Chapter 135

Of course, the one with the worst expression wasn’t Mu Er Pang, but Huang Junping.

In the second round, he noticed Mu Er Pang was mentioned ahead of him, but he couldn’t figure out by how much exactly. The exam felt like a constant struggle.

After barely getting through the second round, he went to great lengths to find out Mu Er Pang’s new seat number – the one closest to the county magistrate!

Mu Er Pang didn’t say a word of congratulations earlier, not because he was nervous or jealous, but because he had already seen the test papers and knew he was currently the best performer.

He couldn’t be bothered to engage with someone like him!

What could be more frustrating than jumping around excitedly, treating someone as a rival, while they completely ignore you from start to finish?

Anyway, Huang Junping was pretty upset.

With each consecutive exam, he felt worse and worse.

He never got called up to the stand, and with every round, his face grew paler.

By now, you could almost describe him as having a ghostly complexion.

He used to be the most talkative among them, but now he became silent.

He Qing, He Yan, and Zhang Zian were all kind-hearted people.

They didn’t make fun of him, but they also didn’t bother to care about him.

Today, when they noticed Mu Er Pang’s expression wasn’t right, all three of them became concerned.

Mu Er Pang hadn’t planned to tell them about it, as if the person who was originally in first place would tell those who didn’t do as well where he wasn’t good at, it would easily give off a sense of showing off.

But since they asked, Mu Er Pang explained, “The previous rounds were still within my comfort zone, but I’m not confident about this last one.”

Zhang Zian comforted him, “You’ve passed the first four rounds, just this last one left. Relax, if you’re nervous, don’t be the first to enter the venue.”

He Qing and He Yan also nodded along, asking Mu Er Pang to go to the back of the line.

Regardless of whether it would help, entering a little later meant feeling the serious and oppressive atmosphere a little later.

What if in just that little bit of time, suddenly there was a moment of inspiration?

Mu Er Pang was indeed a bit nervous, but not excessively so. After chatting with everyone for a bit, his mindset adjusted.

He was about to say it’s unnecessary, but then he saw Huang Junping walking confidently to the front.

Zhang Zian lowered his voice to explain, “I can’t comment on Huang’s other abilities, but he’s really good at poetry.”

Mu Er Pang nodded in understanding.

Soon, the process before entering the exam room began, and everyone remained silent, standing obediently.

When it was their turn to enter, Mu Er Pang still went to the seat directly below the county magistrate’s.

After several days in a row, the county magistrate also became familiar with him, and when he entered, he even smiled kindly at him.

Mu Er Pang had received quite a few of these appreciative smiles over the past few days, but today, because the subject wasn’t his strong suit, he felt inexplicably guilty.

After sitting down for a while, the exam papers were distributed, and Mu Er Pang quickly began to look at the questions.

The poetry question was ‘Feng Fu Rang Bi’. The rhyme scheme allowed was quite common.

If an outsider were to look at this question, they would surely be puzzled.

They would only know that ‘ranging the arm’ means rolling up one’s sleeves, so this Mrs. Feng rolling up her sleeves… does that make it a suggestive poetry topic?

Isn’t this contradictory to the solemn and elegant requirements of the exam poetry?

But after Mu Er Pang finished reading it, his mind immediately connected the origin of these four characters.

This allusion comes from “Mencius,” and this Mrs. Feng isn’t just any woman; she’s a brave warrior from the State of Jin during the Spring and Autumn Period who was skilled in subduing tigers, named Feng Fu.

Feng Fu was skilled at capturing tigers, but later she wanted to become a good person and engage in Confucian studies, so she vowed not to kill anymore.

One day, she saw people chasing a tiger in the wild. The tiger resisted fiercely, and the people asked Feng Fu, who happened to be passing by, for help. Without hesitation, Feng Fu rolled up her sleeves, jumped off her cart, and went to help.

Everyone was very happy. However, nearby scholars laughed at him for not keeping her promise.

