Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

If Zhao Heng, the official, hadn't mentioned it suddenly, Lu Ci would have almost forgotten the previous bet.

Now he was suddenly reminded by the enthusiastic Emperor Yuguchi, he felt very dumbfounded, and the slight tension that had been lingering in his heart was also dispelled without a trace by this interruption.

The officials suddenly became playful, Zaizhi Wang Dan couldn't help frowning.

However, the official was in a good mood and was also in high spirits. It was really hard to spoil the other party's happiness by admonishing him, so he had to endure it for the time being.

Zhao Heng smiled and looked at this young talent he personally selected, the more he liked it, the more he liked it.

The corners of Lu Ci's lips were smiling, his posture was stretched and calm, and his demeanor was decent and generous. He just looked at the emperor frankly, without any anxiety or dodge.

Seeing the emperor staring endlessly at the good-looking new champion, Wang Dan couldn't bear it anymore.

He cleared his throat deliberately, and tapped lightly on the front of the second paper.

Only now did Zhao Heng come back to his senses, and he couldn't help but feel a little lost.

He only finished ordering the number one pick, but there were more than 300 Denkos standing outside, waiting anxiously.

As soon as the official looked away, a guard with a sense of relief stepped forward, politely led the hot new noble guest to the corner of the corridor, and took the imperial edict.

The roll call ceremony, which has been stuck in this step for a long time, can continue.

In Lu Ci's view, this is probably the diploma of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chihuang, also known as Chihuang, is two sheets of thick hemp paper that are glued together. On it is written the words that Lu Ci was the first in the Jinshi Division in March of the eighth year of Dazhong Xiangfu.

Although the texture is ordinary and rough when rubbed, the content recorded is what all scholars dream of.

Based on this, you can go to the Ministry of Quanquan to make an annotation and give an imperial edict to an official. From then on, you will no longer be a commoner, but an official and hairpin gentry.

After Lu Ci took Chihuang, the guards surrounded him in the scene, asking him to wait here for a while, and then returned to the hall, ready to lead the first class, second class and third class.

Although the number one scholar enjoys the honor of thanking the single class and receiving the imperial edict first, when receiving the banquet, he still has to wait for the first and second Jia to finish singing, and then receive this grace together.

Lu Ci's eyes lit up slightly.

It was the first time for him to taste imperial food, and he wondered how the red charred meat pie, small flower cake and mutton rice tasted by the imperial chef.

While Lu Ci was feeling somewhat fascinated by the delicacies that he had only heard of but never seen, the mentality of the disciples who were still anxiously waiting outside the Chongzheng Hall became more and more chaotic.

Why has Lu Zhuangyuan been in for so long, and the second place has not been passed on?

They couldn't help guessing wildly: Is it something that happened to Lu Ci, or there was a temporary controversy over the candidate for the second place...

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait too long. Following the roll call of the chief executive in the hall and the shouts of the guards, they called out the name of the second person on the list full of glory.

It was Cai Qi.

After experiencing ups and downs, Cai Qi's hanging heart fell to the ground in an instant.

His hunch was right.

Although the essay that inspired him so much was the article that ultimately lost to his rival Lu Ci, it also made him the second person among the more than 500 people!

Cai Qi didn't want to look too unsteady, so he tried his best to imitate Lu Ci's calm and breezy manner, and reluctantly suppressed his overflowing joy, and immediately followed the guards into the room to thank others amidst the real or fake congratulations of others.

However, the people in the hall are all sophisticated and sophisticated people, how can you not see the difference in mentality between him and Lu Ci?

However, they could understand Cai Qi's excitement, but Lu Ci's calmness did not match his young age.

Wang Dan smiled faintly at him, and after telling the guards his hometown name, someone led Cai Qi to the pavilion.

Zhao Heng glanced casually at Cai Qi who was extremely nervous, and felt that the second place in the list was also quite handsome and energetic.

But with the picturesque No. [-] Scholar in front of him, Zhao Heng's gaze became much harsher. The second place in the list can only be called pleasing to the eye.

However, even with Cai Qi's outstanding appearance, Zhao Heng, who has been adopted by him, is only willing to give a "not bad" evaluation, the next person can only be called crooked. .

