Chapter 175

Finishing reading the three questions she wanted to see in one go, Shen Cui couldn’t feel happy.

Well, she didn’t have any thoughts anyway.

And it wasn’t just her; Mei Ruo Chu on the screen also slightly furrowed his brows.

In the past two years, he had become even steadier, with mental resilience far beyond the ordinary.

Basically, nothing could affect his emotions.

If even he was like this, it seemed that these questions were indeed not simple.

Shen Cui couldn’t help but turn her gaze to Mu Er Pang and Cui Fei.

Because compared to others, they were a bit inferior in level. If they could figure it out, others wouldn’t need to worry.

Mu Er Pang and Cui Fei were mentally prepared for the difficulty of this poetry question, so their reactions were relatively calm.

But if Shen Cui looked closely, she would notice that the straight backs of the two had sagged a bit.

At this moment in the examination hall, Mu Er Pang focused his attention on the first question, “Green shade brings forth spring’s remnants.”

This question, because of its longer length compared to the other two-character questions, was relatively easier to identify.

In the two years since the provincial exam, he had to deal with Liu Xuezheng every year, so Mu Er Pang’s mind shifted quickly.

After confirming that he hadn’t seen these five characters together before, he already knew it was an excerpt.

In less than two quarters of an hour, Mu Er Pang thought of the complete sentence—it was from Wei Yingwu’s “Visiting Kaiyuan Temple”: “Green shade brings forth daytime quiet, lone flower represents spring’s remnants.”

Although there was the character “spring” in it, the meaning of this line was that the green trees made the daytime seem quiet, and the solitary remaining flower symbolized the lingering remnants of spring.

The focus was on “lingering remnants,” so this was a poem about early summer!

If one doesn’t know the source and doesn’t understand the entire poem, but only interprets it based on the word “spring” in the title, that would definitely be off-topic!

Knowing the source and just writing about early summer, the poetry question wouldn’t be difficult.

Mu Er Pang breathed a sigh of relief and began to draft.

Seeing him start to write, Shen Cui glanced at the others. Except for Cui Fei, everyone else had started drafting around the same time.

After about half an hour, Cui Fei dipped his pen in ink again, and he figured it out too!

Shen Cui went through what the students had written one by one and found that everyone had written about the summer scene.

No one had a theme that was different from others, so she felt much relieved.

Although Cui Fei was the last to come up with the source and start writing, he wasn’t slow in writing poetry.

In fact, he was faster than Mu Er Pang in composing verses.

Until that afternoon, Mu Er Pang casually had lunch and began to ponder the second question, “Graceful.”

Because it was only two characters, figuring out the source became even more difficult.

After much pondering, Mu Er Pang remembered that the earliest source of these two characters was from “Chu Ci,” with the original line being, “Flesh plump, bones delicate, figure graceful, like swaying grass in the wind.”

“Graceful” means light and graceful.

However, if directly writing about a woman’s beauty in the poem, if not handled properly, it could easily appear too frivolous, violating the basic rule of avoiding overly delicate and flamboyant in exam poetry.

So after thinking about this, Mu Er Pang still didn’t dare to start writing and continued to think about other possibilities.

After another half day, Mu Er Pang listed three famous lines on the draft paper:

From “Her form is graceful and charming, like swaying grass in the breeze.”

This is a work by Bian Rang of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It’s beautifully written with lofty aspirations, using the scene of King Chu Ling playing at the Zhanghua Terrace to criticize current issues and draw lessons from ancient times.

“The Essay on Mountain Dwelling”: “After refining oneself, one becomes graceful; after becoming sparse, one becomes luxuriant.”

The author of this essay is Xie Lingyun, expressing the lamentation of the fleeting time, the shortness of life, and the ephemeral nature of existence.

“Muyuan’s Inscription on Bamboo”: “Graceful bamboo covers the gate, revealing its unique and elegant beauty.”

Although the author of this poem momentarily escaped Mu Er Pang’s memory, what he could confirm was that the phrase “graceful” could describe a variety of things, not just women, but also flowers, plants, and bamboo.

