Chapter 173

Mu Er Pang tried to lighten the mood with a joke, but nobody laughed heartily at this point.

If another Liu Xuezeng were to emerge, not only would Mu Er Pang struggle with his shortcomings in poetry and literature, but even Wei Shu and Wei Xi would find it challenging, apart from Mei Ruochu and Shen Aoshuang.

After this, Lao Buyu became even more diligent in gathering information.

This time, he didn’t go to the tea house but specifically sought out merchants from the capital.

In the hierarchy of scholars, merchants ranked last.

In this dynasty, merchants held a low status, and some proud scholars didn’t bother to associate with them.

However, merchants were well-informed.

By June, Lao Buyu had learned some things that others didn’t know.

“I thought it was too coincidental. Liu Xuezeng, who excelled in poetry and literature, was also a Langzhong (imperial doctor) in the Ministry of Rites, just like our Minister Wang. It’s not a coincidence at all. Because Minister Wang is skilled in poetry and literature, and Liu Xuezeng also excels in this area, after entering the Ministry of Rites, he gained Minister Wang’s favor and was regarded as half a disciple. Liu Xuezeng’s career was much smoother than that of his peers.”

Upon hearing this news, Mu Er Pang couldn’t even crack a joke.

Did this mean Minister Wang was an enhanced version of Liu Xuezeng?

Without harboring any illusions, Mu Er Pang resumed his poetry and literature training.

Over the past two years, under the guidance of Lao Buyu and Mei Ruochu, and later with the addition of Shen Aoshuang to the academy, Mu Er Pang had absorbed a lot.

His poetry and literature had improved significantly.

However, perhaps he didn’t have the natural talent in this area.

Despite his efforts, his poems still couldn’t compare to those of Mei Ruochu and Shen Aoshuang.

At best, his performance was on par with Wei Xi and Wei Shu.

When others offered to help him train further this time, Mu Er Pang declined. “We’re all taking the exam together, and time is running out. Even if you spend half an hour more on me, you’ll lose half an hour of study time. Moreover, after all this time, do you still have some hidden trump card? “

They didn’t know about the situations in other academies, but in Cuiwei, the young scholars were as close as brothers and naturally wouldn’t hide anything.

Of course, the others said they didn’t.

Mu Er Pang then smiled and said, “Isn’t this good? You’ve taught me everything you can, and we’ve had several special training sessions before. My mother has kept all the materials. I’ll study on my own, gain some insights, and then share them with everyone.”

By August, the provincial exam was approaching.

The Provincial exam consisted of three sessions, each lasting three days. During these days, candidates couldn’t leave, and they had to enter the examination hall a day before each session.

That meant they had to enter the examination hall on August 8th, August 11th, and August 14th.

They could only return home to sleep for two nights in between; the rest of the time, they had to stay in the examination hall.

It was no wonder that houses in Scholar’s Lane were in high demand.

If one’s accommodation was far away during this time, it would definitely pose a big problem!

As August approached, Lao Buyu suggested to Shen Cui that they should refrain from taking the young scholars outside.

Although studying was crucial, under Shen Cui’s leadership over the years, everyone also understood the importance of maintaining good health.

They had a habit of exercising for about fifteen minutes to half an hour every day.

Since the small house didn’t allow for much movement, it was inconvenient to do morning exercises.

Therefore, Shen Cui would take everyone out for a half-hour walk after dinner every day to exercise and refresh their minds.

Lao Buyu wasn’t being unfounded; he said, “Currently, all the scholars from the province are gathering in Lin Nan Prefecture, but there aren’t many notable ones. If Mei and Er Pang are frequently mentioned by others… it’s better to be cautious.”

Shen Cui immediately understood that Lao Buyu was concerned about the possibility of someone having ill intentions and targeting strong competitors before the exam.

Naturally, Shen Cui agreed.

After informing the young scholars, Cui Fei suddenly recalled, “Three years ago, I went to the exam with Yunchuan. I remember one time we ate something outside, and I had diarrhea for several days afterward. He, on the other hand, ate very little, so it wasn’t severe for him. Another time, as we were passing by a tavern, a flowerpot suddenly fell from upstairs… At that time, I just thought it was due to unfamiliarity with the local environment and an accident, but thinking about it now…”

With this past experience in mind, coupled with the fact that the young scholars of Cuiwei weren’t frivolous individuals, everyone decided to focus on studying diligently indoors and avoid going out unnecessarily.

On the seventh day of the month, Shen Cui began inspecting everyone’s luggage. Unlike the provincial exam, where provisions were provided, for the township exam, due to the larger number of candidates, the government couldn’t supply everything.

Besides drinking water, candidates needed to bring all their own items, even the exam paper, for which they had to provide twelve sheets of paper in advance and pay for the examination fee.

Basic necessities like writing materials, bedding, and clothing were essential, and candidates also needed to be cautious in preparing dry rations.

Some candidates would bring rice and kerosene stoves into the exam venue to cook their own meals. However, since several young scholars from Cuiwei had little experience in the kitchen, and Shen Cui didn’t want to take any risks, especially considering Mei Ruochu’s unstable energy, she decided to prepare ready-made food.

Although the fried rice and fried flour available in the system were edible, eating them for three consecutive days would undoubtedly dampen one’s appetite.

Shen Cui purchased specially made mantou from the system that could last three days without getting moldy. After frying the mantou until they were crispy, she cut them into small thumb-sized pieces.

For vegetables, the system also sold dried vegetables that didn’t require additional cooking, just soaking in water.

Given the current weather, there was no need to worry about not having hot meals causing gastrointestinal problems.

