Despite the difficult circumstances, Mei Ruochu still finished answering the paper ahead of time and confirmed that his performance was normal. If it was a provincial examination, he could hand in the paper ahead of time.
But there is a rule in the imperial examination that people are not released according to the time they hand in their papers. Instead, the gate will only be opened after the exam ends before nightfall on the third day and everyone has handed in their papers.
So they stayed in there for two days and one night of strong winds before they were able to get out.
The young men were naturally aware of this rule. When they came to the vicinity of Gongyuan in advance to familiarize themselves with the environment, they agreed on a meeting place.
They also agreed with Chen Cui that there was no need to come to pick them up. After all, the academy was not far from the Imperial Examination Hall, and the six of them could travel together. Even if Wei Xi, who was in poor health, had difficulty walking, they could take turns carrying him back.
But knowing that they had suffered so much in there, the agreement was no longer valid. Chen Cui asked the driver to harness the carriage in advance, and went to pick them up with Lao Buyu.
As soon as the dragon gate opened, a large number of candidates rushed out.
Those walking in the front were all young and strong, and in the best physical condition after the exam. Although they looked a little dishevelled, their complexion looked good overall, and their steps were brisk.
After these people came out, the older candidates with weaker health came next.
Mu Erpang, Mei Ruochu and others were among the people who came out later.
If you look closely, you can see that there are actually some equally young people in front and behind them. They are not really walking with difficulty like the old scholars, but they all have wooden expressions on their faces.
After a while, the six of them met at the agreed location.
At first they all thought that they were just unlucky, but now that they had met each other, there was no need to explain. Seeing each other's appearance, they guessed that everyone's situation was similar, so they could only smile bitterly.
When the six of them gathered together, their target became quite obvious, so Chen Cui and Lao Buyu quickly caught up with them.
Every time Shen Cui came to take the exam, no matter how unwell she was, they would smile, pretend to be relaxed, and say a few words to her to reassure her.
But today none of them could laugh. It was because they had been blown by the wind for three days and their faces had become numb. I almost became paralyzed.
Mu Erpang rubbed his face slowly, wanting to explain.
Chen Cui knew their situation and quickly waved her hand, asking him not to speak, and then asked the coachman to take everyone back to the academy.
After returning to the academy, Zhou had already divided the boiling ginger soup in the pot and served it out in bowls for everyone to drink.
The servants had also brought out several charcoal braziers and placed them in various corners of the main room.
The ginger soup was several times richer than the one Chen Cui had made before, but although everyone disliked the taste of ginger, no one refused and everyone drank the soup in their hands.
After drinking the hot ginger soup and warming themselves by the fire, the chill on their bodies finally faded away. Mu Erpang was the first to speak: "You're finally back."
After he spoke, he realized that his voice was very hoarse.
If he is like this, other people have this problem to a greater or lesser extent.
In fact, not only was his voice hoarse, but Mu Erpang's voice was also much louder than usual.
Because of the constant wind noise in his ears in recent days, his ears were buzzing at this moment.
It’s just that they themselves didn’t notice it, and Chen Cui, Lao Buyu, and Zhou Shi wouldn’t point it out specifically.
Wei Xi has started having a fever. He had always been able to endure hardships in this regard, and he knew that everyone was suffering this time, so he didn't want to just complain by himself, and he didn't say a word.
If Shen Cui hadn't seen his panel, she might have been kept in the dark by him.
She immediately poured him some warm water and asked him to take the antipyretic medicine quickly.
The antipyretic medicine produced by the system is more effective than those in later generations, but it also contains sleeping pills. Wei Xi was already sleepy, so he drank some rice soup after taking it and went to bed immediately.
The others had dinner before going to bed. Wei Shu was in good health, so after eating and drinking, he still had the energy to tell Lao Buyu about the accident in the examination room. He wondered with a hoarse voice, "It's strange. I don't know where the Gongyuan collapsed, but our examination room was not damaged. How could the wind be so strong inside? It felt like sitting in the wind. Fortunately, the dean brought two paperweights for each of us. I used both of them to prevent the paper from being blown away. From now on, I have to be very careful every time I dip the ink, for fear that the evil wind will blow the ink on the pen away and drop it on the paper."
When there was a loud noise in the Imperial Examination Hall that day, the people nearby also heard it.
Especially those who had a candidate for the imperial examination in their family were terrified, fearing that their family members would be killed - the cost of raising a candidate was too high, not to mention ordinary people, even wealthy families could not afford such a loss.
Lao Buyu heard the news outside and followed them to the Imperial Examination Hall to seek an explanation. In the end, the Imperial Examination Hall only said that a watchtower had collapsed and no examination room was crushed, and no candidate was injured, which put their minds at ease.
Mei Ruochu's throat was also uncomfortable, so he did not explain out loud. Instead, he went to get paper and pen and drew a simple picture.
Like everyone else, he was just entering the Imperial Examination Hall for the first time. However, since ancient times, this kind of majestic building has always been symmetric.
