Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 93: Under the East Wall of the Ministry of Rites (First Order)
Jia Mu and others had not yet recovered from Jia Cong's astonishing sword strike.

Then Jia Cong said, "Madam, that Wang family man followed Sister Yuanyang into the inner courtyard, but the gatekeeper didn't notice it. What if he disturbed the sisters in the garden?

The consequences are disastrous. Such a servant who neglects his duty must be severely punished. From now on, the inner courtyard needs servants who are more alert to look after it."

Grandmother Jia glared at Jia Cong. The birthday gift he gave her yesterday had earned her face and made her feel happy, but she never expected that such a terrible thing would happen to Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Zhang.

Today was even more outrageous. Someone actually sneaked into the inner courtyard to cause trouble for him, but ended up being humiliated by this kid, even using a knife.

She also made Wang Ziteng, who came to pay his respects, look embarrassed, and embarrassed everyone, including her relatives. Seeing her second daughter-in-law with red eyes, Grandmother Jia felt annoyed.

How could this evil creature be so troublesome? But based on what happened in the past two days, she couldn't find any fault with Jia Cong at all, so she could only keep it to herself.

Hearing him say that the maids in the inner courtyard were negligent in their duties, I became scared. If outsiders were allowed to sneak into the inner courtyard and something happened to her precious granddaughters in the garden, it would ruin her reputation!
He took the opportunity to vent all his anger and asked Yuanyang to find out the old woman who was guarding the second gate today, and then caught her and beat her with twenty boards outside Rongqing Hall, and sent her to live on a farm outside the city.

Jia Cong bowed to Lady Jia and said that he had made an appointment with his classmates to go to the Ministry of Rites to see the announcement of the imperial examination results today, and then turned and left.

When he left, he was still holding the gleaming sword in his hand, which made Lady Jia and others' eyelids twitch.

……

The results of the provincial and metropolitan examinations in the capital were announced in the Confucian Temple in the east of the city, while the results of the academy examinations were announced at the east wall of the southern courtyard of the Ministry of Rites.

By the time Jia Cong arrived at the east wall of the South Courtyard of the Ministry of Rites, the place was already packed with people.

Because of the delay caused by Wang Yi's matter, Jia Cong missed the agreed time with Cai Xiaoyu, Cui Anzhi, Liu Xiaoping and others, so he could not find any trace of these three people after arriving at the place.

There is a long wall on the east side of the South Courtyard of the Ministry of Rites, and in front of it is a wide, flat and tidy open space that can accommodate thousands of people. The ceremonial rituals of the Ministry of Rites to receive envoys from foreign countries are often held here.

Because the place is spacious and the long wall of the South Courtyard is flat and faces the sun, it has always been used as the place where the examination notices are posted.

The Academy Examination was the stepping stone to the imperial examinations of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Only after passing the Academy Examination could one participate in the subsequent provincial examinations, metropolitan examinations, and even palace examinations.

The road to the imperial examination has always been step-by-step, forming a pyramid shape. From the academy examination to the metropolitan examination, the higher you go, the fewer people are eligible to participate, and those who make the list are only one in ten thousand.

As a stepping stone to the imperial examination, although the academy examination had already gone through two rounds of elimination at the county and prefectural examinations, the final number of candidates was still extremely large.

More than a hundred years ago, the Mongols ravaged the north, and the Han people migrated south to defend their country. The best scholars in the north gathered in the south to escape the war. As a result, the Han school was not slaughtered by foreigners, but instead flourished.

By the time the Great Zhou was established, the cultural traditions and accumulation in the south were even greater than those of the previous dynasty. Some of these ideas went northward, further promoting the prosperity of culture and education in the north.

Yongzhou was the most prosperous place for culture and education in the north. There were thousands of students taking the Yongzhou examination this time, but according to the quotas allocated to each prefecture and county in previous years, only two hundred people were finally admitted.

Only one out of a hundred people could pass the Yongzhou Academy examination, and the competition in the subsequent autumn and spring examinations became increasingly fierce.

Compared with the later scenes of thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge, this was even more terrifying.

Jia Cong tried to squeeze forward to get closer to the east wall where the notice was posted, but there were so many people that after only a few steps they were crowded together.

