320 Parchment with missing names

If Nangong Hao did not say this himself, no one would believe that he was not invited to meet with the Emperor. Even when he did...

No one believed he wouldn’t make the list.

So what happened?

Could it be...

All of the candidates thought of only one possibility. That was the only plausible reason. Nangong Hao had handed in his script early.

Was that the reason?

The candidates could not be sure. If the Emperor had seemed that someone who handed in their script early was disrespectful to him...

That did not seem very wise or fair.

All of the candidates looked at Nangong Hao with looks of doubt and sadness. Yet, Nangong Zhao himself showed no emotion.

It was almost as if him being on the list or not made no difference to him.

The candidates did not believe that Nangong Hao did not care. Even if Nangong Hao did not care, he had to live up to the expectations of his ancestors.

Top three.