Chapter 292: The Third Place Winner

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

Before three o'clock in the morning, more than 300 scholars entered the imperial city from Chengtian Gate and stood in front of Wumen Gate.

The drum sounded, and the scholars entered Wumen Gate and Taiji Hall from the side door according to their ranking.

At about dawn, Emperor Chengping went to the palace for the morning court, and the scholars waited outside Taiji Hall.

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

First, they bowed five times and kowtowed three times, and then the palace examination began.

Emperor Chengping sat on the dragon chair, looking at the scholars one by one, with a calm face.

But none of the scholars below dared to look up to the emperor's face, and they honestly began to answer questions in their seats.

The sky was getting brighter and brighter, but the palace was very quiet.

Emperor Chengping sat in the palace for a while, then left to rest.

He was old and weak, and his spirits were not good, so he had no intention to accompany these scholars in the palace examination.

The rules of the palace examination were relatively loose. The emperor would give tea and snacks. Scholars could go to drink tea at any time and go to the toilet at any time. As long as they did not look at other people's test papers and did not make loud noises, no one would care what they were doing.

Of course, no one dared to mess around here.

The palace examination lasted for one day, and the papers were handed in at dusk. There was no specific time, but the palace examination did not provide candles, so it was not clear when it was dark, and they had to hand in their papers if they did not finish.

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

When Lu Wenyuan saw that someone had handed in his paper, he did not wait any longer and stood up and handed in his paper.

In fact, he had finished it a long time ago, but he did not want to be the first to do it, so he waited a little longer.

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

The palace examination was the easiest to make people nervous, and many people would perform abnormally under nervous emotions.

Obviously, many scholars felt that they had performed poorly.

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 knew.

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 sound of rituals and music, the official who passed the imperial edict came to the imperial road with the golden list and read the imperial edict.

"In accordance with the will of heaven and the will of heaven... In the 30th year of Chengping, the emperor will test the whole country... The first class will be awarded the title of Jinshi, the second class will be awarded the title of Jinshi, and the third class will be awarded the title of Tong Jinshi..."

"The first class, the first place is Liu Shiyan of Changting Mansion."

"The first class, the first place is Liu Shiyan of Changting Mansion."

"The first class, the first place is Liu Shiyan of Changting Mansion."

From the front of the hall to the steps, the palace guards sang in unison, and the sound spread all the way out of the Fengtian Gate.

Lu Wenyuan stood among the scholars, and heard that the first place was not himself, and felt a little disappointed.

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

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

When he heard that he was the third place, Lu Wenyuan let out a heavy breath, and his expression suddenly became extremely relaxed.

Although he was one place lower than the imperial examination, it was already very good to be in the first place.

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

Lu Wenyuan looked at the first and second place.

Liu Shiyan, Wang Chonggu and he were the top three in the imperial examination, and they are still the top three now. Liu Shiyan was the first place and the champion in the imperial examination. He and Wang Chonggu just changed their rankings.

As for the reason?

Probably because he looks more handsome than Wang Chonggu.

Don't think this reason is unreliable. The court of Darong has always had such a convention that the third place is young and handsome.

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

After the three lists were sung, the Jinshi bowed four times, and the champion was announced, and he took the top spot.

Then they rode on horses and paraded through the streets. The first three people in the first class wore flowers and red robes. The champion used gold and silver hairpins, and the other Jinshi used colorful flowers.

The 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. One of the ministers was appointed as the chairman (the emperor's representative). The champion had one seat, the second and third place winners had one seat, and the remaining four Jinshi had one seat. The examiners also attended the banquet. Each Jinshi was awarded 30 taels of silver for the memorial archway.

On the 28th, the champion was awarded a sixth-rank court crown, court clothes, patched clothes, belts, boots, etc. in front of the Meridian Gate, and each Jinshi was awarded 5 taels of silver and one end of outer and inner cloth.

On the 29th, the champion led the other Jinshi to present a letter of thanks.

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

In the following days, the new Jinshi took office. The court allowed the new Jinshi to take office within two months. Of course, it was also possible to take office earlier, and the court did not lack the salary for those two months.

