That year, he went alone to the capital to take the exams, and now he is still alone.
He even left the books he always held close at the Zhi Xing Academy in Luocheng City, because those sage classics could not help him.
...
...
Wang Daosheng walked alone out of Chengtian Gate, gazing at the familiar yet strange Chang'an Street.
In the 15th year of Jianing, after the naming ceremony outside Eastern Hua Gate, he rode a tall horse with red silk draped on his chest, confidently traversing this stone street.
That day, he held a burning heart, believing he could use his lifelong learning to benefit the common people, but all he got was six years of copying documents at the Hanlin Academy, writing three hundred and sixty volumes of Ning Shi.
Six years, and he merely went from a scholar at Hanlin Academy to a compiler, watching as his classmates achieved their careers while he became the laughingstock as the "Second Rank Compiler" among the officials.
