After being mistaken for a fellow by Long Aotian

As the saying goes, the road to enemies is narrow.When Zhou Xun arrived at the palace gate, Yan Shangshu and Yan Jia were saying goodbye there.Yan Jia was still submissive and silent in front of his father. When Zhou Xun arrived, he heard Yan Shangshu whispering: "This year, there have been changes in the imperial examination. It is not only the emperor who hand-picked the top three candidates, but other than the emperor. Two chief examiners, and two ministers questioned and reviewed. But you don't have to be nervous, just be yourself..."

Yan Jia nodded, he seemed vaguely absent-minded.Yan Shangshu said again: "As for that Zhou Xun, you don't have to worry. Today, Prime Minister Lu is among those two ministers. With him, he must be..."

His voice became quieter, but a voice came from behind Zhou Xun: "Zhou Xun!"

Yan Shangshu: ...

Yan Jia: ...

Zhou Xun: ...

"I called you several times, why didn't you answer me?"

Zhou Xun said, "I didn't hear that."

"Didn't hear it? Do you think I will believe it?" Li Miao sneered, "You are clearly pretending to be deaf and dumb on purpose, deliberately despising me!"

Zhou Xun: ...

"Don't think that your name on the list is written ahead of me, and the ranking in this reply test will also be ahead of me." Li Miao said, "Also, why didn't you go in when you arrived? Huh? Master Yan, Yan Jia , are you here too?"

The atmosphere was quite heavy for a while.Zhou Xun passed the three of them and said, "I'll go first."

Li Miao followed behind him relentlessly: "Why, are you guilty? Not ready? Don't dare to face me? Afraid of being overtaken by me?"

Zhou Xun: ...I really have nothing to say to this person.

Behind them, Yan Jia also bid farewell to Yan's father.He looked at the backs of Zhou Xun and Li Miao from a distance, and pursed his lips.

The strategy and questioning part of the palace examination lasts from dawn to dusk.At dusk, everyone handed in the papers and temporarily stayed in the small hall in the palace.After waiting nervously, the examinees finally heard the voice of the final three lucky ones being summoned.

The No.1 summoned was Yan Jia, who is the only son of Yan Shangshu, which is not surprising.Yan Jia was not very happy when he heard the words, his emotions seemed to be completely sealed.

The second person is Li Miao, he is the son of Duke Huguo, which is not surprising.Hearing this, Li Miao looked like a proud peacock with its tail raised.I really didn't expect that this idiot-like son could actually write good articles.

But the third person is... an ordinary examinee named "Zhou Xun" who had been unknown in the past, and who had gained fame in the capital for a while half a year ago, but then disappeared.

When the news comes out, of course, some families are happy and some are sad.Seeing the first-ranked candidates leave, the candidates left behind started whispering while feeling depressed.They took Yan Jia and Li Miao to the bottom, but they didn't have anything to say about Zhou Xun, who they didn't know very well, and there was no excuse for Zhou Xun's appearance and demeanor.At the end, there was only one examinee who said unwillingly: "What kind of family would name their child the word 'Xian'? The inferior one? Poor, not as good, not as good? I hope that my child will be better than me. No, how can there be such a name?"

And the three people on the cusp of the storm didn't know anything about it.At this moment, they were standing in the main hall, facing the questioning of the five great gods in front of them.

Four of the five gods are the jury hired by the emperor—his cultural knowledge is still not strong enough, and he was afraid that he would show timidity when he asked the three strongest liberal arts masters on land, so he specially made such a jury. Personal evaluation system - one for him, two examiners, and two highly respected ministers.But what he didn't expect was that his lazy behavior won unanimous praise from the government and the public. The ministers all praised the emperor for bringing forth the new through the old, which is very democratic.

These four great gods are the two chief examiners—one is the highly respected Master Gu, whose snow-white beard is longer than the snow-white hair on the top of his head, so he wears a hat all the year round.This bachelor is smiling at everyone, maybe because he is getting older and his personality has become kinder.

