I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 17: The Spring Examination is Over
After a busy night, the Spring Imperial Examination, which could determine the lives of countless scholars, came to a temporary halt.

After several days of examinations, the entire examination hall was filled with a sour smell of yellow and white things. Li Chengzong stood on the stone steps and took one last look at the examination hall which was plunged into darkness. A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

After so many years in this world, he only knew that he had to become a grandmaster and live well, but he didn't know how he should live. Until he made up his mind to do well in the Spring Examination, he found that being a good person in the ordinary sense actually felt pretty good.

Of course, a good person is not a pedantic nice guy.

If he were asked to live like Fan Xian, he would definitely not be able to do it.

If you encounter injustice, you can help. If you don’t encounter it... you will never cause trouble.

He led everyone away from the stinking examination hall. At the gate, there were already carriages and eunuchs waiting for them.

"Master of the house."

"No hope, you are full of energy. You have been taking the exam for so many days. Why don't you go back home to have a good rest? Why are you staying outside the Imperial Examination Hall?"

Fan Wujiu pointed at Liu Qing who was sleeping in the corner and said with a smile: "I happened to meet Mr. Liu when I came out. I chatted with him and he insisted on waiting for you to come out, so I stayed to accompany him."

"I have to deliver the test papers to the Imperial College. You guys go back to the palace first. I'll invite Mr. Liu to have a drink when I get back." Li Chengzong waved his hand and got on the carriage directly.

The group crossed the nearly white night sky of Kyoto and headed for the Imperial College. Within a few days, the examination papers copied with their names concealed would be reviewed, and the top three candidates would be selected. They would then be sent to the emperor for the palace examination, and the top three candidates would be selected...

Unfortunately, Mr. Zhang is old and lacks energy, so he will not participate in the marking. However, the marking officials were selected by him personally, and their talents and character are trustworthy, so Li Chengzong did not keep a close eye on them.

During the next few days of marking papers, he would occasionally go to Yuxiu Palace to accompany his mother, or go to the Empress Dowager's bedroom to chat with the old lady, and accompany Lao Hong to drink a little wine and brag. His life was quite carefree.

At noon that day, Li Chengzong received a list handed over by the examiner. The people on the list were the candidates for Jinshi in the Jinke Imperial Examination.

They are just a few light pieces of paper, but they feel heavy in my hands for some reason.

After carefully looking at the names on the list, he found that many names he had remembered appeared on the list. Li Chengzong nodded with satisfaction, thanked the Imperial College doctor who had reviewed the papers, and then went to the Imperial Study.

It is worth mentioning that although Mr. Liu was on the list, his ranking was not high. He was at the end of the second class of Jinshi and was not qualified to participate in the palace examination. He was destined to fail in his mission of admonishing Emperor Qing with his blood.

Although this ranking is somewhat different from what Li Chengzong expected, in his opinion, there is no problem for the old gentleman to get into the first class.

But if you think about it carefully, this ranking is normal.

After all, articles that are too practical and not too pretentious have never been popular with officials.

Without a fixed answer template, the personal impressions of the examiners become the main factor in determining the ranking.

In other words, the officials selected by Mr. Zhang are of good character. If it were any other official, Mr. Liu would probably not even be on the list.

When he arrived at the imperial study, he saw Chen Pingping there. Li Chengzong bowed his hands as a greeting, placed the list in front of Emperor Qing, and saluted, "Father, these are the names of the successful candidates in the imperial examination."

Emperor Qing picked it up, glanced at it, and nodded: "You can copy the list and publish it."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Pingping pushed his wheelchair forward and said, "Your Majesty, a few days ago, the Third Prince sent a few people who disrupted the Spring Examination. He asked me to give him the list of the masterminds behind those people today. If I can't give him the list, I guess the Third Prince will not let me go."

"Why don't you just give him the list?"

"This... has not been found out yet."

Hearing this, Emperor Qing looked at Li Chengzong and said, "Little Fatty, what do you say?"

Looking at the way Emperor Qing and Chen Pingping were singing the same tune, it was obvious that they knew who was behind those people, but they just didn't want to tell him.

Li Chengzong curled his lips and said, "What can I say? Let the Supervisory Council continue to investigate. If they really can't find anything, then Dean Chen will owe me a favor."

"You heard me. You owe him a favor."

"I've made note of this, old minister."

Li Chengzong: “…”

These two old guys don’t even want to pretend, but why aren’t they willing to give me the list?

Li Chengzong was too lazy to think about it. Anyway, these two old coins must want to use these people to plan something. He didn't want to get involved, so he bowed and said, "Father, if there is nothing else, I will go down and copy the list and publish it."

"Well, let's go."

……

On February 22, spring branches gradually unfold on both sides of the road, and birds fly in pairs on the branches. It is a perfect time of spring full of joy.

In an inn on the west side of Kyoto, not far from the Imperial College, students from all over the country who were waiting for news gathered downstairs in a panic. There was no food or wine on the table because these students had no appetite at the moment and were concentrating all their attention on finding out the news.

"I don't know if I can pass the exam this year?" A student from Shandong Road smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "If I can't pass, I won't take the imperial examination in the future."

"Brother Yunnian, why do you say that?"

The student sitting next to him was called Tang Qingnan, from Hexi Prefecture. He had a dark complexion and was dressed simply. His blue scholar's robe had been starched and turned pale. It was obvious that his life was difficult, but he was in a very relaxed mood. He picked up a peanut from the table and threw it into his mouth. While chewing, he said incoherently:

"Brother Yunnian is a famous figure in Shandong Road. He and Brother Jialin are known as the two great talents in Shandong. His essays are extremely brilliant. After everyone read them a few days ago, they all praised them. I am not so good. My writing skills are too poor. Although I am confident that I can govern a county, I will definitely not be on the list."

