Dad, open the door. I'll bring your mistress back for you.

Chapter 315: The Director of the Imperial Observatory

"But..." Shen Chuning hesitated to speak, as if she wanted to refute something, but for a moment she didn't know where to start.

Xie Xiuqi continued, "Are you talking about your great aunt? She also came from the Dingguo General's Mansion, but when she married your uncle, he hadn't even taken the imperial examination yet, and your grandfather was just an uncle-in-law without any real power. The situation is very different from today."

Faced with Xie Xiuqi's words, Shen Chuning was speechless.

However, she still bit her lip stubbornly and said stubbornly: "My affairs have nothing to do with Zhou Lin. He is just an irrelevant passerby to me."

At this moment, the foot that had just stepped into Ningfengzhai suddenly stopped in place as if it had been cast under a spell.

Zhou Lin's nails dug deep into his palms as he looked at Shen Chuning and Xie Xiuqi in the pavilion from afar.

It turned out that she was so anxious to distance herself from herself in front of others.

He thought that after going through so many things, they would be different from others, but it turned out that he was just an irrelevant passerby.

Zhou Lin hesitated for only a moment, then slowly turned around and left quietly.

Meanwhile, Xie Xiuqi hadn't noticed anyone coming and continued to speak to himself, "You should think carefully about what I said. Your whole family should really like me!"

After saying that, he didn't forget to wink at Shen Chuning, revealing a smug look.

Seeing this, Shen Chuning rolled her eyes at him and said sarcastically, "You really love to flatter yourself."

Xie Xiuqi didn't take it seriously, instead leisurely playing with his folding fan. "If they didn't admire me so much, why would they have arranged for a maid to bring me here to meet you? Perhaps right now, your grandfather and your uncle are discussing our marriage in the house!"

After hearing this, Shen Chuning felt a chill in her heart and almost rolled her eyes to the sky.

Seeing her silence, Xie Xiuqi's lips curled up slightly, revealing a confident smile. He then said, "If I can win the first prize this time and His Majesty gives me the reward, I will ask His Majesty to grant me the marriage. I believe His Majesty will agree to this marriage."

However, Shen Chuning was already extremely impatient at this time.

So, she offered the guest tea with an expressionless face and coldly replied, "Then wait until you actually become the top scorer in the imperial examination before you make such wild statements! It's too early to say such things now."

Faced with Shen Chuning's cold attitude, Xie Xiuqi didn't get angry. Instead, he continued meaningfully, "I'm just kindly reminding you. You know, if I can ask His Majesty for a marriage, then naturally others can too. Your Shen family is the center of everyone's attention right now, and there are many who covet your power."

At this point, he couldn't help shaking his head, as if feeling sorry for the foolish behavior of some people.

Although Zhou Lin had made great military achievements, he did not know how to use his merits to ask the emperor for a beautiful woman to marry him. He was truly a complete fool.

Hearing this, Shen Chuning's heart couldn't help but move, but on the surface she remained calm and replied calmly: "Okay, thank you for your kind reminder."

Time flies, and the day of the imperial examination results finally arrived.

As expected, just as Xie Xiuqi had said before, he really made it to the top of the list.

Not only that, because his answers were so elegant and insightful, the court specially copied hundreds of copies of them and distributed them to various places in Dayong for scholars all over the world to study and learn from.

According to the traditional rules, the new top three candidates need to enter the six ministries in turn to observe politics.

However, Emperor Jing was particularly fond of this talented new champion and made an exception to allow Xie Xiuqi to choose the department he liked to work in.

Xie Xiuqi expressed without hesitation that he had a special liking for stargazing and hoped to go to the Imperial Astronomical Observatory.

After hearing this, Emperor Jing shook his head and waved his hands, saying that he could not let such an outstanding talent end up in a leisurely place like the Imperial Observatory.

He earnestly advised, "With your talent and knowledge, you should be employed in a more important position and make greater contributions to the country. The Imperial Observatory is important, but it's ultimately not enough to fully utilize your talents!"

But Xie Xiuqi actually made a bold statement, saying that if he was not allowed to work at the Imperial Observatory, he would rather return to Shandong to teach and educate people.

When Emperor Jing heard this, he looked embarrassed, but he was helpless.

The Xie family had a great influence among the literati of the world, but they had stayed away from the court for generations. It was not easy for Xie Xiuqi to be willing to serve as an official, so Emperor Jing certainly would not let him go.

In the end, Emperor Jing had no choice but to agree to his request and quickly made arrangements. Not only did he allow him to enter the Imperial Observatory, but he also generously arranged for him to be the deputy inspector.

Not only that, Emperor Jing also promised: as long as Xie Xiuqi was tired of serving in the Imperial Observatory, he could choose any position he wanted.

People inside and outside the court said that His Majesty was very fond of this new number one scholar.

But rather than saying that Emperor Jing was interested in Xie Xiuqi, it would be more accurate to say that he was interested in the Taishan Xie family behind him.

I have to say that Xie Xiuqi is really smart and his mind works very quickly.

Since entering the Imperial Observatory, in just two months, he has mastered all the skills taught by the dean through his own talent and hard work.

The supervisor, looking at his apprentice with great joy and satisfaction, said with deep emotion, "I can finally put down the heavy burden on my shoulders and retire home in peace!"

In this way, Xie Xiuqi naturally became the youngest director in the history of the Imperial Observatory.

Although on the surface the position of the Director of the Imperial Observatory does not seem to have much real power, its influence cannot be underestimated.

After all, in the capital, any prominent family with children who wanted to get married would have to find him through various connections and ask him to help calculate their birth dates and choose an auspicious date.

What’s even more interesting is that if Xie Xiuqi is dissatisfied with the marriage between two families or does not want to facilitate it, he only needs to use a little trick to deliberately combine the eight characters of both parties to create a conflicting trend.

Even if someone else came up with the Liuhe hexagram, no one would dare to refute it as long as Xie Xiuqi said it was wrong.

This new number one scholar already has the potential to become an authority in metaphysics.