Chapter 62: A Desperate Gamble

August 27th was a crisp autumn day, truly a favorable date.

As before, waking up in the pre-dawn hours to wash and rush to the tribute examination hall.

The provincial qualifying examination was significantly more difficult than the preceding prefectural examination.

Not only did they have to compete with newly advanced scholars, but they also had to contend with seasoned veteran candidates who had taken the test countless times over the previous years.

Looking at the sea of people gathered at the entrance of the tribute hall, Wang Chengzhi was dumbfounded. "Good heavens! Look at that old gentleman over there—he must be at least sixty, right? And he's actually wearing a student's robe and carrying an examination basket, getting ready to take the test?!"

Hearing Wang Chengzhi's fuss, Cao Zewen sneered, "How provincial of you!"

Wang Xuezhou looked at him impatiently. "Can you shut your mouth? Your breath smells so strong it could knock someone out from ten miles away."

"You—"

Cao Zewen pointed at him, about to fly into a rage, when he noticed the knuckles of Axue's hands cracking menacingly.

Sensing the commotion among the group, Master Lin swept a cold glance over them and asked, "What is going on here?"

Wang Xuezhou respectfully stepped in ahead of Cao Zewen to reply. "Reporting to Master Lin, this fellow student perhaps left home in such a hurry this morning that he forgot to brush his teeth; the odor from his mouth is rather potent. I merely offered a word of advice, but unexpectedly it provoked his anger to the point of wanting to resort to violence. It was simply my mouth running astray."

His modest attitude eased Master Lin's expression slightly, and the teacher had no intention of probing deeper. "Whoever causes trouble again will be dealt with severely!"

Cao Zewen had no choice but to swallow his rising fury. Seeing this, Zhao Xing and Qi Xian pulled him backward, putting some distance between the two.

It wasn't until the sky grew faintly bright that their turn came for document inspection, guarantor verification, identity confirmation, and entry into the grounds.

The qualifying examination consisted of two parts: the primary test and the re-examination, both presided over by the Provincial Director of Education.

When Wang Xuezhou located his examination booth according to his seating number, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It was quite far from the dreaded "stinky latrine" booths. Splendid.

The interior of the examination booth was as cramped as ever, but the weather was just right—neither cold nor hot.

Following his usual routine, he inspected the desk boards, gave them a simple wipe-down with a cloth, and sat down.

The moment he raised his head, his gaze locked directly onto Bai Yan.

Seeing Wang Xuezhou, Bai Yan looked quite excited and took a couple of steps forward, only to catch sight of a bailiff nearby glaring fiercely in his direction.

He hurriedly froze in his tracks.

The two exchanged a smile and nodded at each other, which served as their greeting.

Wang Xuezhou watched as Bai Yan walked step by step toward the very innermost section, the expression on his face gradually shifting into one of profound sympathy.

It seemed he wasn't the only one plagued by terrible luck!

As the morning sun rose, the examination questions were distributed shortly thereafter.

Two passages of classical exegesis and one essay in the traditional "eight-legged" style—all of this was within the realm of normalcy, but the final question caught many candidates completely off guard—

It was a mathematical problem.

Gasps of astonishment rose from various corners of the surrounding area, leaving Wang Xuezhou extremely puzzled.

What was going on? Did the other candidates not know that legal statutes and mathematics might be tested in the future?

Before he had time to ponder further, he heard someone call over a bailiff and demand indignantly, "May I ask if the wrong test papers were handed out today? There is something wrong with this question..."

The bailiff sneered. "The questions were personally drafted by the Director of Education himself. Since you are dissatisfied, allow me to escort you personally to see the Director!"

"You... I didn't mean that. I was merely asking."

The anger flashing across the face of the candidate in the booth next to Wang Xuezhou vanished as he forced himself to swallow his words.

The bailiff gave him a cold look. "Asking is not permitted either! If any of you dare make another sound, pack your things and get lost!"

As soon as the bailiff walked away, a low curse muttered from the neighboring booth: "A dog exploiting its master's power! Once I pass the metropolitan examination and become an official, I'll definitely..."

The neighbor continued to grumble and vent the frustration in his heart. Wang Xuezhou shook his head, pulled his thoughts back, and stared at the questions, drawing a deep breath.

