The Governor-General's Academy was in the west of Gongzhou City. Viewed from afar, curls of incense smoke drifted upward, and right beside the academy stood the Temple of Literature, enshrining the Master.
Chen Shi and Hu Feifei arrived outside the Governor-General's Academy to find that many imperial scholars from the various counties of Gongzhou and Xinxiang were already queuing up to register and await assignment.
The two joined the line, leaving Gouzi and the carriage outside.
Hu Feifei was terribly excited, looking all around to spot pleasing scholars, and lowered her voice to say, "The scholars here are not like those little brats in Xinxiang County. I'm sure I can find a desirable husband!"
Chen Shi said, "It's useless for you to pick now. Only after the Autumn Provincial Examination results are posted will we know who the provincial graduates are."
Hu Feifei felt somewhat sorrowful and said, "If we fox women cannot pick a desirable husband before passing the provincial exam, our sisters will laugh at us. They will say we have no discernment or ability, and that the husband we picked was just what they left behind. To pick one, we must do it before passing the exam—that's what shows good discernment."
Chen Shi did not yet know the Fox Clan had such a rule.
"If he places second in the province, my discernment is exceptionally keen. If he places first in the province, then among my sisters in the Fox Clan, I will stand out like a crane among chickens."
Hu Feifei babbled on to him about the Fox Clan's strange rules, saying, "If he wins three successive firsts in the examinations, that's smoke rising from the ancestral graves. All the sisters will be green with envy, and I can call myself an ancestral grandmother within the