Xu Huaqian went to the examination hall with the other four.
Along the way, Pei Wangshu had even loitered outside Xu Huaqian's door, hoping to catch a glimpse of his husband when he came out to see him off.
Little did he know that Xu Huaqian had already spotted him prowling outside. The moment he stepped out, he shut the door lightning-fast, instructed Chen Liejiu inside to lock it, and simply refused to let him see.
"You're way too stingy!" Pei Wangshu complained about Xu Huaqian the entire way to the examination hall.
Two days.
They had been staying at the same inn for two days, and he hadn't even caught a shadow of Xu Huaqian's husband. It was utterly tantalizing.
Even if he was ugly, so what? He wasn't his husband—what was the harm in satisfying his curiosity?
Their dynasty wasn't like the previous one, where women and men weren't allowed to meet outside men.
Xu Huaqian remained unmoved: "I'm doing this for your own good. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'd be too distracted to focus on the exams after seeing him."
Pei Wangshu looked utterly skeptical. Was it really that exaggerated?
"Don't worry, Senior Brother." Stirred by Pei Wangshu's antics, Zhang Bingwen, also curious, chimed in. "Even if he saw him, he wouldn't pass anyway!"
"Who says? Maybe I'll get lucky like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead rat and pass?" Pei Wangshu saying his words, unconvinced . He could be incapable, but he couldn't stand being told he was incapable.
"You said yourself you're blind." Zhang Bingwen looked up at him. "How can a blind person pass?"
Pei Wangshu looked down at Zhang Bingwen, who only came up to his chest. "Still better than a shorty like you who jumps around!"
"At least I made it into Class C! What skills do you have—" Zhang Bingwen hated it when people brought up his height. He was about to jump up and argue when Duan Youyan, who had been nervously reciting texts the whole way, interrupted: "If you used this time joking around to study more, you'd pass anything!"
Actually, their banter was also a way to ease tension. This was their first time taking the prefectural exam. They knew nothing about it. While they said they were just trying it out, secretly they all hoped to pass on their first attempt.
Especially Xu Huaqian. He came with the mindset that he must pass this year. To let his body adapt to the harsh conditions of the examination cells in advance, he hadn't chosen to come to the prefectural city early like the others to prepare. Instead, he had jolted all the way from Xinghua Village here, precisely to avoid letting his sickly body get too comfortable and relaxed, lest he become unaccustomed to the exam environment all at once.
Duan Youyan was no different. In truth, he didn't like the imperial exams at all. But he had such a husband—he had to take the exams, whether he wanted to or not! Since he had to take them, he hoped to pass early, give his family an account, and then he wanted to go do what he truly loved.
Thinking of this, Duan Youyan looked at his hands. Would he still be able to diagnose pulses and perform acupuncture when he picked up medicine again?
Zhang Bingwen seemed young, but the burden on his shoulders was also heavy. His grandfather had projected all his own regrets about not taking the exams in his youth onto him, hoping he could fulfill them. And he didn't want to let his grandfather down either.
Pei Wangshu seemed frivolous, as if the exams didn't matter to him and passing or failing was irrelevant. But as someone naturally undisciplined, he was inherently ill-suited to the atmosphere of exam halls. The closer he got, the more panicked he felt.
Among them, only Meng Fangxun was the most composed. Yesterday, he had been holding his books with a nervous air of not wanting any complications. Today, it was as if he were a different person—calm and collected as he walked toward the exam hall, with the demeanor of someone not going to take an exam but merely stepping out to buy groceries easily before returning.
Xu Huaqian watched him with admiration. Indeed, a top student was a top student—always different from ordinary people.
Meng Fangxun walked for a while but didn't hear the usual banter from the group. The silence was a bit excessive. He turned around and saw them all looking at him with admiration. He shrugged: "Why are you looking at me? If you don't work hard usually, you'll naturally panic on site."
"I've learned everything I needed to learn ordinarily. The knowledge is in my head—no one can steal it. Now that it's time to use it, shouldn't I be happy?" Meng Fangxun might be poor, but he had confidence in himself.
He didn't think he would fail—it was just a matter of ranking.
Yong'an Prefecture governed twelve counties. Among the students from five counties, his results were already top-notch. If even he couldn't pass, probably few in the entire academy would. However, students from other counties couldn't be ignored either.
Especially those from the Qixian Academy, formed by the seven counties north of Yong'an Prefecture. He heard they had an outstanding candidate named Zhong Yichen.
Looking at it that way, his position in the top three might be threatened? Hmm, then he should indeed be a bit nervous.
