Small Town

Small Town

Qingshan Town had originally been an ordinary little town perched halfway up a mountain, seldom visited by outsiders. But now, because of the Qi State's Scholar Examination, it had become a boiling cauldron of activity.

"Next, candidate from Fenghua County, Xia Fan." The Proctor read from the list in his hand.

Xia Fan, whose name had been called, stepped out of the line and handed over his wooden sword and bundle.

Two assistants immediately took the bundle, untied it, and carefully inspected its contents.

"Two sets of clothes. Compliant."

"One packet of medicine. Compliant."

"One stack of Drafting Paper. Compliant."

"Money..." When one of them reached the money pouch, he weighed it in his hand and could not help showing surprise. "Less than five taels."

A few soft snickers immediately came from behind Xia Fan. Though they were kept low, he could still vaguely make out words like "pauper" and "country bumpkin."

"As long as it does not exceed the limit, any amount is compliant." The Proctor showed no reaction, as though he had seen countless such scenes before. "Press your fingerprint here, then cross the bridge."

After doing as instructed, Xia Fan clasped his hands and crossed the small suspension bridge connecting the inside and outside of the town.

Only then had he truly entered the "examination grounds."

The candidates ahead of him had long since scattered through the streets.

Looks like they thought the same way I did. Xia Fan mused. Upon arriving in an unfamiliar place, the first thing to do was understand the lay of the land, so one could better deal with whatever the examination brought next.

Half an hour later, after wandering through the town, he finally had a rough understanding of the "examination grounds."

The town was far smaller than he had imagined. Rather than a town, it would have been more fitting to call it a village.

It lay in a remote location with mountains at its back, surrounded and cut off by ravines. Its only route to the outside world was a suspension bridge made of hemp rope and wooden planks.

The vegetation around it was lush and verdant. Everywhere he looked stood towering old trees, and even while walking along the roads, he could smell the rich fragrance of damp earth. In another era, this isolated settlement would undoubtedly have seemed a breathtaking sight to some—a natural tourist attraction with no need for embellishment. But here and now, isolation meant poverty and backwardness.

Four crisscrossing dirt roads roughly divided the town into a grid. There were fewer than thirty buildings, most of them single-story houses with thatched roofs. Some even bore signs of having been abandoned for years. Clearly, the town had been steadily shrinking with time.

Only the center of the grid looked somewhat like a proper town. At least there were two-story houses of gray brick along the roads, as well as an inn and a tea house.

Naturally, this was also the liveliest part of Qingshan Town.

"Brother, pardon the interruption." Someone suddenly tapped Xia Fan on the shoulder. "Are you from Fenghua County too?"

Xia Fan turned around and saw a slightly plump young man about his own age looking at him with a broad smile. There was even a hint of expectation in his eyes.

"That's right. And you are...?"

"Ah, fellow townsman, fellow townsman." The other man seemed to let out a breath of relief. "My name is Wei Wushuang. I was two or three places behind you in line, and I happened to hear the Proctor's question."

"I see."

Seeing Xia Fan raise a brow, Wei Wushuang hurriedly waved his hands. "I don't think there's anything wrong with bringing only half a pouch of money. Not everyone comes from a wealthy family. It's just those sect disciples who hold their heads too high and like looking down on others. To be honest, I can't stand them either."

"By the way, how about we go in and talk over drinks?" He glanced at the tea house. "This one's on me."

Was he simply overly familiar, or was there some favor he wanted to ask? Since he had nothing else to do anyway, Xia Fan agreed. He was somewhat curious about what the other man was really after.

They found an empty table near the edge of the second floor. Wei Wushuang skillfully ordered a pot of green tea, along with a plate of boiled peanuts and a dish of sliced pig ears. Clearly, he was a regular at restaurants.

It sounded rather ordinary, but Xia Fan knew this was by no means the normal life of common folk. Anyone who could dine out in this era had at least some spare money at home.

He himself had never done so.

This counted as experiencing life from another angle.

"Don't stand on ceremony." Wei Wushuang gestured invitingly. "If there's anything else you want to eat, just tell me."

"This is enough." Xia Fan poured himself a cup of tea. "Our money is limited. It's best to save it, since we still don't know how long this examination will last."

"That's true." At the mention of the examination, Wei Wushuang's spirits visibly drooped. "I heard that while the Scholar Examination's acceptance rate isn't low, there's a distinction between good and poor rankings. If you're rated in the lowest tier, you might as well not be accepted at all. After all, it's work where you have to stake your life. But... sigh, you and I both come from ordinary households. How can we compare to the outstanding disciples of great clans?"

Whenever Xia Fan heard the words Scholar Examination, an indescribable feeling rose in his heart. Though he had long accepted that this was reality, he still could not ignore the strange dissonance produced by two sets of common sense colliding.

That was right. In this world, all manner of strange phenomena that had once existed only in ghost stories and legends had become commonplace. Nor were they confined to some mountain hollow, ancient grave, or distant wilderness; they truly affected every facet of people's lives. To deal with these evil and uncanny incidents, every dynasty had established a Bureau of Military Affairs to select suitable talents and safeguard the people of each region.

