Chapter 163: First Place in Spring Exam

The first spring exam has ended.

By the afternoon of the next day, the examination papers of all examination institutes had been marked.

Early on the third day, the list of candidates who passed the book subject was posted on the wall outside the examination hall.

There is no name on the red paper, only the test number.

Learning the Six Arts from a young age requires a huge amount of money; even the registration fee for the spring exam is one hundred taels of silver.

Those who can take this kind of exam must be either rich or noble.

Many wealthy families have a few big surnames, such as Li, Cui, Wang, Pei, Zheng, etc. It is very likely that candidates have the same name, but each candidate's test number is unique and there will be no mistake.

Li Nuo was assigned to the seventh examination hall in the spring exam.

The spring exam is conducted by examination center. After the six subjects are completed, the scores of candidates from all examination centers will be summarized.

There were two thousand candidates in the Seventh Examination Hall, and more than half of them were eliminated in the first examination.

No matter it is the spring exam or the imperial examination, there is a passing line for each subject. Even those who are good at one subject but not others cannot be too biased.

If the academic subjects are not above the passing line, then even if you are strong in other subjects, you will not have the opportunity to show them.

Li Nuo found his test number on the last red paper posted outside the examination hall.

Of course it’s not that he ranked last, it’s just that his test number was at the back.

After each subject is taken, only the list of candidates will be announced, without any specific ranking.

The final result can only be known after all six subjects are taken and all the scores are summarized.

Under the wall of the examination hall, the students who found their test numbers were elated and ecstatic.

Those who failed the exam looked disappointed and could only wait to try again next year.

Li Anning stood beside him and asked impatiently, "Did you find it?"

Li Nuo nodded.

Compared with the nervous Li An Ning, the lady on the other side was much calmer.

Only those who have passed the book subject are eligible to take the exam the next day.

There are two subjects to be tested on this day, namely mathematics and etiquette.

The test papers for both subjects will be distributed in the morning.

Candidates have one day to answer the questions and can arrange the order of answering them themselves.

The questions in the spring exam were simpler than those in the imperial examination, and were about the same difficulty as the junior high school entrance exam and the college entrance exam. The twenty questions in mathematics were all among the "nine numbers" and were of average difficulty. Li Nuo finished answering them quickly.

The ritual subject was not as in-depth as the imperial examination. It consisted of some basic and shallow questions about rituals. For such text-based questions, Li Nuo did not even need to think. He only needed to copy and write.

After finishing the two test papers, it was not yet noon.

There was no point in continuing to sit there, so Li Nuo handed in his test paper and left the examination room.

Because the exam lasts a whole day, my wife and Mu'er will not come until the afternoon.

Li Anning and Butler Wu were waiting by the carriage. When they saw him come out so early, their faces changed and they immediately ran up to him and asked, "Why did you come out when no one else did? Is it because the questions are difficult and you don't know how to do them?"

She said with some annoyance: "Even if you don't know how to do it, you should wait until the time is up before coming out. What if you figure it out?"

Li Nuo said speechlessly: "The questions are very simple, I have answered them all, can you have some confidence in me?"

Li Anning finally felt relieved, and then said: "Even if you have finished answering, you still have to check it. If there is anything wrong, you can correct it..."

Li Nuo was too lazy to explain to her.

She thought it was an in-class test for Ning'er and Mu'er. If they made a mistake, they could cross it out and write it again. On the imperial examination paper, if there was even a stain of ink that shouldn't be there, the whole subject would be downgraded by one grade.

After screening in the literature department, the number of people in the etiquette and mathematics departments was reduced by half compared to before.

There are fewer papers and they are marked faster.

The examiners marked the papers all night long, and posted the list of candidates who passed at noon the next day.

In the subject of literature alone, more than a thousand people were eliminated, but in the subjects of etiquette and mathematics combined, less than two hundred people were eliminated.

This is not surprising. Those who were eliminated from the subject of books were just trying their luck to make up the numbers.

To be able to pass the literature subject, one must have prepared well for the imperial examination and learned all six arts.

The questions in the spring exam on rites and mathematics were not difficult. According to news from the examination institute, many candidates answered these two subjects perfectly and received excellent evaluations.

The next three subjects, in order, are music, chariot driving, and archery.

The music exam is still held in the examination hall. Candidates need to pick one chapter out of the six musical instruments to play, and the only instrument they can use is the piano.

Of the 2,000 examinees in the Seventh Examination Hall, about 600 have reached the Le Ke stage.

Leco is the least of Li Nuo's worries.

Although he cannot turn the sound of the piano into an attack like Liu Shang, judging from the skills alone, even if Liu Shang stood in front of him, he would not be able to guarantee victory. It all depends on his performance on the spot.

The Leke exam is slower.

In one hour, about twenty people can be tested.

