Chapter 87 Chapter 87 Xue Fenglin won the first prize in the exam, the country...
Xue Fenglin won the first place in the imperial examination, and his classmates from the Imperial College invited him to congratulate him one after another.
The posts were all sent to the Marquis' Mansion, and were collected by Wuwang and delivered to Xue Fenglin who was living with Shen Xuan.
Xue Fenglin only saw the name and did not open it to read it carefully, so he said to Wuxin: "You record the people who posted and make a list. The day after tomorrow, we will book a private room on the first floor of Guiyun Tower and invite all these people together, and it will be considered as a social event."
After a few more days, the day of the palace examination finally arrived. Xue Fenglin took a car to the outside of the palace early in the morning, waiting to go in for the re-examination.
A total of more than 120 tribute students were selected for this spring examination, all of whom came from all over the Jin Dynasty. At this time, they were gathered outside the Meridian Gate, waiting to enter the palace to meet the emperor.
Xue Fenglin stood together with his classmates from the Imperial College. Most of them were local candidates from the capital, and there were also some talented people recommended from various places.
The candidates who were able to study in the Imperial College were all from wealthy or noble families. They had been studying together for some time and had become familiar with each other.
At this time, they gathered together to talk, and each of them was in high spirits.
In addition, there were some civilian candidates from all over the country gathered together. Many of these candidates came from very ordinary families, and some even wore patched coarse cloth clothes.
Standing outside the huge imperial city, the commoner candidates were inevitably a little timid. Although everyone was gathered together, they were very careful not to speak loudly, for fear of disturbing the guards at the door. How could they be as flamboyant as the examinees from the Imperial College?
One of the candidates from the Imperial College looked down on the common candidates because they sounded rustic and spoke with a rural accent. So he pointed at one of the young candidates and said, "Look at that guy. He went to the palace to meet the emperor wearing a patched linen shirt and torn shoes. He is not as decent as my son. I wonder how he will behave in front of His Majesty."
He said this without avoiding others and in a loud voice, so many people around could hear it.
When the civilian candidate heard this, his face turned red and he felt ashamed. However, there were a few people around him who were on good terms with him. They spoke up for him and said, "Although Qi Yu's family is poor, he is well-educated. He also ranked second in the Spring Examination. How can you humiliate him at will?"
"You just have a few bucks in your family and a better family background, but you are so arrogant! After the palace examination, His Majesty will confer officials, and we don't know who will have a higher position. I'm afraid that you will have to address Qi Yu as Lord Qi when you see him in the future!"
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Although the words of these civilian candidates were sharp, they were not wrong. However, the candidates of the Imperial College had always been spoiled at home, so they could not tolerate being ridiculed like this. They also brought up Xue Fenglin and said, "It's just a second place, which is not bad. The first place winner is a candidate of our Imperial College, and he is a prince. He is very different from you country bumpkins who have never seen the world!"
Seeing that he was also pulled in, Xue Fenglin frowned, glanced at the eunuch standing at the door and looking over here, and whispered something to Wuxin.
Wu Xin left immediately after receiving the order, but after a while, he ran back with a new set of clothes and cloth shoes in his hand, which he handed to Xue Fenglin.
Xue Fenglin then walked up to the candidate named Qi, forced a smile and said, "We will all serve in the same court in the future and work for His Majesty, so we should value harmony. Why bother to fight over such a small matter? Why don't we all take a step back and settle the dispute? Don't quarrel in front of the palace gate anymore."
After he finished speaking, he handed the set of clothes to Qi Yu and said, "Brother Qi, you will go to the palace to see the emperor later. It would be inappropriate if your clothes are not in order. Why don't you change into this set before going in?"
Xue Fenglin is already an extremely handsome man, and his way of treating people makes people feel like spring breeze. It is really admirable.
After he said this, the examinees from the Imperial College fell silent, and the anger of the civilian examinees nearby also subsided a lot.
