Top Scholar

Chapter 277 Release of List
“Indeed.” All the advisors had read Yang Shen’s examination essay and agreed that the white-bearded man was right.

Xiao Tixue said calmly, "I asked Yongxiu, and he said he believed that the first article alone was enough to make him stand out, so he didn't put much effort into writing the second one."

"Sigh, I shouldn't have been careless. How could I not give it my all in such an important exam? If I had run into this 'She' character today, wouldn't I have failed miserably?" The white-bearded man shook his head and sighed.

"This exam is like an insurmountable chasm for others, but for Yang Yongxiu, it's just a small ditch he can easily step over. It's going to be very difficult to get him to take it seriously," said the bespectacled man.

“This academy has already disciplined him, and I believe he won’t do it again,” Xiao Tixue said in a deep voice. “Besides, the two of them took the same exam, so there’s no point in comparing them.”

"Yes..." The gentlemen realized that the Grandmaster did not want them to discuss the topic any further, so they stopped talking at the right time.

"Then let's tentatively decide on this person as number one," Xiao Tixue said.

"Yes." The gentlemen's hearts skipped a beat. The host hadn't said "designate him as the top scholar," but rather "provisionally designate him as number one."

The difference here is significant. Normally, the results of the provincial examination could be reviewed and recorded as needed, and the top scorer would be selected after the first round without any problems.

For example, Yang Shen only took the first exam and was ranked first without taking a second exam.

The fact that the candidate is tentatively ranked first means that they will have to take a retest, which means that there are still variables.

The portly aide couldn't help but ask, "Master, is it necessary for this person to take a second exam?"

"This young man is indeed exceptionally talented, unmatched by any other student in Luzhou. However, our academy has stipulated that everyone must complete both exams and interviews before rankings are determined," said Supervisor Xiao solemnly.
"To correct a wrong, one must go to extremes, and besides, admitting students according to the rules is not excessive."

"Yes." The gentlemen naturally listened to their master.

Next, they ranked the other eleven top students, thus completing the first round of marking.

Xiao, the provincial education commissioner, then sent someone to invite the prefectural governor, Jia, to help fill out the case.

"Grandmaster is truly meticulous and patient!" Prefect Jia said sarcastically as soon as he entered. He had five hundred papers to grade, and it had taken him three whole days to do so. He was incredibly slow and tedious.

Secondly, this guy actually openly mocked himself in the first exam, saying things like "If you govern the people with laws and regulate them with punishments, they will avoid punishment but have no sense of shame" and "The respectful do not insult others." Isn't he just saying that he is shameless and unfairly insults others?
"The grading of the provincial examinations is crucial to the candidates' future careers, unlike the state examinations which are more casual. Even if the candidates are of varying quality, the provincial examinations still have the department to back them up," Xiao Tixue sneered. "But no one is there to back me up."

"Very well," Prefect Jia was about to leave, how could he put up with this attitude any longer? So he sneered, "Let's take apart the anonymous papers and see how big the difference is between the Grandmaster's careful and meticulous review and my 'careless and crude' review?"

"Master Dong, shall we dismantle it?" the advisors asked. They were all curious to see the name of the candidate who could rival Yang Shen.

"No," said Xiao Tixue, raising his hand. "This time, we must strictly follow the rules!"

According to the regulations of the provincial examination, the admission of candidates in the main examination room is based solely on their seat numbers.

"Yes." The gentlemen had no choice but to suppress their curiosity and simply filled in the seat numbers of the 100 people taking the re-examination on the group table.

"Hehe..." Prefect Jia's laughter was rather strained. He knew what the Grandmaster was worried about... If Su was also admitted as the top scholar, the previous reprimands against him would be much less effective.

Some of them even contradicted their own experiences...

But the problem is, if the Grandmaster doesn't make Su the top scholar, it's a slap in the face to Prefect Jia!
Not wanting to ruin the last thing before leaving, Prefect Jia pointed to the first-place scroll on the table and asked with a smile, "May I take a look?"

Xiao Tixue nodded. The rankings were already out; how could he not be allowed to see them?
Prefect Jia picked it up and read it aloud with the same intonation and praise. Finally, he smiled and said, "Grandmaster, we have the same idea. This is the best choice I have."

"Your Excellency, please don't speak so confidently." Xiao Tixue's face grew even more gloomy.

"I am absolutely certain," Prefect Jia said firmly. "Su Lu is the last disciple of Hanlin scholar Pang, and he is our own Yang Shen from Luzhou. All the scholars in Luzhou know his articles!"

He looked at Xiao Tixue provocatively and said, "Don't believe me? Let's make a bet?"

“This court never gambles,” Xiao Tixue said sternly. “Since Prefect Jia is so certain, let’s wait and see.”

With that, he waved his hand and said, "Go report the case."

"Yes, sir!" Magistrate Jia replied with a boisterous "yes," and ordered someone to take the case file and post it on the notice board at the entrance of Xuegong Street.

~~
The notice board was already crowded with test takers waiting for the case to be reported.

Xiao Tingjie, the top candidate in the Naxi case, and Xu Chengye, the top candidate in the Jiang'an case, huddled together, surrounded by other candidates from the same county.

“Brother Yuangong, Brother Jizu, since you didn’t get to be the first in line this time, you have another chance to compete,” a fellow villager said.

Xiao Tingjie shook his head and said, "Impossible, I have no chance anyway... After the state examination, I visited Su, the top scholar, to ask for advice on writing. His insights in all aspects were far superior to mine, and we talked for a whole day with him, which was very enlightening. I went back and my writing improved a lot."