In general, Jinshi who were appointed as officials in Kyoto would generally choose to take office as soon as possible, while Jinshi who served as officials in the local area had to be so urgent. They could go home to worship their ancestors first, and then take office.

Lu Wenyuan naturally followed the crowd. After spending a few days seeing off several friends of the same exam, he prepared to go to the Hanlin Academy to take office.

At the same time, Yang Mingcheng should also return home.

In the Yang family courtyard, a group of servants were preparing carriages and ceremonies.

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 a small amount of banknotes 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 this courtyard 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". The simple understanding is that the East City is mostly rich businessmen, and the West City is mostly powerful and noble.

Lu Wenyuan is not a powerful and noble, but the Hanlin Academy is on the west side of the imperial city. If he lives in the East City, it is far to go to the government office.

Besides, the West City is not full of powerful and noble people. There are also many small courtyards, but the price is more expensive.

"Brother, no, I live here very well!" Lu Wenyuan didn't care about these. It's just a matter of walking a few more steps. He hasn't reached the point where he can't walk.

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

It was easy for the Yang family to buy a few small courtyards in Kyoto, but it would be bankrupt for the Lu family to buy a courtyard in Kyoto.

Lu Wenyuan smiled and said nothing more. He knew the situation of the Lu family and understood the wealth of the Yang family.

If it was a courtyard given by others, he would definitely not accept it, but if it was given by the Yang family, he would have to accept it even if he didn't want to.

There is a saying that the gift of the elders cannot be refused. Yang Zhengshan is his uncle. If he gave him a courtyard, how could he refuse it?

"Don't forget to give my letter to grandpa after you go back!" Lu Wenyuan said.

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

Then, the carriage was ready, and Yang Mingcheng walked out of the city with several guards.

At the same time, Wu Zheng also left the courtyard with his men. They had to stay in Kyoto to collect information. They also had their own residence. If Yang Mingcheng hadn't come in person this time, Wu Zheng would not show up.

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

"Young Master, should we buy a few servants?" The servant Zhang Lin said excitedly.

The Lu family was just a poor family. They didn't even have a servant in the past. It was only in recent years that they borrowed the power of the Yang family and their family business became richer, so they had a few servants in the family.

As for the servant, 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 servant for Lu Wenyuan.

For tenants, being a servant for the young master of the master's family is also a blessing. Not to mention being well fed and clothed, they can also learn to read and write with the young master. In the future, when the young master achieves something, his status and position will also rise. Even if the young master achieves nothing and can only inherit the family business, the servant is also the young master's confidant, and he will not have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of his life.

And Zhang Lin is not a slave, but a long-term worker.

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

The master's family is rich, so naturally he, the book boy, will also be rich.

"Forget it, we don't have much money!" 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 is a very expensive thing, and after passing the list, you always have to celebrate with your classmates, fellow townsmen, and classmates, and it is natural to treat them to a meal.

If Yang Mingcheng hadn't taken care of his food, clothing, housing, and transportation before, his money would have been spent long ago.

Now that Yang Mingcheng is gone, he will be responsible for his food, drink, and defecation in the future, so he will naturally have to save money.

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

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 silver on him!"

That's right, Yang Mingcheng forgot. He quickly took out two silver notes and told Wu Da beside him: "Wu Da, go back and give these silver to Wenyuan, and then catch up with us!"

"Okay!" Wu Da happily accepted the order and ran back to the city with the silver notes.

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

This time he came to Kyoto, he had seen his younger sister several times, visited Liu's house, and met Zhou Lan. The only thing he didn't do was to congratulate Zhou Lan.

But he couldn't be blamed for this. Huai Jiangbo passed away, and Zhou Lan's marriage was naturally aborted. He didn't need to congratulate, 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 rank is similar to that of the border garrison. They have 3,000 soldiers under their command.

They are regarded as Zhou Lan's confidants and are considered to be highly valued.

Yang Mingcheng led a few guards and walked slowly along the official road to the north. They did not notice that not far behind them, there was a group of people following him.