Chapter 141

On the day of the exam, as usual, Cuiwei’s family gathered to see her off. At least one adult from each family in the neighborhood also came.

By the candlelight, the families quickly gathered together.

Under the solemn atmosphere, nobody spoke.

When the soldiers came over, the families had to step back, leaving only the five candidates about to enter and Mei Ruochu and Wei Xi, who were their escorts.

Although these candidates had only passed the county exam and were now facing the provincial exam, it wasn’t their first time, but many of them were still nervous.

Even someone like He Qing, who wasn’t particularly nervous during the county exam, was trembling before being searched.

The pressure was twofold: external, as they were in an unfamiliar place, and the soldiers here in the capital city seemed more imposing than the guards in the county.

And there was internal pressure too—everyone present was an elite student from various counties, numbering at least two hundred.

They all appeared polite and dignified. But only forty to fifty of them would be chosen.

He Qing, who had barely passed the county exam after four years of trying, felt uncertain even before entering.

This kind of confidence couldn’t be given by others, so Mu Er Pang and the others could only stand aside, letting him be the last to enter.

After the series of procedures, the candidates could enter.

They glanced at each other from afar, not sure if the encouragement was conveyed, then followed the soldiers to find their seats.

Before the exam started, Wei Xi had told Mu Er Pang that the seats for the top candidates from each county would be arranged together, facing the prefect and the other examiners.

The top candidates always received special treatment, and it made it easier for the prefect to check if any officials had cheated.

Mu Er Pang had been through many exams under the scrutiny of the county magistrate, and now it was the prefect’s turn to watch him.

He knew it in advance, so he accepted it well.

The exam seats were still cramped booths, but they were better than the open-air setup in the county exam hall.

At least they could block the wind and rain, but there were no desks and chairs inside, only two wooden boards, one tall and one short.

Outside the booths, they couldn’t enter yet; they had to wait for the prefect.

During the wait, the candidates standing in a row kept their eyes on their own business.

Mu Er Pang suddenly noticed someone looking at him.

Following the other’s gaze, he looked over—it was a candidate in the booth next to his, also a young man, slightly older than him, maybe fifteen or sixteen.

The other top candidates next to him were at least twenty years old, some even middle-aged or elderly.

So it wasn’t surprising that the other was looking at him.

Mu Er Pang smiled kindly at him.

But the other didn’t react, so he withdrew his smile.

After all the candidates had taken their places, the prefect slowly walked over and struck the gong.

Finally, they could enter their booths.

Once inside, Mu Er Pang took out a piece of cloth from his clothes and wiped both wooden boards.

It was sewn on by Shen Cui specifically for him to use as a rag.

Before dawn, the exam hall distributed exam papers, candles, thin blankets, writing tools, and inkstones.

Mu Er Pang lit a candle first to test it out. While testing the candle, he took a quick look at the exam paper to make sure there were no mistakes.

Later, he blew out the candle. His older brothers were right; these candles from outside were not as good as the ones in the academy.

They flickered and strained the eyes.

With experience from the county exam, Mu Er Pang rolled up his sleeves, closed his eyes, and pretended to sleep peacefully.

In his mind, he was already thinking about the topics on the exam paper.

It was strange—during the county exam, he had to read the questions at least three times to fully remember them and then think about the answers in his mind.

But now, he only needed to read them once, and they stuck in his mind as if they were engraved.

When it was fully bright, Mu Er Pang ground ink again, reread the questions, and thought about the answers once more.

After confirming that what he saw and thought about twice was the same, he felt confident and began writing.

Copying scriptures was his strong suit, and today his thoughts flowed freely.

Before noon, he had finished writing.

After checking several times, Mu Er Pang closed the exam paper.

Because sometimes, repeatedly looking at the same words could make you suddenly forget them.

If he made his mind blurry in the first session, it would affect the next two sessions.

At noon, the exam hall began serving meals.

The imperial exam itself was free, but the meals inside cost money.

However, to prevent officials from profiting from it, the meals provided were all the same: a steamed bun, plain water, and a small dish, all for ten wen per candidate.

Eating could easily dirty the exam papers. To ensure that the content on his paper was flawless, Mu Er Pang handed in his paper before eating.

Many others had the same idea, especially the top candidates from other counties in the same row as him.

For them, copying scriptures was the most basic and simple thing, so they had finished early too.

After submitting his paper, Mu Er Pang, who had risen early, also felt hungry.

Just as he was about to eat, he heard retching nearby.

The sound gradually stopped only after the soldiers had passed by.

Was the food really that bad? Mu Er Pang thought carefully. His older brothers hadn’t cautioned him about eating.

As he thought, Mu Er Pang took a sip of water. Well, at least the water was clean and sweet.

He had only four days left, and he believed that with his physical condition, even if he only drank water for four days, it wouldn’t be a big problem.

Then he picked up the steamed bun. It was hard and dry, as if it had been sitting out for a long time.

When he ate it, it felt like eating sand.

The small dish wasn’t fresh either, and because April’s weather was getting warmer, it seemed like the dish had been prepared early, giving off a faint sour smell.

No wonder some people felt nauseous after eating it; indeed, the taste wasn’t very good.

But Mu Er Pang’s thoughts were, no wonder his older brothers didn’t mention this.

Compared to the food his own mother made, this was nothing!

He only finished the steamed bun and barely touched the dish with the strange smell.

He quickly finished lunch.

When the soldiers came to collect the trays, they left behind only the bamboo tube filled with water.

