Chapter 76: Palace Examination

The morning light is just breaking, the sun is rising, and the morning breeze blows across your face, bringing a slight coolness.

Provincial examination, outside the examination room.

At a glance, there was a sea of people. Students taking the exam and their families sending them to the exam were shoulder to shoulder, and they gathered in groups of three or four to give instructions and encouragement to their own candidates.

As there were so many people sending their children to take the exam, Su Yuan, her father and her husband said goodbye in the carriage.

Father Su frowned, looked at his daughter with concern, and said earnestly:

"Yuanyuan, your arm has only just healed. I'm afraid it may look fine on the surface, but if you use it for a long time, it will hurt inside."

"Alas! Don't be so stubborn. If your old injury relapses, just stop taking the exam. We can just take it again next year. A scholar's right arm is the most important. You must not injure the root and lose the big picture because of the small one."

Su Yuan followed his father's line of sight and glanced at his right arm. He turned his head with a smile on his face, curled the corners of his lips, and advised his father:

"Dad, don't worry. I tried to practice calligraphy yesterday and there is no problem. If it is really like you said, I will give up the exam. I am not stupid. I know what is more important and I will not try to be stubborn."

Upon hearing this, Father Su pursed his lips and sighed:

"Dad knows that you have the best ideas, but I just want to tell you something. Since you know what's going on, I won't waste any more time. Go get in line!"

Su Yuan nodded, picked up the small bag that had been prepared long ago, and walked out with a slight bend in his waist. When passing by Nan Chu, he shook his hand and said quickly:

"don’t worry."

He lifted the curtain and got off the carriage.

In front of the open space of the examination hall, a circle was formed by soldiers with swords, leaving only one passage for the students to enter from outside and undergo inspection and registration.

As soon as Su Yuan got off the carriage, he saw an acquaintance from the opposite side.

She walked over slowly, bowed to the head of the Meng family who was talking to Meng Yunqiao by lifting the curtain of the carriage, and said politely:

"Junior greets Master Meng."

When Patriarch Meng saw Su Yuan, he raised his eyebrows unexpectedly, made a gesture of support with one hand, and said with a faint smile:

"No need to be so polite. It's getting late now. Niece Su, you and Yun Qiao should go to the examination room quickly."

After hearing this, Su Yuan looked at Meng Yunqiao who was winking at him, smiled faintly and nodded:

"Well, then the junior will go in."

After she said this, she called her friends to line up to enter the examination room, leaving the Meng family master behind. He stared at Su Yuan's back for a while, then turned his head and sighed to the people inside:

"Alas, I was quite optimistic about Su Yuan at first, but something happened to him a few days ago, causing him to injure his arm. I'm afraid he will be in danger in this provincial examination."

Father Meng in the carriage heard what his wife said, glanced at his son's face, coughed twice and said:

"Ahem, this kid is a good student anyway. If he doesn't do well this year, there's always next year, right?"

"Besides, maybe Su Yuan is lucky enough to make it through the whole thing. As long as he's on the list, even if he's at the bottom, he's still a scholar, don't you think?"

Upon hearing this, the head of the Meng family uttered a sigh of relief, nodded his chin twice, stretched out his tone and pursed his lips, and said:

"Hmm, that's all I can think of."

After that, she sat down again and said to the outside in a low voice:

"Go back home."

At the entrance of the examination room.

A middle-aged woman in low-ranking official uniform was looking down to check the student's household registration with the certificate issued by the academy.

After she checked and found no problems, she repeated it to the woman in blue in front of her and confirmed:

"My name is Gu Ranran, I'm sixteen years old, I have regular facial features, I'm from Qinghe Town, Tongcheng, I'm currently studying at Shengshi Academy, I have a red mole behind my right ear, this candidate is you"

After hearing this, Gu Ranran nodded slightly and replied:

“It’s the student himself.”

The middle-aged woman handed the paper back after hearing this, glanced at Gu Ranran calmly, tilted her head to one side and reminded:

"Go check it out."

After saying this, she looked past Gu Ranran and called out:

"Next one."

Accompanied by the screams of a middle-aged woman.

Probably another stick of incense time passed.

Finally it was Su Yuan and Meng Yunqiao's turn. After two rounds of inspection according to the procedures, they entered the examination room safely.

Since Tongcheng belongs to the upper city and has jurisdiction over many counties and towns, the examination site was divided into three areas.

As soon as Meng Yunqiao entered the venue, he carefully looked at the note with the official seal in his hand, blinked at Su Yuan, and asked:

"Sister, I was assigned to the third area examination room. Where are you?"

Hearing this, Su Yuan glanced at himself casually, raised his chin to the far left, and said nonchalantly:

"Area 1."

After hearing this, Meng Yunqiao sighed and pursed his lips and said:

"I guess we'll be assigned based on our rankings this time. One of us is at the top, and the other is at the bottom. Oh, forget it. The exam will be over in about two days. It doesn't matter if we're together or not."

After saying that, she took the bag off her shoulder and held it in her arms, waved to Su Yuan, and said goodbye:

"Sister, I'm going to District 3 now. See you in two days."

Su Yuan said "hmm" lightly, nodded at Meng Yunqiao, and turned to walk towards Area 1.

After a moment.

Su Yuan found his seat, right in the first row in the middle, right under the examiner's nose.

She glanced at her seat arrangement, and with the idea that she had nothing better to do, she checked the tables and chairs.

He placed the four treasures of the study he brought neatly on the desk.

Get everything done.

Su Yuan slowly pulled out a stool and sat down, propping up her chin and staring at the examiner's desk in a daze. When she was bored and counted the patterns on the table legs for the third time.

The prefect of Tongcheng, along with four middle-aged women who were also examiners, walked to the top of the table, holding the test papers.

After ordering someone to distribute the test papers.

The prefect announced the start of the provincial examination. During the test, the examiners kept walking around and stopping around the candidates.

This inspection took two days.

Until Su Yuan and her colleagues finished their palace examination.