Qi Yu was filled with respect and admiration when he saw that Xue Fenglin was so polite despite being the top champion. He was also handsome and spoke in a way that made people convinced.
He accepted the clothes handed to him by Xue Fenglin and put them on with a sincere heart, then thanked him profusely. After Xue Fenglin left, he said to several classmates around him: "Xue Huiyuan is a prince, but he is so approachable. I really feel inferior to him."
Those classmates also nodded in agreement, sighing that there are always people better than you, and there are many people with both moral integrity and talent in the capital.
After Xue Fenglin returned to his previous position, a familiar classmate next to him asked in a low voice: "Fenglin, why did you bother to meddle in that matter just now?"
Xue Fenglin just smiled and said, "After all, we are going to serve in the same court, so why should we offend each other for some inexplicable reasons?"
But his eyes secretly glanced in the direction of the eunuch outside the palace wall.
These eunuchs were all spies sent by Emperor Wu of Jin. They would report truthfully every move of the candidates before the palace examination.
In recent years, Emperor Wu of Jin has been recovering power and promoting many commoner candidates such as Qi Yu in the court. These commoner candidates have also formed their own network of relationships.
Although Xue Fenglin came from a powerful family, he had no one to rely on. Compared with them, he has no advantage to begin with, so he cannot create opposition with them, as that would be detrimental to his future career as an official.
After a while, it was time to enter the palace. The palace gates opened and the candidates walked in one by one.
The palace examination also lasts three full days, and more than a hundred candidates eat and sleep in the palace.
However, the environment of the palace examination was much better than that of the previous spring examination. Candidates took the examination in the main hall. Not only did they have imperial chefs to cook for them, but they also had dormitories to live in after the examination.
The candidates were ranked according to their scores in the Spring Examination. Xue Fenglin was naturally the first, and Qi Yu was next to him.
When the examiner handed out the test papers, Qi Yu had just finished reading the questions when he saw from the corner of his eye that Xue Fenglin next to him had already picked up his pen and started writing.
He was also shocked and hurriedly took the opportunity to start writing. When he had written most of the paper, Xue Fenglin next to him suddenly raised his hand, told the examiner to hand in the paper, handed it in, and then stood up and left back to the dormitory.
Qi Yu's scalp tightened again when he saw this, and he had to suppress the panic in his heart. He examined the test paper in his hand more carefully, hoping to spend more time to answer it more perfectly.
After each day's examination, the examiners would first review the test papers of all the candidates on the spot, and then pick out the best ones and send them to the palace for Emperor Wu of Jin to review.
Emperor Wu of Jin would then select the top-grade papers from these papers, and the final top scorers would be chosen from the top-grade papers from the three days.
Three days passed in a flash. After Emperor Wu of Jin finished grading the last batch of A-grade papers, someone collected the papers of those who had received A-grade papers for three days and sent them to Emperor Wu of Jin. There are a total of twenty-two papers, which means twenty-two people.
"Who answered the papers with the most vivid handwriting? Please show it to me again?" Emperor Wu of Jin asked.
When he heard him say that the handwriting was lively, a minister immediately handed Xue Fenglin's answer sheet to Emperor Wu of Jin and asked, "Is this the answer sheet you are talking about, Your Majesty?"
Emperor Wu of Jin had praised Xue Fenglin's handwriting several times when he was marking papers. As soon as he said that the handwriting was lively, someone next to him immediately understood what he meant and handed over Xue Fenglin's paper.
Emperor Wu of Jin glanced at the scroll, then looked at Xue Fenglin's name on it, then nodded and said, "So it's him? The son of Marquis Xue. When he was young, he entered the palace to attend banquets, and his handwriting was quite good. Now it seems that he is quite good at studying, and what's rare is that he is also quite proficient in general affairs."
After saying this, he took out the last policy paper related to general affairs and read it again, but he was in deep thought for a long time.