The Seventh Examination Hall was further divided into ten small examination rooms, each of which was in charge of three examiners.

Even if there are 60 people in each examination room, plus the examiners' discussion time, it will still take more than four hours to examine all the candidates.

After three hours, most of the examiners were exhausted.

In an examination room somewhere.

A young examiner threw the red pen in his hand on the table and said angrily: "What kind of thing is this? C grade!"

The examiner on the left smiled helplessly and said, "Master Liu, calm down. These young students still have a lot of room for improvement in the future. You can't use your standards to ask them. This section is at least at the level of B..."

Although this is a spring exam, it also concerns the future of the candidates.

Others have studied hard for ten years, you cannot ruin their future just because they have heard too much and are in a bad mood.

If the other party was not the Minister of Taichang Temple, he would have reported it to the Ministry of Personnel long ago.

This Lord Liu was promoted from the Minister of Music to the Minister of Rites some time ago, from the seventh rank to the fifth rank, a real promotion of three levels in a row. He is undoubtedly a rising star in the court of Daxia with a bright future, and he dare not provoke him.

Liu Shang was indeed tired of listening to this garbage. It was simply an insult to his ears.

However, he also knew that he couldn't set too high standards for the candidates taking the spring exam, so he simply leaned back in his chair and said, "For the remaining candidates, the two adults decide. I will evaluate them in the same way as you guys do..."

The two examiners discussed it and decided to give an evaluation to the candidate B.

Although his music score was indeed not good, he could be ranked B or B-lower, but if he was ranked B-lower, he would not be able to pass the spring exam. In this case, they would generally show mercy.

The next moment, one of the examiners said, "Next."

Li Nuo walked into the room.

The first thing that catches your eye is a large screen.

Behind the screen, the figures of three examiners can be vaguely seen.

There is no written test in Leke. In order to avoid favoritism of examiners, there is a screen between the candidates and the examiners so that they cannot see each other.

After checking Li Nuo's test paper, an examiner pointed to a wooden box at the door and said, "Please take your test paper from this box."

Li Nuo put his hand into the wooden box and took out a wooden sign with the words "Yunmen·Chapter 6" written on it.

The examination time is limited, and it is impossible to ask candidates to play all six pieces of music. Generally, a section is picked out from them. However, candidates cannot take shortcuts and must master the six pieces of music. If they don’t know how to play the one they pick, they will have to wait for the next four years.

The man said, "Please play the sixth chapter of Cloud Gate."

Li Nuo sat in front of the piano, tested the sound first, and made some fine adjustments to a few strings.

This is the first step of the music science exam. Many candidates tend to forget this step because they are too nervous, which causes their scores to drop and they may miss the next exam.

After tuning the piano to the correct pitch, he slowly plucked the strings.

Behind the screen.

Liu Shang, who was originally leaning lazily in the chair with his eyes closed, slowly sat up straight.

He did not open his closed eyes and listened quietly to the music coming from behind the screen.

Soon, the song ended.

Liu Shang slowly opened his eyes.

The performance of this section is simply impeccable.

Not to mention the spring exam, even in the imperial examination, it would be hard for anyone to play at this level.

This is the level of Leco's top scorer.

Even if Liu Shang played this passage himself, he couldn't play it better than him.

This is the result of his hard practice for several months.

A few months ago, he was not as good as this candidate.

Liu Shang stood up subconsciously and wanted to see who was behind the screen, but the examiner next to him grabbed his wrist.

The examiner looked at him in astonishment and said, "Master Liu, what are you doing? Examiners cannot see candidates privately, otherwise his results will be judged as unqualified, and you will also be punished..."

Liu Shang stopped walking and sat down again.

Even though he felt extremely anxious, he still had to follow the rules of the exam.

The two examiners couldn't help but admire it.

"There is such a talented person in music in the spring exam. Could it be the music genius from Jinzhou?"

"Impossible. He has already passed the Jinzhou Spring Examination and can directly participate in the imperial examination. It is impossible for him to appear in the spring examination."

"It seems that this year's competition for the top spot in Leke will be particularly fierce..."

An examiner asked tentatively: "A-level?"

The other person nodded and said, "I think so too."

In the music department, A+ is already the highest evaluation.

Most of the top scorers in music science had only A or below in music science that year.

At this moment, a voice came from beside them.

Liu Shang was furious: "What do you mean by top grade? There is nothing wrong with this performance. If it is not excellent, what is excellent? Do you understand music?"

Both of them looked embarrassed.

If someone else had said this, the two would have fallen out long ago.

But the other party was the Secretary of Taichang Temple, the top scorer in the previous music examination, and the first person in Daxia to enter the Taoism through music.

No one understands music better than him.

They looked at each other and could only say, "Lord Liu said it is perfect, so it must be perfect..."

