CH 3

Chapter 3: Exam Time

Chi Jingxi, who grew up pampered and coddled, was at least a third more fierce than the big rooster that Wen Yantong had dreamed of slaughtering.

If she messed with the big rooster, at most, she would be pecked at. However, if she messes with Chi Jingxi, she’ll get beaten up!

Wen Tantong lowered her head quickly after taking a glance up. She looked into the palm of her hand, and realized she had picked a glass pebble from the Little Marquis's cloak. translate(d) by pure tl. com / do not steal / re po/st

No wonder it sparkled when she was looking at it this morning.

Wen Yantong hurriedly closed her palm, her other hand was holding her wooden bowl. She quickly got up and took a few steps back.

The scumbag had chased Wen Yantong towards the entrance of the dining room. After seeing Chi Jingxi, his original anger quickly dissipated and he immediately put on a flattering smile. He did not forget to tattle on Wen Yantong by the way.

"SanShao, this kid is too cocky. I advised him to respect you in the dining hall, but he didn't listen and even spat on my meal while insulting my parents..."

Chi Jingxi frowned, "Why is it you again?"

His tone was filled with undisguised annoyance. This made the scumbag instantly shudder and stammer, "I, I was eating..."

"The academy is not a place where you flatter yourself and suppress the weak. If you don't want to study, pack up and get out of the academy." Chi Jingxi had always been in the top position, and when he was angry, others would feel oppressed by him.

He was obviously only an eighteen-year-old boy...

This was the first major character in the book that she had encountered after transmigrating into this book.

Chi Jingxi was different from everyone else, he was really a person who grew up pampered and loved. Other characters, even the male and female protagonists, had forbearance and a tragic past.

Anything that Chi Jingxi wanted was always handed to him. Therefore, no one of the younger generation in Chaoge City dared to oppose Chi Jingxi.

Although Chi Jingxi's tone was not serious at the moment, it still caused the scumbag to break out in a cold sweat. He no longer dared to make any crooked ideas and hurriedly nodded.

In just that short while, Wen Yantong had already retreated away while holding the glass pebble in one hand.

After realizing that the scumbag wouldn’t use her misdeed to get Chi Jingxi's unwarranted attention, Wen Yantong was relieved to have survived the disaster.

Wen Yantong still had lingering fears while making her way back. After she got to the dormitory, she found a small wooden box and stored the pebble that had been held in her palms the whole way.

The things from the Little Marquis were all precious.

After this incident, the scumbag finally stopped provoking her, and Wen Yantong enjoyed her two days of peace.

But then came the placement exams.

After disregarding the difference in social status, the Academy divided the schools into four levels: Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding. There are six classes at each level, and the worst class, Class of Dingliu, was Wen Yantong's goal.

The ink brush exam was divided into three categories: Knowledge of Words, Knowledge of Calculations, and Knowledge of Law. translate(d) by pure tl. com / do not steal / re po/st

Simply put, it's a thesis paper, a mathematics exam, and a test on the legal system.

Wen Yantong held her ink brush and dumbfoundedly stared at a blank piece of paper for half an hour. The ink on the brush continuously dripped on the paper; the ink stains were quite dazzling.

When the papers were finally handed in, Wen Yantong stared blankly and pretended to be an idiot when confronted by the teacher's stern gaze.

Fortunately, she was pretty good at arithmetic, but it was very troublesome to fill in the answers. Wen Yantong was very careful while filling in her answers and handed in a relatively satisfactory answer sheet.

As for the last exam, the Knowledge of Law, Wen Yantong caught a cold due to her restless sleeping position the night before. When she woke up early in the morning to the crowing of the rooster, she had a terrible headache.

She forced herself to wash up and get dressed. Seeing that the sun had yet to rise, Wen Yantong took her time to find her pen, ink, paper, and inkstone. She waited for the sky to get bright before going out.

The winter morning was freezing cold and the stone roads were covered in frost. It was quite unsteady to walk on, so Wen Yantong walked more slowly.

It didn’t matter since once she got there, she’ll just be sitting there doing nothing; what a waste of time, it's better not to go.

Feeling this was very reasonable, Wen Yantong purposely took the long way and walked more and more crookedly. And then, because she was afraid of being caught, she deliberately went in the opposite direction.

When she reached into a forest, the sun was already high in the sky. There were trees in front that were tied with ropes, like a sign forbidding her to move forward.

She stopped. When the cool wind blew, her snot flushed down.

Only then did Wen Yantong realize that she had made a stupid and wrong decision.

Although sitting in the exam room was boring, at least it was warm, wasn’t that better than being in this cold wasteland? pure tl. com is the original tler / don’t re-post

She turned her head immediately, and wanted to go to the exam hall.

Unexpectedly, a sudden pain jolted from the lump on her right leg, which had been there since being kicked by Teacher Wu. Wen Yantong misstepped and her foot landed on a slippery frozen puddle.

Caught off guard, she slipped and started sliding down the slope!