The other is the Minister of Rites.He looked serious and glanced at Zhou Xun, which made Zhou Xun feel that the visitor was very unkind.He thought about it, and remembered that this person and Yan Shangshu seemed to be friends.

As for the two ministers, one is Prime Minister Lu who maliciously speculated about Zhou Xun as a "concubine giving birth to a son" last time.The other one looked strange.The man looked like he was in his 30s, and his gestures and gestures were exquisite.The person next to him introduced: "This is the emperor's uncle, King Duan, who usually lives in Liangzhou."

Duan Wang Rongyu...Zhou Xun had heard rumors about him.

Liangzhou, where King Duan lived, Yunzhou, where Zhou Cai was exiled, and Xizhou, where there was an epidemic before, were all at the junction of Great Liang, the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Jing Dynasty.Therefore, bandits in Liangzhou are terrible. If those bandits and the Northern Wei Dynasty collude, the whole Liangzhou will be driven straight in by them.And this King Duan single-handedly wiped out Liangzhou's most famous gang of bandits when he was young—it seems to be called Wanjiazhai, and incorporated them into the imperial army—Wanjiajun.

Li Miao next to him was a little excited, it seemed that he was looking forward to this King Duan very much.

Duan Wang himself seemed to have sensed everyone's curiosity, he smiled and said: "My wife has something to do when she returns to the capital. I was invited by the emperor. I am not talented, so I came to jury."

Oh, insider.Zhou Xun thought, it must be Princess Duan.However, he has never been very interested in the gossip about the emperor's relatives, but that Princess Duan was able to accompany King Duan to stay in the bitterly cold Liangzhou for many years, so she must be a very gentle and virtuous woman.

After introducing the identity of the visitor, the palace examination officially began.

However, the content of the palace examination was different from what Zhou Xun thought.In his imagination, the palace examination was much more solemn after all.Unfortunately, as the emperor, the emperor was naturally the first to speak after being elected by the other four great gods.The emperor picked up the three papers and continued to read them, saying: "In order to ensure the fairness of the re-examination, all your papers will be hand-copied by the scribe, and then handed over to the examiner for review, and then the ten best papers will be handed over to I and the four lovers selected the first three by clicking on them. Therefore, I do not know that it was the three of you who appeared in the hall."

He seemed to say this casually, but Zhou Xun felt more at ease.The emperor was telling everyone that Zhou Xun's palace test came in a dignified way.

The emperor casually asked the three of them a few words, nothing more than how old they were, what books they had read, and what their future aspirations were.The three of them answered separately, and they were all quite satisfactory.The bachelor asked the three of them some questions about the Four Books and Five Classics. Li Miao was a little stuck, but Zhou Xun and Yan Jia answered fluently.

It's not surprising that Yan Jia's answers are fluent.After all, he is Yan Shangshu's parent and son.But Zhou Xun actually stood beside him, but he was not inferior, which surprised him a little.

Then he went to the Minister of Rites.The minister of the Ministry of Rites seemed to dislike Zhou Xun extremely, and his words were somewhat deliberately difficult. He only asked Yan Jia and Li Miao a few questions, but he kept asking Zhou Xun, as if insisting on finding out what was wrong with Zhou Xun's words. the wrong place.

But Zhou Xun has always been neither humble nor overbearing, and his answers are fluent.Finally, when talking about the main battle or the main peace with the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Minister of Rites finally seemed to have caught Zhou Xun's mistake, and smiled while holding his beard: "The main battle? I really don't know the heights of the sky and the earth."

He kept talking about many disadvantages of the main battle, but he didn't leave room for Zhou Xun to interject.At the end, he said again: "Back when Zhou Hanlin was around..."

"And now, he has been dispatched to Yunzhou." Zhou Xun said lightly.

"you!"

"Today Yang Shilang seems to be an examinee, talking more than the emperor," a gentle voice said, "Yang Shilang has talked enough, why don't you give the time back to Prime Minister Lu?"

Zhou Xun didn't expect Duan Wang to speak for him, and was a little surprised for a while.When the minister of the Ministry of Rites heard this sentence of scolding him for acting as a superintendent, his hairs immediately stood on end.He sneaked a glance at the emperor, and saw that the emperor's face was as usual, so he was relieved.

