The little girl covered her mouth.
Lately, she's been avoiding her older brother. There's just no way to stop him; he's such a nag. He'll talk to her for an hour straight, just telling her to be good and not scare her mother.
Don't wrong her. When has she ever scared her mother?
The girl was guilty, and she was only frightened two or three times, maybe three or four times.
In the evening, a light drizzle began to fall.
"Tsk tsk tsk, Lei Zi is so unlucky. Why can't he ever have good weather for his exams?"
He did so well in the last imperial examination, but he was there back then.
It seems he's incredibly lucky; he helped his son-in-law get away with it last time.
"Yeah, why is it raining again?"
Because of the rain, it was noticeably colder outside. I wonder if my son-in-law, who spends every day in a small, windowless examination room, can endure it.
And then there's the teacher; I heard he won't continue his studies if he doesn't pass the exam this time.
May the gods and Buddhas bless them, and may they all pass their exams.
Let it stop raining for a few days.
Zhao Xiaoyu wasn't nervous or worried. She was already seated inside, and they had prepared everything they needed to do, so there was nothing to worry about.
The rest depends entirely on Xiao Lei's own efforts and luck.
He was cold, and everyone in the exam hall was just as cold. Perhaps the fairest time in the world is during an exam?
The little girl also went to the door and reached out to catch the rainwater.
"Mom, will Dad catch a cold? Will he get wet? If his test paper gets wet, can we still get another one?"
"Come in here, don't catch a cold."
"Mom, what if it rains when the test papers are handed in, and someone gets Dad's test paper wet?"
Zhao Xiaoyu was speechless. She even wanted to kneel down and beg her daughter to let her go.
Xiao Lei, who was in the examination room, noticed the rain and immediately put away his exam paper and stood up.
The umbrella and the tarpaulin for rain protection were essentially what made a wall for the examination shed.
Afterwards, he rubbed his cold hands and sat down to continue answering the questions.
My feet are resting on a soft mat...
An hour later, I put down my pen and prepared to eat and sleep.
Outside, one could faintly hear the cursing of several students, the crying of others, and the shouts of officials telling them to shut up.
Dinner was oil tea noodles, with a small earthenware pot on a small stove. While waiting for the water to heat up, we would take out some broken flatbread and dried meat to eat slowly.
"Holy crap, where did that smell come from? Who can eat this well during an exam?"
My wife gave me various dried vegetables, dried meat, and seasoning packets, which I put in the food, and the aroma wafted into the next examination room.
After eating his fill, he turned his cloak into a blanket, curled up on the exam board, and closed his eyes to sleep.
The student next door sniffed, enjoying the aroma while eating his flatbread.
It smells so good! What are they eating next door? Why does it smell so good?
Achoo!
The examinee tightened his clothes, touched his nose, and thought to himself that he couldn't get sick now, he absolutely couldn't get typhoid fever, and he would have to put on another undershirt later.
The rain stopped the next day, but the temperature also dropped significantly.
The examination room was damp and cold. Xiao Lei had to get up once every hour to stomp his feet and rub his hands.
Even with such thorough preparation, he still felt his feet were numb from the cold.
The weather seems unusually cold this year.
I wonder if my wife and kids have put on more clothes?
Three days passed quickly. After handing in his exam paper, Xiao Lei packed up his things and left the examination room.
Thinking of his wife and daughters waiting for him outside, he quickened his pace.
"Father, we're here!"
It's the child's keen eye that's so sharp; as soon as Xiao Lei stepped out, his daughter spotted him.
He strode over.
"You're here? Get in the car quickly, aren't you cold?"
"It's not cold. Mother has put cloaks on us. Is Father cold? Are you sleeping comfortably in that room that's smaller than an outhouse?"
Zhao Xiaoyu was speechless. She said it was smaller than an outhouse, how could it be comfortable?
"Hurry home first, your dad is tired."
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