"Brother Lin, you're too kind. It's just a few eggs. It's getting late, so please go and settle them in the cells." After putting the eggs away, Su Jin returned the bamboo basket to Lin Xiangzhi.
Zhen Jingxiu put the things in the cell, grabbed a few eggs, and chased after Lin Xiangzhi, putting them into Lin's bamboo basket without saying a word.
He patted Lin Xiangzhi on the shoulder and said, "Do your best on the questions, and let's all make it onto the list."
Lin Xiangzhi gave a confident smile: "No problem."
He had finished reading the policy essays that Xiao Jingzhao had given him in the past few days, and the two had even discussed their thoughts after reading them. If he wasn't 100% sure, Lin Xiangzhi was at least 70% confident.
Not long after Su Jin returned to his cell, an invigilator called out, "Listen up, candidates! The exam papers will be distributed in fifteen minutes. Those who need to go to the washroom, hurry up!"
Before Su Jin could even open the blanket, she quickly peeked out and looked towards Zhen Jingxiu's cell diagonally opposite.
"Brother Su, stop looking and hurry to the washroom." Zhen Jingxiu said, waving his hand and quickly running towards the nearest washroom.
"Okay, go and come back quickly."
Su Jin looked around and saw that the scholars were all running in two directions, so he also took off running.
Fortunately, the clean rooms in the examination hall were quite large. After the people in front left, he and Zhen Jingxiu quickly took care of their urgent needs and returned to their cells.
The examination cells were small, like a cubicle, not even as big as the gatehouse of the Jiang residence.
Inside, a fixed wooden board was placed horizontally at the entrance of the examination cell, serving as a desk. The examinees sat there, and their every move could not escape the eyes of the invigilators.
Inside was a three-foot-wide wooden plank, which served as the bed in the cell.
In the innermost corner, there was a stove and a pile of chopped wood. These past few days, each scholar had to cook for themselves.
A bucket of water and cooking utensils were placed against the wall.
Su Jin quickly lit the firewood and boiled water to make tea. Her older sister had said that drinking some tea could help refresh the mind.
To save space, he didn't make a bed; he took out the tea, placed it on the wooden board, and then stuffed the food box under the board.
While brewing tea, he glanced at the cell opposite and saw that the scholar inside was slowly making his bed, showing no intention of boiling water at all.
Judging from that man's fine clothes, he was definitely not a young master from an ordinary family.
Before Su Jin's tea was even brewed, an invigilator came to distribute the exam papers.
This scientific expedition lasted nine days and produced a whole stack of exam papers.
He placed the brush and ink, then spread out the exam papers, filling the wooden board to the brim. After the tea was brewed and the fire was turned off, Su Jin placed the teapot on the stove.
Since there were limited resources and no teacups, he used a bowl instead.
The aroma of mint from the tea filled the air. Su Jin poured half a bowl of tea and placed it on the wooden board behind him. He took a deep breath, sat down, and picked up the top exam paper to look at it.
The cells opposite were more than two zhang apart. Looking across, one could see the scene inside the three cells.
To see Zhen Jingxiu's cell, Su Jin had to lean forward.
In order not to attract special attention from the proctor, Su Jin only glanced at the person opposite him before starting to grind the ink.
The rustling sound of exam papers being turned could be heard in my ears.
A moment later, the ink was ground, and Su Jin calmed his mind and focused intently on answering the questions.
Strike while the iron is hot, so he started by answering the exam questions about poetry.
Upon looking at the questions, the older sister guessed two correctly.
After he finished writing quickly, he also composed two more poems.
Judging that the tea had gone cold, he put down his brush, turned around, picked up the cup, and drank it all in one gulp.
The scholar opposite him, seeing how fast Su Jin was solving the questions, craned his neck and asked Su Jin after the proctor had passed, "Hey! You over there, were the questions easy?"
Su Jin looked up and smiled at the scholar opposite her, silently mouthing, "Not bad."
Hearing someone speaking behind him, the proctor turned around and walked back, looking around sternly before saying, "Silence! No loud noises allowed. Any recurrence will be considered cheating!"
Su Jin didn't even lift her eyelids, continuing to look at the next question.
He made up his mind not to look at the person opposite him; he couldn't let a stranger ruin his future.
The scholar opposite him flipped through the exam papers, picked out the one he was best at, and started working on it.
On the other side, Zhen Jingxiu also answered the poetry and prose questions first, deliberately leaving the essays for later.
Zhen Jingxiu had long discovered that when the night was quiet and still, his thoughts would flow like a spring, and the articles he wrote at that time were both excellent and fast.
The candidates were all engrossed in their work, and time passed by little by little. Noon had passed, and some candidates put down their pens and ink to prepare to cook.
Each cell contained only a stove, a teapot, and a pot; there was absolutely no room for cooking.
None of the test takers brought vegetables; they cooked porridge with pickled vegetables.
Su Jin had eaten meat buns and vegetable porridge this morning, and now she felt her stomach was empty.
He put down his pen, stretched his arms, and got up to move his legs.
He first washed the rice and put it into the pot, estimating that he added enough water to cook two bowls of porridge.
He took a bottle of pine oil from the food box, poured a little onto the firewood, picked up a tinderbox, blew on it, and it lit instantly.
Seeing that he lit the firewood in an instant, the scholar opposite was stunned. He wanted to ask Su Jin what he had poured on the firewood, but the examiner's footsteps sounded outside, so he had to swallow his words.
Seeing the proctor approach, Su Jin cupped his hands and said, "Sir, may I trouble you with a favor?"
The proctor stopped and looked at Su Jin, saying sternly, "Apart from going to the washroom, all other requests are off the table."
"Sir, when we were inspecting the items today, my roommate and I left our food in the inspection room. We would appreciate it if you could be lenient and send us a can after you have inspected it."
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