Zhao Heng's eyelids drooped more and more, and after realizing his impatience, Wang Dan also tacitly accelerated the speed of the roll call.

The overjoyed Entrance Scholars came in one by one, Zhao Heng's attitude became more and more perfunctory, he just nodded casually, and they left faster and faster.

Those admitted Jinshi who were waiting outside the palace didn't know how the officials treated Lu Ci with a pleasant face, even joking and affectionate attitude, so naturally there would be no psychological gap.

But all the officials in the hall, big and small, knew this clearly, and they felt a little subtle in their hearts.

Until Class One, Class Three, No. 7 Liu Sanbian came in, Zhao Heng had a slight impression of the name, and vaguely remembered that it was Lu Sanyuan's friend, so he raised his eyelids a little and gave it a serious look.

It really is a group of people.

This person who has a close friendship with Lu Sanyuan has a good appearance and a slender stature, which is also considered pleasing to the eye.

Liu Qi's long-cherished wish has been fulfilled for many years, and now he still feels a little unreal, and he didn't even notice that the officials were silently sizing him up.

Although he still had a polite smile on his face, his slightly trembling hands revealed the turmoil in his heart. When thanking him, he lost his focus and almost turned his bow into a salute.

Almost disrespectful, Liu Qi couldn't help but blushed, and hurriedly went down to the pavilion under the guidance of the guards.

The number of people in Xuanzhong gradually increased, but Lu Ci, who came to Xuanxia first, naturally took the best position.

For this point, no matter whether it is the person, the guard, or other first-class Jinshi, they all take it for granted and have no doubts.

While other people gathered in twos and threes on the porch, Lu Ci sat leisurely in the gazebo, staring at the fish swimming in the water, and did not participate in their conversation, and his every move was still as leisurely as the day he went to the palace examination.

He has a delicate and beautiful appearance, white and clean skin, tall and slender figure, and a leisurely posture. He is now holding a royal yellow, casually elegant, even if he does not say a word, he is very eye-catching.

There was a gentle smile on the corner of his mouth, but there was an extraordinary aura that couldn't be ignored, which made the person who wanted to chat unknowingly deter him.

Cai Qi looked at Lu Ci several times, but he was still a little delicate. Even though he knew that it was best to have a deep friendship with Lu Sanyuan, who was destined to have a bright future, he couldn't move for some reason.

He only had a hasty face-to-face meeting in front of the official's house in the palace, and he had already entered the hall; Lu Ci had already received his imperial edict by himself, but he had to wait for the first, second and third classes to be sung together. Let's take Xie En together again...

Although in the imperial list, the second place is next to the champion, and at this moment, he is only a few dozen steps away from Lu Ci, but the gap between the two is far greater than this.

Lu Ci was completely unaware of Cai Qi's complicated emotions, and he didn't pay much attention to them.

He was not as anxious as they were to talk to the scholars who were admitted to the Imperial Academy, and even thought that this was not the best time.

A moment ago, all the people here were completely strangers to each other. With such a short period of time, what kind of deep friendship can we talk about?

Besides, depending on the ranking, the conferment of official positions is also different. After a period of time in the future, they may be assigned to serve as officials all over the world, and it will be difficult to meet again in the short term.

Even if an insider is often kept in the capital for a job, they are rarely released from the beginning, but the duties are different, and it is difficult to have time to socialize.

Therefore, there is no need to act too hastily.

Lu Ci stared at the koi in the pond in a daze, while thinking about what Xie Enshi should do for a while.

Imperial food is not so easy to eat, especially the top three on the list, they have to compose poems to praise the emperor as a thank you before being given the banquet.

As soon as he had some clues, he heard a burst of hurried footsteps approaching quickly.

Lu Ci couldn't help turning his head to the side, seeing that it was Liu Qishi who was rushing towards him with no manners, he couldn't help showing a pleasant smile after being surprised.

— This is really wonderful.

As a result, before he had time to get up to greet him, he was suddenly attacked by a hungry tiger on the other side. He fell back unexpectedly and was firmly pressed against the wooden platform in the pavilion.

Thanks to Lu Ci reflexively adjusting his posture before hitting him, he avoided the trouble of hitting the back of his head, but he was also very embarrassed, and his back was hit hard, which made him gasp lightly gas.

