bestfiction Chapter 563 Second Place
Chapter 563 Second Place
Li Mingyuan took the silver and felt its weight in his hand.
My father is a strong-willed man who has never asked anyone for help in his life, but now he has searched through all his relatives and friends just to raise enough money for his trip to the capital...
Li Mingyuan tightly gripped the ten taels of silver. These coins carried the heavy hopes of his fellow villagers. He was determined to succeed on his journey to the capital!
Two days later, Li Mingyuan packed his bags and was about to leave his hometown for the capital. On this day, all his neighbors and fellow villagers came to visit.
"Mingyuan, do well in the exam when you get to the capital, and come back as the top scholar!"
"Mingyuan, I've always seen that you're a natural scholar. You're sure to pass the imperial examination this time."
"Mingyuan is probably going to become an official in the future."
"Mingyuan, keep it up!"
"..."
Amid cheers from relatives and neighbors, Li Mingyuan waved to them, then shouldered his bag and embarked on his journey to the capital.
The straight-line distance from Li Mingyuan's hometown to the capital is no less than two thousand kilometers. In this era of poor transportation, this distance was an insurmountable barrier. Not to mention, there was always the possibility of various bandits and outlaws lurking in the wilderness to rob and kill for money.
Fortunately, Li Mingyuan was quite lucky. Although the journey was arduous, he traveled for more than ten days, stopping and starting, and finally arrived at the capital city in the center of Kyushu.
The capital city is the largest city in the entire Kyushu, without exception.
With a permanent population of two million, it is a truly massive city.
Upon arriving in the capital for the first time, Li Mingyuan gazed at the majestic city before him, feeling utterly awestruck!
If one did not see it with their own eyes, it would be hard to believe that such a huge city could be built by manpower alone. At a glance, the city walls are like mountains, giving people a feeling that they are unscalable and unshakable.
Below the city wall, a dense crowd of people, merchants and travelers coming and going, created a bustling scene.
"Is this the capital? It is indeed as magnificent as described in the books!"
Li Mingyuan stepped towards the city gate, and after being checked by the city guards and showing his travel permit, he successfully entered the capital.
The city was even more bustling than the outside, with rows of shops, a constant flow of people and vehicles, and shouts and calls of vendors filling the air, giving Li Mingyuan, who was weary from his journey, a feeling of being amazed.
However, Li Mingyuan soon touched the money he had hidden inside his clothes.
From our hometown to the capital, the ten taels of silver my father borrowed have been almost entirely spent, and I don't know if the remaining silver will be enough for us to stay in the capital...
After hesitating for a moment, Li Mingyuan arrived at a restaurant, inquired about the price, and then walked out of the restaurant dejectedly.
Living in the capital is not easy.
This is an anecdote that Li Mingyuan once read in a book. It roughly describes how prices in the capital were high and how difficult it was to live there.
Li Mingyuan hadn't quite understood what it meant before, but now he did...
The restaurant he chose wasn't a high-end one, yet... a single room cost a whopping two taels of silver, and Li Mingyuan only had two taels left. The cost of a room in the restaurant for one day would be enough to exhaust all his remaining funds...
"Ugh!"
Li Mingyuan, looking distressed, went to other restaurants to inquire, and the results were largely the same: even the worst room now cost at least one tael of silver...
This is not only because prices in the capital are high, but also because the imperial examinations are about to begin, and a large number of scholars have flocked to the capital, leading to a shortage of rooms and naturally driving up prices to levels that poor scholars like Li Mingyuan simply cannot afford.
Left with no other option, Li Mingyuan had to change his mind and decided to find some ordinary people in the capital and see if he could pay them to stay in their homes.
He was quite lucky and soon found a family willing to take him in, renting their spare room for 500 coins a month.
So Li Mingyuan settled down in the capital, waiting for the imperial examinations to begin.
Finally, on the first day of February, the imperial examinations officially began.
Li Mingyuan, who had been in the capital for half a month, took his tools to the examination hall to take the exam, and a few days later, he successfully passed and obtained the status of Gongshi!
With the status of a tribute student, Li Mingyuan was considered a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations), because the subsequent palace examination only determined the rankings and did not eliminate candidates.
That night, upon learning that he had been admitted to high school, Li Mingyuan gazed in the direction of his hometown and murmured to himself, "Father, Mother, I have not let you down."
After spending another month in the capital, Li Mingyuan, whose travel expenses were about to run out, finally got to take the imperial examination. This farmer's son entered the magnificent, solemn, and resplendent palace for the first time and won second place in the imperial examination, becoming the runner-up in this imperial examination!
That day, Li Mingyuan, who was usually calm and composed, was so excited that he let out the loudest laugh of his life.
"Hahaha! I won! I won!"
"I won too!"
"Hahaha! I'm the third-ranked scholar!"
"..."
The students from other high schools were also overjoyed, and no one made any attempt to hide their emotions.
After studying for more than ten or even several decades, and now achieving success in one fell swoop, no one can suppress the excitement in their heart.
"Who is the top scholar? My daughter is sixteen years old and is looking for a husband."
"My daughter is eighteen years old, fair-skinned and beautiful. I wonder if any of you gentlemen would be interested in marrying her?"
“My family is quite wealthy. Whoever marries my daughter will immediately inherit my family business.”
"..."
Where the results were announced, the process of finding a son-in-law was naturally indispensable. These scholars, who had at least obtained the title of Jinshi, were the real potential stars, and their rise to prominence was just around the corner. Naturally, people in the capital with daughters would not miss such a good opportunity to find a son-in-law.
Even worse... many scholars whose rankings were exposed were forcibly abducted by the crowd seeking sons-in-law...
"What are you trying to do? I'm already married!"
"It doesn't matter if you're already married. My daughter can be your legal wife, and your former spouse can be your concubine."
"Let me go! I already have a wife!"
"If you have a wife, you can divorce her; it's no big deal."
"..."
Looking at this hilarious scene, Li Mingyuan couldn't help but smile, finding it quite amusing.
Fortunately, he did not reveal his identity as the runner-up, otherwise... he would probably have been one of the people forcibly kidnapped.
After glancing once more at the name Li Mingyuan, who was ranked second on the list, Li Mingyuan quietly left and returned to his house to write a letter to his parents.
He then remained in the capital, awaiting the imperial court's appointment of him.
Logically speaking, someone like Li Mingyuan, who ranked second in the imperial examination, would usually be granted an official position in the Hanlin Academy.