The Legend of the Farm Girl

By the time Li Muwen returned to his residence, it was already past noon and all the students who had gone out had returned.

As soon as Li Muwen entered the yard, he saw everyone sitting together discussing something. One of them said, "We will definitely be testing taxation policies this year."

The other said: "Not necessarily. They might consider population growth."

What they said are exams that will be held every few years, and everyone has made preparations in advance.

Li Muwen saw that the people who went to the bookstore with him to buy the examiner's article did not say anything. He thought that if they really had any useful information, they would keep it secret and would never publicize it loudly!

Someone asked Li Muwen: "Brother Muwen, did you find anything new when you went to the bookstore today?"

Li Muwen felt that there was nothing to hide about the books he read, so he said immediately: "I just went to find the story I asked you about this morning, He Bo watching the sea. That story..."

Before he could finish his words, everyone interrupted him and said, "You are wasting your time. The two days before the exam are so precious. Why are you studying that?"

Come and listen to the news I heard today!

Everyone started talking at once again, but from what Li Muwen perceived, no one had heard any useful information, and most of what they said was ambiguous.

After listening for a while, Li Muwen left quietly. Not many people noticed him. A few people saw him leave and followed him back to their rooms.

On the day before the exam, the teacher from the academy arrived. The exam was tomorrow and many people were extremely nervous today. The teacher came at this time to guarantee everyone for tomorrow and to calm everyone down.

Li Muwen was not very nervous at this time. He was even looking forward to it and wanted to finish the exam as soon as possible and go home to see his wife.

The day of the official exam finally arrived. Li Muwen felt refreshed. Someone came early to call them to go to the exam room.

After arriving at the examination room and going through a series of inspection procedures, Li Muwen finally sat in his own room. He was very glad that he was not near a bad-tempered room. Having heard many stories about bad-tempered rooms, Li Muwen was in a good mood and felt that this was a good start.

There are three sessions in the provincial examination, each lasting three days and two nights, a total of nine days and six nights. If you stay in the stinking chamber all the time, you will be seriously injured if you don't die.

The first exam paper was handed out very quickly. The first exam tested the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics, as well as writing literary works based on the content of the topic.

Li Muwen soon discovered a huge surprise. The content of the literary work was actually He Bo watching the sea. What kind of luck was this? He couldn't help but tremble with his hands.

What no one noticed was that besides him, there were a dozen other candidates whose hands were also shaking, but they were angry at themselves for not letting Li Muwen continue speaking yesterday.

There was no choice but to keep writing.

Li Muwen took a deep breath, picked up his pen, and wrote a fu, combining the thoughts in his mind after reading the story of He Bo watching the sea yesterday with the skills he had learned in writing literary works.

All of this is written down in the draft and then copied onto the official exam paper in the end.

Soon, Li Muwen finished writing, and then it was time for the part where he was best at answering questions about the Four Books and Five Classics. Li Muwen could recite these books by heart, no matter how niche the books came from or how strange the books were, he could answer them effortlessly.

The number of questions was huge, but Li Muwen finished them in just two days.

On the last day, Li Muwen rested and gathered his strength to prepare for the next two tough battles.

On the third day, when the examinees walked out of the gate of the Imperial Academy, someone from Tingfeng Academy would come to pick them up.

When they returned to the courtyard where they lived, the students of Tingfeng Academy immediately surrounded Li Muwen and asked him persistently, "Brother Muwen, what is the story of He Bo watching the sea? Let me see if I guessed it right."

Some people asked the question, and some people stretched their necks waiting for Li Muwen's answer, but Li Muwen's words made everyone feel disappointed.

Li Muwen told the story of He Bo watching the sea in detail.

Everyone was sighing, and from time to time someone would make a sarcastic remark.

"I don't know who stopped Brother Mu Wen from continuing his speech, delaying everyone in our room."

Someone else said, "Brother Mu Wen, please speculate something else! Let's take a quick look tonight."

No one responded to the first sentence, but after hearing the second sentence, many people looked at Li Muwen with sharp eyes.

Li Muwen smiled helplessly and shook his head, saying, "My fellow brothers, this is just a coincidence. I won't have this kind of luck next time. Besides, I don't plan to do anything tonight. I just hope to get a good rest so that I can prepare for the next two exams."

