The sudden arrival of the new magistrate caused the candidates to whisper and talk loudly, feeling extremely surprised.

Bai Yong shouted loudly: "Anyone who makes loud noises or disrupts order will be disqualified from the exam immediately."

All the candidates sat up straight and didn't dare to speak nonsense anymore. This sentence was too intimidating.

It’s like when you are in class and someone is disrupting the class, and then the teacher says, “If you don’t want to listen to the class, get out,” and everyone behaves themselves.

"This county exam will be jointly presided over by this county and the newly appointed County Magistrate, Lord Feng. I hope you will abide by the exam rules and achieve excellent results."

After Bai Yong finished speaking, he turned to Feng Yuan and asked, "Master Feng, can we start the exam now?"

"etc."

"What else?" Bai Yong asked impatiently, "The exam has already been postponed. What if there's another delay and the candidates start making a fuss?"

Feng Yuan turned around and glanced across the examination room, frowning and saying in a low voice, "How can we start the exam when the tables aren't even neatly arranged?"

Due to the lack of seats for individual examinations, an open examination room was set up with separate tables in an open space. Each candidate had a single seat at a table, with two students spaced apart, and the arrangement was not very neat.

Bai Yong took a deep breath. He felt that Feng Yuan was looking for trouble.

"As long as they keep their distance, what's the point of arranging them in a straight line?"

"no!"

Feng Yuan said firmly, "How can we have an exam if the examination tables are not arranged neatly and look messy?"

"Come here, some of you."

As he spoke, he pointed at several yamen runners and gave them orders, but the runners did not move. Instead, they looked at Bai Yong.

"Follow me."

Bai Yong sat down with a gloomy face. If it wasn't for completing the task assigned by Young Master Ming, he would have lost his temper long ago. The most important thing right now was the county exam, nothing else mattered.

Soon, Feng Yuan ordered the yamen runners to rearrange the tables, and even asked someone to find a long bamboo pole to level it. He gestured personally and was extremely meticulous, and the candidates also followed the instructions and adjusted their positions.

The examination tables were rearranged so that they were straight and level, forming a line. Feng Yuan nodded in satisfaction, his expression slightly relaxed, as if a worry had been resolved.

"This is your fixed location for the exam. No one is allowed to move the tables and chairs at will."

Feng Yuan walked into the room and gave instructions loudly, causing everyone to look at each other in bewilderment. What a strange request.

At this moment, he happened to walk in front of Song Chi, glanced at the table and frowned again, "How can we pass the exam if we can't even put the pen, ink, paper and inkstone together?"

Song Chi...

Is this person sick? How I behave is my business, do I need you to tell me?

Although he was complaining in his heart, his hands were adjusting honestly. You are the boss and you have the final say. Whether he can get the first place in the county depends on this person.

"Lay the paper flat on the table, don't tilt it, and hold the pen straight."

Song Chi obediently set everything up, and Feng Yuan left satisfied. Bai Yong, who had been watching, frowned when he saw this scene.

If Feng Yuanzhen was picked up by the female commander, he might have been secretly instructed by her to take care of Song Chi. After the homecoming banquet, the female commander and the Prime Minister had not met. Something must have happened that night, and there might even have been a conflict.

The conflict between the two is obvious, Song Chi is the female commander's...

If this is true, it would be difficult to frame Song Chi. Bai Yong had already arranged for someone to put the cheat sheet on Song Chi's desk during the exam, and then he "caught" him in person, quickly convicted him, and confirmed his crime of cheating.

Although it was a slander, he was the county magistrate and it was easy for him to control someone in the county examination hall.

But now, because of the changes caused by Feng Yuan's appointment, not only will he fail to accomplish his goal, but he may also get into trouble for himself.

"What should I do?" Bai Yong couldn't help but think.

At this time, Feng Yuan said, "County Magistrate Bai, you may announce the start of the examination."

Chunchun is sick!

What's the point of going through all the trouble to rearrange the table?

"The exam begins!"

He stood up and shouted, and the county examination finally began. Yamen runners walked back and forth holding signs with the questions to ensure that every candidate could see the questions.

According to the rules of the Da Zhou County Examination, there was only one question from the Four Books in each examination, and the final submission time was close to dark.

Soon the yamen runner came in front of Song Chi, and he also saw the title on the sign.

"When faced with a great event, one cannot be deprived of it. Only then can one be considered one of the ordinary people."

These two irrelevant sentences soon caused wailing in the examination room.

"quiet!"

Bai Yong stood up and shouted, with a smile on his face. He was the one who set the question, so he naturally knew how difficult it was. He was afraid that many people would not be able to understand it, so how could they answer it?

"The questions given by County Magistrate Bai are a bit too difficult for the candidates taking the county exam."

Bai Yong smiled calmly and said, "The main exam must have big questions, and the preliminaries can have small questions. This is the rule of the court, and this county has not violated it."

He sneered in his heart, thinking that the useless book boy probably couldn't even understand the question now. He would never have thought that the question I asked was a piecemeal question.

Cut-and-paste question!

Song Chi was not groping in the dark, but was confident. He guessed right. Bai Yong had indeed set up the "cutting-edge" questions to increase the difficulty of the county exam.

"When faced with a great challenge, he cannot be taken away" comes from Zengzi, who said, "I can entrust an orphan to him, I can entrust my life to him from a distance of a hundred miles. When faced with a great challenge, he cannot be taken away. Is he a gentleman? Yes, he is."

"And then do not blame others." It comes from the saying that a gentleman first has it in himself, and then seeks it in others; if he does not have it in himself, then he does not blame others.

The two sentences have their own origins, forming a connecting topic.

Song Chi's guess was correct. Bai Yong had indeed started the question from the perspective of a gentleman, with the purpose of flattering Song Shiwen.

It's just that the question was disruptive and the word "gentleman" was not mentioned in the sentence selection, but it was not difficult for him.

Once you know the origin of the topic, you need to start solving it. The essence and difficulty of the Four Books essay lies in the fact that you have to point out and explain the meaning of the original text without being able to write out the original sentences.

It’s like when you are writing a paper, you clearly cite the work of predecessors, but in order to pass the plagiarism check you cannot quote them directly, so you need to use some skills.

However, Song Chi had already written an article using the original sentence when preparing for the exam, so it was not a waste of time at all. He just picked up the pen and started working.

The first case in the county must be taken down!

He did not use draft paper, but wrote directly on the paper. He wrote as if he was possessed by God and wrote very quickly. Writing on paper with a brush was also his specialty. He was the president of the Calligraphy Association at that time.

While others were still racking their brains to think of the origin of the title, he had already started writing the article.

Only half an hour later, he had finished writing and put down his pen. Since he had guessed the answer in advance, he made targeted preparations. He looked through the essays of previous county champions and even the top scorers, and took the essence from them and discarded the dross.

He even read the articles written by Song Shiwen. Although this scumbag had a bad character, he was really good at writing articles. Song Chi also learned some sentences and viewpoints from him.

This is absolutely a perfect article and no one can find fault with it.

Some people were scratching their heads, some were busy writing, but Song Chi had already finished, guessed the answer and prepared for the exam in advance. This was no different from using Xiaoyuan to search for questions.

At this moment, there was a skinny candidate behind Song Chi on the right, staring at him with vicious eyes.