“That’s right, we can just aim for second place.” Xu Chengye agreed, “I even had someone copy Su’s top county exam essay. His level is indeed far above ours. It wasn’t just by chance that he wrote that good essay.”

“Losing to him is not shameful,” Xiao Tingjie laughed. “Anyway, the top five can all become government-subsidized students.”

“Yeah, losing to him is much better than losing to someone about your level,” Xu Chengye laughed. “I’m more interested in who’s in second place now.” “Haha, me too,” Xiao Tingjie said. “I still want to compete for second place.”

"Let's see," Xu Chengye said with a smile, "who will be next to the top scholar this time."

"Is Su, the top scholar, really that amazing?" The fellow villagers couldn't help but gasp in amazement. There's a saying that 'in literature there is no first place, but in martial arts there is no second.' They had never seen anyone like this before, where everyone else was tacitly vying for second place.

At this moment, Su Lu, surrounded by a large group of classmates from Zhengyizhai and Shengshenzhai, also came to see the list.

This year, candidates who passed the state exams stepped forward to greet and pay their respects.

"Brothers, may the results be very auspicious!" Su Lu also politely returned the greeting with a fist and palm salute.

"Thank you for your kind words, Chief Scholar Su." Everyone happily accepted the blessing from the chief scholar, and then asked curiously, "Chief Scholar, would you mind revealing your examination number?"

"What's inconvenient about this?" Su Lu smiled, looked at his floating ticket, and said, "Photography number!"

'Clang clang clang...' At this moment, the gong sounded, and a group of clerks carrying flags came out of the academy.

"A case has been reported! A case has been reported!" Everyone tensed up, craning their necks to look at the red notice in Shui Xuezheng's hand.

"Make way, make way." The clerk, wielding a fire-and-water stick, cleared a path, allowing the Water Scholar and his clerks to post the case of the group on the notice board.

The candidates stared at the table, where the outermost circle, one space higher than the center, bore the character "摄" (She), which, along with the other ninety-nine examination numbers, formed two concentric circles.

"As expected!" The other candidates were not surprised at all; they would have been surprised if Su Lu hadn't ranked first.

But what they really want to know right now is whether they're on the list.

Everyone stared wide-eyed, searching for their exam number on the group's worksheet. Those who found it cheered with joy. Those who didn't continue searching, circling the worksheet again and again, hoping they had simply missed it…

However, there were only one hundred spots available for the group, while there were five hundred of them, which meant that eighty percent of the candidates would not make the list.

Those four hundred who failed the exam could only leave dejectedly and wait until next year...

Cheng Wanfan and Li Qiyu, these two unfortunate brothers, neither found their assigned seats on the group's case file.

"Sigh, it seems this is the best we can do this time." Li Qiyu patted Cheng Wanfan on the shoulder with a wry smile. He had expected this result... He barely passed the county and state examinations in the last round, so he was already lucky to have made it this far.

No one can be blessed with good fortune forever.

"I thought I could at least stay one round longer than you," Cheng Wanfan said dejectedly. However, his ranking in the prefectural exam was quite low, so being eliminated in the academy exam wasn't unexpected.

"What's the difference between the next round of elimination and this round?" Li Qiyu laughed. "The sooner we're eliminated, the sooner we can prepare for next year!"

"What you said makes sense," Cheng Wanfan chuckled. At least he could come again next year, so he wasn't too upset.

After checking the rankings, everyone tallied up the results, and as expected, Su Lu was in first place.

Among the other classmates, Zhu Zi was second, Bai Yunshan was third, Xiao Tingjie was fourth, Xu Chengye was fifth, Su Man was sixth, Zhu Zigong was seventh, Lei Jun was eighth, Deng Dengying was ninth, and Lin Zhihong was tenth.

Lei Shengyuan is ranked eleventh, Qiao Feng is ranked twelfth, Cheng Wanzhou is ranked twenty-eighth, Wang Chong is ranked thirty-eighth, Su Dan is ranked forty-first, Tao Cheng is ranked forty-seventh, Ma Qianli is ranked fiftieth, and Su Youcai is ranked fifty-sixth!

Excluding Su Lu, four people from Sheng Shen Zhai were eliminated, leaving ten people.

Five people from Zhengyizhai have been eliminated, leaving seventeen...

~~
After reviewing the results, the candidates who passed went to the entrance of the academy to exchange their tickets for floating tickets, and then went home to prepare for the final battle the next morning.

Hearing that all three of them had made it to the retest, the landlady and others were naturally overjoyed. They never expected that this year's exams would be so lucky, with no one falling behind so far.

"Chun-ge'er's chances of becoming a scholar are practically guaranteed." Su Youcai, however, said with mixed feelings of joy and worry, "I'm not so sure. There are fifty places available, but I ranked fifty-sixth... There's still a good chance I'll fail in the last round."

The first round of exams focused too heavily on the four classic texts, and there was only one follow-up exam; the hope of turning the tide was indeed quite slim…

"Second Uncle, don't panic," Su Man said in a deep voice. "The retest will be on the Five Classics, which is your forte. As long as you perform well, you can definitely surpass several young people and be among the top fifty!"

“Indeed, most of us have only studied the classics for a year or two, unlike Father, who has been studying the Book of Poetry for over twenty years.” Su Lu also comforted his father, saying, “This second round is for you to catch up!”

“Yes, Father, our ancestors will always protect you,” Su Tai said, stretching his increasingly thick arms.

Encouraged by his nephews and nieces, Su Youcai straightened up again and nodded emphatically, saying, "Watch me create a miracle, not too big, not too small!"

P.S. The next chapter will be coming soon, I finished writing it in a rush.

(End of this chapter)