Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 38 Examination
Taozi carried the package, but that still did not slow down his pace. Zhang Erlang almost jogged beside him.

"Brother Taozi, is it true that they say city people are good eaters?"

"maybe."

"Where will we stay when we go to the county town?"

"You live in the Law School."

"What is the Law School?"

"A place to study and become an official."

"If I had studied and become an official, would I not have disappeared without a reason like the people in my village?"

"Hard to say."

The path was still quiet, except for many horse hoof prints on the ground, and occasionally fresh, steaming horse manure.

Knights hardly like to take such small paths. They prefer to ride their horses at full speed on the official road. It is rare to see horseshoe prints here.

The two of them actually walked all the way to the East City Gate. There were no ferocious beasts or thieves along the way. Everything was so peaceful that it seemed a little weird.

The East City Gate was still empty.

After showing the pass, the knight wanted to search the package again.

Liu Taozi put the package aside and opened them one by one. Inside were just some new clothes and new shoes.

The knight's eyes lit up and he reached out to take it.

A big hand immediately grabbed his wrist.

The Xianbei man was furious, his face was ferocious and terrifying. When he raised his head, he saw an even more terrifying face.

Taozi was staring at the Xianbei man at this moment, and the two looked at each other.

At the moment of looking at each other, the Xianbei people felt their hair stand on end and their bones go cold, as if they had instantly returned to the battlefield they had not seen for a long time.

"Brother!!"

Then a loud shout was heard, and a short man in official clothes ran out from the city gate. He hurriedly took out something from his arms and stuffed it into the knight's hand.

"This is my own brother, he graduated from the county school!"

"Don't be angry, don't be angry. This is my aqa!"

"The bitign in the city!"

The man gestured frantically to explain, then quickly looked at Liu Taozi.

"Brother, please let go, please let go."

The short man separated the two people. He asked Zhang Erlang to pick up the package, nodded repeatedly to the knight, and then pulled the two people into the city.

The knight collected his things, muttered a few words, rubbed his wrist in pain, and turned to look outside.

The little man wiped the sweat from his forehead, recorded Taozi's past, and whispered, "Brother, don't argue with these Xianbei people. The county government can't control them."

"Just be patient, be patient."

Liu Taozi recognized the little guy. He was his classmate in the law school and should have left ten days earlier than him.

This person's surname was Tian, ​​but I couldn't remember his name. I only remembered that he was good at speaking, got along well with everyone in the law school, and would occasionally comment on major events.

After completing the registration, the man asked, "Brother, are you going to take the exam today?"

"Ah."

"That's good, that's good. Let's meet again at the county government office tonight!"

The man said with a smile.

Liu Taozi nodded and led Zhang Erlang to continue walking in the county town.

Zhang Erlang looked around curiously.

This place was somewhat different from the city he had imagined, except that the houses were bigger, the roads were just as muddy, the surroundings were just as dilapidated, there was no one here, it was silent, and lifeless.

There seems to be no difference between walking here and walking in the village.

"Brother Taozi, why haven't I seen that person before? Why did he call you brother?"

"I don't know."

"I don't like this guy. He doesn't look like a good person. He seems like he wants to hurt people."

The two walked to the gate of the county school, one in front and one behind.

There is still an official in front of the familiar wooden desk, responsible for issuing school badges.

"Hey? Aren't you from the Law Department?"

The official recognized Taozi and asked, "Why are you coming to the county school if you don't want to go to the county government office to take the exam?"

"Give him the school license."

The official looked at Zhang Erlang standing beside him. Zhang Erlang put down the package and grinned at the man.

"Brother Taozi!!"

Suddenly someone shouted, and then a man was seen running out from the gate of the county school. He walked very quickly to Taozi's side with a grin on his face.

The official hurriedly bowed to greet him. Lu Qubing returned the greeting with a smile and then grabbed Taozi's hand.

"Just as I walked past the door, I vaguely saw a black bear standing outside the wall, with its fangs and claws bared. When I looked outside, it was indeed you!"

Lu Qubing glanced at Erlang beside him.

"Are you here to run a school sign?"

He immediately took out some money from his sleeve and handed it to the official, "His money is mine, record it as soon as possible."

The clerk was terrified, "How dare I, how dare I, I'll just do it myself"

"It's okay. You've been outside all day and you must be tired. If you have any extra money, just buy some fruit to eat!"

"Thank you for the toast!!"

Zhang Erlang looked at this enthusiastic nobleman with some surprise and a look of fear.

Liu Taozi pointed at him.

