It was a good day in April, and the palace examination was held in the square outside the Zhengji Palace. The examination lasted about an hour, and they waited outside after the papers were collected. The papers were reviewed by the Grand Tutor and the Hanlin Academy, who first drew up a list of scores and submitted it to the emperor, who reviewed it and decided the final rankings.

　　The top three in the first class, the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, were awarded the title of Jinshi.

　　Twenty people in the second class were awarded the status of Jinshi.

　　The top three were the remaining ones, and they were granted the same status as Jinshi.

　　Under normal circumstances, the positions of the top three will not change. The emperor will grant the first place and choose one from the top ten.

　　Two hundred and five Jinshi entered the hall in an orderly manner, kneeled down, kowtowed and shouted “Long live the emperor” three times. A voice from above called out, and everyone stood up, looking down at the tips of their shoes in an orderly manner, and not allowed to face the emperor directly without being summoned.

　　Gu Zhao’s position was relatively forward, third from the left in the second row. This was arranged according to the ranking of the tribute scholars. In the first row, diagonally in front of him was Yan Erge, and at the end of the first row was Zheng Hui.

　　Among the three, he was ranked last.

　　The hall was quiet except for the sound of flipping papers. Gu Zhao guessed that Emperor Kang Jing was flipping through the papers and stopped after a while, intending to call for someone. Sure enough, the eunuch Wang Zetian called several people out of the line, all of whom were in the first row.

　　Gu Zhao was listening in the second row. If nothing unexpected happened, he should be a second-class Jinshi, which was enough. It was the turn of Yan Erge. Emperor Kang Jing asked two questions to test him. Gu Zhao listened carefully and felt that the emperor’s voice was quite satisfactory.

　　As mentioned before, his articles are down-to-earth, Zheng Hui’s articles are exquisite, and Yan Erge is both, and he is also a good writer of poetry.

　　I composed a poem on the spot.

　　Gu Zhao smiled inwardly after hearing this. This was a very high-level flattery, and the emperor must be very pleased.

　　As expected, the emperor immediately selected Yan Jinxin as the top scholar and even made a joke, saying that it was fortunate that Yan Jinxin had a good knowledge of poetry and prose, otherwise he would not have been selected as the third place based on his appearance.

　　It seems that in the first round of grading, my second brother was ranked third, which led to Emperor Kang Jing’s joke.

　　There were ten people in a row, including Zheng Hui who was called upon to answer a few questions. Gu Zhao listened and seemed to be in a normal manner, without any excitement. Moreover, the eldest brother’s voice was a little tense, probably because he was nervous.

　　The runner-up named another one.

　　Now it’s time for Tanhualang.

　　Emperor Kang Jing did not seem very satisfied. He looked at the entire first row, then moved to the back, even calling the person next to Gu Zhao. He seemed slightly satisfied after one look, saying that his appearance was good enough for the third place, but his knowledge –

　　I asked a few questions and the other party answered politely.

　　Gu Zhao thought to himself, why did people in ancient times consider appearance when selecting potential ministers?

　　”Gu Zhao from Ningping County.”

　　Gu Zhao: …

　　Wang Zetian handed the paper of Gu Jinshi to the emperor. After reading it, Emperor Kang Jing did not show any expression on his face, but asked Gu Zhao to raise his head to speak.

　　Gu Zhao: …

　　If Emperor Kang Jing was not 62 years old this year and was not a tyrant, just hearing the three words “raise your head” would have made Gu Zhao really feel dazed and confused.

　　There are rules for looking up, and you still cannot look directly into the emperor’s face, which means you are not allowed to look directly into the eyes of Emperor Kang Jing. You should just look straight ahead. Emperor Kang Jing is sitting in a high position on the dragon throne, so he can see you, but you cannot see him.

　　”He looks like a brilliant scholar.”

　　Emperor Kang Jing was very satisfied with his appearance, Gu Zhao thought.

