Chapter 172 Justice will prevail!

The chief examiner set the tone himself, so the other examiners naturally had nothing to say.

They originally thought that these three test papers could get excellent results.

What's more, judging from their writing styles, these three people are obviously from the Wei family. As examiners, it is normal for them to favor their own students.

Besides, this is not called favoritism.

The calligraphy of these three people has reached a high level, and is not bad in the calligraphy world. Not to mention the imperial court reviewing the results, even if the king of heaven came, it would still be excellent.

At this point, the results of the calligraphy subject have been evaluated.

In the same examination hall, the marking of the other three subjects was also nearing completion.

In this imperial examination, there was only one comprehensive question in the painting subject. Although the marking process was a bit more cumbersome, it was still faster than calligraphy.

Originally, all the test papers had already been reviewed.

There was only one test paper left, and the five painting examiners had been examining it for the entire morning.

They were not troubled about what grade the painting should be rated; it was rated the highest grade, "excellent", and no examiner had any objection.

As early as during the cross-review, all five examiners gave excellent comments.

Even if we remove the highest rating and the lowest rating, there are still three excellent ones.

They are just learning.

Tang Shi’s flowers, Fei Li’s birds, Zhao Yuan’s meticulous brushwork, Liu Qian’s use of ink, Shen Nian’s freehand brushwork, Sun Run’s structure and layout…

This small test paper, no matter from which aspect, has reached the level of a master and is the epitome of flower and bird painting. They even feel guilty when asked to score this painting.

Who are they to be able to evaluate such a master?

Candidates for the imperial examination could not be older than forty. Even if this person was exactly forty years old, it was truly amazing that he could master the art of painting to such an extent.

Even if he failed the imperial examination, he would be more than qualified to be a painting teacher in one of the four major academies.

No, everyone here is a painting teacher in the academy. This person is enough to be their teacher.

Therefore, even though an excellent rating in the imperial examination would be a bit troublesome for them, no one had any objection.

In another spacious hall, the law examination papers had also been evaluated and sorted.

Compared with calligraphy and painting, there is no controversial point in the law exam.

All questions have standard answers. As long as the candidates have memorized the laws well, their scores will not be too low. There has never been any difference in this subject.

In the First Examination Hall alone, there were more than ten people who gave impeccable answers in the law section.

There are countless A+ and A+ grades.

However, it is useless to do well in the law subject. You need to be good at calligraphy, painting and writing, and have a comprehensive score in the literature subject to rank among the top.

The results of calligraphy, painting, and law have been summarized, and only the final essay is left.

There is no fixed answer for the essay test, and there may be major disagreements between examiners, so the results are always announced at the end.

More than ten examiners were discussing several test papers that were tentatively rated as Grade A+.

The essays in these answer sheets are all well written, which shows that the students are very familiar with the meaning of the scriptures and there is nothing wrong to find.

But I heard that there were rare excellent results in calligraphy and painting. These test papers can be rated as A or even excellent.

Deep down, an excellent test paper will bring them some trouble.

But even the examiners of calligraphy and painting are not afraid of trouble. If they deliberately do not give the best score because they are afraid of trouble, it would make them seem irresponsible.

The chief examiner of the essay section in the First Examination Hall this time was a Zhongshu Sheren.

After careful consideration, he said, "Which of these papers do you think can be rated as excellent?"

More than a dozen examiners pointed to one of them without any discussion.

Since ancient times, there has been no first in literature and no second in martial arts.

In terms of the essays, there is no way to tell which is better among these test papers.

But this candidate's opening poem was well written.

The filthiness of the past is not worth boasting about, but today my unbridled thoughts have no limits.

The horse gallops in the spring breeze, and I can see all the flowers in Chang'an in one day.

In just four short sentences, the changes in mood before and after the imperial examination are well described, and even make them think of their past.

Because the exam was about state governance strategies, the examiners of the First Examination Yuan were all officials temporarily seconded from the imperial court.

The confusion and anxiety before the imperial examination, the pride and revelry after being named on the list of successful candidates, these four lines of poetry can be said to be a reflection of the inner thoughts of the vast majority of successful candidates. Even the examiners could deeply resonate with them.

What's more, this exam paper is not just about the well-written opening poem.

His handwriting also stood out among many test papers.

The handwriting of the imperial examination candidates is actually very good, but this person's handwriting is more outstanding. Unlike other candidates, he did not choose the most regular regular script, but integrated calligraphy, which looks more ornamental.

Without looking at the content, just looking at the words on this test paper makes people feel happy.

If you want to judge the best, this test paper must be it.

The Secretary of the Central Secretariat actually liked this one the most. He nodded and said, "That's exactly what I was thinking..."

…

According to the imperial examination process, after the written test is over and the test papers are reviewed, the list of students who will take the next exam can be compiled and announced.

But apart from the law, if there is an excellent test paper in one of the three subjects of calligraphy, painting, and composition, one more step is required.

It is very difficult to get excellent scores in these three subjects, and they need to be reported by the Examination Institute. The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel, which are responsible for the imperial examinations, will send special personnel to review and evaluate the excellent test papers to avoid favoritism and fraud by examiners.

During the review of several excellent test papers from the First Examination Institute, two essay and painting test papers were both recognized by the examiners and successfully received excellent evaluations.

But I encountered some problems on the three calligraphy test papers.

The chief examiner in charge of the review believed that the three excellent test papers should be adjusted to A+.

