Chapter One: Posting the List

  The warm sunshine, the coolness after a light rain, and the pleasant weather of early spring are all on full display at this moment.

  In the thirteenth year of Da Shun Qing Ping, on the first day of April, this day was obviously another suitable day for spring sleep.

  But for those students who have been waiting in front of Wenyuan Building early in the morning, today is a day that can determine their whole life.

  Wenyuan Hall is where the Spring Examination results are announced every three years in Nanjing.

  The imperial examination started on the 9th day of the 3rd month and lasted for nine days, followed by twelve days for reviewing and ranking. Therefore, the announcement date was fixed on the 1st day of the 4th month, which had been a rule for over 400 years since the founding of the Daxi Dynasty.

  The ranking of the imperial examination was different from that of the previous dynasty, and it took twelve days to arrange. This was a rule set by Emperor Taizu at the beginning, just to prevent the officials from making some irreparable mistakes in their haste. It was precisely this humane arrangement that made the Great Shun Dynasty have no major errors in ranking for over 400 years since its founding, and each time the imperial examination ranking was recognized by all scholars.

  It was just that this was common sense for these students, but there was one person who only knew about it two days ago.

  Similarly, compared with the crowded crowd around him, there is also a person who seems slightly out of place.

  "Never mind, I'll come back and see later."

  After exchanging greetings with several fellow students who had come together, Tan Zong hastily squeezed out of the crowd, only to realize that he was disheveled, including his newly made Confucian robe which was wrinkled, and even had some oil smeared on the cuff of his left sleeve by someone.

  She lifted her sleeve, sniffed slightly, and a hint of pleasant smell flashed across her face: "What a fragrant scallion pancake!" But then she remembered that this was her new clothes, and suddenly became annoyed again.

  "I don't even know which scoundrel did it, but someone actually smeared butter on me! If I find out who it was, they'll be sorry!"

  Tan Zong's face turned gloomy, and he muttered to himself. The onlookers nearby couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  "Tan Gongzi, you can't talk nonsense. The oil on your sleeve might be the future champion's mark. If Yijun hears about this, he might come and beat you up!"

  Someone heard and responded, even more so with Tan's humorous remarks, and the crowd on the side was delighted.

  At this time, another fearless person chimed in and said: "Who says it's not? Maybe our Young Master Tan received the blessing of our future Number One Scholar and also got lucky, becoming the Second Best!"

  "Ah, Master Tan has become a nobleman, then won't the Su family of Autumn Moon Building have to follow him and turn over a new leaf?"

  "It was indeed the case, that everyone had initially agreed to Tan Gongzi's wager: if Tan Gongzi really came in first or second in the imperial examination, he would get to take his pick of brides and marry a virtuous woman."

  As for the gossip and joking of people around him, Tan Zong didn't mind. In his decades of life experience, he had been through many such things - colleagues, classmates, friends, and especially those who tried to curry favor with him. Whenever a group of men got together, no one could keep their mouth shut, and even more vicious teasing would ensue. Tan Zong was long used to it.

  However, when he heard others mention Qiuyuelou and Su Dajia, Tan Zong's heart still skipped a beat, his blood rushed to his head, and a smile that made him infatuated appeared before his eyes. Although they had only met briefly in the crowd the night before, Tan Zong felt as if he had seen a heavenly being.

  "It's really like life is just as it was at first sight!"

  Unlike Tan Zong, however, someone on the Wenyuan Pavilion opposite the Wenyuan Institute was filled with regret! If Tan Zong were here, he would surely see that the one sitting on the soft seat dressed as a man was none other than the other party involved in the jest just now - the famous singer of Jiangnan - Su Jin.

  Su Jin, 14 years old when she started her career, became famous in Jiangsu and Zhejiang with a song called "Die Lian Hua" written by Emperor Taizu. Later, she sang many of Taizu's famous works, gradually gaining fame and becoming the most renowned singer in southern China.

  Su Jin's personality is gentle on the outside and strong on the inside. Previously, a high-ranking official had tried to force himself upon her using his power, but unexpectedly Su Jin cut her own throat with a knife. Fortunately, the wound was not deep, and she managed to keep her life. From then on, no one dared to coerce her again, so in the Jiangnan powder puff world, she still maintained a clean reputation, which is truly rare.

  It's just a pity that although the wound from back then has healed, there is still a shallow scar left on my neck. Although it's not noticeable if you don't look closely, it has become a regret among all the others.

  "How detestable those stinky men are!" Xiaoman slammed the window shut and pouted her lips in annoyance.

  The creaking sound of the wooden window closing was quite jarring, causing Su Jin, who had been sitting upright all along, to furrow her brow and rebuke in a soft voice: "Your mouth is on someone else's face, it's their business how they speak. If you don't like it, just ignore it, why bother closing the window?"

