Chapter 81 Written Exam: Was this really the set of questions they were given?
Anling County.
Early in the morning, the city guard sent a team to Longyuan Academy to surround the academy and guard the front and back gates.
The tall and imposing guards, dressed in uniform and wielding large swords, each had a serious expression and looked imposing and awe-inspiring.
There were three long queues at the main entrance, with men and women, young and old.
They lined up and handed their identification documents to the captain of the guard team for inspection.
Then, one by one, they entered the academy gate and went into two temporary rooms. The academy's teachers searched them, with three male teachers checking the men and three female teachers checking the women, to see if they had any cheat sheets or similar items.
Only those who have no problems can move on to their exam room.
The passersby all cast curious glances at them.
Someone asked, "What are you doing?"
His companion was astonished. "You don't know? This is the first administrative office staff examination in Anling County. The top 200 candidates with the highest scores will be assigned to the administrative offices of Anling County and Sifang County."
"Admitting only the top 200 students?" an old man with dark gray hair chimed in. "Why so many?"
The two people speaking glanced at the elderly man who looked very cultured, but without thinking much of it, the one who knew more kindly explained, "Because we're short-staffed right now. Two counties are using the staff of one county, so the workload for each person is too heavy. It won't be long before everyone can't take it anymore."
"Special policies for special times. Sifang County is also recruiting local educated people."
The staff in the two counties are basically sufficient, so the next time we recruit, we won't open up 200 positions.
...But who knows, what if they conquer another prefecture next time?
That's the advantage of arriving early. Even a rude person who can't read a single word can gain the qualification to take the exam and have the opportunity to enter the administrative office by attending night school and through their own efforts.
What about the people who come later...?
However, there's no need to worry so early. The area is so large that it will take many years for the staff to reach full capacity.
Thinking about it this way, the person relaxed.
Although he had poor learning ability and had no chance to pass the exam to enter the government.
But his son has a chance.
The learned old man noticed that the number of people queuing at the academy gate had decreased by one-fifth. His gaze was deep and thoughtful. This Anling County... truly is different from others.
No wonder that old bastard Pei Wenzhao lured him here with half a divine book.
The old man asked the two villagers, "Have you heard of a man named Pei Wenzhao?"
The two of them actually knew.
They all have children studying at Longyuan Academy. The children told their parents that a very impressive person came to the academy, and the dean specially accompanied him to visit the library.
"The teacher said that many people will come here in the future!" The child proudly puffed out his chest.
"Anling County Library?"
Upon hearing the place name, the old man's eyes widened in surprise. A library named after a prefecture—is it very large?
Do you have a large collection of books?
How many books could Anling, a prefecture in Jinzhou, possibly have?
His heart was pounding, and he couldn't wait any longer.
He then asked, "Excuse me, which way do I go to get to this museum?"
One of them pointed ahead to a boy with a cloth bag slung over his shoulder and said, "If you want to go to the library, follow that boy."
The old man was puzzled.
"Today's exams take place at Longyuan Academy. Since students can't stay at the academy to study, and there's no atmosphere for studying at home, they've gone to the library's study room."
"The library specially built a large study room for people who need to do exercises and read books."
Old man: ???
Longyuan Academy, conference room.
Cheng Hui and a group of Anling County staff members who had been selected as proctors gathered here.
He placed a large wooden box on the table and said, "Inside are the numbers for each examination room. There are two sheets of paper for each examination room. You will take turns drawing lots, and whichever sheet you draw will be the one you will be proctoring in that examination room."
Everyone stared at the wooden box with a strange sense of anticipation.
Cheng Hui continued, "I hope that everyone will conscientiously fulfill their responsibilities as invigilators when proctoring the exams."
"This is the first recruitment exam for Anling County, and it is related to the future of the people of Anling and Sifang Counties."
"Nobody wants anything to go wrong or for bad news to break, right?"
The expressions on everyone's faces turned serious.
"We know, Elder Cheng!"
"Don't worry, we all know how important this exam is."
"I don't want to hire people in our department who can't do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division!"
"I will never let the goddess down!"
"We will supervise the exam properly."
Cheng Hui looked at them with satisfaction.
He said, "Line up and come up one by one to draw lots."
The proctors lined up randomly, then one by one stepped forward, stood in front of the wooden box, reached in, and pulled out a small piece of paper.
He/She reads out their exam room number.
The assistant sitting next to him wrote down the invigilator's name and the examination room number in his notebook.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, everyone had drawn their lots.
They went to their respective examination rooms.
The exam is divided into a morning session and an afternoon session.
The morning session consisted of multiple-choice questions, testing prior knowledge.
The afternoon session consists of problem-solving questions, testing everyone's logical thinking and adaptability.
The examiners will draw lots again at noon.
Therefore, before the lottery was completed, no one knew who they would be proctoring in which exam room.
After entering the examination room, Feng Yu found his seat and sat down.
The other candidates in the same examination room arrived one after another. He recognized two of them, and they exchanged smiles as a greeting.
A short while later, a man and a woman walked in with the exam papers.
They scanned the entire room with incredibly sharp eyes.
Upon being swept across, Feng Yu instinctively straightened his back and stared intently ahead.
The female examiner announced the exam rules: "No whispering, no reading the questions aloud, no copying other people's papers, no..."
"Raise your hand if you need to use the restroom, and the examiner will take you there."
"Candidates who violate the rules and do not heed the examiners' advice will be asked to leave the examination room."
