Volu Top Marks in the Imperial Examination (2/2)

After we all stood, the feast was considered to have begun After we had all carefully adhered to every step of etiquette and ceremony, we could relax and taste the imperial meal It was so delicious If I could, I would definitely bring the cooks in the imperial kitchen home As we all had the chance to eat and drink,³⁶ everyone had beco placed down his chopsticks and spoke to the chief exa shi+, please introduce this examination’s top three to Us”³⁷

The chief exa “This vassal³⁸ obeys Your Majesty’s co to Your Majesty, he is this exa Zhe of Jiaxing”

I hurriedly leftZhe, greets Your Majesty”

With a s man with excellent abilities Your responses to the prompts were not bad, especially your poem, Recollections Under the Moon</e We will soon let everyone hear it”

The chief exayan </e to Your Majesty, these are the second-ranked ,⁴⁰ and third-ranked ”⁴¹

Zhao Sheng praised each one by one before allowing us to return to our seats Once ere seated, Zhao Sheng raised his hand and a group of women floated out from behind Some played the flute, others the zither,⁴² and lastly soan to sing:

<blockquote class="Quote">With a cup of wine in my hand, I ask the clear skyI wonder what season it would beYet I fear the crystal and jadewith my moonlit shadow,The moon rounds the red mansion,shi+nes upon the sleepless,Why does the moon tend to be full when people are apart?The ht, round or crescent shaped,May we all be blessed with longevity,43</sup></blockquote>

This was the poe the exaardens iendered

Just then, a eunuch entered and reported, “Reporting to Your Majesty, the Pri slowly replied, “What is it? We are enjoying the Qionglin Feast If there are any other matters of state, let hient,” replied the eunuch

Zhao Sheng helplessly nodded and said, “Fine, let him enter”

Soon, an elderly man dressed in the robes of an yipin⁴⁴ official hurriedly entered When he saw Zhao Sheng, he prostrated hi has dispatched an envoy to express the Yong Ee alliance”

Although he had a look of happiness on his features, Zhao Sheng asked disbelievingly, “Is this true?”

The elderly official answered, “It is true—the Yong Ee⁴⁵ and is willing to marry her to the Crown Prince to serve as Crown Princess From this point onwards, the two states will be allied and will forever be at peace”

Zhao Sheng happily said, “Today has witnessed two blessings for my Southern Chu First, Southern Chu has acquired talented individuals capable of serving as pillars of the state Second is this alliance with Great Yong Co envoy for an audience”

After he finished speaking, Zhao Sheng quickly left My life’s only Qionglin Feast thus finished with a whimper⁴⁶ However, the faces of everyone who had heard the good neere filled with joy I had soe alliance with Southern Chu? Was this similar to the plans that I had previously envisioned? ht as I shookfor thethe regulations, I entered Hanlin Acade reat beauty of the Yong Ele, and her favor before the Eirl of fifteen be?

After a fewthe six traditional pre-wedding rites,⁴⁷ the wedding between Princess Changle and the Crown Prince of Southern Chu was held on the New Year As the new the wedding As the ceremony concluded and the crown prince and princess accepted the custoathered court officials, I finally had the opportunity to see Princess Changle’s features She was graceful, elegant, and stunning Although a bit young and immature, she was truly beautiful In coh already over twenty, was eclipsed Of course, everyone lied that the pair were an “ideal coupleEhter as a pawn in a fake e alliance, I sincerely prayed that Southern Chu and Great Yong would not go to war and that relations re me to live a few decades in peace

As I was sincerely praying, theand play my work as a newly minted Hanlin academic, Sapphire Jade Plate:

<blockquote class="Quote">Then scatter down as star-like rainNotes froon lanterns dance in the breeze all nightThey converse cheerfully and laugh heartily, leaving their secret fragrance behindWhen suddenly turning back by chance,49</sup></blockquote>

As the court ladies began to dance, I raised htly away A lone tear slid down her cheek My heart froze This young woman must now spend the rest of her life far away fros ell If this h I hoped it was real, I was not certain—, then this young woman would meet a cruel end

At this moment, I noticed the crown prince lower his head and whisper into the princess’s ear Although they were far away and the hall was filled with noise, I could faintlythe princess that this ht of the Lantern Festival</eyuan</eaze, she turned her head and looked uponin the spring andin my heart, but I didn’t knohy

Note:

In China, there are e, a typical salute involvesthe left hand to wrap around the right fist or the right fist is held against the open left palm Females switch this around It's also switched around to denote the start of an argu the two pal soyuan – the title of the individual who comes first in the imperial examinations; those who came in the top three of the were known as the yijia (一甲) or first tier and were titled as the zhuangyuan (状元), bangyan (榜眼), and tanhua (探花), respectively</li><li>长乐, changle – everlasting happiness</li><li>戊辰元月, wuchen yuanyue – first aozu –lit Supre emperor of a dynasty</li><li>会试, huishi+ – the national level (and soe) of the imperial examinations; the huishi+ lasted three days with the exa sibao – lit four treasures of the study; refers to the brush, ink, paper, and ink stone used in Chinese calligraphy</li><li>青, qing – black, blue, or green colored</li><li>先生, xiansheng – sir, mister, teacher</li><li>奴家, nujia – I, my; lit your servant, a form of humble self-reference for a feh As a result, scholars would frequently help others write docu them write out a complaint for a lawsuit Without such a document, it was very difficult for a lawsuit to be filed with the authorities</li><li>In traditional Chinese culture and the legal syste of Chinese civilization, once a woman was married to someone, she became a part of that family If the husband died, the ould have to rehout her life If she wished to rereement of her in-laws before she can do so Without peral, but the ould be punished severely</li><li>瓜田李下, gu tian xiao li– idioer idioht with one’s hand in the cookie jar; a position that invites suspicion, in suspicious circus</li><li>时辰, shi+chen – equivalent to two hours</li><li>大人, daren – a title used to refer to one’s superiors</li><li>京兆尹, jingzhaoyin – the prefectural ion; China was divided into prefectures (zhoufu, 州府), including the iistrate (zhifu, 知府) assigned; the capital region (for Southern Chu, Jianye) was known as the 京兆 (jingzhao)</li><li>易经, yijing – the es</e; the oldest Chinese classic and an ancient divination text that uses clero random numbers) to determine divine intent</li><li>您, nin – polite for male counterparts</li><li>老三, laosan – infor someone who is ranked nuer brother’s wife</li><li>龙凤胎, longfengtai – lit dragon and phoenix twins; the dragon was considered to be male, while the phoenix fe I,acceptance or resignation)</li><li>坎卦上六，系用徽纆，置于丛棘，三岁不得，凶 – this divination coes and is very bad and ht of way and irreled in his sins has no prospects of escape He is like a criled walls”</li><li>阁下, gexia – your distinguished self, sire</li><li>老爷, laoye – lord, bishenghui – idioht (honor) to wen dian – Palace of Sublime Culture/Literature</li><li>进士, jinshi+ – title for those who successfully passed the highest level of the itai – polite way of addressing solin yan – lit Jade Forest Feast; first begun by the Song Dynasty, this feast was given by the Emperor to honor the new jinshi+; the feast was placed at the Qionglin Garden (qionglin yuan, 琼林苑)</li><li>朝阳门, chaoyangthe Sun Gate</li><li>司礼监, silijian – lit Directorate of Cere directorates of the ined to handle cere ascension to the throne, the death of the emperor, and the feast of the new jinshi+</li><li>国主万岁万岁万万岁, guozhu wansui wansui ansui – lit Long live the King;– 众official that is worthy of being addressed with this honorific used by e)</li><li>酒过三巡，菜过五味, jiuguosanxun, caiguoei – lit having drank and eaten our fill</li><li>孤, gu – the royal we; ters and princes</li><li>臣, chen – subject or vassal</li><li>臣遵旨, chen zunzhi – lit this vassal obeys your– a historical prefecture that is today a district of Nanjing</li><li>淮阳, Huaiyang – a prefecture centered around the area that is zhou and Huai’an</li><li>琴, qin – the zither</li><li>This is theDynasty poet fainal naqiu)</li><li>一品, yipin – lit first-ranked; in China, civil and military official hierarchy were divided into nine ranks (first to nine, with first being highest)</li><li>年方及笈, nianfengjiji – has reached irls reached adulthood at the age of fifteen</li><li>虎头蛇尾, hutou shewei – idio, finish weak</li><li>The six traditional pre-wedding rites include 纳采 (nacai, the forbazi (the eight-character birth data used for astrological purposes) of the grooical data upon the ancestral altar to confirifts to the bride and the return gifts to the groo date), and lastly 亲迎 (qinying, the wedding cerecainümao, tianzuozhihe – lit talented man and beautiful wo Dynasty poet Xin Qiji The naed ine, takes its name from a line in the poem: “In the crowd for a thousand ti back by chance / I find her standing alone in far end of the street in the waning light” (众里寻他千百度，蓦然回首，那人却在灯火阑珊处。)</li></ol>