The number of questions in the three examinations was not large, so the young men only spent an hour or so reciting the answers and finished their papers.
While they were reciting, Lao Buyu first looked at the test questions, pondered them for a while, and then quietly said to Shen Cui, "This year's test questions are not difficult overall, except for the last question, which is a little difficult. Among our students, Ah Fei has wasted a lot of time, but even he should not make mistakes in solving the questions, so this time, what's being discussed is the real skills of the hands."
Shen Cui had no say in this matter, so she just listened to him and didn't express any opinion.
After waiting for the other boys to present their papers, Lao Buyu first went to look at the paper of Mu Erpang, who had been assigned an upgraded version of the stinky seat.
After he finished looking, Mei Ruochu, Wei Xi and others also came over to help look.
After a quick look, Shen Cui saw that they were all relieved, and she was sure that her fat son's level was not affected by the despicable means of the law.
Mu Erpang smiled and winked at her, indicating that what he had confessed to her before was all true! What stinky tofu? It’s nothing compared to the stinky tofu she made back then!
Those old stories were not very glorious, so now only the mother and son and Lao Buyu knew about them.
Lao Buyu knew it well but didn't say anything. He went on to look at other people's papers.
Without a doubt, Mei Ruochu was still the best. Shen Aoshuang performed exceptionally well this time. He did particularly well in answering the historical theory questions, and was not inferior to Mei Ruochu.
Elder Shen himself was a genius who was well-versed in history and modern times. Although he was busy with official duties and had no time to watch Shen Aoshuang read like a serious gentleman, he would occasionally test his homework or tell him some historical allusions when he had free time.
The little things that the old man occasionally revealed were priceless treasures to ordinary students.
This is the origin of the Shen family's family tradition. It can’t be achieved by the envy and jealousy of others.
Of course, no one in Cuiwei would be jealous of Shen Aoshuang's talent in this area. Instead, Mu Erpang even felt sorry for him and said, "History theory is only tested in the imperial examination and the palace examination. If it was tested before, your ranking would not be suppressed by me."
Shen Aoshuang raised her eyebrows and said with a smile: "I don't care about it myself, why do you feel sorry for me?"
While they were whispering, Lao Buyu had already seen Wei Xi's paper.
Wei Xi did not perform badly, but due to physical reasons - especially during the first strong wind and heavy rain, several of his medicine bottles rolled away and disappeared. Although it was later picked up by a patrolling soldier, there were so many things blown away that the soldier just collected them together like garbage, without distinguishing who owned them and then returning them one by one. In that exam, his physical condition declined very early on, and he managed to hold on through only through willpower.
So overall it wasn’t abnormal, but it wasn’t outstanding either.
He, Mu Erpang and Chen Aoshuang were always ranked very close to each other, so this time he was of course not worried about not passing the exam, he was just likely to be the worst ranked among the three.
As for Wei Shu, although he was not outstanding in any aspect in the academy, he also did not need anyone to worry about him. Lao Buyu and Mei Ruochu both agreed that he would definitely be in the second place.
As for Cui Fei, what he asked for was different from others.
When it was his turn to have his paper judged, he asked directly: "Sir, do you think I still have a chance of getting into the top three?"
The ranking in the joint examination is not the final ranking in the imperial examination. The final ranking will be determined by the current emperor after the palace examination.
But there are hundreds of people in the top three, and it is impossible to readjust the rankings of everyone at the moment, while only the top few are concerned.
In other words, if you don't rank among the top few, your ranking in the imperial examination will almost certainly determine your final result.
The top three that Cui Fei had always dreamed of, that is, the Tong Jinshi, were somewhat different from the Jinshi graduates.
The first-class candidates can directly enter the Hanlin Academy, the second-class candidates need to go through an assessment, and the same Jinshi candidates generally cannot enter the Hanlin Academy, and can only become minor officials like county magistrates sent to other places.
Cui Fei was born into a merchant family. He was not the kind of person who looked down on others or only liked high-brow things. Instead, he was very pragmatic.
Being a minor official for one of the parents is good enough for him.
Under his nervous gaze, Lao Buyu thought for a while and said, "You did well this time, even better than in the previous provincial examination."
After all, it was hot during the provincial examination, but it is cold this time. A man with a strong physique like Cui Fei is more resistant to the cold.
But the imperial examination is always more difficult than the provincial examination, so it is not safe to just perform better than your past self.
So it is hard to say whether it will be successful or not at the moment.
It was Shen Aoshuang who spoke up last: "I woke up the earliest today. I happened to go home and asked my family to help me find out. They said that the candidates this year were complaining that the questions were not difficult, but the examination environment was difficult. Especially the toilet near the examination hall had an accident. I heard that at least half of the places were affected to some extent, so..."
Mei Ruochu was a real strong man who could remain calm even when faced with a catastrophe. He had to hand in his paper early despite having to sit in a bad seat in the provincial examination and wearing a face mask produced by the system. After he came back, he vomited all over the place.
Most people don’t have such a strong tolerance, and they haven’t prepared anything to prevent the odor, so you can imagine the consequences.
So just like the time when he took the provincial examination, Cui Fei was able to complete all three exams without failing, which invisibly surpassed many of his competitors.
