Don't Check Answers After the Exam

Don't Check Answers After the Exam

The lady reclined lazily on the couch, flipping through several answer sheets Steward Wu had delivered.

Steward Wu lowered his head and reported, "As you instructed, all the male hereditary servants of the Zhao Family who are at least sixteen but under eighteen, and who live near Jingzhou City, have come. There are forty-seven in total."

"After Teacher Shen's selection, these five papers were among the better ones."

The person on the couch seemed not to have heard him. Only the rustling of turning pages could be heard.

A long while passed.

Clang~

The tapping sounded again.

Steward Wu immediately said, "Among them is one called Zheng Fa. Teacher Shen considers him the most gifted."

The person inside drew out Zheng Fa's answer sheet.

"I have already looked into it. Zheng Fa attended elementary schooling for only one year, so he does not know many characters. Though his paper is full of wrongly written characters, he actually memorized more than ninety percent of it, more than twice as much as the others."

The lady on the couch sat up, set several papers aside, and finally spoke.

"You think Zheng Fa is the best?"

Her voice was even clearer and more pleasant than the sound of the golden hairpin striking the jade ring earlier.

"This humble servant is shallow in knowledge and can only speak of what I see." Steward Wu lowered his head. "Compared to the others, he has his shortcomings. The rest are more knowledgeable; they have studied for years, and some have even earned scholarly degrees. Zheng Fa can only be said to possess slightly greater talent, but he still requires shaping. At present, he is likely not yet fit for use."

The figure behind the curtains nodded gently, as if she found his words reasonable.

But after a while, she suddenly gave a soft laugh. "This paper with the neatest handwriting, the one that remembered the most besides Zheng Fa's—does it belong to someone called Gao Yuan? I recall he is the only son of Steward Gao from the second branch?"

"Madam is most perceptive!"

Cold sweat abruptly broke out across Steward Wu's back.

"Enough. These three." The lady pulled out Zheng Fa's paper along with two others and handed them to a maid at her side. "Send them all to Xu Zheng for a look."

"Yes!"

Steward Wu accepted the papers from the maid, lowered his head, and slowly walked out of the small building. A warm breeze drifted outside, yet a chill washed over his entire body.

Though the lady rarely involved herself in affairs, spending her days reclining and unwilling even to waste extra words on others,

she understood everything in her heart. One sentence from her had left him trembling with fear—the second branch's Steward Gao and he had had some discord years ago. Hardly anyone had known about it, and so many years had passed. When he spoke for Zheng Fa, his exclusion of Steward Gao had also stemmed from certain petty thoughts that could not be spoken aloud, thoughts he had believed well concealed.

Madam...

Steward Wu shook his head. Since the lady still assigned him tasks, he knew he had not truly lost her trust.

In the waterside pavilion, the youths gradually began talking among themselves.

Within the Zhao Family estate, they did not dare wander about freely, but their youthful temperaments also left them with little patience for waiting.

At first, they had still been wary of Teacher Shen and Steward Wu next door. Later, they saw Steward Wu leave through the window, and not long afterward saw Teacher Shen stroll away as well. With no more reservations, they gathered together and began discussing the examination, one after another.

Since the test had only been dictation from memory, everyone actually had a fair idea of how they had done.

They could even tell at a glance when submitting their papers who had the best chances.

At that moment, half the group was gathered around a youth wearing a scholar's headscarf.

"Brother Gao, the position of book attendant is probably already in the palm of your hand." Another student clasped his hands, with a trace of reluctance in his voice.

"That is hard to say." The youth surnamed Gao shook his head quickly, though he could not conceal the smile on his face. "Brother Chen's talent is no less than mine. Are you trying to praise me to death, Gao Yuan?"

The youth surnamed Chen shook his head. "All I read day after day are books on Confucianism and law. Daoist scriptures are precious, and I had never encountered them before. Even listening to the Scripture of Clarity and Stillness, I found it twisted and difficult to understand. In that regard, I am naturally inferior to you."

