"Confucius was trapped between Chen and Cai. He had no food for seven days and played the zither in his room. Yan Hui left vegetables outside his room to show his respect for his teacher and his willingness to stick with him." - Fengsu Tongyi.
From then on, "Shicai" represented respecting teachers and the "Shicai Ceremony" became one of the two major etiquette systems in worshiping Confucius. "Shicai" means honoring teachers with fruits and vegetables, and the "Shicai Ceremony" is the "teacher worship ceremony". However, as time went by, new scholars also had to perform the "Shicai Ceremony", thank their teacher Confucius, and then take off their coarse cloth clothes and straw sandals, indicating their entry into official career.
After entering the Confucius Temple, officials from the Imperial College led Zhu Ping'an and others into a side hall, where they washed and changed their clothes. They took off their clothes and put on coarse cloth clothes and cloth shoes that had been prepared long ago. Under the guidance of officials from the Imperial College, they lined up according to their ranking in the palace examination.
In the Confucius Temple, in addition to officials from the Imperial College, there were also officials from the Ministry of Rites, who served as the Tongzan, Yinzan and other ceremonial personnel for the Shicai Ceremony.
Zhu Ping'an walked in front, and under the guidance of the officials, he passed through the Chijing Gate and came to the platform of the Dacheng Hall, and then walked onto the platform through the steps on the east side of the platform.
"Line up, offer sacrifices, and everyone else please take your seats." After Tong Zan saluted towards the Dacheng Hall, he turned around and shouted instructions to Zhu Ping'an and others.
Several officials came out and led Zhu Ping'an and others to stand in a line on the east side of the platform, and then the rest of the personnel also took their positions.
After Zhu Ping'an stood firm, he heard a burst of music. He didn't know when a large-scale band appeared on the stage. They were wearing red robes and holding various musical instruments. After listening for a while, Zhu Ping'an recognized that the music was the same as the music played during the court session, "Jiajing Chapter".
After the Jiajing Chapter was played, 36 dancers were soon sent by the Jiaofangsi under the Ministry of Rites. Each of them held three pheasant tail feathers in the right hand and a short flute in the left hand. They walked onto the platform in bright red formal clothes and danced the Liuyi Dance.
At the same time, the Tongzan official began to read the sacrificial text:
The eternal sage of literature, the teacher of all ages. The torch of inheritance will never be extinguished for hundreds of generations.
Now, we should learn from the good and emulate them. ...
I hope you will enjoy it.
After the sacrificial text was read, it was time for Zhu Ping'an and his team to release the food. According to the convention, the top three students would come forward to release the food to Confucius and the twelve sages, but today Ouyang Zishi was also added, and the four of them performed the release ceremony on behalf of the students.
A newly-appointed Jinshi in the audience raised a doubtful sound, but it was suppressed by the rebuke of the Imperial College's chief academic officer.
Zhu Ping'an went to the food storage first and took out a celery, a handful of chives, a few red dates and a handful of chestnuts. He put them all in a plate and carried them back to the platform.
Water celery represents students, chives represent talent, red dates represent early determination, and chestnuts represent awe for Confucius... These are all customary practices.
"My disciple Zhu Ping'an has been taught the principles of rites and music, and has achieved success. I dare to offer this good dish to the ancient sage Confucius."
Zhu Ping'an walked into the Dacheng Hall under the statue of Confucius, knelt down and offered food. Then the usher next to him waited for Zhu Ping'an to stand up, poured a bottle of wine and handed it to Zhu Ping'an. Zhu Ping'an knelt down again and offered wine to the statue of Confucius. He offered three bottles of wine in total, and then Zhu Ping'an's ceremony of offering food was completed.
The second and third place winners, as well as Ouyang Zishi, respectively offered food and paid their respects to the twelve sages.
The other Jinshi candidates on the platform of Dacheng Hall, under the guidance of the officials, performed the ceremony of offering vegetables to Confucius and the Twelve Sages on the platform of Dacheng Hall.
