Chapter 51: The Results of the County Test in Schomer.

Chapter 51

Over the past five days, everyone had been cautiously waiting, guarding against the dirty tricks of the Magistrate of Xieyang County while also worrying about Xu Mo's exam results.

Only Jiang Sheng was blindly confident, arrogantly strutting around like a little wild chicken, just short of making a sign saying "My big brother is super awesome" and holding it up when she went out every day.

Whenever he saw his little sister act this way, Xu Mo would rub his nose.

He felt uneasy. What if he didn't do well on the exam? How would they deal with that?

On the day the results were posted, the brothers were all on tenterhooks, hardly sleeping well the night before.

Early in the morning, Jiang Sheng was still fast asleep, but they rushed to the notice board at the entrance of the government service examination compound, standing on tiptoe to look through the list of successful examinees.

In the Great Yu dynasty, the civil service examination process consisted of the county, prefectural, academy, township, provincial, and palace examinations.

After passing the county and prefectural exams, one would become a tongsheng student candidate. Only after passing the academy exam would one be considered a xiucai scholar.

And only after obtaining xiucai status could one qualify to take part in the township, provincial, and palace examinations.

The county exam served as the first screening test. Although thousands might sign up to take the exam across the whole county, only around fifty people would actually qualify to go on to the prefectural exam.

Relying on their strong physiques, Zheng Ruqian and Fang Heng squeezed their way to the front of the crowd, standing on tiptoe and craning their necks to look at the notice.

They started from the bottom, looking up toward the middle, but didn't see Xu Mo's name anywhere. The two felt a hint of joy.

Continuing to scan forward from the middle, his name still didn't appear.

Xu Mo's name wasn't on the successful candidate list at all.

Zheng Ruqian's first reaction was to curse the Magistrate of Xieyang County. "That old crook must have meddled with the results. My big brother worked so hard, how could he possibly have failed?"

They had thought Xu Mo might not rank near the top, but were certain he would pass the exam.

If he didn't, then someone must have sabotaged him.

Fang Heng was even more hotheaded, immediately turning to grab a stick. "Let's go beat down the doors of the county government and get an explanation."

Seeing the two older brothers about to take action in unison, the petite Chang Yan, who was squeezed in the crowd until his feet weren't touching the ground, strained to call out, "Second brother... Third brother... Why don't we go back home and take a look first?"

Wen Zhiyun was also being tossed around in the crowd like a bean sprout in a pot, weak and spineless.

Only then did Zheng Ruqian and Fang Heng remember their two younger brothers who hadn't hit their growth spurts. They quickly pulled them out from the crowd.

They returned to Xu Mo's side, not even daring to breathe too loudly for fear of touching on his distress.

Xu Mo was still reasonably composed. He gave his younger brothers a faint smile in an attempt to put their minds at ease.

The five brothers walked from the entrance of the government service exam compound back home.

Just as they reached the intersection in the city center, they saw red paper and firecracker debris scattered on the ground.

It was clear the academy cared for him and had arranged this very thoughtfully.

But after considering for a moment, Xu Mo shook his head.

Whether or not he was the top scorer didn't matter to him.

He wanted the status of a xiucai so he wouldn't have to kneel in officials' halls, so the Magistrate of Xieyang wouldn't be able to touch him, so he could protect his younger siblings.

Not just the prefectural exam in April, he also intended to take the academy exam in August.

This was Xu Mo's longing to become stronger.

Teacher Qian could understand to some extent. After all, the incident at the examination compound had been the talk of the town recently. But he still felt more regret. Such a promising sapling, who could have listened to the academy's arrangements and embarked on an even more remarkable official career.

He tried persuading Xu Mo, "Actually, you don't need to worry too much. The academy will definitely protect excellent students like you."

This was practically telling Xu Mo not to fear the Magistrate of Xieyang anymore.

"Will the academy also protect my younger siblings?" Xu Mo raised his head.

Teacher Qian was rendered speechless in that instant.

Xu Mo understood. They would only protect him, not his siblings.

What good was that?

He, Xu Mo, was not the kind of scum who would abandon his family for so-called prospects.

"Teacher doesn't need to persuade me. I will take responsibility for my own future," Xu Mo lowered his eyes. "And I will also protect my own siblings myself."

Teacher Qian heaved a sigh. Suddenly he looked at Xu Mo with new appreciation, "All right. Then prepare for the prefectural exam in April."

"The academy will still provide as much help as we can." He said this last part in a lowered voice.

At first Xu Mo thought it was because the academy valued talent.

But on the next day, the top-ranked academy in the county, also the one Jiang Sheng had looked into but they'd had to give up on due to the prohibitive six taels per year tuition, sent over two tutors.

Their overt and covert meanings were that they felt Xu Mo would be unable to receive a better education at his current academy. They wanted to poach the top county candidate over to them.

It was in this moment that the Xu brothers and sister truly recognized the power of education.

Or to put it another way, no matter the field, as long as one reached an extreme level of excellence and stood at the peak, one would become a highly sought-after talent.

Just a top county candidate, and the county's academies were falling over each other to recruit him.

What about being the top prefectural or academy candidate then?

Xu Mo heaved a long sigh. The book in his hand suddenly felt scorching hot, bringing heat to his body, flesh, and soul, letting his spirit soar and dance across the nine heavens.

When his soul settled back into place for an instant, Xu Mo lowered his head and declined the invitations from all the academies.