At this moment, the civil servants stood on the left and the military officers on the right, forming two lines on either side of the imperial road, awaiting the arrival of the Emperor. As the whip sounded again, the Honglu Temple official announced "Enter the ranks", and Gu Chengyu followed the two columns into the imperial road, performing the ritual of one bow and three kowtows.
The officials from the Honglu Temple had already led the eunuchs to place a table engraved with dragon patterns on the east side of the Taihe Palace. As the Champion Scholar, Gu Chengyu represented four hundred Advanced Scholars, and merely needed to place the "Thanksgiving Letter" on the dragon-patterned table.
