There’s still time before the Spring exams so candidates in Chang’an could still have a social life. A new rule this year is that names will be hidden so the examiners will not be bias and will mark based only on skills and quality.

In the past, the examiners took too many things into consideration; like social status and talent. If there was an exceptionally outstanding essays, the examiners will give extra points when determining the grade!

This year, suddenly the rules changed. In the past, those who wanted to leave a good impression before the exams would participate in the poetry meeting. This year due to anonymity, many did not do so anymore. Candidates visiting Chang’an before New Year were all dumbfounded. Now, poetry meeting is just a simple poetry meeting, there is no more taking shortcuts.

So Chang’an was much calmer this year. As the New Year approaches, the streets were were filled with festive spirits. Yuanying thinking that he has to leave for his land soon had the idea to bring mother out into the streets to visit Chang’an where she had lived for more than ten years.

Lady Liu was young when she was sent into the royal palace. She was well-behaved and did not dare peek out so she didn’t have the chance to see the prosperity of the capital city. Later, she had to stayed in the palace and had no reason to leave. Since they will be leaving Chang’an soon, Li Yuanying wanted Lady Liu to see Chang’an!

Yuanying knew that if he discuss this with mother she would refuse. Lady Liu had always tried to live like she didn’t exist, so as to not to be noticed. Yuanying went directly to the Emperor to state his request.

It wasn’t a big deal, so Li Er agreed.

Yuanying planned the trip with great interest before telling mother. Since he had already planned everything and had the Emperor’s permission, Lady Liu obediently let Li Yuanying pull her out of the palace happily. Of course, she had people carefully make preparations so that no one could catch them making any mistakes.

Chang’an was lively and crowded. Yuanying wanted to bring mother on foot around the city so Lady Liu followed him after donning a face covering. As she walked on the streets, she felt as if she is back into civilization.

The last time she went out in the streets was at least ten plus years ago. As the pair reached a more quiet street, Yuanying spoke to his mom: “Once we moved to our lands, mother can go out whenever she wants.”

“There’s nothing too great about the outside world. I prefer cooking things my child likes.”

The pair walked on the streets and then Yuanying made a detour towards Wei Zheng’s house. He shamelessly dragged Wei Shu out to spend time with Lady Liu to visit a temple.

Wei Shu was startled when she heard that Lady Liu is here so Yuanying had to comfort her.

“Don’t worry. Even an ugly daughter-in-law will need to meet her marital parents. You’re not even ugly.”

Wei Shu was originally worried, but after hearing that statement, she became angry. What nonsense is this? Who comforts people like him!

Wei Shu was led out of the door and sent to the carriage where Lady Liu was sitting.  Lady Liu held her hands and told her to sit, saying that Yuanying was an ignorant boy and it was abrupt of him to pick her up suddenly.

Lady Liu is kind and Wei Shu’s little worry was gone and spoke openly. They were chatting happily as they arrived at the temple gate.  

“We are here!”

This temple is frequently visited by the wives of the powerful and there were less taboos in the quiet place of Buddhism. Lady Liu removed her coverings and held onto Wei Shu’s hand to burn some incense.

Yuanying saw mother holding Wei Shu’s hand and had no place for him. He snorted twice, then reluctantly lead them into the temple for females only to burn incense and pray for blessings.

Lady Liu drove him away to go play by himself.

Crossing the river then destroying the bridge. Yuanying didn’t like this but he can’t be shameless enough to declare himself a child to enter a women’s only temple. He strolled alone and ended up listening to monks tell stories. The monks had their way of keeping believers; those who liked quietness were led to the secluded temples  while those who liked excitement were kept here to listen to stories.

Today, the monk spoke about Mulian saving his mother. Mulian’s mom fell into hell, and Mulian rescued her after much untold hardships. What the people like to hear is, of course, how terrible hell is, and how thrilling and tortuous the process of Mulian saving his mother. They were very good in telling stories, there were climaxes and also sound effects to captivate the pilgrims.

Yuanying listened with great interest, wondering whether he should donate some money but then heard someone greeting him.

“Your Highness.”

It’s Su QiNiang and ChenXin. They were people passionate about music and spent many days honing their crafts.

“You guys are here to pay your offerings too?”

“Not really. We heard that the storyteller here is captivating so we came for that. It’s surprising to see Your Highness here too.”

Yuanying instantly understood that the ladies were here to learn. Whether it’s story telling or music, the main goal is to grab attention.

“Then, you guys learn well.”