The student who was called Brother Yunian by Tang Qingnan smiled bitterly and lowered his voice and said, "Don't you and I know the Spring Examination in previous years? There were so many talented people who failed in previous years. This year, the Third Prince will be the chief examiner of the Spring Examination. He doesn't look at family background but only talent. People like you and me may have some fame in our hometown, but looking at the students of the entire Qing Kingdom, what are we? Of course, I'm not saying that it's not good for the Third Prince to be the chief examiner. On the contrary, I'm very glad that my Daqing has the Third Prince. It's just that in the future, the Third Prince will probably not be the examiner, so there's no need to participate in this Spring Examination. Anyway, poor students like you and me can't pass the exam."

The student's name is Sun Yunnian, and this is his third time taking part in the imperial examination.

The first time I participated in the Spring Examination, I had no idea that cheating in the Spring Examination had become an unspoken rule in the Kyoto officialdom.

The second time he participated in the Spring Examination was because he was not convinced and wanted to use his talent and knowledge to break the unspoken rules of the Spring Examination.

He was unwilling to give up the third time. Long before going to Beijing, he had made a plan that if he failed, he would not take the exam again.

Unexpectedly, he met Li Chengzong as the chief examiner. In his opinion, this was both good luck and misfortune because the competition this year was too fierce.

"I didn't expect Brother Yunian to be so naive."

At the table, another scholar shook his head and laughed. He was dressed relatively gorgeously, but his face was thin. He did not look like a blessed man. Perhaps he drank too much and had a lot of pent-up anger in his heart, so he spoke quite boldly and sneered:
"Brother Yunnian, Brother Chen, do you really think that the Third Prince gave us a fair chance? You are too naive. In this capital, everyone knows the reputation of Li Chengzong. Don't you think about why His Majesty chose him as the chief examiner, and why there was no opposition in the court? It's nothing more than that all the students today know about the mess of the Spring Examination, and they just pretended to silence the public."

"Brother Hou, I don't agree with what you said."

Sun Yunnian shook his head and said, "I can see that the Third Prince really wants to seek fairness for poor students like us."

Tang Qingnan didn't say anything, but nodded in agreement.

This brother, named Ji Chang, is a man who doesn't like to follow the path of the rich and powerful. He is quite famous in Kyoto, and is as famous as another talented man, He Zongwei. However, because of his mouth and personality, he has always been a little lonely. Looking at the looks of his two friends, he laughed and said, "Well, even if you are right, do you think that the Third Prince can deal with the conspiracy and intrigue of officials in the court with his ability? You just wait and see. This year's spring examination is still the same as in previous years. There are no good people among the rich and powerful."

At this time, the messenger who brought the good news arrived.

"Congratulations to Mr. Sun Yunnian from Shandong Province for passing the imperial examination. I wonder which Mr. Sun is?"

When Hou Jichang heard the good news, he was stunned.

Sun Yunnian stood up suddenly, raised his hands and shouted excitedly: "Me, me, me!"

"Congratulations, Master Sun. Please prepare yourself and take part in the palace examination in three days."

The officer saluted and said with a smile: "Your Highness the Third Prince knows that it is not easy for students to be students, so he specially prepared a set of clothes for the students who will take the palace examination, so as to avoid losing etiquette when meeting His Majesty. Master Sun can go to the Imperial College to get it yourself."

Sun Yunnian took out the wedding money and handed it to the officer, then bowed and said, "Excuse me, officer, where is the Third Prince? I'd like to go and thank him."

The officer happily accepted the reward, thanked him, and said, "The Third Prince has returned to the palace, but he told us when he left that students of this science do not need to go to the palace to pay homage to him. In the future, when you become an official in the court, you should do more to benefit the people. This will be the best thank you gift to him. I hope you can serve as an official and benefit the people."

“Students should keep this in mind.”

Sun Yunnian bowed in the direction of Prince Ding's palace, and felt the person beside him pulling him, so he straightened up and asked, "Brother Cha, may I ask if there are Tang Qingnan from Hexi and Jichang from Jingdu among the successful candidates this year?"

"Master Tang Qingnan of Hexi Prefecture passed the imperial examination and will take part in the palace examination in three days."

"I won, I won." Tang Qingnan jumped up excitedly.

"What about me, what about me?"

"This... I am only responsible for passing on the list of top 1."

The officers had also heard of Hou Jichang's name, and they admired his literary character of not following the path of the powerful, but they also despised his character of blaming others for everything.

"It seems there is no hope." Hou Jichang said disappointedly.

"Brother Hou, there is no need to be like this. Even if you can't make the first place, there are still second and third places. With Brother Hou's talent, he will definitely be on the list." Tang Qingnan consoled him.

Sun Yunnian did not speak. After all, he had won the first place. Any words of comfort he said would be like showing off. So he pulled Tang Qingnan and said, "Brother Tang, you haven't given Brother Cha the wedding money yet."

"Oh, yes, thank you for coming to tell me the good news." Tang Qingnan suddenly realized and hurriedly took out the money and handed it to the officer.

There were very few of them, but the officers did not mind. After all, he was a top-ranking Jinshi. After passing the palace examination, he would be an official, so they would not have time to curry favor with him.

The officer happily accepted the reward, bowed and thanked him, then shouted to the students present: "The list of this year's Jinshi has been posted. Those candidates who can't wait to be notified can go to the Imperial College or the Imperial Examination Hall to check it out."

Boom!
The first spring thunder of the first year of the Qingli period suddenly sounded over Kyoto, followed by a fresh spring rain that fell on the students inside and outside the inn.

(End of this chapter)