"Xiaojie, what's wrong? Eat quickly, it will get cold soon."

After being reminded, Xiao Jie finally came to his senses and quickly replied "Okay", but he didn't dare to raise his head. The steamed red buns could not be seen by Sister Lin for the time being.

He quietly raised his head, glanced at the girl opposite with his round eyes, and while she was not paying attention, he stuffed the handkerchief in his arms like a treasure.

This is the handkerchief Sister Lin gave him. Just like what was said in the storybook, it is a love handkerchief, and he must keep it well.

Hehehe, he is such a smart guy.

Zhang Xiulin really didn't pay attention. After eating the wontons, accompanied by a noise, the county exam results were finally announced.

Three cannon shots were fired, and the trumpeter started playing music. Then a large red notice was posted.

There was a big Chinese character "中" written on the red list, with two circles inside and outside the character, an inner circle and an outer circle.

Renhe County is just a small county. There are only 261 candidates participating in this exam, which is really small compared with the thousands of candidates in other counties.

This county exam selected 30 people, the top ten were in the inner circle, and the eleventh to thirtieth were in the outer circle.

In addition, there is a secondary list outside the outer circle, and candidates can also participate in the next county examination. If they are on the secondary list twice, they can participate in the provincial examination.

Generally speaking, candidates who can be admitted into the inner circle will basically have no major problems in taking the provincial examination. In the words of her brother and sister-in-law, they are "recommended".

As soon as the red list was released, the already crowded crowd began to move again, and people struggled to squeeze forward.

Xiao Jie was small in stature and also tried to squeeze forward with his fists clenched. Zhang Xiulin looked at him with a mixture of laughter and tears, and hurriedly pulled him back.

The result is there, it's the same whether you watch it morning or night.

"Ahh, I got it, I'm outside the circle."

"I got it, I got it."

Some people won and were ecstatic, even crying with joy, while others did not win and were distraught and looked unwilling.

One of the white-haired women suddenly collapsed on the ground after looking at the list, and said in a daze: "Why, why did I still fail." Looking at her appearance, she was almost going crazy.

This is how the imperial examination works. Some people have the ability and good luck, and they pass the examination smoothly all the way. They enter the imperial court at a young age and are later promoted to higher positions.

Some people spend their entire lives just standing still.

Zhang Xiulin looked at it and felt quite emotional.

"Sister Lin, you got it, you got it, you're in the middle of the circle." Xiao Jie's excited voice brought her back to her senses. The little guy pulled her sleeves, very excited.

At this time, the crowd had gradually dispersed.

Zhang Xiulin looked up and saw her name in the circle. She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Although she had expected it, she was not really relieved until she was sure that she had been selected.

Zhang Xiulin noticed something and asked, "Xiaojie, do you recognize my name?"

Zhang Xiulin heard Song Wanxian talk about Xiaojie.

Due to some unavoidable reasons, Xiao Jie had to live alone with his wet nurse, Song Wanxian, in the remote Renhe County.

For some reasons, Xiaojie was forbidden to learn to read since he was a child. It was not until he came to Renhe County that Song Wanxian wanted him to learn to read and write. However, he had just arrived a few months ago and had been busy running Fengya Bookstore, so he had not had time.

Unexpectedly, Xiaojie actually recognized her name.

Xiao Jie's cheeks flushed slightly, and he stammered, "Of course I recognize Sister Lin's name."

He had his nanny teach him how to write Sister Lin's name early on. That was the first name he wrote.