This year's Palace Examination produced quite a shock. First, the An County King did not come first, and then the grandson of Minister Yuan unexpectedly did not make it into the top three.
Xiao Liulang and Ning Zhiyuan, these two dark horses from humble families, left the rest of the candidates stunned.
The initial frontrunners had been An County King, Yuan Yu, and the talented scholar from the literati family of Jiangnan, Wang Yuan. Everyone speculated that these three would make the Class Alpha, An County King would be the champion, Yuan Yu would be the first runner-up, and Wang Yuan would be the second runner-up.
Their guesses were all wrong.