The morning was quiet.
As it was winter, dawn came late, and the outside was still a dull, lightless expanse.
"Wife-lord, please let Yuchuan accompany you for the send-off," Yuchuan said to Nian Jiaojiao, holding his luggage.
"No need, I can go by myself," Nian Jiaojiao refused without a second thought.
She was wary of this man who would play a significant role in framing her in the future.
Seeing Nian Jiaojiao's firm stance, a flicker of disappointment crossed Yuchuan's eyes.
Nian Jiaojiao took the luggage from Yuchuan's hands and walked towards the carriage, which had two lanterns hanging from its front, without looking back.
"Clip-clop, clip-clop..."
The carriage gradually moved away, soon disappearing into the darkness.
Yuchuan stood in place for a long time, gazing in the direction Nian Jiaojiao had gone.
He couldn't understand why, after she returned from seeing her mother, she seemed to have become distant towards him.
...
Shanshui Town.
The county yamen.
As it was just a small town, only the Tong Sheng level examination was held here. Therefore, no separate examination venue was set up. Instead, the examination took place in a hall of the county yamen.
"Whoa!"
With the coachman's cry, the carriage stopped.
The coachman's voice came from outside the carriage:
"Third young lady, we have arrived at the county yamen."
"Okay, I know," Nian Jiaojiao responded and stepped out.
"Third young lady, my lord requires the carriage again today, so I shall take my leave now."
"Alright, thank you!"
Nian Jiaojiao watched the carriage depart before turning to the county yamen entrance.
Because she had arrived early, the queue was not long.
At this moment, four or five yamen runners carrying sabers stood at the entrance, maintaining order.
Seated at the entrance were also two female instructors.
One older woman was holding a brush and recording something, while the younger woman was holding a register and conversing with the candidates.
After a while, as it was only a few people before Nian Jiaojiao's turn, she could finally hear the conversation ahead.
The younger woman, holding the register, asked a candidate in white robes:
"Name?"
"He Yong'an."
"Hometown?"
"I'm a local from Shanshui Town."
The younger woman quickly found his entry in the register based on his hometown and read aloud from it:
"He Yong'an, age 15, slender build, thick eyebrows, large eyes, with a mole on the right corner of his mouth."
"Yes, the appearance matches the register. Examination!"
After confirming his identity, the younger woman signaled a nearby yamen runner to search the candidate.
The yamen runner meticulously searched the candidate, including his belongings, from top to bottom, inside and out. Finding nothing amiss, he shook his head at the younger woman.
The younger woman then said, "He Yong'an, pass!"
After she finished, the older woman recorded the candidate's name.
"Alright, next!"
"Name?"
"Xiang Sisi."
"..."
"Alright, next!"
The very next person in line was Nian Jiaojiao. The person in front of her was already undergoing the search.
In a short while, the yamen runner discovered a cheat sheet hidden in the candidate's brush holder and quickly showed it to the younger woman.
The candidate's face turned ashen.
The younger woman, without hesitation, announced loudly:
"Li Lang, not passed!"
The candidate named Li Lang seemed provoked and pleaded loudly:
"Esteemed examiner! I was wrong! I was truly wrong! I will never dare again! Please give me another chance!"
The younger woman merely sneered:
"The law shows no mercy!"
Li Lang lunged forward and grabbed the younger woman's leg:
"Esteemed examiner, this is my fifth examination! Five times! I was just momentarily confused. This time... please give me a chance! I beg you..."
The younger woman frowned and said to the yamen runner beside her:
"What are you doing? Hurry up and pull her away!"
Several yamen runners immediately stepped forward and dragged her away.
Li Lang continued to cry and beg for mercy as she was being dragged away.
The older woman said with some sympathy, "Alas... what a shame, how could she have gone down the wrong path?"
The younger woman showed no sympathy:
"She should be grateful to us. If we hadn't discovered her attempt to cheat before the exam, it wouldn't have been as simple as just disqualifying her from this examination."
The Great Yue Law states: If a candidate is found to be cheating before the exam but has not yet implemented it, they will be disqualified from the current examination; those caught cheating during the exam will be permanently disqualified from imperial examinations and, depending on the severity of the circumstances, will be sentenced to 3 to 10 years of detention.
Therefore, the younger woman was not wrong; in fact, she had indirectly saved the candidate.
The older woman knew this, of course, and nodded in agreement:
"I was just feeling sentimental..."
The younger woman then stood up and said loudly to the candidates still in line:
"I will say this only once! Do not harbor any侥幸! Those caught cheating will, at best, lose their qualification for this examination, like the candidate just now. At worst, they will face imprisonment. Consider this carefully!"
After she finished, there was a soft murmur from below.
"Silence!"
"Silence!"
The yamen runners began to maintain order.
Finally, it was Nian Jiaojiao's turn, and she passed the inspection without any issues.
Entering the examination hall, Nian Jiaojiao found her assigned seat, marked with her name, in the second row of the third section. She looked around as she sat down.
Her examination hall was the second one. Each hall could accommodate about a hundred people. Not many had arrived yet, only about ten or so.
On the table were several sheets of rough paper, a small square inkstone, and a small white bowl containing some clear water.
Nian Jiaojiao took out her brush and inkstick from her bundle and arranged them neatly.
After about half an hour, three examiners carrying examination papers entered.
The three examiners were wearing lake-green official robes and were all middle-aged women around forty or fifty years old.
Their expressions were serious, and the aura of authority they exuded added to the tense atmosphere of the examination hall.
The examiners, who were the focus of everyone's attention, looked at the candidates sitting upright below them with satisfaction.
The lead examiner surveyed the hall and said solemnly:
"I believe everyone is aware of the discipline in the examination hall. I will reiterate it here one last time: think carefully before you act, and do not ruin your entire life due to a moment's impulse!"
After speaking, she nodded to the other two examiners, indicating that they could begin distributing the exam papers.
Upon receiving the exam papers, Nian Jiaojiao first read through all of them.
Broadly speaking, the content of the exam papers could be divided into four parts.
First: History of Great Yue.
This was relatively easy to understand, relying entirely on memory. The history of Great Yue, unlike the history textbooks of her previous life, was vast. Although Great Yue's history spanned only a thousand years, its historical records were as thick as three Oxford dictionaries! Everything recorded was meticulously detailed!
The history of Great Yue was presented in a fill-in-the-blank format, with a total of seven pages of questions.
Second: Analysis of Poetry and Lyrics.
The Tong Sheng examination did not require candidates to compose poetry themselves. Instead, it required them to provide detailed explanations of existing poems and express their own views.
Two poems were provided on the exam paper.
Third: Confucian Classics.
The Confucian classics in this world were astonishingly similar to those of her previous life. The questions related to Confucianism mostly involved Confucian classics and essays written by great scholars.
The Confucian classics were presented in a question-and-answer format, with over twenty questions on the paper.
Fourth: Arithmetic.
Nian Jiaojiao glanced at it briefly.
Heh, elementary school math...
She could answer them casually!