Chapter 1176: Seize Five Yuan, Swallow Dragon Qi

After a bustling day, the Rongguo Mansion gradually became quiet as night fell.

However, there was still some quarreling sound inside the gauze cabinet.

"Good Yu'er, why did you kick me?"

Su Mingzhe hugged Lin Daiyu's shoulders and couldn't help himself. He took two bites and was kicked off the bed.

It was the first time that Sister Lin was bitten, and she blushed immediately. She pulled up the quilt to cover her spring scenery and said angrily:

"You said you wouldn't do anything bad, but you did it again!"

Su Mingzhe laughed foolishly twice and was about to climb onto the bed to apologize.

At this moment, Zijuan, who was outside, heard the noise, opened the door curtain and walked in. Seeing the man sitting on the ground, she immediately shouted in surprise:

"Second Master, why are you sitting on the ground? Get up quickly, your clothes are all dirty, go back and change!"

As Zijuan spoke, she put the coat that Su Mingzhe had taken off earlier back on the man.

Lin Daiyu, who was hiding in the quilt, looked at Su Mingzhe being controlled by Zijuan's words, and she laughed so hard that her stomach hurt.

Su Mingzhe was teased and could only flee back to his front yard in embarrassment.

When Xiren, Qingwen and other maids saw him come back, they quickly got hot water for him to wash.

On the second day.

Rongguo Mansion held another banquet to entertain relatives and friends who came to congratulate them.

It is different from last year when Su Mingzhe took the county examination, prefectural examination, and academy examination.

Nowadays, Su Mingzhe is already a quasi-Jinshi, and maybe he can even become the first "three firsts" champion in the founding of Daqing.

So, when everyone was seated, when they saw Su Mingzhe was about to sit at the table for the younger generation, they quickly called him over and asked him to sit with the heirs to the title of the four kings and eight dukes.

When Jia Lian, Jia Rong and others saw this, they were naturally envious.

However, nowadays, Su Mingzhe has been touted by the world as the incarnation of Wenquxing, and these people can only envy him and do not even dare to feel jealous.

A banquet ended.

Su Mingzhe and other "quasi-Jinshi" went to the Ministry of Rites to report and began to learn etiquette.

These etiquettes will be used in the palace examination later.

In a blink of an eye, half a month passed and March 15th arrived.

As the top winner of the imperial examination, Su Mingzhe stood at the front of the 300 candidates and led them from the Suzaku Gate to the Chengtian Gate.

Everyone followed closely and slowly came to the Tai Chi Hall of Tai Chi Palace.

After the founding of the Daqing State, Chang'an was made its capital, and the three major palace complexes of the Taiji Palace, the East Palace, and the Daming Palace from the Sui and Tang dynasties were restored.

The emperor's daily office is in the Daming Palace.

The place where the retired emperor lives is in the East Palace.

The Taiji Palace was where grand events such as court meetings were held.

The three hundred tribute candidates entered the Taiji Hall, and Emperor Longqing read out the document written by the Ministry of Rites.

Afterwards, the Prime Minister Qin Ge Lao and the Minister of Rites announced the start of the palace examination.

The palace examination questions were relatively simple, just a policy essay.

It takes a whole day, and after the exam, you can hand in your paper and leave.

Because the number of candidates was small and the palace examination was reviewed by the emperor himself, the papers did not need to be covered with names, and there was no need to copy them like in the metropolitan examination.

After everyone handed in their test papers, the five ministers of Daqing, together with the ministers of various ministries, served as reviewers and corrected the papers.

They will submit the three hundred papers to the emperor only after they have put them in a rough order.

On the second day.

The three hundred candidates knelt outside the main hall, and the emperor began to review the papers and determine the rankings in front of all the civil and military officials.

Among the three hundred tribute candidates, the top three were listed as the first-class list and were awarded the title of Jinshi, which is commonly known as the top scholar, the second place, and the third place.

Afterwards, about eighty or ninety people, or maybe even a hundred people, in the second list, that is, the second class, were awarded the status of Jinshi. Among them, the first place in the second list was commonly known as Chuanlu.