  "Hmph, I just can't stand those stinky men who are always wagging their tongues!" Xiaoman had been following Su Jin since she debuted, and although they were supposed to be master and servant, in reality they were like sisters. She wouldn't mind Su Jin's scolding words. Seeing the smile-like-but-not-quite expression on Su Jin's face, Xiaoman couldn't help but raise her hand and say: "Alright alright, I don't want to see that Tan Gongzi either! And I have no idea why sister chose him, in my opinion he's not even as good as that Wang Gongzi from the city!"

  "Oh...... is it?" Su Jin looked at her little maid with a profound gaze.

  It's not uncommon to see relationships as close as those between Simu Jin and Xiao Man in this circle. For the two of them, since Miss's debut, the maid has been serving her, and before they became famous, they often shared clothes, food, and a carriage, which made their feelings even deeper. Therefore, after becoming famous, although they had to avoid suspicion on usual days, privately calling each other sisters was not a big deal.

  Just this glance, Xiao Man felt that her own young lady's eyes were like a sharp sword piercing into her heart, as if she had discovered the small secret in her heart. Suddenly, she felt flustered and only felt that the golden hairpin in her sleeve was extremely hot, even scorching her hand. For a moment, she couldn't even speak properly: "C...could it be?"

  "Wang Gongzi's studies are good, but unfortunately, he is burdened by his family background..." Su Jin put down the iced Yangmei juice in her hand, closed her eyes slightly, as if savoring the taste.

  "Although this bayberry is a bit unripe, it's already rare to have something like this in April, let alone iced. " Xiao Man and Su Jin were on the same wavelength, so she knew exactly what Su Jin was thinking. Her eyes rolled around in her eye sockets a few times before she continued, seemingly intentionally and unintentionally: "Thanks to Young Master Wang for remembering that Miss loves to drink it, he specially ordered someone to pick some and brought out last winter's stored ice blocks, truly going to great lengths for Miss."

  "Look who's here!"

  Seeing Xiao Man still speaking for the young master, Su Jin couldn't help but shake her head and smile wryly. She knew that her greedy younger sister had probably already received benefits from someone else, otherwise she wouldn't be so enthusiastic. The two were indeed deeply emotional, so they didn't dare to scold her sincerely, but they also didn't want the little girl to continue beating the drum for the young master on the side. They had to put on a pretty face and pretend to be angry, saying: "If you think the young master is that good, I'll talk to him about it and send you to him!"

  "Ah!" Xiao Man's heart skipped a beat, although she knew the young lady was probably joking, her face still showed a look of panic, and she hastily begged: "Good miss..."

  "Hmph!" Seeing Xiao Man's face reveal a pleading expression, Su Jin found it amusing in her heart, but scolded with her mouth: "Don't you open the window yet? With the window closed, even in this April weather, people will be suffocated to death by your heat!"

  Just as Su Jin finished speaking, her stiff face could no longer hold back, and she couldn't help but laugh lightly again.

  Xiao Man saw the situation and immediately knew that her mistress had calmed down, so she put down the stone in her heart and quickly opened the window. Just then, she saw several officials wearing official robes walking out of Wen Yuan Yard, followed by several black-clad yamen runners. She hastily turned back to say: "Miss, come quick! The list is about to be posted!"

  In the Wenyuan Chamber, several people were coming out in a steady stream.

  The man at the head, wearing a large crimson robe with a badge on his chest embroidered with a large bird that resembles a crane but is not a crane, and resembles an osprey but is not an osprey. The bird's wings are about to flutter, as if it has the image of flying up to the sky. This is the white osprey that can only be worn by a fifth-rank civil official in the Daseong Dynasty. However, this person's badge is trimmed with silver edges for deputy positions, and if it were trimmed with gold edges, it would be a regular fifth rank.

  It fell into Tan's eyes, but he only felt that the white embroidery was really bad, and even his own previous life's cross-stitch was not as good. But in other people's eyes, especially in the eyes of the students, it was a sight to behold: a fifth-grade civil official, which is a tongzhi in various prefectures, and the highest fifth-grade official, can be said to be a big official in a prefecture!

  To know that even if a scholar gets the top spot in the future, it's just a nominal seventh-grade official position at best when he is summoned to court, and the highest is deputy sixth grade. Moreover, most of them are compilers in the Hanlin Academy. And if there is no good opportunity, whether there will be a powerful figure after death, it is unknown how many years and months it takes to reach the fifth grade. But looking at this same official now, he is not even 75 years old, obviously one of those who achieved success early on.

  Unfortunately, every time the imperial examination is held, from reviewing papers to ranking and announcing results, officials from other places are in charge. During this period, these outside officials are not allowed to contact outsiders, so the students do not know which prefecture the official is from. Therefore, apart from saying "Congratulations" and "Your hard work is appreciated", there's nothing much to say.