When the whole ceremony of releasing vegetables was finished, the sun was already high and almost at noon. After Zhu Ping'an and his companions finished the ceremony of releasing vegetables, they all took off their coarse cloth clothes and cloth shoes and changed into the official uniforms prepared by the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel according to their assigned official positions.
For a moment, Zhu Ping'an and others all turned into a group of beasts in human clothing.
Zhu Ping'an was wearing a sixth-rank official uniform, a blue official uniform with a patch with a picture of a egret on the front.
Except for Zhu Ping'an, everyone else including Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen wore seventh-rank official uniforms, also blue, but the patches on the front of their uniforms had a picture of a egret.
"Lord Zhu, please take good care of me in the future..." Zhang Siwei winked and said in a flattering manner.
"Hehe, that depends on how you express it..." Zhu Ping'an moved his paws and gestured twice seriously.
"Dog official..." Wang Shizhen looked at the two people fooling around and couldn't help but laughed and cursed.
In fact, except for Zhu Ping'an and the other three, everyone was touching their official uniforms and laughing. They were all very excited. They had studied hard year after year just for this day.
When everyone was wearing official uniforms and smiling happily, an official from the Ministry of Works came to tell them a good news: the Jinshi title tablet that the Ministry of Works was in charge of had been carved, and they were invited to go and have a look.
Leave your name in history.
Everyone was excited and couldn't wait to go to the place where the monument was erected in the Imperial College. On the way, the official from the Ministry of Works kept trying to get close to Ouyang Zishi, which made Ouyang Zishi more noticed in everyone's eyes, and more new scholars gathered around Ouyang Zishi.
The officials of the Ministry of Works flattered Ouyang Zishi because they wanted to please Yan Shifan, who was now the second-in-command of the Ministry of Works—the Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works, which was equivalent to the modern Deputy Minister. Because Yan Song was the chief minister of the cabinet and had such a strong backstage, Yan Shifan actually had the final say on all matters of the Ministry of Works.
Ouyang Zishi was the nephew of Yan Song and the relative of Yan Shifan, so how could the officials of the Ministry of Works neglect him
For the rest of the newly promoted scholars, the glory of the imperial examination has passed. No matter if they are the top scholar or the last one, it is all in the past. A new journey has begun from this moment on, and the past is all over. To rise in the official career, one's own efforts are one aspect, but more importantly, one needs to have someone above, someone to help, and someone important to take care of, so that one can thrive in the official career.
They are all new officials, and it is a unique opportunity for them to have contact with the Prime Minister, a big figure who is second only to the Prime Minister, through Ouyang Zishi.
Therefore, everyone seized this opportunity and gathered around Ouyang Zishi to show their respect and pave the way for their future career.
Relatively speaking, Zhu Ping'an was much more lonely, with only Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen accompanying him.
"Ahem, he's impotent..." Zhu Ping'an pointed at Ouyang Zishi who was surrounded by people in front of him and said slowly.
Indeed, Ouyang Zishi, surrounded by the crowd, no longer held an umbrella.
However, Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen couldn't help laughing when they heard this. Others didn't know what Zhu Ping'an meant, but they knew. After hearing what Zhu Ping'an said, they couldn't help but think of what Zhu Ping'an said with a smirk in the morning: If he doesn't get an erection, it will be sunny.
In the place where the Imperial College specially erected steles, there were rows of densely packed Jinshi steles. Under the guidance of the officials from the Ministry of Works, everyone saw the one that belonged to them.
When they saw their names on the stone tablet, they all showed a proud look on their faces as if they had brought honor to their family and would be remembered forever.
Only Zhu Ping'an was calm.
Although this Jinshi title stone tablet is brand new and the characters are strong and powerful... ... but the characters on many other stone tablets not far from this one have become blurred due to the wind and sun... ...
This is not what makes you famous forever.
Monuments carved on stone will weather away, but only those carved in people’s hearts will last forever. (To be continued.)