Because of Ignorance

"Brother Xia, what do you think?" Seeing that he did not react, Wei Wushuang could not help asking.

Xia Fan smiled faintly. "I was thinking, rather than make wild guesses, why not ask someone who knows?"

"Huh? Who would know?"

He raised a hand and beckoned to the waiter. "Xiao Er, come over here for a moment!"

"Hey, coming!"

Xia Fan tilted his head. "Look, the person who knows is here."

Wei Wushuang could not help opening his mouth wide, his face full of astonishment. "You think... a tea house waiter would know the inside story of the Scholar Examination?"

"Actually, I found it strange from the beginning. Why would a remote village built halfway up a mountain have an inn and a tea house at its center?" He set down his teacup and slowly voiced the doubts in his heart. "It is neither near a major city nor on a main road. If not for the Scholar Examination, who would come all the way here for no reason to stay at an inn? It is a business guaranteed to lose money. No one in the world should be willing to do it."

"Uh..." Wei Wushuang was stunned as well. "That actually does seem to make sense."

"Look at these blue-brick floors. They have to be at least several decades old; they do not look like they were laid temporarily. For this establishment to have remained standing for so long, it must have other sources of income supporting it. And who do you think would be willing to invest money in a place like this without caring about profit or loss on the books?"

"Could it be... the Bureau of Military Affairs, which is responsible for holding the Scholar Examination? But even so, what does that have to do with a tea house waiter?" Wei Wushuang still did not understand.

"The Imperial Examination only needs a paper and a brush. The Martial Examination only needs an open space and weapons. Neither is particularly restricted by location. But what about the Scholar Examination? Surely it cannot be held just anywhere? Otherwise, the Bureau of Military Affairs would not have gone to such lengths to gather everyone in this remote little town." Xia Fan guided him patiently. "After all, in terms of administrative costs, a major city is always the best option. That is why the final test of both examinations is held in the Capital Region."

"Administrative... costs?" his fellow townsman repeated with difficulty.

"Ahem, do not worry about the wording. Just understand it as the difference between the expenses and gains required to hold an event." He raised two fingers. "In short, two things can be easily inferred. First, examination grounds capable of holding the Scholar Examination have a certain special nature, so there should not be many of them. Second, maintaining such examination grounds requires a constant supply of silver."

"Though the Bureau of Military Affairs is extremely important, it cannot spend money recklessly. Since it has kept Qingshan Town afloat for so long, it cannot be solely for this one examination. In other words, the Scholar Examination must have been held here many times before." Xia Fan finally concluded, "If the waiter is a local, then he should have seen similar scenes before."

For a moment, Wei Wushuang had nothing to say.

"Honored guests, what can I do for you?" As they spoke, the waiter arrived at their table.

Xia Fan first ordered a plate of braised beef, then casually changed the subject. "By the way, how long have you been working at this tea house?"

"In reply to you, honored guest, I was already running errands here when I was little. It has been at least ten years," Xiao Er answered enthusiastically.

"Business is usually not this bustling, is it?"

"You are right. The last time it was this busy was probably five or six years ago."

"The people who came then were also people like us?" Wei Wushuang hurriedly pressed.

The other man smiled, but did not answer immediately.

Xia Fan understood at once. Looks like he is experienced at this... He coughed twice and pointed at his waist.

Wei Wushuang was stunned for a moment before he understood. He took out half a silver coin from his pouch and placed it on the table.

Xiao Er immediately beamed. With a light sweep of his sleeve, he collected the silver. "Probably. I remember they were talking about things like the Scholar Examination and Spellcraft too, though I did not really understand the specifics."

Wei Wushuang immediately grew excited. "Then do you know what the examination tested?"

The other man shut his mouth again.

This time, no prompting was needed. His fellow townsman had already pushed another silver coin into his hand.

"To be honest, I do not really know." Xiao Er grinned. "I would not dare touch the things they talked about. Besides, those people mostly moved around late at night and even deliberately went into the Back Mountain. Everyone was too busy avoiding them; who would go up and ask what was going on? If anyone in town knows, it would probably be those Old Hunters. I heard someone hired them as guides back then, and they earned more than ten taels of silver in a single night."

Wei Wushuang was about to reach for his money pouch again when Xia Fan stopped him. "That is enough. Go get back to work."

"Sure thing!" Xiao Er replied.

"Wait, I still want to..."

"Look around," Xia Fan interrupted Wei Wushuang.

Only then did the latter notice that several tables had already turned their attention toward them. Though they still pretended to eat and drink, the glances sweeping over had clearly become far more frequent.

"Xiao Er, over here, over here!" The moment the waiter turned away, someone at another table called out.

"See? There is no need to spend all our money on this." Xia Fan picked up a peanut and tossed it into his mouth. "Since others are willing to pay for it, we should give them the chance. As long as we can confirm this is not the first time the Scholar Examination has been held here, it makes little difference whom we ask. Besides, if we can think of this, the Bureau of Military Affairs surely can too. Since the Proctors do not forbid us from speaking with the locals, they must be confident there will be no advance leakage of the examination questions. Asking too much may instead work against us."

Wei Wushuang frowned and thought for a moment before suddenly raising his head. "You mean—silver?"