  Zhang Heyan held the imperial edict and stood upright in front of the Wenyuan Hall, receiving a bow from the scholars. Even the two attendants behind Zhang Heyan did not return the courtesy, but simply responded with a "yes" to acknowledge it.

  Examiners and examinees are not allowed to have too much communication, which is also the rule for more than 400 years since the founding of the Great Shun. The several attendants behind the three civil officials only need to take a look at the black-based golden characters "monitoring" on their extremely wide sleeves to know that they are in charge of supervision. This rule was also set by Emperor Taizu when he first established the imperial examination system.

  As for the hustle and bustle of scholars and commoners in front of the gate, these inspectors who directly belonged to the Grand Secretariat did not even bother to care.

  There is actually a story behind this. When the country was founded, the grandson of Emperor Taizu, namely Emperor Gaozong of the Dazhong Dynasty, also secretly took the imperial examination in his youth. However, when the results were announced, he found that all the scholars were timid and fearful in front of the supervising officials, afraid of offending them. This was not in line with the festive atmosphere of the announcement. Therefore, after ascending to the throne, Emperor Gaozong issued a special decree ordering the supervising officials not to interfere with this matter, which is why today's scene is so lively and joyful.

  However, even though it was noisy, the students were not unaware of what was good or bad. After just two or three breaths, they gradually quieted down. Even those who had gathered to watch from the outside mostly closed their mouths, opened their eyes wide, and perked up their ears.

  However, nobody noticed that among the crowd, there was one person who couldn't help but yawn, feeling extremely bored at this moment.

  "Hey, think back to the days when I took the civil service exam, out of thousands of applicants, only two or three were accepted. That was really like a thousand troops crossing a single-log bridge. Now, haha, one in ten, it's way too easy." Tan Zongwei lowered his head, casually wiping his eyes with his sleeve, but suddenly felt a stinging pain in his eyes, and only then remembered the bright yellow oil stain on his sleeve.

  "Damn it, this time I'm really going to die! Don't let me find out who did it, or else that person will be in for it!" Tan Zong's anger rose up again, and he hastily used his clean sleeve to wipe his eyes frantically once more.

  The candidates waiting to post the list dispersed, and Zhang Heyan let out a loud sigh before shouting in a high voice: "This year, there are 152 examinees in Nanjing Prefecture. According to the imperial court's rules over the years, only 16 can be selected. However, after evaluation by the esteemed officials, it was found that 17 people could pass. Therefore, an urgent report of 400 li was sent to the imperial court. After review by the Grand Council, a special edict was issued stating that this year's Nanjing provincial examination can add one more quota, so 17 people were able to pass."

  This news spread, if it were in other places, would have caused a sensation. But in Nanjing, the students had no reaction at all, because such things were common in the Nanjing imperial examination, and there had been cases where three or five people were added together in previous years, so it was not surprising at all.

  As for the reaction of the students, Zhang Heyan is not surprised either.

  The scholars of Nanjing Prefecture are renowned throughout the world, and without mentioning that two or three out of ten officials in the current imperial court come from Nanjing, even among the top three winners of the imperial examination over the years, there must be a share for the scholars of Nanjing. As for those who have won the titles of First Place in the Imperial Examination, Second Place, and Top Scholar in succession, in the more than 400 years of the Great Shun Dynasty, Nanjing Prefecture has also produced eight or nine such instances.

  People all say that Nanjing Prefecture's Zhongshan is spiritually elegant, gathering seven parts of the world's talent, and it is truly not fake.

  Raising his head, he saw that the sky was no longer early, and Zhang Heyan didn't say much, directly announcing the list of those who passed the imperial examination. Those who passed were naturally overjoyed, while those who did not pass were disheartened, yet still full of hope as they looked at Zhang Heyan.

  It was only because of the imperial court's convention that this list was read in reverse order, with those announced earlier ranking lower, and the last one announced being this year's top scorer. Therefore, the scholars were not only heartbroken when they didn't hear their own names, but also couldn't help but be filled with hope, just wishing for their own name to appear at the end.

  "Ya Yuan..." Zhang Heyan was about to shout out the name, but suddenly felt dizzy and found that the crowd of students in front of him had all turned their heads at once, as if something had happened. Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, someone shouted from the crowd, "Tan Zong is behind!"

  "Tan Zong, come quickly, come quickly." Li Mingju was looking for him and saw that Tan Zong was indeed hiding in the back with a calm and collected expression. He didn't care about anything else and hastily grabbed Tan Zong's sleeve to pull him forward.

  Li Mingju and Tan Zong were both from the same place in Jiangsu Province, and they also studied at the same academy, so their relationship was very close. This time in the imperial examination, Li Mingju had already passed with a rank of ninth, while Tan Zong's knowledge was far superior to Li Mingju's, so it was taken for granted that even if Tan Zong didn't pass as a top scholar, he would definitely pass as a second-class scholar.

