When Luo Rong Wei left, the people by his side hurriedly spoke, “That was Head Minister Luo family’s fourth master?”
“En.”
“Having a head minister father, in the future, afraid………….”
“Zheng Min, you won’t be worst off either. No matter what, you’re also Head Minister Luo’s soon-to-be grandson-in-law…………”
“Brother Zuo, I have already cancelled my engagement with younger cousin from the Luo family. In the future, please don’t mention this matter again, it’ll affect younger cousin’s reputation.”
“Ah? How come it was cancelled for no reason, is it the Luo family………”
“No, it was because of me. The Luo family is a several hundred year old scholarly family, and can’t be more generous, it was myself, it was myself………” It was he that didn’t have the good fortune. Clearly knowing that he shouldn’t keep thinking about it, but he still couldn’t help feeling sad. “As for the specifics, it’s not convenient for me to say more either. Saying it out loud would only make one lose face anyways. Perhaps after a few days, you all will all know.”
The others looked to each other in dismay.
Rather, it was a certain few nearby, who knew about this matter, that looked to one another. Turns out, he and the Luo family have already cancelled the engagement. They’d thought that they would need to at least wait until after the court exam.
The time has come to line up, and prepare to enter the palace.
The order in which to line up was based on their ranking in the metropolitan exam, odd to the left, even to the right.
The gong sounded. The two rows of people successively stepped through the palace gates.
Under the guidance of an inner court attendant, they were directly brought to the plaza in front of Taihe hall. The seats for the three hundred candidates have already been orderly put in place, with each row having six seats, three to the left and three to the right. Everyone quietly stood in the middle, silently waiting.
(T/N: This is Taihe Hall’s front plaza; Taihe Hall, also known as the Hall of Supreme Harmony, is the biggest hall in the forbidden palace in Beijing. Trust me I’ve been there it’s always overcrowded with tourists taking selfies.)
One after another, the ministers of the imperial court appeared. Afterwards, it was the princes and qinwangs, and then finally, Le Cheng Emperor’s arrival. Le Cheng Emperor sat down on the dragon throne placed in the very front, accepting everyone’s formal bow.
“Long live my Emperor for tens of thousands of years.”
“You may rise, and take your seat.”
Afterwards, there were no more superfluous words. A group of inner court attendants directly had the exam prompt and exam paper distributed.
In that split second when they saw they exam prompt, quite a few people’s mind completely blanked. This, this, this, what is going on? Could it be that they encountered an imperial exam fraud? But, that’s not right, in the court exam, it’s his Majesty that personally comes up with the prompt………..
“Presumably, everyone isn’t unfamiliar with this prompt. As long as one is aware of that essay from a few days ago that the ‘mad student’ Sun Yi Lin wrote after getting drunk at Unnamed Building, then one ought to know that today’s exam prompt is the same as the one from that day. This emperor personally believes that Sun Yi Lin’s essay is more than enough to be appointed as the top scorer. Today, this emperor further wants to see whether or not an even finer essay will appear. If not, then today’s top scorer will only be in name and not in reality. Enough, it’s time to start.”
Although they were told to start, not a single person started writing.
Speaking of which, not everyone among them knew about that incident, let alone know about that essay. In reality, more than half of them were all unclear. If they’d long known this kind of situation would appear, then they would’ve had that essay pulled apart and split into fragments, carefully studying it thoroughly. But now, never mind that they don’t know the contents, they didn’t even know the writing style either. But, perhaps ‘mad student’ was a hint?
However, for those that knew about it, especially those that had read it on the spot, their heads began drenching in cold sweat. What exactly did Le Cheng Emperor mean by this? That essay’s level of arrogance had made their hearts all jump in fear and trepidation. Do they really have to write according to that writing style? But what if his Majesty didn’t have that intention? What to do then? After all, how many Emperors would really like that kind of ‘world cursing’ essay?
Have to say, the one that was feeling the most complicated inside was still Chen Zheng Min. That day, he too had written an essay. Moreover, he had a habit, for questions that he’d already solved, he always liked to carefully ponder over again in hindsight. Right now, letting him write it again, he would definitely be able to write one better than that one from before. Le Cheng Emperor’s words actually didn’t affect him that much. He although had the intention to compete against Sun Yi Lin, but right now, he further wanted to write his own thing. This prompt was too advantageous to him. It was more or less the same as cheating.
Speaking of which, the court officials were also confused at Le Cheng Emperor’s behavior. Originally they thought that with him suppressing Sun Yi Lin’s essay, this matter would be over with just like that, letting those preparing to accuse Sun Yi Lin of misconduct all die in the womb. Yet now, it was flipped out again, and even said, if written well, get the title of top scorer. What kind of mischief is he up to again?
