Tian Mingwu, who was behind the crowd, accurately found Zhao Yiming as soon as the candidates entered the hall.
The first two times, as soon as the emperor asked the questions, he saw him start to answer with a confident look on his face, which gave him the illusion that the questions asked by the emperor were very simple.
He almost suspected that the emperor was deliberately letting him off the hook for the sake of his own nephew.
After all, he really felt that the first question was very simple. If he were to take the test, he might be able to answer it better than some of the tribute students.
The second question was a bit more difficult, but he thought that all those tribute students had studied for decades. If they couldn't even judge such a case, what was the point of studying? It would be better to sell the books as soon as possible, pack up and go home to buy two acres of land to grow crops.
As for the third question the emperor had just asked, he didn't think it was difficult at all. It was just a question!
There are so many questions across the country. If he were asked to answer them, he could talk for three days and three nights.
But now, seeing Zhao Yiming holding the pen and not moving for a long time, he was a little puzzled.
This kid is usually quite smart! It doesn't make sense that such a simple question can be answered by myself but he can't.
Another quarter of an hour passed, and seeing that Zhao Yiming still hadn't started writing, he began to get anxious.
He didn't care about being humble anymore. He gently pulled the civil servant in charge of the exam in front of him and asked in a low voice, "Is this question really that difficult?"
When the civil servant saw that he actually asked such a question, he didn't know what to say to him.
I looked at him speechlessly. I really don’t know whether this guy is really stupid or just pretending to be stupid?
"Is it difficult or not? Why don't you say something? Why are you looking at me?" Tian Mingwu was so excited that his voice became uncontrollably loud.
The frightened civil servant hurriedly covered his mouth, but when he saw that the people around him were busy marking the papers and not paying attention to them, he let go of his hand.
Okay! I've confirmed with my eyes that this guy is really stupid.
The civil servant looked helpless and whispered, "This third question is not a question of whether it is difficult or not, but a question of whether you dare to speak up."
"What do you mean by dare to speak? You have your own mouth, so you can say whatever you want. Can anyone stop you from speaking?"
Seeing that Tian Mingwu still looked indifferent, the civil servant patted his shoulder helplessly and turned around to do his own thing.
Tian Mingwu was completely bewildered. He thought for a long time before he realized that the civil servant must have been afraid that if he told the truth he would offend the emperor and that the emperor would punish him later!
Then he showed a look of disgust.
These civil servants speak in a roundabout way. Will they lose more if they speak directly?
Fortunately, during the time when he was distracted, Zhao Yiming had already started answering the questions.
He finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Zhao Yiming start answering the questions.
This brat is really something. Others don't dare to tell the truth, but as the emperor's nephew, is he afraid to tell the truth? Could it be that the emperor really disregards family ties and chops off his head?
Zhao Yiming started writing without stopping. He didn't even think about it. He waved the brush quickly and soon filled a piece of paper.
Then came the second, and then the third, until the eunuch chief shouted, "Time's up, stop writing..." He had already filled eight full sheets of paper.
Tian Mingwu looked at it from a distance and saw densely packed ink dots neatly arranged on the paper. Just one look at it gave him a headache.
He thought to himself, "This brat, just now I saw him taking so long to write that I thought he didn't dare to tell the truth to his uncle, but now I see those eight full pages.
He had to admire his courage. How dissatisfied was he with the emperor? He could actually write so much.
In other words, Zhao Yiming didn't know what he was thinking, otherwise he would have been very angry with him.
He has said all the good and bad things, what else can others say?
After the third question, the palace examination came to an end and all the candidates were taken downstairs for lunch.
The civil servants stayed to mark the papers, distributing them as before and then jointly selecting the top ten to hand over to the emperor.
After the emperor looked at the test papers, he quickly selected the three that he liked, and then summoned his ministers to discuss and finally determine the top three rankings.
The place where the candidates ate was a little far from the main hall. When they arrived, there were no other officials watching except a few eunuchs serving them food.
After a day of tension, my heart finally got a chance to breathe.
The people who had been hungry for the whole morning could no longer hold back when they smelled the delicious food. If they hadn't been acting like scholars, they would have probably wolfed it down.
After lunch, An Yichen found Zhao Yiming first, and then Gu Jinzhi also came over.
Seeing the three people chatting in low voices, the others carefully looked around to make sure that there were no other officials observing in secret, and then they gradually relaxed their vigilance and began to communicate in low voices with the people around them.
These people will soon be divided into different classes, and no one can be sure that someone around them today will become a powerful official in the future.
If you can make more friends at this critical juncture, even if you don't develop well in the future, you may be able to curry favor with others by using your current friendships.
Zhao Yiming and the other two are the youngest among the more than 200 people. In addition, they are all well-dressed, so their family backgrounds must be extraordinary. If nothing unexpected happens, they will definitely have a good official career in the future.
Everyone present was a smart person, and the three of them quickly became the best people to make friends with. They had just spoken a few words when someone came up to them.
As the saying goes, don't hit someone who smiles at you. They don't want to refuse someone's polite greetings.
Seeing that they were easy to talk to, the others came over one after another.
So the three of them were forced to separate and were surrounded by the crowd, forming the center of three small circles.
This was the scene when the eunuchs who came to summon them and take them back to the main hall arrived.
Seeing that everyone was busy making friends and no one even noticed him, he cleared his throat awkwardly and said in a shrill voice, "The palace examination rankings have been announced. Please go to the main hall, gentlemen."
Only then did everyone realize the existence of the young eunuch, and hurriedly stood up, quickly adjusted their clothes and manners, and lined up to follow him to the main hall.
Faced with the rankings that were about to be announced, the tribute students became nervous again and couldn't help but pray in their hearts, not asking for the top three in the high school entrance examination, but at least not falling behind in the second place!
Officials are assigned first based on their rankings, and those with lower rankings have basically no chance.
If he could retain the second place, even if the ranking was lower, it would still be possible. After all, so many officials fell behind last year, and the court was in urgent need of people.
But if all the official positions have been filled, it will be useless even if you rank first among the top three.
Finally, with uneasy hearts, the tribute scholars came to the hall again.
The next half hour will be the biggest turning point that will determine their future lives.
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