  "Let go! Let go!"

  Tan Zong pulled open Li Mingju's hand, which was grasping his sleeve, and hastily looked at it. Suddenly, he looked embarrassed and said: "This is terrible! Originally, it was just a few drops, but now you've grabbed it like this, and it's really become a big trouble."

  "Pshaw, look at your shabby appearance." Li Mingju knew Tan Zong's temperament. He knew that this person was not born into a wealthy family, but he didn't lack money to spend either. He was just lazy and liked quietness, disliked movement, and his greatest fear in life was trouble. This time, he probably wasn't really heartbroken over the new clothes, but rather too lazy to go back to the tailor's shop to make another set.

  "It's no use talking to you, young master." Seeing that his sleeve was already beyond repair, Tan Zong was also a straightforward person, and he simply rolled up his sleeve, not caring that half of his arm was exposed in front of the crowd. He walked straight up to Zhang Heyan, bowed slightly and said "Sir, you must be tired", then directly asked: "May I ask, sir, is the one who got the top score in the imperial examination indeed Tan Zong from Yuhang?"

  As soon as this remark came out, the crowd burst into cheers and jeers: "That's right! That's right! But Yu Hang Tan got the top prize in the imperial examination!"

  Zhang Heyan had long heard that the young scholars of Nanjing were arrogant and reckless, with a certain predecessor's style. Therefore, he didn't think much of Tan Zong's words and deeds, but only lowered his head to take a look at the name on the imperial list, shook his head and said: "It's not Tan Zong, it's Xu Jun, also known as Xu Wenchang, a native of Nanjing."

  "Oh?" Tan Zong's heart sank, and he turned his head to shout: "Wen Chang, Wen Chang, come quickly, you've been chosen as the top scholar."

  At this moment, a big fat kid suddenly appeared out of nowhere and squeezed all the students around him away. While squeezing, he shouted: "Really did I win? Really did I win?" As he spoke, he seemed to have an incredulous look on his face, apparently he himself had not expected it either.

  Just then, someone nearby congratulated him, and Xu Jun finally believed it. He hastily threw the scallion pancake in his hand in all directions, not knowing where it went. His oily hands didn't even bother to wipe them off, he just pushed forward: "Everyone, please make way, let me go see if it's true or false, don't be fooled by Tan Menghua's 'Dream of Endless Flowers'."

  To mention it, Xu Jun was also a well-known figure in Nanjing Prefecture.

  Unlike other scholars who are slender and elegant, Xu Jun is a complete fatty. At the age of 18 or 19, he is only 1.67 meters tall and weighs 167 pounds. When running during physical education class, he would tremble with every step. When going upstairs, if he steps heavily, even the floor would shake along with him.

  Xu Jun's family was wealthy and he was generous, so he was quite popular among his classmates. Moreover, although Xu Jun couldn't be considered brilliant or quick-witted, he worked hard and was diligent in his studies, especially in the subject of literature, where he excelled. In fact, no student in Nanjing dared to claim they could surpass him, so it was only natural that he would pass the imperial examination as a top scholar.

  Just as he walked up to Tan Zong, a familiar onion pancake smell wafted into Tan Zong's nose. Upon closer inspection, he suddenly realized that the fat man's hands were indeed oily, and immediately understood what was going on. He hastily pulled the person over, grasped the fatty's ear with one hand, and angrily exclaimed: "You damned fatty, it was you who ate the onion pancake!"

  Just as they were about to lay hands on him, someone suddenly shouted: "Stop!"

  Tan Zong raised his head and suddenly realized that something was wrong: he had forgotten the current environment in a moment of excitement.

  Looking at Jin Ke being caught by the ear by someone, Zhang Heyan was both curious and amused.

  What's infuriating is that someone actually dares to despise the law, right in front of the Wenyuan Academy, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, and yet someone has the audacity to beat up this year's top scorer! It's truly unbecoming of a human being! What's laughable is that this year's top scorer from Nanjing Prefecture is indeed different from others, not only are his writings a masterpiece, but even his body is also a work of art. Moreover, when he came over earlier, both hands were clearly stained with oil, obviously having just devoured something.

  If I'm being blunt, this physique of yours is probably not much different from that of a "poor meat" with a big head and ears, and a brain full of fat. If you were placed in the imperial court of previous dynasties, you'd probably be beaten just for looking like this.

  In Zhang He's experience, such an outstanding Yuan Gong is still a precedent!

  It doesn't matter how the case is handled, just because of his identity as a judge, if he were to be beaten in front of the Wen Yuan Temple, it would be difficult for him and his men to avoid blame. Although they might not be convicted of a crime, they would still face a poor evaluation at year-end for failing to protect the judge, which would be unavoidable. Therefore, Zhang Heyan's loud shout was something that had to be done, whether he wanted to or not.