She jumped in shock, stretched out and waved her hands randomly. She had managed to grab the rope, and her body hanged midway. The rope tightened, bearing her pressure.

As soon as her lower body lost ground, Wen Yantong burst out with an exclamation. And when she turned around she started to sweat.

Good heavens! No wonder there was rope fenced here!

There was a big hole! The soil seemed to have just been turned over, it seemed the academy wanted to build something here.

Wen Yantong didn't want to fall and tear her muscles and break her bones, nor did she didn't want to roll in mud, so she raised her voice, "Help—!!"

She only wanted to go to a remote place, but now she suffered a big loss. She shouted several times at the top of her voice, but to no avail.

Had she known earlier, she would have gone and obediently taken her exam!

Where the hell did all her bad luck come from? !

Wen Yantong hung on the side of the pit for a half an hour, before her screams were noticed by a construction worker.

When she saw a person approaching, Wen Yantong excitedly called out, "Brother! Brother, please help me! I can't hold on anymore!"

Seeing her hanging half-way into the pit, shouting until her face was red, the construction worker hurriedly threw his equipment on the ground and helped her up.

Wen Yantong didn't care if her body would get dirty as she laid on the ground, panting heavily.

"Little scholar, how did you get here? The school is quite far from here." The construction worker asked.

"I wanted to find a quiet place to study in the morning, so I came here." Wen Yantong opened her eyes and fabricated. After resting for a while, she thanked him again and again before getting up and walking away with a limp.

The teacher found her that afternoon and severely criticized her for missing the exam. Fortunately, Wen Yantong admitted her mistake and was relieved of punishment.

But when she was leaving, the teacher told her that her absence had been recorded, and she still had to take the make-up exam.

Wen Yantong almost collapsed! She clung on a rope in a large pit for half an hour! In the end, she still had to take the Knowledge for Law exam!

Then what was the point of her fighting for her life this morning?

Depressed, Xiao* Wen went to bed early, hoping her sweet dreams would heal her wound. pure tl. com is the original tler / don’t re-post

(Pure: Xiao means little. So: Little Wen)

At first, she didn't feel any pain, but when Wen Yantong woke up the next day, it was as if her arms were constantly being hit by a hammer.

She grimaced in pain.

Misery loves company, and the next day was the martial arts exam.

Wen Yantong stood in the martial arts field, watching her classmates shooting arrows at the target with a dull face. She occasionally wiped her running nose which dripped from time to time.

The martial arts was simple; it was an arrow accuracy test. Each person had three arrows. The best of the three shots was taken as the final score.

Wen Yantong didn’t care for the lively scene around her, she was only deeply concerned about one thing: whether she could shoot the arrow out.

After reading the students were called one by one, it was finally Wen Yantong's turn. translate(d) by pure tl. com / do not steal / re po/st

She took the bow and arrow handed by Teacher Wu. Her hand began to tremble when she lifted it, accompanied by intermittent throbbing.

Coincidentally, Teacher Wu was the one who held her down when she had tried to kill the rooster before. He glanced at her and said in a low voice, "Don't be nervous, just shoot three arrows with a calm mind."

Wen Yantong replied with a solemn expression.

When she stood on the exam podium, Wen Yantong realized that she couldn't see the target clearly. She fiddled with the bow and arrow in her hand, and listened to Master Wu's signal to start the exam, "Set up the arrow and raise your bow!"

She held the bow and arrow like how she saw everyone else had done. However, as soon as she exerted force, her arms began to tremble wildly, like a sieve. This movement was so big that others began to laugh.

Master Wu walked behind her, "Elbows. Shoulders. Neck. How did you learn previously?"

Wen Yantong shuddered when she heard his voice, and now her leg began to hurt. She straightened her back quickly.

Unfortunately, her arms were very sore. In addition, she had never touched a bow and arrow before, so her two attempts were terrible.

The first arrow landed by her feet, and the second one fell halfway. Wen Yantong just wanted to shoot the three arrows quickly, she didn’t care about her score.

In the corner of the martial arts field, Chi Jingxi stood in front of the archery bow rack and wiped the bow in his hand.

Cheng Xin, who was beside him, suddenly laughed.

Chi Jingxi asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Cheng Xin smiled and said, "Look at that kid, looks like just a trembling flagpole."

Chi Jingxi raised his eyelids and glanced at Wen Yantong, who was standing on the exam podium. Her arms were shaking very obviously, and an arrow had fallen from her feet. translate(d) by pure tl. com / do not steal / re po/st

The target in front of her was empty.

Chi Jingxi only took a quick glance, and had no interest in continuing to watch. He lowered his head to brush his bow, and said casually, "His two arms can’t even properly use chopsticks, a talentless person."

As soon as his voice fell, Master Wu's command to release the arrow sounded accompanied with a ‘dung’ sound. Cheng Xin's surprised voice followed shortly after.

"Yo! That kid just hit the bull's-eye!"