So he gave up the idea of ​​moving forward and found a slightly looser corner to wait.

Although it was impossible to see the list clearly from this place, Jia Cong was not in a hurry. So many days had passed since the entrance examination, and whether he passed or not was already there, so there was no need to rush.

At this time, the sound of gongs came from the foot of the east wall, one after another, which meant that the notice was about to be posted.

The dense crowd surged and stirred like a tide, countless voices were talking excitedly and nervously, the noise of thousands of people gathered together, scaring the birds in the sky away.

This grand spectacle of reading the list really opened Jia Cong's eyes, and even his nervousness about reading the list was diluted a lot.

Thousands of students present here have gone to school in their childhood, studied hard as teenagers, and never given up until they are old. All their hard work over the years will only come to you today!

Many students were solemn and pious, muttering to themselves, as if they were praying to the gods and Buddhas to bless them to be on the list.

At this time, several officials from the Ministry of Rites dressed in red clothes and blue jackets, after the gongs and drums stopped beating, one of them held a wooden brush for pasting the tube, two held red gauze paper for the list, and four imperial guards with swords followed to protect them.

At the foot of the east wall of the South Courtyard of the Ministry of Rites, hundreds of yamen runners dispatched by the Qinian Prefecture and the Zhen'an Prefecture were holding water and fire sticks to maintain order.

A battalion of elite cavalry soldiers have also been dispatched to guard the vicinity of the Ministry of Rites. After all, there are thousands of people gathering here, and if a riot occurs, the consequences will be disastrous.

At this time, the police climbed up the ladder, painted rice paste on the east wall, and began to post the list, and posted it from low to high according to the admission ranking.

Jia Cong was standing far away from the east wall, so he could only see the officers posting the list, but he couldn't make out the words on it at all.

When the officers posted the first chapter of the list, the crowd who came to see the list surged forward like a tide. Hundreds of yamen runners held up water and fire sticks to block the restless crowd, and they were all sweating profusely from exhaustion.

Someone in the crowd saw his name on the list and shouted ecstatically, "I got it! May our ancestors bless you! I got it!"

Immediately afterwards, among the dense crowd of people looking at the list, people kept shouting out in ecstasy about having made the list, and the people around them looked at these lucky ones with envy.

But there were even more people who didn’t find their names on the first list posted.

Although there are still three lists that have not been posted, the anxiety in these people's hearts cannot be expressed.

Then the officers posted the second list, and the same scene happened again, with some families happy and some sad.

The crowd looking at the list was divided into two groups: some were ecstatic, some were sighing with regret, some were dejected, and some were full of confidence.

At this time, Jia Cong heard a familiar voice not far away shouting, "I won, too, and ranked 102nd!"

He looked towards the direction where the sound came from and saw a student not far away shouting excitedly. It was either Cui Anzhi or that one. The two people next to him were vaguely Cai Xiaoyu and Liu Xiaoping.

Jia Cong shouted a few times to Cui Anzhi, but his voice was soon drowned out by the noisy voices around him. No one could hear it because the officers were just posting the third list.

There were cheers from the crowd one after another, which were more powerful than the previous two lists.

The students who made it to the second list were all the best among the top 100 in the Yongzhou Academy Examination, and their writing skills were also the best among these candidates.

Students have always formed groups of fellow townsmen and classmates. The more people who pass the exam in their small team, the higher their admission ranking will be, and the more honorable and respectable they will be in front of other groups.

The fierce disputes among different parties in the court today, based on hometown, political views, new and old, etc., did not form overnight, but had already shown signs at the beginning of the imperial examination.

Most of the students who made it onto the second list had some popularity and literary fame among their fellow villagers and classmates.

These people come to see the list to call their friends.

When the name appeared on the second list, the cheers and excitement naturally far exceeded those on the previous lists.

Until the first three lists were posted, Jia Cong was not sure whether his name appeared on these three lists, because they were too far away and he could not see clearly.

Finally, the top list of the Yongzhou Academy Examination was posted on the east wall of the South Courtyard of the Ministry of Rites under the attention of everyone, and countless hot eyes were focused on the top list.

(End of this chapter)