Chapter 210: The Road to High Office 10

Chapter 210: The Road to High Office 10

On the ninth day of the eighth month in the seventeenth year of Sheng’an, at dawn, Xu Zeping and Gao Yan, with Little Tiger escorting them, headed to the Examination Hall in the inner city.

Xu Zeping and Gao Yan were not assigned to the same examination venue. Xu Zeping was in the southern venue, while Gao Yan was in the northern venue, so they parted ways at the main entrance of the Examination Hall.

Inside the Examination Hall, even Little Tiger could not enter.

Gao Yan went in first, and the remaining Xu Zeping instructed Little Tiger, “On the eleventh of August, make sure to have a carriage waiting here.”

With the guidance of his elder brother, Xu Zeping knew how grueling the imperial examinations could be. He had Little Tiger to assist him, but Wuwei would be all alone, and there might be no one to support him when he came out.

Preparing a carriage was a precaution, just in case.

“Young master, you can count on me,” Little Tiger assured him confidently. “I’ll take care of it. Just focus on your exam.”

After settling these matters, Xu Zeping headed towards the southern examination venue.

As with the previous preliminary examinations, entering the examination venue required passing through an inspection chamber.

By then, a long line had already formed in front of the chamber. Xu Zeping swallowed, thinking that bending over wasn’t anything major.

The inspection process for the imperial examinations was far more rigorous than what he had experienced during the preliminary exams.

First, the cakes and steamed buns in Xu Zeping’s lunch box were crushed into pieces by the officials. Xu Zeping, seeing the dark nails of the official, felt a little nauseous. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore it all.

Then, the water bag and the bottle of insect-repellent powder were opened and thoroughly inspected.

Finally, it was Xu Zeping’s turn. He was thoroughly searched from head to toe.

First, his headscarf was removed, and his hair was thoroughly inspected.

Then, his mouth was examined.

After that, his clothes were removed, his shoes taken off, and he had to bend over. He was thoroughly searched before being allowed to proceed.

As he left the inspection chamber, he could hear the officials inside commenting on him, and he felt like crying.

He really felt defiled.

Worse, Cheng Ge’er hadn’t even had the chance to touch his abs, and now someone else had gotten there first.

With a gloomy face, he entered the examination area, feeling even more bitter.

As he entered, he was met with a sea of cramped exam booths, a sight that felt overwhelmingly claustrophobic. It was said that, as a gesture of consideration for the students, the exam booths had been expanded since the founding of the Great Jing Dynasty.

In the previous dynasty, the largest examination area could hold ten thousand people, and the smallest could hold several thousand.

Xu Zeping shuddered and started looking for his assigned exam booth using his examination number: South-005-067.

South indicated the examination venue.

The first three digits, 005, represented the row.

The last three digits, 067, indicated the seat.

The examination venue had ten rows and one hundred seats, totaling one thousand exam booths.

He breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that he wasn’t assigned to one of the infamous booths.

Upon finding his exam cubicle, it measured approximately seven feet high, five feet deep, and four feet wide. In front hung a tattered curtain of indistinguishable color. Rolling it up revealed two wooden boards, one above the other.

During the day, one board served as a desk and the other as a chair, where he would work on his exam questions. At night, these two boards could be rearranged to form a simple wooden bed.

Currently, there were six candles, a set of stationery, and a dusty quilt casually placed on the wood.

Remembering the three taels he paid for registration at the government office, and looking at the dusty quilt and rough stationery, Xu Zeping shook his head. What a corrupt system!

Despite his disdain, Xu Zeping tidied up the tiny space. He sprinkled insect repellent powder into every corner of the cubicle. Back in the previous dynasty, a candidate was reportedly bitten by a snake and carried out... The thought made him shudder, but he quickly shook it off.

He then folded the dusty quilt and placed it at one end of the lower board.

While tidying up, he also noticed the small chamber pot under the board.

Once everything was organized, the exam bell rang—clang!

Xu Zeping knew the exam had officially begun.

From afar, Xu Zeping saw Cai Ping on the proctor's platform. He hadn’t expected Cai Ping to be the chief proctor of the southern examination hall.

Cai Ping, along with the two associate examiners beside him, opened the sealed exam papers. Cai Ping then distributed the papers to hundreds of patrolling officials for delivery to the candidates.

After the distribution, Cai Ping sat confidently in his seat.

The other two associate examiners counted the answer sheets and draft papers, respectively.

One exam paper, seven answer sheets, and seven draft papers each.

When Xu Zeping received his exam paper, he didn’t rush to start writing. Instead, he reviewed the seven eight-legged essay questions on the paper.

1. The Way has fallen out of practice, alas!

2. Can a man be inferior to a bird?

3. Overcoming oneself and returning to propriety is the essence of humanity.

......

After reviewing the seven questions, Xu Zeping felt confident. The exam questions were getting increasingly obscure. The first three were relatively simple, drawn from the Four Books—the "Doctrine of the Mean," "Great Learning," and "Analects." The latter four were all from the Five Classics.

After seeing the first question, Xu Zeping thought for a moment before starting to write on his draft paper.

He began with the phrase, "Confucius lamented: The Way probably won’t prevail, will it?"

After the introduction, Xu Zeping continued with, "The gentleman follows the Way, the petty man goes against it."

Thus, he began the main body of the essay, explaining that it wasn’t the Way that failed to prevail, but that there were fewer gentlemen and more petty men...

He then touched on the topic of corrupt officials...

