Great Zhou Wensheng

Chapter 17 Test Question 2: Demon

Class A, a row of examination rooms.

Li Yunxiao, Cao An, Han Yugui, Lu Ming, and other young men from prominent families in Jiangyin County heard the chief examiner, Cai Chao, announce the ranking results of the first round.

Their expressions all changed.

"Jiang Xingzhou, how could he be ranked first in the top class?"

Li Yunxiao clenched his fists, his face dark and his teeth itching with hatred, and slammed his fist hard on the cutting board.

"The top-ranked student was actually selected by the Xue family through a temporary enrollment program!"

Han Yugui looked astonished.

He had considered Cao An and Lu Ming, these two scions of prominent families, to be formidable rivals who might surpass him. But to his utter surprise, Jiang Xingzhou emerged victorious.

Among these scions of aristocratic families, no clear winner had yet emerged.
Jiang Xingzhou, a poor scholar who was studying at the Xue family's private school, took the lead and won first place in the first round of the county examination this year!

The county examination consists of only three rounds. If you win first place in two of them, you will have a great chance of becoming the top candidate in the county this year!

With seven or eight hundred students failing and leaving the examination hall, the examination room at Jiangyin County College became much quieter.

At the county academy, the bronze lion-shaped incense burner in front of the gate suddenly opened its stone-carved eyes and exhaled a burst of smoke and fragrance.

The erroneous interpretations of words and phrases by the ignorant students, along with the decay, filth, and foul odors produced by their literary techniques, are all drawn into the incense burner and purified through burning.

Inside the examination hall, only three hundred students remained to continue the second round of examinations.

The remaining students secretly rejoiced. After lunch, they began preparing for the second exam.

After the chief examiner, Cai Chao, finished reading the list of the top three hundred candidates, he took his seat again.

He casually accepted a steaming cup of tea offered by the yamen runner, only to find a small piece of torn salt boat receipt floating in the tea.

Cai Chao coughed a few times from the choking, and his left eyelid twitched violently.

This is a warning!

The magistrate was forcing him to work harder and do everything he could to ensure Li Yunxiao won the next exam!

Cai Chao forced himself to remain calm, swallowed the tea cake along with the scraps of paper.

He took a deep breath, pondered for a moment, and continued to set the second test question according to the original plan.

Jiangyin County Examination, Question Two:
We, being born into this world, should be familiar with the affairs of a county or prefecture, and broaden our knowledge and experience. We should not be bookworms who shut themselves away to study.

The task is to write a short chronicle – “Jiangyin County Annals: Tales of Strange Things”.

The topic is [demon], and the word limit is 100.

We must base our determination on the 'demons' that have appeared in this county, and make sure there is evidence to support our claims; we cannot fabricate them!
Because of my lack of literary talent, I am unable to write this short essay. Simply write the essay and seal it in your examination bag.

Upon hearing this question, the other four assistant examiners were all shocked and astonished.

This examiner, Cai Chao, really set some tricky questions!

As the yamen runners carried the examination question board through the examination halls...
The three hundred students in the county school examination hall, whose earlier expressions of joy had completely frozen, were now utterly bewildered.

The first question tested knowledge of millet.

As the first of the five grains, it requires that its characters be interpreted in a balanced and harmonious manner, free from any evil or impure influence. Anyone who is associated with lewd or impure influences will be utterly expelled!

For them, this wasn't too difficult.

The second question tests knowledge of "demons".

The second question is exactly the opposite of the first one.

The demons depicted cannot possess righteousness; instead, they must be born with evil and malevolent energy.

Demons are the greatest enemy of the human race. If they possess righteous spirit, they will surely be eliminated!

The problem is that the students mainly study the classic text "Sound and Rhythm Primer", which focuses on nature, scenery, culture, allusions, and moral education. It uses elegant and proper language and rarely involves negative or demonic, god, ghost, or monster-related words.

"Write a short essay of a hundred words? And a tale of strange and supernatural events?"

Han Yugui's face turned pale, and the teacup in his hand clattered to the ground.

Trembling, he picked up the teacup.

He usually detested evil spirits, and the books he studied were all elegant books like the Book of Songs, with refined phrases like "the moon is white and the wind is clear" and "the clouds are rising and the sky is rosy." He never saw a single "demons and monsters."
"Sigh! It's so hard to guess what the examiner is thinking!"

Lu Ming was stunned, and then let out a long sigh.

His abacus beads were already scattered all over the ground.
According to the conventions of the county examination, the second question was to write a short essay or short poem.

He also knew that the educational commissioner Cai Chao liked farming.
I practiced my exam questions last night and wrote an "Ode to the Spirit Rice" in advance, with its carefully crafted "golden ears hanging down, secretly containing the essence of the Mysterious Garden".

Now they're all worthless. "A short essay of one hundred words, demon."

