CH 9

Fang Yun looked at the six incense sticks, lowered his head, and silently said in his heart.

"One is for my mother. I may not be able to go back. I'm sorry for being unfilial. Please take care of yourself."

"Two is for the deceased Fang Yun. Thank you."

"Three and four are for Fang Yun's parents. Five is for Yu Huan's father. With me here, I will never let Yu Huan suffer again."

"Six is for Meng Haoran. Thank you for your poetry, wise one."

Fang Yun looked at the incense sticks for a long time, and his melancholy turned into a sigh, as if he was saying goodbye to the past.

After finishing the incense, the two sat face to face at the dining table.

Fang Yun said, "Yu Huan, let's set a rule for today's meal."

"Please tell me, Little Child Scholar," Yang Yuhuan smiled. She hadn't laughed so happily in a long time because the burden on her shoulders had finally lightened.

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

"The rule for today is that you take a chopstick, and I take a chopstick. You eat how much you want, and I'll eat how much I want! You don't need to say it, this rule cannot be changed! How much I can eat today depends on you."

Yang Yuhuan looked at Fang Yun quietly, and a warm feeling surged in her heart. She suddenly felt that with Fang Yun's words, the years of hardship and exhaustion were nothing.

"Our Little Yun has grown up and knows how to take care of his sister. You are now a Child Scholar, and our family will be more affluent in the future. When you become an Accomplished Scholar, this fish and meat will be nothing. Today, thanks to my sister, let's have a good meal."

Fang Yun picked up a piece of oily red-braised pork and handed it to Yang Yuhuan's mouth, saying softly, "No, it's thanks to you. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to study, let alone survive. I always remember that."

Yang Yuhuan's eyes turned red, and she opened her mouth to eat the red-braised pork, chewing slowly.

Born in a poor family, one knows the value of meat.

Fang Yun picked up a piece of red-braised pork for himself and, after finishing it, picked a chicken leg from the pot and put it in Yang Yuhuan's bowl.

"One for each of us."

"Okay!"

The two rarely ate meat in a year, so they ate to their heart's content today and finished everything.

Looking at the empty plates, they felt a little embarrassed. They were both too full to stand up and chatted happily, filling the room with a warm atmosphere.

Soon, the noise from the neighbors came over. Old Wang drank too much and was teaching his children to study hard and become Child Scholars.

The two smiled, and Yang Yuhuan looked at the sky and said, "The three examiners should be grading the papers now."

Fang Yun nodded.

Inside the Imperial Examination Academy.

The spacious grading room was brightly lit, with rows of long tables neatly arranged. The test papers of more than two thousand examinees were placed on them, covering the entire table, which was very spectacular.

The three examiners stood solemnly in front of the statue of Confucius in the deep part of the grading room, and ten lecturers from the county academy stood behind them.

County Magistrate Cai said, "Please judge the papers, Your Majesty!"

"Please judge the papers, Your Majesty," everyone said in unison.

A strange force suddenly descended, creating a gust of wind in the room, but all the test papers remained motionless.

Most of the test papers remained the same, but nearly half of them suddenly emitted orange light.

Talent revealed.

The amount of orange light varied, with the highest talent reaching nearly three feet, almost reaching the level of the state of Mingzhou.

The second-ranked test paper's talent was barely one foot high, and the difference between the two was huge.

Then, a gust of wind blew, and test papers flew everywhere.

When the wind stopped, a large number of test papers piled up in a corner, and only one hundred test papers remained on the table, arranged according to their talent from high to low.

"Choose people based on their talent, rank based on their writing!"After the magistrate of Cai County finished speaking, each of the ten lecturers held a set of answers to the request for a saintly examination. They each selected nine test papers from the back and began to grade and judge them.

The top ten test papers with the most talent were left untouched.

The magistrate of Cai County said, "Since there are poems that are almost as good as those from Mingzhou, this county will not be polite and will take a look first." He happily walked over to Fang Yun's test paper.

The reason why the grading was done so late was that after the candidates submitted their papers, someone was responsible for using paper to cover their names, so the graders couldn't see them to prevent cheating. Only after the top fifty rankings were determined, could the names be revealed.

The poetry was placed at the top. The magistrate of Cai County saw the words "Spring Dawn" and couldn't help but frown. Although the handwriting was still neat, it was too poor in his opinion. But when he thought that Fang Yun was a poor disciple, he felt relieved.

Practicing calligraphy required a lot of ink and paper, and poor students didn't have that much money. They either practiced with tree branches on sand or used a brush dipped in water to write directly on the table, which still required a lot of brushes.

The magistrate of Cai County looked at the poem and couldn't help but read on, "Sleeping in spring, unaware of the dawn, everywhere the birds are heard singing. The sound of wind and rain at night, how many flowers have fallen?"

The three examiners were stunned. The words of the poem were very simple and easy to understand, but why did they feel a sense of loss after reading it?

The other two examiners also carefully pondered Fang Yun's test paper.

"It seems like something is missing in my heart," said Wan Xuezhen.

The magistrate of Cai County was also an imperial scholar and held a seventh-grade official position, while Wang Yuanjun and Wan Xuezhen were only presented scholars and held seventh-grade positions.

The magistrate of Cai County read through it several times and suddenly sighed, "Wonderful. Although this poem's words are plain and natural, it is precious because of the word 'true.' It is true in both scenery and meaning. The structure of this poem is also extraordinary. Look at the four lines of the poem, they are 'unknown,' 'know,' 'know,' and 'unknown.' The first 'unknown' opens the poem, and the latter 'unknown' leaves room for thought, making the reader wonder, how many flowers have actually fallen? Why ask about the falling flowers?"

