The poetry and essays he wrote were also very beautiful. It can be said that in literary attainment, Yan Sanlang was better than Zhou Wulang.
Therefore, in the final results, Yan Sanlang ranked ten places higher than Zhou Wulang.
Yan Sanlang entered the first class.
Zhou Wulang, on the other hand, was at the top of the second class.
This result slapped the faces of the scholars who had laughed earlier, resounding loudly.
Because the content of the scroll was not much, it just so happened that during the palace examination, when the two gave different answers to the same question, the story abruptly stopped.
It stopped just before the Emperorâs rating.
"I told you Yan Sanlang would score better; my dear brothers, I wonât be polite now." As the other scholars remained silent, a young scholar cheerfully took back the silver on the betting table.
Earlier, these scholars had been chattering excitedly; this betting, well, it was spontaneously organized before the storytelling began, and although the amount wasnât much, too many people bet on Zhou Wulang.
So, those two or three who bet on Yan Sanlang easily earned dozens of taels and were naturally overjoyed.
Chen Run, with a smile on his face, also collected the silver.
Qi Yuan held a wine cup, looking out at the colored glaze window. The storyteller appeared, his expression somewhat displeased, with a shadowy look in his eyes.
"How is this possible!"
"Who said before that Zhou Wulang could surpass Yan Sanlang?" At this moment, one of the scholars who lost silver couldnât bear it and directly questioned.
They were all sons of noble families and, naturally, had quite a temper when angered.
Zhang Lin stepped forward: "What, did I ask you to blame me because you lost silver? Su, I too lost quite a bit of silver this time, and Iâm not even angry. Besides, wasnât my analysis back then reasonable? Werenât you just agreeing with me?"
Zhang Linâs words instantly rendered the scholars who wanted to question him speechless.
Su Ting was originally sour because of the slap in the face, and his heart was not at ease. Thatâs why he intentionally raised trouble with these words. In reality, he didnât care about those ten taels of silver; he cared more about his reputation.
He could imagine that once back, the scholars who had not echoed his words would secretly mock him.
"Hmph, what rubbish story, not worth listening to." Su Ting couldnât bear it, threw his sleeve, and prepared to leave.
However, Zhang Lin smiled and stopped Su Ting: "Su, donât rush to leave. Why donât you think about it? We discussed it fiercely yesterday, and Iâm sure the master behind this bathhouse already heard this rumor. Probably annoyed, they deliberately altered the story. Thatâs why the current situation arose."
"So itâs not that we lost, but we were fooled." Zhang Linâs father was also backed by Minister Qi. Usually, he followed Qi Yuanâs lead. Although his studies were not strong, he had plenty of crooked ideas.
Without much thought, he could shift the blame onto others.
Su Ting, being young and impulsive, suddenly realized: "Zhang, your words make sense; it must be this!"
"What kind of nonsense story is this? If I find out who wrote it, Iâll knock out his teeth for purposefully fooling me."
"Come, follow me to question that storyteller. Today, if he doesnât give me an explanation, Iâm not leaving." Su Ting, full of imposing momentum, took his familyâs servants and stormed downstairs. Originally wanting to find the storyteller on the second floor, but he couldnât enter the inner courtyard at all, he could only look for the storyteller on the first floor.