Ming Dynasty: Empress Ma and I swapped clothes!

Chapter 35 I, Ma Wenxiang, am safe!

What Wang Yangsheng couldn't say, Ma Xiulin didn't hold back at all.

Old Master Ma has returned to the Hundred Households Office, and now the Ma family is still under Ma Xiulin's control.

He is the true head of the family.

So he leaned closer to Ma Xiuying and whispered, "Wenxiang, secretly tell your father, how exactly does this rapid reading method work?"

"Is there any secret?"

Ma Xiulin was very suspicious, even guarding against the young Sun Wen.

He crept up to Ma Xiuying and whispered something.

"Father, look at these pages. Just glance at them once and grasp the key points to understand the core of the text."

"and then?"

Ma Xiulin felt that this made a lot of sense.

The phrase "having only a superficial understanding" probably describes the average person perfectly.

But if you want to go deeper!

First, grasp the core meaning, then understand the essential points. Only by reading through it in this way can you truly understand it, rather than simply memorizing it.

"Truly, my son, your words hit the nail on the head."

Ma Xiulin continued to look at Ma Xiuying expectantly. Ma Xiuying shrugged and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Then you should turn to the next page."

"Once you've flipped through all the pages, you'll have pretty much mastered the book."

"If you really feel it's inappropriate, then write an article summarizing the core points of this article. You don't need to write it on every page; just summarize it every few pages or for each article."

"Father, this is still quite easy, isn't it?"

Ma Xiuying said calmly.

"right."

Ma Xiulin stiffened her neck and forced a reply, then turned and left.

Listen to this, is this something a human being should say?

These words, on the contrary, made the father seem really foolish.

"Brother Wen, it's time for lunch; it's already noon."

Seeing that Ma Xiuying had finished reading another new book and was looking at it with great alarm, Sun Wen quickly and cautiously reminded her.

"good!"

Ma Xiuying rubbed her Qingming acupoint, feeling somewhat tired as well.

"It turns out that studying isn't so easy after all."

"Brother Wen, you'd better stop talking and hurry up and eat."

Sun Wen felt a pang of bitterness and quickly interrupted him, saying that if he continued, he wouldn't even want to eat lunch.

……

"How can you not eat?"

"Three meals a day are the natural order of things. Skipping a meal will definitely have its consequences, whether it's more or less harmful, and it's not a sign of good health."

Inside the Kunning Palace, Ma Wenxiang was always particular about his diet: he ate meat in moderation, and the nutritional balance of meat dishes, porridge, and vegetables was just right.

The meals in Kunning Palace now include those of Su Qing'er, Sun Miaoran, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Xiao Anqing, Xiao Ningguo, Zhu Di, and Zhu Shuang.

But all of this was personally controlled by Ma Wenxiang.

Xiao Anqing, Xiao Ningguo, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Shuang are all at the age of development. Although their diets are similar, they are also different. Sun Miaoran and Su Qing'er are busy with palace affairs and need to replenish their energy.

As for him and Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang was in good health and, like Zhu Biao, did not require special care. Although he was a little older, he was not much different from a young man in his early twenties and was in the prime of his life.

Only Ma Wenxiang's body was of average constitution, so he needed to carefully and meticulously prepare and regulate it in order to become increasingly robust and strong, so as not to disappoint his status as a health expert in later generations.

"The meals prepared by the Empress are truly unparalleled in the world."

Su Qing'er looked overjoyed, puffed out her chest with a hint of pride, and glanced proudly at Sun Miaoran, whose development was clearly inferior to hers.

Silence speaks louder than words; the unspoken competition between the two women has already begun.

Sun Miaoran did not take the bait. Instead, she picked up the health-preserving meal that Ma Wenxiang had prepared for her and gently put it into her mouth spoonful by spoonful, a typical case of saying one thing but doing another.

Su Qing'er didn't care about anything else. While maintaining court etiquette, she ate heartily with her mouth wide open.

No wonder.

This little girl, you can tell at a glance that she knows how to enjoy life.

In her words, "Having done so much on a daily basis, and having met such a kind person as Your Majesty, I naturally cannot wrong myself. I should accept the blessings bestowed upon me by Heaven."

After finishing his business, Ma Wenxiang was satisfied, feeling just the right amount of fullness, and didn't feel bloated when he started moving around.

Although there was still some lingering desire, stopping at the right point is good for the body.

After resting for a while, Ma Wenxiang got up and went to Yongshou Palace to exchange a few pleasantries with Consort Hu. He then went to the palaces of the other concubines in the rear courtyard to greet them one by one.

On the surface, this was his duty as the Empress, the head of the six palaces, to show compassion to the concubines and comfort their hearts; but in reality, Ma Wenxiang was secretly gathering information about other specific matters.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Ma Wenxiang looked at the "Daily Records of the Emperor" in his hand, which he had painstakingly revised. A slight smile appeared on his lips, and his relaxed expression was obvious.

"Thank God, Your Majesty, I am blessed. Fortunately, Empress Ma is not young. If she were younger, I would not be myself."

Ma Wenxiang patted his chest, filled with relief and emotion.

He didn't want to be so paranoid, but Zhu Yuanzhang's actions that day really frightened him.

He can tolerate being touched, hugged, touched, or lying down, but what he fears most is deeper physical intimacy.

"If I, Ma Wenxiang, can refuse once, do you think I can refuse a second or third time? If this goes on for too long, it will be easy for my weaknesses to be exposed."

Fortunately, these were all his previous concerns.

After some deliberation, it is now the beginning of the third year of the Hongwu reign, and the probability of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, favoring "Empress Ma" is almost zero.

After all, Empress Ma is not young, and in ancient times, the average life expectancy was not high.

Aside from factors such as early death and war, most people only live to around fifty years old.

Furthermore, given his excuse of "taking care of his health," the probability of this happening would only decrease as the two of them grew older, becoming increasingly improbable.

"Men are fickle; as a man, I understand that perfectly."

Ma Wenxiang pondered to himself.

Why bother with this 'old woman' when there are so many young and beautiful concubines in the palace?

Emotions are emotions, and physiology is physiology; these are two completely different things.

Ma Wenxiang is particularly empathetic about this and is becoming increasingly tolerant and understanding.

Why do men make things difficult for other men?

……

In Qingfeng County, spring rain poured down.

The rain was light, a gentle drizzle, like an unyielding spring breeze, slowly falling on the many onlookers outside the examination hall, as well as the group of scholars and princes who were preparing to enter.

Before they knew it, the first day of the first county-level examinations for the first imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty had arrived.

The slight restlessness in the crowd was nothing more than candidates chatting with each other or talking to their companions to comfort themselves and relieve tension.

There were quite a few young people among them, including those of similar age to Ma Xiuying and Sun Wen. Although they didn't make up a large proportion, there were still some.