Flowers in full bloom

After returning from the lotus viewing, Hualei told Xiaoyuan about the new civil recruitment exam added by the Imperial College this year, and asked Xiaoyuan if he dared to try. Xiaoyuan firmly expressed his determination to take the exam, and did not forget to review his lessons every day during the holiday.

So after resting for a few more days, Hua Lei went to Jijiu's printing shop in person and took back several sets of papers that Gui Jing had left in the printing shop. She made annotations on the papers and also gave Class D several sets of test papers for the first semester. These should have been put in by Gui Jijiu. Although there were only seven sets of papers, it showed his sincerity.

After getting the test paper back, Hua Lei told Madam Pei about it. Madam Pei was very happy for Hua Lei. The Imperial College had few opportunities to recruit students from the public. At the beginning, it was once every five years, and in recent years, it has been once every three years.

In August last year, the Imperial College recruited new civilian students. So normally there would not be this entrance examination this year, but since the chief priest said it was an additional examination, it should not be fake.

In addition, this year there is also the normal Imperial College entrance examination for the children of officials. According to past experience, the official and civilian recruitment examinations are held at the same time, but the examination papers are not the same.

Originally, Madam Pei planned to let several children over ten years old in the Marquis' Mansion try it this year, and those under ten years old would wait a few years.

But when she saw the paper that Hualei brought over, she was really surprised. She also knew that Jijiu appreciated Hualei very much, but she didn't expect him to do this. He was treating Hualei as his own junior.

With these papers and two months more preparation than others, your chances of passing the exam will be much greater.

Eight-year-old Xiaoyuan is going to take the Imperial College entrance examination this year. Should our children under the age of ten also take part?

But among the children under ten years old, except Rong Jue who is doing well in school, the other children's academic performance is mediocre, so let's forget about it this year.

Rong Jue could give it a try, but he didn't know if failing the exam would dampen his confidence. But if he passed, the advantages would be obvious. After all, the education level of the Imperial College was the best in the Great Sheng Dynasty.

After listening to Madam Pei's concerns, Hua Lei suggested discussing it with Ruan. After all, Ruan was Rong Jue's mother and she had the most say.

When Mrs. Pei heard this, she thought it made sense and immediately asked her maid to invite Ruan to Songhe Hall.

After listening to the whole story in Songhe Hall, Ruan immediately decided to let Rong Jue take the exam this year.

Her opinion was that Rong Jue and Xiao Yuan had a very good relationship, and if Xiao Yuan took the exam and Rong Jue took it together, the two of them would be more motivated because they had company, and they could promote each other's learning.

If I can pass the exam this year, that would be the best. If I can't pass, it doesn't matter, I can just take it as experience accumulation, and I will have an advantage in the next exam. It's just a waste of 50 taels of silver in registration fee, but for the Marquis' Mansion, these 50 taels of silver are not a problem at all.

Yes, the registration fee for children of officials is five times more than that for children of farmers.

In fact, Ruan was a very smart person. She could not let her son enter the Imperial College earlier, so she certainly could not let him go.

When she saw the test paper in Hua Lei's hand, she also had some considerations. She also knew that Hua Lei had business dealings with the printing house of Lord Jijiu. Now Hua Lei could know the enrollment information so early and get such a rare test paper. If Rong Jue followed along, the test paper could be shared. She would have more than two months to prepare than others, so her chances of passing the exam would be much higher.

I don’t know whether the same test paper will be used now, but it’s not a big problem. Preparation for the exam should always be geared towards more difficult levels.

Moreover, she also noticed that her mother-in-law was very attentive to Hualei and her brother. Although she wouldn't say that she cared more for them than for her own grandchildren, she definitely cared more for them than for the other people staying in the house.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to send the whole family back to the countryside just because of Xie Shiyun's words.

Rong Jin was also very attentive to Hua Lei and her brother. He often took Xiao Yuan for horseback riding and often tutored Xiao Yuan in private. If Rong Jue and Xiao Yuan were together, they could study together and cultivate a relationship with the future ruler of the Marquisate, which would definitely be beneficial to Rong Jue's future career. He must not miss this opportunity.

Besides, the performance of Hualei and her brother in the clan school was outstanding. Especially Xiaoyuan, who was very young, but his hard work and self-discipline far exceeded that of his peers. Not to mention his ability to learn quickly and apply what he learned to other situations, which won him praise from the clan school teacher.

Since Rong Jue and Xiao Yuan have been together, they have become more self-conscious in their studies and their grades have improved a lot, which is a good thing. Letting Rong Jue and Xiao Yuan take the exam together has only advantages and no disadvantages.

Hua Lei certainly had no objection to Rong Jue and Xiao Yuan taking the exam together. On the contrary, she was happy to see it happen.

With Madam Pei's consent, they specially invited Master Ji, the most experienced teacher in the clan school, to give Xiaoyuan and Rongjue individual lessons for the Imperial College exams in addition to their normal classes.

In this way, Hualei, who has not yet married, started the life of raising a baby ahead of time.

Fortunately, Hua Lei met Hua Moyuan, who was very self-disciplined and intelligent. Although she was raising her child like a pushover, Hua Lei actually didn't need to pick him up or drop him off at school, accompany him to school, or prepare fancy nutritious meals for him, because this task was also taken over by Rong Jue's mother, Ruan.

What Hualei did most was, at the beginning, she copied all the papers given by Gui Jingan and Jijiu, including the annotations, and then carefully put away the papers they gave her.

Then I made a reasonable study and rest schedule for Xiaoyuan and the others. I told them to pay attention to the balance between work and rest. The rest was nothing more than asking them every day, how are they doing in their studies? Do they have confidence?

In the past six months, Xiaoyuan has made remarkable progress in his studies. Initially, after he entered the middle class, his grades were always at the bottom of the class, but after several months of unremitting efforts, he has now firmly squeezed into the top five in the class, even surpassing many classmates who are one or two years older than him.

The reason for this may be that Grandpa Hua and his father love and are good at learning. Xiaoyuan inherited their good habits and also their excellent genes.

At the same time, Xiaoyuan himself was also very hardworking and now he was determined to get into the Imperial College, so he put more effort into his studies. Therefore, during this period, in order to better study, even on the rest days of the clan school, Xiaoyuan no longer went back to Qingyun Lane with Hualei like before.

Hua Lei continued to live her own life. She went to the girls' school when it was time to go, and returned to Qingyun Lane when it was time to return to Qingyun Lane.