He grabbed Gu Chengyu and ran out of the house. He was going to take Gu Chengyu to the carriage. Gu Chengyu hurriedly advised: "Don't worry! It's still early before the time of passing the news! Those officials must be on the way!"
"It's better to go early than late. You just don't know how to rush. Hurry up, so as not to fall behind." Ye Zhiqiu didn't even look back, and directly pulled Gu Chengyu to the Gu Mansion's carriage, and climbed up using his hands and feet.
.
Gu Chengyu had no choice but to follow Ye Zhiqiu into the carriage. Fortunately, there was a lantern on the carriage, otherwise it would be difficult for the carriage to move forward due to the dark lights.
When we arrived outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, it was already Mao hour, and officials of the fourth rank and above also arrived outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony one after another, waiting to go to court.
Officials of the fourth grade could not even enter the Hall of Supreme Harmony and could only stay outside the hall. Gu Chengyu took a look and found that all the Gongsheng students were here. In fact, only the top ten would be summoned, and it was basically impossible for the top three to meet the saint. However,
The Gongsheng students are still here. After all, what if I perform exceptionally well?
The civil and military officials outside the palace have not yet entered the palace. The civil and military officials are ranked according to their grades. The tributes are lined up behind the east and west shifts of the civil and military officials. Gu Chengyu is the first in the examination, so he naturally ranks at the front.
Jiang Mingyuan had arrived outside the palace a long time ago. He also saw Gu Chengyu and wanted to step forward and give Gu Chengyu a few words of encouragement so that he would not panic when he faced the saint. Who would have thought that before he took a step forward, he saw the chief eunuch De'an coming out.
But Yin Kun just glanced at Gu Chengyu and nodded towards Gu Chengyu who looked back at him. He knew Gu Chengyu's temperament, so there shouldn't be any problem in meeting the saint. As for Wu An, when he passed by Gu Chengyu, he said
Two words, "Don't panic!"
After that, Gu Chengyu also saw Zheng Lun. The two looked at each other and smiled without saying a word. But when Gu Chengyu saw Zheng Lun looking at him, his eyes were a little dodgey, thinking that he felt sorry for herself. Although she didn't blame him, but after his father
After his ban was lifted, Gu Chengyu sent someone a message, but he didn't reply even a single word. This was a bit intriguing.
The location of Gu Chengyu's station is particularly eye-catching, but what is even more eye-catching is his name as Huiyuan.
All the civil and military officials who passed by and the officials who were already standing in front had to look at Gu Chengyu. One was because of his reputation and outstanding talent, and the other was because of the emperor's attention to him on the day of the imperial examination.
The one who received the same treatment as him was Min Feng. Min Feng was born as Xia Qing's junior disciple. How could all the civil and military officials not recognize him? At the apprenticeship ceremony that day, Xia Qing invited many officials.
Those officials knew in their hearts that they were building momentum for Min Feng! They were already arranging relationships for him before he even entered the court. It is conceivable that Min Feng's future official career will be smooth.
Gu Chengyu smiled and looked at the Hall of Supreme Harmony in front of him, turning a blind eye to the eyes that were looking at him. He still needed to keep a low profile at the moment. But Min Feng did not. He bowed his hands and saluted the officials. Among them were
Many officials had attended his apprenticeship ceremony and had been introduced by Xia Qing. Therefore, they were all familiar with each other.
Min Feng saluted, and the officials showed respect and nodded, but no one said anything because the chief eunuch, De'an, was already standing outside the hall, thinking that the morning court was about to begin.
After the whip was sounded along with the ritual music, the officials of Honglu Temple shouted "Enter the class", and the officials of the third rank and above all walked towards the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The only ones left outside the hall were the officials of the fourth rank, who left in front of them.
More than half.
The morning court did not last long, because the grand ceremony was to be held today, so Gu Chengyu and the others waited for half an hour. The morning court was over, and then came the first ten people to meet the saints.
Originally, there were examiners among the top ten who knelt down in front of the emperor, unfolded the scrolls and read aloud, but later the emperor was not happy, so they did not have to read the scrolls, and the ceremonial supervisor took the scrolls to the imperial case, and the emperor read the scrolls himself.
The emperor looked at the ten test papers in front of him and picked up the one placed first. The words on it were very neatly written, and the paper was neat and tidy, which made people feel comfortable. However, whose test paper was this? This was different from what he had done yesterday.
I looked at Gu Chengyu's test papers, and the contents were different.
Seeing the eight circles filled with marks on the test paper, the emperor looked at it carefully and read the test paper from top to bottom. He did not speak and put the test paper on the table. At this time, there were only eight people left in the hall.
The officials in charge of marking and the Ministry of Etiquette looked at the emperor's expressionless face and felt uneasy in their hearts.
The emperor then read the second and third papers carefully. He looked at the remaining test papers a little casually and placed the papers in their original positions.
The emperor spoke, "Why do these first three test papers all have eight circles?"
The marking officers below were silent. Originally, there were only two papers with eight circles, but Xia Capital also valued the other paper very much. He marked the circles first, and they followed suit.
In fact, none of them knew Xia Qing's plan? Wasn't it because Xia Qing felt that it was a bit awkward to put Min Feng's paper first? Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Gu Chengyu's paper was slightly better in strategy, but Xia Qinghui
Are you willing?
Although everyone had their own evil intentions, Gu Chengyu's papers were carefully marked eight times before being submitted to Xia Qing.
Everyone tacitly left the problem to Xia Qing. He was not their disciple anyway, so why were they anxious?
Of course they won't have any objection to what Xia Qing wants to do later. When the emperor reviews the papers, the rankings will still change slightly.
In order to avoid suspicion, Xia Qing circled Gu Chengyu's paper. Then he circled another paper that was not bad.
They don't care about these graders, since Xia Qing is in charge anyway. Therefore, people in the officialdom are all good people, and it is common practice to protect themselves wisely.
So in the end, there were three circles of the same number of test papers, and the problem was thrown to the emperor.
"Your Majesty, I have discussed these three test papers with seven of my colleagues who reviewed them, and everyone agreed that these three test papers are equally comparable. Therefore, I would like to ask Your Majesty to make your own decision."
As the chief grading officer, Xia Qing had to step forward without hesitation at this time. Anyway, these three test papers are the first ones. How the emperor wants to arrange them depends on the emperor's mood.
The emperor's face darkened and he snorted coldly. These three test papers were indeed the best among the ten, but it was already clear who ranked first.
"I heard that Xia Aiqing got a new disciple not long ago, why didn't she mention it to me? Otherwise, I would have sent some congratulatory gifts on the day of accepting the disciple."
The emperor suddenly told Xia Qing about accepting a disciple, and Xia Qing's heart skipped a beat. Does the emperor have a problem with him by saying this?
How could it be possible to hide the affairs of the Imperial City from the Emperor? He didn't say it. First, it was because it was unnecessary. The Emperor didn't mention it, so of course he wouldn't rush to tell it.
The second reason was because he had selfish motives and wanted to use his influence in the palace examination. Unfortunately, Gu Chengyu was not a person with a false reputation. Min Feng was taught by him personally for a month, but he was still not as good as Gu Chengyu.
"Back to the emperor, Wei Chen is already very old. When he saw a talented young man, he couldn't help but fall in love with them. Besides, this guy's temperament appealed to Wei Chen, so he wanted to accept him as his disciple."
Although Xia Qing was an old fox, he did not dare to take it lightly when facing the emperor's cross-examination.