"Candidates who cheat will have their scores invalidated and will be barred from participating in future recruitment exams organized by the Administrative Office."
"Therefore, please abide by the rules and be responsible for yourselves!"
After hearing the rules, the candidates' expressions changed noticeably, some becoming serious, some solemn, and some nervous.
The male examiner showed them the paper bag containing the sealed exam papers.
It was then handed over to the two candidates sitting in the front row for their review.
"These are unopened exam papers. Now, we will open them in front of you."
Feng Yu watched in astonishment as the examiner tore open the large paper bag and took out a stack of exam papers that smelled of ink and paper.
The two examiners distributed the exam papers.
Soon, an exam paper was placed on Feng Yu's desk.
He couldn't wait to look down.
Feng Yu: "..."
Feng Yu: "..."
Feng Yu: "..."
The candidate's expression was blank.
Anling County Library, study room.
Qiu Tang looked at the scroll spread on the table and read aloud softly, “A constable arrested four suspected thieves. The statements of A, B, C, and D are as follows: A said, ‘I didn’t steal it.’ B said, ‘A stole it.’ C said, ‘I didn’t steal it.’ D said, ‘B stole it.’ Only one of them is telling the truth. So who is the thief?” [Note 1]
After she finished reading it, she froze.
She began to think about the answer to the question.
She looked up blankly at the goddess sitting in front of them, watching them do their problems.
Behind Qiu Tang, a boy saw a geography question: "People plant a large tree in the very center of a 'pit-dwelling courtyard.' Its main function is: A. to block wind and sand, B. to provide shade and shelter from rain, C. to beautify the building, D. to prevent outsiders from falling in." [Note 2]
The boy looked completely bewildered.
"...I think the second answer is correct, but the third answer doesn't seem wrong either? The fourth one shouldn't be, right?"
Is this a single-choice question? Or multiple-selection?
He scratched his head, "I don't know which one to choose!"
Sitting on the other side, Ji Yunheng calmly completed the general knowledge and logic questions, and then tackled the math questions.
She looked at the question.
She was calculating on a draft paper.
Her expression cracked.
“Goddess.” Liang Xingqi raised his hand helplessly.
He Qinglan cast a glance at him.
Liang Xingqi: "Was this the exact set of test questions they were taking?"
He Qinglan nodded, "That's right."
Two incense sticks' worth of time had passed since the students at Longyuan Academy received their exam papers. He Qinglan then went to the library's study room, called the students who were working on questions or reading to another room where books were kept, closed the door, and gave each of them an exam paper.
Everyone was very excited when they received the test papers.
But upon seeing the question, everyone's expression changed.
Liang Xingqi opened his mouth, "Is there really anyone who can make all of them?"
He Qinglan: "We don't require you to finish all the questions." We only admit the top 200 scorers.
A female student hesitated before raising her hand, "Goddess, I don't know how to do many of the questions..."
He Qinglan: "This is a multiple-choice question; you can answer it whether you know it or not."
The students: "!!!"
Qiu Tang was shocked, "Goddess, according to your meaning, even if we don't know how to answer the question, we can just randomly choose one to fill in the blank, then..."
She gritted her teeth, "If someone just gets lucky and scores high points by luck, isn't that very unfair to the others?"
Qiu Tang's words immediately resonated with all the students present.
"Yeah, yeah, if it's just multiple choice questions, it might not rely on accumulated knowledge, but just luck!"
"Maybe even if I work hard to finish the questions, I won't get as many points as someone who just randomly selects answers."
"That's so unfair!"
"That's right, that's right."
"goddess……"
The goddess gazed at them, and suddenly a smile curved her lips.
She said, "Isn't luck also a part of ability?"
The students: "..."
He Qinglan: "If someone can get a high score by luck and finally enter the top 1200, it means that he/she is destined to be selected, which others can only envy."
The students: "..." Damn it, what the goddess said makes sense.
"Oh dear, have you all forgotten that we have a multiple-choice exam this afternoon?" Ji Yunheng said dismissively. "Multiple-choice questions don't determine life or death."
Even if you can get high scores on multiple-choice questions, if you can't answer the open-ended questions, your total score will still be low.
Only when you have real strength can you be invincible!
Ji Yunheng's gaze was intense.
He Qinglan glanced at her upon hearing this, her eyes showing a hint of satisfaction.
"Xiao Ji is right. Luck is just a bonus; to get a high score, you still have to rely on your own abilities."
“But these kinds of questions…” A girl looked at the goddess with a pained expression, “Are the problem-solving questions this difficult this afternoon too?”
If it were a problem of this difficulty, could I solve it?
Will I really be able to solve such problems and get high scores in the future, and become a staff member of the administrative office?
He Qinglan said, "I don't know."
The students looked up in surprise at the goddess, their faces filled with disbelief: How could the goddess not know?
He Qinglan: "I didn't come up with the question, how would I know?"
To show her respect for the exam, she did not count the questions or the final list of the top 200 candidates.
Give yourself a surprise now and then.
The goddess looked down at all the students present and smiled calmly: "Hurry up and do your questions. This is my way of showing you care. Others can't even see the exam papers."
Qiu Tang showed a pained expression and lowered her head to continue thinking, "Who is telling the truth?"
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Author's Note: 1. [Note 1] Civil service exam questions; [Note 2] Geography questions found online.
2. My list this week is 20,000 words long, but I've been so busy lately!
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