The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

Although Zhang Hao and Qian Wenxing were excited, they did not forget their mission, so they hurriedly ran towards Jixiang Residence, wanting to convey the good news to Zhuge Yunshu and the others as soon as possible.

However, the two were unaware that a group of people on the second floor of Jixiangju had already heard their shouts in front of the government office's red notice board.

The news elicited mixed reactions from the students still on the second floor; some were happy, while others were worried.

When Zhuge Yunshu heard Zhang Hao announce that he had won first place in the provincial examination, the weight that had been hanging over his heart finally lifted.

It wasn't that she lacked confidence; it was just that among the many candidates, Du Rui stood out because of the honor of being called upon in class. Although she learned from Master Wang that the prefect of Jingling Prefecture was a complex person, he appreciated promising young scholars who were not bound by traditional ideas, but disliked such scholars who were too showy and seemed very unsteady.

This is precisely the main reason why Zhuge Yunshu finished the exam early but did not rush to hand it in, nor did he ask the prefect to review it in court.

However, things are unpredictable. Before the outcome is determined, who can be sure that the prefect will not look at Du Rui with new respect because of his courage to submit his paper early and request to be reviewed in court, thus ignoring these points that he dislikes and ultimately awarding him the honor of being the top scholar in the prefecture?

Fortunately, the result was as she had hoped, and she passed the exam with top honors!

A short while later, Zhang Hao and Qian Wenxing came running up, panting. After calming down, Zhang Hao said with a beaming smile:

"Junior Sister Yun Shu, you passed! You came in first place in the prefectural examination! Senior Sister Yun Chu, you came in second! Junior Sister Wang, you came in third... Hahaha, I came in fifth in the prefectural examination! Aren't you surprised? Aren't you surprised?!"

Zhuge Yunshu, Zhuge Yunchu, and Wang Yi exchanged glances. Looking at Zhang Hao, whose clothes were disheveled and who had even lost a shoe, they unusually gave him a friendly look. They all raised their teacups, their faces beaming with undisguised joy.

"congratulations!"

Zhang Hao chuckled sheepishly and raised his teacup as well: "Congratulations! Congratulations!"

After saying that, the four of them laughed and then drank the tea in their cups in one gulp.

Qin Shuangyu and the others were also very happy.

In this prefectural examination, she ranked fourth, Qian Wenxing eighth, Wu Mochi ninth, and Xiao An fifteenth. This was much better than the results the teacher had estimated for them before they came to Jingling Prefecture. After all, the prefectural examination was different from the county examination. This time, they not only had to compete with the top scorers from the five counties, but also with the top ten from each county for the top ten positions in the prefectural examination.

Thinking about this, Qin Shuangyu couldn't help but marvel at their good fortune.

Zhuge Yunshu, Zhuge Yunchu, Wang Yi, and Zhang Hao first said goodbye to Qin Shuangyu and Qian Wenxing, and then hurriedly went downstairs to Wang Fuzi's place. They wanted to tell their teacher the good news first and let him be happy too.

Compared to the joy of Zhuge Yunshu and his group, Du Rui was much more disappointed.

He told his page the results of the prefectural examination and said in disbelief:

"How much? Are you sure you didn't misread it?"

Seeing the shocked expression on his young master's face, Du Rui's page hesitated for a moment before speaking timidly:

"Young Master, you are, you are tenth... I have checked the list many times to make sure there is no mistake."

Du Rui, who had still held a sliver of hope, slumped into a chair in despair after learning the exact result of the pageboy's death.

How can this be?

Brother Chen Xuan once said that Prefect Wei has always admired talented and unconventional scholars.

He had already submitted his paper early and was selected in court, so why wasn't he the top scorer in the prefectural examination?

They don't even qualify for second or third place.

For the first time, Du Rui began to confront the gap between himself and other scholars, especially Zhuge Yunshu, who had been the top scholar in the prefectural examination.

He was born into an official family. Starting with his grandfather, his elders all obtained official positions in the court through the imperial examinations. Even more impressively, his father passed the second-class imperial examination at a young age, which is why his maternal grandfather took a liking to him and betrothed his youngest daughter to his father.

For this reason, he had a much higher starting point than other scholars from a young age. His early education was personally taught by his father, a scholar who had passed the imperial examination. After he turned six, he was taken to his maternal grandfather's house to be personally tutored by his grandfather, who had been an imperial tutor. This continued until he was thirteen, when his grandfather finally agreed to let him return to his ancestral home to take the preliminary examination for the imperial examination...

As for Zhuge Yunshu, according to Du Rui, she only began her formal education at the age of eight, and her teacher was merely a student in the lower grades, while the teacher at the town's main school was a relatively unknown scholar... Yet, with all that, she managed to pass the county and prefectural examinations consecutively within a year, achieving the highest rank. What extraordinary talent! No wonder her father often told her: "Never be arrogant or complacent; you never know that there are always people more capable than you, and there is always something beyond your understanding..."

Thinking of this, Du Rui quickly went downstairs and ran towards the red notice board at the entrance of the government office. He still didn't want to give up until he saw it for himself.

Du Rui ranked tenth in the prefectural examination.

He involuntarily went limp, and the pageboy, seeing this, quickly reached out to support him.

"Master, what's wrong with you?"

Du Rui asked weakly, "Am I really useless?"

With such a high starting point and so many famous teachers guiding him, he still couldn't even pass the preliminary examination for a minor official position.

Thinking of this, he was speechless when he saw his father and mother, and even more so, he had no face to see his maternal grandfather.

"Young master, please don't overthink it. I believe you are far more outstanding than most scholars..."

He paused here, but after thinking carefully, he continued:

"Please forgive my bluntness, but although Young Master Chen is a good friend of Young Master Lu Yishu, you can't just listen to everything he says. I still think that he and his friends are not good people..."

Seeing his young master so pitifully defeated, he decided it was best to speak these words out clearly.

Besides flattering and fawning, what else can Young Master Chen do? All he does all day is instill crooked ideas into their young master.

In his opinion, if his young master had focused on the exam, he might have been second in the prefectural examination, even if he wasn't first in the list.

“Afu, be careful what you say! Brother Chen Xuan was just giving me advice out of kindness.”

That being said, from an angle unseen by outsiders, Du Rui's eyes gradually deepened.

......

Zhuge Yunshu had no idea that Du Rui had been thinking about so many random things after they left.

Meanwhile, they were in the small courtyard where the Prefectural City Master Wang was temporarily residing, making their final preparations for the upcoming provincial examination.

The Imperial Examination was held twice every three years in the Great Xia Kingdom.

It usually officially starts in early August.

However, for some unknown reason this year, just a few days after the results of the prefectural examination were released, the prefectural government urgently issued a notice to all counties, changing the date of the provincial examination from the beginning of August in previous years to June 15th, which was more than a month earlier.

So after some discussion, in order to save time wasted on the round trip, Master Wang decided that they would prepare for the exam in Jingling Prefecture.