In the panic, Shen Shangshu was carried to the side hall by the imperial physician for treatment, which was like a buffer.
After the shock of the ministers, the confusion in their minds gradually dissipated, and their calculating rationality gradually returned.
Unexpectedly, in this most stringent palace examination in history, Lin Tailai also wrote an exquisite eight-legged essay. What is the reason for this?
Could it be that Lin Tailai has been hiding his strength, pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger, holding back from the beginning, and deceiving the world?
Or is there another reason, someone secretly helping? After all, there is no one in a certain profession who doesn't want auspiciousness, this is the motive.
Compared to the former possibility, which is completely shattering, the ministers would rather believe in the latter one.
Thinking of this, more than a dozen ministers took the risk of looking up at the king and glanced at the throne.
Emperor Wanli, who was sitting high on the throne, suddenly received more than a dozen looks. He was stunned and then suddenly realized something.
The young emperor, who is less than thirty years old, is not so calm yet. He is like a good family member who is suspected of stealing someone. He can't help shouting: "I have never revealed the problem!"
Shen Shoufu couldn't help but fell into deep thought. Is there such a possibility that the emperor bypassed everyone and directly colluded with Lin Tailai?
Wang Situ, who had been keeping a low profile to avoid suspicion, now felt that he could finally come forward.
So he immediately jumped out and took the lead in shouting: "Fortunately, the Holy Emperor is alive and virtuous for the people, so that he can achieve the unprecedented nine-yuan auspiciousness. I congratulate the world!"
Mainly because Wang Situ felt that the situation was still a bit unstable at this time, so he jumped out first and established the "auspiciousness" first.
Since they are all auspicious, there is no reason to take them back, right? That would be too unlucky.
Emperor Wanli received another round of congratulations from his ministers, and the Wenhua Palace was very lively.
But the work was not over yet. After the excitement in the Wenhua Hall, the ministers returned to the Wenyuan Pavilion and continued to rank more than 300 examination papers, open and seal them and fill in the list.
After the Golden Palace Passing Ceremony, this list will be posted outside the left gate of Chang'an, which is commonly known as the Imperial List or the Golden List.
According to the old practice, the top three spots on the gold list are still empty and will be filled in at the Chuanlu Ceremony, even though the candidates for the top pick have been leaked in advance.
As dusk approached, more than a dozen examiners finished all the palace examination work and left the palace to go back to their homes.
Then the news about the palace examination rankings began to gradually spread.
At this time in previous years, the top three papers were not opened. Everyone can know who the top three are through the elimination method, but they do not know the specific ranking of each of the top three.
As for the suspense, the selection of the number one scholar will not be revealed until the passing ceremony.
But this year is strange. The emperor and his ministers were so curious that they actually opened the seal of the No. 1 Scholar examination paper in advance.
In the 17th year of Wanli's reign, the name of the top candidate in the Yichou Imperial Examination had already been circulated in advance before it was announced to the Golden Palace.
Lin Tailai was spending time in the palace of the Minister of Household Affairs today. Wang Situ was also the file reader. As long as he returned home, Lin Tailai would know the news as soon as possible.
When it was getting dark, Wang Situ appeared with a smile and said to brother-in-law Lin with sincere admiration: "From now on, you can take the number nine yuan!"
Lin Tailai quickly welcomed Wang Situ into the study and asked carefully about today's situation.
After listening to Wang Situ explain the process, Lin Daguan felt that he was very lucky and sighed:
"Fortunately, I concluded beforehand that Prime Minister Shen didn't have much competitiveness in the palace examination, so he couldn't be relied upon.
On the contrary, Shen Li, the Minister of Rites, had to prove himself in the palace examination. He was much more determined than Shen Xiang.
He will definitely look for candidates who are suspected of being one of his own and strongly recommend them. Even if they are not in the top three, they will at least be in the top five of the second.
But being able to win the top spot in the end was still a bit of a fluke."
Wang Situ, who witnessed the whole process, also agreed: "As the saying goes, the brave will win when we meet on a narrow road. Once in front of the emperor and the two sides enter into hand-to-hand combat, Prime Minister Shen will give in slightly and will not commit the crime of fighting Shen Li to the end.
In addition, Gao Panlong's test paper was also an accident, and the fight was constantly escalating. I don't know what Gao Panlong was thinking."
Lin Tailai said casually: "You have to ask yourself, maybe he wants to speculate, maybe he is betting on two ends with other accomplices."
After finishing speaking, Lin Tailai stood up and walked out.
Wang Situ asked: "Where are you going?"
Lin Tailai turned around and replied: "Go and visit Prime Minister Shen."
So Wang Situ pretended to be dissatisfied and said: "You are a relative of the Wang family. If you don't celebrate with your own family when you encounter a happy event, why do you go to the Shen Mansion?"
Lin Tailai calmly explained: "It's not the time to celebrate now, after all, the Chuanlu Ceremony has not been held, and the imperial list has not been posted.
It’s not like there are no precedents for temporary changes in rankings in the past dynasties. Maybe there are villains who want to do bad things!
So if you want to continue to be stable, I will communicate with the chief assistant first, so that the chief assistant will not be confused."
Wang Situ was speechless. This brother-in-law looked wild on the outside, but on the inside he was not like a young man.
Since before the examination, he has been talking about someone trying to harm him every day, and everyone looks like a villain. Now that he has finished reading the papers for the examination, he is still wondering if someone is trying to harm him.
