Under the attention of all the people, the young man walked forward in silence, his posture seemed a bit cautious, but he controlled it well, he didn't look too nervous, his steps were steady, and the uniform of the Orthodox Academy fluttered in the wind, not very dazzling, but very clean, like He makes people feel the same way.
"Is this Chen Changsheng?"
Among the crowd in the square in front of Daming Palace, there were many discussions and inquiries.
Chen Changsheng has long been a celebrity in the capital. Many people have heard of his name, know his background and his engagement, but today is the first time many people see him.
It wasn't until this time that many people in Kyoto had a real impression of him, and found that he was not a handsome young man like Tang Sanshiliu, let alone a handsome boy, but he gave people a kind of approachable feeling.
Chen Changsheng walked up the stone steps, came to the front of the hall, turned around and looked at the sea of people in the square.
Beside him was a square ebony table, on which was a garland of thorns, and the sunlight leaked from the edge of the clouds and fell on the garland, scattering faint rays of light.
There is no gold or jade in the thorn wreath. It looks very inconspicuous, but it represents the hardships and glory on the road of cultivation. It is very meaningful in the tradition of the state religion, and it is also a symbol of the first place in the imperial examination.
The front of the Daming Palace gradually became quiet, and people waited for that moment.
The examinees, courtiers, and bishops standing in front of the hall looked at the back of Chen Changsheng who was standing in the front, with different emotions, some were relieved, some were calm, some were jealous, and some were indifferent. But no matter what their emotions were, at this moment they could only wait for Chen Changsheng to reap this heavy honor.
Somewhat unexpectedly, the Prime Minister who was in charge of awarding the top three in the Great Court Examination had retreated into the crowd at some point and was not in front of the hall, so who will present the award
At this moment, the sunlight falling from the sky on the thorn garland suddenly spread out, turning into countless strands, and condensed into a ball of light in front of the temple, which was a holy white light ball.
There was an exclamation in front of Daming Palace.
The holy light gradually faded, and a tall figure slowly appeared.
It was an old man wearing a divine robe, a divine crown, and a staff in his hand.
Sacred music played in unison, and a sacred and solemn atmosphere enveloped the audience.
The exclamation kept ringing, and then returned to silence very quickly.
Countless people bowed down to the old man, and the crowd in the square was like a wave, and everyone bowed down.
Greetings to His Excellency the Pope.
…
…
In recent years, His Excellency the Pope, who rarely appeared before the eyes of the world, actually showed up in person, which made everyone unexpected and shocking beyond words. Why
Isn't Chen Changsheng a student of the National Education Academy? Wasn’t the Orthodox Academy destroyed by the Pope himself? Isn't the state religion currently in a tense moment of confrontation between the old and the new factions
Appearing in front of the Daming Palace, besides His Holiness the Pope, there was also an old man—His Bishop Mei Lisha calmly took the staff from His Holiness the Pope, and stepped aside.
His Excellency the Pope took the thorn wreath from the ebony table with both hands, and walked to Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng was at a loss at this moment, not knowing what he should do, subconsciously looked at the Bishop next to him, and the Bishop smiled and nodded.
His Excellency looked at Chen Changsheng and said with a smile, "If you refuse to bow your head, who will crown you?"
This sentence seems to be just explaining the current situation, but also seems to have a deep meaning. It's just that Chen Changsheng didn't have time to think about these things, so he quickly bent his knees slightly and lowered his head.
His Excellency put the thorn wreath on his head, adjusted the direction carefully, and then he was satisfied, and said: "I have always thought that this branch is not very beautiful, and I don't know what people in the past thought, but Wearing it on your head feels very spiritual, not bad."
Chen Changsheng was still in a state of shock at this time, unable to comprehend the meaning hidden in His Holiness the Pope's words, but at least he heard His Holiness the Pope's praise for him.
good? How many young people can be rated well by the Pope? He only knew that Mo Yu and Chen Liuwang had received this kind of evaluation before. Is it his turn now
"Get up." His Excellency the Pope said.
Chen Changsheng stood up as he said, subconsciously raised his head and touched the thorn wreath above his head, and confirmed with his sharp touch that all this was true, and then he calmed down a little.
Seeing his movements, His Excellency the Pope laughed.
It was only at this time that Chen Changsheng saw His Holiness the Pope's face clearly.
The Pope is an old man with an old face.
This face is very ordinary, the most special thing is that his eye sockets are extremely deep, like an abyss, but it is not scary, because there are blue sea, blue sky and sunshine inside.
In the eyes of the Pope, the ocean is as calm as a mirror under the sunshine. It is blue and boundless. I don’t know how deep it is and how wide it is. If the sun disappears and a hurricane suddenly rises, it will naturally be stormy and thunderous. But now there is only sunshine, no wind and rain , so there is only kindness, tolerance and peace.
It was the first time Chen Changsheng saw this kind of gaze, and in just an instant, he felt his body become warm, and subconsciously, he wanted to jump into the warm sea water, or take a swim or take a rest.
After an unknown amount of time, he woke up.
After waking up, through the touch of the thorny garland from his fingers, he knew that only a very short moment had passed, and he hadn't even let go of his hand.
Such a solemn, sacred and broad spiritual world is really awe-inspiring.