The result of the candidate just now was rated as excellent. Behind the screen, Liu Shang felt a little uneasy.

He really wanted to see what the genius of music looked like.

However, the spring exam is very strict. The examiners are only responsible for judging. Not only do we not know their names, we don’t even know their exam numbers. After they determine the results, there are special people who record them.

I can only wait until the spring exam is over before I can inquire.

…

Li Nuo walked out of the examination hall. Li An Ning didn't know how long he had been waiting at the door. The first thing he asked was, "How was it?"

Li Nuo made a sure hand gesture to her.

The results of Leke are actually announced on the spot, but the candidates will not be told.

In the formal imperial examination, the top scorer in each subject will only be announced at the last moment of the examination.

The next morning, the list of candidates who passed the Leke exam was posted on the wall outside the examination hall.

In this subject, more than two hundred people were eliminated.

An ordinary top scorer in music is just an A or below. Although the requirements of the spring exam are low, if you want to get a B rating, you need to have some talent in music. It is difficult to achieve it without talent and only relying on acquired practice.

After the music exam, there were less than 400 candidates left in the Seventh Examination Hall.

The venues for the imperial examination and archery examination are also within the examination hall.

The difficulty of these two subjects is simpler than the imperial examination.

Li Nuo discovered during the exam that the venue for the Spring Imperial Examination was wider, the road surface was less bumpy, and the distance to the shooting target was about one-third closer than that of the formal imperial examination, so the difficulty was naturally much lower.

In the Seventh Examination Hall, there were two thousand people taking the first exam.

After the six subjects were completed, less than a hundred people were left.

The scores of all candidates in the examination hall will be sent to the Ministry of Personnel, which will make the final ranking.

Among them, those ranked in the top 100 can enter the four major academies.

Those who passed the spring examination but were not selected by the four major academies could choose to study in small academies. The tuition was a little more expensive, but they were also eligible to take the imperial examination.

The clerks of the Ministry of Personnel are still making the final ranking of the scores sent in by various examination institutes.

As a Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel, Song Zhe could of course check the list of admissions to the spring examination first.

He walked into a government office where more than a dozen personnel from the Ministry of Personnel were busy.

"Master Song!"

Seeing Song Zhe come in, everyone immediately stood up and saluted.

Song Zhe waved his hand, signaling them to continue, and then asked someone at the door, "Have you sorted out the list of the top 100?"

The scores sent by various examination institutes have been arranged according to each subject, so it is very easy to summarize the top 100.

The official respectfully handed over a list and said, "Your Excellency, it has been sorted out."

Song Zhe looked up and subconsciously started looking from the back.

Even though he was Li Xuanjing's son, he only had half a year to prepare for the imperial examination. Even though Song Zhe felt that he should be able to enter the top 100, the possibility of him being among the top was not great.

There are no bottom ten.

There are none in the bottom twenty.

There are no bottom fifty either.

Song Zhe was almost able to see the top ten in the spring exam, but Li Nuo's name was still not on the list.

Didn’t it make it into the top 100?

After all, he had very little time to prepare, so it was normal that he did not make it into the top 100. However, there were only 20 days left before the imperial examination. If he could not make it into the top 100 in the spring examination, he would most likely be eliminated in the first subject.

With an inadvertent glance, his expression was slightly stunned.

The first name on the list was one he had been searching for for a long time.

Li Nuo.

This represents the first place in the spring exam.

After a moment of silence, Song Zhe said to an official, "Give me the list of grades for each subject."

The list sent by each examination institute will include the specific scores of the candidates in each subject.

The Ministry of Personnel will also summarize and rank the scores of each subject.

After a moment, Song Zhe had a few pieces of paper in his hand.

Li Nuo's name is easy to find because he is the first on every piece of paper.

In the calligraphy category, his calligraphy is excellent, his painting is top-notch, his law is excellent, his writing is top-A, and the overall evaluation is top-A, ranking first in the calligraphy category.

Excellent in mathematics, first in mathematics.

The etiquette subject is excellent, the first in etiquette subject.

There were many people who got excellent scores in these two subjects, but Li Nuo's name ranked ahead of everyone else.

The order of candidates' scores is not random. With the same score, his name is ranked in front, either because his paper is neater, or his handwriting is better, or his problem-solving process is more sophisticated. In short, the order in which he ranks first must be the result of comparing the test papers.

Song Zhe continued reading.

Leco is excellent, Leco is the best.

The imperial examination is excellent and the imperial examination is the best.

Excellent in shooting, first in shooting.

First in six subjects.

First in the spring exam.

Song Zhe stared blankly at the familiar name on the paper.

At this moment, time seemed to go back twenty years.

He seemed to feel the fear of being dominated by Li Xuanjing again...

(End of this chapter)