Tang Dynasty: Consort Wu? Your Majesty, please address her as the Crown Prince's Consort.

The bamboo basket on the right was prepared by Wu Zetian.

Li Chengqian would verbally describe his proposed revisions, and then Wu Meiniang would write his suggestions on the memorial.

However, everyone present, including Li Tai, was highly capable, and most of their suggestions were readily approved.

Therefore, Wu Zetian spent most of her time massaging Li Chengqian's legs and shoulders, and only occasionally did she need to pick up her pen to revise a memorial.

Li Tai almost ground his teeth to powder looking at Li Chengqian's leisurely and carefree appearance.

Damn it! This bastard has no humanity left!!!

He had never seen such a shameless person. He sent two military officers to tie him up and bring him over to review memorials, but the man himself was just sitting there basking in the sun.

This situation lasted for a whole month, but fortunately, the Hanlin Academy acted relatively quickly.

Liangyi Hall.

"Your Majesty, this is the list of the top three candidates in this year's imperial examination: three in the first tier, eighty in the second tier, and two hundred and thirty-one in the third tier. These are all the examination papers of the top three candidates!"

Du Ruhui handed the list to Li Shimin and then pointed to the examination papers next to him.

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He feels like crying right now.

It's finally over. Heaven knows how he got through the past month. The emperor directly connected with the Six Ministries—is that something a human could do?

He then turned his attention to the list given by Du Ruhui.

I wonder how many poor students will rise to the top this time because of that rebellious son's actions.

As an emperor, he naturally hoped that more scholars from humble backgrounds could rise to power. There were too many powerful families in the court, and he needed scholars from humble backgrounds to provide a counterbalance.

However, he also knew that with the background of aristocratic families, even if this year's imperial examination was very fair, the majority of students would probably still come from aristocratic families.

As he pondered this, Li Shimin looked at the list.

As he expected, although there were a few people from humble backgrounds among the top three and top two, most of them came from prominent families with five surnames and seven noble clans.

But when he saw the list of the top team, he was completely stunned.

He suddenly looked up, his face full of disbelief as he stared at Du Ruhui.

"Ke...Kemin, what's going on?"

Seeing the surprised look on his emperor's face, he couldn't help but smile slightly.

He had the same expression when he first received the list.

He simply bowed slightly to Li Shimin and said:

"Your Majesty! This year's imperial examinations were graded anonymously according to Your Majesty's decree; no one knew who the candidates were beforehand!"

Upon hearing Du Ruhui's words, Li Shimin immediately understood his meaning. To put it bluntly, this result was genuine and not a result of their deliberate suppression of powerful families.

There were three names clearly written on the first-class seat.

Zhang Heng, courtesy name Ziping, was from Lin'an Prefecture. He came from a poor family, his father died early, and his mother was the only one in the family.

Ma Zhou: courtesy name Binwang, a native of Qinghe, came from a poor family. He lost both his parents at a young age and was raised by his uncle.

Cui Yan: courtesy name Yuanzhou, born into the Cui clan of Qinghe. His father was the head of the Cui clan of Qinghe, and his mother was the eldest daughter of the Lu clan of Fanyang.

Two of the top-ranked contestants this year came from humble backgrounds, while only one from a prestigious family made the cut!

This result was completely unexpected.

You could also call it an unexpected surprise.

No one expected that there would actually be two dark horses among those from humble backgrounds.

Despite his humble origins, he forcefully trampled these scions of powerful and influential families underfoot.

Then he picked up Zhang Heng's and Ma Zhou's papers and looked at them carefully.

After reading Ma Zhou's exam paper, Li Shimin nodded with a look of appreciation.

Ma Zhou's answer was indeed excellent, and his strategic viewpoints were quite insightful. His level of expertise surpasses that of most scions of prominent families.

But when he saw Zhang Heng's paper, he was also deeply attracted, especially Zhang Heng's essay on the way of both literature and martial arts, which was particularly to Li Shimin's liking.

"Hahaha! Excellent! Excellent! I never expected that this spring examination would reveal another great talent to me!"

Seeing Li Shimin's happy expression, Du Ruhui quickly offered a compliment.

"May Heaven bless the Great Tang, may Heaven bless Your Majesty! Given time, these two will become renowned prime ministers of our Great Tang. If Your Highness the Crown Prince can obtain their assistance, the Great Tang will surely go even further."

However, Li Shimin was displeased upon hearing Du Ruhui's words.

"Ahem! That rebellious son is still young; he can't handle such a great talent. I'll keep such a person for myself for now!"

Seeing his emperor's protective manner towards his food, Du Ruhui was speechless for a moment.

Honestly, most of the candidates in this imperial examination are from the same generation as His Highness the Crown Prince. Zhang Heng and Ma Zhou are eighteen and nineteen years old respectively. If these two are properly trained, they will definitely become His Highness the Crown Prince's right-hand men in the future. In that case, he and his father can rest easy after they pass away, right?

"Your Majesty! The palace examination is coming up next. I think we should appoint either Ma Zhou or Zhang Hengzhong as the top scholar. This would demonstrate that the imperial examination system should select the best candidates regardless of their background."

Upon hearing Du Ruhui's suggestion, Li Shimin immediately nodded in agreement.

"Zhang Heng was the top scholar, Ma Zhou was the second-ranked scholar, and Cui Yan was the third-ranked scholar. What do you think?"

Upon hearing Li Shimin's opinion, Du Ruhui shook his head.

"Your Majesty should place Ma Zhou in the third-place ranking and Cui Yan in the second-place ranking!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin couldn't help but show a look of doubt.

"Why is that? Cui Yan's writing is on par with Ma Zhou's, but I prefer Ma Zhou!"

Seeing the puzzled look on his emperor's face, Du Ruhui smiled slightly and said:

"Your Majesty! Firstly, most of the officials in the court are still from aristocratic families. Zhang Heng's writing is outstanding, so it is understandable that he is placed first. However, Ma Zhou and Cui Yan are about equal in ability. If the aristocratic families use this as a pretext to make things difficult for Ma Zhou, it will be detrimental to him."

Secondly, there is not much difference between the top three; it's just a title, and the third-place winner may not necessarily achieve less in the future than the second-place winner.

Third, and most importantly…

At this point, Du Ruhui paused deliberately, looking at Li Shimin with a strange expression.

"The third-ranked scholar has always been chosen for his outstanding appearance. Cui Yan... well... his father and mother are not bad-looking. I don't understand why Cui Yan looks like that."

Therefore, Ma Zhou is more suitable for the position of Tan Hua Lang (third-place scholar)!

After hearing Du Ruhui's explanation, Li Shimin couldn't help but show a strange expression.

He seems to have discovered an incredible secret about the Cui family of Qinghe.

He had met the head of the Cui family of Qinghe and his wife before, and it was no exaggeration to say that they were a perfect match.

He couldn't believe there wasn't something fishy about the fact that such a couple had produced such an ugly offspring!

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but cough and say:

"Ahem! Ke Ming is right, Ma Zhou is the most suitable candidate for the third-place scholar!"

And so, before the palace examination even began, the rankings of the top three in the first class were already decided in just a few words between the two.