The Kingdom That Never Sleeps CH 043 Senior Brother's Heartfelt Sincerity
Grand Secretary Li held the anonymized exam paper in his hand, clicking his tongue in amazement. The other examiners nodded in agreement and repeatedly praised it. One examiner said, "Although the first two essays were somewhat ordinary, this last one is the best among the more than ten thousand candidates."
Someone asked, "Then how should we rank this session’s exam?"
Grand Secretary Li thought for a moment and said, "Though it’s customary not to reveal the names on the papers even after determining the top ten, we’ll make an exception today. There’s a precedent for this from the time of the late emperor, where two candidates' writings were so exceptional that their names were revealed to check their authentic handwriting. The final ranking for the top candidate was then determined by considering the other two exam sessions as well. My suggestion, colleagues, is that we first select the top three candidates, then reveal their rankings and decide the top three positions."
"We shall follow your lead, Li daren."
Thus, the examiners first identified the top three papers. Then they ordered the government officers to retrieve the papers from the other two sessions for these three candidates, this time with their actual handwriting.
The papers had originally been transcribed by xiucai, whose handwriting was mostly neat and elegant; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been chosen for the task. However, when compared with these three candidates’ original handwriting, the difference was stark, like fireflies against the sun. The examiners felt utterly refreshed as they read the original versions of these three papers.
After reviewing all three papers, one of the vice examiners said, "I’ve come to a conclusion."
The other two vice examiners also said, "So have we."
Finally, everyone turned their attention to Grand Secretary Li.
The eccentric Grand Secretary Li stroked his dry, white goatee and said, "Then let’s vote. I’ll have three votes, and each of you will have two."
"Agreed."
The day before the exam results were posted, Tang Shen had completely forgotten about it and slept soundly. Who would have thought that early the next morning, before dawn, Feng Bi would wake him up. Startled, Tang Shen immediately remembered what day it was. Feng Bi suggested, "Gongzi, why don’t you wait at home today, and I’ll go to the Shengjing Exam Hall to check the results?"
Tang Shen thought for a moment and said, "I’ll go myself."
He put on a thick cotton jacket, donned a cloak, and before dawn, he, along with Feng Bi and Yao San, went to the Shengjing Exam Hall.
It was now early spring in March, but Shengjing was still cold, with their breath visible in the air. It was still before the hours of yin shi (3-5am), and the wide, quiet road was deserted, save for the high-ranking officials heading to the morning court and the candidates heading to the exam hall to check their results. They walked in silence along the sides of the road, most of them looking anxious, with few showing any joy or confidence.
Tang Shen lifted the curtain of his carriage and saw the distressed faces of the other candidates, sighing helplessly, "The questions in this year’s huishi were indeed tricky!"
As they approached the exam hall gates, they saw from a distance a mass of dark heads under the moonlight—students gathered like a black sea. Despite the crowd, there was only the sound of breathing and an occasional cough, followed by a heavy, oppressive silence like still water.
Finally, the gates of the exam hall opened, and the wave of candidates began to move.
Tang Shen stood in the middle of the crowd and saw two officers holding up a large red list, posting the ranking board. The list was posted from the bottom up, and a total of 291 candidates were selected in this round of the huishi. Tang Shen noticed that Liu Fang ranked 217th. At first, he thought it was just a duplicate name, but upon closer inspection, it was indeed Liu Fang, Liu Keji, the student from the Imperial College who was most likely to win the top spot in this exam.
Some other students from the Imperial College also noticed Liu Fang's name, and someone shouted, "Liu Fang, how did you only rank 217th? Ah, Liu Fang, what’s wrong with you... Sigh, I didn't expect Liu Fang to be so upset that he left before the list was fully posted!"
Tang Shen thought to himself: If it weren't for Grand Secretary Li coming up with such messed-up questions, how could Liu Fang not be in the top three? Storming off is a mild reaction; others with worse tempers might have cursed on the spot.
