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You know, she's not the only smart person in the world; others have studied the Four Books and Five Classics for much longer. She can get a perfect score on this kind of test, and so can others. Even if there aren't many, there are always one or two.
Besides her superior handwriting on her exam paper, was the reason she was chosen first place perhaps because the magistrate thought her painting had won the Emperor's favor, and was using her to curry favor?
The grading of county-level examination papers was not as strict as that of provincial and metropolitan examination papers. There was no anonymization or copying. If a candidate submitted their paper early, the county magistrate or the prefect of the capital would review it and, if they found it satisfactory, grade it on the spot.
She participated in a painting competition at the end of last year. If nothing had gone wrong, it would have been fine. Even if she had won first place, only people in the art circle would know; at most, people who knew her would congratulate her.
However, because of the disturbance caused by Mei Zhongjun and his apprentice, the matter became widely known. As a result, Zhao Ruxi also rose to fame. Along with the news of her winning first place in the painting competition, it was also spread that her painting had long been auctioned off by Eunuch Xie for 25,000 taels of silver under the pseudonym of an anonymous artist and had already been sent to the palace, where it had won the emperor's favor.
Therefore, she is now very famous, and everyone knows that the emperor greatly admires her paintings.
It's possible for the Prefect of the Capital to use her to curry favor with the Emperor from afar.
Thinking of this, she shook her head and said to her grandmother and parents, "This is only the first round; there are two more to come. In terms of memorizing, I'm no worse than others. But in terms of other things, I'm not as good as them. After all, I've only been studying the Four Books and Five Classics for half a year, and I haven't researched the magistrate's preferences. My writing may not meet the magistrate's standards."
"Besides, it's fine if I get first place in the first round. But I certainly won't be first in the county-level examination; otherwise, where would that leave all the men in the world? This first place is just to give face to the Emperor; there's no need to care too much about it."
The county examination consists of three sessions, held every other day. The final ranking is determined by a combination of the results from all three sessions. Therefore, getting first place in the first session does not mean that she is the top scholar.
Even if the Prefect of the Capital wanted to flatter the Emperor, he would not dare to defy public opinion by placing a woman at the head of the table and suppressing all the men below her.
To place her in first place in the first round shows his boldness; he dared to "seek fortune in danger" and employ an unconventional strategy.
"There's no need to listen to what's going on outside. In the end, I won't be the top official, so these comments will gradually disappear, and there's no need to care about them either," Zhao Ruxi added.
Seeing how calmly she analyzed the situation after hearing that she had come in first place, and how she didn't hesitate to pour cold water on her family's hopes, the three elders and Zhao Jingtai couldn't be more impressed with her.
Lady Zhu was both annoyed and amused, saying, "If you think about everything so clearly, how much fun will you miss out on? Who cares who comes out on top in the end? You got first place in the first exam, shouldn't you Gao Xing Gao Xing?"
She waved her hand. "Alright, we understand. You should go back and rest; you don't need to worry about any of this."
Seeing that Zhao Ruxi had indeed returned, she shook her head and turned to ask the servant, "Did you see what rankings the Second Young Master and the Xu Family's young master got?"
The servant was risking his life for the reward, so he wouldn't miss this.
He nodded and said, "I've checked. The Second Young Master is ranked eighty-eighth, Xu Family's young master is ranked forty-fifth."
Zhao Yuanxun's brows furrowed immediately.
The number of people admitted through the county-level examination is not large. In a typical county, depending on the population, the number of people admitted ranges from thirty or forty to fifty or sixty, and no more than that.
The capital city has a large population, and the number of people admitted each year has been around 80 or 90, never exceeding 90.
Zhao Jing'an's ranking is very precarious.
"It's only the first exam, it's alright. Brother An does well later, there won't be any problems," Lady Zhu comforted him.
Before the family split up, Zhao Jing'an studied with his teacher, but he never considered taking the imperial examination route.
You have to understand that even after ten years of hard study, and by the time you're in your twenties or thirties, if you finally pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations), you can only become an eighth or Ninth Rank official, and often you have to be sent to a county magistrate's post.
The sons of noble families, living in luxury at home, would never want to be sent to the capital. As for being an official in the capital, not only is there nowhere to place them, but even if they were, they would only be at the very bottom of the hierarchy, the kind of officials anyone could boss around.
It would be better to use family connections from the start and find a job when you're sixteen or seventeen. If you're capable, it's not impossible to climb the ranks.
When it comes to being an official, ability is ultimately the most important thing; followed by connections and powerful backers. As for academic qualifications like those of Juren and Jinshi, they are merely channels for advancement for those from humble backgrounds, and are dispensable for the sons of noble families.
Therefore, Zhao Jing'an didn't plan to take the imperial examinations, so he inevitably became a bit lax in his studies.
After the family divided their property, Zhao Jing'an was in a daze for a while because of his mother's death. It took him a long time to pull himself together and pick up his books to study.
He initially studied in isolation at home, burying himself in books. Later, he went to a local ethnic school. His current ranking is quite good.
Zhao Yuanxun was aware of this as well.
He nodded and said, "He's still young, no rush. If he gets lucky this year, and it doesn't work out, next year will definitely be fine."
He then inquired about the rankings of several students in the clan school and discovered that some of them had done quite well, before finally sending the servant away.
Ma Wushi returned late, and as usual, everyone questioned him. They discovered that the ranking reported by the servant earlier was the same as Ma Wushi's, without any error. Only then did they give the servant a generous reward, making him extremely happy.
After returning to her own courtyard, Lady Zhu quietly summoned the servant boy and instructed him, "Go out again and see what people outside are saying about the young lady's first place."
Although Zhao Ruxi said not to worry about it, how could her mother not care? If someone deliberately tarnished her daughter's reputation, she wouldn't sit idly by and let others talk nonsense.
The servant returned almost an hour later, reporting, "At first, many people ran to the prefectural yamen to protest, saying they had studied hard for ten years and couldn't possibly be inferior to a woman, and demanded to see the exam papers. So the prefect of the capital posted the papers of the top ten candidates and assigned yamen runners to guard them."
"When the candidates looked at the girl's exam paper, they found that not only were there no mistakes, but her handwriting was also extremely beautiful, without a single sloppy stroke. Moreover, since it was Master Heyou. Master Heyou who was supervising the exam, and he couldn't tolerate the slightest mistake, he wouldn't allow the girl to cheat. Everyone was finally convinced and said, 'As expected of the Layperson Zhiwei, not only is she good at painting, but she also understands the Four Books and Five Classics better than us.' There was no more resentment from them."
Heyou is Qin Zhe's pseudonym.
He himself had an ethereal air about him, so he also became an immortal, raising many cranes at his residence. Thus, he named himself Heyou.
Lady Zhu's heart was in her throat when she heard the first half; she only felt relieved and comfortable when she heard the last part.
"Hmph, a bunch of grown men, trying to use underhanded tricks to beat my daughter, look what they've done!"