When he said this, the grading room was silent, as if everyone was pondering one question: how many flowers have fallen?

Although it was just five words, it aroused everyone's thoughts.

Wang Yuanjun nodded and said, "Magistrate Cai has summed up the beauty of this poem in one sentence. This poem is true because every sentence has spring in it and every sentence is closely related to the topic. Spring drowsiness, spring birds, spring rain, spring wind, and spring flowers seem to fill the entire poem, but the emotions behind them are not explicitly stated. What's most rare is that the words are simple and plain, natural and easy to spread. If this examinee didn't get lucky, he must be an extraordinary scholar."

The other two nodded incessantly. The ease of spreading was too important. Literary fame was one of the pursuits of scholars, and even a half-sage couldn't avoid it.

Wan Xuezhen said, "I can also write such words, but to make a poem appear before my eyes like a painting, blending emotions into it, and still be so natural, that's difficult."

Wang Yuanjun said with a bitter smile, "The 'Path of the Saints' is published by the Holy Academy. The selected works each month are all famous pieces. Every author who publishes in the 'Path of the Saints' is either a master of poetry, a great scholar of classics, or a strategist. The lowest ranked are also experts in various fields. We dare not even think about it."

The magistrate of Cai County was full of expectations and said, "This poem, if it can be included in the 'Path of the Saints,' will greatly enhance the literary reputation of Jing Nation!"

However, Wan Xuezhen's expression darkened, and he said in a low voice, "I am approaching fifty years old and have written thousands of poems and essays, but I have never been published in the 'Path of the Saints' monthly magazine."The magistrate of Cai County nodded and dipped his pen in cinnabar ink. He wrote below the test paper: "Simple characters, sincere emotions, beautiful poetry, and profound meaning. This is the top-ranked paper among the scholars. A!"

"Any objections?" he asked.

"The top-ranked paper for this year's Child Scholar poetry test is none other than 'Spring Dawn'!" Wan Xu, who believed in the orthodox way of learning, spoke up.

"No objections," the magistrate said.

He took the test paper with 'Spring Dawn' written on it and put it aside. "This person has extraordinary literary talent, but if he wants to compete with Fang Zhongyong for the top spot, we still need to consult the Half-Sage's opinion."

The magistrate looked at the Half-Sage's paper and shook his head secretly. He carefully read the first question and was surprised. "I never expected this person to be so extraordinary! Even if I had encountered this question back then, I would never have been able to answer it correctly."

The other two examiners also looked at the answer and were amazed. They would never have been able to answer this question correctly before, even though they were Presented Scholars. After all, the question was too specific and required knowledge of geography and deductive reasoning.

The magistrate continued to read the papers, but his expression became serious after reading the first three. The other two examiners also read through the papers, and for a long time, they couldn't say a word.

The magistrate's pen remained still.

After a moment of silence, Wan Xu asked, "No mistakes?"

"Not a single mistake. It's unbelievable!" the magistrate said.

He continued reading and finished reading the remaining twenty-seven papers without any mistakes. He put down his brush.

"Still no mistakes?" Wang Yuanjun was a little surprised.

The magistrate said solemnly, "It's incredible. Not only are there no mistakes, there are no incorrect characters, no corrections, and no stains. I have never seen anything like it in my life."

"Could it be that he also got an A for the Half-Sage paper? Since the Half-Sage paper was introduced to the imperial examinations, our Jing Kingdom has never had an A-level Half-Sage paper. Even Chen Sheng only got a B-level back then."

"Unfortunately, his handwriting is average. If I give him an A, I will undoubtedly be criticized by the scholars," the magistrate said.

He wrote on the Half-Sage paper: "Poor handwriting, no mistakes, B+."

"Too bad."

"Too bad."

Reluctantly, the magistrate put down Fang Yun's paper and picked up Fang Zhongyong's poetry paper. Fang Zhongyong's poetry was good enough to get him out of the county, and in any other place, the examiners would have paid special attention to it and praised it. Unfortunately, he met Fang Yun and the magistrate who was still regretful.

The magistrate looked at Fang Zhongyong's poetry and said nothing. He wrote "B" without even leaving a comment.

The grades were divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D. In any subject, there could only be one A.

After the top ten papers with the most talent were read, the three examiners would grade the remaining ninety papers based on their poetry and Half-Sage papers. The final ranking of the one hundred people would be based on the Half-Sage paper grades, and the top fifty would become Child Scholars. If there were ties, the one with fewer mistakes would be ranked higher. If the mistakes were the same, the poetry grades would be used to rank them. If the poetry grades were the same, the handwriting quality would be considered. If the top fifty and the rest could not be distinguished, a Half-Sage examiner would be invited to decide, and there would usually be a few more Child Scholars.

After grading, it was already late at night, but no one was allowed to leave the academy. They all slept in their quarters at the academy.The next morning, the three examiners and ten lecturers woke up at six o'clock, washed up and had breakfast, and began to "review" at seven o'clock to ensure there were no mistakes.

In case of a major misjudgment, the Half-Sage would intervene, and the examiners would not only lose face but might also be dismissed and imprisoned.

Entering the marking room, County Magistrate Cai said as he walked, "I couldn't sleep last night, and I'm still feeling uneasy."