Chapter 130.1: Child Prodigy
Chapter 130.1: Child Prodigy
Strictly speaking, this couldn’t be blamed on the two of them. The exam contents of the Imperial Academy’s elementary division were different from year to year. Only once was the foreign language test included, and that was ten years ago.
But that exam paper had long since sold out, and workers in bookstores had also stopped making a copy of it long ago. Therefore, when Xiao Liulang went to the bookstore to buy the entrance exam papers of the Imperial Academy’s elementary division over the years, he didn’t get this one.
Little Jing Kong was an extremely smart kid and could learn well everything he was taught. If he failed to pass the entrance exam, then the issue lay on both of them.
This time, the examiners who came up with the exam content really had the heart to defeat these prodigies. Because these prodigies were naturally smarter than ordinary people, they were inevitably conceited. The examiners used this entrance exam to give them an initial show of strength and prevent these child prodigies from being excessively proud of themselves.
When the examiners started marking the papers, there were no unforeseen results; the examinees were collectively crushed by the last three questions.
Not a single one managed to answer them all correctly. The best one was able to write down a complete seven-character quatrain of the State of Zhao, and still, he wrote three characters incorrectly. The rest of the examinees only managed to write down a few words.
The examiners were overjoyed. It seemed that this year’s brats were going to be well-behaved in class.
However, when they went through the last exam paper, they suddenly couldn’t laugh anymore.
Whose paper was this? What kind of writing was it?
“Did this child write blindly?” An examiner asked.
Another examiner vaguely felt something was wrong as he said, “I seem to have seen this kind of writing somewhere before.”
The two people quickly invited the most reputable language teacher of the Imperial Academy. However, after reading it, the teacher failed to give an affirmative answer, “I, I have to show it to my master.”
The teacher then took Little Jing Kong’s exam paper to a certain residence in the capital and met a seventy-year-old elderly man, who was a tenth grade Sanskrit language researcher.
Finally, the tenth grade Sanskrit language researcher gave a conclusion: This examinee wrote in Tianzhu language.
It was rumored that the Tianzhu language was a language created by Lord Brahma, the patron saint of Buddhism, therefore it was also referred to as Sanskrit.
“Then what did he write exactly?” An examiner asked.
The master replied, “He wrote a Buddhist scripture.”
Everyone: “…”
Was that all right?
It took them one day to copy the writings and three days to translate Little Jing Kong’s Buddhist scriptures.
After taking part in entrance examinations for tens of years, the examiners were completely left baffled by a student for the first time.
Examiner One: “No score.”
Examiner Two: “Yes, he didn’t answer the questions as required.”
Examiner Three: “Besides, the handwriting is illegible.”
Examiner Four: “…isn’t that because he wrote in Sanskrit?”
The examiners were collectively defeated!
What nonsense, but wasn’t it the big truth?
In the end, Little Jing Kong was admitted to the Imperial Academy’s elementary division ranking seventh overall.
Little Jing Kong was very depressed.
For the first time in his life, he tasted a setback.
In front of his bad brother-in-law, he boasted that he would get first place in the exam, and yet he only managed to get the seventh place. Little Jing Kong simply couldn’t enjoy his meal.
It was rare for Gu Yan not to take the opportunity to mock him as he patted him on the shoulder and said, “Come on, you are already better than many other children. When I was your age, I couldn’t even read a single word!”
After thinking carefully for a moment, Little Jing Kong suddenly burst into tears, “Am I going to be as stupid as you when I grow up?” Wuwu——”
Gu Yan：“…”
How miserable must his situation be right now that a mediocre student actually came to comfort him, a top student!?
On the morning of the 27th day of the tenth month, Xiao Liulang also took his entrance examination at the Imperial Academy.
The Imperial Academy was shut down for nearly four years, and a large part of former students also rushed to take the entrance exam.
There were a total of three classes in the Imperial Academy. After being admitted, students were not divided by age and seniority, but only by scores.
