Libationer Kong and Wei Zhi looked satisfied. Bai Cheng's poetic essays and Confucian classics were indeed answered fairly well, but his policy questions…
If ranked seriously, even entering the top fifty would be a stretch for him. If it weren't for his reputation outside, his previous travel notes being done well, and being the consort of the legitimate princess, he wouldn't have been included in the list at all.
Half of the reason for this arrangement is to give face to the emperor, and the other half is because of the passing list. But since the emperor himself changed it, there's no face problem at all.
Wei Zhi felt that this time the imperial examination was somewhat fair, so he stroked his beard and wasn't very concerned about the order of places.
Though Libationer Kong felt a bit dissatisfied internally, because Bai Cheng was still his student, even though he belonged to the Chongwen Pavilion, not counting towards the Imperial Academy's dignity.
