Chapter 121

In the whole morning, Xu Ran and Du Xin only went to the clinic and didn’t read any books. Lin Hua and Zhao Chen, however, didn’t even go out at all. As it was too hot in the afternoon, they said that they would wait until it was getting dark to go out and have a look. By the way, they would also go to see the place where they were to take the test, otherwise they wouldn’t know where they would have their test.

In the afternoon, Xu Ran got up after a good nap. He found the sky outside was suffused with crimson. It seemed that tomorrow would be another sunny day!

No one knew when Du Xin got up. At the moment, he was concentrating on his reading. Xu Ran didn’t disturb him. He went downstairs to ask the waiter for water to wash his face.

Lin Hua and Zhao Chen were chatting in the lobby downstairs. In front of them was a plate of peanuts, a dish of beef and a pot of wine. As for their carter, he was not there. Anyway, Xu Ran didn’t see him present.

Xu Ran went up to them, sat down by Lin Hua’s side, picked up a piece of beef, stuffed it into his mouth and then asked, “Weren’t you sleeping? Did you just sit here for the whole afternoon?

Lin Hua shook his head and replied, “We didn’t get up until noon today. Can we go on to sleep in the afternoon? Do you think we are pigs?”

Xu Ran exuded an air of ‘ You guys, don’t suppose I don’t know what you did last night!’ while replying, “Then you guys didn’t go out today?”

Lin Hua asked the waiter for a cup and poured some wine for Xu Ran, “It is so burning hot that if we go out this time, we will definitely be badly sunburned. Besides, we have to go out at night. It’s good for us to sit and chat like this.”

Zhao Chen nodded in agreement.

Xu Ran pursed his lips, “Alright, let’s get some food first. We’ll go around after eating. It should be very lively tonight. After all, there are a lot of candidates for the test.”

“Okay, go and call Du Xin downstairs then!”

“Alright,” Xu Ran stuffed another piece of beef into his mouth and went upstairs to call Du Xin.

By the time supper was ready, the carter came out of nowhere and ate with them. They didn’t have any sense of hierarchy. They thought that more people eating together meant that they could eat more food.

After dinner, the group started to case the test premises.

The test was to held in the largest academy in Qingzhou County, called Yue Lin Academy. It was said that many Zhuangyuan (the title given to the scholar who achieved the highest score on highest level of the Imperial examination) had appeared in this academy and some people had even sent their sons to this academy from afar.

Xu Ran went to take a look inside the academy. The academy was exquisitely built. It was not only large, but also looked spectacular. It must have cost a lot of effort and money to build it, which now could be considered as a scene in Qingzhou County.

Because of the autumn test, the academy started a holiday a few days ago. The students would not come for their classes until after the autumn test. Xu Ran suddenly felt eager to meet the students in the academy. His expectancy was the same as that of the modern people who wanted to see the excellent students from Tsinghua University or Peking University.

After circling around the academy, they were pleased and left for somewhere else to enjoy themselves.

The night in Qingzhou County was also very lively. The lights were bright, and the sound of touting was no less than that during the day time. Because of the hot weather, many people came out to enjoy the cooler air. The streets were thus quite humming with life.

Of course, the most crowded place was Green Willow Alley. There, some pretty young Ge’ers were standing at the gate of their shops, wearing a light gauze and smiling sweetly to attract customers.

However, several of them were all married, so they didn’t have the mind to go inside for fun. Plus, they were all candidates. If they indeed went into Green Willow Alley, their reputation would be different when they came out.

There were also jugglers in the street. They spit fire from their mouths, played monkeys or broke stones on their chests. Although the games were simple and there were few tricks actually, still many people applauded their performances. Nowadays, these people didn’t have much fun in their life, and it was rare for them to see such a lively scene, so they wouldn’t miss it.

Among the crowd of people there, Xu Ran and the others also gave the jugglers a few coins as a tip. After watching for a while, they wandered to another place. Tonight, they enjoyed the night view of Qingzhou County.

Because three of them had to go to the test the next day, they didn’t play too late. When the moon came out, they all went back to their inn to sleep.

