In the next few days, the two examiners sat there all day long, and even Shen Zhuangyuan felt drowsy.

The reason why he couldn't fall asleep was thanks to Zhao Zhuangyuan's snoring, which had a resonance and changed its pitch, making it impossible for him to sleep at all.

Mr. Zhao was also a great sleeper. Every morning, within a few minutes of sitting down, he would start snoring. His snoring sounded like continuous spring rain, thunder in summer, chirping autumn insects, and cold wind in winter night, just like a variation of the four seasons.

Everyone couldn't help but sigh inwardly, he was indeed a true gentleman. They all lowered their voices involuntarily, fearing to disturb his rest.

Until lunchtime, Mr. Zhao would wake up on time, rub his sleepy eyes, and say to everyone: "Everyone has worked hard this morning, let's go have lunch."

When I came back from lunch break, I sat down and hadn't even had time to smoke a cigarette before I started snoring again, as if it would never stop...

Then, at dinner time, he would wake up on time and say to his fellow examiners, "You have worked hard again today. Let's go and have dinner."

After a while he became embarrassed and one time he asked everyone, "Does my snoring disturb you?"

All the examiners said absolutely not. Especially in the afternoon, they were tired and exhausted, but with Shao Zongbo's snoring, they felt that their waists were no longer sore and their eyes were no longer blurry, and they graded the papers much faster.

Well, now I have to sleep. So Mr. Zhao had to follow everyone's request and sleep a lot every day. Later, he really had no sleep. In order to maintain the quality of sleep during the day, he had to play mahjong with Duke Dingguo all night at night...

In this way, it was the 23rd day, and from that day on, the examiners from each room began to recommend the papers they favored.

Mr. Zhao finally cheered up and began to perform his duties.

He and Shen Shixing needed to quickly go through the thirty main papers and ten alternative papers selected by the examiners from each room, and then select a few of them.

Because the quota for this year's exam is 400, of which 220 will be from the South Paper, 140 from the North Paper, and 40 from the Middle Paper. And there are 540 regular papers alone, so not all recommended papers will be accepted.

According to the unspoken rules, the examiner who ranks higher will get more admissions, and the later the examiner, the more disadvantaged he will suffer. However, the examiners in the department will get some preferential treatment if they get the middle score. As for how to divide the spoils, it depends on how the chief examiner handles it.

Zhao Shouzheng didn't understand all this, but Shen Shixing knew it all. However, Shen was not arbitrary, but asked Zhao Shouzheng for his opinion on every paper, and only accepted it if Zhao Shouzheng nodded his approval.

But how could Zhao Shouzheng say no? He was very self-aware and knew that if he didn't have his son's help, he would probably still be a dull scholar. How could he be qualified to judge other people's examination papers?

Mr. Zhao was afraid of wasting ten years of hard study, so he decided to let Shen Shixing, a real champion with profound knowledge, make the decision. There was no need to be innovative to show off his ability. Besides, he didn't have much ability.

Shen Shixing himself was a good person, and Mr. Zhao Erye had made up his mind to follow his lead, so they naturally treated each other with respect and were friendly with their fellow examiners. They admitted students according to the papers they had selected and the rankings they had chosen, and they distributed the places as fairly as possible to satisfy all the eighteen examiners.

They heard that in previous years, the chief examiner often deliberately found faults to show off his ability and embarrass the co-examiners without background. There were almost no examiners who fully respected their opinions and did not show off their authority like this year.

Everyone couldn't help but secretly exclaim how lucky they were, and thought how happy it would be if they could serve under these two Bodhisattvas.

Soon, the four hundred places were confirmed, and it was after noon on the 24th. The next day was the day to fill in the list.

The fellow examiners piled up all 3,600 papers that had not been selected at the door of the hall and asked the chief examiner to search for them.

This is also the last chance for the candidates this year...

However, usually the examiners just go through the motions and symbolically look through the papers and randomly pick out a few lucky candidates to ensure that no one is left out of the exam.

Of course, if there is a harsh examiner, it is normal not to search the failed papers.

However, the examiners found that the chief examiner, who had been calm and composed until now, was actually a little nervous at this moment.

"Brother Gongming has been marking the papers with Guang Tongchen this time. How about you take over next?" Shen Shixing said jokingly, and at the same time looked at Zhao Shouzheng meaningfully.

This means that if the papers of the three gentlemen were "left out", this would be the last chance to make amends.

“No, no.” Zhao Shouzheng waved his hand and said, “The chief examiner is much better than me, so let’s continue to work hard.”

"No, no, Brother Gongming is a man of noble character and profound learning, both of which are better than mine." Shen Shixing thought to himself, this is clearly a hint to me that the three brothers were all admitted. Only then did he put his heart back in his stomach and quickly became humble.

After some commercial flattery, it was still Shen Shixing who came to search for the failed papers. Zhao Shouzheng did not change the fate of any candidate from beginning to end.

The examiners secretly admired that Shao Zongbo walked through the flowers without getting a single leaf on him. Perfect avoidance!

Now, no matter how many students are admitted or what their ranking is, there will be no criticism...

~~

Next, the 25th to the 27th are used for ranking.

On the 25th, the examiners moved to the court and remained harmonious.

Everyone calmly ranked the papers of the eighteen rooms first, and then on the 26th they started filling in the A and B lists.