As he continued to scan the list, Tang Shen saw a few other familiar names. Most of the scholars who attended the banquet at Prince Jing Manor were ranked within the top hundred, though they were on the lower end. Moving further up, Tang Shen spotted the name of Mei Shengze, ranked 34th.
Tang Shen immediately turned and looked at Mei Shengze, who was not far away.
Mei Shengze cupped his hands and gave a bitter smile, "I've already come to terms with it, Jing Ze, don't laugh at me."
Tang Shen deeply understood, "I feel the same, utter shamelessness."
As the list continued to be posted, Tang Shen saw two more familiar names. After two more quarters of an hour, only the top three names were left to be revealed.
Yao San held his breath nervously, and Tang Shen stared intently at the ranking board.
In the 27th year of Kaiping, the third place in the Shengjing huishi went to Yao Xun, Yao Wenji.
Second place, Tang Shen, Tang Jingze.
First place, Wang Xiao, Wang Daiyue.
Suddenly, someone grabbed him by the shoulder, and Tang Shen turned around in a daze, only to see Mei Shengze looking at him joyfully, "Jing Ze, you got second place!"
Yao San was also ecstatic, "Little Boss, you got second place!"
Tang Shen was momentarily stunned, then jokingly said, "Am I Tang Shen?"
Everyone burst into laughter, and the classmates from the Imperial College also offered their congratulations.
Mei Shengze said, "Look at you, you’re so full of yourself now."
Tang Shen chuckled, barely able to contain his excitement, "You know me well, Sheng Ze! My friends, to Qianli Tower, lunch is on me today!"
"We must go to support Jing Ze!"
"I will definitely be there!"
Securing a high score in the exam was within Tang Shen's expectations, but getting second place was beyond what he imagined. After a day of elation, he thought about it carefully and concluded, "It’s mostly because I’m naturally talented, plus I have a golden finger from my transmigration that lets me remember everything, so that’s 80% of it. Besides that, my first essay should have been quite good, but the second one was really just average, only solid writing. Getting second place must have been due to my third essay, 'I Reflect on Myself Three Times a Day.' Master Zhu Xi has blessed me!"
He wasn't far off in his guess.
With such good results, Tang Shen immediately went to inform Fu Wei and Wang Zhen of the news. However, this time he couldn't find Wang Zhen, as he had left the capital for some business and hadn't returned for a few days. When he finally saw Wang Zhen again, it was in a situation Tang Shen had not anticipated.
Every time the huishi took place in February, the results were announced in March, and in early April, the dianshi would follow.
The Imperial College was full of talented people, and every time the results were released, at least one-sixth of the successful candidates were from the Imperial College. At this time, the head of the Imperial College, Dean Lin, would invite court officials to give lectures at the college, known as "official lessons." This day, Tang Shen attended a lecture and learned that tomorrow's official lesson at the Imperial College would be delivered by none other than the Minister of Revenue, Wang Zifeng. He was taken aback.
Mei Shengze also remarked, "Jing Ze, it’s your senior brother! You must have known this in advance, right?"
Tang Shen looked innocent, "I didn’t even know when my senior brother returned to the capital!"
The next day, Dean Lin led the examinees to the Shuaixing Hall. At one quarter past noon, Wang Zhen, wearing a bright red official robe, entered the lecture hall through the main entrance. Although he was in official attire, he did not wear his official hat. Standing in front of the hall, his gentle and calm gaze swept across the students below. He must have noticed Tang Shen, but did not particularly look at him.
Half of the students at the Imperial College were from official families and knew a bit about Wang Zhen. The other half were genuinely from humble backgrounds and had never seen a powerful court official like him. Seeing how young Wang Zhen was, the students from humble backgrounds, with Liu Fang as their representative, were surprised, and their initially composed expressions varied.
However, the students of the Imperial College maintained their composure.
Wang Zhen began, "My name is Wang Zhen, courtesy name Zi Feng. I am here today to give an official lesson at the Imperial College for the sake of our teacher-student relationship, not to discuss ranks in officialdom."