After hearing what Li Muwen said, everyone understood that it was really luck. They didn't know what to say anymore. After three days and two nights of exams, everyone was already very tired. So they went back to rest.

After Li Muwen arrived at his room, he fell on the bed and fell asleep. The bed in the Imperial Examination Hall was too hard and it was difficult to sleep.

By the next day, everyone felt even more tired, but the upcoming exam forced them to cheer up.

There were still various inspections like the first day. The second exam was about official documents, including official documents between superiors and subordinates, and writing judgments based on provided cases.

This was not difficult for Li Muwen, but the number of questions was so large that he almost couldn't finish it. Fortunately, he finished the test paper completely.

Because he did not check, Li Muwen walked out of the examination room and actually forgot how he answered some of the questions. When his companions were discussing, he felt a little dazed.

The third exam was a policy essay, which involved specific issues concerning governance and people's livelihood, and required students to give specific countermeasures and methods.

This time, the policy essay test consisted of five questions, and the one that accounted for the highest score was actually about diplomatic issues. This was rarely tested in the past, and Tingfeng Academy did not practice it much. However, Yunfang had asked Li Muwen about it, and they had written several policy essays together.

Li Muwen also lamented that where they lived, they had never seen or come into contact with foreign people. Yunfang knew so much about foreign affairs and could express so many insights. If Yunfang were a man, he would definitely be a capable minister in governing the country.

Li Muwen wrote the answers to the questions one by one on the draft paper, and then copied them onto the test paper.

After the test papers were taken away, Li Muwen walked out of the examination room and took a deep breath. He now felt relaxed and wanted to go home immediately to hug Yunfang and shout a few times.

But Li Muwen's idea could not be realized yet. He learned that he would have to attend the Lu Ming Banquet organized by the chief examiner in the afternoon when the results came out.

Therefore, students who are far away from the capital city will not go home, but wait in the capital city.

Only students who feel they have no chance or who live closer to home will leave.

None of the students from Tingfeng Academy left.

Of course Li Muwen couldn't leave either, so he could only pray in his heart that the results would come out soon.

After the examination, a large number of talented scholars gathered in the city, and there were more and more banquets. However, if the banquet was held in those romantic places, Li Muwen would never go. Over time, many people spread rumors that Li Muwen was chaste and not interested in women.

It was not until the third day after the exam that Li Muwen realized that if the results were not released, he should write a letter to Yunfang and his family to prevent them from worrying.

So that day, Li Muwen wrote two letters, one to the rest of his family, reporting his safety and asking how they were. It was just a thin piece of paper.

One was addressed to Yunfang and was about twenty times thicker than the other. It described what he had seen and heard in the capital city, what he encountered during the exam, his longing for Yunfang, his contempt for those who frequented places of entertainment, and his promises to Yunfang.

After writing all this he still felt unsatisfied, but he was in a hurry to send it to Yunfang. He thought he would have to write every day in the future.

The Li family and Yun Fang, who had not heard from Li Muwen for half a month, were quite worried. Just as they were about to go to the provincial capital to inquire about the matter, they received a letter from Li Muwen.

Looking at the letters of different thickness, the Li family jokingly said to Yunfang: "Mu Wen's feelings for you are obvious to everyone!"

Yunfang was also a little surprised. How much information must be written in such a thick letter!

After reading the thin letter with the Li family, everyone felt relieved to know that Li Muwen was fine. However, they also knew that Li Muwen would have to stay in the capital for a while, so they were worried about whether he had enough money.

They asked Yunfang to go back and see what Li Muwen had written to him, and then Li Muwen could tell them if he needed anything.

Yun Fang quickly returned to her room as instructed, opened the letter Li Muwen wrote to her, and read it word by word.

The content of the letter also aroused Yunfang's longing for Li Muwen, so Yunfang picked up her pen and wrote a reply to Li Muwen.

Li Muwen didn't mention the problem of lack of money, but Yunfang still slipped a silver note into his pocket and gave it to him. If he really passed the imperial examination, how could he survive without enough silver and money?

In this way, Li Muwen and Yunfang expressed their innermost feelings to each other through letters every day.

It was not until the day when the results of the provincial examination were announced that Li Muwen stopped writing to Yunfang.

