Quick Transmigration: When Can I Just Lay Down and Wait to Die?

After passing the imperial examination and becoming a Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations), one would receive many preferential treatments. Here are some of the main ones:

1. No need to kneel before officials: In ancient times, whether you were a landlord or a commoner, you had to kneel before an official in court. If you didn't kneel, you would be held accountable. This was a hierarchical system.

Officials were also scholars, and in the system they were on the same level as scholars. Therefore, scholars did not need to kneel; they only needed to perform normal greetings. They were also usually given seats.

2. Exemption from taxes: In feudal society, people had to hand over a portion of the grain they earned throughout the year to the imperial court. Corrupt officials would further increase taxes, causing great suffering to ordinary people. Even in times of peace and prosperity, ordinary people could barely make ends meet and rarely lived a wealthy life.

However, the scholar's family had 20 mu of land that did not need to pay taxes to the imperial court, so even if the scholar's family only engaged in normal farming, they would be richer than ordinary families.

3. Exemption from corvée labor: In ancient times, adult men were required to perform corvée labor for the court at regular intervals. The places where they served were often remote and had harsh environments, such as building the Great Wall, transporting military supplies, and building roads and digging canals.

Many people died of illness or exhaustion while serving in the military, and the imperial court did not pay them any wages. Scholars, on the other hand, were not required to perform corvée labor; they could simply stay at home and watch others do the work.

4. Preferential treatment under criminal law: If an ordinary citizen violates the criminal law, local officials can tie him up, beat him severely, and then convict and imprison him.

If a scholar committed a crime, local officials would have to report it to the imperial court and request that his academic title be revoked before the scholar could be arrested and convicted. This process would take at least several months and would attract the attention of the imperial court, so it was quite difficult for officials to frame a scholar.

In short, passing the imperial examination to become a Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations) meant that you had achieved a leap in social class.

Because he had just finished mourning, Liu Yuxi did not hold a banquet. He simply visited the graves, offered sacrifices to his ancestors, and invited the Wang and Li families to the prefectural city for a meal, which he considered a celebration.

The provincial examination is in August, which is only five months away. Liu Yuxi is feeling a real sense of urgency.

What kind of students feel a sense of urgency before exams? Not the top students, nor the bottom students, but those who are average.

Liu Yuxi, who is not very good at passing the imperial examination this year, said that his chances of passing the provincial examination are probably slim. He only ranked in the middle of the county-level examination, so imagine if all the county-level graduates from previous years took the provincial examination together!

Originally, Liu Yuxi decided that after passing the imperial examination and becoming a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the lowest level of the imperial examinations), he would continue to study under Master Zhao, but Master Zhao did not agree.

In his words: "He's the only scholar here, how can he discuss issues with others? How can he compare his knowledge with others? How will he know his shortcomings? Besides, he still needs to learn the Six Arts of a Gentleman, where else can he learn them if not at the county school?"

The Six Arts of ancient China: "rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics".

"Li" refers to etiquette, similar to moral education today;

"Music" refers to music, including six types of ancient music and dance;

"射" refers to archery skills;

“御” refers to the skill of driving a horse-drawn carriage;

"Books" refers to literature and calligraphy, including literacy and composition;

"Number" refers to the knowledge of arithmetic and number theory.

These contents cover multiple fields such as ethics, music, sports, literature and mathematics.

There was no other way, so Liu Yuxi went to the county school closer to home. He had three little kids at home, and he couldn't live at the school.

After reporting to the county school and taking the entrance exam, he was assigned to Class D. Only then did he realize:

Because the provincial examination was held twice every three years, while the civil service examination was held once every three years, and there was no age limit for the imperial examination, as long as you were willing to take the exam, you could take it for your whole life. This resulted in a very large number of scholars participating in the civil service examination every year.

To reduce the workload of the provincial examinations, scholars from various regions had to participate in a provincial examination every year. Only those who ranked first or second in the examinations were qualified to participate in the provincial examinations.

Thinking about his grades that landed him in Class D, well, there's no need to feel any pressure now. He doesn't even qualify for the provincial examination this year. He can just study slowly.

After attending classes at the county school for a period of time, Liu Yuxi finally understood why Master Zhao had sent him to study at the academy.

Because the county school has monthly exams, students in lower-level classes who consistently rank first in their class for three consecutive months can advance to the next higher level.

Similarly, students in higher-level classes who consistently rank last for three consecutive months will be demoted to the next lower level. Under this examination system, just imagine how competitive the students are; they're all adults, who doesn't care about their reputation?

Apart from a very few students who were just coasting through class, the rest of the students not only studied diligently in class but also discussed and debated with each other outside of class. They would occasionally get together and always find an opportunity to compose a couple of poems.

Otherwise, why would the so-called friendships among classmates or fellow students in ancient times be so close? Those friendships were forged through years of competition and mutual respect. Even a casual acquaintance could leverage the influence of a more prominent student in the class when trouble arose.

In ancient times, scholars valued their reputation. A person with a bad reputation would not only be unable to become an official, but would also have no chance to take the imperial examinations. If a student's reputation was tarnished, the teacher could expel him from the school.

So, regardless of whether these scholars become corrupt officials or treacherous ministers after passing the imperial examination and becoming officials, they are all of noble character before they pass the imperial examination and are assigned to official positions.

This made Liu Yuxi pick her teeth. In her imagination, the imperial examination was something she could do by studying slowly on her own, taking the exam if she could pass, and resting if she couldn't.

This situation is even more challenging than when she was in her senior year of high school! The problem is, he's already in this situation, and he has no way out.

Forget about dropping out of school; Master Zhao wouldn't allow him to do that—it would be a disgrace. Besides, he had to consider his three little ones and couldn't afford to have any stain on his reputation.

"Waaah, Xiao Liu, why didn't you tell me these things before we came?"

"Host, I've never accompanied anyone to take the imperial examinations, I don't know anything about it!"

"Tell me, what use are you anyway?"

"..."

Liu Yuxi, in a fit of impotent rage, could do nothing but complain about Xiao Liu and could only resign himself to his fate and bury himself in his studies.

Because of his fixed mindset, he had no advantage over other students except for his photographic memory, and he didn't dare to show even this one advantage.

If this were revealed, it would definitely arouse the curiosity of most people: If you have such a photographic memory, how could you not write good poetry? How come your eight-legged essays are so bad? Why are your policy essays so unimpressive?

Don't underestimate the gossip-loving nature of the ancients. In this ancient world with little entertainment, any slightly interesting news could spread throughout the entire prefecture within two days.

He had to abandon his previous laid-back attitude and spend his days shuttling between the classroom, the academy's library, various bookstores in the city, and home. His biggest gain was that the number of photocopied ancient books in her online space was increasing.