…

The next day, it was another bustling day. Candidates from all over the country rushed to Yue Lin Academy.

The Autumn Test was held on the basis of the Spring Test. As long as one passed the county test, he could participate in the Autumn Test. Every place would send a list of relative names that had passed the county Test. As long as the candidate did not tell that he would not participate in the Autumn Test, he would be tacitly accepted as participating.

The Autumn Test was held once every three years. Generally, it was only the examination for Xiucai and Gongshi（successful candidates of the imperial examination at the country level), and after which, it was the Hall Test. After passing the Hall Test, the top few candidates were like the golden Phoenixes flying out of the chickens’ nest.

The Spring Test was the first test for pupils, after passing which they could go for further tests for Juren and Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). It was also held once every three years. Therefore, if one wanted to enter the Hall Test, he would have to spent at least nine years. He should pass all these tests for once and once he passed all the tests, his best years of life were to come.

Every dynasty had its rule. Unless someone changed this rule, they could only go on like this.

Because of the previous county Test, this time everything for Xu Ran and others was like returning home.

First, they should register at the gate. Then they went to get their own brands for a check, after which they went to the corresponding room according to the guidance on their brands to find their own location. Those who could sit for the Autumn Test must have got well prepared in knowledge, but there were also more people who planned to cheat in the test.

Xu Ran and the rest were standing there next to each other, while Zhao Chen looked indifferent. He didn’t intend to pass the test this time.  Du Xin, however, looked purposeful and determined. As for Xu Ran himself, he thought that if the test this time was still like the last one, he believed it would not be a big problem for him. After all, he was very good at the article talking about people’s livelihood! Anyway, he was a farmer himself!

However, the truth was not that simple. This time, it was really not a test to write about people’s livelihood. Anyhow, the first test for them was about the golden mean of the Confucian school…

Xu Ran was a little frustrated. Ancient Chinese prose was really not his strong point!

The first test lasted three hours. Xu Ran had racked his brains to fill up the paper.

As for the results, who knew?

After the first test was over, all the candidates were like the birds in the cage flying away at the fastest speed.

When Xu Ran and others came out, Lin Hua was already waiting outside. Upon seeing them, Lin Hua said, “I’ve already booked a place to eat. Let’s go to eat first. It is so hot today. I have especially asked for a few more cold dishes.”

“Are there some cold dishes here?” Xu Ran was curious.

Lin Hua shook his head. “No, I just asked them to cut some vegetables, cook them well and then prepare some seasoning for us. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Xu Ran raised his hand, “Alright, this afternoon, I’ll let you see my cooking skills!”

Lin Hua had booked a private room. When they got there, the dishes were almost served. Lin Hua had specially ordered cucumber, cowpea and vermicelli, all without seasoning. After the waiter served the last dish, Lin Hua asked him for seasoning and a big bowl.

After getting the seasoning, Lin Hua closed the door and handed the seasoning to Xu Ran. He put the big bowl on the table and sat down to watch the chef show his cooking skills.

Of course, Xu Ran had practiced all these before, so he was very skillful. He poured the cucumber in the big bowl and then put the seasoning that the waiter had brought to them. The last step was to stir them. It was really very simple. The whole process was nothing special except for those few stirs in mixing the food.

Everyone expressed their disappointment.

Xu Ran said with a smile, “Salad is simple. Do you think it’s flower carving? Do you think I need to show my knife work or something? ”

“But we didn’t expect it to be so boring!” Du Xin said with disappointment.

“As long as it’s delicious, what else do you want?! Alright, let’s start eating it is mixed!

Salad was also a fresh dish for them. Even though they had tried this kind of dishes many times, they felt the taste was different this time. As a result, there was nothing left in all plates…

Therefore, when the waiter came in to collect the plates, he wondered how they finished all the dishes that had no tastes at all. And there was no any seasoning left either.

After lunch, they all went back to the inn for rest. It was too hot today for them to go around, not to mention that there was another test waiting for them in the afternoon.

