On the fourth day of the third lunar month, a light rain had just fallen. The weeds by the roadside, the branches and leaves on the trees, and the vast farmlands had all turned green, presenting a refreshing sight at a glance.
Today was also the day when the spring imperial examinations started. Countless scholars were gathered outside the examination venue, waiting for the start of the exam.
Parents and elders from their families had come to see them off. The grand occasion was even more spectacular than the college entrance examinations in later generations.
Li Jingyun followed her father, looking at the crowd from afar. By chance, she caught sight of a carriage in the opposite alley. Pointing at the family, she said, "Father, look, isn't that Su Gui and his family?"
Li Shimin looked in the direction Li Jingyun was pointing. Sure enough, they were all familiar faces. It was Su Dan's family, and even Su Rui, who was heavily pregnant, was among them, indicating how much they attached importance to this event.
"Father, I'll go down and take a look!"
Li Jingyun was good at acting first and asking for permission later. After saying this, she had already run out of the carriage before anyone knew it.
Today, out of curiosity about the scale and grandeur of his imperial examination system, Li Shimin had someone drive an ordinary - looking carriage and park it about a mile away from the examination venue to observe the scholars from afar.
Sure enough, each of them was a young and talented scholar, seemingly full of knowledge, with a handsome appearance and full of confidence. Regardless of how they would perform in the exam, just their demeanor made Li Shimin happy.
Now that Li Jingyun had seen someone she knew and was happy to go and talk to Su Gui, it was nothing unusual. She was naturally unrestrained.
Li Jingyun ran away in a hurry, straight towards Su Gui's carriage.
But she ran too fast and was knocked to the ground by a young scholar. The scholar quickly picked her up and put her on the ground, nervously apologizing, "Are you okay? I was careless just now. I was in a hurry to take the spring imperial examinations. Please forgive me."
"The spring imperial examinations won't start for another two quarters of an hour. Why are you in such a hurry?" Li Jingyun sized up the man in front of her. He had an air of a scholar. Although his clothes were low - key, one could still tell that he was from a noble family.
Whose son was he? Why didn't she recognize him? Was he a scholar from a far - off place coming to take the exam?
"The spring imperial examinations are held once every four years. If I miss them, I don't know what to do," Hao Chujun sighed and shook his head.
Looking at the little girl in front of him who was obviously from a noble family, he wondered why he had said so much to her.
A little girl like this would surely enjoy a life of wealth and honor in the future. She was young and ignorant. How could she understand his thoughts?
But Li Jingyun didn't think so. Without hesitation, she asked, "What's your name? Which subject are you taking?"
"My name is Hao Chujun. I'm the son of Hao Xianggui, the prefect of Chuzhou, from Anzhou. I'm taking the Confucian Classics subject."
"So that's why I don't recognize you," Li Jingyun nodded in sudden understanding.
As for being the son of a prefect?
In Chang'an, if you randomly threw a brick, among the ten people it hit, nine would be officials, and three of them would be above the fourth rank. A prefect of a state was really common.
"You're an interesting child. Whose daughter are you? Only a high - ranking official like a courtier or a grand councilor could raise such a smart and beautiful daughter," Hao Chujun became curious after chatting with her for a while.
She must be the daughter of a high - ranking official. Having often associated with other court officials, influenced by them and taught by her parents, she was so precocious.
"Hongxuan!"
Su Rui saw Li Jingyun chatting with a strange scholar beside the alley. She was extremely panicked and quickly got off the carriage to find her.
"Oh! Sister - in - law, don't be in a hurry. Don't panic. Su Gui will surely do well," Li Jingyun also trotted over and helped Su Rui get off the carriage.
Both in the former court and the inner palace, Su Rui was regarded as a precious treasure. Everyone was afraid that something might happen to her.
"I'm not worried about him," Su Rui said helplessly. Why was this child so slow - witted at this moment?
"Sir, you were curious about whose daughter she is. This is..."
Su Rui was halfway through her sentence when Li Jingyun desperately winked at her, so she stopped talking.
Su Gui also stepped forward, carrying a big basket of tools. "Sister, don't worry. I'll surely do well in the exam. It's getting late. We have to go and queue up. We'll take our leave first."
"Indeed. We'll take our leave first," Hao Chujun said.
Judging from Su Rui's expression, Hao Chujun had a rough guess in his mind, but he didn't dare to be sure. He followed Su Gui and quickly went to queue up, waiting to enter the venue.
Di Renjie came from somewhere. After the three of them saluted and introduced themselves, they entered together.
Li Jingyun was lucky. The person she accidentally met when she went out turned out to be a future chief councilor, the same position as Yang Shidao had held before. All three of these people would become prime ministers in the future.
"Hongxuan, did you come out by yourself? You didn't bring anyone with you. Where are Eunuch Feng and Manjing?" Su Rui bombarded Li Jingyun with questions.
She didn't even mention Duan Jia. There should be some young men from the Duan family taking the spring imperial examinations, and they were probably getting ready.
In some people's eyes, getting an official position through one's own efforts in the imperial examinations was more glorious than relying on the hereditary privilege of one's ancestors.
"They're behind. I ran too fast just now, and they couldn't keep up. Sister - in - law, where's my elder brother? I thought he never left your side recently and never stepped out of the East Palace except when he went to the Taihe Palace," Li Jingyun joked with a smile.
Su Rui lowered her head and smiled. "He's gone to the Taihe Palace. Maybe Father has assigned him some state affairs to handle."
Meanwhile, in the carriage beside them, no one noticed Li Shimin. Looking at the scholars entering the examination venue, he sighed, "All the heroes under heaven are now in my grasp."
Three days passed after the imperial examinations.
In the Political Affairs Hall, a group of prime ministers were gathered together, looking at the scholars' answer sheets and discussing animatedly. They didn't know whose answer sheets they were holding. They could only make judgments based on their intuition and the quality of the answers.
Li Chengqian held Li Jingyun's hand, and the siblings appeared at the door of the Political Affairs Hall. As soon as Li Jingyun came, she imitated Li Shimin and said, "Dear ministers, there's no need to pay your respects. Just sit down."
Her words made all the court officials burst into laughter.
Even Yang Shidao, who rarely showed a smiling face, was in a better mood.
"Gentlemen, what do you think of this batch of scholars?"
"There are quite a few talented people. Such people should enter the court to serve His Majesty," Changsun Wuji said with a smile.
After he said this, everyone nodded in agreement.
It seemed that they were really good.
Li Jingyun saw that the other grand councilors were all holding an answer sheet and examining it carefully. She also picked up one and looked at it. After a while, she fell asleep and lay on the table.
Li Chengqian even took a blanket and covered Li Jingyun with it.
"Should we send Princess Chengyang back to the Taihe Palace? What if she catches a cold here?" Fang Xuanling suggested.
"No need. The weather has been hot recently. It's not that easy to catch a cold. Maybe she'll wake up soon. She's just curious about how Su Gui did in the exam," Li Chengqian said.
"Su Gui must be the youngest scholar, right?"
"Yes. He's a young genius. We shouldn't underestimate him," several grand councilors said with a smile.
They continued to discuss who should be the top scorer and who should pass the exam.
Finally, they came up with a list. They took several answer sheets and went to Li Shimin for approval to determine the final results.
While they were discussing enthusiastically, the scholars outside were waiting impatiently.