The next day, which was March 15th, the two hundred candidates who participated in the palace examination all wore the Jinshi robes issued by the court and entered the palace to express their gratitude and have their results officially announced.
The successful candidates were lined up in three teams according to their scores and stood outside the palace gate waiting to enter.
Standing at the front of the middle team was this year's top scorer, Zhou Chuxing. Standing at the left team was second place winner Chen Wenqing, and at the front of the right team was third place winner Zhao Yiming.
After greeting An Yichen who was standing behind them, they stopped talking and waited silently for the time to come.
Soon, the time came and the palace gate opened.
The Jinshi scholars immediately straightened their bodies, stood in a solemn and respectful manner, and walked into the palace in an orderly manner.
Soon they arrived outside the hall. The hall was still the same as that day, but everyone's mood was completely different today.
Standing in the hall were civil and military officials, and these newly-minted scholars could only stand outside and wait for the time being.
Soon, a eunuch walked out of the hall holding the imperial edict in both hands.
He stood in front of the scholars, opened the imperial edict in his hand with a serious expression, and said loudly:
"By the providence of Heaven, the Emperor proclaims: In the twenty-fifth year of Tianling, the results of the Imperial Examination are as follows: Zhou Chuxing, a talented scholar from the capital, has been crowned the first-place winner, Chen Wenqing, a talented scholar from Xingzhou, has been crowned the second-place winner, and Zhao Yiming, a talented scholar from the capital, has been crowned the third-place winner. This decree is hereby issued to the world, and the whole nation celebrates together. This is my decree!"
After the decree was announced, everyone knelt in unison and shouted, "Your Highness, we obey the decree. Long live the Emperor."
The eunuch who announced the imperial edict put away the imperial edict and stood aside.
"Announcement of the new Jinshi to enter the palace..."
Three teams headed by the top scholar entered the hall in unison.
After they stood in place, a second-rank official began to read out the results and asked three people from the first class to stand in the front row, followed by An Yichen, the top of the second class.
The first place in the second class is also called the announcer. Officials only call out the names of the three people in the first class and the first place in the second class. The rest of the names have to be called out by the announcer.
An Yichen took a deep breath, stepped forward respectfully, and took the imperial edict with both hands. Then, facing the scholars behind him, he began to call out their names:
"Second place in Class 2, Zhou Mingrui."
"Third place in Class 2, Dong Qizi."
…
"Tenth place in the second class, Gu Jinzhi."
…
After reading the imperial edict in a loud and clear voice, An Yichen felt like his throat was about to smoke.
As a result, as soon as he raised his head from the imperial edict, he saw Gu Jinzhi looking at him with sympathy.
An Yichen: "..." Although being the first in the second class is a tough job, at least I'm the first in the second class! What's that look?
After all the rankings were announced, all the civil and military officials and the newly-appointed Jinshi students once again knelt before the emperor and chanted, "Long live the emperor."
The emperor's majestic voice sounded above their heads, saying: "My dear officials, your lifetime..." All the officials then stood up.
Afterwards, all the Jinshi candidates left the hall in an orderly manner. Ceremonial music and guards of honor sounded, following the Jinshi candidates all the way to the palace gate.
At this time, a group of people were lined up neatly at the palace gate, each of them leading a horse with a red silk flower on its neck.
Led by the number one scholar, all the successful candidates mounted their horses and prepared to begin the so-called number one scholar parade.
Most of those who ranked high were relatively young, especially those like Zhao Yiming and An Yichen who practiced martial arts on a daily basis. When they mounted their horses, their movements were as smooth as flowing water, and they looked very heroic.
Most scholars needed help from horsemen to mount their horses.
The most troublesome ones were the elderly ones who had studied all their lives, had poor physical strength and had never ridden a horse. When they saw the tall and handsome horses, their legs and feet were shaking, and they had to be helped onto the horses by the royal guards and the grooms.
That was why Zhao Yiming and his team waited for a long time after they got on their horses before the team started to set off.
The palace gate was blocked by people who came to watch the excitement, and the only way for them to pass was a path that the royal guards had separated from the crowd in advance.
As soon as the people saw the team start to move, they became excited, and cheers, laughter, and noise filled the entire street.
Many brave girls took their embroidered purses and tied bouquets of flowers and looked for their favorite person in the parade of Jinshi. Then they were eager to throw their purses and bouquets to him.
Those who were farther away were afraid that they would not throw accurately, so they kept pushing in. If the Imperial Guards had not stopped them, they would probably have rushed directly into the defense line to give flowers to the scholars.
Just now, when no one was paying attention, An Yichen used his wide sleeves as a cover to secretly put the throat lozenges that Zuo Yunshu gave him yesterday afternoon into his mouth. His throat now felt much better.
This was something Zuo Yunshu specifically asked Tian An for yesterday, and was teased by Tian An for a long time because of it.
When he thought of Zuo Yunshu's shy and blushing face when she gave him the throat lozenges yesterday, he couldn't help but smile.
Seeing this, the scholars standing by teased, "Master An, are you thinking about how many purses you should receive later?"
An Yichen's smile suddenly faded. "Go away, do you think everyone is like you? I will only accept money from one person in my life."
"Oh, I didn't expect that our Master An is such a lovesick person!"
There was a sudden murmur of ridicule around.
"We'll have to take a closer look later to see what kind of peerless beauty she is that can truly enjoy the unwavering affection of our Master An."
"That's right, that's right."
…
Listening to the joking voices behind him, Zhao Yiming remained silent. He gently turned his body to the side and easily avoided a purse thrown at him.
He will only accept money from one person in his life. I heard that An An has prepared a surprise for him, but he doesn't know what it is. I haven't seen her for several days and suddenly I miss her so much.
Tian An, whom Zhao Yiming was thinking about all the time, was in a private room on the second floor of his own mutton hotpot restaurant, hurriedly directing the servants to move things.
Seeing the servants finally carry the last flower basket out of the carriage, she just breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Chen Feng running in.
"Miss, the parade just passed through Suzaku Street and will be here soon."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the faint sound of ritual music coming from afar. Tian An stuck his head out from the second floor and saw that the crowd on the street was beginning to surge.
"Quick, get ready and hand the flower baskets to Zhuifeng and Zhuyue."
At Tian An's command, Xiaokang and Xiaoqi excitedly walked to the window, each carrying a bamboo basket full of rose petals, and then lifted the basket up with both hands and walked out of the window.
The flower basket was made of hollowed-out light bamboo strips and was very light. As it was filled with flower petals, Zhuifeng and Zhuyue could lift it easily.
Seeing that Xiaokang and Xiaoqi were ready, Tian An took out a whistle that Jingyu had given to Zhuifeng and Zhuyue when they came, and blew a long melody out of the window.
Zhuifeng and Zhuyue, who were originally circling in the air, suddenly swooped down and passed by the window on the second floor of the hot pot restaurant at an extremely fast speed.
He easily grabbed the flower baskets from Xiaokang and Xiaoqi's hands and flew towards the parade of Jinshi scholars.
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