Fortunately, Xu Huaqian and the others didn't know his thoughts, otherwise they would surely despise him. Being able to pass was good enough—what more did he want with rankings!
To prevent cheating, the examination hall only allowed candidates to bring their own ink, brushes, paper, and inkstones. Everything else was provided by the exam authorities.
So, apart from his small satchel, Xu Huaqian brought nothing else. Inside the satchel, besides his usual writing tools and a few strings of copper coins, there was nothing else.
Upon entering the examination hall, the inspectors at the gate checked his satchel inside and out, including the seams, confirming there were no hidden cheat sheets or other prohibited items, before allowing them to enter.
After passing the first checkpoint, the five of them lined up inside the examination hall, waiting for the officials at the second station to verify their registered residence, mutual guarantees, and personal guarantees one final time. Only after confirmation would they be allowed to proceed.
Looking at all these layers of inspection, Xu Huaqian thought to himself: It's so strict. Could it be that they'll even strip-search us later?
His wife hadn't even seen his body yet, and he had to show it to strangers first.
Xu Huaqian merely thought about it for a moment, then shook his head and quickly clutched the clothes at his chest. No, no, absolutely no undressing.
Fortunately, the above scenario was just Xu Huaqian's personal imagination. In reality, strip searches were too humiliating and had long been abolished. The current inspection procedures at the examination hall were much more normal, though still not easy.
Not only did the mutually guaranteed candidates and the licensed scholars who provided their guarantees need to be present, but for students like Xu Huaqian and his group from an academy, their teacher also had to confirm they were indeed students of the academy before they were allowed to pass.
The licensed scholar who provided their guarantee was a Class B student named Wu Guiyuan, arranged by their teacher. The teacher confirming their identity was Li Jinren, the very same Teacher Li who had once fainted from anger because of Xu Huaqian.
When it was their turn, the official first verified their personal details and registered residences, then confirmed with Wu Guiyuan and Teacher Li that everything was correct. He then struck a copper gong and announced: "Qinglian Academy, Xu Huaqian, Meng Fangxun, Pei Wangshu, Zhang Bingwen, Duan Youyan, proceed for routine inspection."
His shout attracted the attention of everyone nearby, for no other reason than that their group included Meng Fangxun.
Then the crowd erupted into discussion: "What?! Meng Fangxun from Qinglian Academy is also taking the exam this year?"
"Doesn't that mean he'll be up against Zhong Yichen from Qixian Academy?"
"Zhong Yichen has already declared he will take the top spot this year. With Meng Fangxun here, isn't that uncertain now?"
"Not necessarily. The Tongsheng class at Qinglian Academy is loosely supervised by the teachers, while Qixian Academy's Tongsheng class undergoes special training every year. Don't you see that every year when the results are posted, the most successful candidates are from Qixian Academy?"
"But this Meng Fangxun isn't bad either! Remember when his exam essay from the Tongsheng exam came out, people from Qinglian and Qixian Academies almost fought like dogs over him!"
"And Zhong Yichen is the personally selected disciple taken in his old age by the head of Qixian Academy. I heard he could compose poetry at seven, passed the Tongsheng exam at ten, and is only sixteen this year. Meng Fangxun is already nineteen!"
"Maybe it's just boasting. We've all read Meng Fangxun's essays, but we haven't even heard of Zhong Yichen's poetry—"
Just as he was getting carried away, someone pulled his sleeve: "Stop talking! The Qixian Academy group is entering, and Zhong Yichen is among them."
Many from Qixian Academy were wearing their academy's distinctive "Seven Sages" robes today—tie-dyed in seven shades of blue: indigo, deep blue, purple-blue, azure, light blue, pale blue, etc.—making them very eye-catching.
In essence, from a distance, they looked like a mass of green; up close, oh, it's actually a riot of colorful greens!
When Xu Huaqian first entered the examination hall, he had noticed this group. He had wondered, where did this bunch of little green people come from? Now, hearing the discussions, he understood—oh, they're the little green people from Qixian Academy.
But why hadn't he heard that Meng Fangxun was so famous?
How long had Xu Huaqian been in this world? Only a little over four months. He had been holed up in Xinghua Village and the academy, studying hard, completely cut off from outside news. If he had come to the prefectural city a few days earlier, he might have picked up gossip about other candidates at the inn. Unfortunately, by the time he arrived, candidates who had been relaxing had all withdrawn, tightening their focus on preparing for today's exam, and were no longer being vocal.
So he was only surprised upon hearing Meng Fangxun's name now.