Being able to understand the topic without difficulty and knowing its origin made Mu Er Pang feel much calmer.

He began to contemplate the theme for his own poem.

This anecdote satirizes the idea that while politics can change, human nature is difficult to change, hence the metaphorical usage in later generations such as ‘being like Feng Fu again’ to mean returning to old habits.

The simplest approach, of course, is to write based on this story.

But Mu Er Pang had another insight.

He felt that while Feng Fu vowed not to kill anymore and wanted to become a good person, breaking his vow when people were in trouble and he had the ability to help, although it might make people mock his inability to change, actually corresponded to Feng Fu’s original intention of wanting to be a good person.

That opened up another line of thought – the main theme of the poem would become a discussion on what truly defines ‘goodness.’

After more than an hour, Mu Er Pang still hadn’t decided which theme to choose.

The former was more conventional, and with his literary talent, he wouldn’t write exceptionally well or poorly.

It would be just average.

The latter theme was more personal and evocative.

But he was afraid it might be too innovative.

What if the chief examiner particularly disliked people like Feng Fu?

In the county exam, you could bring your own exam basket, and pens, ink, paper, and inkstones were all self-provided.

Mu Er Pang hadn’t used much rough paper before.

He was familiar with everything and could write directly when he had thought it out in advance.

Today, however, he needed to make some revisions when writing poetry.

Not using rough paper wouldn’t work.

So, he started writing the poem on the rough paper with the first theme first.

Among the few who had already been called up, Mu Er Pang was the youngest, always performing the best in the first four rounds.

Combined with his always calm and steady demeanor, it was hard for the county magistrate not to pay attention to him.

Today, however, he was unusually quick to start writing as soon as he received the exam paper.

Even the county magistrate couldn’t help but take notice.

As the morning light brightened, the county magistrate decided to inspect the exam hall and stood in front of Mu Er Pang to scrutinize his work.

By mid-morning, Mu Er Pang had already finished writing a poem on the rough paper, but he had also circled a few unsatisfactory words, feeling that he needed to revise them further.

After skimming through it, the county magistrate felt relieved.

Although Mu Er Pang started writing earlier than in the previous rounds, he hadn’t misunderstood the topic.

He wasn’t like those young people who thought they had performed well in the beginning but then got distracted at the end.

Unfortunately, his talent in poetry was quite lacking… In any case, it was far from his admirable level of understanding of classical texts.

But nobody’s perfect, and besides, this young man still had a lot of growing to do. With a slight sense of regret, the county magistrate continued his inspection elsewhere.

After completing a round of inspections nearby, the county magistrate had a good idea.

Several of the candidates had indeed written very good poems and essays.

This posed a bit of a problem. How would they rank the candidates?

Based solely on poetry and essays, some of the young boys who had consistently performed well in the first four rounds wouldn’t even make it into the top three.

But not awarding them a top-three spot would be a disservice to their substantial understanding of classical texts.

Their understanding was truly commendable. During the grading process, both the county magistrate and the education officials were impressed, although they didn’t explicitly say it. However, deep down, they felt that this young man might just be the top scorer this year.

Surprisingly, on the poetry and essays…

Not only did the county magistrate think this way, but the exam supervisors, the education officials, also took turns to walk around Mu Er Pang.

While the candidates couldn’t raise their heads, the supervisors could see each other’s expressions – all filled with regret.

An hour later, the county magistrate returned to where he started, right next to Mu Er Pang.

Ah, it’s still a pity. If this young man’s poetry and essays were a bit more outstanding, he would be the definite top scorer…

With these thoughts in mind, the county magistrate glanced down again.

Then he noticed that there was another poem written on Mu Er Pang’s rough paper.

This poem wasn’t particularly remarkable in terms of literary skill, but it had a new theme.

It expressed the idea that while people like Feng Fu, who flip-flop on their promises, may be detestable, if they can help those in need, then the poet would be willing to be like Feng Fu.

