Xie Yuan, Mister Cui, and the others have read the papers for a month, rating them as first-class, second-class, and third-class. The list is handed to Su Rong to review. Meanwhile, the papers are all placed on Su Rong’s desk.
Su Rong reads things very quickly and has read all the graded papers in the afternoon.
Two members of the Qinghe Cui family occupied two places in the first class, these two are the cousins of Cui Xingzhi - one is Cui Xingyi and the other is Cui Xingyu, both two years older than Cui Xingzhi.
The other person comes from the Nangong family, a collateral descendant of the Nangong family who was marginalized despite their close kinship and is not valued by the Nangong line. His name is Nangong Che.
While the second-class section includes children from various academies across Nanchu.
The three women chosen by Xie Yuan and Mister Cui, the best of whom Su Rong found in the men’s examination, was Nangong Ya from the Nangong family, who barely made the end of the second class. The other two women were in the third class.
The sudden launch of the women’s examination caught everyone by surprise. There was not enough time to prepare, and for Su Rong, having these three women was already satisfying. At least they were all listed and not entirely fallen behind.
Xie Yuan and Mister Cui did not rank the top three but left it to Su Rong.
Su Rong took these three papers directly back to Feng Hall for Zhou Gu to see.
After reading them under the lamp at night, Zhou Gu said to Su Rong: "This Nangong Che is more practical and victorious. The two cousins of Cui, although skilled in literature and have unique views, the Qinghe Cui family has declined these years and lacks practical experience in the cultivation of descendants. They are not as good as this Nangong Che."
Su Rong smiled at him, "So what?"
"So, the first class number one, let it be him!" Zhou Gu said: "The two cousins of Cui, evenly matched, if we need to distinguish between them, Cui Xingyu has a deeper understanding and ranks second, Cui Xingyi third."
Su Rong laughed, "Alright, I’ll listen to you."
Zhou Gu laughed at her, "Really going to listen to me?"
Su Rong nodded, "Your opinion is my opinion. Uncle Xie said when he came today to deliver the papers and the list that after Mister Cui and he read all the papers and selected the top three, they were surprised when they saw the name of this Nangong Che. After comparing it with the two cousins of the Qinghe Cui family, they felt that they were slightly inferior to him."
Zhou Gu chuckled, "Your paternal grandfather is fair and just."
"Yeah." Su Rong nodded, "And so are you."
Zhou Gu stretched out his hand to pinch her face, "For the preservation of your empire, I should be fair and just too, shouldn’t I? Do you think I should place Nangong Che third and blatantly show favoritism, and you would indulge me?"
"Why not?" Su Rong pinched his face in return, "The surname Cui is enough for you to show favoritism. The surname Nangong is enough for me to indulge you."
Zhou Gu let go of her, smiled and said, "What a bad influence, I’m learning all the bad habits from you."
He used to never pinch people’s faces, it was something he learned from Su Rong. Now that she pinched him, and the soft fingers pinched the soft flesh on his cheeks, he couldn’t help but pinch her back. It was soft and slippery, the feeling was exceedingly good. No wonder she loved to pinch people’s faces so much.
Zhou Gu helped Su Rong pack up the papers, took her hand and stood up, "I also asked someone to check Nangong Ya, there’s no problem. Similar situation as Nangong Che, their families don’t have much property, and live a frugal life. Even though the Nangong clan used to be quite wealthy and large, these two families are on the periphery in the clan. The Nangong family has too many descendants, if you want to make a name for yourself in the clan, you have to squeeze your way to the front. These two families are stuck and their descendants are not taken seriously. Put up the list first, and there is still the Palace Examination. At that time, you can select the Number One Scholar, second and third places during the Palace Examination based on the candidates. See how they behave, if their characters are fine, then he is the Number One Scholar."
"Okay, that will work." Su Rong nodded and got up with him.
Su Rong did not delay, the next day, she let people post the Imperial List.
A few bold members of the Nangong family’s collateral line were all on the list. The first person in first-class was a Nangong, there were two people in second-class, also surnamed Nangong, and five people in third-class, all surnamed Nangong. As soon as this list was released, it shocked both the court and the country, and also shocked the descendants of the Nangong family waiting for the list in the Royal Capital.
They participated in the examination out of a desire to try their luck, hoping that the name Nangong would be enough to get them kicked out, never to see daylight in the examination list. Unexpectedly, the Princess was so magnanimous and tolerant, she did not suppress them at all but instead truthfully published the list.
Nangong Che was instantly red-eyed, he was just a teenager under 20, this year he was only nineteen. He has a sickly father at home, a hard-working and ill mother, and while studying, he also wrote books and sold paintings to earn money to support his parents and a little sister who is only ten years old.
He missed the last Nanchu examination due to his parents’ illness and wanted to wait for the next one. However, when the Nangong family fell, he almost wanted to die, thinking that he would never have a chance to make a name for himself. He didn’t expect that the Princess did not purge the Nangong family extensively, nor issued clear instructions prohibiting the people of the Nangong family from taking the examination. Therefore, he participated in the autumn examination with a try-it-out attitude, never expecting to receive such surprising results.
Similarly, Nangong Ya almost cried out in joy. Her family’s situation was not much better than that of Nangong Che. Her mother died early, and her father never remarried. For many years, he has been suffering from a weak illness, working as a private school teacher, and selling writings and paintings to raise Nangong Ya alone. He was very worried about his daughter’s marriage and had initially settled with a family. However, because of the rebellion of the Nangong family, the marriage proposal fell through. Their branch was too distant and the place they lived in was too remote. They have not enjoyed the glory and benefits under the shelter of the Nangong family, but they have suffered from the influence of the surname Nangong. Now she is seventeen years old and it is even harder to get married. Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better, and the Princess suddenly launched the women’s examination. Nangong Ya, who thought she would try it out, didn’t expect the books she had read since childhood under her father’s influence to have bore fruit, making her number one among the women and squeezing into the second-class rank among men.
The rest of the Nangong family were also overjoyed. Everyone saw light shine upon them, the dark clouds looming over their heads had disappeared, and the clear sky appeared again.
When Nangong Xin received the news that day, she was also shocked, and she went directly to Su Rong in the Council Hall.
When she arrived, it was naturally during Su Rong’s noon break.
Su Rong invited her into the inner room and said with a grin before she could ask, "Are you here for the Imperial List?"
Nangong Xin looked at her, "What were you thinking? Eight people from the Nangong family made the list, with one being number one?"
Su Rong nodded, "The Nangong family is talented. Those who dare to come and take the exam, I dare to use them. What are you worried about?"
Nangong Xin choked, not in a good mood, "So many people, aren’t you afraid of another upheaval in the court?"
"Not afraid." Su Rong said: "If it was not impossible to persuade Nangong Zheng, he would have been the person I wanted to win over most."
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