The students responded in unison, "We listen to Mr. Wang."
Wang Zhen then formally began his lecture.
Dean Lin had specially invited Wang Zhen to teach this lesson, not on the Four Books and Five Classics, but on current political affairs. Of course, Wang Zhen could not reveal state secrets, but through his gestures and casual conversation, he easily shared a few stories from the late emperor’s time. The sharp students understood immediately, gaining deeper insights into officialdom and some preparation for the upcoming dianshi.
The dianshi in early April did not test the eight-legged essays, only policy discussions!
When the official lesson ended, the students were still immersed in the lecture.
Wang Zhen’s clear voice rang out, "Is there anything that remains unclear?"
After a moment of hesitation, a few students asked their questions, which Wang Zhen answered one by one.
Throughout the lesson, Wang Zhen had not once looked at Tang Shen, making Tang Shen wonder if his senior brother was truly here just to give the official lesson.
"Is Wang Zifeng really such a kind-hearted person?" Tang Shen couldn’t shake the feeling that "kind-hearted" and Wang Zifeng didn’t belong in the same sentence.
As he left the Shuaixing Hall, a lecturer was waiting outside for him and said, "Jing Ze, Wang daren is waiting for you at the Chongzhi Hall!"
Perplexed, Tang Shen went to the Chongzhi Hall. He knocked lightly on the door, and Wang Zhen’s voice came from inside, "Enter."
Tang Shen entered the room and saw Wang Zhen standing by the west wall of Chongzhi Hall, beside a painting of an old man riding a cow, looking up at it. When Tang Shen came in, Wang Zhen turned and glanced at him, his gaze pausing briefly on Tang Shen's face before dropping to his shoulder.
Tang Shen said, "Senior Brother Zi Feng."
Wang Zhen stepped forward and plucked a pale flower petal from Tang Shen’s left shoulder.
Tang Shen was taken aback.
Wang Zhen said, "An apricot blossom."
Tang Shen replied, "It must have fallen on me earlier when I walked through the backyard of the Imperial College."
Wang Zhen smiled and said, "Congratulations, Junior Brother, for being listed on the Apricot Roll and placing second in the huishi."
Tang Shen had been congratulated by countless people over the past few days, and he had grown immune to it. But hearing this simple remark from Wang Zhen, and seeing the slight smile on his face, Tang Shen inexplicably felt a bit embarrassed. With genuine sincerity, Tang Shen said, "As Senior Brother mentioned, the huishi isn’t what’s important; what matters is the dianshi."
Wang Zhen nodded and suddenly changed the topic, "How has your calligraphy practice been?"
Even as a modern person, Tang Shen was momentarily bewildered by Wang Zifeng’s abrupt shift in conversation.
Wait a minute, weren’t we just talking about the huishi? How did we suddenly switch to discussing calligraphy practice?
Tang Shen wondered in his mind, but he responded, "I've been practicing for quite some time."
"There are still ten days until the dianshi. From now on, come to my residence every afternoon at shen shi (3-5pm)."
"Senior Brother?"
"I'll teach you calligraphy."
"…"
Is Wang Zifeng really okay today?
It wasn’t until much later that Tang Shen realized that Wang Zhen didn’t believe he could secure a top-three spot in the dianshi through true talent and skill!
Writing on current affairs seems simple but is actually harder than writing an eight-legged essay! The topics for the eight-legged essay are taken from the Four Books and Five Classics, and even poor scholars with no understanding of worldly affairs can still cite scriptures and compose decent works. But as for the current affairs essay?
Tang Shen was only sixteen this year. In terms of life experience, he couldn’t compare to Yao Shan, who placed third in the huishi, nor could he match the scholarly lineage of Wang Xiao, who topped this year’s examination. Besides these two, many other candidates on the Apricot Roll, from noble and scholarly families, were far superior to him! Tang Shen had a chance of placing in the top twenty, but getting into the top ten would be difficult, and securing a top-three spot seemed nearly impossible!
However, success is determined by human effort.