In the capital, getting information is very particular, especially among the candidates, who are always very wary.
Ordinary people simply cannot find out the relevant information. Needless to say, it is naturally the Shen family who can grasp this trend.
"I hope I can sit on the red chair again. If I can't, it's okay. I can take the exam next time. By then, you will all be officials. Don't refuse to see me." Cui Fei was relieved after learning the result. He didn't ask any more questions. He was afraid that they would worry about him, so he made a joke.
They started talking and laughing, Lao Buyu glanced at Chen Cui, and the two of them went outside to talk quietly.
Logically speaking, Lao Buyu should be happy that his students performed well, but the smile on his face faded.
To Chen Cui, he didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "Let's not talk about A Fei for now. Ruo Chu and the others will definitely pass the exam. But the four of them are from the same place, so it is very likely that they will be separated when the rankings are finally determined. After all, I have seen that Pang Ci Fu is a person who strives to make no mistakes when setting the questions for the imperial examination. It is also his first time to preside over the imperial examination. I am afraid that he does not have the confidence of Shangshu Wang who is not afraid of criticism. Alas, if it is according to the original intention of the emperor, it would be better to let Elder Shen preside over the imperial examination."
Shen Cui nodded in understanding and said, "Anyway, we have tried our best, and we will not force you to place a specific rank."
The passing standard of the system is that Mu Erpang only enters the stage of taking the top scorer exam and is on the list, but he does not necessarily have to be the "top scorer".
Lao Buyu was also an open-minded person. After telling Chen Cui about his worries, he stopped worrying about it.
…………
In contrast to the calm and peaceful atmosphere in Cuiwei, there was a tense and depressing atmosphere in the Imperial Examination Hall at this time - all the officials in charge of grading the papers were silent and trembling with fear.
The outer curtain official has finished transcribing thousands of test papers and can start marking them.
But this session of the examination seemed to be cursed, with the observation tower collapsing and the toilet exploding.
The emperor had already heard about it in the palace, and although he only sent his personal eunuch to inquire if anyone was injured, he did not show any intention of blaming anyone.
But the king’s mind is hard to predict, who knows what he really thinks?
What's more, the people in Beijing are already spreading rumors like "there must be something wrong when things are abnormal" and "the results of this year's imperial examination are unknown".
The imperial examination was an exam to select talents for the present and the country, so it naturally could not be an ominous thing.
It is very likely that this rumor will be leaked later, and some of them will be singled out as the "ominous person" who caused the disaster.
The deputy examiners, co-examiners and others were so worried, let alone Pang Ci Fu, the chief examiner.
He was a middle-aged man with a rather portly figure. He had not had a full night's sleep in the past ten days and looked extremely haggard.
If he wasn't still wearing his official uniform, and just looking at his expression, I would have thought he was also an old scholar who had taken the exam today and suffered a lot.
But no matter how worried he was, it was of no use. Pang Ci Fu had been able to climb to his current position at the age of 40, so he must have had his strengths.
So although he looked haggard, he showed no abnormality in other aspects and reviewed and graded the papers step by step with a group of deputy examiners and co-examiners.
What made him feel a little relieved was that not all the candidates of this year were affected by those abnormal events. At least the best papers would stand out no matter which examination they were placed in.
Unfortunately, there are not many outstanding ones. Overall, the candidates in this imperial examination were affected to some extent.
This matter cannot be hidden from the emperor, he will definitely be asked about it later.
When the names were finally removed and the ranks were copied, Pang Ci Fu, who had finished his work, was actually in a trance and began to make up his mind to apologize.
Although the blame was definitely not his, as the examiner, it would be unreasonable for him not to stand up at this time. He couldn't just wait for the people to talk about it and move on to the emperor. As a subject, I must stand in front.
At this moment, he even suspected that Elder Shen's nomination of him to preside over this imperial examination was premeditated.
But it is not very likely. After the collapse of the watchtower and the explosion of the toilet, he sent his confidants to investigate carefully and confirmed that it was not man-made.
Otherwise, he would have thought about catching the "murderer" a long time ago and wouldn't be so worried.
At first, Mu Yunchuan guessed that the descendants of the Shen family might be among the candidates in this year's examination. Pang Ci Fu was no stupid person, and he figured out some of the information himself later.
He even made a secondary preparation. On the one hand, he sent people to investigate the fake household registration of the Shen family, and on the other hand, he was thinking of quietly suppressing the ranking of the student named Shen in this year's imperial examination.
Now I no longer dared to have those thoughts. I just wanted to avoid being punished too severely.
Pang Ci Fu was still in a trance when he heard his confidant who was in charge of opening the scroll exclaim in surprise.
When his confidant saw him looking over, he explained, "The best papers that Your Excellency has selected are all from the same place. Do you think so?..."
According to Pang Ci Fu's cautious personality, his confidants thought that he would definitely make some adjustments to avoid others speculating whether he had accepted bribes.
Unexpectedly, when Pang Cifu saw the names that had been removed, his eyes rolled and he immediately smiled happily, saying, "God bless me! When has Qingzhou Prefecture ever produced so many outstanding candidates? God must have known that the emperor was eager to find talented people, so he specially blessed them. No wonder there were so many strange phenomena in the examination room, it turned out that so many rare geniuses were about to be born!"
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