The school in Aoba World does not know day or night, and the people inside can hardly feel the passage of time, not knowing that the real world outside has come to the next day.
It was almost noon, and the vendors seized the opportunity to yell desperately. With those stone pillars as the line, the outside line was extremely lively, and the scent of sweet-scented osmanthus cake was the clearest in the taste of food.
The people who came to see the Great Court Examination gathered around the periphery of the Li Palace, discussing the latest news from the palace from time to time. People could not see the exciting scenes of the Great Court Examination, but their emotions were not affected, and the atmosphere was still very lively. It must be said that this is also due to the credit of those storytellers.
On the street outside the palace, at a distance of tens of feet, there will be a tea shop. There will always be an ordinary table in front of the shop. Storytellers in long gowns or quilted jackets stand in front of their respective tables, spitting everywhere. Danced and danced, talking about what happened in the academy at this time, and didn't know who these storytellers and the bosses behind them were related to in the palace. What happened at the imperial examination site one moment, became The content of the storytelling is clear, and there is not much deviation.
There is a relatively quiet tea house in the southwest corner, the decoration is quite elegant, but today this tea house is not out of the ordinary, specially invited a storyteller to sit in the hall, and also spent a lot of money to buy the latest news from Li Palace, I saw The handsome middle-aged storyteller slapped the wood and said: "It is said that the quiet and clear Qujiang River can shine on people. All the candidates will use their own abilities to cross the river by crossing the river, or turn into clouds, and then the state teacher The young man from the academy was the last one, and there was silence on both sides of the river for a while, everyone wanted to see how the young man crossed the river, who made the noise, only heard a cry of cranes from the sky, and the white crane returned!"
Speaking of this verse, the storyteller was shocked again, startling the tea drinkers who were concentrating on it, and then slowly said: "At that time, nearly a hundred candidates on both sides of the Qujiang River were as dumbfounded as you are, everyone He was startled by the little old man, but those candidates were startled by the white crane. Why? Because the next moment, the boy from the Orthodox Academy lifted his front and sat on the back of the white crane without saying a word. Soaring up the clouds and heading towards the opposite bank, it is really riding a crane down the south of the Yangtze River, what a wonderful scene!"
There was a loud discussion in the teahouse.
The storyteller said with a smile: "You don't need to discuss, you must know that those candidates who participated in the Great Court Examination, no matter in the sect or in the academy, must have seen fairy birds and strange beasts, but why are they so surprised? Because there is no People thought that this method could be used to cross the river, and what shocked them even more was that the white crane was no ordinary white crane, it was a white crane from the East Royal God General's Mansion in the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty!"
The discussion in the building became more and more popular. Many people in Kyoto knew that there were white cranes in the residence of the Eastern Royal God General, but the number of times they had seen each other in recent years was less, and some people remembered the marriage contract that was widely circulated. They couldn't help being very curious. That white crane would be willing to carry the youth from the Orthodox Academy on its back.
"If you haven't forgotten it, you should know that the white crane has already followed Ms. Xu to the southern Shengnvfeng, why did it suddenly appear in the capital thousands of miles away? Could it be that Ms. Xu really recognized the young author of the Orthodox Academy? Fiancé? Then how will the four disciples of the Lishan Sword Sect present react?"
Having said that, the storyteller coughed twice, picked up his teacup and took a sip of warm tea. The tea guests in the building understood what this meant, although one or two tea officials said angrily that this was a story of yesterday, how could they still say it to cheat money today, most of them honestly followed the tea money.
The storyteller was very satisfied when he saw the amount of copper coins in the tea tray. He cleared his throat and continued to tell the story of the Great Court Examination. After drinking the remaining tea in the cup, the man walked out of the teahouse. The middle-aged man's hat was pressed down extremely low, and he couldn't see his eyebrows clearly. After leaving the building, he mixed into the crowd in the streets and alleys, and disappeared in a short while.
After a while, this middle-aged man appeared in an inn four miles south of Li Gong. He took out two bright red pills from his arms and swallowed them. After coughing painfully for a long time, he finally suppressed the pain in his body. Injured, he walked to the bed and lay down, the hat was pushed aside, and there were two faint protrusions in his black hair.
After noon, the business of all the teahouses and teashops became better, but the stories told by the storyteller were no longer so attractive, because the results of the Dachao Examination were officially released, and the shopkeepers of each teahouse or teashop The buddy copied it back before leaving the palace, and began to explain it to the tea guests.
The last place in the essay test list was a candidate named Zhang Tingtao from the Star-catching Academy. The public had no impression of this name, and naturally they didn't have much discussion. They just laughed a few words and attacked the mission of the Star-catching Academy. Just tell me. Xuanyuan Po's ranking was very low, Tang Thirty-Six ranked seventh, Zhuang Huanyu ranked sixth, and the four scholars of Huaiyuan had excellent grades, all of them entered the top ten. The two names in front - Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng ranked first and second respectively, and beside their names there was a remark: excellent.