Cao An frowned, almost crushing his wolf-hair brush, racking his brains to recall which demons had once roamed Jiangyin County, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"Waaah~, this isn't what I learned!"

"Can I go back to the private school? This county-level examination for the young scholars is not a place for me!"

"Another test question beyond the syllabus! This is driving us novices crazy!"

"Should we write about a mandrill crying at night or a water demon getting married?"

The young students wailed and grinned, desperately trying to think of which demons they could write about, already showing signs of becoming quite eerie and monstrous.

Examination room number seven, in a thatched shed.

Jiang Xingzhou held a piece of crab roe pastry, drank a little Ganjing water, and ate his lunch slowly while looking at the second exam question.

"The Jiangyin County Gazetteer, Chapter on Strange Tales?"

Jiang Xingzhou calmly spread out a sheet of Chengxintang paper with a moon-white sheen on the table to make a draft.

Fortunately.

The memories of the previous life are still there. Having lived in Jiangyin County for a long time, I have heard some strange and unusual stories about the county.

Like the light fog of Qingming two years ago, it is said that someone saw half a faded red wedding dress wrapped around an ancient locust tree spirit in Wuling Mountain outside Jiangyin County.

Last summer during the flood season, an old fisherman at the ferry crossing, drunk, recounted that there were often eerie green eyes in the middle of the river, spying on passing merchant ships.

Furthermore, there is the River God, a fish demon with a blue face and fangs, who holds a broken oar and specifically harms travelers crossing the river.

The simple-minded son of a wealthy family in the county town was getting married, but the bride, whose embroidered shoes were adorned with pearls, revealed half of her scaly tail.

Within the territory of the Great Zhou Holy Dynasty, there are many demons and monsters. In almost every county and prefecture, traces of demon cultivators can be found in towering mountains, deep ravines, lakes and rivers.

If it weren't for scholars and officials who went out to hunt down these evil spirits, ordinary people would surely have suffered.

That's why the "Jiangyin County Annals: Tales of Strange Things" exists.

"Should we write a chronicle of China?"

"never mind!"

"There are far fewer famous short essays in China than poems, and even fewer that describe demons. We can't waste them on this county-level examination for children."

I'll just write one myself!

Jiang Xingzhou pondered for a moment.

The crispy pastry from his lips fell onto the paper roll, which he brushed away with his sleeve.

From the next cell came the rustling sounds of other students scratching their heads and cursing. It seemed that they were not the only ones struggling with this test question.

Then, Jiang Xingzhou smiled, picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and began to write quickly.

Anyway, he's already gotten first place in the first exam (Grade A). Even if he doesn't get a good ranking in the second exam, it won't matter much; he'll still be in the lead.

The brush moves with the grace of dragons and snakes.
The ink, on the snow-white Chengxintang paper, gradually blossomed into eerie flowers.

[From "Jiangyin County Annals, Volume on Strange Tales, Chapter on the Iron-Chained Alligator Dragon":]
"In the summer of the third year of Tian Shou, the river tide surged, and a crocodile-dragon carried an iron ox that guarded the sea into Jiangyin. Its shape was like an overturned boat, its eyes were red like lanterns, and it had thirteen reverse scales on its back, with tadpole-like patterns carved on the scales."

Magistrate Pei Shoucheng imprisoned the dragon-like creature and led a hundred scholars in reciting the "Tribute of Yu" for three days. When the tide receded, nine bronze pillars were revealed, but the chains had all broken and disappeared without a trace.

Later, a broken stele was unearthed at Junshan, inscribed with the words: "The legacy of the previous dynasty, the alligator guards the East Sea." It is now preserved in the east wing of the Confucian Temple.

Jiang Xingzhou casually finished writing a short essay titled "Iron Chain Dragon," flicked the paper lightly with his fingers, and blew the ink dry.

There is a story behind it, which is about Pei Shoucheng, the former magistrate of Jiangyin County. This story is recorded in the Jiangyin County Annals!
There's evidence that the broken stele is in the Confucian Temple; he didn't just believe everything he heard or listen to that drunken old fisherman's fabricated stories!
Neat and orderly, it has a certain charm.

It fully meets the requirements of Question 2, Short Essay.

"Excellent! The content is exactly one hundred words, not a word more or less! No need to revise!"

Jiang Xingzhou counted the number of words and became even more satisfied.

Then, he copied this draft into his exam paper, sealed it, and put it in his exam bag.

"I've never written anything so wicked and filthy in my entire life!"

Ninety-seven characters, ninety-eight characters! Two more characters are missing, damn it! I need to find where in the article I can add two more obscene characters.

The sound of Han Yugui counting, almost to the point of collapse, came from next door, accompanied by gritted teeth.

Jiang Xingzhou couldn't help but chuckle when he heard Han Yugui cursing from the next exam room.

(End of this chapter)