Chapter 120 [VIP]

The rented house is in a pretty good location in the county town. The main buildings are all new, and the house is fully furnished and equipped with all the necessary items, so you can use it right away. It's also very convenient to live in.

I heard that the owner of this house was originally a wealthy merchant in the county town, but because of this flood, his whole family moved to another prefecture.

Because I left in a hurry, I didn't bring any large items, only my valuables.

The house was entrusted to a relative for sale. Large houses like this are expensive and hard to sell, so the relative secretly rented it out to earn some pocket money.

The three-courtyard house was very bright, and the children no longer had to squeeze into one room to sleep.

After arranging accommodations, Wang Ying planned to give Er Shun and the others a few days off so they could go back to Chenjiazhuang to visit their relatives.

After being away for more than a year, I must be homesick. I'll take advantage of the free time to go back and spend more time with my family.

Er Shun and the others were overjoyed. They had been wanting to go back for a long time, but they thought they would have to wait until their master finished the county examination before they could go back. Unexpectedly, their young master let them go back ahead of schedule.

The group went to the street to buy some things, and the next morning they drove their horse-drawn carriage toward Qingshui Town.

With the servants gone, the house felt much quieter. Li Shi and Fourth Aunt missed Third Aunt and the others, and went to the Cao family's house every day. Qingyun also stayed with Yuanbao and Lin Sui, trying to comfort him and tell him not to think about the past.

Every day, Old Liang would lead the three of them to get up early to read, as if they had returned to the old days in the village.

With nothing else to do, Wang Ying picked up her pen and continued writing her agricultural book.

In early February, the south was already lush and green, while the north was still freezing cold.

The weather has warmed up a bit in the past few days, and the snow on the rooftops has melted under the bright sun, dripping down the eaves into the yard.

The willow trees by the wall are sprouting new green leaves, adding a touch of spring to the originally gray courtyard.

"What are you writing?" Liang Boqing strolled over and asked in a low voice.

Wang Ying quickly stood up and said, "You've arrived. It's a book about agronomy. I'm quite interested in this subject, so I just jotted down a few pages myself."

"Oh? Let me see."

Wang Ying handed over the first few pages she had written. Old Liang sat on the stool next to her and carefully looked at each page, stroking his beard and nodding slightly from time to time.

"Did you draw this yourself?" Liang Boqing asked, pointing to a cross-section of wheat seeds.

"yes……"

"I never imagined that there were so many intricacies involved in such a tiny grain of wheat. You have such keen observation skills."

Wang Ying's cheeks burned. This wasn't some keen observation; he was just repeating what she had learned. But she couldn't explain it to him, so she had to shamelessly admit it.

"Keep writing, and we'll see if we can help you with woodblock printing once you're done."

Wang Ying was stunned. "This...this won't work."

"If it's a good book that benefits the people, why not?"

"Thank you, teacher!" Wang Ying blurted out. After saying it, she scratched her head, wondering why she had called him "teacher." However, seeing that Old Liang did not seem angry, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.

After hesitating for a while, Wang Ying finally spoke, "Do you think Qingyan and the others will pass the imperial examination this time?"

"I'm sure I'll have no problem with the county exam. If I perform normally in the prefectural exam, I might even come out on top. As for the provincial exam, I can't predict that." Liang Boqing himself didn't participate in the provincial exam back then, so he didn't know what the exam questions or the passing score were. However, he was certain that his academic ability was absolutely fine, otherwise the court wouldn't have invited him to participate in the imperial examinations several times.

Wang Ying clasped her hands together and bowed to the heavens, saying, "That's good. I pray that this exam goes smoothly and that I can perform normally."

Looking at the tender willow in the courtyard, Liang Boqing said, "Qingyan has had a tough time. I just hope that he can shine like this willow in this imperial examination."

*

With only three days left until the county-level exam, the exam atmosphere in Longquan County is becoming increasingly intense.

Students from various towns could be seen everywhere on the streets, coming to take the imperial examinations. Most of them carried books and accompanied by relatives or servants, and stayed at inns in the city.

