The streets were packed shoulder to shoulder, bustling with excitement. Whether dressed in splendid finery or ragged clothes, men and women, young and old alike, all craned to see the protagonist of the day.
Wang Yan, with a great red flower draped across his chest, rode atop a white horse, an especially eye-catching sight.
Sitting on horseback, Wang Yan rose and fell leisurely with the horse's gait. The same eternally warm, friendly smile hung on his face as he waved and greeted the crowds lining the streets.
At one point, he even scooped up some unknown family's child and set the child on the horse before him, carrying him along for a stretch. Only afterward did he hand the child back to his father, who had been laughing heartily while desperately squeezing through the crowd to catch up.
That was perfectly understandable. Being happy was one thing, but children really did go missing in Bianjing. Especially amid such enormous crowds, losing an object—or even a child—would not have been surprising at all.
Yet wherever Wang Yan's gaze passed, he saw no such situation.
Thinking of this, Wang Yan, still on horseback, could not help considering how he ought to clean up those urban parasites once he became acting prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture. Following the normal path of promotion, he really could rise to that position...
As he pondered policies and measures in every respect, he rode around to Imperial Street, then followed it all the way toward the imperial city. At last, he dismounted outside the palace, joined the other scholars, listened to a Ministry of Rites official explain the rules, and then proceeded in grand procession toward Chongzheng Hall to be presented before the emperor—the Chongzheng Hall where major ceremonies were held.
It was worth mentioning that the rankings