The Grand Secretary's Pampered Wife

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S T E L L A R C L O U D

[Azurixa] [Celeste S.] [Christine G.-L.]

O R A N G E S T A R

[J Jean] [K.Rom] [Manon] [Smurfinbatik] [Tori D.]

Y E L L O W S T A R

[Fav Akira] [Leticia P.] [Maria P.] [Mel Melz] [Nicole] [Passerby]

G O L D S T A R

[Cindy] [Nanashi D. Y.] [Reece P.]

R A I N B O W S T A R

[Amanda] [Book W.] [Britnae M] [Caroline] [Christigale M.] [DetectiveGeek421] [Haruka N.]

[Hong] [Kiiayame] [kuroneko_chan] [Lily J.] [Liznel M.] [Michelle K.] [onepiece]

[Quae] [Ray] [Victoria]

The result of this year's palace exam was truly a big upset. First, An Junwang didn't become the Zhuangyuan, and then the grandson of Grand Secretary Yuan didn't even make it into the top three.

Xiao Liulang and Ning Zhiyuan, these two big dark horses from poor and humble backgrounds, thoroughly crushed the rest of the examinees.

Originally, the three people believed to be the most likely to become the top three were An Junwang, Yuan Yu and Wang Yuan, a talented scholar from a scholarly family in Jiangnan.

Everyone speculated that the three of them would become the first-class Jinshi, An Junwang being the Zhuangyuan, Yuan Yu the Bangyan and Wang Yuan the Tanhua.

But they got the result all wrong.

In fact, Xiao Liulang and Ning Zhiyuan's results had always been very stable, especially Xiao Liulang. Apart from not getting first place in the college exam, he was the top scorer for the rest of the exams. It was only natural for him to become the Zhuangyuan.

However, he met the more popular An Junwang, who went through the whole journey without being second.

Who would dare believe that he would be defeated by Xiao Liulang?

With so many erudite people in the Zhuang Family, the children they taught were unexpectedly no more than a poor boy from the countryside.

Well, this didn’t affect them in any way so they would just enjoy munching on a melon.

The top three, Zhuangyuan, Bangyan and Tanhua, were awarded the title Jinshi Jidi, which was the highest honor in the palace exam.

Then a total of seventy-two examinees were selected to become the second-class Jinshi, and they were awarded the title Jinshi Chusen.

Lastly, awarded the title Tong Jinshi Chusen were the remaining one hundred and thirty-five people who were all third-class Jinshi.

Du Ruohan ranked 13th, which was two ranks above his result in the metropolitan exam.

He was quite satisfied.

Feng Lin was ranked 176th in the metropolitan exam. He didn't have much confidence during the palace exam, he was too nervous and didn't perform well, so he had expected that he wouldn't get into the second-class Jinshi, and sure enough, he was ranked 200th.

Although he had already expected it, he still couldn’t help but be disappointed when we really saw the result.

As for Lin Chengye, he was 123rd in the metropolitan exam; this time he got into the top one hundred, ranking 99th.

Lin Chengye was already very satisfied with his achievements.

He wasn’t a talented examinee, and he had only been able to get to this day thanks to his diligence and the guidance of Xiao Liulang.

His father's initial expectation for him was just to be a Juren. But now, he was able to go all the way to the capital and take the palace exam. Even if he was just a Tong Jinshi on the supplementary list, it was enough for his father to celebrate for three days.

He was also very happy thinking that he finally didn’t have to go back to inherit the family business.

The three first-class Jinshi were personally announced by the Emperor first, then followed by a special announcement official again. After that, the announcement official guided the three first-class Jinshi to the steps in front of the Emperor’s dragon throne to receive the Jinshi list.

It was mainly the Zhuangyuan who received it while the other two saluted behind.

The positions of the three men were also carefully arranged. The Zhuangyuan was in the middle, slightly ahead of the other two, standing on the imperial stairs with the carving of the mythical turtle Ao, which symbolizes his achievement of becoming the overall top scorer of the imperial exam.

The Emperor stared at Xiao Liulang's face, which was almost close at hand, for a long time. Xiao Liulang calmly hung his eyes down, letting the Emperor stare at him magnanimously.

"Your Majesty?" Eunuch Wei whispered a reminder at him.

The Emperor let out an ‘en’, withdrew his sight, and gave the list to the announcement official, who in turn gave it to Xiao Liulang.

After getting the Jinshi list, Xiao Liulang led all the Jinshi to kowtow in gratitude for the Emperor’s imperial grace.

After the publication of the Jinshi list for the palace exam of this dynasty, there was another important activity, that was, the Zhuangyuan parade.

During this parade, all the Jinshi changed into their Jinshi uniforms issued by the court, and under the lead of the new Zhuangyuan, they marched in the imperial streets of the imperial capital to receive congratulations from all the people.

Among them, Zhuangyuan's uniform was a red brocade, also known as the scarlet patterned brocade, which was the sole red uniform.

Bangyan and Tanhua wore green patterned brocade robes while the rest of the Jinshi were in dark blue official’s robes.

The Emperor also gave flower hairpins to Xiao Liulang and the other two, and the three men put their imperial flower hairpin on their official’s hat.

To be honest, with Xiao Liulang and An Junwang excellent looks, wearing the hairpin flower didn’t make them look feminine, but instead valiant and heroic. They looked even more handsome, the best among the best.

On the other hand, the Tanhua, Ning Zhiyuan, was somewhat less than satisfactory. He had a darker complexion and a thin figure, and his appearance was just average. The flower hairpin on his head only made his skin appear even darker, making people reluctant to look at him, which simply broke the fine tradition that the Tanhua was always the handsome one among the top three.

The imperial guards opened up the way, followed by the officials of the Ministry of Rites beating gongs and drums.

Xiao Liulang sat astride a horse, leading more than two hundred Jinshi riding on their glorious horses. He received the applause and admiring gazes of all the people.

He returned to the capital, in such a way that no more evasions and retreats were allowed.

In front of everyone, he marched atop the horse with his back straight under the sun.

References

1. — A Chinese slang which means being a bystander watching the show. Same as eating popcorn.

Raz P.'s Thoughts

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