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Chapter 358 The Culinary Delights of the Imperial Examination Hall
In the dimly lit alley, wisps of smoke rose from chimneys, and the sound of coughing could be heard.

The men learned from their mistake and improved their fire-starting methods; this time, half of them successfully lit the stove. Although it was still filled with smoke, making their eyes water, the men were very excited, celebrating silently as if they had solved a difficult problem…

Su Lu was also happy for them. The human body needs hot soup and hot food, and eating cold food for a long time will quickly cause indigestion.

As the moon passed over the thorny thicket, his meat porridge was ready. He carefully placed the pot on the stove with chopsticks and then sat down by the fire.

Then he carried the copper pot back to his seat and enjoyed his first hot meal in the examination hall.

Su Lu stuck the spoon into the pot; the meat porridge was so thick that the spoon could stand upright. The rice grains glistened with oil in the candlelight because he had added diced cured pork. For a more balanced meal, he also chopped some shiitake mushrooms and chopped leafy greens with a grater and cooked them together.

He blew on the cool half-spoon and put it in his mouth. The rice was cooked until soft and sticky, melting in his mouth. The aroma of cured meat mixed with the freshness of mushrooms and greens slid down his throat, making him feel warm inside.

Su Lu felt like he hadn't eaten anything this delicious in years. He couldn't stop eating and ate half the pot before letting out a burp, finishing his dinner with a lingering sense of satisfaction.

Indeed, whether food tastes good or not is directly related to the environment and one's mood.

Su Lu covered the remaining half-pot of porridge and placed it under his seat, intending to have it for breakfast the next day.

Then he extinguished the fire, cleaned the table, poured a cup of tea, and began to ponder the questions of the Five Classics by candlelight.

He recently read the book he borrowed from the Shu Prince's Mansion, and felt that his understanding of the classic text had reached a new level.

For example, the introduction to the first question states—

The *Book of Rites* (Liji Jitong) states, "The spring sacrifice is called *yue*, the summer sacrifice is called *di*, the autumn sacrifice is called *chang*, and the winter sacrifice is called *zheng*." The *Book of Rites* (Liji Wangzhi) says, "The Son of Heaven performs the *yue*, the *di*, the *chang*, and the *zheng*; the feudal lords perform the *yue* but not the *di*, and the *di* but not the *chang*."

The question is: In ancient times, an emperor wanted to add a special sacrifice called "Te Di" in the summer to celebrate a border victory. Does this additional sacrifice conform to the order of seasonal sacrifices in the classics? Examine whether there is any basis for this in the "Book of Rites" and its commentaries. Was this a strict adherence to the classics or a pragmatic change?
In the past, he would have cited the "Sacrificial Rites" and "Royal Regulations" to clarify that the order of the four seasonal sacrifices "cannot be disordered and the number cannot be exceeded," explaining that the addition of the "Special Sacrifice" in summer violated the normal order. However, after checking the "Book of Rites," there was no mention of the name "Special Sacrifice" or the precedent of adding sacrifices at the border, and Zheng Xuan's commentary and Kong Yingda's commentary did not support it either, so there was no basis for it; he acknowledged that it conformed to the ethics of "respecting ancestors and repaying merits," but still judged it as an expedient change.

But now, he had seen the Tang Dynasty edition of the *Book of Rites: Correct Meaning* held in the Shu Prince's Palace, which stated, "Sacrifices have fixed principles and expedient measures: the fixed principles are the constants of the four seasons; the expedient measures are the changes arising from righteousness."

Therefore, Bian Jie's ancestral proclamation was not an act of indiscriminate worship, but rather a sincere expression of his feelings. This statement allowed him to transcend convention and elevate the discussion to a level that explores the very essence of ritual.

After studying the four major questions, I have a general idea in mind, and the third candle is almost burned out.

Su Lu then put away the exam papers and stationery, moved the number board to the lower level, pieced them together to form a bed board, laid a thin mattress on it, and then brought up the exam basket cover to use as a pillow.

