Near the Academy into the meadow, only then could it be discovered that the soft and powdery flowering trees were not of a single type. Today most blossoms were apricots, but the trees were still mostly peach. Those first light peach blossoms hiding behind the apricot blossoms, raised their little faces to look at these people coming to disturb their peace, full of shyness.
Sang Sang turned her little face upwards, curiously climbing on Ning Que’s shoulders to look outside of the window. Watching the Academy coming closer and closer, and watching that great mountain mostly covered by clouds and mist behind the Academy, she discovered that she didn’t have any kind of uncomfortable feeling, and her thin little willow eyes smiled into a squint, full of happiness.
The student candidates waiting for the exam got out of their carriages successively, and were directed to line up under the guidance of the official of the Department of Rites and the Academy instructors at a large stony plain.
The students waiting for the exam came from different places. Most were personally selected by instructors from every village and town in the Great Tang Empire; the remainder were selected from every department; among these, the Department of the Military selected 70 prospective exam candidates. The amount of people was very large. But with as many students sitting on two sides of a stone rain veranda, unexpectedly it wasn’t the slightest bit crowded – it could be imagined just how wide the place was.
Above the stony plain was the main building of the Academy, hidden within flowering trees and light mist. But because the building itself was extremely large, the two slanted corridors were like the wings of a phoenix, and so had none of the sense of an obscure wallflower. Instead it had a kind of indescribable, indistinct kind of clear, cheerful flavor, appearing extremely grand.
At the moment, Ning Que’s concern wasn’t the appearance of the Academy. If he could be admitted into the Academy, in the future he could have several years to use his two eyes and his two feet to size up the beauty of the Academy – what he was more worried about at the moment, was that at the moment within the rain veranda, there were already more than five hundred examinees, and the Academy will only admit two hundred. Two out of five was not a very high ratio, and he couldn’t help but to be a bit anxious.
Each of the student examinees under the rain veranda had calm expressions, neither talking nor chatting to the left and right, and neither did anyone pull out their examination theses from their chests for a last minute rush. Everyone was the most talented youths of the Tang Empire and even the world – indeed, although within this group there were military officers over 30 years old, born into a frontier fortress with faces full of bitter cold and hards.h.i.+ps, there were also 14 year-old child geniuses taught in some rural countryside brought back to ChangAn with their faces full of restless immaturity, but overall they could all be considered young. No one at the moment was willing to show that they did not have enough confidence.
Ning Que’s confidence became more and more insufficient. His right hand slightly trembled, and several times he was prepared to stretch out his hand towards Sang Sang and wrap up the exam questions, but he forced his hand back. Just when he was finally about to crack, even if he didn’t care about face he wanted to do what he was expert at – the blade portion. Suddenly all around the stone plain sounded with a majestic gong sound.
The Yu Lin Army had come, the ceremonial parade had come, the officials from every department had arrived, and the spectators who spent money to buy tickets had come; the Palace’s Guards had come, His Highness the Prince had come, the Queen Mother had come, and His Majesty the Emperor had come. Consequently after a long while of excitement, the student examinees in the rain veranda sat down with a bit of fatigue, cupping their hands in propriety and along the hillside, “Long live the Emperor” was called out twice, and then there was no longer time for bitter studying. Ah? Ning Que became extremely talkative inside, suddenly seeing a clear and elegant person walking across the stone plain, luxurious clothing, her temperament calm and lady-like – if it wasn’t Her Highness the Princess, who was it?
The Tang Dynasty’s Fourth Princess Li Yu was surrounded by eunuchs and Palace nannies, slowly walking on the stone plain. When she walked past the rain veranda, young, unmarried students looked with pa.s.sionate, admiring eyes. When she walked past the ministers broke into whispering discussions with hard-to-hide shock in their gazes. Walking along the long, long phoenix wing corridor to the main entrance of the Academy, arriving to the stone railing of the path, she made a slight curtsy to His Majesty the Emperor and the Empress Mother, then calmly she stood beside His Majesty the Emperor’s left hand.