In fact, the examination time passed quickly. There were two tests in the daytime, and then they would read books or go shopping in the evening. In the blink of an eye, they would finish all the tests.

Compared with the previous tests, the content of the last one finally had some changes- about war.

This was inevitable in every dynasty, and it was the source of success and failure.

The question of the test was “If our kingdom is invaded by neighboring countries, should we fight or make peace?”

Of course, Xu Ran was a hawk. He firmly believed if others did not offend us, we would not offend others, but if others offended us, we would definitely fight back.

For a country, it would be meaningless to have others ride roughshod on the back of its people.

Peace was not the way out, because once there was a concession, there would be a second one, and the conditions would become more and more harsh. Thus it was unnecessary to choose peace from the beginning.

As for war, Xu Ran thought that as long as there was a wise monarch, brilliant generals, troops and horses as well as food and fodder, the country would not be defeated. Xu Ran also specially emphasized the key role of the wise monarch. Then he stated that brilliant generals, food and fodder as well as troops and horses were also very important. However, as these people were a collection of scattered individuals and needed someone to unite them together to form a powerful force, so Xu Ran ranked them last.

Xu Ran answered this question very seriously and wrote down all his thoughts. He was very cautious in his choice of words.

He believed as long as the judge wasn’t too stupid, he would give him some points for his article.

He relied on this question to get points. Otherwise, it was really uncertain whether we could pass the test.

After answering the question, Xu Ran looked satisfied feeling very refreshed when he came out.

Xu Ran was the first one to come out, followed by Zhao Chen, and Du Xin was the last. As soon as Du Xin came out, he started to gossip about the test paper. He complained how they could set such a test question and how ordinary people like them could answer such a question? He even wondered whether any candidates would be beheaded if they wrote something they shouldn’t have. Hearing his complaints, other people pursed their lips in disapproval believing that he had really thought too much.

Not to mention that the current emperor was a wise monarch, even if he was not, the things written in the imperial examination could not be convicted even if they were disrespectful. This was the rule set by the great Xia Dynasty when it was founded, and it had not changed for hundreds of years.

This was also a great benefit for all the candidates now.

Xu Ran could not stand his gossip anymore, so he slapped Du Xin. Recently, he slapped him like this from time to time, which was very handy.

It was also a relief after this final test, and his anxiety was finally relieved. As for whether or not he could pass the test, it was not something that should be worried about now.

Of course, it was not just them who had the same idea. Many of the candidates ran faster than them and they even heard people passing by discussing which Ge’er in Green Willow Lane was the most beautiful.

Those people were laughing licentiously. Xu Ran thought that the so-called civilized scums might mean this kind of people! Xu Ran was disgusted with such people.

However, he couldn’t care so much about other people.

Finally, he could relax himself a little. When eating, Xu Ran asked Lin Hua, “Lin Hua, do you know any interesting places in Qingzhou County? It’s a rare chance to come here. I’d like to go and have a look.”

Lin Hua had been wandering around these days. He put down his chopsticks and thought for a moment before saying, “I heard that there is a lake outside the city of Qingzhou County called Green Lotus Lake. It is full of lotus flowers and people can go boating in the lake.”

“That is a good place. Can we rent a boat by the lake? Should we go ahead of time? It should be more crowded after the test because more visitors will be there soon, ” Xu Ran asked.

Lin Hua replied, “You don’t have to worry about this. I heard there are many boats available. Not only that, the rent for the boat is not cheap. Not all the candidates are rich people, so we should be free and get our boats easily. How about we go there tomorrow and play for a whole day. We’ll return home the day after tomorrow, ok?”

“Okay, I’m fine,” Xu Ran replied.

Du Xin shook his head, “I don’t have any problems, either, but Xu Ran, you have to accompany me for outing after dinner.” After saying that, he winked at Xu Ran and Xu Ran felt puzzled.

It was not until Du Xin gnashed his teeth and spat out the words ‘the south of the city’ that Xu Ran suddenly remembered that Du Xin was going to see a physician. Thus he rubbed his nose and replied, “Got it. Let’s go after dinner.”

Du Xin nodded with satisfaction.