After washing up, he pulled the cloak over himself, rested his head on the exam basket lid, and prepared to sleep. Surprisingly, this 'pillow' was quite bouncy and gentle on his cervical spine.

Soon, he drifted off to sleep amidst the rising and falling snores.

~~
Meanwhile, outside the east wall of the Imperial Examination Hall, at the Wenchang Inn.

There was a large puddle of water on the floor of the private room.

Su Tai was covered in sweat, as if he had been pulled out of the water. His back trembled slightly, his breathing was heavy and labored, and each time he raised his arm, he let out a muffled groan as if he were constipated, his jaw muscles taut.

It's hard to imagine that such a strong and powerful man would get this tired just from lifting a brick. But if you knew he had been lifting it for a whole day, it would be even more incredible...

Su Tai's arms felt like they were made of lead, and he felt that the brick weighed more than a thousand pounds. His fingers had lost all feeling, so he could only wrap the brick with red cloth to prevent it from breaking this family heirloom that was related to the Su family's literary fortune.

His eyes were wide open, staring intently at the third candle on the table, which was about to burn out, as he gritted his teeth and counted down: "Ten, nine, eight..."

Outside the guest room window, She Yunluo heard the screams coming from inside, and it broke her heart.

The guards behind her watched the bear-like silhouette in the window, repeatedly raising and lowering their arms... their eyes filled with awe!

For a whole day, switching between his right and left arms, he basically hasn't stopped. What kind of stamina is that? Is Mu Shi's man even human?
"Mu Shi, is the young master practicing martial arts?" the head guard asked in a low voice.

"Mm." She Yunluo nodded, not wanting to go into too much detail with him.

The warriors were now even more in awe of their young master; he was already terrifyingly strong. He was relentlessly honing his skills in pursuit of even greater strength, clearly determined to become the Martial Arts Champion!

'We'll work harder from now on,' they silently resolved. Men, as expected, get itchy whenever they see others building muscle.

"Come in..." At this moment, Su Tai's muffled groan came from inside the room. She Yunluo quickly went in to massage him and relax him, trying to relieve his fatigue.

Despite trying every method, he still bared his teeth and grimaced at the slightest touch. He couldn't even lift his arm all night, and even lion's head meatballs had to be fed to him by She Yunluo.

"It's only the first day, what are we going to do later..." She Yunluo said with concern. "You don't understand, the first day is the hardest to stick to, it gets easier as it goes on," Su Tai said confidently. "Besides, after nine days, my arms will be even thicker..."

~~
The provincial examinations began their second day at the examination hall.

Su Lu woke up before dawn.

He didn't sleep well at all. The temperature and mosquitoes were manageable, but the worst part was that the bed was too short, only four feet long, so if he stretched out his legs, they would dangle in the air. To put his legs up, he had to curl up like a shrimp. In short, he tossed and turned all night and couldn't find a comfortable position.

When he woke up, he felt dizzy and his whole body ached. So he got up early and first practiced a set of breathing exercises taught by the old abbot, and then went to Kaoxiang to practice a set of Eight Vajra Exercises taught by his teacher.

He then felt his mind clear and his body feel refreshed. He emptied the ashes, added more charcoal, and lit the stove again to heat up the leftover porridge from last night. After washing his face and brushing his teeth, he ate the porridge in the pot with a piece of preserved vegetable pancake.

After washing the pots, pans, and chopsticks and brewing the herbal tea, Su Lu rolled up his bedding, turned the bed into a desk, and began to draft the Five Classics questions.

The Five Classics questions are well-supported by numerous sources and are logically rigorous. Each question is around 700 words long, making them much more difficult than the Four Books questions.

By the time he finalized the four major questions, the sun was almost setting. Su Lu then felt unbearably hungry and broke out in a cold sweat. Good heavens, he had low blood sugar…

That's normal. He only ate a pancake with leftover porridge in the morning, and then he was so focused on doing his homework that he didn't eat anything else all day. That little bit of food had long been digested.

