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

The grading is primarily conducted by the academic administrators, with other examiners assisting.

Of course, educational officials with family wealth could also ask their staff, who lived 500 miles away from the province, to help review the papers.

Before the official admission list is finalized, the academic affairs department has another important task.

This requires reviewing the first exam papers of the candidates who were accurately admitted as scholars (秀才) in the county and prefectural examinations, and comparing them with the exam papers in the provincial examination.

This measure is mainly to verify the handwriting on the candidates' answer sheets to prevent those who hire others to take the exams for them from being admitted as scholars.

It took Sun Xuezheng and his team of examiners and staff seven days to finish screening the papers and ranking them. Before that, they also compared the county government's exam papers with the papers.

After confirming that everything was correct, the top twenty were selected by marking and circling. These twenty people can directly become students with stipends and enjoy the benefits of such students, provided that there are enough stipends available in the local area.

If the local quota for subsidized students is full, then the student will be placed on the waiting list in order of ranking, and will be filled immediately when a vacancy becomes available.

Students receiving stipends could receive rice and silver from the imperial court. The stipends were 50 catties of rice and two taels of silver per month.

Without engaging in production, this amount of money and provisions is sufficient for a scholar's needs. However, if one wants to buy books or travel for further studies, this amount of money and provisions is certainly not enough.

The scholar also needs to find ways to earn some money, such as acting as a guarantor for students taking the imperial examinations, which can bring in tens of taels of silver every year.

Of course, there are other hidden benefits, such as exemption from taxes on a certain number of acres of land and population, and exemption from military service and corvée labor.

These are all the income and rights of a Xiucai (a scholar who passed the county-level imperial examination). A Xiucai is not as rich as a Juren (a scholar who passed the provincial-level imperial examination), but he is definitely not so poor that he can't afford to eat.

Becoming a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examinations) might be a lifelong dream for a scholar, while achieving the "Xiaosanyuan" (a top scholar in the imperial examinations) is something even a dream wouldn't dare to dream of.

Early morning, outside the examination hall.

There was no place to stand within a hundred meters of the banner.

Zhao Hongxuan generously booked the second floor of a teahouse diagonally opposite the examination hall, inviting Jiang Xiaoqi's family to drink tea and wait for the results.

Jiang Xiaoqi readily accepted the offer and brought her newly developed peach blossom cakes and pineapple cakes as tea snacks.

"Delicious! Where did you buy this? It's just as good as my cook's. I'll buy a lot to take with me before I leave the provincial capital!"

"This? I didn't buy it. I was just bored these past few days, so I made it for fun in my little kitchen."

Jiang Xiaoqi loved tinkering with food in her past life. She enjoyed baking and cooking in her spare time. In this life, she has always been very busy, working even harder than in her past life.

After finally catching my breath and relaxing after the college entrance exam, I thought of peach blossom cakes and pineapple cakes.

The main advantage is that the ingredients are simple and readily available at the time; it's a fruit that looks similar to a pineapple.

It's supposedly called udon fruit, but in his opinion, it's just a pineapple, only the name is different now than it was in ancient times.

Zhao Hongxuan choked on a peach blossom pastry, "Cough, cough, cough, you, you made this!?"

"Hmm, what's wrong? Too sweet? No, I've tasted it, it should be just right..."

"Wow, amazing! I never imagined that Mingfei is not only good at studying, but also so talented at making pastries!"

Zhao Hongxuan: He spends so much time reading every day, yet he still has the energy to research such exquisite and delicious pastries. This kid is really full of energy...

I already use up all my energy just reading and writing every day.

I simply don't have the leisure to do anything else; my favorite thing to do every day is take a nap, catch up on sleep, or take a short rest...

Looking at Jiang Mingfei, who was half a head shorter than him and two years younger, Zhao Hongxuan suddenly felt old.

Seeing the strange and awkward expression on Zhao Hongxuan's face, Tan Hao guessed that his friend was thinking about something else again.

Ignoring him, she just smiled, picked up a bright yellow pineapple cake in front of her, and took a small bite.

It's very sweet and goes well with pre-rain Longjing tea. The aroma of tea blends with the aroma of fruit, and the two flavors meet on the lips and teeth, achieving a wonderful balance.

He squinted and silently reached for the peach blossom pastry a little further away.

Yes, the fragrance of the flowers is rich, as if he were in a peach blossom forest, with the garden filled with a pleasant aroma. At this moment, he even had the urge to write a poem on the theme of peach blossoms!

Seven: You've been hooked on Cooking Master Boy!

Looking at the boy with the childish face, Tan Hao was impressed, even more so than when they recited lessons together.

More and more candidates gathered below the list of successful candidates. Jiang Xiaoqi glanced downstairs and was somewhat worried that a stampede might occur.

He felt the teahouse building sway slightly due to the people below.

Landlord Jiang noticed his grandson's nervousness and pulled him onto his lap to comfort him.

Jiang Xiaoqi felt a little embarrassed. Although this body was only six years old, she was not much younger than Landlord Jiang in both lifetimes combined.

If it weren't for their grandfather-grandson relationship, he could have called Landlord Jiang "Big Brother."

Landlord Jiang thought his grandson was too embarrassed to sit on his lap now that he was older, so he chuckled and patted his grandson's fluffy head.

Landlord Jiang: Ah~ It still feels as good as before~ Like a little raccoon.

You should masturbate more while the child is young, because you shouldn't let them do it when they grow up.

Furthermore, isn't it rather disrespectful to rub a scholar's head?

This time, all seven prefectures took the exam together, and the top scorer in the provincial examination was extremely prestigious, even comparable to the top scorer in the provincial examination.

Of course, while there is only one precious spot for the top scholar in the academy, there are more spots for the lowest-ranking scholar.

It is said that there are more than 200 slots available this time, which means that each prefecture can get about 70 or 80 slots on average.

However, this is not distributed equally according to the prefecture. How many scholars can be selected from a prefecture depends entirely on their abilities!

It could be a hundred, or a dozen. We can't get angry if there are fewer. Sigh, who told your family's students to be so disappointing?

If one truly proves capable, this scholar's spot cannot be taken away.

Downstairs, there was a great commotion. The yamen runners tore a slit in the bottom of the notice board and were able to successfully post the list of candidates who had passed the provincial examination.

Amid the pushing and shoving, no one could really see the list clearly. The list was five meters long, and the names were written as large as possible.

"If only I had a telescope right now," Jiang Xiaoqi thought silently as he leaned against the teahouse window. "A telescope isn't complicated to construct, and it doesn't seem difficult to make. The difficult part is the glass."

I've completely forgotten how glass is made; I only remember the main components.

Sigh, if only there were a transmigrator with a science and engineering background in this world, he could just buy things ready-made and use them.

There's really no need for everyone to crowd around and come see the list in person. If you've actually won, there will be messengers to announce the good news.

With the sound of gongs, the constables began to spread good news and seek blessings in all directions.

On the first floor of the teahouse, a middle-aged man set up a stool, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets, but he still couldn't get a glimpse of anything through the gaps in the sea of ​​people.

"Oh dear, Brother Liu, what's the rush? The constables have already set off with gongs banging. If you really win, someone will come to announce the good news!"

"Who's in a hurry! I'm just wondering, there are quite a few candidates taking the exam in our teahouse, why hasn't a single one come to share their good news!"

"Hey! They're here! They're coming this way!"

The yamen runners, banging gongs and drums, came joyfully toward the teahouse. The students in the teahouse immediately held their breath, eagerly awaiting the runners to stop in front of them.

The title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the imperial examinations) will be the first step for these people to embark on their official careers.