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Reader-in-Waiting Yang came from being a Hanlin bachelor and it took him five years to become an Academician Reading-in-waiting, which was already considered a fast promotion.

Xiao Liulang was different. He was the new Zhuangyuan. As long as he didn’t seek trouble himself, he would be promoted faster than the Jinshi of the same batch.

Reader-in-Waiting Yang could only press him on the head temporarily.

"Take a look at this." Ning Zhiyuan took out an inscription from his bosom.

Xiao Liulang asked, "Why do you have that stuff on you?”

"Nevermind that, I want to show you its contents!" Ning Zhiyuan handed the inscription manuscript to Xiao Liulang, "Does it seem familiar?"

Xiao Liulang replied, "I wrote it. Why?"

Ning Zhiyuan clicked his tongue, "Reader-in-Waiting Yang handed it in, saying that I guided him in writing it for a long time and even told him to rewrite it seventeen times. This simply wiped out all your credit. Tell me the truth, did he even guide you with a single word when writing this?"

Xiao Liulang took the inscription manuscript and put it on the table casually, then said with an indifferent tone, "It's just an inscription."

"Are you really not angry?" Ning Zhiyuan didn’t seem to believe it.

"What's there to be angry about?" Xiao Liulang asked back.

"As long as you’re not angry." Ning Zhiyuan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard his words. "This kind of thing is commonplace in officialdom. You don’t have a voice until you get to the top. It’s a good thing that you can be so calm at such a young age, much better than I was at the beginning. But Xiao Liulang, promise me that even if the day comes that you climb on top of these people’s heads, you will never become like them."

Ning Zhiyuan was thirty years old at present. His appearance wasn’t outstanding, having a square face and a dark complexion.

But at this moment, his eyes were clear and compelling as they looked at Xiao Liulang with a certain fervor and conviction that almost burned his eyes.

Xiao Liulang looked at him steadily and nodded his head.

Ning Zhiyuan revealed a smile of relief. He patted Xiao Liulang on the shoulder and said with great ambition, "You may think that I’m just from a poor family, have no background, and have no connections. But you see, I occasionally have dreams, thinking that if I climb up one day… Well, I don't have to climb too high. Just becoming a fifth-rank Hanlin Academy Chancellor is already the dream of my life!"

As he spoke, he was clenching his fist as if to force all the contempt he received along the way out of his bones, "I am thinking that one day, when I'm in charge of the Hanlin Academy, I will never appoint people for money or appoint people by favoritism, I will never practice cronyism, I will never appoint someone based on someone else’s orders nor my own feelings!"

……

The weather in the capital was pleasant after the rain.

After the end of the morning court, all the officials left the palace in turn and headed to their respective yamen.

Grand Preceptor Zhuang also went out of the Emperor's audience hall and exchanged a few words with several colleagues who had a good relationship with him. He had nothing to report to Empress Dowager today, so he planned to directly leave the palace.

He had just walked a few steps when he was stopped by Grand Secretary Yuan.

“Grand Preceptor Zhuang.”

Grand Preceptor Zhuang looked back with some surprise, "Grand Secretary Yuan?"

Grand Secretary Yuan was the primary cabinet official, but the two secondary cabinet secretaries, secretariat drafter and three cabinet scholars were all Grand Preceptor Zhuang’s people, hence it could be said that almost half of the cabinet fell under the control of Grand Preceptor Zhuang.

It was just that the cabinet still respected Grand Secretary Yuan, and his voice within the cabinet was still the loudest.

But Grand Secretary Yuan was getting old, and in a few years, he would no longer be the Grand Secretary. One day, one of the secondary secretaries would take his place.

That time would be the time that Grand Preceptor Zhuang completely took over the cabinet.

Grand Preceptor Zhuang had never been in conflict with Grand Secretary Yuan nor the two of them had ever had any encounter, so he had no clue why Grand Secretary Yuan would call him to a halt today.

Grand Secretary Yuan stepped forward and looked amiably at Grand Preceptor Zhuang, "Grand Preceptor Zhuang has been looking better these days."

