A Records Of An Alpha’s Life In Ancient Times - Chapter 9

The county exam consisted of five rounds, one round per day. Candidates entered before dawn and handed in their papers the same day. Before the sky had even brightened, many people were already lined up outside the Ritual Office of the county yamen.

For the first time in her life, Shen Qingshu held an exam basket and stood in line, looking left and right with some curiosity.

The weather in February was still very cold. The candidates all wore thick cotton-padded jackets, and most of them were young men. Shen Qingshu only saw two children around her age.

One of them was dressed like the foolish son of a landlord, wearing a brocade hat and sable fur, with all sorts of ornaments hanging from him. After he saw her, he kept grinning foolishly at her. Uh. He did not look very intelligent.

There were also several old men, their temples already graying, shivering in the cold wind while still muttering words under their breath. Shen Qingshu deeply experienced, for the first time, the attraction of the imperial examinations.

When entering the examination site, “searchers” inspected the exam baskets and the candidates’ entire bodies to prevent any hidden notes. The county exam was not too strict yet; they only needed to remove their outer cotton-padded jackets for inspection.

Very soon, it was Shen Qingshu’s turn. She handed her exam basket to the searcher and slowly began taking off her cotton-padded jacket. At the same time, she carefully released her mental power and took control of that area.

The exam basket had been prepared by her cousin-uncle Shen Kanzhe. Apart from brushes, ink, inkstone, and other tools, there was only a pot of plain boiled water and a packet of pastries. Shen Qingshu watched helplessly as those pastries were broken open and inspected, secretly thinking she had miscalculated.

The searcher then groped over her body for a while and found no problems, soon letting her pass.

Shen Qingshu tiredly put her cotton-padded jacket back on. Not only was she not shivering from the cold like the others, a thin layer of sweat had even appeared on her forehead.

Just now, she had used her mental power to distort the perception in that area. It looked like the searcher was inspecting her, but in reality, he was inspecting the human-shaped air beside her.

No matter what, she had passed. Shen Qingshu’s suspended heart settled, and she secretly let out a breath of relief. She found a corner in the exam site, closed her eyes, and rested to recover the mental energy she had consumed.

After all the candidates had entered, and after a series of pre-exam procedures such as offering incense, the candidates were called one by one to the central hall to receive their papers. When receiving the paper, one also had to loudly announce which stipend student had vouched for them, and that stipend student would then confirm the candidate’s identity.

This was also a method of preventing impersonation. Five candidates sitting the exam together had to mutually guarantee one another, and a stipend student from the county also had to stand as guarantor. If cheating appeared, they would all be implicated.

The Shen family was also a large household in Tangshan County. Arranging guarantors for Shen Qingshu was naturally a trivial matter.

Shen Qingshu received her paper and found her examination cell. The cells were rows of small rooms facing south. To prevent cheating, they were built extremely low, and the space was very narrow. She estimated it was only a little more than one square meter.

Inside the cell were two movable wooden planks, one higher and one lower. During the day, they could be used as a desk and chair. At night, they could be taken down and placed together to form a bed.

She had already mentally prepared herself for how terrible the examination environment would be, but now that she had seen it in person, she felt it was a little better than she had expected.

Thanks to Great Yan currently being at the height of its national strength, the repair work on the examination cells had been done quite well. There were no damaged areas, the floor was paved with good green bricks, and there was no dust or strange smell.

The sky had not brightened yet, so Shen Qingshu was not in a hurry to answer questions. She put down the paper and sat with her eyes closed, working hard to recover her mental power.

Only after the sun rose did she arrange her writing materials. She breathed warm air over her hands, rubbed her stiff, frozen fingers, and began grinding ink. As she ground the ink, she looked over the paper.

The first round tested the classics by fill-in recall. The content was relatively simple. The question would randomly select a sentence from the Four Books, and based on that sentence, the candidate had to write out the entire passage from memory. What it tested was rote memorization.