The day before the announcement of the provincial examination results, a notice was posted on the street, telling everyone that a list would be hung at the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall early the next morning, and those whose names appeared on the list would be the successful candidates.

Early in the morning, the entrance to the Imperial Examination Hall was crowded with people, including students who came to see the list by themselves, and servants who were sent there, some came alone, and some came with their whole family. There were also those who squeezed in front to try to take advantage of the situation in order to get some reward money.

These people will report the good news to those who have passed the imperial examination before the government does, and some people will give them some reward money.

In short, only those who come early can occupy a favorable position and see the posted list first.

Tingfeng Academy would naturally not allow twenty students to squeeze at the top of the list. They had hired someone long ago and stood in a favorable position before dawn. The names of these twenty students had been remembered firmly by this person. If anyone's name appeared on the list, he would be able to spot it at a glance.

There are many scholars taking part in the provincial examination this year, about 3,800 people. Among them, only 40 people are selected as successful candidates, which can be said to be one in a hundred.

Although there are many people coming to Tingfeng Academy to take part in the provincial examinations every time, only a few can achieve success.

It is precisely because the path to becoming a juren is difficult, so once you pass the exam, your social status will change dramatically.

Twenty examinees from Tingfeng Academy were waiting anxiously in the yard. They estimated the time and believed that the person who was sent out should be back soon.

Everyone was nervous when they heard the sound of quick footsteps coming from outside the yard.

Twenty people seemed to be frozen in time, unable to speak or move.

When the man arrived at the courtyard, he shouted loudly, "Two people from my Tingfeng Academy have passed the imperial examination."

After he said this, everyone's eyes lit up. They thought to themselves that this was the best result of Tingfeng Academy in many years, with two candidates on the list at the same time. Maybe they couldn't have one.

The person who was checking the list took out the list written on a piece of paper to prevent mistakes and said, "They are Li Muwen, the sixth, and Liu Zhanpeng, the twenty-seventh."

The eyes of those whose names were not read immediately darkened, and they said in disbelief: "I think my answer is also good! Did you miss it? No, I have to go check it out."

After all, he walked out.

Many people also thought this was possible and followed him out.

The person who was watching the list had been watching the list for Tingfeng Academy for many years and was used to this kind of scene. He said to Li Muwen and Liu Zhanpeng without paying any attention, "Two new candidates, get ready quickly. The government will definitely come to inform people soon."

Only then did the two of them react from their huge surprise.

Li Muwen hurriedly found a friend to exchange the silver note sent by Yunfang, and it was customary to reward the official who brought the good news.

Sure enough, the officials arrived soon and brought the documents of Li Muwen and Liu Zhanpeng's admission to the imperial examination. Obtaining this document meant that Li Muwen was a member of the officialdom of this country and was qualified to participate in political affairs.

Then he notified Li Muwen and the other person to attend the Lu Ming Banquet organized by the examiner on time this afternoon.

Li Muwen handed the reward money to the messenger, who weighed it, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "Let me remind you again, the chief examiner of this imperial examination is the current Minister of Personnel, and he hates people taking shortcuts the most. Anyone who has bought his portfolio and imitates his style to answer questions will not be allowed to pass. Don't bring bad luck to you when you attend the Luming Banquet."

Li Muwen thought that Liu Zhanpeng was indeed not one of the five people who bought the examiner's portfolio, and he couldn't help but feel fortunate that he was not influenced by those five people at the beginning, otherwise he would not have been able to pass the exam today.

Li Muwen bowed his hands to thank the official, who returned the greeting and said quickly, "Mr. Li, I have many other families to report good news to, so I won't bother you any more."

After saying that, he left quickly.

At this time, those who had gone out to look at the list again came back dejectedly. Seeing Li Muwen and Liu Zhanpeng sending the officials away, those people felt quite uncomfortable and returned to their rooms in disappointment.

Li Muwen and Liu Zhanpeng were the only ones left in the yard. Liu Zhanpeng took the lead in inviting Li Muwen, saying, "Why don't we go to my room and chat? Whether we are going to Beijing to take the exam or continue our studies, we should help each other and get to know each other better."

Just as Liu Zhanpeng said, the two of them were taught by different teachers and were not familiar with each other, but the fact that they passed the same imperial examination made their identities closer than those of others.