Chapter 664: A Palace Coup Just Days Later!

They left it at that.

Neither of them dug any deeper, turning instead to idle chatter.

Chen Changsheng asked, "This Chen remembers that when we first met on that boat, Lord Ji seemed to be serving as a Superintendent of the fifth rank, handling matters related to Geographical Maps. I never expected that in the blink of an eye, you would already be Minister of Revenue."

"Just good luck," Ji Xingsheng said with a smile.

Chen Changsheng laughed. "Back when I asked how you became a fifth rank official at such a young age, you also chalked it up to luck. You were just as casual about it then as you are now."

Ji Xingsheng couldn't quite remember those minor details. "Mister truly has a good memory," he said. "I've forgotten a lot of that."

Chen Changsheng said, "Lord Ji must be a man of great ability. Through the changing of the Imperial Court, the fall of Jing and the rise of Xiang, and the reigns of three kings, you have still been entrusted with heavy responsibility. Your talent is evident."

This was no idle flattery.

After all, when a dynasty was overthrown and replaced, the officials of the old regime were lucky just to keep their lives. It was usually impossible for them to ever enter the official ranks again.

Ji Xingsheng breathed a sigh. "Back when the Grand Ancestor established Xiang, as an official of the Old Capital, I should have been executed. But the Grand Ancestor spared our lives. We were imprisoned for five years until a general amnesty granted us the chance for release."

"A general amnesty?" Chen Changsheng said. "That doesn't sound like Zhao Zhen's style."

Ji Xingsheng said, "Mister is correct. The Grand Ancestor was not a merciful king. The general amnesty stemmed from his own supreme arrogance. In the Great Xiang of that time, there was almost no chance for remnants of the previous dynasty like us to make waves. So it wasn't that the Grand Ancestor was conceited, but rather entirely confident."

"After years in prison, I had no desire to return to officialdom upon my release. I retreated to the deep mountains, built a wooden cabin, cleared a plot of farmland, and lived a life of leisure."

Ji Xingsheng sighed. "At first, I thought I could live out the rest of my life like that. But later, things changed."

"Living as a hermit in the mountains is indeed something to yearn for, but once you actually do it and spend some years there, it gets tiresome. After all, I'm not an emotionless piece of wood. Occasionally, an urge would stir in my heart, making me want to try again."

"My aspiration back then was to become an official whose name would be remembered through the ages, just like Lord Liu, Master Fan, and the Vice Minister. But before I could achieve that, the Imperial Court changed masters."

"This remained my deepest regret, forever engraved in my heart."

Ji Xingsheng was very calm as he spoke of these things now.

It was like an old man reminiscing about all the things of the past, about how things used to be, looking back on the bitter hardships of his journey.

His expression was peaceful, projecting an air of profound gravitas.

He perfectly fit the image of a man who had seen it all.

Chen Changsheng found it fascinating; he very much wanted to hear the rest.

Lord Ji said, "And so, one day, seized by a sudden impulse, I took a torch and burned my mountain cabin to the ground!"

"Confident in my abilities, I entered the Spring Metropolitan Examination once more."

"Unsurprisingly, out of ten lines on the exam paper, I couldn't even answer three."

Chen Changsheng couldn't help but laugh. "Hearing you talk about it now is quite amusing."

Ji Xingsheng nodded with a smile. "I think so too."

"I was so foolish back then."

He chuckled and went on, "Failing the Spring Metropolitan Examination meant I had to wait another year. This was a disaster—I had burned down my house! I had no money on me either! I had essentially become a homeless vagrant."

Chen Changsheng asked, "What about your relatives?"

Ji Xingsheng shook his head. "I wouldn't dare go back. For an official of the previous dynasty to return home, wouldn't that just bring disaster upon my family?"

"Lord Ji, you really..."

That was rather miserable.