During the dianshi, the only chief examiner was the emperor himself, while all other examiners were called "exam readers." The exam papers of the 291 candidates would first be reviewed by the exam readers, who would select the top ten and rank them in advance before submitting them to the emperor, who would then choose the top three.
If Tang Shen didn’t make it into the top ten, he wouldn’t even have the chance to catch the emperor’s eye.
On the second day of April, before the mao shi (5-7am), the candidates entered the palace through the Xuanwu Gate and arrived at the Mingyi Hall. Naturally, the emperor was not present on this day. Nearly three hundred candidates bowed to the empty throne, and the ten exam readers distributed the exam papers and began monitoring the exam.
As the second-place finisher in the huishi, Tang Shen sat in the second seat of the first row.
Even though he was mentally prepared, Tang Shen was momentarily stunned when he saw the four current affairs topics. In his previous life, Tang Shen had no experience in government, and in this life, he had only been in this world for three years. Not to mention analyzing these topics from an official’s perspective and proposing solutions, Tang Shen barely understood the "Battle of Yu Hu" mentioned in the fourth question and had only heard of it in passing!
However, Tang Shen remained composed, his demeanor calm as he began to answer the questions.
Not knowing what to write, he resorted to writing polite and respectful words to the emperor, wishing him good health. Tang Shen meticulously wrote each character and carefully transcribed them onto the exam paper following the specific format required for the dianshi.
Writing the policy essay was not difficult, but writing beautifully and adhering to the proper format was extremely challenging! It wasn’t until the sun had set that Tang Shen finally completed the last character. He dried the ink, set down his brush, and stopped writing.
After another hour, all the candidates were told to put down their brushes, and their exam papers were collected as they left the palace.
As Tang Shen walked out, Mei Shengze caught up with him. The two exchanged glances and both smiled wryly.
Mei Shengze asked, "Jing Ze, how did it go?"
Tang Shen sincerely replied, "I filled the entire paper, each essay with 1,500 characters."
Mei Shengze responded, "Good for you, Tang Jingze. I only managed 1,200 characters. Oh no, my ranking in the dianshi will surely be lower than yours again."
The two laughed heartily.
As the new jinshi filed out through the Xuanwu Gate, the exam readers, who were all senior officials of the court—half of them being second-rank officials, including most of the Six Ministries' ministers—began reviewing the exam papers. The Minister of Rites, a tall and slender middle-aged man with a well-groomed mustache, was among them, though Wang Zhen was not, due to a conflict of interest.
During the dianshi, the exam readers reviewed the candidates' handwritten exam papers. The Minister of Rites flipped through a paper and, upon opening the next one, his gaze froze on the first line. After a moment, he called over the Left Vice Minister of Rites and pointed to the paper, saying, "Does this handwriting look familiar?"
The Left Vice Minister of Rites glanced at it and couldn’t take his eyes off the paper. After reading the entire essay, he burst out laughing and called over the Right Vice Minister of Revenue, "Qin daren, come and take a look."
This commotion soon attracted the attention of all the exam readers in the room.
The group gathered around, and Qin Si approached, his gaze fixed on the paper.
The Minister of Rites stroked his mustache, smiling, and asked, "Doesn't this look like Wang daren’s handwriting?"
Qin Si responded with a wry smile, "It indeed has about seventy percent of Wang daren’s style. This must be the work of Wang daren’s junior brother, Tang Shen, also known as Tang Jingze!"
The Minister of Rites feigned a stern tone, "This level of calligraphy can't be achieved without a year and a half of practice! Well done, Wang Zifeng, making such a blatant mark—it’s practically cheating and favoritism!"
The senior ministers in the room all looked down at the floor, thinking: You should say that to Wang Zifeng’s face!
The Minister of Rites let out a snort and handed Tang Shen’s paper to the Left Vice Minister of Rites. "The arguments are well-reasoned, the writing is elegant and refined. Place it as a backup for the top ten."
"Understood."
Tang Shen had no idea about the earnest efforts his senior brother had gone through for him!