Chapter 199

As soon as the man finished speaking, the crowd erupted into a commotion.

“What do you mean the toilet exploded?”

“Yeah, how could a toilet explode? How did you even hear about this?”

The man who spoke earlier said, “My house is on the side street next to the examination shed. Two days ago, I faintly heard a loud noise, and then the smell… In short, it’s been so smelly that none of the residents in our area have been able to rest. If this is the situation on the side street, you can imagine what it’s like inside the examination hall. But as for why the toilet exploded, that’s unknown. The people inside the examination hall haven’t given any explanation.”

Shen Cui, as a modern person, had of course heard of news about septic tank explosions.

The principle behind it is that waste is easily metabolized and fermented, producing flammable gases such as methane, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia, which can easily explode when exposed to an open flame.

The principle is quite simple, but even if there were flammable gases, they would need an open flame as an ignition source.

The toilets near the examination shed were only for the candidates’ use.

Other officials had separate toilets. Candidates, not wanting to be labeled with a “poop mark,” would not easily go to the toilets.

They would usually use the chamber pots in their rooms.

Even if there were candidates who weren’t concerned about the mark and went to the toilets in the examination hall, how could they possibly bring an open flame inside—unless they went in with the intention to sabotage, so they brought a candlestick and accidentally dropped a spark inside.

The probability of such a low-probability event occurring, requiring so many “coincidences,” could only be deliberately arranged by the rules.

The crowd discussed this matter fervently, but they couldn’t come up with any reasonable explanations.

They only hoped that their own candidates wouldn’t be so unlucky as to have their exam seats near the toilet.

Shen Cui didn’t speak up like the others, but she already had a clue in her heart—the unlucky person everyone was talking about was most likely among their own students.

When the time came, the gates opened, and all the candidates came out.

Those who were there to pick them up were more concerned about whether they had been affected by the explosion. They asked, “I heard the toilet exploded inside. Are you okay?”

Actually, there was no need to ask. Those who came out first were generally in good condition and hadn’t been affected. They just mentioned hearing some noise.

Those who were truly affected came out looking pale, and some didn’t even have time to answer before they found a place to vomit.

After a while, Mei Ruochu and the others also came out one after another.

Wei Xi got on the carriage to rest without saying anything. Lao Buyu anxiously asked them, “Are you all right?”

He said he was asking everyone, but he was actually looking at Mei Ruochu.

After all, he had always been the most unlucky one in the academy.

Mei Ruochu then realized, “I did hear some noise, but compared to the collapse of the watchtower earlier, it’s not worth mentioning. As for the smell, I did smell something, but like before, I was sitting in the wind, so the smell wasn’t strong, and it was blown away by the wind.”

After hearing what he said, Wei Shu and the others breathed a sigh of relief. Wei Shu added, “I only heard a slight noise and smelled something foul, but I didn’t know if there was a problem with the toilet or if someone nearby didn’t handle the chamber pot carefully… I wore a face mask and wasn’t affected.”

Cui Fei had never hung up a sign at the rules, so his situation was even better.

It was only after he came out of the exam hall and heard others discussing it that he knew about this matter.

Finally, there was Shen Aoshuang. A faint smile appeared on his lips as he shrugged his shoulders, not needing to say much.

His senses were not as keen as those of ordinary people, so naturally, this kind of thing didn’t affect him at all.

“Well, our luck was pretty good this time.” Wei Shu smiled and turned his head, only to see Shen Cui looking worried.

His smile froze, and he glanced at the others, realizing that Mu Er Pang had not come out yet.

He tentatively said, “Han Shan has always been lucky. He should be okay…”

Although he said that, after a while, most of the people in front of the gate had already dispersed, and there was still no sign of Mu Er Pang.

Everyone actually had a bad feeling in their hearts.

They waited for over an hour, and Mu Er Pang finally arrived late.

As soon as he approached, a strong smell reached everyone’s noses.

The smell was unbearable, much stronger than the odor Mei Ruochu had picked up near the chamber pot earlier.

If Mu ErPang hadn’t been completely clean, just by smelling him, it would seem as if he had been soaked in it.

There was no need to say more. Mu Er Pang was the only unlucky one.

He stopped a few steps in front of everyone and waved his hand. “I deliberately waited until everyone left before coming out. Mom and everyone else can go back first. I’ll walk back by myself. Don’t let everyone else get the smell because of me.”

It was getting late, and the empty streets in front of the imperial examination hall were not suitable for conversation.

Shen Cui asked Lao Buyu to take the others back in the carriage first, while she walked with Mu Er Pang.

With only the two of them left, Mu Er Pang didn’t approach Shen Cui.

