The happy little days of the Ye family

In the blink of an eye, it is already mid-April.

In order to have enough time to register and rest, the three brothers set out from home five days before the provincial examination.

The three people who accompanied him were still Tang Xiaojing, Ye Donglin and his second cousin.

Ye Qingqing and the others wanted to go along, but they had elderly and young children at home and were unable to take care of them.

Fortunately, the provincial capital was not too far from the county, and the ox cart arrived at the city gate after three and a half hours.

As expected of a provincial capital, the entrance fee is more expensive than other places, and it costs five cents per person.

It cost a total of 30 cents to enter the city as an entrance fee, which made the money-loving Xiaoqi very distressed.

He couldn't make that much money even by copying two books for his family's bookstore.

After entering the city, everyone was dazzled by the prosperous scene of the capital.

On both sides of the street, there are many grand shops such as restaurants, cloth shops, silver shops, bookstores, teahouses, etc., and the road is filled with various stalls and vendors.

The streets were crowded with people, all of them dressed in bright and beautiful clothes and looked very wealthy. It seemed much more lively than the county.

But the most important thing right now is the provincial examination. No one was in the mood to go shopping, so they went straight to the inn near the examination hall.

Just like during the county examination, Tang Xiaojing, as a representative, came a month in advance and booked an inn near the examination venue.

In order to let the children have a good rest, he booked four superior rooms directly at the inn closest to the examination venue.

The prices in the capital city are ridiculously high; a good-quality room costs one or two taels of silver a day.

It's a bit expensive, but this inn is really good.

It is only two streets away from the examination venue, and the room is spacious, bright and very clean.

If Tang Xiaojing hadn't paid extra to reserve a room a month in advance, he probably wouldn't have been able to book a room here.

The four rooms are connected and there is no need to divide them. The three brothers live in three of the rooms.

The outermost room, close to the road, was a little noisy and was for three people who did not have to take the exam.

After riding the ox cart for more than three hours, everyone was exhausted. After eating a simple meal, they went back to their rooms to rest.

After ten years of hard study, I now know what I know, and I really don’t know what I don’t know.

After a hard day's work, the three brothers did not force themselves to study, but called for water to wash their bodies and then rested early.

The next morning, the group arrived at the registration place for the provincial examination.

The registration method for the prefectural examination is the same as that for the county examination, and both require filling in respective information and guarantee status.

At this time, Yang Shu and another person who had guarantied each other with them were already waiting there.

Li Rui, who had signed a guaranty with them last time, made it onto the second-tier list, but ultimately failed the county exam.

The other guarantor was recommended by the teacher. He was also studying in Class A, and we had a good relationship.

After the five people successfully signed up, Xiao Qi enthusiastically asked everyone to talk about the inn they were staying in.

It was only then that everyone realized that they were all staying in the same inn.

Xiao Qi smiled even more brightly this time, "Hahaha, people are quite destined to meet each other."

After chatting for a while, the five of them went back to the inn to review their books.

On the day of the provincial examination, the three brothers got up early.

Everyone tacitly checked their exam supplies first, and then went downstairs to have breakfast together.

When the group was preparing to leave for the examination venue, the nearby streets were already crowded with candidates and people who came to see them off.

The horse-drawn, ox-drawn, and donkey-drawn carts carrying candidates blocked several nearby streets. People walking were fine, as the ox-drawn and donkey-drawn carts behind them could not even squeeze in.

Fortunately, the inn where they stayed was only two blocks away from the examination venue, so they didn't have to catch a car and could just walk there.

After about a quarter of an hour, Xiaoqi and the other two arrived outside the examination room with full confidence.

Yang Shu and another classmate arrived even earlier, and they were chatting with their heads down.

At this time, the officers responsible for maintaining order also came over.

All the cars carrying candidates to the exam were stopped outside early on, and it took a long time to disperse the crowded crowd.

By the time the people behind came over, the five people who had been on the list had already passed the inspection and were resting their eyes in the examination room.

The few of them waited for nearly two quarters of an hour before the provincial examination officially began.

Time passed slowly as they were reviewing and solving the questions. In this provincial examination, it was Xiao Qi who wrote the fastest.

Compared with the last provincial examination, this exam seemed unusually smooth to him.

And the last question is somewhat similar to the one that the teacher explained before.

After copying the draft article onto the official answer sheet, Xiao Qi checked it carefully twice.

After handing in the paper, Xiao Qi felt that his brain and body were drained, and a feeling of fatigue suddenly surged over him.

But his condition was already good. The person walking in front of him looked like he had suffered a serious illness, with a pale face and weak steps.

Slowly approaching the waiting dragon gate, he found that there were already some people waiting, but they were all people he didn't know.

After waiting for a while, Chenchen and Yangshu came over one after another.

The two were not as physically fit as Xiao Qi, and their steps were a little weak, but they had a faint smile on their faces, and it seemed that they did quite well in the exam.

After waiting for a long time, Xiao Shitou and another classmate came over with frowns on their faces.

Xiao Qi, who was originally smiling, immediately stopped smiling and looked at his brother with a worried look on his face.

Little Stone didn't say anything, just patted him on the shoulder.

Chenchen, who was standing by, also patted Xiao Shitou on the shoulder to comfort him.

The prefectural examination was the same as the county examination. The top 50 candidates in the first examination would directly qualify for the academy examination and also become students.

Those who make it to the secondary list will have to take one more exam.

The results are not out yet, so even after finishing the first exam, we still cannot relax.

The three brothers had a simple meal and then went back to their rooms to continue reading.

Xiaoqi and his friends spend every day either reading books or discussing problem-solving methods with each other. Their days are simple but fulfilling.

In a blink of an eye, it was time to announce the results.

Although everyone knew that they could still see the list if they came later, they just couldn't wait and came early to wait.

Tang Xiaojing and his two fathers didn't even sleep, and came in the middle of the night to wait for the announcement of the results.

Because they occupied a good position, the three of them were the first to see the list.

Chenchen ranked 31st and Xiaoqi ranked 39th. Although their rankings were not high, the two brothers were already true students.

However, Yang Shu and Xiao Shitou were just unlucky and both made it to the second-tier list. They will have to take the exam again two days later.

Yang Shu originally thought that he could pass the examination and become a student directly, but he unexpectedly only made it to the deputy list. He felt a little depressed and the smile on his face was faint.

Xiao Shitou didn't perform well in the last exam and originally thought he had no chance of becoming a Tongsheng, but unexpectedly he could make it into the vice-list.

After checking it twice and confirming that he was indeed on the secondary list, the little guy was so happy that his mouth was almost grinning from ear to ear.

As for another classmate of Jie Bao, he didn't even make it onto the second-tier list and could only pack up his things and go back with red eyes.

Five days later, when everyone came to look at the list again, the four of them had already become Tongsheng.

Ye Donglin, Tang Xiaojing and his second cousin were excitedly discussing going back to the village to set up a buffet.

This time, our ancestors were really very proud of themselves. We had to have a buffet for three consecutive days.