Admittedly, Xia Qingzhai has failed his exams a few times recently, but he is studying so hard now, and he has a solid foundation. His chances of passing the imperial examinations in three years are really high!
County school admissions only consider the county and prefectural examinations. If Xia Qingzhai can be driven out this time, he will not be able to enroll for three years.
However, he could not study at the county school, and no matter what, he would fail the provincial examination three years later!
“Your grades have dropped, so of course you don’t deserve to stay in the county school—”
Tong Su stared intently at the speaker, and under her cold gaze, the speaker felt guilty and his expression became evasive.
She said calmly, "Fine, since you're letting your grades speak for themselves, I'll have a competition with you. Why don't we ask the instructor if the essays for the upcoming monthly exams can be posted out so everyone can see who wrote the best?"
The student paused, his expression clearly showing hesitation.
Let's compare?
How about we really have a competition?
Xia Qingzhai had, after all, achieved the top score in both the county and prefectural examinations, and he had been studying so diligently lately…
"What, are you scared?"
Upon hearing the mocking and contemptuous tone, the students erupted in anger: "Who's afraid? Let's have a match then! There are so many of us, are we afraid of just one person?"
"that is!"
"Let's go find the Instructor right now!"
The news that students at the county school would be compared in the monthly exams quickly spread throughout the county school and, as people discussed it, gradually spread throughout Yunyang County.
The students' desire to compete in exams was not a bad thing for the instructors and others; in fact, it kept them quiet, so they were naturally willing to participate.
At the same time, many students studying at home in private schools were also quite interested in participating. After discussing it, the county magistrate and the instructors decided that it would be better to hold a county-wide joint examination.
With a stroke of his pen, he opened up the examination rooms in the county government office for the county-level examinations. All students from the county who had ever participated could register and take the exams according to the county-level examination standards.
After the joint entrance examination was set, not only Yunyang County, but also the county schools and students in the neighboring county started discussing it. Many people inquired about the strength of the students in Yunyang County, and were particularly curious about Tong Su, who was at the center of the discussion.
"He's the same Xiao Sanyuan from back then? He must be incredibly knowledgeable."
"That's not all! You've forgotten, to become a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county, prefectural, and provincial examinations), you need to pass all three. Only by being the top scholar in all three examinations can you be considered a Xiaosanyuan (a minor scholar who achieves the highest honors in the imperial examinations)."
"The commonly referred to 'Triple Crown' means achieving first place in the provincial examination, the metropolitan examination, and the palace examination. In the thousands of years of the imperial examination system, only a mere twelve people have ever achieved this!"
"If you were to rank first in all six examinations—the county examination, the prefectural examination, the provincial examination, the metropolitan examination, and the palace examination—that would be called 'Six-time Top Scholar'! The Six-time Top Scholar is still just a legend. There are countless scholars and talents everywhere in the world; how could you possibly be the only one to achieve the Six-time Top Scholar title?"
"Back to Xia Qingzhai, it's impressive that he was able to pass the imperial examinations twice at the age of thirteen, but that was the easiest stage after all... Moreover, his father's death had a great impact on him, and his grades were terrible when he entered university."
"The students from Yunyang County are all quite capable, especially Xu Yincheng, Liu Yongfei, and Yao Jinrong, who were top scorers in their respective fields in previous years! They've studied for a few more years than Xia Qingzhai, so how could they possibly be weaker than him?"
"That's right. I don't think Xia Qingzhai has a good chance! If he loses, he won't have the face to stay in the county school, will he?"
"Yes, he's definitely embarrassed. This competition was unfair to him; he shouldn't have impulsively brought it up! Sigh, he's still just a young man, so impulsive!"
Amidst widespread skepticism, Tong Su remained calm and quietly observed the other students.
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