He had previously vaguely heard rumors that the emperor had some personal relationship with this man named Zhou Xun, but he and Yan Shangshu belonged to the same party, so they naturally wanted the party to fight against differences, so he suddenly forgot how to measure.But since the emperor didn't say anything now, and never interrupted him, the rumors might not be true, and there was nothing between the emperor and Zhou Xun.

Thinking of this, he politely said a few words in embarrassment, and then passed the conversation to Prime Minister Lu.The minister of the Ministry of Rites heard that Zhou Xun had a quarrel with Prime Minister Lu. Although he is silent now, Prime Minister Lu should always complete his unfinished business.

But what he didn't expect was that Prime Minister Lu was sitting there, staring at Zhou Xun with a distraught look on his face.

"Prime Minister Lu? Prime Minister Lu?"

Only then did Prime Minister Lu regain his senses.He pleaded guilty, and began to question the three of them with his normal expression and normal posture, as if the distraction just now was just an illusion.But when he asked Zhou Xun, for some reason, he said surprisingly few words.

Zhou Xun himself was surprised by this.When Prime Minister Lu asked him a question, he had already put all his attention into it.

He still hasn't forgotten what Prime Minister Lu said to him that day in the palace.

Prime Minister Lu said that he was a concubine's son, and his short-sightedness is normal and pitiful. He stayed by the emperor's side to please the emperor and covet wealth.He still remembered that his reply that day was also sharp-tongued, and the two of them were completely torn apart.

Zhou Xun didn't care what Prime Minister Lu thought of him.Seeing Prime Minister Lu staring at him just now, his heart just sank, but it was not beyond his expectation.

But what he didn't expect was that Prime Minister Lu was quite out of his mind when he questioned him.It was as if his throat had been cut off suddenly by some blade, and the questions he asked were all a little weak, and there was a strange sense of urgency.

Zhou Xun couldn't figure out why.The next one to question them was the gentle-looking and good-tempered King Duan.Duan Wang only asked a few words and let them go.

Seeing that it was time to be the number one scholar, according to the regulations made by the emperor now, the rankings obtained by the three should also be decided by five people through discussion.After some discussion, the emperor heard the emperor look at Li Miao, and spoke first, naming him Tanhua.

A look of disappointment appeared on Li Miao's face.However, he also understands that based on his performance, it is normal for him to be only selected as a candidate.

Then, it came to the battle between the champion and the second place.The old bachelor was very impressed by Zhou Xun and supported him to be the number one scholar.The attitude of the minister of the Ministry of Rites is very resolute towards Yan Jia.The emperor still did not speak.After thinking for a moment, King Duan smiled softly and said, "Zhou Xun is a good boy."

"Prince Duan, you...!" The Minister of Rites still wanted to ask for some support.

In fact, he was shooting himself in the foot.Originally Zhou Xun and Yan Jia's level is better or worse, but it is not known.No matter how talented Zhou Xun is, Yan Jia was cultivated in a scholarly family since he was a child. The talents and learning of the two may only be between brothers, and there is no big difference.And just now, during the quiz, it can be seen that Yan Jia's personality is more stable. Although Zhou Xun looks indifferent and calm, when disputes arise, he is sharp and uncomfortably sharp, which does not meet the usual definition of "a gentleman". .

But he asked those questions for the purpose of embarrassing Zhou Xun and embarrassing him.Now that the ugliness is not lost, Zhou Xun shines because of this, overpowering Yan Jia, and because of being embarrassed like this, he has completely won the support of the old academician who has been successfully abused.

Although anyone with a discerning eye knows that Zhou Xun's performance is better.But the minister of the Ministry of Rites is unwilling. Now that the emperor doesn't speak up, if he wins over Prime Minister Lu, who is at odds with Zhou Xun, to speak up...

He looked at Prime Minister Lu.

For some reason, Prime Minister Lu, who was supposed to absolutely support him, seemed to be in a daze.He looked at the pillars in the distance, from beginning to end, without saying a word.