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After the Imperial Examination had concluded, every Advanced Scholar who was selected could independently organize various ceremonial activities.
Li Nuo read while silently memorizing in his heart.
The Imperial Examination did not highlight key points; instead, the examiners would randomly draw five types of ceremonies from hundreds of options, and the candidates had to memorize all the ceremonial procedures completely to confidently handle them.
If they failed to memorize even one, and it happened to be on the exam, that whole session would be wasted.
In the subsequent days, Li Nuo dedicated himself to memorizing the Five Rites.
Others started learning the Five Rites from a young age, having a decade or two to gradually memorize them. Li Nuo, on the other hand, had to memorize the same material within five months; time was indeed tight.
In those few days, he memorized so intensively that he felt dizzy and disoriented, to the point that his perception of his second uncle, Song Lian, changed during the Song Family banquet.
If understanding the law and rituals could be considered a skill, it would be best to have second uncle stay in the Ministry of Justice for a couple of days.
A two-day stay for him could save several months of hard work for Li Nuo.
Song Lian, disturbed by Li Nuo’s gaze, cleared his throat and spoke, "I heard from Song Yu that you are participating in the Imperial Examination?"
Li Nuo came back to reality and nodded, "Yes."
Song Lian said, "If you don’t understand anything about the Ritual Department, you can ask me."
Li Nuo nodded in response and said, "Thank you, second uncle."
He decided not to use his second uncle as a test subject after all. Living off the Song Family’s resources and taking advantage of them—that was something Li Nuo couldn’t bring himself to do.
But after a few days of memorization, he still felt it was better to rely on others than himself.
His second uncle was an Assistant Minister of Rites, above him were the Minister of Rites, the Assistant Minister of Rites, and the Minister of Rites.
The latter two were senior officials beyond the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. The Minister of Rites, just like the Minister of Transportation, were standard fifth-rank officials, neither high nor low, just right.
Li Nuo hadn’t considered approaching him before because the doctor was chiefly responsible for overseeing the general direction, while specific matters were managed by subordinate officials such as Assistant Ministers and Chiefs.
The Minister of Rites may not necessarily be the official who understood rituals the best within the department.
If the Minister of Rites was not suitable, he could try contacting a few of the Chiefs from the Ritual Department.
Let whoever wants to memorize the books do so; he didn’t want to bother anymore.
After dinner, Li Nuo asked Housekeeper Wu to obtain information about the Minister of Rites through the Spiegel Bureau.
As expected, this Minister of Rites was the top scholar in the Ritual Department in the sixth year of Zhisheng.
The court was always very thorough in matching the right people to the right tasks; those who excelled in the Ritual Department were almost guaranteed to enter the Ministry of Rites or Taichang Si, which were responsible for ceremonies and sacrifices.
If the Ministry of Rites was not suitable, Taichang Si might be worth a try.
The last time Liu Shang failed to light up the Law Code instantly, Li Nuo thought the requirements had risen. Later, he realized it was simply because Liu Shang had neglected practice for too long.
The Director of Music had thousands of musicians under him, and it was normal for him not to play personally and get rusty.
But officials of the Ministry of Rites had to arrange the ceremonies themselves, and their familiarity with rituals would only deepen. If the Ritual Department counted as a specialty, theoretically, they had a significant chance of meeting the Law Code’s requirements.
The problem was that the Minister of Rites, true to his reputation as the top scholar, had been an upright official for many years. He was neither late nor early to his duties and did not indulge in prostitutes or gambling. Even the Spiegel Bureau had nothing to hold against him. What reason could there be to apprehend him?
Forget it, no more thinking. These kinds of matters should be left to the officials of the Ministry of Justice.
Ministry of Rites.
A quarter-hour before the end of work, Minister Lu Sheng set down a book titled "Auspicious Ceremony."
Although, as the Minister of Rites, he no longer needed to handle the specifics of ceremony planning, he still had to be familiar with all ritual procedures.
Should there be any issues with the ceremonies he approved, he could not evade responsibility.
He had memorized the Five Rites so thoroughly that he went over them daily; in the over ten years since he became the Minister of Rites, there had not been a single oversight.
When the bell signaling the end of work chimed, he had already tidied his desk and put everything in its place, ensuring that not a speck of dust remained.
After completing all this, he finally closed the door of the government office and headed out of the Ministry of Rites.
Passing by the Yi Gate, a middle-aged official approached from behind.
Lu Sheng glanced back but did not immediately leave. Instead, he stood before the Yi Gate, greeted the middle-aged official with a bow, and only after the official passed did he proceed.
After the official crossed the Yi Gate, he turned back and said, "Minister Lu, there’s no need to be so polite every time among colleagues."
Lu Sheng smiled and replied, "It is only proper."
As the Minister of Rites, he should let the Assistant Minister go first.
Although neither the law nor the rituals explicitly required it, this was a part of the official etiquette he had learned.
Seeing this, the Assistant Minister of Rites could only shake his head and leave.
Once the Assistant Minister of Rites was gone, Lu Sheng advanced toward the main gate of the Ministry of Rites. Outside, an official from the Ministry of Rites was about to step through the door; Lu Sheng caught his eye and cleared his throat.
The official looked up, saw the Minister Lord, and stepped back from the threshold he had crossed, standing obediently outside the door, waiting for the Minister Lord to pass first.
In the Ministry of Rites, you might compete for the way with Assistant Ministers and the Chief of Staff Lords, but no matter how urgent the matter, they had to let the Minister Lord pass first.
It was not just this point that needed attention; whether inside or outside the government office, one had to salute when encountering the Minister Lord, fill his teacup with water when seeing it empty during reports at the Minister Office, and not make any noise while the Minister Lord napped...
Violating any of these prohibitions meant that even though the Minister Lord might not say anything at the time, once back in the Ministry of Rites, one could expect to face his subtle retribution.
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