As the chief examiner, Mr. Wei insisted that these three test papers should be excellent.

Neither of them was willing to give in, so the situation remained deadlocked.

In a hall somewhere in the First Examination Hall, the atmosphere was extremely tense.

Wei Xun's face turned pale, and he pointed at an old man in green clothes and said angrily: "These three pieces of calligraphy are so well written. If this is not considered excellent, then what is excellent? Tell me, what is excellent!"

The old man in green glanced at him calmly and said, "Why do you have to choose a few excellent ones? I admit that these three pieces of calligraphy are well written, but they are not as good as the excellent ones in my mind. Is it because they are students of Mr. Wei that you deliberately gave them the excellent ones?"

Wei Xun was furious and said, "You fart!"

The old man in green smiled coldly and said, "Master Wei, don't think that others are blind. These regular scripts, running scripts, and cursive scripts all have the flavor of your Wei style. Do you dare to say that they are not your students?"

Faced with the blatant slander, Wei Xun's eyes were bloodshot and he was shaking with anger.

Mr. Huang didn't even think about making a fair judgment; he was only looking for himself.

Not to mention that he didn't know whether these three words were written by his students. Even if they were, that was their strength!

There is no trick in the scores of these test papers!

Isn't it that the court chose me as the examiner and the question setter for the imperial examination this time instead of Huang? Isn't it that in calligraphy, I have always been better than him for decades...

He has always looked down on people with the surname Huang.

Now I look down on it even more.

Bringing personal grudges to the imperial examinations and affecting the future of innocent students because of personal emotions.

This beast!

Wei Xun could no longer suppress his anger. He spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the green-clothed old man's face and kicked him hard. The green-clothed old man was kicked to the ground unexpectedly. Wei Xun pounced on him, cursing and beating him.

"Who the hell are you to slander me?"

"The court appointed you as the chief judge, so you can do whatever you want?"

"You can't write such a word yourself, and you even bully the younger generation!"

"You damned beast, I'm going to beat you to death!"

…

This scene happened so quickly that no one even had time to stop it.

After realizing what was happening, the two of them immediately pulled away the irrational Wei Xun, and the old man in green, either from anger or beating, had fainted.

No one expected that something like this would happen in such a serious occasion as the imperial examination.

Mr. Wei was controlled immediately, and Mr. Huang was also carried to the Imperial Hospital. After the Secretariat received the news, a vice minister was furious. He temporarily transferred several examiners from other examination halls and ordered the Censorate to supervise and re-examine the three examination papers from the first examination hall.

These examiners had no relationship or contact with Mr. Wei and Mr. Huang on a daily basis.

Among them, there is a censor who is upright and upright and can achieve absolute fairness and justice.

Inside the examination hall.

Three test papers were placed on the table.

Five calligraphy examiners, including a censor, gathered around the table, while officials from the Menxia Province and the Censorate were waiting on the side.

A middle-aged man looked at the three test papers carefully, sighed lightly and shook his head.

An official from the Ministry of Personnel asked, "Why, these examination papers are not worth the money?"

The middle-aged man's eyes flashed with anger, and he said, "It's really surprising that such a word appeared in the imperial examination. Mr. Huang is too much. It is an insult to the imperial examination to have such a person as the chief judge!"

The other few people also spoke slowly.

"These three test papers should all be rated as excellent."

"It's more than excellent. This person's calligraphy is even better than the master's. He may even have surpassed Master Wei."

"Mr. Huang has ulterior motives, while Mr. Wei is a person of true character. If these papers are graded as A-grade, the A-grade papers may not even be A-grade..."

Finally, several officials looked at the Supervisory Censor, who then turned his eyes away from the test papers and said, "These three test papers are absolutely excellent and indisputable."

The requirements for imperial examination candidates cannot certainly be compared with those for calligraphy masters.

An excellent test paper for the imperial examination may be nothing in the world of calligraphy.

But these few pieces of calligraphy are absolute masterpieces even in the calligraphy world.

If the imperial examination was based on percentage, a paper with 90 points would be considered A-A, and 100 points would be excellent.

The quality of these three calligraphy works is comparable to several excellent ones.

If we judge by calligraphy alone, these pieces of writing are certainly not excellent, they are just A+ or A. But using the same standard, other candidates would hardly even pass.

Soon, everyone walked out of the hall.

I thought it was the Wei family who was corrupt and partial.

I didn't expect that Mr. Huang was taking revenge on me. Both of them are masters of calligraphy, but their minds and patterns are so different.

Perhaps Mr. Huang did not expect that Mr. Wei would take such an extreme action for the sake of justice.

His status as chief judge has been revoked, and once the news gets out, I'm afraid his reputation in the literary circle will be ruined.

Wei Dajia's innocence was proven, and when he was released, he held his chest high.

Evil will never defeat justice, and he knows that the court will give him justice.

Everyone present, whether it was the examiners from the examination hall or the officials from the imperial court, looked at him with admiration.

"Mr. Wei is a real person!"

"I admire you so much..."

"Having Teacher Wei here is truly a blessing for the imperial examination and the examinees."

…

Facing the praise from the crowd, Wei Xun smiled and cupped his hands, saying, "It's my duty. The court has let me be the chief examiner, which shows their trust in me. Even if I have to sacrifice my old bones, I can't let the candidates down. I can't let these scum ruin their ten years of study..."

(End of this chapter)