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The examinees’ answers were nothing more than focusing on which successor was more beneficial to the country, or simply quoting classics, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of the three possibilities Old Chief thought in mind.
Either one was still within the scope of the hereditary system, but Xiao Liulang had jumped out of this scope.
Wasn't this telling the Emperor that if your sons couldn’t do it, then change it to someone else's son?
Such statements were directly punishable in the former dynasty.
Even in a society where speech was relatively free, it was still too bold.
Old Chief simply had no idea how this disciple’s brain came up with such scandalous views. How dare he write this kind of article?
Fortunately, his last flattery was well written.
He implied that the reason why His Majesty of today could succeed to the throne was that he was the most capable person in the whole nation; it had nothing to do with his birth or blood.
Midway through, Old Chief's cold sweat turned hot.
Hold on, who did this boy learn how to bootlick from? So shameless, hey?
Why did he feel that this boy had suddenly been enlightened to some extraordinary skills?
He definitely didn't learn it from him!
He had never taught such a bootlicker!
Old Chief felt that there was no problem in Xiao Liulang's talent itself; the rest could only be left to Heaven's will.
Nine days after the metropolitan exam, many examinees fell ill, and the business in the medical hall was booming again.
At the same time, the order for that batch of jinchuang medicine placed by Gu Changqing a year ago was also completed. Gu Jiao tested the efficacy of the medicine and sent it to the military camp only after it met the standard requirements.
Last year, she sent a letter to Xue Ningxiang, saying that Zhou Erzhuang was doing well. Xue Ningxiang wrote back to her, telling her about the happenings in the village, as well as the progress of the medicine field. Xue Ningxiang also sent some things to her.
Some were for her and some for Zhou Erzhuang.
Gu Changqing often came to the medical hall to visit Gu Chenglin. Gu Jiao brought the things for Zhou Erzhuang that Xue Ningxiang sent, and asked Gu Changqing to send them to Zhou Erzhuang. If Zhou Erzhuang had a reply, she also asked him to bring his letter to her as she would send it back to the village.
When replying to Xue Ningxiang's letter, Gu Jiao suddenly found a very sad fact.
That was, Xue Ningxiang's handwriting was actually better than her own!
Gu Jiao: "Hey, is this girl learning to write with someone? She made such great progress?"
Xiao Liulang, who passed by the door of her room, glanced at her, went back to his own room silently, and doubled the copybook that Gu Jiao practiced with every day!
……
There were thousands of metropolitan exam papers that were being copied, which were then sent to the inner hall for grading. There were a total of twenty marking officials in groups of four, that was to say, each paper must be reviewed by four marking officials. If two marking officials marked the exam paper as failed, there was no need to further send this paper up.
However, the marking officials couldn’t just fail an exam paper blindly. There would be a person especially tasked to review the exam papers marked as failed later, and the marking official who made a malicious evaluation would be severely punished.
Each group of marking officials would select the top 50 exam papers from the 500 exam papers they were assigned to mark, and hand them over to the Chief Examiner and Deputy Examiner afterwards. These were basically the candidates for Gongshi.
Of course, the Chief Examiner and Deputy Examiner would carefully review them, and they would put the exam paper aside if they had any objections. The eliminated exam papers would also be ranked according to their scores, then the Chief Examiner and Deputy Examiner would select the missing number of Gongshi from among the top eliminated papers.
There were another ten special spots.
These were the people put in by His Majesty and the cabinet officials.
The names of these people would directly appear in the list of successful examinees, and it didn’t matter whether they were included in the final 200 exam papers or not.
If they happened to be included already, there would be 200 Gongshi in total this year. If they weren’t, a few more names would be added to the 200 names.
As for how these people would rank in the next palace exam, it wasn’t a matter for the marking officials to worry about.
Copying, marking, preliminary review, reexamination, ranking. With this series of operations, the list would not be released until next month.
Xiao Liulang was very calm and took Little Jing Kong to and from school as usual, just like the days before the exam.
Gu Jiao was also very calm; one wouldn’t know by looking at her that she made a bet with all her wealth.
Meanwhile, Gu Jinyu had been having a hard time lately. Since her background was exposed by Zhuang Mengdie, her popularity in the women's academy had plummeted, and several young misses who rushed to curry favor with her in the past had gradually alienated her.
She fell ill in anger and asked for a sick leave.
On this day, she was at home recovering from her illness. Suddenly, Grannie Qi came knocking on her door.
Grannie Qi was an old servant around Imperial Concubine Shu, and was highly valued by Imperial Concubine Shu.
Gu Jinyu received her warmly, "What brings Grannie Qi here?"
Grannie Qi patted Gu Jinyu's hand and said with a big smile, "You, I didn't know you were ill until Her Highness, the imperial concubine, asked Lord Marquis about you. You should have said a word that you’re ill to her Highness; don't you know how much Her Highness cherishes you?"
Gu Jinyu was moved and said softly, "It's not a serious illness. I can’t bother my aunt with just this."
Grannie Qi gave her an upset look, saying, "Are you regarding yourself as an outsider?"
Gu Jinyu lowered her eyes and smiled.
Grannie Qi asked the palace maid to put some brocade boxes on the table, "These are all given to you by Her Highness. There are snow lotus and ginseng. They are the best quality. You must remember to eat them."
Gu Jinyu said with emotion, "Thank you, Grannie."
Grannie Qi took her hand again and said, "People don't need to be deferential when they ask a family member for help. Her Highness doesn’t have a daughter and she always treats you as her own daughter. You should take care of yourself and stop making Her Highness worry."
"Yes, Jinyu will remember." Gu Jinyu said obediently.
Grannie Qi finally cut to the chase, "Oh, by the way, I'm here today because of one more thing. Her Highness wants to see you."
Thereupon, Gu Jinyu went into the palace with Grannie Qi .
Imperial Concubine Shu was the head of a palace. She had her own independent palace and didn’t have to share space with other small masters like the second rank imperial concubines. She lived in Changchun Palace with the Fifth Prince, quite free and unfettered.
It was a fine day today. Imperial Concubine Shu was reading the homework of the Fifth Prince in a small pavilion within Changchun Palace.
Gu Jinyu went forward to greet her, "Aunt."
Imperial Concubine Shu beckoned her to come closer, "You’re just in time, Little Fifth just wrote an article. Come take a look."
"Yes." Gu Jinyu sat down beside Imperial Concubine Shu, and Imperial Concubine Shu handed her the article of the Fifth Prince.
The Fifth Prince was the same age as Gu Chenglin, and every day he went to study in the imperial study hall with his brothers. There, they were taught by prestigious Confucian scholars of this dynasty.
To be honest, the Fifth Prince's intellect wasn’t so good.
All of his homework was basically done by Gu Jinyu.
After reading it, Gu Jinyu smiled and praised, "His Fifth Highness has made progress."
"I feel the same way!" Imperial Concubine Shu was very happy with this comment. She asked the palace maid to put the article away, then looked at Gu Jinyu and said with a trace of fondness, "You, child, you’ve done such a great thing in the county, why didn't you say anything?"
"Hm?" Gu Jinyu was stupefied.
The topic of conversation caught her off guard.
Imperial Concubine Shu gave her a vexed look, took her hand and said, "You're still trying to hide it. If our side didn’t send snacks to His Majesty, I wouldn’t know you had done such a great thing behind our backs! Why are you being so low-profile like this?"
Gu Jinyu was even more confused. Just what did she do?
Imperial Concubine Shu held her hand tightly, and her eyes were full of excitement, "The bellows ah!"
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