Chapter 292 The Flower Visitor

Just as the Tenglong Guards were changing rapidly, the palace examination in Kyoto also began.

Before three o'clock in the morning, more than three hundred scholars entered the imperial city from Chengtian Gate and stood in front of the Meridian Gate.

When the drums sounded, the scholars entered the Meridian Gate and the Taiji Hall from the side door according to their ranking.

Around dawn, Emperor Chengping went to the palace for a morning court session, while the scholars waited outside the Taiji Hall.

Because there was a palace examination today, the morning court ended quickly. The civil and military officials left the Taiji Hall, and then the officials from the Honglu Temple led the scholars into the hall.

First there were five bows and three kowtows, and then the palace examination began.

Emperor Chengping sat on the dragon throne, looking at the scholars with a calm expression.

However, none of the scholars below dared to look up at the emperor's face. Instead, they all began to answer the questions honestly in their seats.

The sky was getting brighter, but the hall was very quiet.

Emperor Chengping sat in the hall for a while and then left to rest.

He was old and frail, and not in good spirits, so he had no intention of accompanying the scholars in the palace examination.

The rules of the palace examination are relatively loose. The emperor will provide tea and snacks, and scholars can drink tea and go to the toilet at any time. As long as they don't look at other people's test papers and don't make loud noises, no one will care what you are doing.

Of course, no one dares to mess around here.

The palace examination lasts one day and the papers must be handed in at dusk. There is no specific time, but candles are not provided for the examination, so it is difficult to see clearly after dark and one has to hand in the papers if he or she does not finish the work.

In fact, there was no need to wait until dark. Around dusk, the light in the hall was very dim and the scholars handed in their papers one after another.

When Lu Wenyuan saw someone handing in their paper, he didn't wait any longer and stood up and handed in his paper.

In fact, he had finished it long ago, but he didn't want to be the first to come forward, so he waited a little longer.

Walking out of the Taiji Hall, the scholars were in mourning, and many of them had sad faces.

The palace examination is the most likely to make people feel nervous, and many people will perform poorly when they are nervous.

Obviously, many scholars felt that they had performed poorly.

However, Lu Wenyuan felt that he had done a good job. After leaving the Taiji Hall, he still had the leisure to comfort the scholars he was familiar with.

The results were announced on the third day, and a group of scholars were waiting outside the Fengtian Hall early in the morning.

Amid the sounds of ceremonial music, the official in charge of imperial decrees came to the Imperial Road holding the golden list and read out the imperial edict.

"The Emperor, in compliance with the Will of Heaven, decrees... In the 30th year of Chengping, the whole country will be tested... The first-class will be awarded the title of Jinshi, the second-class will be awarded the title of Jinshi Chuan, and the third-class will be awarded the title of Tong Jinshi Chuan..."

"First place, the first place goes to Liu Shiyan from Changting Mansion."

"First place, the first place goes to Liu Shiyan from Changting Mansion."

"First place, the first place goes to Liu Shiyan from Changting Mansion."

From the front of the hall to the steps, the palace guards sang in unison, and the song could be heard all the way out of the Fengtian Gate.

Lu Wenyuan was standing among the scholars, feeling somewhat disappointed when he heard that he was not the first.

"First place, second place is Wang Chonggu from Guangxin Prefecture!"

"First place, third place is Lu Wenyuan from Jing'an Prefecture!"

Hearing that he was third, Lu Wenyuan let out a long breath and his expression suddenly became relaxed.

Although I was ranked one place lower than in the imperial examination, it was still good enough to be able to enter the first class.

As for why he was chosen as the third place, Lu Wenyuan could probably guess.

Lu Wenyuan turned his head and looked at the first and second place.

Liu Shiyan, Wang Chonggu and he were originally the top three in the imperial examination, and they are still the top three now. Liu Shiyan was the champion and the number one in the imperial examination, and he and Wang Chonggu just swapped their rankings.