The rest of the tribute scholars were listed together as the top three and were granted the same status as Jinshi.

According to the rules, the emperor's review needs to be reviewed from the back, which is called "picking up the lost". Emperor Longqing just took a casual look, found one or two acceptable ones, and put them in the second place list, which was considered to have gone through the process.

When he started reviewing the top two lists, his attitude immediately became much more serious.

Seeing that some of the policy essays were quite good, Emperor Longqing directly promoted them to higher positions.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Finally it’s the turn of the top list.

Emperor Longqing read the Tanhua winner's essay first, which was indeed good, but the content was full of clichés and heavy words.

Then I looked at the runner-up, who was a bit steady, but had some novel ideas.

When he finally saw the top scorer's paper, Emperor Longqing first saw the name "Jia Ying" on the paper and couldn't help but laugh:

"I've always heard that although our uncle is young, only fifteen years old, he is extremely intelligent and talented, like a reincarnated god, and he also has a fairy jade with him. After reading this article today, I know that what he said is true."

After praising him, Emperor Longqing's originally smiling expression and eyes suddenly became fierce:

"Only because of nostalgia can one be conservative; only because of hope can one be enterprising... Only by being complacent can one destroy the world; only by taking risks can one create the world..."

Emperor Longqing felt that the words in this article really touched his heart.

Keep reading, there are three thousand words.

Reading it makes people feel heroic and passionate, and have the urge to sacrifice their lives.

"Such an article should be spread all over the world!"

Emperor Longqing's words put the final stamp on this palace examination.

Soon, the palace examination ranking lists were posted on the outer walls of the Ministry of Rites and the outer walls of the Suzaku Gate.

After the list is drawn up.

All the candidates changed into Jinshi uniforms and prepared to ride on horses in the parade.

As the top scholar, Su Mingzhe wore two golden flowers on his head, rode a white horse, and was accompanied by eight imperial guards to clear the way and protect him.

The second and third place winners can only wear one golden flower on their heads.

As for the second and third place, if they can get a horse, it is a great honor for scholars in this dynasty, but they can forget about getting a golden flower.

The most enjoyable thing during the ten-mile parade was the catching of the son-in-law from the list.

Unfortunately, Su Mingzhe, the top scholar, was protected by the imperial guards, and as a direct descendant of the Rongguo Mansion, no one dared to arrest him.

After waiting for a long time for the ten-mile parade to end, many Jinshi scholars had more handkerchiefs and sachets on them.

Even Su Mingzhe is like this.

Everyone got dressed and went to Qujiang Lake for the banquet.

Emperor Longqing held the "Deer Singing Banquet" here.

Of course, since it is located at Qujiang Lake, it is also called the "Qujiang Banquet".

Su Mingzhe glanced at Emperor Longqing who was only a stone's throw away from him, and slowly began to practice the [Heaven-Swallowing Technique].

The luck of the five-clawed golden dragon on Emperor Longqing began to fade at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After taking a few puffs, Su Mingzhe felt a faint sense of fullness and had to stop using [Swallowing the Sky Technique]:
"As a top scholar, I can only absorb this much luck."

"However, in two days, I will be granted an official title. With an official title, I can continue to absorb the power of luck from the emperor!"

The Qujiang Banquet ended.

Su Mingzhe returned to Rongning Street under the protection of eight imperial guards.

From a distance, one could see the detectives from the Chang'an County Court, led by officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works, discussing the construction of a "Jinshi Jidi" archway.

Su Mingzhe asked the servants curiously and found out that there were not just one archway built, but three.

In addition to the archway of "Zhuangyuan Jidi", two more archways of "Sanyuan Jidi" and "Wuyuan Jidi" will be built.

With these honors, the reasons for the confiscation of property of the Rong and Ning mansions in "Dream of Red Mansions" basically could not harm Su Mingzhe.

Unfortunately, Su Mingzhe is different from other time travelers in Dream of the Red Chamber. His goal is not to save himself, but to preserve the entire Jia family.

Therefore, Su Mingzhe was not satisfied with just being a top scholar.

The rebellion must never stop!
(End of this chapter)