Zhang Erlang took a deep breath and straightened his chest, ready to be introduced to the nobleman by Brother Taozi. "These are my packages on him. Put them in your room first."

"it is good."

Lu Qubing was also very straightforward, "Leave this to me, you go to the county government office quickly, it's almost time, don't delay."

Liu Taozi nodded, turned around and left.

Lu Qubing smiled and led the confused Zhang Erlang into the county school.

The county school is not far from the county government office.

This was not the first time Taozi had walked this road, but this time, the road was full of soldiers, and she was stopped and searched after every few steps.

Holding the county student badge that showed her identity, Taozi took half an hour to reach her destination.

As Taozi just walked to the door, an old official called him.

Xu Laoli looked him up and down, "I remember you were lost?"

"No, I'm here to take the exam."

"Oh, the official is not here. Go around from here. There is a small door on the side. Go in and wait inside."

Mr. Xu kindly showed him the way.

Liu Taozi walked eastward along the courtyard wall and went around to the other side. Finally, he saw the small door that the old official had mentioned. The door was ajar.

Liu Taozi strode forward, pushed open the door and walked in.

This is a small courtyard built with an outer wall. The interior is quite simple, with only a few stone tables, which are bumpy. There are seven or eight people in the courtyard, all silent.

"Brother Peach!"

Several old acquaintances in the Law School saw Liu Taozi, walked up to him excitedly and surrounded him.

Those in the distance were strangers, looking at them suspiciously.

"Didn't they say that Zhilu can only take the exam if he is full-term? What's wrong with these people?"

A classmate asked in a low voice.

"Maybe he had legal treatment before, or maybe he spent some money on it."

They exchanged ideas, but Liu Taozi didn't care much about them.

They arrived much earlier than Taozi, and they were full of anticipation for the upcoming exam.

During these days, Lu Qubing spent a lot of time teaching them, which enabled everyone to make great progress. At least in the study of law, they had great confidence.

But Lu Qubing has always emphasized the difficulty of the exam, which makes everyone both excited and afraid.

The two emotions intertwined and were constantly amplified during the long wait.

After waiting for a long time, finally, a middle-aged man came out from the inner door, holding something in his hand, and staggered in front of everyone.

Those with sharp eyes have already started to take the lead in saluting.

The man looked tired and didn't even look at these people. He just gestured for them to come over and then stuffed the things in his hand into their hands.

"That's all. You can write it now."

The student looked at the blank paper in his hand blankly, "What should I write on this?"

The man suddenly became angry.

"How should I know what to write? The people in charge of these things are not here! Just write whatever you like!!"

He waved his hand and turned back to the inner room angrily.

The students looked at the white paper in their hands, then looked at each other, confused and at a loss.

Liu Taozi found a desk and sat down. He wrote his name and place of origin on a piece of paper, then wrote some famous examples from the law and stopped.

This was an unusual assessment, with no supervision, no time limit, and not even any test questions.

Everyone wrote something. Most people just memorized some laws, but some were more creative and wrote about the good deeds they had done in the past to show their noble moral cultivation.

Everyone finished writing quickly, at least filling up the white paper, and the scene fell into silence again.

Those people in the law office looked a little lost.

They prepared for so long, but in the end, all they had to do was scribble something on a piece of paper?
Everyone waited for a long time, but no one came in to collect the papers.

The sound of cicadas chirped again and again, and there was almost no place to shelter from the sun in this empty courtyard.

Everyone was sweating profusely, the sound of cicadas became particularly harsh, and a feeling of irritability enveloped everyone.

The scorching sun gradually set, and the sky became gloomy and dark little by little.

Finally, the classmates could no longer sit still, and several of them looked at Taozi.

"What should we do now, Brother Taozi?"

Taozi had been resting with his eyes closed. At this moment, he stood up and walked towards the house opposite. Everyone stood still and just looked at him.

Taozi pushed open the door to the inner room, and the man who had been buried in a pile of papers looked up in surprise.

"You? What's going on?"

"It's written."

The man was stunned for a moment before he realized, "Oh, the exam."

He stood up, walked out of the inner room, asked everyone to hand him the written papers, and waved his hand again.

"Okay, okay, you've passed, all of you have passed. Go to the west courtyard to find Monk He, who will distribute clothes and official badges, and arrange for accommodation and meals."

"Congratulations."

The man grabbed the papers, said something perfunctorily, turned around and walked into the inner room and closed the door.

The courtyard was empty.

There was only a group of low-level officials who had just passed the selection. They stood there in despair, without any sense of joy at having successfully passed the exam.

"Ugh"

(End of this chapter)