He made a decision in the end, feeling that he couldn’t do justice to the profound theme of life lamentation in “The Essay on Mountain Dwelling”—after all, he was only fifteen years old.

It would be easy to write something awkward and out of place if he tried to lament about life now.

So he decided to use “Muyuan’s Inscription on Bamboo” as an example, using “graceful” to describe bamboo.

Bamboo has always been a symbol of upright gentlemen.

By combining it with the line from “Zhang Hua Fu,” he could advise the ruler from the perspective of a gentleman, which would be a good approach.

By now, it was already midnight on the ninth day of August. Mu Er Pang had thoughts about the second-to-last question, so he carefully put away the exam paper and then seized the opportunity to catch up on sleep.

Because he had always had good health, he dared to stay up until this hour.

Meanwhile, on the screen, most of the others in Cui Wei’s group had already blown out their candles and fallen asleep.

Shen Cui had been keeping an eye on them, so she had a good idea of everyone’s progress:

Mei Ruo Chu was the fastest; he had finished writing the second poem before nightfall and transcribed it.

As for the last poetry question, although he hadn’t started writing yet, he had been thinking about it all night.

He hadn’t started writing yet, but he was always able to compose poems in one go, without even needing drafts.

He was also the first to go to sleep, probably because he already had an idea in his mind and just needed to write it down the next day.

Shen Ao Shuang finished his last poem on the draft paper, but he seemed very dissatisfied.

He stopped halfway through and started a new, which also didn’t seem to satisfy him.

So he stopped halfway through again and went to sleep, probably planning to continue thinking about it the next day.

Wei Shu and Wei Xi were still frowning over the last question before going to sleep.

Cui Fei and Mu Er Pang were progressing similarly; they had both drafted the second poem, but it hadn’t turned into a complete poem yet.

The day before the exam still stretched ahead, seeming ample to everyone.

Shen Cui double-checked everyone’s various stats and found that only Wei Xi’s physique had dropped by one point.

But he knew the importance of health, so despite the stifling heat in the dormitory, he made sure to wrap himself tightly in the thin blanket when he went to sleep, which reassured Shen Cui somewhat.

Shen Cui made sure they were all asleep, silently cheering them on in her heart before quickly washing up and going to bed himself.

The next day, Mu Er Pang was the earliest to wake among them because he had spent some time practicing in his mind after falling asleep yesterday.

So when others got up, he had already written out the second poem, finally catching up with the progress of Wei Shu and Wei Xi.

Then he began to ponder the third question.

In “Zhuangzi’s Qi Wu Lun,” there is a sentence: “The wind blows, making each thing produce its own sound.”

‘Blows’ refers to the wind blowing, ‘each thing’ refers to myriad pores.

Together, it means the wind blowing through myriad pores, producing various sounds, and causing all things to move on their own.

But even with this understanding, it was still like groping in the dark.

“Zhuangzi” aims high and far, its meaning profound and vast, each sentence often full of Zen wisdom, requiring careful contemplation.

And just with these two characters, there was much more to comprehend.

He hesitated to put pen to paper, as did Wei Shu, Wei Xi, and Cui Fei.

After nearly half a day passed, before lunch, Shen Ao Shuang finally finished writing the last question, copying down the poem he was still satisfied with onto the paper and beginning the final checking work.

Shen Cui paid more attention to them. In a blink of an eye, he noticed that Mei Ruo Chu’s grid was empty—he had handed in his paper early.

And it was only noon on the third day, so it was equivalent to being half a day early.

He was always quick in answering, his academic achievements were high, but he was not arrogant, seeking perfection in everything, and had never handed in a paper so early before.

Shen Cui felt something was not quite right, but since he had already handed in his paper and would soon return, he waited patiently for him to come back before inquiring about the situation.

Two quarters of an hour later, Mei Ruo Chu returned to Scholar Lane with slow steps.

Thanks to Shen Cui’s system, he noticed when Mei Ruo Chu wasn’t in the exam room and went out to buy food and boil water.

Otherwise, they might not have been prepared at all at this moment.