Chengxin gave an idea: “The temple can give lectures on secular matters, and the restaurant can have more than just singing and dancing.” They have executed Yuanying’s request to compose music for poems and essays. After listening to secular lectures for a few days, they had a new idea and wanted to learn how to give speeches at the restaurant.

“We want to start with talking about Your Highness’s <<Han Zi Fables>> then continue with new materials.” (Cheng Xin)

Of course, Buddhist stories cannot be told at the restaurant, so they plan to start with the stories written by Li Yuanying.

Yuanying agreed with the wonderful ideas: “You can try it if you want. If you fall short of stories, I will send someone to send you a few more.”

If you employ someone, you should trust them fully. Since Yuanying had handed over the music group to the girls, he would trust them to act in it’s best interest.

The girls happily thanked Yuanying. Seeing that he was losing interest in the story, Qiniang suggested: “I heard some scholars are holding a literary gathering at the back mountain. Your Highness, would you want to have a look?”

Yuanying wondered how long mother will take. He then led Su Qiniang and Cheng Xin towards the back mountain.

Sure enough, there was a literary gathering and there was even a crowd.

Yuanying likes excitement so he immediately quickened his pace. Unexpectedly,  he heard someone complaining: “I really don’t know who came up with this idea. This year’s Jinshi exam will be taken anonymously. Isn’t it useless that we practiced calligraphy for many years? Lazy people will benefit from this.”

Yuanying signaled to the girls to stop so that he can eavesdrop.

The crowd complained. Some felt that their good calligraphy is wasted, some complain about not being able to gain fame before the Spring Exam, and some felt that they were victimized. In short, no one felt good.

Hearing this, Yuanying decided not to play with these people. Let’s not invite trouble.  The idea was given by Wu Mei, and he thought it was feasible. He then rope in the system’s help to improve on it and then shared the proposal over to Kong Yingda.

This new method prevents cheating and forming of factions. The Jinshi exam is not very prominent now as the court is more focused on selecting professional talents, like those studying classics, mathematics, law, etc. Not many took the Jinshi exams.

Unfortunately, the system told him that the Jinshi exam would soon become mainstream, and even the aristocratic families would take it.  Then, brother’s hope of using the imperial examination to suppress aristocratic families was no longer feasible. The imperial examination will become a new way for officials to form factions. Those who took the same exam were called “Tongnian” and the examiners were called “Zuoshi”. With such a relationship, they had a natural alliance!

Since the Jinshi exam was not not done anonymously, the examiners could refer to a scholars’ past articles to evaluate their grades and the exam would become popular. Everyone rushed to submit their carefully crafted papers to the examiners to win favor. In addition to looking out for own children, aristocratic families could also rely on the exam to attract talents. Originally a way for the Imperial court to select talents, will gradually become a way for the “Zuoshi” to select talents.

After understanding all this, Yuanying gave the idea of making candidates unknown to Kong Yingda. He also mentioned the term “disciple of the Emperor”, indicating that even His Majesty could be a nominal examiner if he wanted to. Since being the examiner is great why give this chance to others? Naturally, brother should take this spot!

Kong Yingda read it and partially agreed with the idea. He had some comments about the term “disciple of the Emperor”, thinking that Li Yuanying was trying to gild the royal family. But overall, the suggestion was feasible. After thinking, he told Li Yuanying to make some revision and presented it to Li Er.

His Majesty is quite a narcissistic person. Although he had won the world on horseback, he also thinks that he is well-read and cultured. Naturally, he fell in love with the term “disciple of the Emperor” at first sight. A great idea. All talented scholars in the world should be his students!

Li Er immediately change the rules of this year’s Jinshi exam. Other exams were for selecting professional talents, so they remained the same!

Actually Li Er would be happy to accept candidates of other exams as the Emperor’s disciples but  seeing Kong Yingda’s blacked face, the  Emperor wisely swallowed back his words.

Seeing that these scholars did not like his idea, Yuanying didn’t want to play with them and the group left. Someone notice that Li Yuanying came and went, and they couldn’t help but discuss——

“Isn’t that the Prince Teng?”

“Look at the woman next to him, is that Su Qiniang?”

“He came and left, is he looking down on us?”

After that, more rumors started. Prince Teng got a beautiful woman by chance, Prince Teng had a beautiful woman hidden in his golden house, Prince Teng met a widow when he went to the countryside, and the newly-minted Prince Teng fell in love with a pretty princess. In short, although Prince Teng is young, he is very free and flirtatious! I heard he’s also taking the Jinshi examination this year, I think he mentioned that only after passing the Jinshi examination he can be called a romantic talent!

