Female Supremacy and Rise to Power: Lin Shu's Imperial Examination Adventures

The prefectural examination was held on the ninth day of the fourth lunar month.

To ensure fairness and prevent cheating, examinations at the prefectural level and above not only required verification of the kinship certificates but also required five guarantors to cross-verify the identities of the candidates. If any falsification was found, all five guarantors would be held jointly liable. In addition, a student from the provincial examination was required to act as guarantor.

Lin Shu, Li Yun'er, and three students from Shangyang Academy led by Du Ziqi formed a guarantorship agreement.

Lin Shu lived quite far away. When Xue Wen and the others saw her off, it was still early, and it was pitch black outside. Only the lanterns on the carriage emitted a faint yellow light.

As they approached the examination hall, they saw a cacophony of voices and sounds of carriages and horses, and the road was dotted with lights. This showed that the county examination was nothing compared to the prefectural examination.

The prefectural examination was quite rigorous. At 1:15 a.m., the examination hall opened, and thousands of candidates underwent preliminary examinations in turn.

It took the crowd a long time to squeeze their way out of the examination hall. They handed in their testimonies and waited for the female yamen runner to call out their names... After she and the other four had their names called, she asked, "Who is acting as guarantor?"

Du Ziqi rose and bowed, saying, "I, Du Ziqi, will act as guarantor."

After he finished speaking, and after the yamen runners had recorded the information and confirmed that there were no problems, they were dispersed.

Led by four lantern-bearing constables, the group entered four examination rooms. After being searched by soldiers at the entrance, they were finally allowed to enter the examination rooms. They found their seats according to their examination permits. In this examination, candidates were not allowed to bring any items except their examination permits. Pens, ink, and special paper were provided by the examination room.

The examination consisted of three parts: Classical Texts, Miscellaneous Essays, and Policy Essays. These tested memorization, literary skills, and political views and current affairs, respectively. A total of two hundred people were admitted, divided into two grades, A and B, with the top ten being grade A. The first two parts were held one day each, while the third part, Policy Essays, was held over two days. Blankets were provided for sleeping overnight, and each candidate was separated and occupied their own space.

Students can rest three times a day. Food and water will be brought to them, and someone will guide and supervise them if they need to use the restroom. At dusk, candidates begin to hand in their papers. They only need to pull a small bell, and two people will come to annotate their names, put the papers into a special box, and collect all their belongings, after which the candidates can leave.

Lin Shu found her cell; the location wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either.

The exam questions were quickly distributed: one from the Four Books, one from the Five Classics, and one policy essay.

The preceding arguments were all simple, but the last one was the main one: "The north is suffering from drought and the south from floods, and the people are living in misery. However, the national treasury is empty. What can be done?"

The prefectural examination unexpectedly included a question about people's livelihood, something that should have been within the scope of the provincial examination. Lin Shu carefully considered it. Since it had been included, it certainly didn't want the students to be merely theoretical. Lin Shu used the knowledge she had learned in her previous life, combined with the actual situation in Fengming Kingdom, and began to write:

As the ancients said: Drought is a disaster, but there are still many places that can escape it. However, extreme drought can lead to locusts. Over thousands of miles, all grass and trees are wiped out, and even horses, banners, and flags are destroyed. The damage is even more severe than that caused by drought... In short, it can be summed up in two words: "prevention" and "treatment".

If drought or flood does not occur, the following preventative measures can be taken:

……

In the event of drought or flood, prevention and control measures can be implemented in the following four ways:

1. After a drought, locusts will inevitably appear. You can crush the fruit or leaves of the chinaberry tree, add water and boil them, then spray the boiled liquid on the plants to effectively drive away and kill the locusts.

Second, locusts are edible and highly nutritious, and can be used to temporarily alleviate the hunger and thirst of refugees displaced by droughts and floods.

Third, floods can be mitigated by digging ditches and building dikes for flood discharge, and the South-to-North Water Diversion Project can conveniently solve the drought in the north...

IV. When the national treasury is empty, grain can be stored during bumper years and released during famine years. Waterwheels can be built to increase grain production (waterwheel design drawings attached)...

Finally, Lin Shu also attached a rough design drawing of the waterwheel. After all, she was not a professional and just drew it according to her memory. The Ministry of Works would have to put it into practice.

