Old Sun's eyes suddenly widened. He looked at the student who had just spoken and asked, "Who were you talking about?"
"Sun Quanxue, old man, do you know who he is?" he asked.
Old Sun nodded vigorously: "Where is it? Where is it? Why can't I see it?"
The man looked at Old Sun and said, "But is it your young master?"
Old Sun nodded and shook his head, afraid he had misheard and was happy for nothing. He asked again, "Where is Sun Quanxue from?"
"Xiao Xuezhuang. Where is Xiao Xuezhuang? I've never heard of it."
Old Sun slapped his thigh and laughed out loud: "Oh! That's my grandson! It's my grandson! He actually won? I didn't even see him just now. Where is he? Where is he?"
Old Sun turned around and dived into the crowd again.
The student was kind enough to pull Old Sun in and point it out to him. "Look, it's right here. The last one, the last one. No wonder you didn't see it. Don't think being last is bad. The Spring Examination is not easy. Even if you're last, it's still a good place among thousands of people. Look at me. I've taken the exam three times and I haven't passed yet."
Old Man Sun finally found the name of his eldest grandson. He was so excited that he could hardly breathe. Xiao Xuezhuang, Sun Quanxue, isn’t that his eldest grandson?
Although the Sun family's ancestral home is not in the capital, their ancestors fled here and later changed several masters. But since they joined the Qin family, their whole family has been registered under the Qin family.
Now that Qin Wan has released them from their legal status, they naturally settled in Xiaoxue Village on the outskirts of Beijing.
Seeing his excitement, the students hurriedly helped him out, "Don't get excited, don't get excited. Stay calm. Your eldest grandson is incredible. I just heard you say he passed the exam after only a few years of study. I admire you!"
Sun Quanxue saw that his grandfather was still a little worried. When he heard that he had passed the exam, he was still in disbelief: "Passed the exam? How is that possible?"
The student took one look at Sun Quanxue's expression, then at the other people in the car, and he understood what was going on. He patted Sun Quanxue on the shoulder and said with a smile, "The exam this year was very tricky. Those of us who only knew how to study, as well as the rich young men who had no knowledge of farming, all failed. You must have been lucky enough to make it. There's still the palace examination in a few days, so don't be nervous. Even if you do poorly in the palace examination, you won't fail. You'll just be ranked in the top three."
The student bowed and left, reminding them before leaving: "I don't know if the hangers-on can find your village, but the officials with the good news should be on their way. You should hurry back and prepare the reward money."
"Thank you." Sun Quanxue bowed and looked at Old Sun again. He had already started harnessing the cart and turning it around with the neighbors who had followed them.
Old Sun grabbed his grandson and said, "Go, go, go, go back!"
The group hurried home, and on the way they bought firecrackers, meat, snacks, candy, and even milk tea...
Halfway through the journey, he saw hangers-on and officials rushing to announce the good news.
Old Sun was so happy that he stopped the people and stuffed a handful of copper coins into their hands. He also stuffed the milk tea and candies he had bought into them and said, "Thank you very much. We have prepared good wine and food at home. Let's eat at home. Let's eat at home."
The hangers-on originally thought that this was a student from Xiaoxue Village and they would not get any reward money, but who knew that the old man would give him one or two taels of silver at once!
Although they were not as good as the wealthy and powerful families, they were much better off than those poor scholars. When they heard that the family had prepared wine and food, and calculated the distance, they knew it would be too late to go back and visit other families, and they would not get anything, so they readily agreed.
At the same time as the notice was posted outside the Imperial Examination Hall, the list was also sent to the palace. Qin Wan and Xie Qing gathered beside the emperor to look at the list.
When Qin Wan saw Sun Quanxue's name, she frowned and pointed at his name and said, "That's not right!"
The emperor became interested: "Why is it wrong?"
Qin Wan looked at the emperor and said, "To be honest, Your Majesty, this Sun Quanjia family was originally a farmer on your daughter-in-law's farm. His grandfather was freed from slavery by your daughter-in-law for his contributions in cultivating grain. His grandchildren are also studying in your daughter-in-law's school."
"This Sun Quanxue is his eldest grandson. Although he read books when he was young, he didn't start studying seriously until two years ago when he came to my daughter-in-law's farm. All in all, he has only been studying for two or three years."
"He was lucky to pass the imperial examination, but now he's actually passed the imperial examination. Even though he ranked last, this shouldn't be the case."
The emperor was at a loss whether to laugh or cry: "Isn't it good that someone from your village passed the imperial examination?"
Qin Wan said sternly, "The Spring Examination is a matter of great importance to the country. If he truly possesses true talent and knowledge, my daughter-in-law will naturally be pleased. But if he doesn't have that level of talent, and yet he managed to pass the exam with the lowest score, who arranged this?"
"What is his purpose? If he can arrange for Sun Quanxue, then has he arranged for someone else as well?"
The emperor's expression became serious after hearing these words. He said to Eunuch Zhang, "Ask Lord Yu to bring Sun Quanxue's papers here, and hide them from others."
When Lord Yu heard the news, he found Sun Quanxue's paper and looked through it carefully. After thinking for a moment, he simply put all the students' papers together.
He was more careful and put Sun Quanxue's test paper together with the test papers of several other students he was optimistic about in his arms, and then took the test papers to the Qianqing Palace.
The emperor saw that he had brought a box with him and frowned, "Didn't I tell you to be quiet? Why did you bring such a big box?"
Lord Yu watched as everyone around him withdrew, then said, "Your Majesty summoned me just after the notice was posted. It's inevitable that others will suspect something. So I brought all the papers here, simply saying Your Majesty wanted to see them. As for whose papers I looked at and whose I didn't, no one else knows."
The emperor reacted and nodded, "Well done. What about Sun Quanxue's paper?"
Lord Yu quickly pulled Sun Quanxue's paper from his sleeve and said, "This is it. I've read it and it's quite good, making it one of the best students. However, his understanding of the Four Books and the classics is a bit superficial, perhaps because he hasn't fully grasped the text."
"Even if Your Majesty did not summon me, I would still like to ask Your Majesty, what exactly is this student..."
Lord Yu did not say the rest. He had never heard of the name Sun Quanxue. It was impossible for him to be the child of a noble family. Therefore, it was a bit strange that he became a Jinshi.
Qin Wan looked at Lord Yu and said, "This Sun Quanxue is a student of mine at the manor. I felt something was amiss, so I told my father. I wonder if Lord Sun has reviewed all the exam papers? Is there anything suspicious?"
Lord Yu was stunned for a moment, then quickly pulled out a few papers from his arms and said, "These are the students whose essays I think are quite good, so I've reserved them for you. As for the others, I haven't had a chance to look at them yet."
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