Only at this time did Chen Changsheng truly wake up, realizing that the old man standing in front of him was the pinnacle existence in the human world, had already entered the sacred realm, and was a true saint.
He didn't know how to react, and suddenly remembered the autumn rains in Xichenlou. Although he didn't know why the Pope helped him, he accepted the help after all.
"Thank you." Chen Changsheng saluted the Pope seriously.
The Pope looked at him with loving eyes, stretched out his hand to gently stroke the top of his head, and said, "Poor boy... good boy... come see me in a few days."
After saying this, he signaled Chen Changsheng to turn around.
Chen Changsheng was a little dazed, turned around as he said, and faced the tens of thousands of people in front of Daming Palace.
His Excellency the Pope held his right hand and slowly raised it to the sky.
The venue was suddenly quiet, and then thunderous cheers exploded, as if to lift the sky.
…
…
The Pope left, and the Bishop also left.
The courtiers and cardinals in front of the hall came to Chen Changsheng one after another, looked at him full of love and congratulations and reminded him, and someone said that if there was any problem with the Orthodox Academy, just go to him, as if he was really his elder, Even Yu Wenjing, the prime minister, came over and said three words to him.
Yesterday, the Orthodox Academy received a lot of famous posts and gift lists, because these big shots learned some details of the Great Court Examination, such as the few autumn rains—they couldn’t see the situation clearly, but they had to make some arrangements in advance—today’s teaching Mr. Zong actually came to the scene in person, and he was so close to Chen Changsheng, they still didn't understand, at least they had to make a public show of kindness.
The rest of the candidates naturally did not receive the same treatment as Chen Changsheng. They looked at Chen Changsheng surrounded by big shots, some of them looked envious, while others sympathized. Tang Thirty-Six said to Guan Feibai : "If the top spot on the list must be like this, I would rather not take it."
"I'd rather not..." Guan Feibai said, suddenly came to his senses, and said, "But, do we know each other well? Besides, you can get the first place on the list just because of you?"
"It's all over, and as for the fact that there are still such conflicts, don't you think we should have more sympathy for that poor man Chen Changsheng at this time?"
Tang Thirty-Six said that, but he didn't intend to step forward to rescue Chen Changsheng. Those were real big shots, his grandfather was about the same, but his status was far behind.
Chen Changsheng was not used to this kind of scene, especially the smell of incense on these big shots, but he kept his state of mind very good, and he couldn't find any problems in terms of etiquette.
At this moment, the front of the hall suddenly fell silent, and the people around him dispersed one after another, making way for Xu Shiji to come from outside the crowd.
Xu Shiji is the God General of the East who is deeply trusted by the Holy Empress, and he has a good daughter. His status in the court has always been unusual, but at this time, his colleagues in the court and the bishops gave way to him, not because of these reasons. It was because he knew the complicated relationship between him and Chen Changsheng.
These big shots used to talk to Chen Changsheng like elders, but if we really want to talk about elders, only Xu Shiji and his wife in the capital can be regarded as his elders. The most important thing is that the marriage contract has caused a lot of trouble, and people really want to know What Xu Shiji would say when he met Chen Changsheng at this time, many people were already mentally prepared to see Xu Shiji's jokes.
The front of the hall became a little quiet.
Xu Shiji walked slowly from outside the crowd and stood in front of Chen Changsheng with an indifferent and condescending expression.
Chen Changsheng saluted, but did not speak.
"The performance in the imperial examination...was good." Xu Shiji looked him in the eyes and said, the obvious elder tone fell on everyone's ears, but it was a bit stiff.
Chen Changsheng thought for a while, but didn't answer.
Xu Shiji frowned slightly, and suddenly said, "Come to dinner at home."
Hearing this, there was an uproar in the audience.
No one said anything, but many people couldn't help but slander, especially those ministers of the old school, who kept cursing that this person's face was thicker than the palace wall, how could he be so shameless
To everyone's surprise, Chen Changsheng thought for a while and said, "Okay."
Xu Shiji stared into his eyes, confirmed that he really understood his invitation and agreed, with a calm expression, no further words, nodded to him and turned to leave.
After the announcement of the rankings in the Dachao Trial, it was a routine parade.
Led by Chen Changsheng, the examinees boarded a special chariot, surrounded by the masses, and walked along the official road by the Luoshui River in the capital city. It took at least two hours to make a detour.
The whole capital was plunged into a carnival atmosphere.
From time to time, flowers and melons and fruits were thrown onto the chariots by the people. On the chariots of Chen Changsheng, Gou Hanshi, Guan Feibai, and Tang Thirty-Six, the most flowers and fruits were thrown. If it wasn't for the imperial court's experience in sending many soldiers to take them out, I'm afraid they Really want to be buried alive by flowers and fruits.
Walking around to the southwest corner of the imperial city, Chen Changsheng felt a little thirsty. Without thinking too much, he touched a melon from his side and took a bite. It rained melons for a while, and he was speechless with his head in his arms.
The line of sight fell from the melon rain to the palace, saw Lingyan Pavilion, and also saw Gan Terrace. He always thought he saw a little black spot on the edge of Gan's terrace, and he thought it was a black sheep.
He waved that way. Then he saw Miss Shuang'er with a complicated expression in the crowd, thinking of the meal tonight, his waving hands became a little heavy.
…
…