Chapter 53: Indescribable

This time, the four students from Master Lin’s academy came to take the examination once again, except that the seat originally belonging to Lü Dasheng had now been taken by someone else.

Seeing Wang Xuezhou, Cao Zewen glared at him fiercely, yet he did not utter any abusive words, presumably having already been disciplined.

Such a trivial glance was utterly harmless, and Wang Xuezhou did not even spare him a corner of his eye, instantly driving Cao Zewen to the verge of apoplexy with anger.

"I actually thought you lot were just enjoying yourselves at home in leisure and wouldn't even show up for the exams!"

Seeing Zhou Mingli, Master Lin still looked somewhat displeased.

That copy of The Subcommentary on the Laws of Qian was something he had gone to enormous lengths to acquire, only to be extorted out of it. Could he possibly be happy?

"Well, that is my fault then, I hadn't expected Master Lin to worry so much about us."

Who was worrying about you lot!

Master Lin glared at Zhou Mingli, feeling that the young man possessed a truly thick skin.

Unwilling to dwell on the matter further, Master Lin waved his hand. "Go hurry up and join the queue!"

With numerous candidates present this time, their ages ranged from young boys with hanging hair to white-haired elders.

Among the crowd, there were those who looked down upon the hunched, gray-haired elderly men attending the examinations, while others held them in deep respect.

The entrance was surrounded by onlookers. Before long, bailiffs arrived to maintain order and cleared out all irrelevant personnel.

Master Zhou and Master Lin exchanged glances and respectively turned away.

By the time it was Wang Xuezhou and his companions' turn, the dark night had already transitioned into daylight.

Wang Xuezhou had just undressed for the bailiffs' inspection when a commotion broke out nearby. A man dressed only in his undergarments and with disheveled hair was being supported by the bailiffs, his body limp as he cried out: "I have been wronged! I am innocent! Milord, please examine the facts, this... this..."

A bailiff glared fiercely, his eyes wide open: "Caught red-handed! I personally fished the crib notes out from your hair, yet you still dare to speak nonsense with your eyes open! Your examination results are cancelled, you are sent back to your place of origin, and you shall never be permitted to take the exams again!"

"The four candidates who stood mutual security with him are to be detained and escorted back together! Find the licentiate who provided their joint guarantee and revoke his licentiate status!"

Command after command was issued, and the four men standing behind the culprit instantly turned as pale as sheets. They rushed forward and kicked the man who had concealed the crib notes: "You beast in human form! You courted your own death yet you had to drag us down with you! Do you have any idea how long I prepared for this examination..."

The shrieks and curses faded away in the distance, sounding like a sudden alarm bell to the remaining candidates. They could not help but heighten their focus to cope with the test, and those standing far away even double-checked with their companions to set their minds at ease.

Following this episode, the searches became even more stringent.

Wang Xuezhou closed his eyes, curled his toes inside his shoes, and silently chanted to himself in his heart: Everyone is going through the same thing, everyone is going through the same thing...

He endured it as the bailiff parted his buttocks to take a look, turned his garments inside out, upside down, and all around for inspection, and dumped out the entire contents of his examination basket to be checked.

After the verification of personal information came the roll-call assurance of identity. By the time they passed the identity check and entered the Tribute Examination Hall, the sky was completely bright.

A crowd of examinees stood before the Mingyuan Tower to listen to the prefect offer a few words of encouragement before they proceeded in order to find their respective examination cells.

Wang Xuezhou's face turned green the moment he saw his examination cell.

It turned out to be the foul-smelling cell!

This truly stood in stark contrast to the county examination.

However, matters had reached this stage, and complaints were useless. He quickly adjusted his mindset.

As soon as he drew near the cell, he sensed an indescribable odor lingering at the tip of his nose. Wang Xuezhou locked eyes with the person in the adjacent cell.

Cao Zewen flared his nostrils and widened his eyes, never expecting the two of them to be neighbors!

Wang Xuezhou withdrew his gaze and walked straight ahead into his own cell, while gloating laughter immediately drifted from next door.

