"The Autumn Moon Assessment lasts three days in total."
Zheng Yulin stood on the steps at the hall entrance. He did not raise his voice, yet everyone in the courtyard heard him clearly.
"Today is the written exam: two hundred questions covering all Six Branches of Medicine."
"The exam begins at the fourth quarter of the Chen Hour. Papers will be collected at the start of the Wei Hour."
"No talking, no concealed medical texts, and no peeking at another person's work. Violators will be expelled from the examination hall and barred from taking another assessment this year."
"Tomorrow's exam covers only the Trauma Medicine Branch. The day after that combines Acupuncture and Moxibustion with the Herbal Medicine Branch. Both are practical trials."
"Based on the combined results of all three days, only around fifty candidates will receive Grade A."
"One in a hundred. Grade A is much harder to get this time. Even the next grade down goes to only one in forty or fifty." Lin Ziwu sighed quietly beside Zhao Xing. "My old man said yesterday that if I fail to get it again, I can go home and inherit the family business."
"With your ability, Brother Lin, what are you worried about?" Zhao Xing smiled reassuringly, though he was the one under real pressure. He needed not only Grade A, but a perfect score. That was a challenge of another order.
"Hard to say. Sigh..." Lin Ziwu looked uneasy.
The crowd began filing into the examination hall, a makeshift enclosure beside Yulin Hall.
Zheng Yulin was not invigilating. The three officials accompanying him took charge as examiners while he went to another examination hall.
Upon entering, Zhao Xing saw a burly, dark-faced middle-aged man on the left: Zhong Yue, chief physician of the Trauma Medicine Hall, Ninth