When Lord Qian saw this, he rolled his eyes and said, "Although Xue Fenglin is very talented, his character needs to be verified."
"There have always been rumors in the capital that he is disrespectful to his stepmother. Although we don't know whether it is true or not, it is inevitable that people will talk about it. In addition, he is already the crown prince, and his father is a high-ranking official. If he is still ranked among the top three, I am afraid that the literati in the world will not accept it and say that Your Majesty is biased."
"Well, what you said does make sense. It's not good for Prince Xue to start from too high a point. Let's suppress him a little, so as to temper his spirit." After saying this, Emperor Wu of Jin had the paper taken away without saying anything more.
Then he looked through the test papers of other people again, and picked out three papers and said, "These three people all answered the questions very well, so we can take the top three."
One of the papers was from Qi Yu, one was from Wang Jinwen, a commoner candidate who came to Beijing from the countryside like Qi Yu, and the other was from Yang Xu, who came from a clean family in the court.
After thinking about it, Emperor Wu of Jin gave Qi Yu the title of top scholar, Wang Jinwen the title of second scholar, and Yang Xu the title of third scholar respectively, and then gave them red auspicious robes and asked them to wear them before entering the palace to meet him.
When he came to the rankings behind the first class, Emperor Wu of Jin pondered for a long time. At this time, Eunuch Su beside him stepped forward and whispered something in his ear.
I don't know what Eunuch Su said, but Emperor Wu of Jin smiled and said, "He has always been smart and has the overall situation in mind. He is much better than his father."
After saying this, Emperor Wu of Jin picked up Xue Fenglin's paper again and marked it as fourth in the first class. Then he ranked the next dozen or so test papers in turn.
After the first class, the ranking of the second class is much faster. However, within the time it takes for a stick of incense to pass, all the candidates who will be selected as Jinshi have been chosen. The remaining candidates will not have the chance to meet the emperor and can only take the exam next time.
Xue Fenglin was sitting in his dormitory waiting to be summoned by the palace. He had no problem answering the questions these days, but he did not think that his results in the palace examination would be very good.
Since the twelfth year of Emperor Wu of Jin, the top three in the imperial examinations every year have no longer been descendants of noble families.
On the one hand, of course, many children of prominent families only sought official positions and did not seek advancement. On the other hand, it was also because Emperor Wu of Jin intended to control the government.
After a while, Eunuch Su, who served Emperor Wu of Jin, came over with an imperial edict and began to read out the list of Jinshi who were shortlisted for the top three.
The list starts from the last person in the top three and goes backwards. Those who hear their names first will feel both happy and regretful. As the rankings get higher, the people whose names are called become more and more excited.
Xue Fenglin looked calm at first, but when he heard that the list only listed the top ten but his name was not on it, he started to get nervous.
In recent years, the best results for these children of noble families are to be in the top nine.
In addition, his father was avoiding suspicion and his uncle, General Ye, was a military general. Lord Qian, who was participating in marking the papers beside Emperor Wu of Jin, was an important official from the eldest prince's lineage and would not allow himself to get a good grade.
I watched as the list had moved from the top ten to the top six, but I still hadn’t heard my name. Could it be that I failed to make the list due to some extra reason?
Xue Fenglin felt heavy in his heart, he was not afraid of losing his brother once, but he originally wanted to take this opportunity to be appointed as an official and meet the emperor to ask Emperor Wu of Jin to grant him a marriage. If it didn't work out, he would have to look for other opportunities!
"The fourth in the first class..." Eunuch Su paused for a moment before saying, "Xue Fenglin."
Xue Fenglin was stunned when he heard this, and then he saw Eunuch Su looking at him and raised his eyebrows and said, "Xue family's eldest son, why don't you come over and thank me?"
Xue Fenglin was overjoyed and stood up to kowtow to express his gratitude. After the names of the top three were read out, Eunuch Su asked them to change into red auspicious robes. Then all the Jinshi followed him and entered the main hall with him to meet the emperor.
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