Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 320 Zeng Gong's Wish Fulfilled
The other candidates around also noticed the result, casting surprised, envious, jealous, and inquisitive glances at it, accompanied by a buzzing discussion that instantly amplified countless times.

"Lu Beigu? Is that the one who defeated Lin Xi from Fujian in the literary battle at Ma Jiliang Garden a while ago?"

"He actually took the provincial prize!"

"I've heard that he also wrote an essay called 'On Zhongda,' which surpassed that of Liu Ji from the Imperial Academy."

"Where's Liu Ji? I haven't seen him up ahead."

Amidst the immense noise and stares, Lu Beigu trembled as he inhaled a breath of cold air, forcibly suppressing the surging emotions that threatened to burst forth from his chest.

His fingertips were white from clenching his fists so tightly, but his face quickly regained its usual composure.

However, the subtle changes in his eyes completely revealed the earth-shattering transformation he was undergoing.

He really was the provincial governor.

Lu Beigu's mind was filled with the agonizing images of those days of wind and snow, the bone-chilling cold, the exhaustion caused by Mo Yi's last few difficult questions on the Guliang Commentary, and the essay "On the Middle Tang Dynasty" which he felt he hadn't been able to fully demonstrate his usual level of skill under the double pressure of the severe cold and fatigue.

Lu Beigu's original biggest hope was to steadily rank among the top.

Because he was very clear that although he had answered all the questions on the postscript correctly, written the essay very well, and even exceeded his usual level in the composition, he had almost completely predicted the questions on current affairs.

However, limited by his talent, his poetry could never reach the highest level. That was fine, but what really shook his mentality was that he couldn't achieve the same level of excellence as usual.

Lu Beigu clearly remembers his state at the time. Although he benefited from Song Xiang's prior guidance and his own solid basic skills, and his framework and core viewpoints were intact, and his word choice and sentence structure were also fine, he could not be said to have performed perfectly in terms of the depth of analysis.

But now, the "A-level" score means that his policy essay, which he considers imperfect, has surpassed the vast majority of candidates in the eyes of the examiners.

This can only mean one thing.

—Others' arguments are even worse.

In a flash, Lu Beigu composed himself and looked at the second place.

"Second place, Li Shi from Henan Prefecture, 33 years old, achieved first place in calligraphy, second place in ink painting, first place in poetry, first place in prose, first place in current affairs, and first place in essays."

Li Shi?

Lu Beigu was slightly taken aback.

He had heard the Cheng brothers mention this person before. He came from a family of meritorious officials in Luoyang and enjoyed riding horses and hunting in his youth. He was a man of both literary and martial talents.

But to be honest, he searched through all his memories of his past life, whether official or unofficial, and had no recollection of this person at all.

"Judging from his appearance, he has a good intake of nutrients and his physical condition should be the best among this group of candidates. In addition, being from the north, he is also resistant to the cold, which will definitely give him an advantage in this exam."

"Perhaps, this person was the provincial governor of the second year of the Jiayou era in history?"

Just as he was pondering this, deafening cheers erupted from the direction where the candidates from Henan Prefecture had gathered!

Li Shi's usually composed face was now flushed with excitement.

He clearly hadn't expected to rank so high. He took a deep breath and bowed repeatedly to the fellow villagers who came to congratulate him, maintaining the dignified demeanor of a scion of a prominent family.

Congratulations, Brother Li!

"Well deserved! Well deserved indeed!"

"This has brought fame to my Henan Prefecture!"

The scholars from Henan Prefecture, including the Cheng brothers and Zhu Guangting, were overjoyed and surrounded Li Shi, creating an extremely enthusiastic atmosphere.

This contrasts sharply with the growing sense of astonishment and suspicion among the university students.

Lu Beigu's gaze continued downwards.

"Third place, Zeng Gong of Jianchang Army, thirty-eight years old, ranked first in calligraphy, second in ink painting, third in poetry, third in prose, third in current affairs, and third in essays." Lu Beigu felt certain and was genuinely happy for Zeng Gong.

After a brief silence, cheers erupted from the Jiangxi candidates' side, even louder than when all five members of the Zeng family had passed the exam!

"Brother Zigu has been famous throughout the land for twenty years, and he has finally passed the exam!"

"Brother! You've won!"

Zeng Bu and the others were moved to tears. They surrounded Zeng Gong, their excitement causing them to speak incoherently.

Zeng Gong himself stared blankly at the list, his weathered eyes now glistening with tears.

His lips trembled as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just nodded heavily, over and over again, letting his fellow villagers pat his shoulders and back.

Twenty years of ups and downs, twenty years of relentless pursuit, all the perseverance and hardship have finally paid off at this moment.

After a closer look at the results, it became clear that Li Shi, who came in second place, and Zeng Gong, who came in third, were tied for the same position.

Lu Beigu's heart also tensed up suddenly.

To be honest, the most important reason he won the provincial top prize was that his poem received the "top-class" rating, which means that Ouyang Xiu took a liking to his poem and used it as a benchmark.

Without this extraordinary "top-tier" rating, even if he were given a normal "middle-tier" rating, Lu Beigu would not have gotten first place.

Because Li Shi and Zeng Gong, two candidates who were clearly experienced in exams and resistant to the cold, performed perfectly under cold and high-pressure conditions, they achieved full marks in all subjects. However, they did not receive the "A" grade, so their overall evaluation was lower than his.

Before the cheers of the Jiangxi scholars had subsided, an even bigger wave of noise erupted from around Lu Beigu!
"Fourth! Look at the fourth place!"

Su Zhe jumped up and down, pointing at the list, so overjoyed he almost lost his composure.

"Fourth place, Su Shi of Meizhou, 20 years old, ranked first in calligraphy, second in ink, first in poetry, middle in prose, second in current affairs, and first in essays."

When Lu Beigu saw Su Shi's grades, he was dumbfounded.

That's even more outrageous than him.

Two "Top Grade" scores—how did they even come up with that? Saying they're in good form—did they somehow summon the spirit of Li Bai?
No, Su Shi didn't need to invoke the gods.

However, while his poetry and essays were excellent, Su Shi's writings on calligraphy and current affairs were equally lacking.

Lu Beigu could understand why Su Shi's policies on current affairs were ineffective, since Su Shi was indeed a bit too idealistic and often had unrealistic views on current affairs.

However, the fact that Mo Yi didn't even reach the first-class level suggests that he probably acted impulsively during the exam, didn't read the questions carefully, and fell into a trap.

At this moment, the candidates from Sichuan went completely crazy. The top scholar in the province came from Sichuan, and the fourth place was also from Sichuan!
This is an unprecedentedly glorious moment for education and culture in Sichuan!
Lu Beigu continued to look down.

"Twelfth place: Zhang Heng of Jianzhou"

"Twenty-second place, Lin Xi from Fuzhou."

"Twenty-eighth place, Zhang Dun of Jianzhou."

Each name that ranked high on the list drew cheers or exclamations from their fellow townsmen and friends.

Although the Fujian scholars were slightly disappointed that Zhang Heng, Lin Xi and others had not made it to the top ranks, they still celebrated that they had passed the exam and that their rankings were not low.

"Fifty-ninth place, Zhang Zai of Jingzhao Prefecture"

"Eighty-first place, Cheng Hao from Henan Prefecture."

"Ranked 83rd, Cheng Yi from Henan Prefecture"

"Ranked 170th, Su Zhe of Meizhou."

As the rankings concluded, the emotions of everyone at the Imperial Academy instantly turned into extreme anger!
(End of this chapter)