Looking at the final list of the Dachao Examination, the spectators commented in amazement, pointed at the names of Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng, and were full of admiration. Tourists from other counties who came to Kyoto to watch the imperial examination were very puzzled by this, thinking that even if they were ranked first, how could they be praised so much
Some people in Kyoto explained to these people that the Dachao Examination has always only ranked ranks, and only extremely excellent examination papers will be specially marked as excellent. The extremely excellent here generally refers to all correct. Both Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng's names are marked with "excellent", which means that their answers are perfect. You must know that this is a very rare thing. It has been several years, and this situation has not occurred in the Great Court Examination.
Only then did the tourists from other counties understand the truth, but they couldn't figure it out. Since the scores of the two candidates in the essay test are so excellent, they should be all correct, so how to distinguish between high and low? Why did Gou Hanshi take the first place, but Chen Changsheng only got the second place
No one can explain this question, and those well-informed people in Kyoto are also very curious about it, and also puzzled by those examiners in Li Palace who are responsible for the review.
The chief examiner of the essay test looked at the priest with a slightly cold expression who was obviously looking for trouble, and thought to himself that even if the Education Center was not upset that Chen Changsheng didn't get the first place, why did he act so obviously
However, under the control of Bishop Merisa, the Bishop has been extremely strong in the past year. Even if the examiner of the literary test is higher in rank than the other party, he still has to explain it carefully.
"A question of terminology."
He looked at the priests who were in charge of reviewing the results of the literary examination at the Episcopal Office, and said with a serious expression: "I can't tell the difference in other aspects, but Gou Hanshi's diction is very strict and standardized, especially the special vocabulary related to classics. There are no mistakes in the taboo words, although Chen Changsheng did not answer any questions, but his words are too old-fashioned, according to the standard after major editing, of course points should be deducted."
The results of the literary examination have already been sent out of the palace and announced to the world, so naturally they have not been changed. Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng, who received excellent evaluations, became the objects of everyone's admiration. When the candidates for the final round of the battle were confirmed a little later, people were even more shocked and talked about it, because those two people were still the same. Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng, this means that the first place in this year's imperial examination must come from these two people.
One is the world-famous second law of the Seven Laws of the Kingdom of God, a young wise man from the Lishan Sword Sect, and a thorough study of Gou Hanshi in Taoism. One is the first freshman of the Orthodox Academy for many years, the key training object of the old Orthodox School, Xu Yourong's fiancé, Chen Changsheng, in terms of reputation, the two are on par, and being able to come this far also proves their respective knowledge and strength, It's just that there are still not many people who are optimistic about Chen Changsheng.
The four major workshops offered the latest odds, Gou Hanshi was one and one third, and Chen Changsheng was seven, the difference was huge, and it could even be said that Gou Hanshi was a sure winner.
Hearing the noise from downstairs, Tianhai Shengxue showed a thoughtful expression on his face. Although he bought a lot of silver from Chen Changsheng before, he never thought that the boy from the Orthodox Academy could really make it this far. It was him, and he couldn't be optimistic that Chen Changsheng would continue to win.
The reason why no one was optimistic about Chen Changsheng in the end was because everyone, including Tianhai Shengxue, knew that there was a threshold between Gou Hanshi and Chen Changsheng.
That bar is high.
That threshold is related to life and death, higher than life and death.
In the Hall of Zhaowen, the Bishop Mei Lisha slowly opened his eyes, looked at the results list of the literary examination displayed on the light mirror, and was silent for a long time, then he laughed, and with the support of the priest Xin, he struggled. Stand up straight, go out of the hall and head towards Qingxian Hall. He was only thinking of making Chen Changsheng mature as soon as possible through the imperial examination, but he never thought that Chen Changsheng would really be able to pick this juicy fruit. There is no hope. Since hope is ahead, he will naturally not allow anyone No one can destroy people.
In the depths of the palace, the divine crown stands on the table to bear the sky falling from the palace, shining with dazzling brilliance, and the divine staff reflects the reflection of the pool on the stage, as if in the deep sea. Compared with these two artifacts, the earthen basin The green leaf in the tree looked a bit shabby, but His Excellency the Pope did not look at the divine crown or the scepter, but quietly looked at the green leaf, silent, a little lost in thought.
He has his hands behind his back, like an old flower farmer.
Not far away is the clear water pool. The wooden ladle gently undulates in the water, like a boat, which can hold water at any time. The water can be used to water the green leaves or to make a rain.
In the farthest place from Kyoto, there is a vast and desolate mountain range, with endless forests, white mist, and slippery mountain roads, and it is extremely quiet. Even more eerie.
Those tuk-tuk sounds are the sound of wooden sticks falling on the wet stones of the mountain path.
The rest of the people supported their crutches and struggled to walk up the mountain path. He and Chen Changsheng's master, the mysterious Taoist Ji, were walking ahead with their hands behind their backs, as if they were not worried that he would not be able to keep up.
The sound of duk duk lasted for a long time, and the clouds and mist in the secluded forest became thicker and thicker, and there were many small sounds faintly coming from inside, as if many creatures were attracted here by the sound of the stick.