Chapter 12: Unrecognized by the Other Side
Li Xiaonan felt the time pressure for the first time as she tested her way to this re-examination.
While brainstorming, Li Xiaonan scribbled down her thoughts on draft paper. Once she had a general idea of the structure, she immediately began writing on the official examination paper.
Li Xiaonan was completely focused. Gu Yan moved beside her, blocking the sunlight. Li Xiaonan buried her head in her essay, paying him no mind.
This time, she wasn’t pretending to be focused; she genuinely couldn’t afford to pay attention to anything else.
Time was simply too tight!
How much hardship and fear had she endured to reach this point in the examinations!
Whether they passed this Xiucai examination or not would determine the survival of her five siblings. This Xiucai was as important as Mount Tai to them.
No matter what, she had to write this essay, and write it well!
No matter what, she could not fail at the last hurdle!
Gu Yan stopped and scrutinized Li Xiaonan carefully.
Her eyebrows were a bit too thick, probably drawn on. Her brother’s eyebrows were definitely thicker than hers. These eyebrows looked terrible; did she draw them herself, or did her elder sister draw them for her?
She was too thin and too dark. Her hair wasn’t even styled properly and was messy. Her hands looked like little black chicken claws.
A wave of tenderness washed over Gu Yan.
Even when she had stayed up with him until the very end back then, her hands were only slightly better than they were now. Her childhood had been far, far more difficult than she had let on.
The sunlight had been blocked the entire time, meaning the person had stopped moving!
Li Xiaonan’s heart leaped. She stopped writing, carefully raised her head, and looked at Gu Yan.
Seeing that she had finally looked up, Gu Yan’s spirits soared. He met her gaze and smiled brilliantly.
The brilliant sunlight shone on Gu Yan’s golden crown and magnificent robes, then grazed his robes and entered Li Xiaonan’s eyes.
Li Xiaonan’s eyes met the morning sun, and her vision was filled with dazzling, flashing golden light. The person before her, with a golden crown as bright as the morning glow, seemed to radiate light, with a mass of blackness beyond the crown.
The radiance of the golden crown and the morning glow made Li Xiaonan’s eyes sting. Li Xiaonan blinked, lowered her head expressionlessly, and saw golden stars dancing on her examination paper.
Li Xiaonan rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, then blinked hard a few more times to slightly alleviate the dancing golden stars in her vision. She quickly returned to writing furiously.
That incense stick was short and thick, burning extremely fast. She had to give it her all!
This essay was the key to whether she could pass the Xiucai examination, and it was the future of her entire family’s lives!
Li Xiaonan glanced at him, then lowered her head expressionlessly. Gu Yan’s smile froze instantly, and a mixture of shame, anger, and embarrassment surged through him. Gu Yan pursed his lips tightly and subconsciously glanced around.
The surrounding examinees were all writing furiously, none of them looking up, and no one was looking at him.
Gu Yan felt a slight relief. He narrowed his eyes, glanced sideways at Li Xiaonan, watched her for a moment, then suddenly unfurled his folding fan and continued to pace forward.
Lu Xiu would never treat him like this. This little girl was acting strangely.
Li Xiaonan finished writing and transcribing her essay at the fastest possible speed. The short, thick incense stick had only a little bit left.
As the incense stick extinguished, twenty to thirty scribes stepped forward, ruthlessly like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, collecting the examination papers from all the candidates.
In front of the Great Accomplishment Hall, there were cries of despair everywhere.
To write an essay in the time it took for one incense stick to burn – how was that possible!
Did he think everyone was a great scholar like those in the Wei family! Did he think everyone was a genius who could compose a thousand words at a moment’s notice?
This was too much!
However, the candidates only dared to wail; they did not dare to curse.
That was Wei Educational Commissioner, the great scholar Wei!
In just over an hour, the results of this re-examination were posted.
This results list had fewer than half the people compared to the previous one.
Li Xuedong’s ranking improved from thirty-seventh place in the previous round to twenty-first place.
Hong Zhenye dropped from ninety-seventh place in the previous round to outside Sun Shan.
After checking the rankings, Li Xiaonan grabbed Li Jinzhu and turned to run quickly.