If it were an ordinary person, he would be so ecstatic that he would be dancing and overwhelmed by now, right?
"Then what else can you do?" Wang Situ couldn't help but ask.
Official Lin rubbed his chin and said thoughtfully: "I was just thinking about whether to take a preemptive strike and find those officials who have old grudges against me and smash them again as a warning?
In this case, if they still want to ruin my good deeds as No. 1 Scholar, they are not doing it out of public motives, but seeking revenge out of personal grudges, and their position will lose fairness and justice."
Wang Situ finally understood that this little brother-in-law was not a dog, but a dog. This preemptive idea was too magical!
"No matter what you do or where you go tomorrow, you must stay home and have a few drinks tonight when the news of the No. 1 pick starts to spread!"
Wang Situ opened his mouth to force the guest to stay, which was the last stubbornness of a minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
Official Lin couldn't resist the kindness and sophistication of a powerful second-grade man, so he could only spend another night at Wang's house.
Early the next morning, Lin Daguan, who was about to become Jiuyuan, made his public appearance. The location was still outside the gate of Shen Mansion, just like after the examination.
The disciple of the Shen Mansion looked at Lin Tai with a complicated expression and said, "My master said that you can start your own business now. From now on, when you are outside, don't call yourself a disciple of the Shen Mansion."
"No!" Lin Daguan seemed to be underestimated and said excitedly: "How can I forget my roots? As long as I am not awarded an official position the next day, as long as I have no official position the next day, I will still be a disciple of Shen Mansion!
"
The disciple of Shen Mansion: ""
There were dozens of big men behind Mr. Lin, and he couldn't drive them away.
Because of the imperial examination papers, Shen Shoufu has not been able to deal with official duties for several days, and the cabinet has a backlog of memorials.
So Shen Shoufu was like a social animal today and had to go out to work.
He had just walked to the front yard between Yimen and the main gate, and was about to board the sedan here. Suddenly, he saw the tall and majestic Lin Tailai rushing to the sedan.
Before Shen Shoufu could react, Lin Tailai immediately bowed at a 90-degree angle and shouted: "Hongdouji Smith, no, I'm really sorry!"
Shen Shoufu glanced at Lin Tailai coldly, got up from the sedan and left without saying anything.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the sedan chair of the Chief Assistant walking away. Lin Tailai straightened up, turned to the Yimen and shouted: "Uncle Mao, come out!"
Shen Yongmao walked out and said with a smile: "Don't be anxious, just wait a few days and come back."
Then he said to Lin Tai: "I have another thing that I want to tell you."
Lin Tailai asked in surprise: "What's the matter with you?"
Under normal circumstances, Lin Tailai would go directly to his chief assistant if something happened, and Shen Yongmao would also go to his chief assistant if something happened.
Shen Yongmao said casually: "Now that you are about to become an unprecedented nine yuan, the Xu family's bookstore wants to continue to cooperate with you."
This Xu family comes from the Xu family in Huqiu, and everyone knows the relationship between Shen Shixing and the Xu family in Huqiu. Now they move around according to their relatives.
Lin Daguanren said bluntly: "I have a bad impression of them."
Shen Yongmao asked in surprise: "Why? Haven't you guys collaborated many times?"
Previously, in order to carry out personal promotion, Lin Tailai had a large number of publishing and printing business, starting from "Wu Zhuangyuan Three Difficulties Gu Daru", all of which were cooperated with Xujia Bookstore.
Lin Tailai snorted coldly: "They don't want to pay for free, and they don't want to pay on credit, which makes me very unhappy."
Shen Yongmao: ""
Does this mean that you only love prostitution for free? Do you feel uncomfortable if you don’t do it for free?
However, Shen Yongmao had no intention of changing Lin Daguan's consumption concept, and quickly said: "You won't have to spend any money this time, but I will give you a share of the profits!
They want to publish a "Nine Yuan Poetry Collection", which will compile all your poems so far into one book.
There are three poems about feelings, fourteen poems about suffering in New Yuefu, ten poems about Mid-Autumn Festival, five poems about blessings in the twelfth lunar month, and five poems about spring. There are also those that mock the world and curse people, there are no shortage of them!"
Lin Tailai had no objection to this kind of shameless thing. He just wanted to ask: "Why are you so active?"
Shen Yongmao raised his head and raised his chest: "I have been specially invited to write an exclusive preface to this collection of poems and provide exclusive commentary."
Lin Tailai: ""
Even if the old leader in the literary world is unwilling to write a preface, wouldn't it be more honorable to ask the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue or the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Civil Affairs to write the preface to the poetry collection?
Forget it, forget it, I am working alone in the literary world anyway, and I don't need to rely on big bosses to add glory to it. It doesn't matter if Shen Yongmao writes the preface.
After Lin Guanren thought about it, he made a small condition to Uncle Shen: "I can let you write the preface, but you are responsible for settling the matter with your father!"
"It's easy to talk about it, I'll take care of it." Shen Yongmao agreed.
Then he said: "The collection of poems must end with your first prize in essays. It should not only include your own works, but also preferably some poems donated to you by others, as well as poems written by others describing your success in winning nine yuan in a row.
So you should mobilize your relatives and friends in the near future to write more poems for you, so that you can select the best ones for publication."
"I know." Lin Daguan responded casually, and then left the Shen Mansion.
There are still a lot of things going on today, and if I don’t take a preemptive strike, I’ll feel unhappy.