Life and death are preordained, wealth and honor rest with Heaven. Whether I turn out to be a dragon or a worm depends entirely upon today!

For the expectations of his family, and so his older brother could marry the young maiden he loved, he would give it his all!

Burying his head in his work, time passed swiftly. By the time he finished writing the two classical exegesis essays, more than half the day had already slipped away.

Feeling his stomach, he realized he had only eaten two steamed buns since the pre-dawn hours, and he was long since famished.

He took out a broken piece of flatbread, asked a bailiff for a bowl of plain water, and ate while contemplating the remaining traditional essay and the mathematical problem.

Wang Xuezhou temporarily set the traditional essay aside, leaving it for the very end, and turned his attention to the math problem:

*Enjoying the garden festival on the Pure Brightness Festival, visitors share eight boats in total.*
*The large boats hold six people each when full, and the small boats hold four people each when full.*
*Thirty-eight scholars occupy the boats to full capacity while sightseeing.*
*Pray tell, honorable guest, how many large and small boats are there respectively?*

This problem was a simple algebraic equation and would not waste much time.

Let the number of small boats be $X$, then the number of large boats would be $(8 - X)$...

Through the equation, it was determined that there were 3 large boats and 5 small boats.

After writing down the answer and the time it took, he let out a long breath. Time was still relatively abundant.

Eating until he was eighty percent full at a leisurely pace, he rotated his wrists to loosen them before continuing with the examination.

It was precisely midday. Rustling sounds of people eating drifted from the surroundings, along with candidates walking back and forth to use the latrines.

Those who passed by his booth couldn't help stealing a glance, and seeing him write at a divine speed, they invariably quickened their own paces.

The traditional essay topic: *The Myriad States in Universal Peace.*

Wang Xuezhou nodded. This prompt was relatively unpretentious and straightforward, without any deliberate attempt to make things difficult for the candidates.

The topic was drawn from the *Book of Documents, The Canon of Greater Yu*: *"When fine words do not remain hidden, when no wise person is left in the wilds, the myriad states will all be at peace."*

The meaning of this phrase was that if all wholesome advice could be adopted, and all virtuous and capable individuals could be discovered and given important responsibilities, then the empire would achieve universal peace.

From this prompt, it was evident that the person who set the question was emphasizing the crucial importance of talented individuals in governance.

The opening interpretation of the essay had to follow the examiner's viewpoint; otherwise, should one's opinion contradict that of the examiner, failure would surely be the result.

After all, there was no single unified answer at this stage, and one's ranking depended entirely on the personal preferences of the examiners grading the papers.

This essay required developing arguments around the themes of adopting wholesome counsel and gathering crowds of the wise.

Having sorted out his thoughts, he wrote down a draft: *"When wholesome words fail to go unheard, and talented individuals are all put to use, then the people under Heaven shall likewise know nothing but peace..."*

By the time he finished writing and transcribed the piece cleanly onto the official answer sheet, not a single person around him had yet submitted their papers.

After waiting a few more minutes out of sheer boredom, he summoned a bailiff to hand in his script.

Hearing the commotion, the surrounding candidates stirred restlessly.

Watching him leisurely carry his examination basket out of the hall, some of them broke out in nervous sweat and cursed inwardly, wishing they could grow eight arms to write simultaneously.

...

Chen Zhijing sat inside Mingyuan Tower, drinking tea out of sheer boredom. He would occasionally stand up to pace around or walk back and forth across the hall, while the other examiners watched him with helpless expressions.

At that moment, a bailiff walked in holding an examination paper and reported, "Reporting to all excellencies, a candidate has submitted his paper."

Chen Zhijing's spirits perked up. "Bring it here quickly!"

As the chief examiner, naturally no one opposed his words.

With practiced tact, the bailiff presented the paper with both hands.

Chen Zhijing picked up the paper and gave it a brief preliminary scan.

The paper was neat, the layout was appropriate, and the regular script was written quite well, which instantly generated a favorable impression in his heart.

He turned his attention first to the traditional essay. He was hooked from the opening lines and began to study it with meticulous care.

Zhang Tan, seated nearby, could no longer sit still and asked eagerly, "Master Chen, how well is this paper answered?"