Chapter 114.3: Provincial Exam
Chapter 114.3: Provincial Exam
Autumn came in the blink of an eye.
This year’s summer wasn’t particularly hot, but the early autumn was so scorching that it was easy for people to get drenched in sweat.
Xiao Liulang and his party had been in the provincial capital for quite some time. Under the careful arrangement of the Lin Family, they lived in the most luxurious inn of the provincial capital which was also the closest to the examination compound.
Steward Zhou invited Xiao Liulang to the Lin residence several times, but Xiao Liulang repeatedly refused.
Lin Chengye was tortured by Xiao Liulang this past couple of months. When he came to Qingquan Town, he was still a little fattie, but upon returning to the provincial capital, he lost two circles of fat.
Even so, every time Xiao Liulang gave him a lecture, he would have an enlightening feeling. He simply couldn’t fathom why Xiao Liulang was so knowledgeable at such a young age; he was even better than all the teachers in his residence combined.
However, it was game over the moment Xiao Liulang gave him test questions.
He was at least someone who had gone through the county exam, prefectural exam and college exam, so general test questions didn’t bother him. But, where on earth did Xiao Liulang pull out his test questions? They’re so deadly ah!
In fact, there would always be a scope of examination even for the Four Books and Five Classics. There were some chapters that you should memorize, and some that didn’t require your attention.
Xiao Liulang didn’t care about all this. He would just casually write out the test questions, and more than half of them were outside the key chapters.
Lin Chengye felt like his head was going to explode; in a short time, he was slimmed down by Xiao Liulang.
Lin Chengye went to Feng Lin to complain. Feng Lin let out an ‘oh’ before saying, “You misunderstood him. It’s not that he deliberately ignores the key chapters, he simply didn’t know what the key chapters are.”
Not even once did that guy focus on the key chapters alone. He would sweep everything from page one to the last page! From the very top to the very bottom! Word for word! Enough to recite it backwards!
After returning to the provincial capital, Lin Chengye still chose to stay in the same inn as Xiao Liulang and Feng Lin than go back to the Lin residence, even though he suffered from the torture of Xiao Liulang almost everyday.
The provincial exam had three sessions, each lasting three days.
The first session was on the eighth day of the eighth month, in other words, tomorrow. At present, the inn which was full of examinees was enveloped in a tense atmosphere everywhere.
The only calm one was Xiao Liulang.
Feng Lin was a little nervous, but he had so much to do that he couldn’t care about being nervous.
“Little Lin, come and help here for a second!” Feng Lin called Lin Chengye to the small kitchen of the inn.
This small kitchen was rented by the Lin Family at a high price, and a special cook was also hired to cook their meals.
During the provincial exam, no one would pay particular attention to the examinees’ food. The cook intended to make meals for them, but Feng Lin refused.
Before leaving, Gu Jiao gave him a list, which recorded some precautions and related recipes.
The classification of recipes was so detailed that Gu Jiao even took the weather into account. If the weather was cold, he must use the first recipe; if the weather was hot, then it was the second one.
“Millet pancake, jerky, oranges, soy sauce pickles…”
Feng Lin and Lin Chengye worked in the kitchen all afternoon, and finally got everything ready. The jerky was roasted by themselves, and the aroma of the meat wafted everywhere, arousing the craving of the examinees in the whole inn.
The soy sauce pickles were made a few days ago, and it so happened that they were ready to be eaten. Feng Lin had three small jars of it.
The millet pancakes couldn’t be kept for a long time. It was made by the cook before dawn the next day. Feng Lin instructed that the pancake must be dry and have no moisture at all.
Every provincial exam had two main examining officers, the chief examiner and the deputy examiner, both of which were appointed by the imperial court.
They and the local exam supervisors entered the examination compound on the sixth day to first hold a commencement ceremony, where the inner examiners would pass through the curtain to the back hall, and then the supervisors would seal the curtain.
The inner examiners, also known as marking officers, would stay there until the end of the provincial exam from the day they entered, and they couldn’t leave until they had finished marking the papers of all the examinees.
The whole process could take as long as half a month, during which they were not allowed to have any contact with the outside world. Even the supervisors, also known as the outer examiners, were not allowed to communicate with them.
On the eighth day, examinees arrived at the examination compound early.
Although there were three days in each session, in reality, examinees only had one day— the middle day— to answer the exam. The first day was for checking in and inspection, and the third day was for checking out.
Early in the morning, long queues formed outside the examination compound.
Xiao Liulang, Feng Ling and Lin Chengye came neither too early nor too late, ranking in hundredths.
The three people were not anxious, but Steward Zhou on the sidelines was worried to death.
In the provincial exam, other people were not allowed to line up on behalf of others. Otherwise, the Lin Family would have outsourced people to line at the examination compound early on!
