First place in the first class... Zhu Ping'an!
The guards' loud second call of the list startled Ouyang Zishi, who was walking mechanically like a zombie, and then he realized, "Hey, how did I get here? How did I take two steps forward? What's going on?"
"Are you Zhu Ping'an? Please follow me."
Just when Ouyang Zishi suddenly woke up, an official from the Honglu Temple who came down with the second reading of the list saw one of the four hundred new Jinshi scholars coming out, and they naturally thought that the Ouyang Zishi who came out was Zhu Ping'an.
The officials of the Honglu Temple did this in full accordance with the ritual procedures. According to the procedures, the list of the first place in the first class, that is, the top scholar, must be read out three times in a row. The officials of the Honglu Temple must lead the top scholar to the left side of the imperial road under the steps to kneel and thank the emperor for his grace.
The officials from the Honglu Temple came down to lead the new number one scholar to the Imperial Road under the steps. Seeing that Zhu Ping'an, the new number one scholar, was so excited that he had come out on his own initiative before the second roll call was over, they could not help but walk up to Zhu Ping'an with admiration and asked him a few questions, and then took him to the Imperial Road to express their gratitude.
Just after the official from the Honglu Temple finished asking questions, he was surprised to find that the new top scholar seemed to have cramps. The pale face of the new top scholar suddenly turned red as if it was congested. Not only that, his face seemed to have cramps.
The officials of the Honglu Temple were somewhat puzzled. What happened to the new champion? Was he overwhelmed by joy
"No, I... I'm not, I'm Ouyang Zishi." Ouyang Zishi's face was so red that blood was about to drip out, and he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Fortunately, he only walked two steps away, and because he was at the steps outside the main hall, the bigwigs in the main hall could not see him. The official from the Honglu Temple who was in charge of guiding outside the main hall knew the relationship between Ouyang Zishi and Yan Song, the Lord Yan. Fortunately, Ouyang Zishi did not do anything wrong, so he pretended not to see him when he saw him.
The censor in charge of supervision had the same mentality and pretended not to see anything.
As for the new scholars waiting, they were not much better than Ouyang Zishi. Although they did not lose their composure like Ouyang Zishi, they were even more surprised. How could it be Zhu Pingan? He only got seven "o"s. He chose the Golden Rooster, so it was unreasonable for him to get the top prize.
Everyone was shocked, but this saved Ouyang Zishi from a lot of embarrassment.
The only two exceptions were Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen. They were just surprised for a moment and then sincerely happy for Zhu Ping'an.
Zhu Pingan was not that surprised, he looked calm. But in the eyes of everyone, especially Ouyang Zishi, Zhu Pingan was just pretending to be cool. It was interesting. He was so excited and surprised, but he pretended to be calm. What else could he be!
"I am Zhu Ping'an." As soon as Ouyang Zishi finished speaking, Zhu Ping'an promptly bowed and greeted the officials of the Honglu Temple. He also rescued Ouyang Zishi in time and attracted everyone's attention to himself.
"Ahem. Well, please follow me." The official from the Honglu Temple was also a little embarrassed. He coughed and led Zhu Ping'an to the Imperial Road.
Under the envious gazes of everyone, Zhu Ping'an followed the officials from the Honglu Temple, walked out of the queue and came to the Imperial Road.
The Imperial Road, as the name implies, is a road specially for the emperor to walk on. The only exception is when the results of the palace examination are announced, and there is no exception at any other time.
Walking on the Imperial Road. This is the supreme honor. Ouyang Zishi looked at Zhu Ping'an's back as he stepped onto the Imperial Road, and all kinds of emotions such as envy, jealousy and hatred came flooding in.
The official of the Honglu Temple led Zhu Ping'an to the left of the imperial road and walked for a while. Then he stopped and asked Zhu Ping'an to kowtow and express his gratitude.
"Your servant Zhu Ping'an thanks the Lord for His grace."
Zhu Ping'an followed suit, stood on the left side of the imperial road, knelt down and kowtowed to express his gratitude. With Zhu Ping'an's kneeling, a brand new disciple of the emperor was born.
After the first place winner of the first class finished singing three times, the second place winner of the first class started singing. This was repeated three times.
"The second place in the first class... Han Yupeng!"
Another official from the Honglu Temple walked down the steps, led Han Yupeng out of the queue, came to the imperial road, walked behind Zhu Ping'an, approached the right side of the imperial road, and knelt down to express his gratitude.
Then it was the third place in the first class who was called out, and it was repeated three times. An official from the Honglu Temple also led him out of the queue, came behind Zhu Ping'an and Han Yupeng, and knelt down to express his gratitude.
After hearing the third place in the first class, Ouyang Zishi completely collapsed, his face flushed and hot. I am not the first place, the second place, and the third place! What is going on? Thinking about the compliments before the announcement of the results, and looking at the present, Ouyang Zishi wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
In fact, not only Ouyang Zishi, but also Yan Song, the elder in the hall, was so surprised that he couldn't even catch his breath...
The list was read out again, but this time it was only read out once, and the officials from the Honglu Temple did not have to lead the procession out to walk along the imperial road. These were treatments that only the top three winners could enjoy, and they were not yet qualified.
When it came to the second place in the second class, Ouyang Zishi finally heard his own name.
But it was useless. This belated roll call not only did not make Ouyang Zishi feel excited, but made him feel even more embarrassed. He fixed his eyes on the young man at the front of the imperial road, his heart churning. Damn it, that was where I should have been standing! Mine!
After the announcement of the list, the announcing officer once again led the top three candidates of this special palace examination forward, all the way to the steps leading to the imperial road outside the main hall, and then stopped to wait for the list of winners.
The position assigned to the official Zhu Ping'an was very special. Zhu Ping'an was at the front, in the center, slightly forward of the second and third place winners. The three of them formed almost a triangle.
While waiting for the results of the palace examination, Zhu Pingan noticed that the first imperial road stone under his feet was different. This stone was carved with a giant turtle, on the back of which was a dragon, and his feet landed right on the head of the giant turtle; perhaps the giant turtle and the dragon head were originally one and the same. There was once a legend that the giant turtle had a dragon head, a turtle body, and a unicorn tail. Regardless of which version was true, the carving was lifelike, and it really made people feel like they were standing on the head of the giant turtle and riding the waves in the sea.
As expected, he is the best, and his image is really good. Zhu Ping'an curled the corners of his lips.
The breeze is not cold, the sunshine is not dry, the breeze blows the sunshine and sprinkles on Zhu Ping'an. At this moment, in this scene, Zhu Ping'an can't help but get excited. When he was a child, he grazed cattle at the foot of Nanshan Mountain, studied outside the school, practiced calligraphy on the wood board, got up early and rested late... Scene after scene kept appearing in front of his eyes, from the mountain village to the Golden Palace, everything was so incredible, unexpected, yet reasonable.
He had presented a strategy for peace and prosperity to the emperor, and won first place.
Daming, here I come! (To be continued.)