As for the reason?
Probably because he looks more handsome than Wang Chonggu.

Don’t think this reason is unreliable. There has always been such a practice in the court of Darong, and the third place winner is the young and handsome one.

So he was demoted one place because he was younger and more handsome than Wang Chonggu.

After the three lists were announced, the Jinshi scholars bowed four times, and the top scorer was announced, taking the top spot.

Then they paraded through the streets on horseback. The three people in the first class wore flowers and red robes, the top scorer used a gold or silver hairpin with flowers, and the other successful candidates wore colorful flowers.

On the second day after the announcement of the results, the emperor granted a "banquet of grace and honor" to the Ministry of Rites. This banquet was a gift from the emperor, and one of the ministers was appointed as the chairman (the emperor's representative). The first place winner had one seat, the second place winner and the third place winner had one seat, and the remaining four Jinshi candidates had one seat. The examiners also attended the banquet. Each Jinshi candidate was awarded a memorial archway of 30 taels of silver.

On the 28th, the top scholar was awarded a sixth-rank court crown, court robes, patched robes, belts, boots and other items in front of the Meridian Gate, and each Jinshi was awarded five taels of silver and a roll of outer and inner clothing material.

On the 29th, the top scholar led the other successful candidates to present a letter of thanks.

On the first day of May, all the Jinshi were appointed to official positions. The top scorer Liu Shiyan was appointed as a sixth-rank editor in the Hanlin Academy, the second-place winner Wang Chonggu and the third-place winner Lu Wenyuan were appointed as seventh-rank editors in the Hanlin Academy, and the rest of the Jinshi were mostly appointed as sixth-rank officials in the six ministries, while the other Jinshi were mostly appointed as seventh-rank county magistrates.

In the following days, the newly-appointed Jinshi took office. The court allowed the newly-appointed Jinshi to take office within two months, but of course they could take office earlier, as the court would not be short of the two-month salary. Under normal circumstances, Jinshi appointed in Kyoto would choose to take office as soon as possible, but Jinshi serving in local areas had to be less anxious. They could go home to worship their ancestors first before taking office.

Lu Wenyuan naturally followed the crowd. After spending a few days seeing off several friends from the same subject, he prepared to go to the Hanlin Academy to take up his post.

At the same time, it was time for Yang Mingcheng to return.

In the Yang family courtyard, a group of servants were preparing the carriage and the ceremony.

Yang Mingcheng and Lu Wenyuan were standing in the yard talking.

"Wenyuan, you can just live in this yard. When we get back, I'll ask my father to give you a bigger yard as a gift!" Yang Mingcheng said generously.

If he hadn't brought much banknotes with him this time, he really wanted to buy a courtyard for Lu Wenyuan.

This courtyard is actually not suitable for Lu Wenyuan to live in, because it is in the East City. There is a saying in Kyoto that 'the East is rich and the West is noble, the South is poor and the North is humble'. A simple understanding is that the East City is mostly inhabited by wealthy businessmen, and the West City is mostly inhabited by the powerful.

Lu Wenyuan was not a noble, but the Hanlin Academy was on the west side of the imperial city. If he lived in the east city, it would be far to go to the government office.

Besides, Xicheng is not full of rich and powerful people. There are also many small courtyards, but the prices are more expensive.

"Brother, no need. I'm fine living here!" Lu Wenyuan didn't care about it. It was just a matter of walking a few more steps. He was not to the point where he couldn't walk.

"Haha, it's just a yard. With a yard, you will have a home in Kyoto. You can invite grandpa and uncles to come and enjoy a peaceful life!" Yang Mingcheng said sincerely.

With the Yang family's financial resources, it is easy to buy a few small courtyards in Kyoto, but with the Lu family's financial resources, if they want to buy a courtyard in Kyoto, they will probably go bankrupt.

Lu Wenyuan smiled and said nothing more. He knew the Lu family's situation and also understood the Yang family's current wealth.

