous situation that was about to attack him, even Duan w.a.n.g, Qi Jing Yuan and the others, had came to realize their interest on this old man with white hair and white mustache, they could not help but cast their sidelong glances at him.
"Ehem ehem…… What did you just say earlier? Ehem ehem…… I am very old, being deaf and blind are part of my shortcomings, I also don"t know how many days longer will I live, now I can"t even hear any kind words and malicious words! Can you please say it one more time, Hai w.a.n.g Ye? Ehem ehem……" Suddenly, Chu w.a.n.g who seemed to be healthy earlier immediately started to cough violently, his entire face turned red because of the discomfort