Chapter 285 Future Prospects

Looking at the rankings and scores written on the paper that she had rewritten, Li San Niang was fairly satisfied with the result, glancing at the names at the front.

Li San Niang pointed to the top few people based on their combined scores from the two rounds. Yao Qingqing, Chunlan, and Su Hui were all in the top ten. If they performed steadily in the third round, they should also be in the top ten.

What surprised Li San Niang the most was Sun the midwife, whom she had previously thought was promising but did not think was the type of student she wanted to recruit.

Although she's at the bottom of the list, Sun the Midwife is currently ranked tenth.

"Alright, even if it's not finished, we can talk about it tomorrow."

There's hot water in the kitchen for you, go wash up and go to bed.

Li San Niang stretched and turned to Li Da Sao, who had just entered through the door, with a coquettish smile: "Sister-in-law, you still love me the most. Has your brother come back from work?"

Sister-in-law Li took the lamp and walked up to Li San Niang, pressed her down to sit on a stool, and began to massage Li San Niang's shoulders with her back to her.

"Look at your stiff arms. Father said that health preservation should start from small things. You've been very busy these days."

"Brother?"

"Yes, your older brother just finished his shift. He's too lazy to move, so he's eating the leftover rice from the pot in the kitchen."

Upon hearing what Sister-in-law Li said, Li San Niang turned around happily and stopped Sister-in-law Li from massaging her. "Then I must go to the kitchen and say a few words to my elder brother. I've only been able to see him in the mornings for the past few days, and I really miss him."

"Well, I worry about this and that for you all day long, but in the end, all you think about is your elder brother."

"Good sister-in-law, if we compare you to my elder brother, then you must be ranked higher..."

Having slept without a dream, Li San Niang's biological clock had already woken her up.

After the weather turned cold, the bed was so warm that I really didn't want to get up in the morning.

Not to mention, with Lu Zhu'er, the little stove, in Li San Niang's arms, she felt even more warm, soft, and affectionate, making her even less inclined to get up.

But thinking about having to preside over the final round of the midwife exam this morning, Li San Niang reluctantly mustered her willpower to leave her warm bed and quietly got up.

Li Sanniang overcame all difficulties to get up, while the young women in various neighborhoods of Chang'an who were to take the exam that day also got up very early on their own initiative.

Even the dozen or so girls who hadn't received any number and had gone with others to see the sights got up as soon as it was light.

Those who live far from Changshoufang especially need to get up early, tidy themselves up, and as soon as the gates open, quickly call a car to head to Changshoufang.

Seeing that Chunlan had finished the boiled chicken, the midwife Sun handed her a bowl of hot rice soup.

"Hurry up and drink Shunshun, this chicken is really hard to swallow on its own."

Once Chunlan had finished getting everything ready, she got back into the carriage driven by Grandpa Sun and headed to Changshoufang.

Today, Li's mother and her family had a plan. They had contacted the patrolling constables in advance and had them come to maintain order to prevent the situation from repeating itself yesterday, where too many vehicles blocked the road and made it difficult for people to pass.

After bowing, Li Erxiong handed a purse to the young constable opposite him, who had not yet grown a beard. With an embarrassed expression, he said gratefully to the constable, "Thank you for your trouble, Constable Xing and all the constables. This is for you all to have some tea. There will be more people later, so please be very grateful."

Officer Xing took the purse quite naturally. As soon as he felt its weight, he knew it contained silver, and quite a lot of it.

Xing, the head constable, was even more pleased that Li Er was so cooperative. He was not one to cause trouble.

"What Pharmacist Li said is true; maintaining order is our duty."

"Don't worry, I've arranged four checkpoints at this intersection today, so there won't be any congestion like yesterday."

At the Women's Assistance Association, as planned in advance, Li San Niang and the others had already set out chairs and stools, and placed five or six plates of tea and snacks.

Sister-in-law Li added two extra plates because she saw that quite a few people came yesterday. After all, she had only prepared three plates of snacks, as she had originally estimated that fifty or sixty people would come.

As the hour of Si (9-11 AM) approached, more and more people came to the Li family's house.

Thanks to the patrolling police officers guiding the way, there was no congestion on the street today, and it didn't affect other people who needed to pass by.

What surprised Li San Niang the most at the beginning of the day was that her neighbors on the street, including Qiu Niangzi, who had taken on the big orders for surgical gowns from Li's mother and the Imperial Medical Bureau, Song Saozi, who had joined the Women's Help Association and had once been jealous of Li Ersao and ran a steamed cake shop at the end of the street, as well as two aunts who were the same age as Li's mother and had watched Li San Niang grow up, had all arrived at the association early.

"Third Sister, you were so busy yesterday, why didn't you tell us beforehand? We may not be very capable, but we can still help move a chair or pass on a message."

Li San Niang really didn't know how to deal with these people, so she quickly called over her mother and sister-in-law.

After Li's mother and sister-in-law exchanged pleasantries with them, Li San Niang hurried off to find the young boy from Shaoyang.

"Junior Brother, how about it? Shall we go take another look today?"

Before the young boy from Shaoyang could speak, the old doctor Liang spoke first: "Third sister, I watched your exam from the side. It was novel and interesting, but it is different from the imperial examination of the sage, which was finite."

Your rating is entirely due to your own performance.

I'm afraid that when the results come out, people will cause trouble.

"Master, I have no other choice."

The young men who go to take the imperial examinations are at least literate, but among the ten people who come to me, it's good if even one can read. How can I come up with any proper exam questions?

So we had to learn the method from the medical alliance: you ask, I answer.

"I understand what my master is saying, which is why I conducted this exam in the courtyard, under everyone's gaze. That way, if anyone is dissatisfied with the results, I'll have something to say."

Old Doctor Liang was merely offering a reminder, since Li San Niang wasn't a disciple he had personally taught since childhood, and her personality was already set in stone; it was just a reminder.

"It's good that you know what's going on. Alright, Shaoyang, go and take a look with your junior sister."

Having learned from yesterday's experience, the women greeted Li's mother and the others at the door, received their number tags from Li Dalang again, and then went together to sit down in the tea and snack room where they had been the day before.

Li San Niang looked into the house and saw that the two aunts seemed to have left. However, Qiu Niangzi and Song Saozi had stayed behind, helping Wu Qiaolan with her belongings or giving directions to the girls who came to ask where the toilet was.

At exactly 9:00 AM, Li Erxiong and Li Dalang packed up their things at the door, and Xiao Silang appeared with his little copper gong.

"Dear aunties and grandmas, please be quiet! Please be quiet!"

It was the same half-foot-high platform as yesterday, where Li's mother stood and announced the start of the third round of exams.