Returning Lost Money?

Xu Xue grew even more nervous at Xu Xi's words.

Xu Xi patted her. "You weren't planning to come to school in the first place, were you? Even if you don't pass, you won't have lost anything, right? Relax. Just think of it as a little outing, a chance to see the world. If it doesn't work out, we'll go home."

Xu Xue was innocent and lively, and rather carefree. Sure enough, Xu Xi's words put her at ease, and she said with a grin, "Right, I'm just here to have fun. I wasn't planning to go to school anyway."

Seeing his daughter like this, Xu Yongyi was sick with worry.

At first, he hadn't set much store by the Women's Academy. The cost of educating two girls had weighed on his heart like a great stone, making him feel that it wouldn't matter if they failed to get in; at least he wouldn't have to spend the money. But now, seeing so many people fighting tooth and nail to get in, he had changed his mind.

Anything everyone was scrambling for had to be good.

The Women's Academy had been established for so long that the rules of its examinations were bound to have spread. The clothes Xu Xi and her two companions wore were neither fancy nor shabby, making them perfectly ordinary among the crowd. As a result, while they waited, they encountered no oddballs, much less anyone who mocked them for looking shabby.

Moreover, though so many people were gathered outside, everyone deliberately kept their voices down, so the scene was not particularly noisy.

After another quarter of an hour, there was a clang. The main gates of the Women's Academy did not open, but someone came out through a side gate.

Two people came out.

The one in front was a middle-aged woman in her forties. She wore a plain outfit of green silk and had her hair held up with a single silver hairpin. Her face was long, her lips tightly pressed together, and her expression stern. She had quite the air of a dean of students from Xu Xi's modern-day life.

Following her was a broad, stout older woman dressed as a servant, presumably there to protect the middle-aged woman.

As soon as the middle-aged woman emerged, Xu Xi heard someone exclaim in a hushed voice, "Oh, it's Madam Cui."

Someone else whispered, "Oh dear, why is Madam Cui presiding over the examination this time?"

"She's the strictest of them all."

Madam Cui evidently had excellent hearing. She seemed to have heard the whispers too, for she looked straight at the people discussing her, then swept her gaze around the crowd.

Silence quickly spread through the crowd. The three or four hundred people standing around the academy soon shut their mouths, and the scene fell quiet at once.

Only then did Madam Cui speak. "Those taking the examination, line up and enter one at a time. Everyone else, please wait outside."

With that, she turned and led the older servant back inside.

The main gates remained tightly shut, and only the side gate Madam Cui had entered was open. At some point, a table and two chairs had been set beside it. Two women, one in her thirties and the other in her twenties, sat facing the crowd. A sign on the table read: Please present your identity documents before entering.

Clearly, the side gate was where Madam Cui had told everyone to enter one by one.

The people outside the gate looked at one another, each urging the others forward and giving way. No one wanted to be the first to enter, as though whoever went in first would be eaten by the people inside.

Xu Xi took Xu Xue by the wrist. "Come on, let's go in first."

Xu Xue was startled. As she saw it, everyone was urging one another forward and giving way, so surely no good could come of going in first. Yet Xu Xi was rushing to be first. Had she gone foolish?

She was about to talk her out of it when she heard Xu Yongyi say, "Listen to your sister."

Xu Xue immediately closed her mouth and obediently followed Xu Xi through the crowd toward the gate. Then they entered together.

The woman in her thirties took the documents from the two of them, looked them over, and called out their names: "Xu Xi of Little Banyan Village, Xu Xue of Little Banyan Village."

The woman in her twenties then picked up her brush and wrote both names on a sheet of paper.

The people outside, who had still been urging one another forward and giving way, watched in silence for a moment. Then they all rushed forward at once, scrambling to be the third to enter. Those with quick eyes and hands soon secured a place and went in, while those unable to push their way past the others stepped aside, some looking aggrieved but holding it in, others muttering curses under their breath.

The Women's Academy was not only a path to advancement but also a way to raise one's standing. Yet the empress who had founded the academy had laid down a rule: no one could use family background or status to enter through the back door. The only way to enroll was to pass the examination. Thus, young ladies from some powerful and influential families also came to take it, hoping to raise their standing and marry into good families.

At such times, some powerful families had several sturdy older servants stand at the gate and block the others with their stout bodies, forcing a path through for their young mistress to enter. Only after she had gone inside did the servants leave.

When faced with such people, girls from ordinary families dared to be angry but not to speak out. They could only swallow their anger and step aside. Some with worse tempers muttered curses under their breath, their faces full of resentment, while others looked on with envy. Still others were so timid that they dared not make a sound even when someone stepped on their feet, and could only bite their lower lips and hold it in, tears welling in their eyes...

They were only there to take an examination, yet because they had to enter through one small side gate, countless scenes played out.

The academy examiners hidden in the crowd saw each of these things. Who entered first, who got into an argument while jostling for a place, who showed a venomous look over another's unintentional action, who did anything out of the ordinary... Since the women guarding the gate called out each girl's name, the examiners recorded it all.

There were as many as five or six such examiners.

Apart from the academy examiners taking part in the assessment and Xu Xi, who had reasoned out part of the truth, no one imagined that the examination inside the academy was merely a smokescreen. The most important examination was taking place in the area outside the side gate.

Ordinary ancient buildings were constructed according to certain rules. The buildings on the central axis beyond the main gate were all imposing, stately places of importance, and their halls could be passed straight through.

But whether because the Women's Academy had not been built according to those rules, or because they had entered through a side gate rather than the main gate, Xu Xi and Xu Xue found themselves on a winding path as soon as they came in. Before their eyes appeared a succession of lush flowers and trees, archways, and buildings, often giving them the feeling that "beyond the endless hills and streams where no road seems to lie, another village appears amid dark willows and bright flowers."

Fortunately, there was a sign at every fork showing them which way to go.

"Oh, the scenery here is so beautiful." Xu Xue could not help exclaiming as she took in the sights.

Xu Xi was about to speak when Xu Xue cried out, "Sister, look! Is that a pouch on the ground?"

Xu Xi looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a pouch lying quietly at the foot of a clump of bamboo ahead. Perhaps out of concern that someone might be too blind to see it, the pouch had been made of bright red silk, embroidered with green lotus leaves and white lotus blossoms. It was exquisitely made.

Xu Xi suspected this was a test question.

Returning lost money without pocketing it-what a noble virtue.