Li Hong Yuan was actually very nonchalant. In his past life, the prompt during this year’s court exam seemingly was also this. Just, there shouldn’t have been the matter of Sun Yi Lin solving the prompt in advance. After all, during this time in his past life, Sun Yi Lin still hadn’t entered officialdom yet.
The exam candidates were all strenuously contemplating, or conflicted at whether or not to write according to Sun Yi Lin’s writing style.
“Yi Lin, why don’t you write another one too. This emperor also wants to see, while sober, what all you will write.” Le Cheng Emperor said to the nearby Sun Yi Lin.
“Yes, your Majesty.”
The inner court attendant very quickly prepared everything that was needed for Sun Yi Lin.
After sitting down, Sun Yi Lin thought for a moment, then began writing. He wasn’t an exam candidate, and moreover, he’d previously written something that outrageous already, so writing one now simple didn’t need much thought. He just needed to write what he wants to write.
And at the same time Sun Yi Lin began writing, Chen Zheng Min also began putting his pen to the paper.
Le Cheng Emperor was drinking tea when he seemingly thought of something, “Beloved Minister Luo, which one is that soon-to-be grandson-in-law, point him out for this emperor to see.”
Luo Pei Shan naturally didn’t try to hide it, “Replying to your Majesty, the one on the right side first row middle seat.”
Le Cheng Emperor lifted his head and looked over, “Fifth place in the metropolitan exam, a youth with outstanding talent, no wonder beloved minister has taken a liking to him despite him just being a candidate in the imperial exam. What’s his name?”
“Surname Chen, name Zheng Min.”
“Chen Zheng Min? Why does this name sound so familiar…..ah this emperor remembers now, Yi Lin, is he the one that wrote this essay together with you? That other essay of his was rather good.”
Sun Yi Lin placed down the brush and stood up, “Replying to your Majesty, it was indeed this person.”
“Alright, sit down then, no need to get up. That youngster has picked up a big advantage this time. If he doesn’t have a leap in improvement this time, even if it’s better than last time, this emperor will still have him kicked to the third class[1].”
To be able to write a similar essay prior to the exam, how fortunate of a matter. But great, this time, precisely because this was too favorable, one got kicked down, this good fortune becoming misfortune. Many people all felt sorry for him. He was fifth place in the metropolitan civil service exam. Reasonably speaking, in the court exam, at worst he would still be able to enter the top twenty of the second class. Nobody believed that Chen Zheng Min will have too great of a breakthrough. After all, policy advice on current affairs, this kind of thing, had a lot to do with a person’s experiences. From last time till now, not that much time has passed. How much more could Chen Zheng Min’s experiences have grown?
Luo Pei Shan also slightly sighed. Encountering this kind of Emperor was purely an unfavorable fate.
Sun Yi Lin stopped his brush.
“Finished writing? Bring it over, let this emperor see.”
Sun Yi Lin presented it up with both hands.
Le Cheng Emperor rapidly read through, and suddenly slapped his hand down, “Good, as expected of our capital’s number one gentleman.”
His voice was too loud. The students taking the exam below were all affected, successively raising their heads to see. It would’ve been better had they not looked. This one glance made their hearts jump, feeling increasingly unwell. Then, lowering their heads to look at their own essay……the more they looked, the more it won’t do, start over!
“Your Majesty, this servant sees that Chen Zheng Min, candidate Chen, seemingly has also finished writing.”
“Oh? Go, bring it up for this emperor to see.” He casually had Sun Yi Lin’s essay passed on to the court officials to read.
[1] I’ve explained this ranking system before but I thought of a better way to explain it. You can think of the three classes as rank A, B, and C, with rank A being the highest and only consisting of the top three scorers. I couldn’t find any information on how many people are in the other two, but the candidates are also ranked within each rank as well. So for B and C, the number of people in each differ depending on dynasty. It’s revealed later in this novel that for second class (rank B) there are 120 people. So from fourth place all the way to 120th place, with the rest that pass falling under 120 in the third class (rank C).
T/N: I was serious when I said there are a lot of subtext, foreshadowing, and subtle hints throughout the entire novel, and every little piece all connect to the story. The author doesn’t spoon feed you, so a lot of times you have to piece together the clues yourself. This is the one novel you really shouldn’t skip around in, because their are important little details in every chapter. Even lines or details that don’t feel as important might turn up later on in story, or have different meaning in retrospect. This ain’t your usual cliche cnovel that’s filled with useless padding and filler crap. ALMOST EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT. Honestly if you’re confused because you tldr…….hehe….
