Chapter 97 The Lin'an Prefecture Examination
The prefectural examination was held in the fourth month of the lunar calendar.
This was Guo Baiwen's first time leaving Xiuning County, and he went with other students to the prefectural city, which was much larger than the county seat.
The prefectural city was called Lin'an Prefecture.
Before setting off, Grandma Guo was worried for several days, and even considered whether she should temporarily close her shop and go to the prefectural city with him.
Fortunately, she later heard that the students from the academy who had passed the county examination would travel to the prefectural city together, so the old lady reluctantly stopped insisting.
When Chen Baoyue helped Grandma Guo to deliver the oxcart, it was still dark. Guo Baiwen only remembered the two women's bright eyes looking at him.
Xiuning County is about 120 li away from Lin'an Prefecture, which is considered a nearby county, and it is faster to get there than to the prefecture.
After bidding farewell to their relatives who came to see them off, the five people traveling together boarded a carriage and headed out of the city.
Because it was so early when we set off in the morning, everyone said goodbye to their relatives and took a nap in the carriage one after another.
By noon, even though they were eating cold biscuits, they were still able to chat and laugh for a while because it was a rare occasion for them to travel together, and the spring flowers and plants were gradually reviving.
Two of them even spontaneously composed a few lines of poetry about spring.
As afternoon approached and dusk fell, the idea of going on a spring outing faded away.
As night was approaching, but the city was nowhere to be seen in front of the carriage, everyone began to get nervous.
Although the security situation has improved recently, it is still not as reassuring to stay overnight outside as it is inside the prefectural city.
Moreover, the only inn on this road has just been passed. If we really miss it in the end, we will not only have to turn back to stay at the inn, but also have to pay for another day's carriage fare.
Among the students traveling together, several came from families that were not well-off, and sharing a horse-drawn carriage was already a difficult undertaking.
Everyone was on edge at that moment.
Even while sitting in the carriage, they couldn't help but look out the window.
As the tense atmosphere slowly spread, fortunately the coachman's driving skills remained steady, and they managed to enter the city smoothly at the last minute.
After settling the bill for the carriage and finding the inn where they would be staying, the group breathed a sigh of relief.
The prefectural city was naturally more prosperous than Xiuning County, but with the exams in two days, no one was in the mood to go out and explore on their own.
After a long day of travel, everyone naturally went home to rest early in the evening.
After finding out the location of the examination hall tomorrow, we'll start buying the things we need for the exam. We all want to review more in the remaining time.
While last-minute cramming is generally considered bad, some people still think that if they only get a glimpse of something briefly, it might just happen to be on the test!
It probably also serves as a form of psychological comfort.
Time flew by in this race against the clock, and soon it was time for the prefectural examination.
Unlike the five exams in the county-level examination, the students who came to take the exam this time had all been selected from several surrounding counties.
Even those queuing outside the gate are clearly divided into different lines based on their respective counties or districts.
Nine counties, each selected its top fifty students to participate. All of them had passed the county-level examinations, and now that they were standing together, they were mostly observing each other.
While the examiners were still away, the candidates occasionally whispered to each other.
Lin Zhongbin also stood next to Guo Baiwen, pretending to chat while secretly pointing to someone in their group through his sleeve and saying, "Look at that person, I heard he's the top scorer in our county exam this time."
Guo Baiwen originally wanted to look in that direction openly, but seeing Lin Zhongbin's expression, he paused and unconsciously glanced in the direction Lin Zhongbin was pointing, pretending to be casual.
Um?
So young?!
It looks like it's not even fifteen!
This is the top scorer in the county-level examination in Xiuning County this year.
After just a quick glance, Guo Baiwen's pupils unconsciously dilated.
Before she could even open her mouth to express her feelings, Lin Zhongbin pulled her over in time, turned slightly to the side, and the two unconsciously exchanged a glance.
His eyes were filled with shock at how young the other person was.
Indeed, in this world—
There's never a shortage of geniuses.
Before they could be in shock for long, the examiners from the examination board arrived.
The top five students in the county-level examinations from the nine counties would be called by name and taken to their seats in the main hall to take the exam in front of the government officials and examiners.
The remaining candidates were shuffled and seated in different seats according to their assigned numbers in a room that was about the same size as the county examination room.
Although the prefectural examination only lasts for one day, it consists of three different sessions.
It was quite a tough battle.
Guo Baiwen clutched the note in his hand and finally found his assigned cell.
Fortunately, although it wasn't the best location near the middle of the corridor, the room he drew was relatively far from the toilet area.
They were relatively lucky, to some extent.
After the candidates settled into their assigned rooms, it wasn't long before the sound of drums could be heard. After three loud thuds, the prefectural examination officially began.