Someone raised a question: “Isn’t Prince Teng was engaged to the granddaughter of Wei?”

The person spreading rumors: “That’s how amazing it is!”

The tone sounded envious.

That’s right, he wanted to marry the granddaughter of Wei who was famous for his integrity and still dared to flirt with other women. But Wei has been turning a blind eye to it. It’s really amazing!

Yuanying didn’t know that he had become the object of everyone’s envy. He just thought that they have strolled enough and told the girls to go about their business, while he went back to pick up  mother and Wei Shu.

Leaving the temple, Yuanying angrily told Wei Shu about the scholars: “They are really short-sighted!”

Wei Shu nodded and praised: “Not everyone is as smart as you.”

Li Yuanying was flattered and his tail immediately raised high. He told Wei Shu about the many disadvantages, which he had just heard from the system but  is not ashamed to learn and apply at the same time.

Lady Liu is happy that Yuanying and Wei Shu chatting happily. Her son’s temper is like this, as long as he is happy it is easy to convince him. The future daughter-in-law is sure of this, so there should be no issue for them to get along in the future.

This trip out of the palace did not change Lady Liu’s life much but she now has expectations for the future. Her child is filial and sensible; her daughter-in-law good-tempered and gets along well with her. What else  should she worry about? She just want her family to live in harmony and happiness!

The only worry is that the Emperor still refuses to release Li Yuanying. Fortunately, seeing how happy Yuanying is, the Emperor seemed to have loosened up!

…

After Chinese New Year, Yuanying  is 1 year older. He is now 14, the same age as Chengyang.

The Emperor has started to arrange for Chengyang’s marriage. Du He had been working very hard and is not young anymore. During the Chinese New Year, the Emperor visited Lingyan Pavilion and thought about Du Ruhui, missing him very much. He then remembered the marriage that had been delayed for a year or two, and immediately told Li Chunfeng to pick a good and close date after the Spring Examination.

Yuanying felt reluctant thinking about his niece getting married soon. If she has married into another family, he won’t be able to take care of her all the time. Fortunately, Du He’s family had simple relationships and the couple won’t inherit the Dukedom. After Chengyang is married, she will move out into her own residence so she won’t have to suffer any bullying.

After knowing about the wedding date, Yuanying would visit Du He from time to time to talk about life and ideals. Compared to the past where he would only drag Li Zhi along to test Du He and Fang Jun, Yuanying is now more open.  He’s been sharing money-making businesses  ideas to get Du He to join him.

Du He knows how to return the favor. After returning home, he sent away the maids serving him, cleaned up his surroundings, and was resolute not to leave any troubles for Chengyang to worry about.

Du He isn’t  greedy over the benefits offered by Li Yuanying  but he had observed Fang Jun’s series of events. He also knows that Li Chengqian and Li Yuanying is very close, and that the Emperor’s grandson would stick to him. He is no fool, so he knew what to do!

Although Li Yuanying still felt that Du He had no outstanding talents, he reluctantly recognized him as a qualified prospective nephew-in-law.

Just as the wedding date for Chengyang was set, Li Zhi received good news. He didn’t return to the capital during Chinese New Year because his wife is pregnant. In spring, his wife gave birth to a big fat boy. Li Zhi delivered a letter to the Emperor to announce the good news, and asked him to give a name to his child.

Li Yuanying didn’t expect Li Zhi to be so efficient. He ran to the Emperor with a sour feeling after hearing the news: “Zhi Nu has a child already. My brother, you are a grandfather again!”

Hearing his sour tone, the Emperor said leisurely, “Yes, I am a grandfather again. Someone isn’t even a father yet.”

“I’m young, of course I’m not a father!”

Moreover, Master Sun and the system told him that it’s not good to have children too early, especially for girls, so he won’t let sister Shu have children too early!

He stated the main reason for his visit: “After the Spring Examination, let me go to Taiyuan to visit my nephew!”

His Majesty agreed.

Yuanying  left merrily but put away his cheerful mood to complete the final preparation with his friends.

It was the day of the Imperial Examination. Early in the morning, Yuanying and his friends came to the hall with their own tools to prepare for entry. Although they were all wearing uniform, the only 3 female candidates instantly stood out, and many looked at them frequently.

Yuanying has never cared about other’s opinions since young. Wei Shu and the others were also calm and composed. The others looked at Li Yuanying and his group for a few times. Seeing them looking calm, it was a meaningless stare that was also impolite, so people stopped looking.

