Chapter 874 Someone is Having Ulterior Motives (1)
The results of the first round of the re-exam came out the following day, and Mo Qingze’s name appeared high at the top of the list. Of course, the purpose of this exam was to decide the top thirty; the ranking was quite arbitrary and one’s name appearing at the top didn’t necessarily mean their essays were better than the others. Therefore, just looking at the list, it was impossible to tell who might win the title of Champion Scholar.
However, due to Mo Qingze’s consistently outstanding performances, among all the scholars, he still had the loudest calls for winning the top honor.
After learning the results, Qingze simply nodded and didn’t say much, continuing to shut himself in and study. He reviewed some of the rough and disjointed knowledge, as well as some content that seemed unrelated to the imperial examination.
The other members of the Mo Family also carried on with their respective duties, and life went on as usual without any significant changes.
Compared to the tranquility of the Mo Family, the other twenty-nine scholars living in the capital and waiting for the final round of the palace examination weren’t so fortunate. All the unmarried young men became the sweet pastry in the eyes of onlookers, especially for the official families with unbetrothed daughters at home.
Most of these officials held relatively low ranks and the idea of marrying their daughters into high-status and wealthy families was unrealistic. Instead, they thought of picking a promising scholar as a son-in-law; should he achieve success, the Yue Family would naturally rise with the tide. And even if he didn’t stand out, it wouldn’t be too bad—they wouldn’t lose out anyway.
There were many people with this mindset, so those twenty-nine scholars, no matter their family backgrounds—aside from a few old men over fifty with their own grandchildren—other eligible bachelors became targets of interest.
Whether these individuals were already betrothed was not a concern for these officials. Even some scholars who sensed where things were heading claimed they were unmarried in order to secure a connection with a powerful family. Having the support of a Yue Family could save them from struggling for ten or even dozens of years. In this world, there were always plenty of people who wanted to be a Chen Shimei!