Chapter 139 Science Test

Half a year passed quickly, the grass was lush and green, the orioles were singing sweetly, and it was the day of the imperial examination in Gaoyue of the next year.

The imperial examination was nothing more than a simulation exercise, so it was less rigorous than the formal provincial examination. Candidates did not need to go to the Imperial Examination Hall, but only needed to go to the nearest examination site designated by the government office.

Longchang Academy was one of the examination sites.

Although the results of the imperial examinations had no direct impact on the provincial examinations two months later, the entrance examinations were strictly checked. Once cheating was discovered, the examinees would be ruthlessly disqualified from the imperial examinations.

The difficulty of the imperial examination was similar to that of the provincial examination, except that the number of questions was less. The examination process was also divided into three sessions, but each session only lasted one day, starting at 5:00 a.m. in the morning and ending at 10:00 p.m. at night, for three consecutive days.

During these three days, Longchang Academy gave the students a holiday, and all the classrooms were converted into temporary examination halls, with clerks sent by the county government to supervise the examinations.

During the exam period, Zhu Lan and others were students of Longchang Academy, so they still lived in the study every night. During the day, they had to sit in the study all day and could not leave, so they could only bring some dry food such as steamed buns or steamed bread with them.

After the third round of the exam, Zhu Lan returned to the Zhu residence calmly.

Mr. Zhu had been waiting at the door early. When he saw Zhu Lan coming back, he hurriedly asked her how she did in the exam.

Zhu Lan looked calm, with no obvious joy or disappointment on his face. He only said that if he performed as usual, he should be able to rank among the top two.

"Oh my, my son has worked hard."

Pei Yue came out of the house with a smile on her face, saying that she had prepared a table full of dishes, all of which were Zhu Lan's favorite flavors, and they were just waiting for her to start the meal.

Pei Yue didn't really care about Zhu Lan's grades. She just kept saying that there was no need to study so hard and that one should not tire himself out. This made Old Man Zhu laugh and retort a few times, saying that scholars should naturally focus on their studies.

…

The examination results were released fairly quickly, with the list posted at the gate of the government office two days later.

The result was not surprising. Zhu Lan's name appeared on the first-class list, which made her feel slightly relieved.

But her goal has never been just to pass the exam.

Zhu Qingyan, Qiao Youyou, Xiao Wan, Zhao Sicheng and Zhou Da's names were also on the first-class list, only Liang Zhou fell into the second class.

Liang Zhou linked arms with Zhou Da and Zhao Sicheng, pointed at the names of the two on the first-class list and said jokingly:

"See, I've proven that my investment vision is not wrong. When you become successful in the future, remember to take care of me!"

Xiao Wan also came to see the list, followed by her maid Chunlan.

She saw Zhao Sicheng from afar and wanted to speak, but held back.

"Chunlan, I just went out in a hurry and didn't have time to eat breakfast. I'm a little hungry now. Can you buy me two vegetarian buns?"

Chunlan responded and walked towards the bun shop in the distance.

Zhao Sicheng also saw Xiao Wan at this time, and ran to her happily, with an expression as if he was asking for credit.

"Wanwan, I'm on the first-class list too, we're both on it!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Wan couldn't help but look at the list. Sure enough, she saw her own name and Zhao Sicheng's name on the list. She breathed a sigh of relief and a smile appeared on her face.

"Wanwan, look, I didn't embarrass you, so don't be angry with me anymore..." Zhao Sicheng said pitifully.

Xiao Wan snorted and whispered, "If you do that again, I'll pull your ears off!"

She was thinking in her mind that if Zhao Sicheng could pass the provincial examination successfully, she would then try to persuade her parents and perhaps they would accept Zhao Sicheng.

As she was thinking, she saw Chunlan walking towards her with a bun in her hand out of the corner of her eye. She lowered her head, coughed lightly, and walked towards Chunlan.

"Miss, this one is stuffed with cabbage, and this one is stuffed with celery." Chunlan handed over the hot buns and subconsciously glanced in the direction of the list.

Her eyes suddenly fell on Zhao Sicheng. Hey, isn’t this the little gardener?

The young lady seemed to have just walked from that direction. Could it be that the two of them had contact just now?

But she couldn't be sure, because so many people were gathered in one place, and if the lady wanted to see the list, she could only stand near the little gardener.

Chunlan was thinking about it secretly when she heard Xiao Wan say, "I've already seen it. Let's go back."

Chunlan was thinking about something, and her steps seemed a little erratic. She bumped into a passerby who was walking towards the list and accidentally stepped on his foot.

The man groaned in pain, and the servant behind him was angry and was about to scold Chunlan, but was stopped by his master. The person who was stepped on shouted in surprise: "Hey, isn't this Miss Xiao?"

"Who are you?" Xiao Wan looked at the other person with some curiosity. She saw that he was a young man slightly older than herself. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen him.

The servant behind the young man had a striking red birthmark on his left cheek, which made his face look a little hideous.

"I'm Yang Xin, miss. Don't you remember me? We met last year at Uncle Xiao's birthday party."

Xiao Wan still looked a little confused, and Yang Xin couldn't help but feel a little anxious, blurting out: "Who dares to play the chessboard in the sky as stars?"

Xiao Wan hesitated for a moment and spoke slowly: "The ground is the pipa and the road is the string. Who can play it? Oh, it turns out to be Master Yang. Excuse me."

Last year, on Mr. Xiao’s birthday, he invited several good friends to his home. Mr. Yang Xin was the son of a close friend of Mr. Xiao, and he had met Xiao Wan at the banquet.

Everyone said that Young Master Yang was a talented young man with extraordinary literary talent, so Mr. Xiao asked him to come up with a couplet on the spot to see who could match it.

"The chessboard in the sky is made of stars, who dares to play?" was the first line of the couplet that Yang Xin came up with at that time, and Xiao Wan was the first person to come up with the second line.

She just said it casually at the time and didn't take it seriously, so she didn't recognize Yang Xin for a long time when she saw him.

"I remember that Uncle Yang was from Qingzhou. He came thousands of miles to attend the banquet, and my father was very moved. How come Mr. Yang appeared in Jiangzhou again today?" Xiao Wan asked.

Yang Xin smiled and said, "My father was transferred to Jiangzhou as a judge last month, so we moved here with our family.

Ever since we met at the last banquet, Miss Xiao's literary talent has left a deep impression on me and I can't forget it for a long time. I didn't expect to meet her here again today. How can this not be fate?

The Yang Mansion is now in Liuzhi Lane, east of Jiangzhou City, not far from the Xiao Mansion. I think you and I will be able to see each other often in the future.

If Miss Xiao has any place you like to go, you can take me with you."

Xiao Wan gave a polite smile. She had never had any interest in things that interfered with her studies.

"Then congratulations to Master Yang and uncle, but I have something else to do, so I'll take my leave now."

"Hey, Miss Xiao..." Yang Xin wanted to say something else, but Xiao Wan had already turned around and left with Chunlan.

Yang Xin looked at Xiao Wan's back from afar, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.