bookcurios Chapter 141: On the list
Chapter 141: On the list
Su and the others couldn't let go of the five-jin white jade, and stroked it. Old Man Shen repeatedly marveled at Shen Mingzhu's good luck, and Old Third Shen said that Shen Mingzhu had made a great profit.
Shen Mingzhu really made a lot of money. She decided to use the white jade to carve two pairs of jade bracelets, and then carve a few jade pendants, jade seals and other jewelry. In this way, everyone in the family could own something made of mutton-fat white jade.
However, Shen Laosan felt that it would be a waste to carve these small things out of such a large piece of top-quality white jade. It would be more valuable if the whole piece was carved into ornaments such as Jade Guanyin.
Shen Mingzhu, however, feels that value doesn’t matter; the most important thing is that it is practical.
In this way, Shen Mingzhu would go to the gambling stone shop to gamble on stones every day, and would also look for some treasures in the antique street, which made her famous in the antique street.
Everyone in Antique Street knows that there is a little girl with a foreign accent who comes to gamble on stones every day, but she has never opened a stone.
This makes people very curious. Which family does this little girl belong to? Why is she out here playing with money?
There were also antique vendors whose eyes lit up when they saw Shen Mingzhu and they tried hard to sell the things in their stalls.
However, the owner of the jade shop went bankrupt because no one was mining jade and no one was gambling on jade anymore.
Shen Mingzhu was at home, cutting the raw stone. When she saw the black jade she cut out, she kept muttering:
"I made a lot of money, I made a lot of money! Haha..."
During the days that Shen Mingzhu was gambling on stones, her father and grandfather had already taken three exams.
Today is the last day of the third exam. Mr. Shen San and Mr. Shen came out of the Imperial Examination Hall in high spirits.
Before them, some people had already fainted because they could not bear the pressure of so many days of examinations, and those who were in poor health had to be carried out of the Imperial Examination Hall.
There were also students who cheated and were escorted out of the Imperial Examination Hall, and some were assigned to an examination room next to the toilet and fainted from the stench.
Many people, including Tang Ren and Shen Laosan's other classmates from Wanxian Prefecture, walked out of the Imperial Examination Hall listlessly and with weak limbs.
Tang Ren and several scholars from Wanxian Prefecture came out and saw that Shen Laosan and his son were in high spirits. They said goodbye to them with some envy.
Shen Laosan and his son returned home. The Shen family was accustomed to their exams and did not ask them how they did.
Only Mr. Shen boasted during the meal that he felt his health was much better now, better than that of many young people.
He felt that he had done well in the exam this time, and it was quite good to be able to get the last place among the Gongshi.
This made their aide Liu Qian extremely excited. If the two masters could pass the examination and have the qualification to take the palace examination, then his own abilities would be able to be further developed in the future.
Liu Qian is very smart and ambitious, but after certain things happened, he decided not to take the exam anymore, but he would assist the senior officials.
Today was the day for the list to be announced, and Shen Mingzhu and the others all came to the outside of the Ministry of Rites. Some people had been waiting in front of the list for a long time, and as soon as the list was announced, the crowd quickly surrounded it.
Shen Mingzhu didn't want to squeeze in with the crowd, so she just stood aside pretending to be like everyone else, anxiously waiting for the servant who was looking at the list to come out and report.
In fact, when the list first came out, she saw her father's name in the first row and first column.
Shen Mingzhu smiled knowingly and wanted to give her father a thumbs up right now, but she suppressed her excitement and continued to read on. When she saw her grandfather's name at the 101st position at the back of the list, she was so excited that she couldn't close her mouth.
It is quite impressive that the old man was able to pass the exam and rank 101st among thousands of candidates.
Because the imperial examination not only tests the meaning of classics and poetry, but also tests the understanding of policies and administrative ability. This is not something that can be achieved by just answering a few questions.
Not only must you have a thorough understanding of policy issues, you must also cater to the examiner's preferences and be well-read.
The old man had always been an old scholar before. It had only been a short period of time for him to transform from a pedantic old scholar into a juren with a thorough understanding of the policies. It was not easy.
Shen Mingzhu gave the old man a thumbs up in her heart, suppressed her excitement, and pretended to look at the list.
After a while, someone exclaimed, "Yes, yes, you passed the exam, sir."
The middle-aged scholar was so excited that his whole body was shaking. He grabbed the servant's shoulders and asked ecstatically: "I passed? I really passed? How many places did I pass?"
"No. 257. Congratulations, sir, for being on the list."
"Really, I really won, haha... God is really blessing me!"
At the front of the list, some people cried with joy, some beat their chests and cried in disappointment, and some were like crazy, shouting everywhere that they had won.
Old Man Shen was very nervous. He wanted to squeeze into the crowd to check the list, but he found that Shen Lao San and the others did not move. He felt that as a father, he was not as calm as his son, so he stopped and nervously stood on tiptoe outside the crowd to look around.
Old man Shen kept turning around in circles, getting very anxious. As soon as he saw Qingsong's figure, he ran over and asked anxiously:
"How was it? Did we pass the exam? Are my name and the third brother's name on the list?"
Qingsong was sweating profusely and shouted excitedly: "Old Master, you won, you all won!"
Old man Shen's lips were trembling with excitement. He asked excitedly, "Won? How many names did you win? No, both me and the third brother won?"
"Yes, all of them have won. Old Master, you have won the 101st place."
Old Man Shen was pleasantly surprised: "Really? I really won the 101st place?"
He now felt dizzy, as if he was dreaming. He couldn't believe that he could get 101st place.
Old Man Shen was so happy that he was at a loss for words. Seeing Shen Lao San, he asked Qing Song again, "Where is Lao San? What place did Lao San get in the exam?"
He had a bold guess in his mind, but he didn't dare to ask it out loud. His eyes were shining as he excitedly waited for Qingsong's answer.
Qingsong said excitedly: "Master, you got the first place in the exam. You are the champion of this session."
This time, Old Man Shen became even more agitated and asked loudly, "Top scorer? Did the third brother really get top scorer?"
Old man Shen's voice was trembling. The surprise was so great that he felt his heart was about to jump out.
"Really, the first column, the first place, is the master's name."
Old man Shen was so anxious that his legs jumped up, tears flashed in his eyes, and he asked in a trembling voice:
"You're not seeing things? Is that Shen Ruhai from Wanxian Prefecture?"
Qingsong nodded repeatedly and said with certainty: "Yes, old master, I was afraid that I had read it wrong, so I looked carefully several times. It is Shen Ruhai from Wanxian Prefecture, the name of my master."
Qingsong and the others were talking very loudly. When the people nearby heard what Qingsong said, they immediately ran over to congratulate Shen Lao San and Shen Lao Tou.
Especially Shen Laosan. Some people were shocked when they heard that he had won the first place in the imperial examination. This man looks to be only in his twenties, right?
The first place in the imperial examination in his twenties?
Why does it feel a bit mysterious?
Someone just noticed the name of the first place on the list and confirmed that the first place in the examination was Shen Ruhai from Wanxian Prefecture. Everyone then suppressed their shock and gathered around to congratulate him.
Mr. Shen was very calm, he smiled and bowed to everyone. Old Man Shen looked at this scene, he was so excited that tears filled his eyes, he felt his heart beating much faster than usual.
As more and more people gathered around, Old Man Shen felt dizzy and then passed out with a bang.
Seeing this, Shen Mingzhu immediately fed Old Man Shen a quick-acting heart-saving pill.
She had already exchanged these pills and placed them in the system space to prevent this from happening.