It took Xu Zeping about an hour to draft the first question.

After completing the draft, he began to refine it, adjusting any overly sharp phrases to be more moderate and smoothing out any overly rigid expressions to make them more flexible.

Before he knew it, two hours had passed.

Xu Zeping had planned to complete the first three essays on the first day, tackle one more in the morning and another in the afternoon of the second day, and finish the remaining two on the third day, one in the morning and another in the afternoon.

In the evenings, he intended to rest well to ensure he was energetic during the day.

Looking at his progress, Xu Zeping realized that by the morning of the first day, he had only finished the draft for the first question and hadn't even begun transcribing it yet. He knew he had to speed up. Putting down his brush, he rubbed his wrist and then untied his water pouch, taking a small sip, just enough to wet his throat.

For these three days and two nights, eating, drinking, and relieving himself would all have to be done inside this small exam booth. Xu Zeping could only do his best to eat and drink as little as possible, trying to minimize his need to relieve himself. Otherwise, he reckoned he'd go mad from the unbearable smell that permeated the space.

After wetting his throat, he opened the basket, pinched his nose, and forced down half a biscuit and a piece of flatbread. Then he bent over the desk to transcribe the first answer sheet.

Once the transcription was done, he spread the answer sheet out to dry on top of the basket.

He stretched his wrists, then settled back at his desk to draft the second answer.

Question two: Can a person be less wise than a bird?

From the "Great Learning."

Xu Zeping opened the essay with: "Confucius said, 'At rest, know where to rest, can a person be less wise than a bird?'"

He continued the introduction with: "As a ruler, rest in benevolence; as a minister, rest in respect; as a son, rest in filial piety... When interacting with fellow citizens, rest in honesty."

This essay primarily discusses knowing one's place.

The "Book of Songs" says: "The capital and its environs are what the people yearn for."

The "Book of Songs" also says, "The yellow bird, singing 'mian mian,' perches on the hills."

Confucius asked: Even the yellow bird knows where it should rest, so how can a person be less wise than a bird?

...

After recalling the original text and ensuring he had not misunderstood it, Xu Zeping began writing the main body of the essay.

Having completed the first answer, Xu Zeping found his thoughts flowing more smoothly for the second. It took him only two hours to draft and revise it.

Transcribing took another half hour, and by the time Xu Zeping stretched his neck and relaxed his muscles, he noticed that the first answer sheet had already dried.

After putting away the first answer sheet, Xu Zeping hung the second one to dry on the basket. He then looked at the sky, which was still bright, and estimated the time to be around 2:30 PM.

He untied his water pouch, took a small sip, and decided to draft the third question while the sky was still clear.

At 9:30 PM, Xu Zeping put down his brush and let out a gentle sigh. The tasks for the first day were complete.

He put away the second answer sheet and hung the transcribed third answer sheet to dry, then pulled the wooden board flat and spread his dusty quilt on top of it.

He took out the small urinal from under the wooden board and attended to his personal needs.

Fortunately, starting from the seventh day, he had been on an intermittent fast. On the eighth day, he had relieved himself in the guest room, so there was no need for a major relief today.

Under the starlit sky, other candidates were still hunched over their desks, answering questions by the flickering light of their candles.

Xu Zeping lowered the curtain, blew out the candle, and lay flat on the small wooden bed, staring into the dark void above, trying to clear his mind. Unaware of the passing time, he drifted into sleep.

The next day, at 5:45 AM, Xu Zeping opened his eyes, stretched, and attended to his personal needs again, wiping his eyes.

Planning to capitalize on his clear mind in the early morning, he began drafting the fourth answer.

The first three questions were relatively simple, but starting from the fourth, they became noticeably more difficult. It took Xu Zeping two full hours to finish the first draft.

With no one to see him inside the exam booth, Xu Zeping paid little attention to his appearance. He quickly rinsed his mouth and nibbled on a bit of stale steamed bun before refining the draft.

Xu Zeping didn’t get killed by the exam questions; instead, it was the crumbled cookies and stale buns in the basket that nearly did him in.

Just thinking about the officials’ black, grubby nails made him want to gag.

His fear of dying was what kept him from giving up on the crumbled cookies and stale buns.

That same fear kept him going through the grueling three days and two nights. When the bell struck 5:45 PM on August 11th, Xu Zeping handed in his exam and, unable to wait any longer, grabbed his basket and bolted for the door.

But as soon as he stood up and tried to run, his legs buckled, and he nearly hit the floor.

He figured he’d look like a fool, but it turned out everyone else was in the same boat.

They dropped like flies, one after another, hitting the ground hard.

By the end, all thousand candidates stumbled out, pale-faced and moving like zombies, barely able to walk straight.

Once the candidates were gone, Cai Ping started sealing the anonymous exam papers.

“Young Master!”

Little Tiger saw Xu Zeping staggering out and quickly rushed over to help him into the carriage. As soon as Xu Zeping collapsed into the carriage, he weakly asked, “Little Tiger, do you have any food?”

Xu Zeping was weak for one reason: he was starving.

“Yes, yes, I’ve prepared everything,” Little Tiger immediately replied.

Little Tiger opened the food box in the corner of the carriage and brought out a bowl of warm porridge. “Here, Young Master, have a little something to fill your stomach first.”

While Xu Zeping drank his porridge, Little Tiger got off the carriage and waited for Gao Yan, who had not come out yet.

After a few minutes, Gao Yan, looking like he’d seen a ghost, staggered out of the Examination Hall.