　　Where he didn’t see, the chief eunuch Wang Zetian found out the origin and life of Jinshi Gu and handed it over respectfully. The emperor was slightly interested in Jinshi Gu, and servants had to know how to read his expression.

　　Wang Zetian never gave this to the people who asked before.

　　Gu Zhao was waiting for the emperor to ask, it could be seen from his elder brother’s ranking that he now liked articles that were all flowery and cheerful, meaning he boasted about the prosperous times and flattered the emperor, and he also wanted to flatter in a fresh and non-greasy way. But he was really not a master of flattery – except for flattering his own Zhou Zhou, this was the truth from the bottom of his heart.

　　He quickly made up his mind and decided to blow three parts and be pragmatic seven parts – the most unlikely to make mistakes was Tian Benben, and there was a template in front of him, the idol of the poor scholar, Mr. Chu. He decided to paint a picture of the joy of a good harvest in the farmland for Emperor Kang Jing. Blow with your mouth.

　　Emperor Kang Jing asked, “Your surname is Gu, and you are a son-in-law of the Li family?”

　　Gu Zhao: …

　　Why is it that when other students are asked about their poetry, songs or political ambitions, when it comes to him, all they ask is about his good looks and marital gossip?

　　”Your Majesty, Gu Zhao has indeed married into the Li family and become the Li family’s son-in-law.”

　　”As a scholar, you become a son-in-law. Aren’t you afraid of losing your reputation and being ridiculed by scholars all over the world?” Emperor Kang Jing said in a lukewarm voice.

　　…

　　At the end of May, the weather turned hot.

　　Fubao is one day short of six months old. Now he can sit up and likes to sit on the kang and talk to his father in babbling voices. Now he is holding a cloth tiger in his arms and putting it into his mouth.

　　”Aa …

　　Li Zhouzhou hugged her son and coaxed him: “Fubao, are you hungry? Let’s drink milk.”

　　”Can you give the tiger head to daddy?” He stretched out his hand to take it.

　　Fubao in his arms looked at his father and obediently gave his big tiger to him. He waved his arms and babbled something. Li Zhouzhou understood what he meant, which meant that father wanted him to play with everything.

　　”Fubao is so good.”

　　Li Zhouzhou fed his son a small bowl of goat’s milk, picked him up and patted him skillfully. Fubao lay on his father’s shoulder and burped a milky burp. Suddenly, he let out a loud babbling sound, and even his two chubby legs in his father’s arms straightened up.

　　”What’s wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?” Li Zhouzhou wondered. He had fed Fubao like this before, but why was he so happy and excited today? He even kicked his feet away.

　　”Aiya!”

　　Fubao was kicking his legs so hard that his tiger-toe shoes were about to fall off. His father was holding his fat feet.

　　Suddenly another voice rang out from the room: “I haven’t seen you for more than five months. How come you are so fat? Stop kicking. Your daddy can’t hold you anymore.”

　　Li Zhouzhou, who was putting shoes on her son, was stunned. Then her arms felt empty. She looked up and saw her husband holding Fubao, looking at him with a smile and touching his cheek with one hand.

　　”It’s rounder now and looks better.” Gu Zhao praised Zhou Zhou.

　　Li Zhouzhou smiled at first, then her eyes turned red and she wanted to cry. It was a cry of joy and longing.

　　”Don’t cry now that you’re back—”

　　Before Gu Zhao finished speaking, Fubao was waving his arms and babbling in his arms like a disco dancer, and threw his chubby body into Zhou Zhou’s arms. He quickly protected him with both hands. Li Zhou Zhou was also startled and threatened Fubao, “Dad is fine, don’t make a fuss, be careful not to fall.”

　　Fubao felt so angry at his father that he pouted and pretended to be crying.

　　”There is no evil Fubao. Daddy is worried about Fubao.” Li Zhouzhou was helpless with his son’s trick. He acted exactly like his husband when he was acting coquettishly.