"Ten taels of silver is not a small amount, but it is by no means a great amount either." Xia Fan nodded. Judging by grain purchasing power, one tael of silver in this era was roughly equivalent to five hundred yuan. Ten taels of ready silver was a vast sum that he and his cheap master could not scrape together, but to disciples of great clans, it was no more than a drop in the ocean. "Why we were only allowed to bring this amount before entering town probably has something to do with the examination too. Did that man not mention it just now? Hiring a local guide cost more than ten taels of silver. That was already an amount several people would need to pool together."

"This... is something I had not considered." Only after a long while did Wei Wushuang let out a sigh. "May I ask which great master is your honored teacher?"

"A great master?" The image of his cheap master surfaced in Xia Fan's mind—a middle-aged uncle who told everyone he met, 'Your glabella is darkened; I can help you avert disaster and resolve misfortune.' "He cannot even scrape together the registration fee for the Scholar Examination and needs his disciple to front the money. Do you have some misunderstanding about what a great master is?"

"But your insight truly leaves me in awe. I grew up among shops and consider myself quite sensitive to money, yet I am still far inferior to you." Wei Wushuang said admiringly. "If it is not because of your honored teacher, then you must have traveled far and wide before."

Xia Fan could not help wanting to laugh. He had indeed stayed in quite a few places with his cheap master, but that had never been traveling the world. It had been aimless wandering.

If both lives were counted, then he had been to even more places.

Naturally, though, he would not tell the other man any of that.

Besides, the tea house was not the only thing that had struck Xia Fan as strange.

For example, the locals' reactions.

There were at most one or two hundred residents in Qingshan Town, while the candidates numbered a full four hundred. If such a large group of outsiders flooded into this enclosed place, it would inevitably bring resistance and wariness. Yet after making a round of the town, he found the locals' behavior far too natural. They went about whatever they needed to do and even greeted the candidates, as though... they had long been accustomed to such things.

"Your family runs a shop?"

"Dawan Grain Shop is my family's business," Wei Wushuang replied.

"Pfft." Xia Fan nearly choked. Was that not the best-performing grain shop in Fenghua County? The owners even occasionally handed out relief porridge, which his master often went to take advantage of. Anyone who could run a grain shop in the Qi State, even if they were not from an aristocratic clan, was no ordinary merchant or peddler.

"Brother Xia has seen it?"

As if he had not! It was in the very center of the county. Xia Fan rolled his eyes at him and had already categorized him as a class enemy in his heart. "More or less."

"Hehe, once the Scholar Examination is over, I will definitely treat Brother Xia to a proper meal in Fenghua County."

"No, this meal is enough." Xia Fan stood and cupped his hands to him. "Many thanks."

"...Wait, wait a moment." Wei Wushuang did not react at first. "You do not want to—"

"Cooperate?" He shook his head. "You were right about one thing: those disciples of sects and aristocratic families hold an advantage far greater than independent candidates. Even if we pass the Scholar Examination, our rankings probably will not be high. Therefore, for you, the best choice is to deliberately fail. Whether you enter the Bureau of Military Affairs or not will not affect you much, and because you fail the assessment, your father should have nothing to say. When you return to Fenghua County, you will still be the second young master of your family, with food and clothing guaranteed for life. At the very least, that is much better than being assigned to some city or town and ultimately dying to some evil aberration."

"So hurry home—" Xia Fan waved as he spoke. "Would it not be nice to be a wealthy second-generation heir living a plain, tedious life?"

He could tell that Wei Wushuang did not possess the determination to pass the Scholar Examination at any cost.

The latter's face visibly reddened.

For a moment, Xia Fan thought he would fly into a rage from humiliation and start cursing, but Wei Wushuang actually forced himself to endure it.

That was not common. Xia Fan silently praised him. Boys between fifteen or sixteen and adulthood cared most about their pride. They could lose anything but face; put plainly, they loved showing off and liked to burrow into a dead end. Yet despite his dissatisfaction, the other man had faced his own heart.

Only after a short while did Wei Wushuang speak. "What about you? You are just as unlikely as I am to obtain a good ranking. Are you not afraid?"

"Who says so? I care greatly about my own life."

"Then why..."

"Because of ignorance, I suppose." Xia Fan sighed softly.

"Ignorance?" Wei Wushuang's face was full of astonishment. He truly could not connect the man before him with ignorance.

Because he knew nothing about this new world, he wanted to understand it more deeply. Xia Fan knew that the sense of discord in his heart came from the clash between reality and common sense, from the feedback of an unfamiliar environment. If he were merely an ordinary person in this life, that would be one thing. But he happened to possess talent. Repaying his cheap master's debts was merely the spark; even without this incident, he would sooner or later have taken this step. As the Bureau of Military Affairs managed all strange phenomena, it was undoubtedly an ideal platform.

Moreover, for someone who had received a systematic education, seeking knowledge and unraveling mysteries had become an instinct carved into his soul.

But even if he said these things aloud, people in this world probably would not understand.

He waved his hand, turned, and walked outside.

The year-long appointment had arrived; Er Mu Xiaoxiao had returned once more!

The new book is an Eastern fantasy with an alternate-history setting. Please bookmark and recommend it!