If the yard was given by someone else, he definitely would not accept it, but since it was given by the Yang family, he had to accept it even if he didn't want to.

There is a saying that a gift from an elder cannot be refused. Yang Zhengshan is his uncle, and he gave him a yard. How could he refuse it?
"When you go back, don't forget to give my letter to grandpa!" Lu Wenyuan said.

"Don't worry, I will deliver the letter to him personally!" Yang Mingcheng promised, patting his chest.

Afterwards, the carriage was ready, and Yang Mingcheng headed out of the city with a few guards.

At the same time, Wu Zheng also left the yard with his men. They were going to stay in Kyoto to collect information. They also had their own residence. If Yang Mingcheng had not come in person this time, Wu Zheng would not have shown up.

After everyone left, only Lu Wenyuan and his servant were left in the small courtyard.

"Young master, do we want to buy a few servants?" the servant Zhang Lin said excitedly.

The Lu family is just a poor family. They didn't even have a single servant in the past. It was only in recent years, thanks to the help of the Yang family, that their family business became more prosperous and they had a few more servants in the house.

As for the servant boy, only Lu Wenyuan had one.

Zhang Lin was originally the child of a tenant of the Lu family. Seeing that he was smart, Lu Songhe bought him to be a book boy for Lu Wenyuan.

For a tenant, being able to serve as a servant to the young master of the master's family is a blessing. Not only will he be well fed and clothed, but he will also be able to learn to read and write with the young master. If the young master achieves something in the future, his status and position will also rise. Even if the young master achieves nothing and can only inherit the family business, the servant will be the young master's confidant and will never have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of his life.

And Zhang Lin was not a slave, just a farmhand.

Now Lu Wenyuan is an editor of the Hanlin Academy and a real official. Zhang Lin is very happy from the bottom of his heart.

Since the master's family was rich, he, as a servant, would naturally become rich as well.

"Forget it, we don't have much money left!" Lu Wenyuan said with some distress.

He brought a lot of money when he came, but he also spent a lot during this period.

The imperial examination was an extremely expensive affair, and after passing the exam, one would always celebrate with fellow subjects, fellow townsmen, and classmates, and treating them to a meal was naturally inevitable.

If Yang Mingcheng had not taken care of his food, clothing, housing and transportation, he would have spent all his money long ago.

Now that Yang Mingcheng is gone, he will be responsible for his own food, drink, and toilet from now on, so he naturally has to spend the money sparingly.

As for why Yang Mingcheng didn't leave some money for him.

Yang Mingcheng, who had just walked out of the city gate, slapped his head suddenly, "Oh, I forgot to leave some silver for Wenyuan! I don't know if he still has any silver on him!"

That’s right, Yang Mingcheng had forgotten about it. He quickly took out two silver notes and told Wu Da beside him, “Wu Da, go back and give these silvers to Wen Yuan, and then catch up with us!”

"Okay!" Wu Da gladly accepted the order and ran back into the city with the silver note.

Yang Mingcheng thought about it again and felt that nothing was missed, so he continued on his way.

This time when he came to Kyoto, he had seen his younger sister several times, visited Liu's house, and met Zhou Lan. The only thing he failed to do was to congratulate Zhou Lan.

But he couldn't be blamed for this. With the death of Huai Jiangbo, Zhou Lan's marriage was naturally aborted. There was no need for him to go and congratulate her. It would be enough for him to just meet Zhou Lan.

In addition to these, he also went to the Imperial Guards to see Yang Mingwu, Yang Chengze and others. Now Yang Mingwu and Yang Chengze are both serving as assistant generals in the Fenwu Camp. Their official ranks are similar to those of border garrisons, and they have three thousand soldiers under their command.

They were regarded as Zhou Lan's confidants and were given important positions.

Yang Mingcheng and a few guards walked slowly northward along the official road. They did not notice that a group of people were following him not far behind them.

(End of this chapter)