Chapter 227 The Fierce Girl

The two county government offices of Lan County and Ye County were still brightly lit.

Fang Xun was too busy to spare any time.

Now Wang Sanniang and her family have gone south to replace Feng'er and others, and Xu Yinxi has been promoted to the position of Lord of Qianzhou. The Ye County area has been temporarily handed over to Wang Xingye, while Gaoxin County and Lan County are shouldered by Fang Xun.

Although Xu Zhenying had only captured Jinzhou Prefecture for less than a month, Wang Xingye and Fang Xun had already been working from dawn to dusk, so tired that their steps were weak, and they felt that this month had been so long.

They also knew that Xu Zhenying was short of people under his command. They were still considered lucky. There were more than a dozen counties in Jinzhou and Qianzhou provinces combined, and the other counties were still a mess, and they had not yet fully controlled them.

I really don't know how Xu Yinxi managed to survive while shouldering the entire Qianzhou prefecture alone.

Fortunately, after tonight and one more round of interviews, I will finally have a capable man available.

Fang Xun and Wang Xingye pushed forward the civil servant examination as if they had been injected with chicken blood. Dozens of examiners were already prepared and the logistics had been arranged. The county government office was brightly lit, with overlapping figures and the sound of footsteps, a scene of bustling activity.

No one is asleep in the Ye County or Lan County government office tonight.

Everyone stayed up late with red eyes, working overtime to mark the papers.

The grading process in Jinzhou Prefecture was different from that of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Answers were fixed, leaving little room for debate. Therefore, only one examiner was needed. To ensure fairness, the essay section was scored by five examiners and the average score was taken. Therefore, their grading speed was, relatively speaking, many times faster than that of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

But no matter how fast the exam is, the examiner always remains highly nervous and dares not make any mistakes.

It's very simple, because the answer to the math problem is indisputable and has long been posted on the bulletin board outside the county government office.

From the moment the exam ended, countless candidates gathered at the entrance to the county government's bulletin board, having memorized the answers. Furthermore, the exam papers were handed out to the candidates, who were asked to confirm their scores. Any errors in the grading would inevitably leave a bad impression on their superiors.

Therefore, the entire marking process appears to be extremely efficient.

It is for this reason that the candidates from Ye County and Lan County did not leave. They all lived in inns, under overpasses, or stayed with relatives, waiting for the final test results.

For a moment, the entire Ye County and Lan County were shrouded in an indescribable atmosphere of tension.

This night is destined to be sleepless.

There were only a little over a hundred examiners in Jinzhou Prefecture, and since many of the questions were objective, the examiners graded the papers extremely quickly. In one afternoon, all the test papers from Jinzhou Prefecture were delivered to Xu Zhenying.

Xu Zhenying leaned over the table, holding the Jinzhou Prefecture report card. He quickly glanced at it and couldn't help but laugh, "These Jinzhou Prefecture students are not very good. The highest scorers are Huang Weiguang and Liao Chaoyun, but they only scored over 30 points. I expected them to be so bad, but I didn't expect them to be this bad."

Qian Zhenniang smiled, "City Lord, that's pretty good. There are a lot of students below. Compared to the Great Zhou Dynasty, our educational advantage is still obvious. But speaking of which, those students are still at the gate of the government office. They don't have the energy to shout or curse right now. They are all ashamed and can't even raise their heads."

Xu Zhenying glared at her with a smile, "You've also learned bad habits. You instigated a bet and forced him to stand in front of our county government office for a whole day and night. By tomorrow, the whole city will know about it. We'll have completely ruined the reputation of his White Deer Academy."

"Is this academy even necessary? Every one of them has become a bookworm, completely clueless about business matters. They just hang around all day. People say that scholars are useless, and I think that's absolutely true. Besides, who are they to blame for constantly cursing you behind your back?"

Xu Zhenying corrected him, "Don't say that. They scolded me to my face the day we entered the city."

The two looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.

They don't mind the word "traitor".

Because it is true, they are a group of traitors, a group of traitors who want to change the world!

"But there are also some with good grades." Xu Zhenying pointed at the people on the report card, "Lu Shiwen and Song Luo did quite well in the exam."

"Yes, it's not bad. Song Luo is quite interesting. She even helped me persuade the students of Bailu Academy to place bets. She's very brave and not afraid of anything. But these two people are from Lan County. It's not surprising that people from Lan County can get such a score." Qian Zhenniang pointed at a name with a pencil, "But this one..."

On the transcripts of Jinzhou Prefecture, those marked with red ink are all locals. For example, all the students of Bailu Academy are marked with red ink.

"This Zhou Houfang, although her scores on the main questions were similar to Huang Weiguang and the others, did well in math earlier in the exam, so her overall score was higher than Huang Weiguang's. And most importantly, I see on the household registration that Zhou Houfang is a woman."

