"Brother Ziyan."
"Brother Ziyan, I am..."
Outside Jingcheng's Examination Hall, the atmosphere was extraordinarily lively. Several hundred people had come to register with the Ministry of Rites.
Thanks to Jingcheng's prosperity, Fan Tower's prestige, and especially Jingcheng's relatively lax curfew, Wang Yan's absurd yet impressive feat of preaching at Fan Tower while drinking and visiting prostitutes the previous night had spread from person to person after fermenting overnight.
Thus, when Wang Yan arrived at the Examination Hall with Feng Jing to register, the scholars who had gathered there long ago all rushed to greet him and introduce themselves. To be remembered by someone like Wang Yan truly gave one a sense of reflected honor.
For everyone shared one fundamental understanding: Wang Yan was not one of their kind. He stood above the ordinary scholar class. Unless some mishap caused him to fall prematurely, then judging by the current situation, whether it was the highest place in the Song Dynasty literary world or the pinnacle of a minister's power, Wang Yan would have a place there.
That was talent that could not be erased.
Wang Yan was utterly unlike those many frustrated famous men of the past. His calligraphy was peerless under heaven; he had put forward a doctrine of self-cultivation and governing the world; and his teacher was a giant like Ouyang Xiu. He had ability and connections. He also represented the achievements of the Song Dynasty's civil governance. So long as he did not go looking for trouble, he was practically the Song Dynasty's current good-luck charm.
Under such circumstances, even if he failed to become a presented scholar in this year's examination, Zhao Zhen would have to grant him the status of a presented scholar anyway, then arrange some leisurely post for him in the capital, where he