Dream of the Red Chamber: The Jia Family's Bastard Son, I Never Wanted to Be the Top Scholar

If you don't have a great honor, how can you dream of becoming the number one scholar? The best is the third flower appointed by the emperor.

To put it simply, the imperial examinations of the Ming and Qing dynasties only need to pass the palace examination. The Qing Dynasty even had unspoken rules for Manchuria and Mongolia not to have Dingjia. Otherwise, if you search the entire Qing Dynasty, except for Guarjia, who had the Zhenghuang Banner during the Shunzhi period, are the others all Han Chinese? They are all disciples of the Emperor, and their ranking is just a tool used by the court to balance the interests of various factions. And at that time, the top three were not selected by the same person. The top pick was usually chosen by the chief examiner, the second pick was chosen by the deputy examiner, and the top pick was chosen by the emperor. This was to give the emperor face. For example, Xu Jie and Zhang Zhidong are both No. 1 Picks in the same class. Do you know who they are? They are the current senior brothers in the true sense, and the top five chiefs are usually used by common people or poor families to check and balance. Moreover, becoming a Jinshi during the Ming and Qing Dynasties was not the end. You had to enter the Hanlin Academy. If you did not enter the Hanlin Academy in the Ming Dynasty, you would not even be able to join the cabinet. Even if the common people really get the top prize after two rounds, not many can really rise. The Hanlin starts as a fourth-rank official. The number one scholar will send you to another county to be the magistrate. How long will it take for you to return to Beijing? These are all hidden rules. I have said so many things, but what I actually mean is that there are already problems with the subject matter of your entire work. The protagonist is the Jia family. Even if he is no longer popular, he has no chance of becoming the number one scholar, unless the protagonist leaves the Jia family and becomes completely self-reliant.