That was all the water the candidates could drink for the whole day.

Because they had already handed in their papers, and the second session would start tomorrow, which meant the papers would be distributed tomorrow.

Mu Er Pang had nothing to do in the afternoon.

He put the two wooden boards together and casually reviewed the book he was memorizing in his mind, while wondering what his mother was doing right now.

Shen Cui was, of course, watching her Q-version little figure on the light screen all the time.

When other teenagers from the academy were on stage, she only glanced roughly.

It was easy to invade someone’s privacy by paying too much attention.

She was more concerned about their numerical changes.

But this time it was her own son on stage, so she had fewer worries.

Besides, since he was young, the mother and son had never been apart for so long. She was really worried that her chubby son wouldn’t adapt.

She watched him writing for most of the day, saw him munching on the steamed bun, and saw him squatting uncomfortably in the booth, which looked especially uncomfortable.

Later in the night, Shen Cui watched as he curled up to sleep under the thin blanket. Her heart felt uneasy.

In the second round of the provincial exam, they were tested on miscellaneous essays, just like the copying scriptures, and it only lasted for one day.

Miscellaneous essays were several levels harder than copying scriptures because this session also assessed the students’ calligraphy skills.

So Mu Er Pang was extra serious. He wrote from morning till afternoon, not even stopping for lunch to prevent his thoughts from being interrupted, only taking a few sips of water.

Before it got dark, he handed in his paper and went to sleep after finishing the steamed bun.

After a good rest, he prepared for the last session.

The last session was the essay on policy theories, the most challenging of the three sessions, and it lasted for two days. Papers could be submitted at any time within those two days.

In the policy theory session, the examiners would ask questions in the tone of officials to test the students’ views on political laws and governance.

Students had to express their own opinions, but they couldn’t just express anything—they had to back up their views with evidence.

The students participating in the provincial exam had only passed the county exam and had no official titles yet, so the policy theory questions at this time were generally not too difficult, and there were only two or three questions.

This time, there were only two questions in the policy theory paper.

The first question asked about a specific law in the current dynasty.

Mu Er Pang first wrote down the law from memory and then pointed out that this law was newly enacted in this dynasty and was not present in the previous dynasty.

He then expressed his attitude—of course, he praised the law of the current dynasty. As a newcomer who had just passed the county exam and hadn’t received any official title yet, he couldn’t question the laws of the current dynasty.

Moreover, this law was enacted by the founding emperor, so he naturally had to praise it.

He wrote this question very smoothly, but then he saw the second question: “When did the ‘Five, Six, Seven, Nine Classics’ start, and how were they categorized?”

“Classics” referred to classic texts.

This question asked when the “Five Classics, Six Classics, Seven Classics, Nine Classics” began and how they were categorized.

This question was indeed not simple because the examination syllabus currently only included the “Four Books and Five Classics.”

The other classics were unknown to most people or were not intentionally memorized.

Even Mu Er Pang, who had a considerable amount of reading experience—having read all the books in the library and the books sent to the academy by the Wei and Cui families—was no use when he saw this question.

But now his memory was very strong.

He began to recall everything related to the “Five Classics, Six Classics, Seven Classics, and Nine Classics” that he had encountered in the past few years.

There were two versions of the Nine Classics.

One version included

“Rites of Zhou,”

“Book of Rites,”

“Book of Music,”

“Book of History,”

“Commentaries of Zuo,”

“Gongyang Commentary,”

“Book of Songs,”

“Book of Documents,” and “Book of Changes.”

The other version included

“Book of Changes,”

“Book of Songs,”

“Book of Documents,”

“Book of Rites,”

“Spring and Autumn Annals,”

“Filial Piety Classic,”

“Analects of Confucius,”

“Mencius,” and “Rites of Zhou.”

The former version was prescribed in the Tang Dynasty’s official education, while the latter version was prescribed in the Song Dynasty’s official education.

As for the Seven Classics, there had always been different interpretations.

Racking his brains, Mu Er Pang finally recalled all the relevant content about the Seven Classics and Nine Classics. Only the Six Classics were left.

He suddenly remembered something—three years ago, before the academy’s grand competition, Lao Buyu listening to Wei Xi playing the qin and sighed, “Xiao Xi’s qin playing is indeed excellent. It’s a pity that the ‘Music Classic’ from the Pre-Qin period didn’t form text, so it gradually disappeared after the Han Dynasty. If that classic had been passed down, Xiao Xi’s accomplishment in it would definitely be remarkable.”

So Mu Er Pang wrote that before the Han Dynasty, in the Pre-Qin period, there were “Six Classics,” namely, “Book of Songs,” “Book of Documents,” “Book of Rites,” “Book of Changes,” “Book of Music,” and “Spring and Autumn Annals.” The “Music Classic” gradually disappeared because it was a book on musical theory, and the Six Classics became the Five Classics we know today.

Just this question alone took him a whole day and night to write, recalling and organizing his thoughts.

By noon on the last day of the provincial exam, Mu Er Pang finally finished answering the questions.

After checking, he let out a long sigh, relieved of the heavy burden on his chest.

He suddenly felt a piercing headache and a chill down his spine.

He was afraid of fainting in the exam hall, so he hurriedly handed in his paper without caring about concealing his edge.

Outside the exam hall, Shen Cui was also extremely anxious, waiting early outside. Because Mu Er Pang’s physical condition had visibly declined in the last session of the exam, and his state had turned into overthinking.