He had completely changed the perspective in writing this new poem. What a fast writing speed! What a quick-thinking mind!

At this moment, Mu Er Pang was also marveling internally. Indeed, writing with feeling makes it effortless.

It took him half a morning to write the conventional theme, while the one with his own ideas only took an hour.

Moreover, it aligned with his ideals. He linked it to the prepared poetry topics. Although the rhyme scheme was different, the allusions were readily available, so there were very few places that needed modification.

Mu Er Pang didn’t even sense the county magistrate’s dilemma. He thought the magistrate was just doing his rounds like before.

After writing two poems with different themes, Mu Er Pang went on to the selection process on his own.

As half of the exam time had passed, the remaining time was only enough for him to refine one of the poems, so he had to make a choice.

Comparing the two poems side by side, Mu Er Pang personally leaned towards the one with the better performance later on, but there was an element of risk involved.

After much thought, he put down his pen and decided to put the first poem at the top.

He thought it would be safer, even though he might miss out on the top three. His mother had always taught him to face rankings with equanimity.

With his excellent performance in the first four rounds, coupled with the average performance in the last round, he should be able to secure a spot in the top ten, right?

Then he heard the county magistrate sigh heavily.

Mu Er Pang remembered what Wei Shu had said before, that the county magistrate had a habit: when he encountered something he couldn’t stand, he would sigh like this.

So, the county magistrate didn’t agree with him?

Immediately, he understood. He put the second poem at the top again.

As expected, the county magistrate didn’t sigh again. After standing for a while, the county magistrate returned to his seat as an invigilator.

During this final exam, Mu Er Pang handed in his paper just a quarter of an hour earlier.

By this time, there weren’t many people left in the exam hall. When he came out, the crowd waiting outside for the next exam had already dispersed.

However, He Qing, He Yan, Zhang Zian, and even Huang Junping, along with their families, hadn’t left.

They were all waiting together with Shen Cui.

Before they said anything, Huang Junping, feeling proud, spoke up, “For such a simple poetry topic, there’s no need for so much pondering. A truly talented person can produce excellent lines effortlessly.”

Helplessly, Zhang Zian said to Mu Er Pang, “Huang, you were the first to finish this round. It wasn’t even noon then.”

With this remark, Huang Junping became even more self-satisfied, while Mu Er Pang looked up at the sky. “Not even noon, and the first to finish… until now?”

That’s quite leisurely.

He Qing and He Yan, without any pretense, burst into laughter upon hearing this.

Even Zhang Zian almost couldn’t contain his amusement.

Huang Junping’s fair face turned red with embarrassment.

Of course, he hadn’t been idle all this time. He had been waiting for Mu Er Pang – he believed he had performed exceptionally well this time.

During the poetry writing and the submission, the education officials had glanced at him several times.

This kind of treatment hadn’t been bestowed upon him before.

Huang Junping felt like he was floating on air all day!

Mu Er Pang had said he didn’t want to communicate until the exams were completely finished.

Well, now they were, and Huang Junping was determined to have a good chat with him, to show off his literary talent that had garnered the attention of the education officials!

He just hadn’t expected Mu Er Pang to take so long to finish his paper. It was almost evening.

Shen Cui, recognizing her son’s acknowledged weakness in poetry and essays, could see that he was more tired than in the previous rounds, despite his smile. She spoke up, “It’s getting late today, and you’ve all been through five exams. You must be quite tired. How about this? Let’s wait until the rankings come out, and then we can all gather and have a proper discussion.”

He Qing, He Yan, and Zhang Zian all agreed without any objections, nodding in agreement.

Only Huang Junping felt a bit dissatisfied, but since the rankings would be out in a few days, he thought he could wait until then to show off his achievement to Mu Er Pang.

With that, they all went their separate ways to rest at home.

In the blink of an eye, the day of the rankings announcement arrived.