Its method of selection was an open examination. Everyone accepted became a Fangshi; not only did they gain official status, but their treatment was no different from that of ordinary officials. Thus, over time, the Scholar Examination had gradually become the third great nationwide examination after the Imperial Examination and Martial Examination. And because the Bureau of Military Affairs did not belong to the Six Ministries but was directly controlled by His Majesty the Emperor, its momentum in recent years had already surpassed that of the Martial Examination.

Like the Imperial Examination, the Scholar Examination was held once every three years. Its format, however, was not a series of selections like the Autumn Examination and Spring Examination—anyone willing could apply and register before the summer examination. Passing the identity verification meant qualifying to take it. The Scholar Examination generally lasted several days, and rankings would be determined once it ended.

According to what Xia Fan had learned before, the Scholar Examination's acceptance rate was around half, which seemed far more lenient than the Imperial Examination. But considering a Fangshi's duties, that was only reasonable. After all, far fewer people took the Scholar Examination than the Imperial Examination, and it was held only once every three years. If the standards were raised further, the Bureau of Military Affairs would inevitably suffer from a manpower shortage, which would in turn affect the safety of every region.

Still, every examination had its high and low rankings. Even if a Fangshi who barely passed gained official status, the place assigned to them would not be anything good. The problem was that even if civil officials sent to take up office were assigned to the poorest places, they merely lived more frugally. So long as they slowly accumulated seniority, there would always be a chance to turn things around. But the Bureau of Military Affairs was different. No one could avoid dealing with all kinds of strange phenomena, and it would not be surprising if they died in the line of duty through one careless mistake.

With such a difference, it was no wonder Wei Wushuang worried about his ranking.

"The Scholar Examination is voluntary. If you hadn't come, wouldn't you have avoided all these worries?" Xia Fan said indifferently. The other man clearly was not the sort who needed to gamble on a desperate chance. He had spare coins in his pocket at all times and could dine out now and then. Even without becoming an official, someone like him could live quite comfortably. There was no need for him to take risks at all.

"To tell you the truth, Brother, my father drove me here." Wei Wushuang bared his teeth helplessly. "He said that no matter how far you go in business, you're still only a merchant. Compared with a proper official family, that's a difference of ten thousand miles! He also said that if I didn't come, I'd be letting down my ancestors, the talent Heaven had bestowed upon me, and even the rice I'd eaten. Of course, the main reason was the leather whip in his hand..."

Xia Fan could not help twitching the corner of his mouth. "You're not the eldest son in your family, are you?"

"You could tell that too?" Wei Wushuang gloomily took a sip of tea. "My father has three sons and two daughters. I'm the second."

It seemed he really was his father's own son.

Still, Xia Fan was no better off himself. During their stay in Fenghua County, his own master had not only lost their travel funds, but in an attempt to recover the losses quickly, had gambled away another sum of silver and nearly lost himself as well. Now his master was being held by the gambling house, waiting for Xia Fan to become a Fangshi and return with his stipend to ransom him. It was humiliating beyond measure.

If not for the fact that his cheap master had taken in the orphaned Xia Fan and cared for him for more than a decade, Xia Fan would truly have wanted to abandon him and walk away.

He shook his head, temporarily casting aside that unbearable memory, and decided to get straight to the point. "You invited me for tea. What exactly did you want to discuss?"

"Huh? No, it's nothing..." Wei Wushuang paused slightly, then scratched his head. "I thought that since you're also from Fenghua County, perhaps we could keep each other company and look out for one another. If you run into trouble, I could lend a hand."

"Is that all?" Xia Fan asked without revealing anything.

"Of course. I don't mean anything else." After being stared at for a moment, Wei Wushuang gave two dry coughs. "All right, it would be even better if we could help each other in the coming Scholar Examination. Naturally, only where it doesn't violate the rules. I absolutely have no intention of bribing you with a bowl of tea!"

"You mean... cooperation?"

"Yes, cooperation." Wei Wushuang nodded repeatedly. "I think this Scholar Examination is vastly different from the other two major examinations. Working together may not count as cheating."

"What makes you say that?" Xia Fan slowly took a sip of tea.

"Take the Autumn Examination, for example. Before entering the examination compound, everyone gets searched. There are separate booths inside, and once you enter, you can't make noise at will, much less speak with others. In fact, even when going to the toilet, you need a Proctor to accompany you. But look at this place—" Wei Wushuang swept his gaze around the tea house. "We're already inside the examination grounds, yet no one stops us from whispering to each other. We can even eat and talk at the same time!"

"And those people wearing the same robes." He jerked his chin toward a large table in the center. "I noticed they had been gathered together since they were lining up. They're all children of great clans, so they should know things we don't. If this were like the Imperial Examination, where everyone was a competitor, they wouldn't be so unguarded around their companions. But judging by the situation now, that doesn't seem to be the case. I think the Scholar Examination might allow people to help each other through the assessment, and a group's advantage would be greater than one person's."

Xia Fan could not help raising his eyebrows.

This fellow looked somewhat dull-witted, but his powers of observation were unexpectedly good.

For a youth who had not yet come of age, that was already no small thing.