When the test papers were handed out, Guo Baiwen only glanced at them briefly before he couldn't help but frown.
The questions in the prefectural examination were more difficult than those in the county examination, and the number of questions required was also significantly increased.
No matter how difficult or numerous the challenges, since we've come this far, we should naturally give it our all.
Guo Baiwen took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. Just like in the county exam, he first practiced writing on the draft paper. After confirming that there were no mistakes, he then transferred the writing to the official exam paper.
Time was short, so everyone was quiet. The only sound in the cell was the rapid writing of a brush on paper.
The rustling sound can unconsciously draw you in and make you feel relaxed.
After roughly going through all the questions on the draft paper according to his own ideas, Guo Baiwen finally breathed a sigh of relief.
I switched to a different pen and continued answering the questions according to my own problem-solving approach.
When writing, you should not only pay attention to the presence of typos, but also to the neatness of your handwriting.
The questions were fine until the last one, a poem, which was a type of question I hadn't encountered before.
Guo Baiwen was originally a little lacking in this area, so he could only keep writing and revising, and after asking for two more sheets of draft paper, he barely managed to write a poem that he thought was acceptable.
After three consecutive sessions, even just sitting there writing left Guo Baiwen feeling exhausted, with his shoulders and arms aching so much he could barely lift them.
By the time he finished writing and started checking for mistakes, some people around him had already gotten up and handed in their papers.
Seeing this, Guo Baiwen could only comfort himself, thankfully, he wasn't particularly fast, nor was he particularly slow.
More than 400 candidates were selected from the county examination to participate in the prefectural examination, but only the top 150 candidates from this examination were able to become students.
After a round of selection, those who were able to participate in the prefectural examination were already the best in their respective counties.
Before entering the examination room, Guo Baiwen would still wonder if he could pass the exam smoothly this time.
But now that the exams are finally over, he doesn't even want to think about them anymore. All he wants is to get back to his hotel and get a good night's sleep.
It's too mentally taxing.
Regardless of whether he passes or not, he has done his best.
Even if I could do it all over again, that's about all I could write.
We had originally planned to find a restaurant together to relax after the exams.
But when everyone met at the entrance of the examination hall, they all looked exhausted and lifeless.
Only Tong, the student in charge of leading the academy team this time, was able to force a smile because he had participated in the prefectural examination twice before. "Why don't we all go back and rest first, and get together again the day after tomorrow when the results are released?"
Upon hearing this, everyone present naturally agreed.
So when they arrived at the hostel, after a forced farewell, Guo Baiwen closed the door and fell fast asleep on the bed.
The exams are finally over...
In his last moments before closing his eyes, he forced himself to kick off the shoes he was wearing.
...Finally, I can get a good night's sleep.
He slept soundly for a long time, and when Guo Baiwen woke up again, it was already the afternoon of the next day.
He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling of the guest room. Before, he only felt soreness in his limbs, but after sleeping, he felt like his whole body was about to fall apart.
It's gotten worse.
—How about I sleep a little longer?
Before he could decide whether to continue sleeping, his stomach, which had been empty for over ten hours, started to rumble and growl louder and louder.
Even though he didn't want to move, he still managed to sit up halfway up the bed while holding onto the edge.
Her hair was scattered all over her face, and as I carefully parted it, I could slowly relax.
I'll stay home today and order some food from the restaurant to be delivered to my room later.
As Guo Baiwen pondered this, he lazily began to put on his shoes.
He wondered if massage was available at that time; if it was, he really wanted to get cupping done.
Otherwise, it will take at least five or six days for your body to gradually adapt to the soreness.
These thoughts kept running through his mind, but his hands kept moving. When he ordered the food, he also asked for two buckets of hot water.
I'm going to give myself a nice soak.
On the morning of the third day, Guo Baiwen changed his clothes and went out with Lin Zhongbin and others to wait for the results.
If you actually win, someone will come to your home or hostel to announce the good news.
But that would naturally be much later than the announcement of the results. Everyone was restless waiting for the news in the hostel, so they might as well go out and squeeze in, so as to avoid waiting in vain for the news.
It's still the same road leading to the examination hall.
I didn't notice it during the exam, but now, on my way to check the results, it seems like there are a lot more people on the street.
Lin Zhongbin and Guo Baiwen were originally walking side by side, but after walking for a while, their shoulders gradually drew closer together.
There were so many people who came to join in the fun, and many families who didn't have any students taking the exams wanted to come and see what was going on.
This resulted in them being squeezed so tightly that they could hardly move before they even reached the market.
With the results announcement time fast approaching, all everyone could see were rows of black heads in front of them, which only made them more anxious.
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