Those with poor grades would be assigned to these three halls: Zhengyi Hall, Chongzhi Hall, and Guangye Hall, which was the first class with a school term of one and a half years. [T/N: Zhenyi: justice/righteousness | Chongzhi: lofty ambition | Guangye: wide industry]
Those with medium grades would enter the Xiudao Hall and Chengxin Hall. This was the second class, also with a school term of one and a half years. [T/N: Xiudao: to practice Taoism | Chengxin: sincerity]
Finally, there was the Shuaixing Hall, which was the highest class of the Imperial Academy. Unlike the first five classes, which were further divided into Class A and Class B, Shuaixing Hall had only one class. Generally speaking, new students had little chance of being admitted to Shuaixing Hall. One usually had to spend three years studying in the Imperial Academy, going through extremely harsh exams before they could be promoted to Shuaixing Hall. [T/N: Shuaixing: To follow one’s nature]
This year, however, someone was directly admitted to Shuaixing Hall through recommendation—— An Junwang, the eldest grandson of Grand Preceptor Zhuang.
Everyone recognized An Junwang as a gifted young scholar. His talents had been well-known in the six states as early as when he was still in the State of Chen as a hostage prince. Arguably, such a person brimming over with talent could be used by the imperial court even without him going through the imperial examination.
However, the Zhuang Family had this ancestral teaching; all sons of the Zhuang Family must take the imperial examination.
Over the years, the Zhuang Family had produced a lot of Juren scholars, but of course, there were also a few that failed the exam. The Zhuang Family was such a powerful literary family that people thought it was only normal for them to pass the imperial exam. If they failed, they would be criticized by thousands of people and be laughed at by everyone.
Unfazed by the comments of the outside world, the Zhuang Family persisted in sending all of their sons to the examination compound.
An Junwang lived up to expectations, becoming the Jieyuan of the provincial exam in the capital.
It was common knowledge that the competition in the capital was the biggest, and being a Jieyuan in the capital was also the most difficult, otherwise the Imperial Academy wouldn’t have made an exception and directly admitted him to Shuaixing Hall.
The speed at which they grade the exam papers was something the Imperial Academy boasted about. After the exam on the 27th was over, the examinees’ scores were already out on the morning of 29th.
This year’s new students generally performed well, but some old students who had been delayed for several years due to the closure of the Imperial Academy seemed to have slacked on their studies. Reading was like rowing a boat upstream, if you stopped moving forward, you would fall back.
However, this was not the case for all the old students. There was no doubt about the quality of education in the Imperial Academy. If you could just put some thought into it, you wouldn’t do too badly in the exam.
Not surprisingly, most of the students admitted to the Shuaixing Hall this year were old students.
It was just that when they sorted out the last exam paper, they found an unfamiliar name.
“Xiao Liulang?” Director Zheng asked, “Where did this student come from? Did our Imperial Academy ever have someone named Xiao Liulang?”
“Maybe it’s a new student?” Director Li asked.
Director Zheng frowned, “How can it be possible for a new student to do so well in the exam?”
Furthermore, his grades could also be among the best in the Shuaixing Hall.
The two Director of Studies asked people to bring them Xiao Liulang’s student registration record, and found that he was indeed a new student and that he was the provincial exam Jieyuan of You Province.
Director Li said with a smile, “Isn’t this the first time that a new student has been admitted into the Shuaixing Hall?”
He was inexplicably looking forward to it.
Director Zheng spoke coldly, “Don’t forget, An Junwang is also a new student. This student named Xiao Liulang is just lucky. An Junwang is still the unrivaled one.”
Director Li dared not refute this statement.
Although An Junwang didn’t take the entrance exam, everyone with a discerning eye could see that his talent was even above that of the old students of Shuaixing Hall. Had he taken the entrance exam, could someone else have taken the first place?
But of course, this new student was also dazzling enough.
Director Li took a careful look at his student status and information, and then realized something. He said, “Don’t tell me he’s that examinee who advocated cutting off the vassals and scolded the Emperor?”
It was a fairly big deal at the time, causing quite a sensation amongst the exam officers in You Province.