With more people, the inn's prices also rose accordingly. Rooms that originally cost 200 coins a day suddenly increased to 500 coins, and even then, demand still couldn't meet supply.

When they arrived at teahouses and taverns, the conversation revolved entirely around the imperial examinations, as the number of participants this year was nearly a third less than in previous years due to the floods.

Two years ago, there were 218 candidates who took the county-level examination in Chen Qinghuai's year, but this year there are only more than 130.

Fewer people does not mean less competitive pressure; on the contrary, the pressure will increase because the imperial court has rules that the fewer people in a county, the fewer places there are to be accepted.

In previous years, Longquan County had a total of eight places, meaning that only the top eight students had the opportunity to go to the prefectural school to participate in the prefectural examination. This year, there are only five places left.

With over a hundred people taking the top five spots, the odds are really low. However, there's no need to worry about any behind-the-scenes manipulation, as the imperial examinations were linked to the performance of the local county magistrate.

If anyone dares to cheat or use back channels to pass the exam, it will be discovered in the prefectural city. The county magistrate will then bear a heavy responsibility; a charge of cheating in the imperial examination could cost him his head.

Therefore, the imperial examination was an extremely important event every year. In order to ensure that the county examination could be held as scheduled, the county magistrate sent people to clear the city three days in advance. In particular, vendors were not allowed to hawk their wares near the examination site, which shows how much the imperial court valued the imperial examination.

With the exam approaching, Teacher Liang stopped having the three of them memorize texts. Instead, he encouraged them to adjust their mindset, practice calligraphy, and write poetry. Chen Qingyan even found a guqin (a seven-stringed zither) and began studying its musical scale.

Speaking of which, Wang Ying bought this zither from a pawnshop for three strings of cash. Chen Qingyan had been interested in music when he was at the prefectural school, and he mentioned it to Wang Ying a few times in the experimental fields, which Wang Ying had kept in mind ever since.

Later, when they arrived in the prefectural city, Wang Ying went to a music store to inquire about the cheapest xylophone. The cheapest xylophone cost more than thirty strings of cash, which was too expensive for her to afford.

Later, when passing by a pawnshop, Wang Ying saw a woman pawning the guqin. The pawnshop only offered two strings of cash, which the woman thought was too cheap, so she didn't pawn it. Wang Ying took the initiative to stop her and chatted with her for a while, and finally bought it for three strings of cash.

Old Master Liang praised it as a fine instrument at first glance. Although two strings were broken, the body of the instrument was intact and made of the finest spruce. Such an instrument, if brand new, could sell for at least a hundred strings of cash.

I bought a few replacement strings, and they were just as good as new. When I plucked them, they had a metallic sound and a long, lingering resonance.

However, Chen Qingyan's qin skills were still at the stage of recognizing the five notes of the pentatonic scale, and he could barely play a tune called "Moonlight Melody" (a song that ancient people hummed to soothe children).

Moreover, once he started playing, he became completely absorbed in it, and the noise was so loud that it made people's ears ring. Even cows shook their heads when they heard it. After playing for a whole morning, he was annoyed by Old Liang and sent back to recite the Four Books.

*

Before they knew it, the day of the county examination arrived, and before dawn, the lights in the Chen family's house were already on.

After washing, changing clothes, and tying her hair up, Wang Ying inserted a wooden hairpin into Chen Qingyan's hair bun, placed her hands on his shoulders, and looked at the person in the bronze mirror.

He had a premonition that from today onwards, the person in front of him would be like a dragon entering the water, with white waves soaring into the sky, and would surely make a name for himself!

Chen Qingyan turned her head and kissed the hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I will definitely do my best in this county exam."

"Um."

In the other rooms, Chen Qinghuai and Chen Qingsong were also dressed. Because of the county examination regulations, they could not wear layered clothing, so they wore only single-layered clothes, but they wore four or five layers inside and out, with a close-fitting sheepskin vest as the innermost layer, so they were not cold.