Ignoring everything else, he inspected the examination boards according to the usual routine, gave the place a simple sweep, and began grinding ink in preparation.

Very soon, the examination questions were distributed.

The first session was the primary test: three questions on reciting the classics, four questions on the meaning of the classics, and one essay question on ritual duty.

Wang Xuezhou froze the moment he saw the essay question.

It turned out to be the exact one Master Zhou had predicted: On Female Education.

......

Time ticked away second by second. By the time he finished transcribing the meaning of the classics and the three recitation questions, noon had already arrived.

Just as he was considering whether or not to eat, a candidate came walking by clutching his buttocks, and a bad premonition instantly rose in Wang Xuezhou's heart.

Sure enough, not long after the person rushed into the latrine, the impatient sounds of splattering and splashing came echoing from within.

"Ugh!!!"

......

Wang Xuezhou was among the first batch of candidates to leave the examination hall. The moment he stepped outside the gates of the Tribute Examination Hall, Ax head came running over and asked anxiously, "How did it go?"

Wang Xuezhou waved a hand with a sickly green complexion, signaling him not to come close. "There's a smell on me... Ugh!!!"

The latrines inside the Tribute Examination Hall were dry pits, and that fermented odor was simply beyond description. Having sat there for an entire day, he had already been thoroughly pickled in the stench. The mere opening of his mouth felt as nauseating as taking a bite of excrement.

Seeing him in this state, Ax head didn't utter another word. He hoisted Wang Xuezhou onto his back and sprinted all the way back to their small courtyard. "I'll take you back to wash up..."

For the second session of the examination, placed in the exact same cell once more, Wang Xuezhou took a deep breath and seated himself within it again.

When the examination questions for this round were handed down, an uproar instantly erupted all around.

Upon reading the questions, Wang Xuezhou discovered that aside from three Four Books essays and one regulated poem, a legal statute question had actually been included this time.

This came as a tremendous surprise.

One must know that the licentiate examination was not yet considered an official imperial examination; it primarily tested the candidates' scholarship, comprehension, and expressive abilities, and therefore the questions always revolved around the Four Books and Five Classics.

This was the first time legal statutes had ever been tested, which explained why such a massive commotion arose all around.

"Silence!"

A bailiff strode over and reprimanded them harshly, "The Prefect is present, you are not permitted to make a din!"

The surroundings quickly quieted down.

Having read the question, Wang Xuezhou couldn't help but feel profoundly grateful that he had previously perused that copy of The Subcommentary on the Laws of Qian. After a brief moment of thought, he buried his head and began writing his answer.

He had better finish the test paper quickly and get away from this place!

That stench was truly pungent to the eyes.

Just past midday, he summoned a bailiff and handed in his completed examination paper.

Hearing that he was submitting his paper, Cao Zewen nearby instantly flashed a mocking smile.

To give up entirely simply because he couldn't answer—what an absolute good-for-nothing!

......

The third session of the examinations concluded swiftly, and after taking a thorough bath, Wang Xuezhou finally felt refreshed once again.

"Choudan, how do you feel you did on the exam?" Seeing that he had regained his spirit, Zheng Guangyuan hurriedly asked.

"Pretty decent. What about you guys?"

Zheng Guangyuan replied with a beaming smile, "Except for that legal statute question, I feel I answered the rest quite well."

"I think I did well too. Master actually managed to predict one of the questions spot on!"

Xia Qianli felt that even if he hadn't answered the legal statute question, the problem shouldn't be too significant.

Zhao Xing remarked with regret, "If I had known, I should have read through that copy of The Subcommentary on the Laws of Qian beforehand."

Qi Xian, however, was extremely nervous. To him, taking the examination meant draining his family's meager savings; if he failed this time, the expenses for retaking it next time would be an enormous burden. "I managed to write a little bit for that question, but I have no idea whether it's correct or not."

Seeing that none of them felt very confident, Wang Xuezhou comforted them, saying, "The primary test didn't test this subject, which shows that the person who set the questions also took this situation into consideration. The scores from the second and third sessions can only serve as a reference and aren't all that important, so don't worry."