　　Fubao became happy, giggled, and asked his daddy to hold him and kiss him.

　　With Fubao’s fuss, the sentimental sadness of meeting again after a long separation was completely gone. Gu Zhao sat down and talked with Zhou Zhou and his father, “Second brother Yan and I are both first-class, he is the top scholar, I am the third, and eldest brother Zheng is a second-class Jinshi.”

　　”The three of us stayed in Beijing. My second brother Yan and I entered the Imperial Academy. My second brother was a seventh-rank Imperial Academy editor, and I was a seventh-rank Imperial Academy reviewer. My eldest brother went to the Ministry of Rites and became a deputy minister, which was slightly higher than the two of us, at the sixth rank.”

　　Li Zhouzhou was delighted to hear this, and the key point was: Everyone stayed in Beijing?! That’s great.

　　I forgot to ask why my husband and Second Brother Yan were of the same class, and why he was not as good an official as First Brother Zheng.

　　”That’s great. Counting the days, Xiaoshu will be giving birth in a month or so. After the confinement, he will have to travel to the capital, which will be tiring and hard.”

　　Gu Zhao raised his eyebrows after hearing this. He only heard from his second brother that after the results were announced, he and Zheng Hui went to the capital, while Zhang Ma, sister-in-law, and Liu Fulang were escorted all the way back by students from their college who took the same exam, otherwise it would be too much trouble.

　　The trip to Beijing delayed me for more than half a year.

　　Thinking about it this way, the second brother should not know that Liu Fulang is pregnant. He arrived home almost a day or two earlier. It is estimated that it will be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. The second brother will also arrive in the village. It will be lively, but it is a pity that I can’t see it.

　　Let the elder and second brothers laugh at him!

　　At Zheng’s house in Ping’an Town, a string of firecrackers exploded.

　　Last year, a banquet was held to celebrate Zheng Hui’s success in the imperial examination. Now, firecrackers were set off. The servants of the Zheng family were in high spirits, handing out lucky money to passers-by who were watching the fun and saying auspicious words. They said crisply, “My second son was a Jinshi and is now an official in Beijing.”

　　He didn’t even know what it meant to be a Jinshi. He learned it from his master.

　　Anyway, being an official in Beijing must be a powerful thing.

　　In the main house of the Zheng family courtyard.

　　”I was in the second class, and I was already blessed to be appointed as a sixth-rank official in the Ministry of Rites.”

　　Zheng’s father knew that Gu and Yan were both in the same class, one was the third place and the other the first place. Although he was envious, he was not jealous. He patted his son’s shoulder with satisfaction and said “good things” excitedly. He then learned how come one of them was a seventh rank official and the other a minor seventh rank official.

　　”Isn’t he ranked higher than you?” The Zheng family was puzzled. Why was the official rank of his family not as high as theirs?

　　Zheng Hui explained: “Nowadays, all the cabinet ministers are from the Imperial Academy…”

　　The author has something to say:

　　The bug has been caught and revised. There are 410 juren in the country in total. It was indeed too few before. Half of them will be selected as jinshi, and there are 20 people in the second class.

　　The three brothers changed their positions. Zheng Hui became a sixth-rank official in the Ministry of Rites, Yan Jinxin became a seventh-rank editor in the Imperial Academy, and Gu Zhao remained as a seventh-rank reviewer.

　　Actually, I originally wanted to write that Gu Zhao was a second-class scholar who passed the imperial examination and entered the Hanlin Academy, but I still gave him a cheating finger [The protagonist halo]

　　Yan Jinxin is a genius student with natural talent, comparable to Mr. Chu. If Gu Zhao hadn’t come, Yan Jinxin would have been a top student, but he and Xiaoshu were a couple who respected each other, and they were dedicated to their careers for the country and the people all their lives.

　　Zheng Hui was more influenced by Gu Zhao.