Do you know that my grandfather was entitled to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple?

Chapter 9 Double Orchid Fight

"I know."

Wang You snapped out of his daze, nodded, and said, "Cousin, let's go."

He overheard a conversation among a few scholars and suddenly understood the meaning behind Sheng Hong's words.

In recent years, the emperor has been summoning officials who were demoted after the failure of the new laws to court.

Fu Xiangong, Ouyang Xiu, and Han Zhang were all officials who were demoted because of the new laws.

With the government's actions, discussions about reforms have become rampant.

Sheng Hong reminded him not to agree if Ouyang Xiu intended to take him as a student, because he was worried that Wang You would be implicated.

Sheng Changbai led Wang You on a tour of Pingyuan Tower, and then they climbed Qiling Tower.

The Qiling Tower has seven floors. Apart from limiting the number of people allowed to enter and prohibiting tourists from going up to the sixth and seventh floors, there are no other restrictions.

"Standing on a high place and enjoying the view from above not only broadens your horizons but also expands your mind," Wang You said with a smile.

Sheng Changbai said, "That's right, it's just a bit cold."

"Haha, it's lonely at the top."

Wang You smiled and, seeing that no one was around, asked, "Cousin, what do you think of what those people were saying just now?"

Sheng Changbai shook his head and said, "Ziqian, we should focus on enriching our own knowledge. Why argue about these meaningless things?"

"My cousin is right, it's pointless. It's getting late, let's go back," Wang You said with a smile.

Sheng Changbai glanced at Wang You in surprise, then smiled.

"At this point, I do believe that Ziqian can pass the prodigy test."

"It should be said that we share similar views."

"Ha ha."

The two exchanged a glance, laughed, and then descended the pagoda.

Xiaoman and Sheng Changbai's page Sansheng exchanged a bewildered glance, wondering what their masters were talking about and why they were suddenly laughing.

It's actually quite simple. Although Sheng Changbai didn't answer directly, he characterized the matter as "meaningless," which was already an answer.

The answer is simple: the government is unlikely to implement any further reforms.

First, the Emperor's age; second, the young prince's age.

For the emperor, maintaining stability in the court and waiting for the princes to come of age is the most important thing right now.

If the government were to implement further reforms, the first thing to do would be to reinstate Prime Minister Fan.

This is also why the court did not react strongly to the recall of these reformists to Bianjing.

Only those who think they've figured out the official's intentions are talking big.

Wang You neither pressed further nor offered his own opinion, which was a way of telling Sheng Changbai that he shared the same view, hence his decision not to pursue the matter further or share his perspective.

These people, especially those from the Lesser Fullness of Grain and the Three Provinces, naturally couldn't understand it.

If Wang You and Sheng Changbai can understand this, how could Sheng Hong not understand it?

It wasn't that Sheng Hong couldn't understand; it was simply because he was inherently a tactful and cautious person.

Moreover, it is not important whether the emperor intends to implement reforms; what is important is whether Fu Xiangong and others who have returned to the court still have the idea of ​​reform.

The conservative faction in the court dared not gamble. Therefore, various power struggles in the court were inevitable.

Getting involved with both sides at this point could easily lead to trouble.

…………

After spending several days sightseeing in Yangzhou, the day of Hualan's coming-of-age ceremony finally arrived.

On this day, many officials' wives from Yangzhou came to Hualan's coming-of-age ceremony.

Many people even hinted that they wanted to ask Hua Lan to marry their son.

Sheng Hong is not yet forty years old. Although he is not young, it depends on who you compare him to.

There were quite a few officials in the court who, in their thirties, had already risen to the rank of minister or even prime minister.

Compared to those people, Sheng Hong is certainly not up to par, but compared to the officials in Yangzhou, Sheng Hong can be considered to have a very promising future.

Moreover, the eldest daughter of the Sheng family is also the granddaughter of Grand Tutor Wang. If she could marry into the Sheng family, she would also establish a connection with the Wang family.

As for why it was an implication rather than a direct marriage proposal, that involves the issue of face for wealthy families.

If they are rejected outright in advance, the two families will not have any further dealings, even if they do not become mortal enemies.

The reason why Madam Wu wanted to arrange for Liang Han to marry Minglan but never went directly to propose marriage was because of this.

The Liang family was of higher social standing than the Sheng family, yet they still sought to marry a concubine's daughter. How much more so would those of equal or even lower social standing than the Sheng family?

Madam Wang smiled and said that she couldn't bear to part with her daughter and wanted her to stay by her side for another two years.

While Madam Wang was busy entertaining the women, she neglected Rulan.

Today, all the women from the Sheng family came, and many of them brought their daughters with them.

While the elders spoke, the younger generation was led to play in the garden.

Today, Rulan did not wear her hair in two sideburns, but instead wore her hair in a high bun. She was wearing a light green ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) and was showing off the hair ornament that Feng had given her to her close girlfriends.

The hairpin with the hair ornament is shaped like a hibiscus flower, and the pendant is inlaid with several pearls.

It is luxurious yet exquisite.

The girls present all came from well-off families, but because of their age, their families wouldn't provide them with such precious jewelry.

Rulan's hair ornament won many admiring and envious glances.

Rulan lost herself in the compliments and envious glances, laughing heartily.

But for some reason, Rulan always felt that she had investigated something.

Just then, Mo Lan and several girls of similar age walked towards them, chatting and laughing.

Although Mo Lan was a concubine's daughter, her clothing and appearance were no less impressive than those of Ru Lan, the legitimate daughter.

A legitimate daughter from a family of similar social standing to the Sheng family would naturally not want to associate with a concubine's daughter.

However, those girls from families of lower social standing than the Sheng family still managed to make some friends with Mo Lan through her deliberate efforts.

"Oh, isn't this Fourth Sister?"

Rulan smiled and said, "Fourth Sister, what do you think of my hair ornament?"

"They look alright, but Fifth Sister is still too young, so they don't seem like a good match."

Mo Lan looked at the exquisitely designed hairpin with a somewhat unpleasant expression, but with so many people watching, she still managed to force a smile.

"This hair ornament was a gift from my aunt. She said it would look good on me when I'm a couple of years older," Rulan said with a smile.

She noticed that Mo Lan's smile wasn't as bright as before, and her smile was even more pronounced.

However, she thought that from childhood to adulthood, whenever she had something, Mo Lan would soon have something similar.

My mother kept saying that Mo Lan had pretended to be wronged in front of my father, and that's how he got someone to buy it for her.

Fearing that Mo Lan would cry in front of her father again, she made a point of explaining the origin of the hairpin.

This was a gift from my aunt. If you're so capable, you can have your aunt give you one too.

"Since it's a gift from an elder, Fifth Sister should accept it carefully."

After Mo Lan finished speaking, she smiled, nodded politely to the other girls, and left.

Inside a pavilion not far away, Sheng Changbai was entertaining several young men who had come with their mother.

The oldest of these young masters was about the same age as Wang You.

The boys who come with their mothers on such occasions are usually not very old.

Wang You was also among them and happened to witness Ru Lan and Mo Lan arguing.

Because of the distance, he didn't hear what the two said, but he did see that Mo Lan's expression was rather unpleasant when she left.

It's said that Rulan is no match for Molan, so why does it seem like Molan has suffered a setback?

"Ziqian, what are you looking at?"

Seeing Wang You staring blankly in one direction, Sheng Changbai looked over with some confusion.

At this moment, Rulan felt she had won and had already left with several of her girlfriends; he hadn't seen anything.

"It's nothing," Wang You said with a smile, shaking his head.