The Imperial Palace banquet was more complex than Li Ang had imagined. A group of scholars who had passed the final examination first took the palace carriages, entered through the Vermilion Bird Gate, passed along Chengtian Gate Street, dismounted from the carriages inside Chengtian Gate, and then walked on foot through the Taiji Gate, the Left Yanming Gate, the Vermilion Gate, and the Liangyi Gate, finally arriving in front of Liangyi Hall, where they lined up to wait.
The scale of the Imperial Palace was truly immense. As Li Ang stood amidst other scholars in the chilly wind, he looked around, his gaze wandering in awe at the palatial buildings adorned with carved beams and painted rafters. Standing in the vast, desolate square in front of the hall and gazing at distant towers aglow with lights, an absurd feeling belatedly rose in his heart.
Just a few months ago, he had been distraught over his family’s bankruptcy and the debt of one hundred strings of coins.
Now he was about to meet, as the Academic Palace Top Scholar, the sovereign of Yu Country, who wielded the greatest secular power in the land, to be encouraged and rewarded. It all felt surreal.
Li Ang shook his head, trying to clear his mind of these chaotic thoughts.
Whispers of light conversation floated from those around him, as the budding scholars of the Academic Palace murmured to each other, full of expectation and longing.
A scholar wearing a turban could hardly conceal his excitement, as if he wished to emblazon the poetry line, "To express my loyalty on the Gold Platform, I would guide the Jade Dragon to die for you," across his face.
The tall and burly recommended candidate from the Ministry of War clenched his fists tightly, his face pale and his lips trembling—a stark contrast to his fearless manner earlier in the day when he had pounded a wooden box so hard that his hands bled.
Even those born to governor’s families, like Yong Hongzhong and Ji Linglang, looked up at the sky and mentally rehearsed their speech and behavior to avoid any breach of etiquette that might disgrace their families when they ascended the hall.
Meanwhile, the Hu Ren, barbarians, and Desert People scholars, with their hair, eyes, and skin colors different from those of the Central Plains, softly repeated something to themselves—probably the flattering remarks and poetry they had prepared in advance.
They not only represented themselves and their families but also their entire tribes and nations.
They feared any faux pas in front of the hall that might displease Emperor Yu.
"Don’t be too nervous," Pei Jing, standing to Li Ang’s right, turned and glanced at his future classmates, smiling. "The Liangyi Hall evening banquet, held after the final results of the Academic Palace examination, has been conducted for three hundred years with seldom any mishaps. Even if His Majesty asks something, like your aspirations for the future, if you cannot answer on the spot, it’s not a big deal. There will be the Chief Eunuch to explain that you’re not holding your liquor well and help you smooth things over."
The ’Chief Eunuch’ was a term for a senior eunuch.
Although the Liangyi Hall evening banquet celebrating the Academic Palace results was mainly to show the harmonious relationship between Emperor Yu and the Academic Palace, and the atmosphere was not too solemn, the requisite standard of etiquette was still in place.
Scholars would sit in five rows to the left and five rows to the right, attended by Palace Attendants who would whisper reminders to prevent any breach of conduct.
The problem was... Pei Jing was the legitimate son of the Minister of the Left’s family and had entered the Imperial Palace numerous times, likely having been in the Emperor’s presence several times too. His words did not ease the tension of the scholars of common birth; instead, they became even more anxious, fearing that the Emperor, on a whim, might ask them to share their thoughts and feelings about being admitted to the Academic Palace.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you, Academic Palace, thank you, Mountain Master, thank you, parents..."
Some scholars had already started to mutter to themselves, quietly rehearsing.
They had been so eloquent during the examinations; why were they becoming tongue-tied now, right before entering the hall?
Li Ang swept a helpless glance at his anxious classmates, exhaled, and silently recalled the dozen or so poems he had "borrowed" from Yan Dalang.
The imperial banquet in Liangyi Hall did not keep the scholars waiting long outside. They had only braved the wind for a short while when the sound of the Haotian Bell rang out, and the yellow-robed eunuch on the steps announced in an elongated tone, "Announcing, the Academic Palace Top Scholar of the third year of Zaiqian, Li Ang of Yizhou, enter the hall—"
"Risheng." Ji Linglang nudged him from behind.
Li Ang took a deep breath and strode up the white stone steps.
It was not only due to the Yu people’s aversion to dampness, which they considered base, but also to display the Emperor’s authority that the steps in front of Liangyi Hall were built extremely high.
Ascending the steps as if climbing a mountain, Li Ang reached the side of the yellow-robed eunuch.
"Mr. Li, please enter."
The high-ranking yellow-robed eunuch, clearly a person of considerable authority within the Imperial Palace, smiled amicably at Li Ang, much to the surprise of the junior eunuchs behind him.
Li Ang stepped into the hall and saw the Emperor and Empress seated at the highest place, as well as a tall, white-haired old man sitting on the left side.
Emperor Li Shun of Yu, Empress Xue, the Mountain Master.
"Your servant Li Ang pays respect to Your Majesty."
Following the instructions given in the carriage by the eunuchs on the way there, Li Ang prepared to bow but was indeed met with Emperor Li Shun’s "Dispense with the formalities," and he gracefully stood up.
"Please take a seat."
Becoming scholars of the Academic Palace naturally made them servants of the Yu Dynasty. Li Ang bowed in gratitude, but a question inexplicably rose in his heart.
Why did these three seem so happy? Why were they smiling so openly when they looked at me?
Hmm... Could it be that news of me healing Duke Yan had spread within the palace?
Puzzled, Li Ang had no choice but to strictly follow the ritual and the guidance of the Palace Attendants, arriving at the second seat in the first row on the left—
In the first seat sat a young man dressed in a light-yellow robe embroidered with a dragon missing one claw, and wearing a belt of gold and jade around his waist, adorned with thirteen plaques.
Li Ang’s eyelid twitched. In the Imperial Palace, the only one who could dress was the Crown Prince of Yu Country—Li Si.
At this time, the yellow-robed eunuch outside Liangyi Hall was calling out names like "He Fanshuang of Youzhou," "Pei Jing of Chang’an," and others.
Li Ang took the opportunity to sit down in his designated seat. With over seven hundred examinees, the yellow-robed eunuch soon began announcing several names at once.