Food gives me an entry, I will be invincible if I stay alive

Chapter 318 Hey, you examinee!

Right now, in the examination room.

Luo Wenhuan was not the only one who paid special attention to Chen Xu.
People like Mo Huaizhang, Ning Siyu, Zhou Qian, and Song Chengye, who among them didn't care about Chen Xu?
Cui Yunqi was also in the examination room, and at that moment he also thought of Chen Xu.

If we're talking about poetry, how many of the candidates present, including the high and mighty examiners on the Star-Gazing Platform, could compare to Chen Xu?
I'm afraid there aren't any.

Thinking of this, Cui Yunqi felt a surge of confidence and an indescribable excitement welled up in his chest.

At this moment, although he and Chen Xu were separated by countless examination cells, they were, after all, in the same examination hall.

Among those taking the exam were countless talented individuals who had once been renowned throughout the world.

But no matter how brilliant you are, today you will ultimately pale in comparison to Chen Xu's brilliance.

Just like Cui Yunqi back then, how arrogant and disdainful he was.

But in the end, didn't his Dao heart collapse because of a fight with Chen Xu?
Today, someone will finally understand what he went through.

However, the Cui Yunqi of today is no longer the Cui Yunqi of the past.

Through his experiences, he has become more composed.

Knowing the limits and knowing when to advance and retreat—isn't that a form of progress?
In this world, aside from Chen Xu and Cui Yunqi, how many truly talented men are there?
Cui Yunqi, though in his small cell, exuded an air of arrogance and pride, seemingly looking down on the mediocre world with a sense of unique and extraordinary character.

He read the title of the poem, then picked up his pen and wrote the poem casually.

The poem is titled: "A poem about 'rural landscapes,' or it may depict 'bean trellises and melon trellises,' or it may show 'a plow in spring rain,' or it may depict 'chrysanthemums picked by the eastern fence.' The imagery is not limited."

The poem must be in seven-character lines and rhyme with "微".

So the theme of this poem is pastoral poetry!

Pastoral poetry is not difficult; how many educated people today haven't written pastoral poems?

Moreover, today's poem topics are not limited to imagery.

The problem is that it is limited to seven-character lines and also has restrictions on rhyme schemes.

Scholars in the Da Li Dynasty who aspired to participate in the imperial examinations would accumulate knowledge by composing poems in their daily lives.

Pastoral poems, poems about the seasons, poems about objects, and poems about landscapes are all popular themes among contemporary scholars.

By meticulously studying and refining words in daily life, and practicing hundreds of poems until they are memorized, one will not be flustered or disorganized during the actual exam.

There are always some poem titles that can be approximated or used.

Unfortunately, this time the poem's title restricts the rhyme scheme.

The difficulty increases significantly once the rhyme scheme is restricted.

Cui Yunqi sighed softly, but a smile played on his lips.

He didn't have the ability to create poems from thin air, but he was never afraid to write them.

The poem says: Spring plowing.

"New rice seedlings emerge from the water, their green leaves just beginning to sprout and grow lush."

Dai Li, a farmer, returns home under the moonlight.

The oriole is the best at understanding the changing seasons.

He repeatedly urged those living in the woods to weed the small trees early.

Cui Yunqi wrote the entire poem in one go.

Finally, he stared blankly at the ink-stained verses on his white roll of paper.

This casually written seven-character quatrain is surprisingly elegant in language, vivid in imagery, and relevant to the theme and scene. It can be considered his best pastoral poem in recent years.

This shows how important one's state of mind is.

Having gone through a series of seclusions and honestly admitted that he was not as skilled as others, he could be said to have seen through the vanity of fame and fortune.

His goal in participating in the provincial examination this time was not to be the top scholar, but only to be the second-best.

Therefore, he was relaxed and even writing poetry became effortless and easy.

And the more this is the case, the better the poem becomes.

This can be considered the pinnacle of Cui Yunqi's life.

