After the imperial examinations, the official results wouldn’t be announced until mid-March.
Because the apricot blossoms bloomed around this time, the roster was called the “Apricot List.”
Following the Apricot List was the palace examination, where Emperor Ning personally selects the top three candidates.
No one was confident enough to say for sure who would become the champion scholar.
So when Shen Ye boasted boldly, no one really took him seriously.
Everyone just saw him as an arrogant young scholar full of spirit.
No one blamed him; they simply smiled kindly and teased him good-naturedly.
Among the noisy crowd, Zhang Li rode backward on a green ox, jotting down everything that had happened into the Wordless Celestial Book.
No one knew he was the author of “Four Dreams of Bianliang,” nor did they realize that a new tale was about to burst onto the scene.
The chief disciple of Huangshan Daoist Sect lingered in the capital’s splendor, addicted to writing storybooks.
This seemed somewhat unorthodox.