“Have you got the water?” Steward Zhou asked Lin Chengye.
Lin Chengye nodded, “Yes.”
Steward Zhou asked again, “Did you bring all the food?”
Lin Chengye nodded once more, “I did.”
He managed to reply twice without stuttering.
Steward Zhou still couldn’t help worrying as he said, “Then… Do you have any thick clothes? I’m afraid it will get cold at night.”
“It’s hot.” Lin Chengye replied simply.
Steward Zhou sighed. Alas, the weather was indeed abnormal this year. It wasn’t hot when it was supposed to be hot, and it wasn’t cold when it should be cold. He heard that the crops in the countryside were not growing well due to this unusual weather.
When Steward Zhou wanted to say more, Lin Chengye frowned and said, “You leave, don’t bother.”
Steward Zhou：“…”
“Aiya!”
Just as Steward Zhou had taken his second step, Feng Lin’s cry startled him so much that he stumbled and almost fell.
“What’s the matter?” He turned around and asked.
Feng Lin replied, “I forgot to share this! Lady Jiao said that if the weather is hot, we should bring this into the examination compound. She told me it can refresh the mind, repel mosquitoes and prevent itching.”
It was three bottles of essential balm.
It was just, Gu Jiao replaced the glass bottle with an ancient jade bottle, added a cork and sealed it with wax.
“Can you bring this stuff inside?” Steward Zhou had inquired before, and during the provincial exam, examinees couldn’t bring anything but water and food.
Feng Lin explained, “This can be used externally as well as taken internally. Lady Jiao said that if anyone asks, just drink it for them to see.”
The expression in Xiao Liulang’s eyes contained a little subtle meaning as he said, “You’re very familiar with her now…”
Feng Lin failed to catch on the dangerous gaze of his companion and replied with a smile, “In the past, I was ignorant and misunderstood Lady Jiao. In fact, she’s really very nice! Liulang, really, it’s a man’s blessing to get such a good wife! I also want to…”
Xiao Liulang’s gaze was so sharp that Feng Lin couldn’t ignore it at last.
Feng Lin shrunk his neck moodily and said, “Fine, I don’t want to.”
Xiao Liulang took over the essential balm.
Was this strange thing from that box as well?
He had seen this kind of writing. Most of the things that rolled out of the box that night had this kind of writing on them.
But that night, there wasn’t this kind of green bottle.
So it really wasn’t just his illusion? That little box could bring out strange things, and it wasn’t always the same?
Did it have any unusual cover-up trick and mechanism?
Since these bottles were medicines, could the ones he saw before be medicines too?
Was it a small medicine cabinet?
Clever as he was, Xiao Liulang still failed to fully comprehend Gu Jiao’s small medicine chest. Soon, it was his turn to be searched by the guards along with Feng Lin and Lin Chengye.
Feng Lin opened the bottle cap and drank a mouthful to show that they were carrying water. The flavor was to die for ah!
Uuuh, this was so refreshing!
After entering the examination compound, the examinees were assigned to their own examination cell. Some people also referred to it as dorm rooms.
This dorm room was simple and humble, with only two long wooden boards in it. One acted as a table while the other as a chair, which were embedded in the grooves on the walls on both sides of the cell. At night, the candidates put these two boards together to make a bed, where they could sleep at night.
During these three days, examinees were not allowed to leave their own cell. Eating, drinking and sleeping were all done in it.
The first exam was all about writing from memory and poetry. In theory, they must write an article each from the Analects of Confucius, the Doctrine of the Mean, The Great Learning, and The Book of Mencius, plus a five-character eight-line poem written by themselves.
However, this year’s provincial exam was particularly abnormal. They actually added one more article from another book— The Book of Filial Piety.
Strictly speaking, The Book of Filial Piety wasn’t long. It only had less than 2,000 words in total, but the problem was… It had never been included in this kind of exam before ah!
And since it wasn’t included anyway, who would bother to memorize it?
Lin Chengye’s hair stood on end when he saw that The Book of Filial Piety was included in the exam this time!
He wasn’t scared, but excited!
Thanks to Xiao Liulang, this exam, he, would, pass!
Xiao Liulang was a very strict teacher. He would have Lin Chengye retake the exams he couldn’t do not just twice, but thrice or even four times, until Lin Chengye finally passed it.
The chubby Lin Chengye did not just lost weight, he was also on the brink of becoming bald at a young age due to the torture of Xiao Liulang.
However, at this moment, Lin Chengye simply loved Xiao Liulang’s torture!
Lin Chengye knew for certain that only a few people here had memorized The Book of Filial Piety. How many examinees would he overtake just in the first exam alone ah?!