Unlike the enemies of those nations and in the rest of the world who harbored no good intentions, and unlike the conspiracies and paranoia that Ning Que imagined – within the Tang Dynasty there wasn’t the situation of Imperial power opposing the Academy. Only a few people knew that the current Tang Dynasty Emperor had once hid his ident.i.ty and studied at the Academy for two years, and after he ascended the throne, no matter if it was a big or small festival, he would come to the Academy for a little rest. When it became winter, he might even stay for a whole month within the Academy.
If the Tang Dynasty’s Imperial power was truly vaguely fearful such that it wanted to balance the power of the Academy, then the moment the Academy began the term, the Imperial Court wouldn’t have put out such a big show, and that Emperor further wouldn’t make this place like a second home.
All the ministers of the Court knew His Majesty’s feelings towards the Academy, and knew that each time the Academy began the term, it was very important towards His Majesty. So when they again saw the Fourth Princess Li Yu, it was hard to suppress the shock and spurts of alarm – they gazed at the distant, high, railed side, and looked at the women standing on the left and right of His Majesty, and inside they couldn’t help but to be filled with complications to the extreme. It hadn’t even been a month that the Fourth Princess returned from the Plains, showing the world that she received incomparable favor. Without knowing when the Empress Mother quietly stood beside His Majesty, in this very moment what was she thinking?
The bell behind the mountain sounded by a sharp strike – it was the first summons of the Academy’s entrance exam. Under the direction of the Instructors of the Academy, hundreds of student examinees filed out of the rain veranda, walking past a flat road beneath the railing of the Academy’s main building, heading inside of the courtyard.
The Tang Dynasty Emperor watched those handsome and suave students entering one after another under his watchful eye, and he couldn’t help but to stroke his thin beard, showing a satisfied and happy smile.
Watching her father’s expression, the Fourth Princess Li Yu said with a smile, “Congratulations Imperial Father, the world’s heroes have joined you.”
The Tang Emperor heard these words and laughed loudly; he didn’t approve but didn’t disagree.
The Empress Mother didn’t say anything, only turning her face towards her husband with a faint smile, her eyes full of admiration and affection. Her full, soft right hand on top of his hand gently joined, showing encouragement.
His Majesty the Emperor looked at the women of his family beside him, great ministers on both sides, countless future pillars of the state, and couldn’t help but to feel great satisfaction. Suddenly he felt that beside him seemed to be missing one person, his brow slightly frowned, and to a high minister behind him he asked, “Master……still wouldn’t come?”
That high minister frantically clasped his hands and said, “The dean said that the entrance exam was for His Majesty, for the Empire to select talents, he……didn’t need to come, he had to prepare his luggage, after two days he has to leave.”
His Majesty the Emperor only now thought of this. With a face full of regrets as though a child having done something good, but not receiving a father’s approval, and with a sigh and a soft clap on the stone railing, he said, “I nearly forgot, this year Master traveling from the country is a bit earlier than before.”
He turned and glanced at that great mountain behind the Academy sitting in mist and clouds, at times appearing and disappearing, and then silent for a while he prayed.
At the base of the great mountain, there were about ten dirt roads from somewhere leading to this pavilion, where a monk and a Daoist were having tea and chatting. It was early morning, and it was unknown where they got such a good mood.
The monk was around thirty years old, his appearance handsome and peaceful, naturally showing the meaning of purifying dust. His eyes fell on the vertical and horizontal lines of the chessboard, then afterwards, lifting his head towards that distant mountain and Academy, suddenly he spoke up and asked, “I heard……Master was very high.”
That Daoist that was normally solemn, today he appeared extremely frivolous and negligent, stretching his hand out and gently shooting in the sky he replied, “Master…..of course is extremely high.”
“How high?”
“How would some little guy like me know?”
“Even the Great Tang Dynasty’s State Master doesn’t know?” “You’re the Tang Dynasty’s Imperial younger Brother, and you also don’t know?”