Chapter 274: Courageous
Only Song Jingyun would stuff some cakes into his mouth from time to time.
Mung bean cakes and red bean cakes are both made into small pieces. You can eat one at a time and chew them slowly in your mouth. It is not noticeable to outsiders and is not considered rude.
But such a small action could not be hidden from the people who were traveling with Song Jingyun.
Chen Shuming was the fifty-seventh candidate in this year's spring examination. He also lived in Guanghua Garden and was very familiar with Song Jingyun. Seeing his actions, he couldn't help but laugh softly, "Mr. Song, did you not eat enough for breakfast?"
Song Jingyun chuckled, "I woke up this morning in the small cafeteria at Guanghua Garden and had noodles with scallion oil, wontons with red oil, soy sauce pancakes, eight-treasure porridge, and two spiced braised eggs. I'm definitely full, but I have to take a few more bites now."
Otherwise, after the palace examination, nothing will taste good.
In short, you should never miss any opportunity to enjoy delicious food.
Chen Shuming had been living in Guanghua Garden and often met Song Jingyun in the small dining hall. He knew that Song Jingyun loved delicious food and had a huge appetite, so he just smiled and said nothing. He even made his steps a little bigger to help cover up Song Jingyun's eating so that the officials from the Ministry of Rites would not notice.
Seeing this, Song Jingyun secretly stuffed two pieces of cake into Chen Shuming's mouth.
"I don't want to eat..." Chen Shuming declined.
"Take it, you may need it." Song Jingyun narrowed his eyes and smiled.
Seeing Song Jingyun's insistence, Chen Shuming no longer refused. He just wrapped the two pieces of cakes in oil paper and put them in his sleeve.
When they reached the gate of Zhongyuan Palace, the long line stopped.
Still led by officials from the Ministry of Rites, all the tribute candidates entered through the main gate, but they all had to stop and kneel before the statue at the door before moving forward.
Logically speaking, it is not mandatory for candidates to kneel down and worship the statues when they come to the palace for the examination, but because the current emperor believes in ghosts and gods, he added this rule.
The tribute scholars usually read books and knew about current affairs, so they naturally knew the current situation and the emperor's preferences. At this moment, most of them did not dare to say too much, but just knelt down and bowed respectfully according to the instructions of the Ministry of Rites officials.
Some tribute scholars were quite dissatisfied with this matter and just walked away hastily, even rolling their eyes before leaving.
Some scholars even refused to kneel down and shouted, "A man's knees are made of gold. He should kneel to the king above and to his parents below. He definitely does not kneel down to worship gods and Buddhas."
"I have studied hard for decades in order to serve the court loyally, not to flatter or please the emperor, and certainly not to gain an official position!"
"If you insist on making me kneel down and worship this imaginary god, then I would rather not take the palace examination today!"
After all this shouting, he was already out of breath, and his face turned a little pale because of being stared at by all the people.
But he quickly regained his natural demeanor, straightened his back, and prepared to meet everyone's admiring and respectful gazes.
But he soon discovered that the way everyone looked at him was not as he had imagined. Instead, they looked at him with more surprise, confusion, and even disdain.
Tang Zhichuan, a scholar from the Hanlin Academy, walked up to the scholar, whose face had turned from pale to red, and said, "You are very brave to say such things here."
Seeing that Tang Zhichuan had a kind face and a calm tone without much seriousness, he suddenly felt more confident.
(End of this chapter)
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