Xiao Mo? This man was rather interesting

After entering the examination cell, Xiao Mo waited for the exam to officially begin.

The Provincial Examination in Qi Kingdom consisted of three sessions.

The first session tested interpretation of the classics.

The Four Books usually had three questions.

Candidates were required to select passages from the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects, and the Mencius, then explain them.

The Five Classics questions corresponded to the Book of Songs, the Book of Documents, the Book of Rites, the Book of Changes, and the Spring and Autumn Annals. Each book had one question, and candidates could answer four out of five.

That was right.

The history of Qi Kingdom was actually somewhat similar to that of Huaxia on Blue Sea Star. It, too, had a Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, as well as Confucius and Laozi.

It was just that the tales of these ancient sages claimed they had transcended the Ascension Realm and ascended to the heavens to attain Spirit Transformation.

It wasn't impossible.

After all, cultivation was possible in this world.

Perhaps the founders of these schools of thought had truly reached an unimaginable level.

After the Imperial Examination for Children, there were no longer strict restrictions on the format of the eight-legged essay.

Candidates were free to express themselves.

Xiao Mo wasn't very confident about the first session.

He didn't think of himself as a genius.

The teachers he'd studied under had some renown, but only in a few nearby towns.

They weren't the sort of true masters renowned for their scholarship.

Quite a few Juren, meanwhile, had one-on-one instruction from famous teachers in their prefectures and provinces.

So for the first session, Xiao Mo only hoped not to drag down his overall result.

The second session tested practical writing, such as essays, legal judgments, edicts, proclamations, and memorials.

Essay: one question, usually asking candidates to express their views and arguments on a historical event, a person, or a political or ethical topic.

Judgment: five questions, each presenting a simulated lawsuit or official document. Candidates had to draft a verdict based on the Great Qi Code and relevant rites and laws.

There was one question each on edicts, proclamations, and memorials.

Xiao Mo was fairly confident about the second day's exam.

He could draw on the many cases he'd seen on Blue Sea Star and think beyond the obvious. His perspective was broader than that of the scholars of this world, and his angles were fresher, too.

The third session was policy essays.

There were usually five questions.

They covered a very broad range of topics.

Candidates had to assess historical events and the merits and failings of historical figures, drawing lessons from the past.

They also had to analyze current issues facing the nation—politics, the economy, taxation, grain transport, military defense, military organization, social education, disaster relief, and culture—and propose solutions.

The final policy question asked for the candidate's opinion of Qi Kingdom's feudal princes and kings.

"The feudal princes and kings of Qi Kingdom, huh?"

Xiao Mo frowned as he looked at the question.

He wasn't someone who shut himself away from the world.

He knew that the current emperor had been considering curbing the fiefdoms for quite some time, and that many officials at court were calling for it, too.

But he hadn't expected the chief examiner for Jiangnan to put the fiefdoms so bluntly in the exam. The emperor must have given his approval.

This was practically rubbing the issue in the princes' faces...

Xiao Mo would certainly support curbing the fiefdoms. It was the politically correct position.

But how should it be done?

After pondering for a long while,

Xiao Mo wrote three words on his paper: Edict of Spreading Grace.

At the hour of Chen on the fourth day, the bell rang. The candidates stopped writing, and their papers were gradually collected.

The scholars streamed out of the examination hall.

Some thought they were sure to pass this Imperial Examination.

Some thought they'd botched it.

Others asked the scholars around them what they thought of the various questions.

Amid the crowd, Xiao Mo immediately spotted a woman with a veil over her face.

Her embroidered shoes rested on a stone as she scanned the crowd, searching for someone.

The moment the woman saw Xiao Mo, her beautiful eyes lit up with joy. "Xiao Mo, over here!"

Bai Ruxue jumped down from the stone and ran toward Xiao Mo.

"Are you done with the exam?" Bai Ruxue asked.

"Mm, I'm done." Xiao Mo nodded and gently patted Bai Ruxue on the head. "Come on, let's go home."

"Yay~ Home we go~"

The examination hall's grading pavilion.

Grading the Provincial Examination papers took five days in all.

Each paper had to be graded three times by officials.

According to Qi Kingdom's latest rules, if all three officials deemed a paper satisfactory, the candidate could be selected as a Juren, and the word "Accepted" would be written on it.

If two officials deemed the paper satisfactory, it would be passed to the chief examiner, who would review it and decide whether to accept the candidate.

If only one official deemed it satisfactory, the candidate would have to come back three years later.

On the third day of grading, an official named Yang Zifang came across a paper.

The handwriting was good, and the answers were clearly reasoned. The candidate even showed some fresh and expansive thinking.

Halfway through, Yang Zifang figured the scholar would probably pass.

But when he reached the answer to the final question, he shot to his feet.

"Old Fang, stop a moment and look at this paper first!" Yang Zifang said to his colleague beside him.

"What's wrong with it?" Fang Yue took the paper and looked it over. "The handwriting's good. He's a little weak on the Four Books and Five Classics, but the rest is decent. The policy essay is even better. He can be accepted. Hmm?"

When he reached the final question,

Fang Yue stood up just like Yang Zifang, eyes wide as he read it again and again.

"Why are you two acting so strangely? Let me see that paper."

"I want a look, too."

The other officials in the room all put down their papers and walked over to the two men.

When they saw the answer to the final question, they all froze, reading it over and over.

After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, Yang Zifang hurried into the chief examiner's room, carrying the paper.

"Lord Zhang, there's a paper here that needs your review."

Yang Zifang bowed to Zhang Qianzhi.

Zhang Qianzhi was a Hanlin Academician in charge of the Hanlin Academy.

Although the post of Hanlin Academician was largely honorary, Lord Zhang was highly renowned and senior in rank, and he was deeply trusted by the emperor.

Even the current Prime Minister was Lord Zhang's pupil.

Zhang Qianzhi had come to Jiangnan Province as chief examiner this time mainly because he had nothing to do in the capital and wanted to get out for a while.

"Put it there," Lord Zhang said indifferently. "I'll finish reading this one first."

"Lord Zhang," Yang Zifang began, gathering his words, "the five colleagues in my grading group have all reviewed this paper, and they all agree that it passes."

"Hmm?" Zhang Qianzhi looked up.

Only three examiners needed to grade a paper, yet six officials had read this one.

And after three examiners had passed it, there was no need to submit it to him—yet Yang Zifang had still brought it over.

"What's the issue with this paper?" Zhang Qianzhi asked.

"There's nothing wrong with it. It's just that, regarding this candidate's final answer on 'curbing the fiefdoms,' we all feel it should be brought to your attention, Lord Zhang," Yang Zifang said respectfully.

"Bring it here."

"Yes, my lord."

Zhang Qianzhi took the paper and read it from beginning to end, without jumping straight to the final essay.

But when he reached the last one, his brows narrowed.

Zhang Qianzhi tore away the paper's name cover. Yang Zifang sucked in a breath. Only Old Zhang would dare do such a thing...

"Xiao Mo."

"This man was rather interesting."