……

In the blink of an eye, the three rounds of the prefectural examination were over. Lin Shu was exhausted these past few days and went back to catch up on her sleep for two days.

Unbeknownst to her, she had just caused a huge uproar at the examination hall. Besides the prefect, two other supervising examiners were also in charge of the examination. At this moment, one of the supervising examiners stood up excitedly, clapping his hands in admiration:

"Wonderful! Absolutely brilliant! This student is truly a prodigy!"

The other two also came over, and after the other supervisor finished reading, he nodded and said, "This paper deserves to be ranked first."

Prefect Qiu was somewhat displeased. She had already made arrangements for the top spot, so she held up one of the exam papers and said, "I believe this paper deserves the top spot."

"Oh?" The two supervisors thought there was something better, so they took it and looked at it. Their expressions were a little puzzled. In the end, they still said the truth: "In our opinion, this scroll is slightly inferior to the previous one. Although the words are gorgeous, it is ultimately just empty talk."

Ignoring Prefect Qiu's dark face, he continued, "This student has written down every rule in detail. Although he has not put it into practice, his reasoning is clear and his work is truly remarkable. I will submit this paper to the Imperial Academy for filing."

Hearing her say that, what could Prefect Qiu say but agree with a dark face?

……

Ten days later, the yamen (government office) released the case.

Li Yun'er went to check the list early in the morning, but Lin Shu didn't go because there were too many people today and Lin Shu didn't want to go out.

When she arrived, the list had just been posted.

Immediately, the area in front of the government office was surrounded by layers upon layers of people, even more so than during the county examination. Fortunately, Li Yun'er had brought a muscular maid with her, who used all her strength to squeeze in, causing chaos and complaints among the people around her.

Finally squeezing inside, she looked up and saw her name. She burst into laughter, attracting the attention of those around her who kept asking, "Did this young lady pass the exam?"

"Of course, hahaha." Li Yun'er looked smug, making everyone around her grit their teeth in envy.

Just as she continued searching for Lin Shu's name, another yamen runner brought over a bright red list. This was the top list, which included the top ten candidates in this prefectural examination. Li Yun'er ignored it and continued searching for Lin Shu's name.

Suddenly someone shouted, "Lin Shu? The top scholar is Lin Shu? Not Jiang Ci? Who is this Lin Shu? I've never heard of her before."

With her exclamation, everyone's gaze fell upon the two characters "Lin Shu" on the long table. Li Yun'er rushed over upon hearing this, and after recognizing the name, she laughed so hard she almost fell over: "Hahahaha, this is my sister, my sister..."

Then, amidst the envious gazes of the crowd, he strode away...

On Lin Shu's side, the yamen runners who came to announce the good news arrived. At this moment, they were banging gongs and drums and singing: "Congratulations to Lady Lin Shu for achieving the top score in the prefectural examination!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Shu, Xue Wen, and the others hurried to the door. After hearing a few auspicious words from the yamen runner who brought the good news, he handed over the prepared money to them and said, "Ladies, come in and have a cup of tea before you leave."

"Young master, please don't refuse. We still have to go to other places to deliver good news, so we won't stay any longer," the constable said.

Xue Wen didn't linger. He and Su Mu happily saw them off, exchanged a few pleasantries with the neighbors, and then came inside.

Lin Shu looked at Xue Wen, who seemed excited and at a loss for what to do, and found it somewhat amusing: "Why is Father more nervous than I am?"

Xue Wen smiled sheepishly.

Just then, Li Yun'er arrived and started exclaiming before even entering the door, "Lin Shu, sister, you're amazing..."

……

At dinner, the Lin family sat around the table. After everyone had eaten their fill, Lin Shu considered for a moment and then spoke:

"Two days later, I intend to go to the Li family to propose marriage."

Everyone except Su Mu was stunned.

The two elders of the Song family had already gone back to their rooms to rest long before Lin Shu mentioned the marriage proposal.

Xue Wen pondered for a moment, but did not object, only saying, "It's fine as long as Shu'er decides."

Su Mu did not object. He already knew about this matter, and the young master of the Li family had a gentle personality and was easy to get along with. In the future, the wife would definitely not only be him and Song Yun.

Song Yun glanced at Xue Wen, then at Su Mu, and lowered his head in acquiescence. However, what he was thinking was:

[They're consummating their marriage tonight.]

-