After finishing the poem, he recited it several times, a smile playing on his lips, a mixture of joy and regret. While the poem was "acceptable," it ultimately lacked something.

What exactly is missing?

Cui Yunqi found it difficult to understand at the moment.

He sighed softly, but his gaze seemed to extend beyond the narrow space in front of the cell, looking involuntarily into the distance.

If Cui Yunqi could understand what he lacks, perhaps he wouldn't be so bad at poetry now.

He looked into the distance, wondering if Chen Xu had composed a poem at this moment.

If this were to become a poem, why hasn't the smoke from the examination hall risen yet?

Cui Yunqi was engrossed in watching when, unbeknownst to him, footsteps approached from the side, and a group of inspectors walked past the passageway in front of the examination cells.

One of the leaders, who was carrying a knife, suddenly put his hand on his waist knife, turned his head angrily, and said: "Hey, you examinee, don't look at me like that!"

Ah, it's actually a warning to Cui Yunqi not to look around.

But only heaven and earth, and everyone in the examination hall, knew that no matter how much the candidates looked up at the sky from their cells, they could not possibly see anything.

After all, the examination room was as small as a pigeon coop, with the sides and top and bottom completely covered.

Apart from the small patch of sky in front of me and the row of students in the opposite dormitories engrossed in answering their questions, there was really nothing else to see.

As for cheating through such peeking, that's even more impossible.

Even though he knew he couldn't cheat, Cui Yunqi was still warned.

Cui Yunqi immediately lowered his head.

What can he do?
Regardless of his family background, once he entered the examination hall, he had to behave himself.

Cui Yunqi became anxious again, wondering if Chen Xu had actually written a poem.
Cui Yunqi couldn't help but secretly watch the group of soldiers in the passage out of the corner of his eye, hoping they would leave soon.

He repeatedly hoped that a wisp of smoke would appear in the sky.

But no matter what, the soldiers seemed to have their eyes on him, pacing back and forth in the cell passage, their gazes never leaving Cui Yunqi's side.

This left Cui Yunqi with no choice but to hang his head in anxiety, his eyes glancing at his answer sheet one moment and then at the pairs of black boots moving back and forth in the passageway the next.

Several dozen breaths passed in a blur. Just as Cui Yunqi began to silently recite the Qi-cultivation mantra in his mind, he suddenly heard a cry of surprise:
"Boss, look!"

One of the soldiers in black uniforms couldn't contain himself any longer and blurted out in surprise.

This exclamation was as if it had triggered a fatal button on some kind of mechanism.

As soon as the sound was uttered, countless exclamations rose and fell, creating a commotion that reverberated throughout the entire examination hall.

“It’s Qingyan!”

"It's blue smoke! What's going on? Where did the blue smoke come from?"

"Yes, yes... Could it be that someone composed a poem that turned into smoke?"

"No, how could this be? I don't believe it!"

The gasps of surprise undoubtedly came from the examinees in the examination hall.

The voice contained surprise, doubt, and disbelief, but even more so, an indescribable fear and terror.

Inside the examination hall, poems were written in the form of wisps of smoke.

Regardless of who wrote the poem about green smoke, doesn't that prove that everyone else is an incompetent fool?
The sense of panic is still spreading.

Inside the examination hall, the exclamations gathered into a wave, which only made the wisp of smoke that was rising straight into the sky seem even more straight and swift, like a divine dragon emerging from a mountain, forging ahead without hesitation!

It is easy to imagine that the poem that is now drawing smoke upwards must be no ordinary poem.

It must be wonderful.

Otherwise, how could the wisps of smoke in the sky rise straight up like that?
In the cell, Cui Yunqi finally couldn't hold back and let out a loud laugh amidst the many gasps.

The soldiers who had been eyeing him intently didn't even notice his smile.

They all craned their necks, some staring in disbelief.

(End of this chapter)