Lao Bu Yu didn’t expect him to come back at this time.

He was cooling off under a tree in the courtyard, puzzled, and asked, “Headmaster Shen went out to buy food again and boiled water. I advised her that there was no need to start fussing so early. Today, the exam won’t be over until nightfall, and you guys won’t be back until after lunch at the earliest. I didn’t expect you to come back so early… Was the paper that simple?”

Mei Ruo Chu’s expression wasn’t great. He answered Lao Bu Yu’s question first, shaking his head and saying, “No.”

Then he smelled the aroma of food and began to retch.

Shen Cui had just set the table in the main room when he heard the sound and hurried out.

Mei Ruo Chu told them not to approach and took a moment to adjust himself before saying weakly, “I’m fine, it’s just that I sat in a stinky seat this time, and I couldn’t bear it. So I handed in my paper early. Headmaster Shen and Teacher Lao, don’t come near, the smell on me is really bad.”

The so-called “stinky seat” was the one closest to the toilet.

Although the towels Shen Cui prepared for him had some deodorizing effect, they couldn’t completely eliminate all the smells in the air.

So Mei Ruo Chu had basically been by the toilet for two and a half days!

And in between, he had a few meals of dry rations, during which he naturally couldn’t wear a mask, so he had to endure that smell…

At first, Shen Cui thought he put on a mask because of the neighboring scholar’s exam room, but it turned out the situation was even worse than she thought!

It was fortunate that it was Mei Ruo Chu; if it were anyone else in the academy, perhaps only Shen Ao Shuang, whose sense of smell was not as keen as usual, could perform better.

But it would still inevitably be greatly affected.

While cursing the system in her heart—unable to prevent Mei Ruo Chu from entering the exam room, so it had to nauseate people elsewhere?

She quickly withdrew the food back to the kitchen and brought clean water to help Mei Ruo Chu rinse his mouth.

Mei Ruo Chu vomited three times before finally emptying his stomach.

After drinking the water, Shen Cui and Lao Bu Yu helped him back to the room to lie down for a while.

Finally, he recovered a bit, seeing Shen Cui and Lao Buyu worried, he wanted to reassure them.

Shen Cui and Lao Bu Yu didn’t allow it.

They asked him to take a bath and rest quickly.

They could discuss everything after everyone else returned.

Mei Ruo Chu ate something casually, changed out of his smelly clothes, and fell asleep.

It was evident that the two and a half days in the examination hall had been a huge torment for his mind and body.

In the afternoon, as if they had a telepathic connection, Wei Shu and Wei Xi, the two brothers, handed in their papers and bumped their heads at the entrance of the examination hall.

Wei Xi’s physique had dropped a total of 2 points, showing signs of paleness in his complexion.

Without saying much, Wei Shu squatted down in front of him.

The brothers had been close for years, and any past discord or estrangement had long since disappeared.

Feeling genuinely weak all over, Wei Xi didn’t object and simply leaned onto Wei Shu’s shoulder, allowing his brother to carry him back to Scholar Lane.

By the time they reached the house, Wei Xi had already fallen asleep on Wei Shu’s back.

Wei Shu gently placed him inside the house and then quickly went to prepare some food in the main room.

Shen Cui made some rice soup, mixed with medicinal herbs to help with body conditioning, and brought it into the room.

Wei Xi was half asleep and couldn’t even open his eyes properly.

When Shen Cui fed him the rice soup, Wei Xi thought it was Wei Shu and murmured childishly, “Elder brother even knew to take a bath before feeding me. Finally, I don’t have to smell your stench anymore.”

Wei Shu had finished eating outside and came in holding half a bun. He heard this sentence and chuckled, playfully raised his fist at Wei Xi, and then sniffed his own body odor, wrinkling his brow.

He quickly changed clothes and washed up.

A bit later, before nightfall, Mu Er Pang and Cui Fei also returned one after another.

By that time, everyone else had already gone to sleep, too tired to talk.

They quickly ate something, washed up, and then lay down in bed.

The next day, August 11th, they had to enter the exam hall again.