After the list before the re-examination was posted, Li Wenhua couldn’t find Li Xiaonan and Li Jinzhu. It wasn’t until the second results list was released that Li Jinzhu, passing by him, pulled him, and he finally saw the two of them. He quickly followed them back to the tavern.
“How did it go? I only heard shouts, no names,” Li Wenhua said, running to keep up with them, sticking his head out to ask.
“We’ll talk about it when we get back,” Li Jinzhu said, pulling Li Xiaonan. Both of them kept their heads down, running.
“If you didn’t pass, you didn’t pass. Those Xiucai scholars all have backgrounds; how can ordinary people compare? Let’s go back first thing tomorrow. The fields are very busy.” Seeing Li Jinzhu and Li Xiaonan looking timid, Li Wenhua assumed they hadn’t passed. As he finished speaking, his heart ached.
This trip, including the Prefectural Examination in April, had cost them nearly ten taels of silver, all wasted.
What a waste of money!
Upon entering the inn, Li Xiaonan went straight to her room. Li Jinzhu stopped and said to Li Wenhua with a smile, “It was crowded on the road, so I didn’t tell Third Uncle in detail. Xuedong placed twenty-first, and he still has to test tomorrow.”
“What? Ah! Twenty-first? That’s incredible! Oh my, our Xuedong is amazing!” Li Wenhua’s eyes widened.
“Third Uncle, please be quieter. Mr. Gao said we shouldn’t be too boastful, lest we lose our good fortune,” Li Jinzhu quickly instructed.
“I understand, I understand! Don’t worry! Hurry up and go make Xuedong a bowl of tea! I’ll go buy some good food. What does our Xuedong like to eat? Or, should we go out to eat tonight? Yes, yes, yes, Xuedong still has to test tomorrow, so I’ll ask the shopkeeper to make a few good dishes!” Li Wenhua was overjoyed.
According to Mr. Gao’s introduction, the fourth major re-examination of the Courtyard Examination was second only to the main examination.
The major re-examination also began at Yin Chu （ 3 AM ）, with desks set up in front of the main hall, just like the re-examination the previous day.
When it was fully daylight, the examination papers were distributed. There were five parts in total: one essay on the Four Books, one on the Classics, one regulated verse poem with six rhymes, a memorization of legal statutes of over 200 characters, and two questions on the investigation of things.
Mr. Gao said that for the major re-examination of the Courtyard Examination, there were usually multiple essay topics, and one could choose.
However, after Li Xiaonan looked through the five examination questions and all the papers, she didn’t see any option to choose, nor did she hear anyone announce that there was a choice.
This Educational Commissioner didn’t play by the rules and liked to give candidates difficult problems. Li Xiaonan dared not choose or abandon any part arbitrarily. After reviewing them, she immediately buried her head in writing.
Gu Yan followed Wei Educational Commissioner, pacing slowly and observing.
The candidates were all very nervous. This major re-examination had twice the content of the main examination, but less than half the time!
Alas, this devilish Educational Commissioner!
Gu Yan paced to Li Xiaonan’s side, tilted his head slightly to look at her, and after a moment, continued forward.
The fifth examination in the afternoon had only one question: choose between a regulated verse or a fu. Li Xiaonan chose the regulated verse.
Gu Yan stood by Li Xiaonan’s desk, watching her agonizing over rhyming and composing her poem. He then looked at the two lines Li Xiaonan had written on her draft paper. He couldn’t control his expression, and both his eyebrows shot up, revealing a look of astonishment.
Lu Xiu was extremely talented in poetry and prose, her writing flowing like a spring, with many excellent lines and elegant style. Were these two lines this little girl had written considered poetry?
Something seemed wrong…
As the incense stick extinguished, Li Xiaonan finally managed to compose a regulated verse.
Alas, her talent in poetry and prose felt like a thousand-year-old withered poplar in the desert.
After submitting her paper, Li Xiaonan, clinging to Li Jinzhu, stood under an old tree, her heart in her mouth, waiting for the results to be posted.
She had almost not finished writing this morning’s exam, and the regulated verse she wrote this afternoon…
Alas, if that could be called poetry, it would be an insult to the word itself.
She was very worried.
A gong sounded within the Imperial Examination Hall, and the crowd became restless.