So even though he hadn't walked through the entire place, he could already draw a rough outline of the entire picture based on the distance he had walked.
After finishing the drawing, he put a cross on a certain watchtower, indicating that this was the place that collapsed.
Then he circled an area of examination rooms nearby, indicating that all of their examination seats would be in that area.
Finally, he drew the wind direction with just a few strokes and pointed to the front and back doors of the academy.
Chen Aoshuang explained in a hoarse voice: "Draught."
After finishing speaking, Shen Aoshuang coughed and said, “But it’s still weird.”
There was no way a draft could be so strong as to nearly blow someone away.
Chen Cui knew clearly that all this was caused by the law. The so-called principle was just a pretext to create confusion and seem reasonable. The evil wind could not be explained by common sense.
There was only one night of rest between the first and second rounds of the imperial examination.
Chen Cui didn't want them to be distracted by this, so she urged them to wash up and go to bed.
Several of them were now almost 'dumb', their throats were dry and tight, so naturally they had no mood to talk, and they all went to wash up without saying anything.
Although they had not really fallen ill like Wei Xi, Shen Cui still asked them to take some systemic medicine before going to bed as a precaution.
A few hours later, just after midnight the next day, it was time for Mei Ruochu to enter again.
Chen Cui also did not sleep that night. She made ginger soup all night. As she had thought before, there were three thermoses in everyone's bag, and she filled them all.
In addition, a lot of things in their bags had been blown away by the wind, and they had to be replaced.
As for the medicines that Shen Cui prepared for them, they had all been used up and needed more.
In addition, she has not been idle these days. She has made a windproof mask for each of them, which is probably similar to the facekini style in later generations.
But the material is the windproof material in the system, a bit similar to the one used in later jackets. It is a bit ugly, but the wind-blocking effect is much better than that of a face towel.
In fact, if she had enough time, she would have liked to make a windbreaker for everyone with this material, but unfortunately there was not enough time - who could have imagined in advance that the candidates entering the examination room to take the imperial examination, with tiles above their heads and walls behind them, would be blown by strong winds in the examination room for two consecutive days?
The tricks of the law are so despicable that it is hard to guard against them.
When Shen Cui gave the mask to Mei Ruochu, she first told him about its effects, but also said, "It's up to you whether you want to take it or not."
This thing is indeed a bit suspicious. Who would go to take the imperial examination wearing a mask with a weird style? He is very secretive, as if he has something shameful to do.
Ordinary people might be subject to more stringent inspections because of this thing, let alone Mei Ruochu, who would definitely suffer for this thing.
Mei Ruochu also had an idea in his mind, and after thinking for a while, he said, "I'd better take it with me."
Regardless of whether he brings this thing or not, he won't be able to enter smoothly. If I bring it with me, if the adjusted test seats are still in the original area, at least I will suffer less later.
He had made his decision, and Shen Cui said nothing. She helped him tie the package tightly again and prepared to send him out.
She couldn't even lift the huge package that contained three thermos bottles.
Mei Ruochu reached out to take the package and put it on his shoulder, his shoulders were bent three-quarters of the way.
If it weren't for the big pot of ginger soup that Chen Cui insisted they bring, Wei Xi would have been more than the only one who fell ill yesterday. Therefore, Mei Ruochu did not have any intention of being disgusted by the heavy package. She was just grateful for Chen Cui's thoughtfulness.
The two walked to the door one after the other. Mei Ruochu stopped and said the first and only sentence since returning to the academy, "Is it because of me?"
His question was incoherent, but Shen Cui quickly realized that what he wanted to ask was whether the fact that everyone in the academy got bad positions in the exam and suffered a lot was due to his influence.
Shen Cui immediately said no.
Although Mei Ruochu is unlucky, he rarely affects others. And if the rules were playing tricks on someone this time, the person who would be hit first would not be Mei Ruochu, but Mu Erpang, who was the No. 1 training target of the system.
After all, Mu Erpang's test scores determine whether he can pass the system task.
Fearing that his self-blame would affect his performance later, she added, "I'm not lying to you or trying to comfort you. It's really not because of you. Don't take everything on yourself."
Mei Ruochu naturally believed her, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her speak so confidently.
Later, he still refused to let Chen Cui send him off and went to the Imperial Examination Hall by himself.
It was still a long process, and only after Mu Er gained weight could Mei Ruochu enter.
Not long after Mu Erpang left the academy, Wei Shu and the others also got up.
Fortunately, Wei Xi's fever had subsided and no one else showed any symptoms.
Shen Cui was still a little nervous until small grids appeared on the screen. She watched them appear in the grid, but she still held her breath.
After a slight change in seating for the second exam, most of the young men from Cuiwei were still concentrated in the lower right corner, proving that they were still in that strange windward position in the front.
Why do I say most of it?
Because there was a special case, that was Mu Erpang, his examination seat was moved to another corner on the light curtain, far away from the others.
That area should not be a hot spot, but it is definitely not a good place either.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