Grand Preceptor Zhuang politely responded, "Many thanks."

Grand Secretary Yuan smiled, "Grand Preceptor Zhuang is too polite."

Grand Preceptor Zhuang said bluntly, "I wonder what business Grand Secretary Yuan has with me?"

Grand Secretary Yuan replied, "It's not a big deal. Yesterday, I read some of the ancient books sent by the Hanlin Academy, and they’ve been very well restored. This time, Hanlin Academy filled in the several missing parts that even the great scholars of the cabinet couldn't complete. I heard that An Junwang also participated in the work."

Grand Preceptor Zhuang said, "Is that so? I don’t inquire too much about Yuheng’s matters."

He really didn't inquire about it.

But someone reported it to him.

The reason why he said this was to avoid suspicion in front of Grand Secretary Yuan, and to show that he didn't intervene in the affairs of Hanlin Academy.

Grand Secretary Yuan wasn’t specifically talking about the "Ode of Yanbei". He stayed up all night last night to read the remaining books, and found that they were as amazing as the "Ode of Yanbei".

At his age, it had been thirty years since he last picked a lamp to read at night, but he just couldn't stop reading last night.

Although he had never personally seen the original ancient texts, most of these histories could be verified from other history books.

In other words, to restore these ancient books, they needed a vast and magnificent historical reserve as the foundation.

Furthermore, there were no errors in handwriting either.

Even Grand Secretary Yuan himself could hardly guarantee that he could write a single word well under such a boring state.

Grand Secretary Yuan still didn’t know one more thing, which was the fact that Xiao Liulang even lit an oil lamp at night to restore all of them. If he knew, he would be even more amazed.

Grand Preceptor Zhuang knew the whereabouts of An Junwang like the back of his hand, and he was naturally aware that he had been to the library in Mount Yueluo.

He believed that Grand Secretary Yuan’s reason for saying this was that he got some of the ancient books restored by An Junwang. He also knew the strength of his own grandson so he didn't suspect that there was any misunderstanding.

He said with a smile, "To be able to contribute a bit to Hanlin Academy is not a waste of his years of study.”

"A bit? It is a great contribution." Grand Secretary Yuan never praised people easily, even the Little Marquis of Zhao back then never got a word of praise from him. "Grand Preceptor Zhuang, you have a good grandson."

Grand Preceptor Zhuang was simply flattered. This old nitpicker also knew how to praise people?

He suppressed the excitement from the bottom of his heart and cupped his hands, saying, "Grand Secretary Yuan has overpraised."

Grand Secretary Yuan smiled and asked, "I heard that Grand Preceptor Zhuang’s grandson has yet to propose a marriage?"

Grand Preceptor Zhuang was stunned.

……

At the end of the fifth month, the Hanlin Academy held an examination.

Among the Hanlin bachelors, Feng Lin and Lin Chengye ranked fourth and fifth from the bottom respectively while Du Ruohan squeezed into the top nine.

Yuan Yu, the eldest grandson of Grand Secretary Yuan, was originally the first place in the Hanlin bachelor admission exam.

This time his performance wasn’t good and he fell to fifth place.

Senior Compilers and Junior Compilers were not ranked together with them, after all, the contents of their exams were different.

Xiao Liulang ranked seventh, Ning Zhiyuan ranked sixth, and An Junwang ranked first.

Ning Zhiyuan came to find Xiao Liulang and whispered, "Impossible... I clearly made so many mistakes in the arithmetic portion... While you got all of them right... So how could my result be better than yours?"

Scores in arithmetic were the easiest to calculate. Right was right, and wrong was wrong, unlike the literary exam questions which were too subjective.

But even in literary examination, Ning Zhiyuan was absolutely inferior to Xiao Liulang.

Needless to say, Xiao Liulang had been deliberately suppressed by others.

This kind of internal examination wasn’t as strict as the imperial examination. Examinees who refused to accept the results of the imperial examination could go to the yamen or the examination compound to look through the examination papers. After reading it, they could beat the drum and complain if they were still unconvinced.

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