Su Lu quickly took out a mooncake to snack on. Now that all seven exam questions were finalized, he felt at ease and decided to treat himself to a good meal.

Without hesitation, he put away the exam papers and stationery, flipped over the number board, and turned the desk into a cutting board.

Then he rolled up his sleeves and got to work, first tearing the cured chicken legs and cured duck legs into strips and putting them in a bowl for later use.

Next, I used a slicing knife to cut the cured pork into thick slices, the radish into chunks, the cowpeas into sections, the pickled mustard greens into small pieces, and finally, I chopped some scallions and ginger as seasonings...

Having prepared the ingredients, Su Lu lit the small stove and started by tossing in the cured pork fat to render the oil. Soon, the sizzling sound and the aroma of cured meat filled the entire alley, causing the husbands to collectively sniffle.

"Hmph ha..."

Seeing the fat rendered out, Su Lu quickly pinched up some minced ginger and sprinkled it in. The oil sizzled and burst open, and the aroma intensified. Next, he added slices of cured pork and shredded cured chicken, stir-frying them until golden brown. Then, he dumped in all the green beans, radish chunks, and pickled mustard greens at once, quickly stirring with chopsticks to coat all the ingredients with the rendered fat.

Finally, he added water until it covered the ingredients by about a finger's width, then turned the heat down to a simmer, covered the pot, and waited quietly.

Once the water in the pot boiled, white steam rose from the cracks in the lid, releasing wisps of aroma from the cured meat, beans, and mustard greens.

Su Lu took out a steamed bun from the food basket. It had been sitting for two days and was so hard it was hard to chew. He patiently tore it into small pieces and threw them all into the pot.

When he figured the time was about right, Su Lu lifted the lid of the pot, picked up a piece of pancake with his chopsticks, blew on it to cool it down, and took a bite. It was very soft and chewy, and the broth that seeped out was very fragrant, which made him raise his eyebrows.

Su Lu happily took the pot off the table and, without even returning to his seat, began to feast in the alley.

The preserved meat is infused with the aroma of beans, the radish is so tender it melts in your mouth, and the flatbread is soaked in broth, becoming more and more fragrant with each chew—it's simply delicious!
He ate it all in one go, then put down his spoon and let out a satisfied sigh...

~~
After washing the dishes and brewing a pot of tea, Su Lu lit a candle and checked the seven articles again while drinking the tea. It was already completely dark by then, and the strokes of the characters would easily become crooked when writing by candlelight, so he decided not to copy them to be on the safe side.

Get ready and go to sleep...

I still had back pain the next day, but after practicing the two sets of exercises, I felt refreshed again.

He quickly cooked some noodles, ate them, and cleaned up the table before taking out the exam paper from the exam paper bag and starting to copy it with a different pen.

At this point, the most important thing is to avoid making mistakes. Whether the handwriting is beautiful or ugly is not so important, because the examiners of the provincial examination will see the paper that has been copied by a transcriber.

However, the transcriber would also copy down and mark the misspelled words. In those days, the requirements for handwriting accuracy were very high; if there were more than three misspelled words, the article would be rejected outright.

In fact, even one wrong word can greatly affect your grades. Therefore, if there is a wrong word, you should gently scrape it off with a scraper, fill it evenly with paper pulp, let it dry, and then rewrite it.

Fortunately, Su Lu was incredibly meticulous, and his hand-eye coordination was also at its peak. He copied all seven articles without a single mistake.

He carefully checked the paper again, and after confirming that there were no errors, he put the paper back into the paper bag, breathed a sigh of relief, and the first round was considered over.

It was already noon. Su Lu used the remaining ingredients to cook lunch. After eating and drinking his fill, he packed up all the cooking utensils and exam supplies, brewed a pot of tea, and sat there quietly waiting to hand in his paper.

(End of this chapter)