At the third watch-point of the fifth watch, the bell rang in the Examination Hall.
Wei Nisheng sat up on the plank bed and rubbed his eyes.
Dawn had yet to break fully. A little gray light seeped through the skylight of his Examination Cell and fell on the low table.
The candidate in the neighboring Examination Cell had risen early. Rustling sounds drifted over, too faint to make out clearly.
Wei Nisheng did not hurry to get up. Instead, he sat against the wall for a while.
With his eyes closed, he went over the essays from the previous two sessions in his mind.
The rhapsody had come fairly easily, and the argumentative essay was solid. He had made no major mistakes in either session.
Today, the third session would be on policy.
The examination's three policy questions were posed personally by the emperor.
Although Wei Nisheng had spent more than half a year reading records in the Hall of Literary Depths, that had still been warfare waged on paper.
Now that he actually had to produce a "policy response," he felt somewhat unsure.
I hope it won't be anything too difficult!
With that thought, he rose, put away the planks, folded his bedding, and sat down at the low table to grind ink.
He moved the inkstick slowly around the inkstone, circle after circle, neither hurried nor restless, as though steadying his own nerves.
The ink gradually thickened, glossy black.
Before he knew it, time had quietly slipped away.
Footsteps sounded outside his Examination Cell. The examiners were handing out papers, drawing steadily closer.
Wei Nisheng stopped what he was doing, straightened his back, wiped his hands on the hem of his robe, and waited.
Soon, an examiner handed him his paper.
Wei Nisheng received it with both