There were more than ten answer sheets, with squares marked out in red lines. Each page had twelve lines, and each line had twenty characters. The amount was quite large. Apart from those, they had also been issued some blank draft paper.

Shen Qingshu first wrote down what she remembered on the draft paper. For the rest, she used her mental power to search through her stored memory.

There was no way around it. In one year, she had to understand the meanings of the classics, learn to write poetry, and write miscellaneous essays. She really could not memorize these several hundred thousand characters of classical meaning.

This could also be considered a form of cheating. However, the original owner had memorized it all, so she could also treat it as having inherited the original owner’s memories. Shen Qingshu comforted herself inwardly like this.

After looking up all the answers, she copied them one by one onto the answer sheets. By the time she finished, it was probably already noon, and her stomach began rumbling.

Shen Qingshu drank two mouthfuls of water, glanced at the pastries that had been broken into tiny pieces, and could not help twitching the corners of her mouth. She really could not bring herself to eat them. Who knew whether that searcher had washed his hands?

She carefully checked the exam paper again and found no mistakes or omissions, so she simply raised her hand and handed in her paper early.

When she handed it in, the examiner looked at her with some curiosity, perhaps because she was too young.

On the second day, when entering the site, Shen Qingshu learned from yesterday’s lesson and brought a packet of thinly sliced roast duck meat. At one glance, it clearly could not hide any notes, so the searcher only shook it casually a few times before letting it pass.

Today’s exam was still fill-in recall of the classics, only two more classics had been added to the scope. Shen Qingshu finished it just as easily.

The third round tested explanations of meaning, requiring one to explain the meaning of each sentence. It was similar to defining terms. In essence, it was still part of the memorization stage.

The fourth round tested both fill-in recall and explanations of meaning together. The scope was broader and more difficult. The fifth round added a miscellaneous essay and a five-character regulated poem on top of those two.

The miscellaneous essay was somewhat similar to reading comprehension in later generations. One had to write one’s own reflections based on the topic, with no fewer than three hundred characters and no more than seven hundred.

This was not difficult for Shen Qingshu. She was not afraid of writing essays. It was the poem that gave her trouble. The required topic was “farewell,” and she thought so hard her head nearly went bald before finally producing one that was barely passable.

After all five rounds were completed, Shen Qingshu roughly had a sense of how she had done. With mental power as her cheat tool, she could basically guarantee accuracy. Her handwriting was also good. Even if her miscellaneous essay and poetry did not please the chief examiner, she should still pass.

The county exam was relatively small in scale, and results were released quickly. In only three days, the list had already been posted. Nearly five hundred people had taken the exam this time, and around only five percent would be admitted.

Fu An went to look at the list while Shen Qingshu waited at the residence. Although she was confident, when it came down to the moment, she could not avoid feeling somewhat uneasy.

“Young Master, you passed! You passed! You’re the top scorer in the county exam!”

From far away, Fu An’s excited voice could already be heard.

She passed?

Shen Qingshu let out a breath, and an enormous joy surged in her heart.

In her previous life, she had not been this excited even when she got into university, because in the future world, there were many paths one could take. A person’s life would not be turned upside down because of a single exam.

But in ancient times, the imperial examinations truly meant one step to heaven or one step to earth. As long as you passed, it was like a carp leaping over the dragon gate. Your entire life would become different.

At last, she understood why so many people rushed forward on this road, one after another.

Fu An ran into the main hall and repeated it again, his face full of excitement.

Old Master Shen happily slapped the table. “Good! My Shen family has produced a qilin child. Rewards for everyone!”

“Qingshu, congratulations. Top scorer in the county exam. Being a tongsheng is already certain.” Shen Kanzhe also smiled as he congratulated her. He had no talent for studying and followed his father in business instead. For Shen Qingshu to have prospects was also a good thing for their family.

Although getting first place was a pleasant surprise, it was not too far outside Shen Qingshu’s expectations either. She cupped her hands modestly. “Thank you, Little Uncle.”

