Du Yu followed Qu Xi to the "exam" room, which was packed with people. It seemed they had reformed the process too, letting nearly twenty people take the exam at once. Xiao Qi was currently proctoring.
"Xiao Qi, Qu Xi told me we've got a top scorer here?"
"A top scorer?" Xiao Qi paused, then nodded. "He really is a 'top scorer.' An old gentleman wrote down the contents of all eight legends, without a single mistake in the plots or names. He even added his own commentary."
"What? His own commentary too?" Why did this sound so familiar to Du Yu? "Where's this old gentleman? Let me see him."
"There." Xiao Qi pointed toward the last row, where a white-haired old man sat quietly. He wore his hair in a Qing-dynasty queue and was writing furiously, but unlike everyone else, he was using a newly purchased writing brush.
"Holy crap!" Du Yu exclaimed. "It'd be stranger if this old gentleman couldn't answer! Hurry up and stop him. This is completely unnecessary!"
He hurried over in a few strides and helped the old man up.
"Elder Pu, what are you doing?"
"Oh?" Pu Songling raised his head and looked at Du Yu. "So you really are here."
"Of course I'm here. The question is, why are you here?!" Du Yu said. "I'm a little confused. Did you come to take the exam?"
"I am ashamed, truly ashamed." Pu Songling's eyes were somewhat clouded. "In life, I repeatedly failed the examinations. Only at seventy-one did I become a 'Tribute Scholar.' Though I called myself the 'Lay Buddhist of Willow Spring' and the 'Historian of Strange Tales,' a thorn has always remained in my heart..."
"What are you talking about?" Du Yu took his arm. "Sir, times have changed. You may never