Ji Xingsheng sighed. "I had no other choice. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and I cursed myself more times than I can count. Fortunately, my luck held out. I found work copying books. Though it didn't pay much, it was enough to keep me fed. So I copied books while studying for the next year's exams."

"After a year of rigorous preparation, I entered the Spring Metropolitan Examination again!"

"This time, it went without a hitch. I ranked as the Bangyan on the Apricot Register," Ji Xingsheng said with a laugh. "My prowess hadn't diminished a bit."

Chen Changsheng said, "This Chen quite likes this storytelling style of yours, starting with failure only to end in triumph."

Ji Xingsheng smiled. "A man must retain a bit of playfulness, after all."

Chen Changsheng asked, "So how was the subsequent Palace Examination?"

Ji Xingsheng said, "It fell through."

"Eh?"

"It fell through."

Ji Xingsheng said, "Simply because I was of the Jing people, I didn't even have the right to walk through the doors of the Palace Examination that day."

"The Imperial Court always spoke of unity between the Jing and Xiang, but in reality, the divide was enormous. It was true that both Jing people and Xiang People could take the Spring Metropolitan Examination and the Autumn Examinations. But when it came to the Palace Examination, not a single Jing person could be found. The officials who actually had a voice in the Imperial Court were, without exception, all Xiang People. That grand palace hall might as well have had a sign reading 'No Jing People Allowed.'"

Chen Changsheng also had some understanding of this.

During that period, the conflict between the Jing people and the Xiang People had indeed been fierce. Later on, numerous factions of the Rebel Army rose up, only to be suppressed by Zhao Zhen.

This matter was known to all and clearly recorded in the history books, never having been erased.

Ji Xingsheng shook his head. "It's a pity. Otherwise, with my talents, I absolutely would have seized the title of Zhuangyuan back then."

Just as he had said himself, he did indeed retain a bit of playfulness.

"Then how did Lord Ji deal with that?"

Who could have expected Lord Ji to simply throw his hands up and say, "I couldn't."

He just gave up!

"The way I saw it, the timing was just wrong. Being barred from the Palace Examination meant I had absolutely zero chance. As a mere commoner and an official of the previous dynasty, securing a post in the current one was basically impossible."

"Unless the timing of the heavens changed."

Ji Xingsheng said, "And so I waited for many more years..."

"It wasn't until the Grand Ancestor conquered West Xiao and unified the realm that my chance finally arrived."

It was also from then on that the doors of the Palace Examination were finally opened to the Jing people.

Zhao Zhen kept his promise. After the Palace Examination that year, the voices of Jing people were finally heard in the Imperial Court.

But then Ji Xingsheng's tone shifted.

"The timing and the conditions were finally right, but the human element was gone..."

Ji Xingsheng smiled helplessly. "When it came to scholarship, I, Ji Xingsheng, was certainly no slouch. But over those many years, I had to scrape together a living just to eat. Moreover, the situation had grown so severe that Jing people couldn't even buy books or paper. I could barely manage to keep myself alive."

In the world of that era, it was hardship upon hardship.

"After so long, I became like a forgotten hoe that had rusted away, no longer sharp."

Moreover, he had passed his prime. Both his memory and physical stamina were greatly reduced, a shadow of what they once were.

"You failed the exam?" Chen Changsheng asked.

Ji Xingsheng nodded. "Not only did I fail, I failed three times."

He took the exams for three years and never made the list.

Everything had gone down the drain.

Ji Xingsheng sighed and said, "It was a matter of timing and fate, so I accepted it."

"I figured I would just honestly live out my days as a commoner in the marketplace. I had managed to save up a bit of money over the years, so I opened a small shop to support myself for the rest of my life."

"Who could have expected that just a few days later, a palace coup would happen!"

"After His Majesty ascended the throne, he reviewed the Palace Examination lists. The Imperial Court was short on manpower, and since I was exactly one place short of making the roster, I was promoted into the ranks."

"Can you believe it? Just think of it..."

Chen Changsheng looked at him, completely speechless for a good long while.