Shen Kanzhe smiled broadly. “This is a good thing. I must issue an extra month’s wages to everyone in the residence to celebrate.”

After chatting a few more words, Old Master Shen reminded her, “Qingshu, don’t become arrogant or complacent. You still have to continue working hard.”

Shen Qingshu said respectfully, “Yes. This grandnephew will remember.”

Steward Liu took a step forward and reminded her, “Young Master, shouldn’t you also send word to inform the Old Madam?”

“Right. I nearly forgot. Send a message to the count’s estate immediately.” After the letter arrived, her mother should feel much more at ease.

This exam had given her another layer of protection. Her identity would become even more concealed. Who would suspect someone who had taken part in the imperial examinations?

The county exam was over, but Shen Qingshu’s path through the imperial examinations was still long and far away.

In early April, Shen Qingshu bade farewell to her granduncle’s family and headed to the prefectural city to participate in the prefectural exam.

Speaking of these three exams, they were held respectively in the county seat, the prefectural city, and the provincial capital. Under ancient transportation conditions, if one’s family did not have some money, they probably could not even gather enough for travel expenses, let alone lodging and food.

No wonder it was said that it was difficult for noble sons to emerge from poor families.

Suzhou Prefecture governed five counties, and those taking part in the prefectural exam were the candidates admitted in each county’s county exam this time, around one hundred and fifty people in total. Only one-third would be admitted.

Even though not many people in ancient times were literate, this admission rate was still outrageously low. An entire city admitted only this many people. It was far harder than the college entrance exam.

The prefectural exam consisted of three rounds. The content was about the same as the county exam, just somewhat more difficult. On the basis of the county exam, another portion of people had to be eliminated.

Shen Qingshu noticed that quite a few of those admitted in the county exam were middle-aged or elderly. They had spent more than half their lives repeatedly studying these few books, poring over the classics until their hair turned white. Sometimes, young people really could not beat them.

However, to still be taking the prefectural exam at this age—truthfully, this was basically as far as they would go. They generally would not be able to enter officialdom.

As the top scorer in the county exam, Shen Qingshu still received some attention, especially from the students of Tangshan County. Most of them had never seen this top scorer show her face.

They heard she was a descendant who had returned from the capital, and as soon as she returned, she took one of their spots. Many people hated her so much their teeth itched. At the same time, they felt deeply helpless. How could the educational resources of a small county town compare with those of the capital?

Regarding this, Shen Qingshu also felt very apologetic. She wanted to take the exam in the capital too and avoid all this tiring travel, but policy did not allow it.

Among the few county top scorers, she was the youngest. Shen Qingshu estimated inwardly that perhaps the top scorer of the prefectural exam would also be her.

After all, achieving the Little Three Yuan and producing child prodigies were both political achievements. Under circumstances where the candidates’ results were about the same, examiners would usually be willing to make it happen.

Who would have known that when the results came out, she was only third, leaving Shen Qingshu somewhat depressed. She guessed it was because her poem had not been well written, and she had just happened to encounter a rigid examiner.

Her beautiful fantasy of winning the Little Three Yuan was shattered. Shen Qingshu still had to work hard to fight for the top scorer position in the academy exam. If she obtained that, it basically meant she would certainly pass the provincial exam and become a juren.

On top of the prefectural exam’s content, the academy exam added mathematics, which made up about twenty percent of the score. This was Shen Qingshu’s advantage, so she was very confident.

She only hoped the questions would be as difficult as possible.

In May, Shen Qingshu traveled once again to Chuzhou Prefecture, the capital of Jiangnan Province. There, she rented a small courtyard and settled down to prepare for the academy exam in August.

Other people took care of all miscellaneous matters. She only needed to focus on studying.

In June, as the weather gradually grew hot, Shen Qingshu was reading with a stifled heart when she suddenly remembered that Chuzhou was only a few days’ journey from Suzhou Prefecture, where Lord Lin had taken office.