However, before he could push away the reckless ghost on his body, Liu Qi buried her head on his shoulder regardless, weeping silently.

Lu Ci's eyelids twitched wildly.

Although he is also happy that his efforts were not in vain, he helped Liu Yong, who had a lot of trouble in his official career, change his destiny, and also made his cherished friend realize his dream of enrolling in an imperial examination.

But it's not good to cry like a child in public.

Liu Qi has always cherished his image and face the most, and his style is not like his usual.

Lu Ci's back was still aching, but what made him even more troubled was that it was already difficult to see the different eyes of other people.

He smiled helplessly, patted the back of Liu Qi who was completely out of control, and sighed with difficulty concealing his resentment: "This is at least worth the ten things I owe you!"

Liu Qi: "..."

Brother Yu Yu is too realistic...

Seeing that half of Lu Ci's [-] things about him had been taken away at once, he simply cried enough to get his money's worth, and unceremoniously wet the clothes on Lu Ci's shoulders with his tears before rushing to be sung Bi and the two groups stopped crying before re-entering the palace to thank you.

But he was still sobbing softly, his eyes were red.

Although he was a little embarrassed, he still held Lu Ci's hands tightly, and said with a sob: "If there is no brother Yu Yu, there will be no—"

Seeing that his tears were coming again, Lu Ci was completely convinced, he shook his hand decisively, and interrupted him: "Don't talk nonsense. I don't have the ability to take the exam for you. You rely on your own ability to say What is this kind of nonsense?"

Before Liu Qi could speak again, Lu Ci had already urged him to follow behind Cai Qi and the others and return to the Chongzheng Palace.

After Yijia had finished singing, under the leadership of Cai Qi, the nine people thanked the court together, bowed and bowed before retreating, received the imperial edict, and then went to the hall.

Knowing that there was no hope for themselves and the most honored first class, the outsiders couldn't help sighing in disappointment, and soon regained their spirits, waiting for the second class' roll call.

Liu Qi, who came back this time, has calmed down and is much more normal than before.

Under the secretly envious gazes of the crowd, Liu Qi naturally entered the pavilion with the best scenery, but in their eyes, it was almost equivalent to Lu Sanyuan's exclusive seat, and he and Lu Sanyuan were chatting happily and intimately.

It's just that when joking with Liu Qi, Lu Ci was always worried about the other two, especially how Zhu Shuo's grades were.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long, and Zhu Shuo, who was in the second place at the top, also entered the Xuan Lai with high spirits, and walked straight towards them with a smile on his face.

When the top two names are all sung, it is lunch time.

Although Teng Zongliang didn't know it yet, three of the six co-guarantors had successfully gathered together.

Such outstanding achievements, looking at the history books, I am afraid that there are not many to be found.

Immediately, everyone in the know was amazed.

Some people couldn't help but wonder, could it be that Lu Sanyuan's talent is so powerful, as long as he has some contact with his co-insurer, even the man surnamed Zhu who is a little younger than Lu Sanyuan successfully made the list?

When they were thinking about it, the guards came again and led the first and second grade soldiers back to the palace.

There are many exquisite dishes, besides the three dishes that Lu Ci has heard of, there are also many side dishes, drinks and desserts, all of which are dazzling.

But for the Xinke people, the most exciting thing about this honor is not how delicious the dishes are, but the officials who give them the food and eat with them.

After seeing this, Liu Qi and Zhu Shuo turned their heads quietly at the same time, and looked at their Lu Sanyuan...

Sure enough, Lu Ci's beautiful eyes that looked like lacquer were completely lit up.

The author has something to say: Notes:

1. Edict Huang: According to the system of the Song Dynasty, scholars were granted imperial edicts upon enrolling in imperial examinations, written on thick yellow paper, called Edict Huang.Then he went to the Ministry of Quan to make an annotation, and gave him a patent to appoint an official, so he got rid of Webb and became a hairpin gentry. "Postscript to Empress Liu Gongchi Huang"

2. Sing to the end of the second Jia, drive happily, and eat inside. ("The Legacy of Qiantang")

3. After the yellow papers were given, for the first three scholars including the number one scholar, "each set up a position to compose a poem to repay the emperor's kindness", "the top three each entered a poem of gratitude" "Old Stories of Wulin"