"Oh?" Xu Zhenying suddenly became interested. "A local girl from Jinzhou Prefecture, who has never been educated in our system and is still raised in seclusion, can actually compete with Huang Weiguang, a recognized scholar. That's quite interesting."

"If this person is not a genius, then he is a hard-working student. Oh, maybe he is born with a passion for mathematics like Mr. Fang."

Xu Zhenying said with interest: "Find her test paper and take a look."

An examiner immediately ran out to look for the test paper.

Soon, Zhou Houfang's test paper was presented to the desk.

Not only Xu Zhenying and Qian Zhenniang, but also several examiners around them came over to take a look.

One of them exclaimed, "This girl is amazing! She did well in math and gave remarkable answers to the two essay questions. With that level of skill, Huang Weiguang and the others deserved their loss."

Xu Zhenying curled his lips and smiled, "So... who says women are inferior to men..."

Qian Zhenniang said, "It's just that the overall scores are not satisfactory. If the ranking is combined, the candidates from both Lan County and Ye County examination halls cannot be underestimated. I'm afraid Zhou Houfang won't even make it to the interview."

"Let's wait and see how the candidates over there perform. We must take advantage of this opportunity to expand our manpower and recruit a few capable men!"

Qian Zhenniang also clasped her hands together and prayed devoutly in her heart: May all the gods and Buddhas bless her, and there must be more chosen ones who are able to endure hardships and work hard this time. It would be even better if there were a few more capable secretaries to share her work.

Jinzhou Prefecture's work speed is indeed fast.

By the fourth day, all the test results for the entire Jinzhou Prefecture from the three examination halls were out.

All the candidates were anxious, but the most anxious were those from Bailu Academy.

If we were to ask the reason, it was naturally because Qian Zhenniang, that evil-minded woman, actually left them at the gate of the government office for a day and a night. Although they had food all the time, they did not starve.

But they were surrounded by dozens of strong soldiers on both sides and had no way to leave.

What's more, the location of the government office gate was very conspicuous, and all the people passing by would ask what had happened when they saw it.

The news that none of the fifty-seven students at Bailu Academy scored 60 points in the exam spread like wildfire, sparking heated discussions among the entire city.

Some private school teachers even went to the government office to check the situation in order to confirm the situation.

This was not a big deal, but I saw dozens of students sitting there with their heads bowed and their eyes downcast. They were so embarrassed that their faces turned red and they wished they could crawl into the ground.

The reputation of Bailu Academy is spreading at an unprecedented speed.

From now on, White Deer Academy will likely be inseparable from this exam. Anyone who mentions White Deer Academy will think of this scene today.

The students of Bailu Academy were naturally extremely dissatisfied. Therefore, as soon as the results list was posted, they all crowded to the front of the crowd to look at the other candidates' scores.

They really couldn't believe that the test questions were so tricky, could anyone really do it?

Fortunately, there were not many people taking the exam in Jinzhou Prefecture, so they could still squeeze in. If they were in Ye County or Lan County, they would not be able to reach the bulletin board even if their shoes were squeezed off.

They still couldn't believe it. Could it be that everyone in Lan County was a genius and could solve such tricky and weird math problems?

"Let's all go find Brother Huang first!"

"Yes, he has the best grades, so he should be at the front. Let's start from the first one!"

Someone shouted, their voice trembling, "Oh my God, the first place got 93 points?"

"What?"

The students jumped in shock and hurriedly looked around. Song Luo, relying on his thin and nimble figure, squeezed in and said, "I think it might be faster if you start from the back."

"You woman again!" The scholars were so angry at Song Luo that they gnashed their teeth. "You only scored over 70 points on the test. What's so great about you?"

Song Luo smiled slightly, "Isn't it enough to be higher than you? Speaking of which, the last one with six points is one of you. So I suggest you look for it from the back. This is not an insult, but my sincere advice."

The student who scored a 6 was so embarrassed that his face turned red and he bowed quickly: "I'm sorry, everyone. I'm not good enough in my studies and I've brought shame to Bailu Academy."

Song Luo pointed at the last few students, his smile growing wider. "Don't feel ashamed. The dozen or so students below you are all from your Bailu Academy. Tsk tsk tsk, Bailu Academy is known as the best academy in Jinzhou Prefecture, but I never thought it would be this low."

"Impossible! They must have cheated!" the student shouted, his neck red. "Otherwise, it's impossible that only students from Bailu Academy have such poor grades. You must have used some kind of magic."

"Ugh, we took the exam together, in broad daylight, can't you afford to lose? If you can't afford to lose, then don't come—"

"You!" The man turned around to look for an ally, but when he turned around, he saw Huang Weiguang getting close to someone from Lan County, who seemed to be named Lu Shiwen. "Brother Huang——"

Huang Weiguang was looking at Lu Shiwen's booklet.

