The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

Seeing their headmaster's reaction, the other teachers at the county school, out of curiosity, quickly took the last exam paper and began to read it.

The first thing that caught their eye was a large red cross.

Then look at its content; it's simple and easy to understand, with not a single error.

Upon seeing the name again, they realized why. They had been amazed by this female disciple from Yunshui Town far too many times, so they all found an empty spot and gave her a perfect score.

Well, there's nothing we can do about it; it's just that Chief Song occupies such a big position all by himself.

The final competition has officially ended, and both the spectators and the teachers from various towns are anxiously awaiting the results.

The host on the stage, under the eager gaze of the crowd, couldn't help but urge the county school's teachers to hurry up.

However, he could understand, since in addition to the results of the last game, the final overall results and rankings also needed to be compiled.

After the presiding teacher received it, he glanced at it casually and couldn't help but sigh that Yunshui Town School was truly a dark horse.

"In the first subject of law, the fifth place went to Yunze Town School with four points, the fourth place to Yuntian Town School with six points, the third place to Yuntu Town School with nine points, and the second place to Yunmu Town School with fourteen points."

"First place, Yunshui Town School, 22 points."

Everyone was stunned into silence upon hearing this result.

For some reason, whenever they were pessimistic about the town's school, they always got proven wrong, and it was a really painful one.

Seeing the incredulous expressions on the faces of the crowd below, and knowing that trouble was about to break out, Song Shanzhang quickly and considerately explained, "In this law exam, Zhuge Yunshu, the headmaster of Yunshui Town, scored a perfect 10. The second place winners were Wang Yi and Zhang Hao from Yunshui Town, and Qin Shuangyu from Yunmu Town, all with 6 points. They only got one question wrong. The answer to the Linxi County wife-killing case is correct: there is no murderer, and the wife is not dead."

"The other people's achievements are not worth mentioning."

Hearing what Headmaster Song said, everyone was taken aback.

Especially Wang Yi, Zhang Hao, and Qin Shuangyu, who were struggling with this question, felt as if they had been tickled, an unbearable itch that was incredibly uncomfortable.

"Headmaster, I have a request. May I ask why my wife is still alive?" Qin Shuangyu stepped forward respectfully, bowed, and her inquiring eyes left no room for refusal.

"Zhuge Yunshu, can you explain why?"

Zhuge Yunshu: "..."

She noticed that during this county-level school competition, her name was called out by the headmaster of the county school particularly frequently.

Having no other option, she could only explain to everyone.

"The key to this case lies with the wife's brother, the eyewitness, and the husband's accomplice. All three are gamblers and are not trustworthy in terms of character."

"So I was skeptical of their testimony from the beginning."

"Most importantly, there is a description in the case: ...a sedan chair departed from the deceased's younger brother's house and headed to the home of a scholar in the county town. Although this person had achieved academic success, he was still unmarried due to his greed and lust...and the sedan chair bearers received ten taels of silver as payment when they carried the empty sedan chair. It was after this that the deceased's younger brother, the eyewitnesses, and the accomplices were no longer approached by the gambling den's people to collect debts."

"It was this passage that convinced me that there must be something fishy going on between these people. But at this point, I had two guesses: either his wife was killed by the scholar, or his wife was not dead and had been hiding in the scholar's house all along."

"Until I saw the autopsy report, which said the deceased's hair was gray, this was clearly not the black hair that a beautiful woman in her twenties should have, unless his wife had aged prematurely due to overwork. But thinking about it, that was impossible. If such a woman was not attractive, how could that greedy and lustful scholar have evil thoughts about her?"

"Therefore, judging from this point, the body is not my wife's, and based on this, I guess that my wife is not dead."

Zhuge Yunshu tried his best to organize his words to make his statement reasonable and well-founded, while also convincing them that this was a problem that a clever eight-year-old child could figure out from some details.

Although the logic was a bit muddled, it was still comprehensible to most people.

"Excellent. Zhuge Yunshu grasped the key information and analyzed the final outcome of this case. Although there were some issues that he didn't understand due to his young age, it is truly commendable that he achieved such a result." Headmaster Song praised him sincerely, and then told everyone the specific truth of the case.

After listening, everyone admired Zhuge Yunshu greatly, since the true story was about 80% similar to what Zhuge Yunshu had told them.

"This girl is amazing."

"Who can disagree? If you ask me, she is the child prodigy of our Linxi County."

“I agree. From now on, she will be our Linxi County’s eight-year-old prodigy.”

"..."

"Zhuge Yunshu, now that you know the details of this case and the crimes committed by each party, can you give a brief account of the trial's outcome?" For some reason, Headmaster Song just wanted to see how many surprises this child could bring him.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, Master Wang and Xie Yu frowned. They felt that the headmaster of the county school was making things difficult for his disciple/junior sister.

Not to mention these two, even the teachers of the county school were all complaining in their hearts about their headmaster, who was probably pushing his luck.

How shameful!!!

Faced with this situation, Zhuge Yunshu was somewhat stunned. Because it was so sudden, he replied without much thought: "Based on the laws of Xia, her husband is released without charge. The scholar and his wife's younger brother, for giving false testimony, which later implicated a murder, are to be sentenced to death. The wife will be sent to a poor place for life. The eyewitness and her husband's accomplice will be punished with fifty strokes of the cane and exiled to the frontier..."

"The above is just one student's opinion."

As soon as Zhuge Yunshu finished speaking, the scene fell silent instantly.

Even Song Shanzhang himself didn't expect that his casual question would actually be answered.

This eight-year-old girl always gives him so many surprises.

The teachers of the town's schools present were also shocked by this answer. They knew that although it was just a small question, it showed how familiar one was with the laws of the entire Xia Kingdom to be able to casually recite these punishments.

"Yunshui Town School has really struck gold."

"This luck is truly enviable."

"A child prodigy!"

"..."

Master Wang was being looked at by everyone with envious and jealous eyes, which was rather strange.

But this strangeness was something he had never experienced before, not even when Xie Yu was his disciple.

In short, it was incredibly satisfying.

"Alright, quiet! Now we will announce the final rankings of this competition." The host, at the signal of Headmaster Song, quickly stepped forward and announced.

"First place goes to Yunshui Town School, second place to Yunmu Town School, third place to Yuntu Town School..."