Li Jinzhu and Li Xiaonan both stood on tiptoe.
This year’s list was more than half shorter than in previous years. As soon as it was posted on the screen wall, someone began reading it aloud.
Upon hearing the words “Sixteenth Place, Li Xuedong,” Li Jinzhu’s eyes widened.
“Let’s go!” Li Xiaonan tugged at Li Jinzhu. The two of them squeezed through the crowd and ran towards the tavern.
Hurry back, hurry and change clothes! Hurry, hurry!
………………………………
Gu Yan had actually followed Wei Educational Commissioner, arriving early and leaving late, diligently observing the examinations for two days. This had already greatly surprised Wei Educational Commissioner. When Gu Yan readily agreed to attend the Cai Qin Banquet held the day after tomorrow, Wei Educational Commissioner’s eyes welled up with tears of excitement. He kept patting Gu Yan’s arm but couldn’t speak.
No wonder his elder sister, who was as stingy with words as she was with ink, had written such a long letter. His nephew had indeed become sensible!
Gu Yan glanced sideways at his uncle, who was constantly dabbing at the corners of his eyes, then looked up at the sky speechlessly.
He recited the first passage of the Three Character Classic, chanted his first poem, and wrote his first essay…
His uncle had been moved to tears like this every time!
According to his mother, his uncle cried far too much!
“Eldest nephew,” Wei Educational Commissioner said, glancing at Gu Yan, with a hint of deference, and asked with a smile, “I heard from your mother that you broke off the marriage with the Shi family? Such a good match…”
Meeting Gu Yan’s sideways glance, Wei Educational Commissioner quickly changed his tune and explained, “It was your mother who wrote a long letter, this thick and this long! That girl from the Shi family, your mother watched her grow up, and you and she since childhood…”
To Wei Educational Commissioner’s surprise, Gu Yan suddenly closed his folding fan and replied very seriously, “It’s precisely because we are too familiar, know each other too well, that marrying her would be too uninteresting.”
“Ah?” Wei Educational Commissioner was stunned for a moment, then became speechless.
What kind of reasoning was that?
“My marriage is something my uncle needs to worry about? If Mother wants to discuss it, shouldn’t she talk to Aunt? Mother’s letter was written to Aunt, wasn’t it?”
Wei Educational Commissioner glared sideways at Gu Yan and snorted.
His nephew was good at everything, except for this habit of exposing people’s shortcomings.
“Over there, which ones are to be retained by the county and which are to be allocated to the prefecture, Uncle should be worrying about that; that is Uncle’s real business,” Gu Yan said, poking Wei Educational Commissioner with his folding fan.
“There are established regulations for all of that,” Wei Educational Commissioner said, and they walked towards the long desk on the other side of the room, one after the other.
A few words on examination fraud:
In the past, there were frequent major cases of examination fraud, leading to mass executions and rivers of blood.
The methods of fraud were basically the same:
The examination questions were released in advance, and someone would write the answers to be memorized. This was not enough; it was also necessary to specify in advance which character the candidate should use in which line, essentially creating secret marks. Then, the examiner, upon seeing a certain character or several characters in a particular line, would know that this paper belonged to a favored candidate and would be accepted.
Substitute testing was extremely rare.
Why? Firstly, selection was based on essays, which involved a high degree of subjectivity. It wasn’t enough to be talented to pass; many great scholars throughout history failed to pass in their lifetime.
Secondly, finding substitute test-takers was extremely difficult.
Based on the number of people admitted in the past, not to mention the Recommended Scholars and Jinshi Scholars, examinations were held every three years. Each Jinshi examination admitted a few hundred people, averaging over a hundred per year. The number of Recommended Scholars was slightly higher, but not by much.
The level of Xiucai scholars is roughly comparable to the proportion of students admitted to top universities like Tsinghua, Peking, Fudan, and Shanghai Jiao Tong today.
Consider this: you need to find someone to take the Tsinghua or Peking entrance exam for you, and they cannot be someone who has already been admitted to Tsinghua or Peking, because once a Xiucai scholar passes, they become famous and cannot be a substitute.
Is it easy to find someone around you of similar age, appearance, and height who is willing to risk going to jail to take the Tsinghua or Peking exam for you, and can still pass?