Additionally, she steamed a few sausages and diced them into small pieces, adding them to the dried vegetables to ensure that they had both meat and vegetables for each meal.

Shen Cui also prepared two large bamboo tubes for each person.

Since the exam venue provided drinking water, one tube contained energizing drinks, while the other contained fruit and vegetable juice.

She also included mosquito repellent and insect repellent since August was filled with mosquitoes and ants.

Other essentials like cooling oil, matches, earplugs, and handkerchiefs were also packed.

Finally, she ensured that each person had the medicine that she had bought for Mu Er Pang, which controlled bowel movements without any significant side effects.

Shen Cui spared no effort, exhaustively brainstorming and purchasing items from the system, even emptying her pockets for this cause.

She made sure to cover everything she could think of, and each young scholar ended up with a heavy burden.

These items might seem ordinary, but each one was essential.

Shen Cui put a lot of thought into this and spent several days worrying about potential oversights, even dreaming about it at night.

Due to the large number of candidates, the results were posted on the seventh day, and candidates were divided into several groups for entry.

In Cuiwei’s case, except for Mei Ruochu, who needed to enter the exam venue in the first batch in the middle of the night, everyone else was in the second or third batch.

It was a random event, and since the imperial court specifically divided students from nearby regions into different batches, it wasn’t considered unlucky.

In the blink of an eye, it was the morning of the eighth day of the month, the day of the provincial examination.

Since the candidates had different entry times, it would be too much trouble for Shen Cui and Lao Buyu to accompany them as they did before.

So, after discussion among the young men, they decided not to have the two of them accompany them this time.

On this day, before dawn, Mei Ruochu carried his luggage to register.

Behind him, Mu Erpang and the others also got up and entered the examination room according to their batches.

Shen Cui’s greatest concern was Mei Ruochu, whose luck seemed to fluctuate unpredictably.

Actually, Mei Ruochu being the first to enter the examination room was quite good.

Even if he wasted a lot of time, he would still have enough time to rest afterwards.

After months of waiting since the provincial examination, Mei Ruochu’s luck value had been restored to 90 by Shen Cui, and he had acquired several lucky items.

However, the body search process for the provincial examination was as strict as the perfectural examination.

All clothing had to be removed, and Mei Ruochu’s luck value dropped to 40 after deducting 50 points.

His mental resilience had always been strong, and Shen Cui couldn’t judge whether he had entered the examination room just by looking at the numbers.

She waited for half an hour, then summoned his Q-version avatar.

To her surprise, Mei Ruochu’s avatar was still shirtless even after so long—he hadn’t entered the examination room yet!

In the examination hall of the Gongyuan, Mei Ruochu still hadn’t managed to put on his clothes.

Until everyone from the same batch had already entered, and the next batch of candidates was about to come, an official from outside inquired about the situation.

The soldier in charge of the body search reported, “According to the adult, when this candidate was being searched, the bamboo tube he carried suddenly leaked with a particularly strong smell and bright color, something we have never seen before. Also, despite the hot weather, he was wearing three belts and two outer garments, behaving strangely. That’s why we had to interrogate him for a long time.”

The outside official then asked, “Was he carrying anything illicit?”

The soldier replied that he wasn’t. So the official ordered Mei Ruochu to put on his clothes first—after all, this was just the rural examination, and the other party was already a scholar with some achievements, so leaving him half-naked was a bit humiliating.

Then the outside official personally watched as the soldier inspected Mei Ruochu’s luggage inside and out.

After a while, even the soldier began to wonder—not because he couldn’t find any cheating materials, as they had searched through it thoroughly more than ten times, and he was pretty sure of that.

Rather, he wondered about himself. Among scholars, there were plenty of eccentric and odd characters, and this wasn’t his first year responsible for the rural examination’s search and security.

People bringing oddities like various stimulating alcoholic beverages or even more outrageous things like deer whip wine or tiger whip wine were not uncommon.

Compared to them, what was wrong with this person bringing two colored jars of water?

As for clothing, perhaps this person had a natural aversion to cold.

It was said that people with such constitutions felt chilly even in the hottest months, scholars with weak bodies or poor constitutions might suffer from some kind of cold-related ailment, nothing out of the ordinary really.

So what was there to be so alarmed about? It puzzled him why they detained a scholar like a thief, repeatedly searched and questioned him.

The soldier couldn’t figure it out, but finally agreed to let him go, giving Mei Ruochu a courteous apology.

Mei Ruochu was accustomed to this kind of situation, so he didn’t get angry, just said, “You’re just doing your duty, I can’t blame you.”

Then he sat down at his assigned seat, and Shen Cui finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As for Mu Erpang and the others, they naturally had a smoother experience. Within just twenty or thirty minutes of entering, they all settled down comfortably.

The examination room for the provincial examination was a bit more upscale than what Mu Erpang had seen before.

Although it was still cramped with two planks for each person to sit and lie on, at least both sides were made of bricks, providing slightly better sound insulation.

And under the low wooden planks used as seats and beds, there was a chamber pot, solving that problem.

As long as they didn’t insist on going outside to relieve themselves, they didn’t have to worry about being marked as defecating.

However, there were still no doors in the examination room. Just a few steps away, there were other unfamiliar candidates.

If it was just urination, turning away to face inside was fine, but if they needed to use the chamber pot… it would be embarrassing.

But fortunately, Shen Cui had given them medicine in advance, so Mei Ruochu and his friends didn’t have to worry about this issue.

After settling down, they familiarized themselves with the environment, lit the moxa sticks given by Shen Cui, placed insect-repelling incense in the corner of the room, wiped the wooden planks with a cloth, and finally joined the two planks together, curling up on them, quietly waiting for the official start of the examination the next day.