After being reborn as a man, the woman improved her family's fortunes through education.

The day after they settled into their newly purchased house near the Imperial Examination Hall, Tan Hao and Zhao Hongxuan went out.

Jiang Xiaoqi lived in the backyard with his grandfather and father, so naturally he didn't know about the front yard.

At this moment, the three of them were doing their final "sharpening," since the provincial examination included not only the Four Books and Five Classics, poetry and prose, policy essays, and mathematics, but also regulated verse, which none of them were particularly good at.

Candidates taking the college entrance examination had to memorize more than 40 characters from the Analects, Mencius, the Book of Poetry, the Book of Rites, and Zuo Zhuan, all of which they had to read carefully and memorize thoroughly.

In addition, test takers must read several times the amount of footnotes as the original text, as well as other essential classics, historical books, and literary works.

There are four subjects in total: books, poems, essays, and rhapsodies, namely, the eight-legged essay, the examination poem, the classics, and the regulated rhapsody.

The topics for the eight-legged essay were mainly taken from the Four Books: The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects, and Mencius.

The examination poem is a type of poetry in which an ancient poem or idiom is used as the topic for the examination, and a specific rhyme scheme is required. The poem is to be written in praise of the government.

After the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it did not pay much attention to mathematics at first, but in recent years it has gradually increased the proportion of mathematics questions in the imperial examinations.

This is why Jiang Xiaoqi focused on teaching his grandfather the most advanced formulas, since Jiang the landlord was the only one among the three present who was a former scholar from the previous dynasty.

Thirty years ago, when Landlord Jiang passed the imperial examination, the new dynasty had not yet been established, the old dynasty was in turmoil, and did not attach importance to the imperial examination.

After passing the preliminary examination, Landlord Jiang had no interest in continuing to take the exam. His primary concern at that time was to protect his family's property and make a living.

Unlike Jiang Wenqing, who was not ambitious enough, the era in which Jiang the landlord lived was one where the court was incompetent and the social environment was unfavorable; personal reasons were the least significant factor.

As evening approached, Tan Hao and Zhao Hongxuan finally returned to their newly purchased house. The two hadn't come back for lunch, and only then did the three members of the Jiang family find out that the two had gone out.

I saw the two of them at dinner but didn't ask them anything. It's their private matter, so I shouldn't pry or be curious.

"Sigh, Hao, let's look again tomorrow."

"I didn't expect it to be this difficult. We had already agreed on things when we set off from Xinghe Prefecture. How could things change?"

"Alright, they're all unreliable. Even without Butcher Zhang, we can't eat pork with hair on? We've got Mingfei now, a stroke of luck amidst misfortune."

"Yes, we're two short now. These past few days we've been studying at night and going out a little earlier in the day to stake out the city gates and see if there are any lone students."

Jiang Xiaoqi seemed to, probably, possibly know what they were talking about, but still wanted the two of them to hurry up a bit more.

Cough cough, I have a bit of a bad sense of humor. I can't be so mean. I'm over forty years old in both my past and present lives. I shouldn't be bullying two kids.

While eating, Landlord Jiang and Jiang Wenqing were silently reciting the books they were somewhat unfamiliar with. Their minds and ears were not on the table, so they naturally did not notice the conversation between Tan and Zhao.

After the meal, as everyone was about to leave, Jiang Xiaoqi called out to Tan and Zhao.

"Please wait a moment, gentlemen. If I may ask, why are you going out again tomorrow? To pick up people?"

The two stopped and turned to look at Jiang Xiaoqi.

"Sigh, you know that the academy exam requires five people to team up, right?"

"I know, but what does that have to do with you going out tomorrow?" Jiang Xiaoqi said calmly.

Zhao Hongxuan gave him a look that said, "You've gone mad from reading too much!" He continued, "We have a few students here, count them carefully, there are three!"

Where are the other two to find? Are we supposed to just wait at the city gate, or put up a notice?

"Oh, I see. Why didn't you find partners beforehand? You're only scrambling now that it's almost time to go into battle."

"Originally, there was no rush. Of the people we agreed to meet in the prefectural city, one of them suddenly dropped out of the exam, and the remaining two were dragged away by their fellow villagers, leaving us standing them up."

Zhao Hongxuan's sullen expression finally seemed more in line with his age.

With a "pfft," Jiang Xiaoqi couldn't hold back any longer; her self-control was still lacking, and she broke down prematurely.

Jiang Wenqing and Landlord Jiang finally had a chance to chime in.

"Um... you two don't really need to rush," Jiang Wenqing said weakly.

The two of them turned to look at Jiang Wenqing, who was focused on cooking, their eyes filled with questions.

“Ahem, it’s just five people forming a bond, why bother going out to ask others for help?” Landlord Jiang chimed in.

The two then turned to Landlord Jiang, "Um, Grandpa Jiang, you may not know, but even the academy examination requires five people to form a bond."

The five students needed to find a government-subsidized student to act as their guarantor, and the government would also assign a government-subsidized student; this process was called "assigning a guarantor."

"We've already found suitable students, but we're short two people to pair up with. We're not asking for favors, we're just looking for any other students who don't have a partner yet, so they can keep us company," Tan Hao explained patiently.

"Oh, I see. But can you really trust the person you found on short notice?" Jiang Xiaoqi pressed.

"Sigh, what time is it? Besides, my men will investigate."

"Mingfei, stop being naughty, tell them!" When Landlord Jiang spoke, Jiang Xiaoqi naturally had to listen.

"Ahem, well, we have enough people, we don't need to look for more outside."

"Enough people? Mingfei, can't you count? 1, 2, 3, three people, how is that enough?"

"Wait a minute, Mingfei, you mean... it can't be, really? Is that so?"

Tan Hao finally came to his senses, his eyes still filled with surprise and disbelief.

"Hey, hey, hey, what kind of riddles are you playing? Don't leave me the only one in the dark!" Zhao Hongxuan said anxiously.

"Ah Xuan, we really don't need to go to such lengths. The other two students are right here, even though they're far away!"

Jiang Wenqing straightened up, and Landlord Jiang dusted off imaginary dust from his body.

Could you please help me rate this? I'm about to take a book test and try to climb the rankings! Thank you all in advance! (The main text has reached the word limit, so this part does not count towards the main text word limit.)

(?? ? 3?) Chu?????