They walked towards the academy with a few steps between them.

Knowing that his mother must be worried, he said directly, “Don’t worry, Mom. I smell a bit strong, but I’ve smoked the exam papers several times with incense. The papers will be glued together and copied. When everything is almost judged, the original papers will be opened, and by then, the smell will have mostly dissipated.”

Shen Cui slowed down, wanting him to come closer to talk.

But Mu Er Pang kept observing the distance between them.

When she walked slowly, he stopped directly, not wanting to get too close to her.

Shen Cui sighed, “I’m not just worried about your papers. How are you feeling? Do you feel like vomiting? Are you uncomfortable? It’s getting dark, no one can see us. Do you want me to find a place for you to rest for a while?”

Mu Er Pang shook his head, “No, I’m fine. I’m not uncomfortable at all.”

His words, combined with the various values in his system, did not seem to be false.

Shen Cui looked at him suspiciously, making him feel embarrassed.

He scratched his face and said, “To be honest, Mom, don’t get angry, okay?”

“Who has the time to get angry with you?”

Mu Er Pang continued, “In the previous round, when I said I was lucky to get a good seat, it wasn’t true. I actually smelled something bad in the previous round, probably because my seat was near the latrine. But everyone had been holding it in for three days, so we all smelled a bit. I saw that you all didn’t notice, so I didn’t say anything. This time, my seat was near the latrine again. I heard a loud noise on the first night, but with the collapse of the lookout tower in front, I wasn’t scared. But later, the smell from the seats became even worse.”

After the first round of exams, Shen Cui’s worries were evident on her face.

While they suffered in the exam hall, she endured outside, with dark circles under her eyes, indicating she hadn’t slept much for several days.

Mu Er Pang remembered that she had only finished the medicine prescribed by the doctor after the New Year, and she seemed to be completely better.

He didn’t know if she would get sick again from her current appearance.

So, in the second round, when he got a bad seat, he kept it to himself.

Shen Cui understood his intentions without him having to explain everything. She felt both heartache and amusement, saying, “You lied, but I know you did it for me. How could I be angry…”

Mu Er Pang scratched his face again and said, “I haven’t finished yet. Listen to what happened later. I said I wasn’t uncomfortable, and that’s true… When I smelled that smell, I inexplicably thought of the stinky tofu you used to make. It felt quite familiar.”

Thinking back to his overly high mood in the second round, Shen Cui was at a loss for words. “How many years have passed since then…”

Mu Er Pang sighed with his hands behind his back, “No matter how many years have passed, those memories are still fresh!”

Seeing that his mother wasn’t angry, he added quietly, “So, this time, I just wrote the exam papers while smelling the scent. But when I was a child, I actually ate it…”

Shen Cui quickly waved her hand for him to stop talking, afraid he might make himself sick just by talking about it.

But perhaps this was a blessing in disguise?

The system had arranged for Mei Ruochu to sit in a bad seat, but Mei Ruochu still became a top scholar, showing that this trick didn’t work on him.

Shen Cui’s previous thoughts were correct. Since the rules couldn’t change the fairness of the exam grading, they had to resort to other methods.

After arranging for the collapse and the bad weather, when those didn’t work, they upgraded their tactics and used them on Mu Er Pang.

However, they didn’t expect Mu Er Pang to be so resilient in this aspect, his mood unaffected.

When Shen Cui monitored his values from outside the exam hall, she thought everything inside was fine.

The system proudly said to Shen Cui, “Our No. 1 trainee has been through a lot since childhood. What’s a little trick from the rules? Back in the day, our host’s cooking skills directly impressed Lao Buyu, the master chef, and knocked everyone out. Let alone just blowing up the latrine near our No. 1 trainee’s seat, even if it had exploded right in front of him… Hmph, there’s a saying, ‘Mount Tai may crumble, but his expression remains unchanged.’ Well, our No. 1 trainee is definitely ‘unfazed even if the latrine crumbles in front of him’!”

Shen Cui chuckled and blocked the system so it wouldn’t come up with any more nonsense about Mu Er Pang.

Later, she walked back to the academy with Mu Er Pang, while the others went back first.

They knew the first thing Mu Er Pang would do when he returned was take a bath, so they had already prepared hot water, a bathtub, clean clothes, and soap nuts for him.

After a thorough scrub, even washing his hair, and changing into clean clothes from head to toe, Mu Er Pang finally got rid of the smell on his body.

Once he was all cleaned up, they continued to wash up.

After not properly resting for nine days straight, they were finally able to relax. After washing up, they had a simple meal and fell asleep without waking up.

Once they were all rested and refreshed, it was time to review their answers.