Aunt Chen put the wontons into the pot; they were filled with pork and celery, and the three of them each ate a bowl while they were still piping hot.

They checked the exam baskets one last time to make sure that the writing brushes, ink, and inkstones were not forgotten. In addition, each person also brought a bag of dry food and a water bag.

The county examination consisted of five sessions over three days, and the examination content included essays on the Four Books, poems on examination topics, classics and essays, and regulated verse.

For the first two days, there were two sessions each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. On the third day, the last session was held, and the names were written out in order of scores.

The first-place candidate is called the "county top scholar," and the last examiner has to mark the end with a chair-shaped mark in red pen, hence the nickname "sitting on the red chair."

Those who made the final list were all sent to take the prefectural examination, and those who passed became scholars.

Li and Fang Ling held their son's hands, their eyes full of love, and instructed him: "Don't be nervous when you get to the exam hall. No matter whether you pass or not, you must finish answering the questions and don't soil the exam paper."

The three children nodded in agreement.

Chen Guang rushed to the carriage road: "It's past 3 AM, time to go."

Liang Boqing led three people onto the carriage, while the rest squeezed into another carriage behind them. They locked the gate and headed towards the examination hall for the county examination.

Normally, the streets are almost deserted at this time, but today it is especially lively, with horse-drawn carriages and mule carts passing by from time to time, disturbing the people in the houses on both sides of the road who have lit their lamps and stood at their doorways to watch the excitement.

We even got stuck in traffic halfway there.

It is said that a student was hit by a carriage and is stuck in the middle of the road, unable to move. The people in the carriage are on tenterhooks, wondering whether to continue waiting in the carriage or get off and walk, lest they miss the appointed time.

However, the problem was quickly resolved, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the carriage started moving.

After a series of close calls, they arrived at the examination hall without incident. After parking the carriage, they disembarked one by one and escorted the three to the queue.

They were considered early; there were only seven or eight people ahead of them in line. The three of them, carrying their exam baskets, waited at the back for the examiners to call their numbers.

Taking attendance is a very tedious task, requiring verification of each candidate's name, age, place of origin, and physical characteristics to prevent cheating or impersonation.

Unlike modern times, where exam admission tickets have photos that can be easily checked, ancient times relied entirely on written descriptions. For example, Chen Qingyan was described as being seven feet two inches tall, slender, with almond-shaped eyes, a square nose, and a mole between his left eyebrows.

The examiner compared the description with the description and, after confirming that it was correct, began to search the student's body. The student had to take off all his/her clothes, including his/her socks.

This was just a small county-level examination. I heard that the provincial-level examination was even more rigorous, so it's hard to imagine that in the plays, women would dress up as men to take the imperial examinations. They wouldn't even be able to pass the first hurdle, let alone pretend.

At dawn, the first student was called out and searched. Everyone was so nervous that their palms were sweating. After a while, the Chen brothers were finally called.

"Qingshui Town, Chen Qingyan!"

"Here!" Chen Qingyan took a deep breath and stepped forward, glancing back at Wang Ying in the distance before entering the examination room. Although they were far apart, Wang Ying could still tell that he was mouthing, "Wait for me."

Next was Chen Qinghuai, followed by Chen Qingsong. The first two had taken the test once and had experience, but it was Chen Qingsong's first time participating, and he nervously walked in, his hands and feet moving in unsteadily.

Mrs. Li was sweating bullets. "Oh dear, this child..."

Wang Ying was both amused and exasperated. However, Qing Song was still young, and the important thing this time was to participate and obtain the title of Tong Sheng. Even if he passed the exam, he would not participate in the prefectural exam. He would need to train for a few more years before he could take the exam.

After the last candidate was checked, the examination hall door was locked, and more than a dozen soldiers were on guard outside. No one was allowed to approach, and violators would be killed without exception.

A note from the author:

Note ①: One foot is approximately 25cm. Chen Qingyan's height is around 179cm.