However, someone cynical muttered indignantly: “Anyone can take the exam. It’s really amazing to have power!”

The voice was far away and low so Yuanying didn’t hear them. But there was a middle-aged candidate in his early forties who was shouting at them. Yuanying is not someone who would swallow his anger. It would be fine if he had just looked at them but if anyone dared to gossip in front of him, he would not tolerate it and confronted the other party: “Say it again!”

The middle-aged candidate was also a man with a violent temper. He repeated his statement that women entering the examination hall was simply a pollution of knowledge. Women should stay home to take care of the family and not be out showing and flaunting themselves in public. Even if a woman has knowledge, it is not for the imperial examination. She should focus on raising children!

Yuanying retorted: “I see you are not young anymore. You haven’t passed the exam yet. You must have no talent. Even if young ladies were to take the exams in the future, they would pass before you!”

The middle-aged candidate was stabbed in the heart. “It has been like this since ancient times. How can a woman take the imperial examination?”

Li Yuanying had argued with Dr. Ma many times before, and was not afraid this bullying. He hit back without hesitation: “According to you, there was no exams before. When they started this exam, should we also go against it by saying that ‘Since there were no exams in the ancient times, how can we select officials by taking an exam’? Let’s just abolish this and act like the ancients do.”

Representatives from the Ministry of Rites heard the commotion and shouted: “How dare you create noise in the Imperial Examination Hall!”

The middle-aged candidate shut up.

Although Yuanying was a little unwilling, he was coax by his friends to keep it down. No matter how those people object, if they pass fair and square in an upright manner, they don’t have to be afraid of what others says.

The scholars passed the gate and entered the hall. Compared with previous years, the hall is built more decently this year. Everyone was separated and could not communicate with others. Yuanying took his seat and waited for the exam to begin.

The Imperial Academy was calm, and His Majesty learned about the dispute in front of the Imperial Academy.

Chengyang, Wu Mei, and Wei Shu were the 3 female candidates brought into the Imperial Academy by Li Yuanying, but it would be wrong to deem that they entered because of status. Their knowledge were learned steadily, and their results from each exam was recorded clearly without any fraud!

What’s more, one of them is his precious daughter.

Li Er and Li Yuanying is aligned on the same thoughts, the girls gain their qualifications by themselves. Why not let them take the exam? This middle-aged candidate had no insight, no vision, and no mind!

Since Li Er was the nominal examiner, he would not sit idle after discussing government affairs. He planned to visit the Examination Hall to inspect on the young talents to see which were most likely to become his disciples.

If he sees Li Yuanying, his annoying brother, he would naturally take a look at him too.

After making up his mind, the Emperor led Wei Zheng and others to the Imperial Academy in a low-key manner. Perhaps it’s because of the many new rules implemented this year especially the one about being the “Emperor’s disciples”, many were excited and concentrated on the exams. They did not notice the arrival of the Emperor.

Li Er was not here to show off his power. He looked around and was very satisfied with the mental outlook of the candidates this year. It was not until he patrolled for a long time that Li Er caught sight of Li Yuanying, who was answering the questions seriously.

Yuanying didn’t notice the Emperor. He wrote seriously, and his draft was written in a flamboyant manner. He felt that his thoughts had never been so smooth and he was so absorbed that he certainly had no mind to pay attention to anything else. Even after Li Er had continued to patrol forward Yuanying didn’t notice his royal brother.

Zhangsun Wuji saw that Li Er had a stern face and smiled after leaving the Examination Hall: “His Highness Prince Teng wrote so hard, he will get a good ranking.”

The praised made Li Er happy, and the depression of being ignored by his annoying brother disappeared. Of course, he still commented modestly and objectively: “This kid has only been serious for a few years, how can he compare with others who have studied hard for ten years?”

Fang Xuanling continued: “His Highness Prince Teng is very smart, and he is naturally better than many who had studied hard.”

His Majesty laughed and led them back to the palace in a good mood.

Wei Zheng didn’t say a word along the way. He felt that Zhangsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling were shameless. He’s going to marry his granddaughter to Li Yuanying but he hasn’t even praised him. Why are you guys praising him to bits!

Notes from the author:

His Majesty Li Er: I’m going to see my annoying brother by the way, just by the way!

Little Prince: Focus on the exam, I didn’t know you were here!

Note: The content of about the Emperor’s disciple is based on Baidu Encyclopedia and the author’s own imagination!