The booklet was filled with all kinds of weird symbols. He remembered that people from Lan County seemed to be accustomed to using those characters to represent numbers.

Huang Weiguang naturally disdained this barbaric thing.

But he had already discovered in the exam room that day that if he used characters to solve math problems, the speed would be many times faster.

This time, Huang Weiguang finally began to take those people from Lan County who came to take the exam seriously.

He found that this young man named Lu Shiwen was very motivated. From the fact that he carried a notebook and a pencil with him, it could be seen that this person could read and write anytime and anywhere.

And his pencil. It doesn't smudge, makes writing faster, and is easy to carry.

He saw that almost everyone from Lan County used pencils.

Although from his point of view, this person's handwriting was simply unsightly.

But precisely because of this, Huang Weiguang became even more curious.

"Brother, are you on the list this time?"

Lu Shiwen's companions immediately said, "Brother Lu scored 80 points this time, ranking 50th in the state."

"Eighty?" This result left the students of Bailu Academy dumbfounded.

No matter how hard they tried, they could not believe that this young man in a long gown with mud on his feet could score 80 points.

Lu Shiwen felt a little embarrassed when he was suddenly stared at by so many people. He quickly said, "It was just a fluke. I happened to have done those math problems before."

Huang Weiguang asked anxiously: "How long have you been studying?"

Before Lu Shiwen could answer, the person next to him immediately said, "Brother Lu is very hardworking. He has only studied for three months, but he is better than those of us who have studied for half a year!"

"What? You've only been here three months, and you already know all those math problems?" The group of White Deer Academy students surrounded Lu Shiwen. "You know the hardest ones with numbers?"

Lu Shiwen felt suffocated by being surrounded by a group of scholars and juren. These young masters, who used to be so high and mighty, now refused to let him go. He could only casually respond, "It was all luck, just luck. The first question was a multiple plus a three, just an introductory number series formula from the textbook. It wasn't too difficult. As you can see, I only got 80 points. I barely passed... barely passed..."

"You're lucky to get 80 points..." Someone from the White Deer Academy looked bewildered. "Then what's the point of studying for so many years for those of us with only a few points?"

Qian Zhenniang probably didn't expect that this series of combined punches would actually make the once invincible students of Bailu Academy unable to recover.

If she had seen the miserable state of the scholars at that moment, she probably would not have proposed the bet at that time.

However, Song Luo seemed quite happy and said to Lu Shiwen, "Brother Lu, right? I'm Song Luo. I scored 76 points in the exam this time, ranking 68th. If nothing unexpected happens, we will be colleagues in the future."

As expected of a girl from Lan County, she wasn't at all stage-shy and even dared to initiate conversation with the man.

And Lu Shiwen also hurriedly bowed to her.

"Brother Lu, could you lend me this booklet?" Huang Weiguang said anxiously, "Or I'd like to buy it. Also, sell me that pencil of yours. You can name your price."

Lu Shiwen quickly waved his hand: "How can I do this? It's just my handwriting from class. I'm lending it to you. But remember to return it to me."

Huang Weiguang hurriedly bowed in thanks, then took the booklet solemnly. The group of students behind him looked at Huang Weiguang with complicated expressions, and then glanced at the precious booklet in his hand that seemed to be a unique copy.

Liao Chaoyun immediately said, "Brother Huang, can you lend it to me to have a look?"

Someone moved his throat, his expression difficult, but finally said, "Brother Huang, I want to see it too. How about we go together?"

"Right, right, right. Now that we're in the rebels' lair, we naturally have to know what kind of opponent we're facing! First, let's see what kind of crooked things they teach us, and then see what happens."

"Yes, yes, that makes sense."

Song Luo, who was standing to the side, smiled and said, "How can one book be enough to study everything thoroughly? My classmates and I have many books. I'll sell them to you for one or two taels of silver each. Do you want any?"

The students of Bailu Academy all glared fiercely at the female devil in front of them.

Song Luo pouted, "Since none of you want it, forget it. Actually, my classmates all did well in the exams, and most of them scored above 60 points."

Finally, someone gritted their teeth and said, "Okay, I'll buy it! I'll buy it!!"

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For the first time, people in Jinzhou Prefecture knew that their streets could be so lively.

Because of the civil servant interview and assessment these days, a lot of people have flocked to Lan County and Ye County, and all the major restaurants and inns in the city are overcrowded.

The local people of Jinzhou Prefecture finally realized how many 40,000 to 50,000 refugees Lan County had taken in.

People coming to take the exam could be seen everywhere on the street. They gathered outside the Jinzhou government office early in the morning, waiting for the interview.