Seeing how candid he was, Gao Yuan did not know how to express his modesty.

After all, he himself believed that he had probably done the best out of everyone present.

The other youths could naturally see his confidence. Moreover, even the Chen youth, one of the most capable among them, had said so. Naturally, they felt Gao Yuan had the greatest chance.

Zheng Fa watched the group of youths. Though none of them were older than seventeen or eighteen, their minds were far more mature than those of people their age in the other world.

They surrounded Gao Yuan, awkwardly flattering him, yet very quickly cast aside their mindset of viewing one another as competitors—or rather, they sobered up incredibly quickly and adjusted themselves to their proper positions in no time.

They bent with the wind remarkably well.

"Once this is over today, let's go feast at Gathering Star Tower. We can consider it a celebration for Young Master Gao!"

Some had already begun calling him Young Master.

"That's right, having taken the same examination, we can count it as fate."

"Let's go together, together!"

Huang Yu had originally been among the crowd, joining in their flattery of Gao Yuan. Before long, however, he slunk out and walked over to Zheng Fa's side, gazing with a faint trace of envy at Gao Yuan, who was holding forth grandly amid the crowd.

Zheng Fa turned to look at him, a hint of inquiry in his gaze.

Huang Yu's face flushed red, and he looked somewhat unwilling. "They're going to Gathering Star Tower to drink... Gao Yuan isn't paying; everyone else is chipping in together. I—I have money at home... but I didn't bring any."

Zheng Fa understood.

Even sucking up had a threshold.

Zheng Fa nodded and said very naturally, "Then I can't go either. My family has no money. Even if I wanted to bring some, I don't have any."

Huang Yu looked at Zheng Fa, then turned to look at the youths who did not regard him at all.

Before, he had thought Zheng Fa was putting on airs.

But compared to them now, he suddenly found Zheng Fa far more agreeable to look at, and he unconsciously felt a little closer to him.

"How did you do?" Huang Yu regretted the question the moment it left his mouth.

Zheng Fa shook his head without saying anything.

He had always followed one rule: never check answers after an exam. Well, he regarded it as a gambling activity with little gain but enormous potential for harm.

Seeing that he said nothing, Huang Yu believed he understood Zheng Fa's thoughts.

He himself had attended elementary schooling for five years, yet this time he had written less than ten percent.

Zheng Fa had naturally done even worse than him.

It was only normal to be ashamed to mention it.

"It's fine, I didn't do well either!" Huang Yu vigorously patted Zheng Fa on the shoulder and sincerely encouraged him. "Though I might have done a little better than you, only a tiny bit! But it's useless—I definitely won't be chosen!"

After saying that, he quietly leaned close to Zheng Fa's ear and muttered, "I saw through it long ago. Isn't that Gao guy only better off because his family has a steward position and a bit more money? If you had such good conditions, you wouldn't be any worse than him!"

Looking at his sour expression, Zheng Fa automatically replaced every "you" in that last sentence with "I" in his mind, and then understood what he really meant.

As the two chatted idly, Zheng Fa suddenly saw several people sitting bolt upright by the window, and an immediate sense of the teacher is here came over him.

Sure enough, Steward Wu was walking toward the waterside pavilion.

At his side, Huang Yu was still warmly inviting him. "Steward Wu is here. We'll probably have to head home together. Why not come play at my house today?"

Before he could finish, Steward Wu had already strode through the door.

"These three, come with me. Everyone else may leave first." Everyone saw that he held three answer sheets in his hand.

"Gao Yuan."

"Han Cheng."

Then he paused slightly while holding the final answer sheet before speaking. "Zheng Fa."

Huang Yu blankly turned his head to look at Zheng Fa beside him.

Zheng Fa rose to his feet while replying to his earlier invitation—there was a trace of sincere apology on his face, and he said somewhat awkwardly, "I'm afraid I won't have time today. Another day?"

(End of Chapter)