In the morning, fill in the 'B list', and in the afternoon fill in the 'A list'. The A list is also called the main list, which is the 18 best candidates in each room selected by the examiners in the 18 rooms, called the 'top of the list'.

These 18 top papers were also the top 18 of this year's examination. Among them, the top five of the classics of "Book of Songs", "Book of History", "Book of Rites", "Book of Changes" and "Spring and Autumn Annals" were the top five of the undergraduate examination...

When all the rankings were determined, the A and B lists were filled with the Thousand Characters numbers. From this moment on, no one could change the rankings on the list.

On the 27th, the two officials in charge of the examination brought the ink rolls and opened them with the chief examiner. The supervising official then compared the red rolls with the black rolls one by one and filled in the candidates' names in the corresponding positions on the A and B lists.

Seeing the final Chinese list, Shen Shixing was dumbfounded, because he only saw the names of Zhang Sixiu and Lu Xingzhou. But he couldn't find the name of Zhang Jingxiu, the eldest son of Zhang Xianggong...

When Shen Shixing thought of Mr. Zhang's gloomy face, he couldn't help shaking, and didn't even care who the champion was. Now that the results were out, there was no need to avoid suspicion. He directly pulled Mr. Zhao outside and asked in a low voice: "What should we do?"

"What's the matter?" Zhao Shouzheng asked with a smile. He was in a good mood when he saw that his disciples had done well in the exam.

Seeing him laugh, Shen Shixing secretly breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Did you do that on purpose?"

"I guess so." Zhao Shouzheng nodded with a bright smile.

"Why is this?" Shen Shixing asked in shock.

"I think that if I don't take the exam, I will be responsible for this examination." Mr. Zhao meant that if he doesn't interfere, there will be a fairer ranking.

Shen Shixing thought he meant not to marry Zhang Jingxiu, and his old face turned red when he heard that. He bowed to him in shame and said, "Brother Gongming is dedicated to the public, but I have too many selfish thoughts. I am far inferior to you in both being an official and a person!"

He sighed and said with determination: "Well, if Mr. Zhang blames us, we will take the responsibility together!"

"Why would Zhang Xianggong blame us?" Zhao Shouzheng looked at Shen Shixing strangely and said with a smile, "I think his second son is on the list, he must be very happy."

"That's right!" Shen Shixing suddenly understood something and thought to himself, yes, I was just worried that the eldest son didn't pass the exam, but in the eyes of outsiders, the second son passed the exam, which means that Mr. Zhang's son passed the exam, and the story of both father and son passing the imperial examination has become a success!

So from Mr. Zhang's perspective, it was actually quite glorious. Thinking in this way, it seemed that having one son who didn't pass the test was actually better than having two sons who both passed the test. At least it could stop the gossips of the public and no one would criticize his character.

He knew that Zhang Juzheng's reforms had made officials' lives miserable and the scholars were full of resentment. If both young men were successful, there would definitely be many people who would find fault with them and say strange things.

They didn't dare to criticize Mr. Zhang openly, as they would definitely point the finger at themselves as the examiner...

Thinking of this, Shen Shixing couldn't help but feel scared. At first, he only thought about how to satisfy his leader, but didn't consider this aspect.

Fortunately, he had a mature and thoughtful deputy examiner, so the good reputation he had accumulated over the years would not be destroyed.

Thinking of this, he bowed deeply to Zhao Shouzheng again, and said with gratitude: "Thank you, Brother Gongming, for your deep friendship. I dare not thank you in words. I will remember your gratitude!"

"This..." Zhao Shouzheng was confused, thinking, what is this? Why does it feel so difficult to communicate? I can't help but feel ashamed. It seems that I, a fake top scholar, can't compare with the real ones.

He had no choice but to quickly bow in return, saying that his dear brother was too polite.

In the end, Mr. Zhao didn't understand what the other person was talking about.

It was also Shen Shixing's fault for being too cautious and speaking too cryptically, which resulted in him speaking in a different way...

~~

The 29th is the day when the Ministry of Rites announces the results.

However, Zhao Hao did not wait for the results to be announced at home, but took the children to wait outside the Imperial Examination Hall.

When the tightly closed gate of the Imperial Examination Hall was opened, the examiners who had been imprisoned for a month finally regained their freedom.

After the sedan chairs of Duke Dingguo, Ma Butang and other high-ranking officials came out, Master Zhao's official sedan chair also came out.

He was wondering what would be waiting for him when he returned, when he suddenly heard someone calling him Grandpa. He opened the curtain of the sedan chair and saw Zhao Hao holding a pair of children in his arms, with three other boys beside him, waving at him from the side of the road.

"Stop it now!" Mr. Zhao's eyes turned red immediately.

The bearers hurriedly lowered the sedan chair, and before the attendant could lower the pole, the master rushed out with a whiz, opened his arms and ran to greet him: "My son is back! I missed you so much!"

Young Master Zhao was afraid that his father would hug him in public, so he quickly whispered, "Shixiang, Shiqi, Shifu, why don't you go and hug grandpa."

The three boys quickly ran forward and reached out for a hug.

"Hey, good, good babies. Grandpa misses you, too." Uncle Zhao squatted down quickly, hugged his three chubby grandchildren, and cried like his grandchildren...