Top Scholar

Chapter 460 Five Hundred Joints!

[The main building inside the Shuntian Examination Hall is Ju Kui Hall, not Heng Jian Hall. This is a correction.]

Below the plaque inscribed by Emperor Xianzong himself, "Wenheng Bingzheng".

The two large examination papers were placed side by side. Wang Ao, the chief examiner and Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall, sat on the left, while Liang Chu, the deputy chief examiner and Hanlin Academician, sat on the right. Both of them had solemn expressions.

The two examiners sat opposite each other, their backs to the hall door, with their examination records spread out on the table. Four pairs of eyes, like those of hawks, were fixed on the examinees below, taking in every word and action of the fourteen examiners.

Based on the candidates' knowledge of the classics, the fourteen examiners were divided into fourteen rooms, with five rooms each for the Book of Changes and the Book of Poetry, two rooms for the Book of Documents, and one room each for the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Book of Rites.

Therefore, each examiner had to grade about three hundred exam papers. They divided them into three grades according to the standard of 'purity, elegance and correctness'. On the top-grade exam papers that fully met the requirements, they wrote the character 'recommend' in blue ink and wrote comments, recommending them to the chief examiner for selection.

According to regulations, each room could recommend twenty-five examination papers, but the chief examiner would definitely have to make selections, so a certain number of backup papers were also required. Similarly, the word "backup" was written in blue ink in the upper left corner of each paper, along with comments. The backup papers also met the standards of purity and elegance, but their quality was inferior to the recommended papers.

The remaining papers were rejected. The examiners had to write down the reasons for the rejection and point out the shortcomings of the essays. Otherwise, they would not pass the Ministry of Rites' review afterward, and the rejected candidates would be dissatisfied.

Although the imperial court repeatedly emphasized the importance of selecting officials through three separate examinations, it was common knowledge that the first examination, consisting of seven essays on classical texts, especially the first three essays on the Four Books, was the key to success. This was due to ingrained literary traditions and objective conditions, and could not be reversed by a few decrees.

Therefore, the examiners devoted themselves to the first round of scripture interpretation with the most abundant energy and the most focused state.

The same was true of Zhan Ruoshui, the examiner for the Imperial Examination. He was a third-ranked candidate in the second class of the previous imperial examination and had just finished his studies at the Hanlin Academy. This time, serving as a co-examiner for the metropolitan examination and personally selecting officials for the court was the most important task in his official career, so he naturally took it very seriously.

"You may only review the examination papers in your own room; you may not interfere with the papers in other rooms; you may not privately discuss their merits or demerits, nor may you disclose your comments; and you may not take the papers out of the room. Violators will be punished for cheating in the imperial examinations!"

With the chief examiner's instructions echoing in his ears, Zhan Ruoshui laid the examination papers flat on the table and began to examine them word by word. He marked brilliant passages with a blue pen and crossed out obvious errors... He carefully noted the reasons for each judgment. He knew all too well that the honor and future of these three hundred candidates rested entirely on his blue pen; he could not afford to be careless!
He strictly adhered to the requirements of the imperial court and the chief examiner, using "purity, truthfulness, elegance, and correctness" as the judging standard. When encountering essays that were frivolous, bizarre, or obscure, he would write "Disqualified for not following established rules." For those that were grammatically sound, pure, and elegant, he would carefully annotate and ponder them. If they were also insightful in their interpretation of classical texts and addressed current issues, he would place them on his desk for recommendation.

With such meticulousness and caution, the process was naturally slow. Zhan Ruoshui had only reviewed about thirty documents when dusk had fallen and it was time to leave work...

Then the chief examiner said in a deep voice, "That's enough for today."

"Yes, ma'am." The examiners put down their pens, closed their papers, and put the papers back into the box before respectfully rising and bowing.

"I'll take my leave."

"Everyone has worked hard."

"The chief examiner has it even harder."

The proctors kept watching the examiners leave Ju Kui Hall until they were sure they hadn't taken the exam papers with them. Only then did they turn their attention away, and together with the chief examiner, they sealed the exam papers and locked Ju Kui Hall.

~~
The examiners returned to their rooms to rest briefly, waiting to have a meal together later.

Taking advantage of the absence of the chief examiner and proctors, the familiar fellow examiners began to visit each other...

Just as Zhan Ruoshui was about to go to the dining hall, he was blocked in his room by his four classmates.

"Go to the canteen for meals," he laughed. "Mice might starve to death in my room."

“No rush, we’ll have to wait even if we go now,” said Dong Qi, the examiner of the Yi Jing examination room, the second-place scholar in the imperial examination, and a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, as he closed the door behind him.

“Let’s discuss something,” the other three said.

"Is it appropriate to have a private conversation like this during the grading process?" Zhan Ruoshui asked.

"What law is it against us to brag a little during our break?" Dong Qi laughed. They were both Hanlin scholars from the same cohort and had a fairly close relationship, so they spoke casually.

"This department is rife with gossip and trouble. We must avoid suspicion and avoid any appearance of impropriety," Zhan Ruoshui said. "Otherwise, we'll get into trouble."

"That's why I came to you for advice—because I'm in trouble," another classmate, Zhai Luan, asked him.

"Brother Ganquan, how is the review of the 'Rites' examination papers progressing? How many papers have been selected for recommendation?"

"Undecided." Zhan Ruoshui shook her head and said, "We only reviewed the papers on the first day, and the merits and demerits are not yet clear. We still need to carefully consider them."

"Should we savor it carefully or sip it slowly?" Dong Qi asked.

"What's the difference?" Zhan Ruoshui asked with a smile.

"There's a big difference. The finer points are in the text itself, the more subtle the emotions." Zhai Luan, a Beijing native originally from Shandong, dislikes beating around the bush: "Let's get straight to the point. Have you seen too many cryptic phrases and don't know what to do?!"

"Indeed." Zhan Ruoshui nodded helplessly and said frankly, "Today, I only reviewed about thirty papers and saw three papers with problematic answers. It's truly shocking! I wonder if this is a special case for this subject, or if it's always been like this?"

"Really?" Several classmates exclaimed in surprise, "Only three portions?"

"Three portions are not enough? That's a full ten percent!" Zhan Ruoshui said with heartache, "What has become of the nation's talent selection ceremony?" "Be content, Brother Gan Quan," but at this moment, the other students were too envious to even think about it. Dong Qi clicked his tongue and said, "Compared to us, your ceremonial office is simply too pure!"

"What, you've all encountered those four words too?" Zhan Ruoshui asked softly.

“It’s not just encountering them, it’s everywhere.” Zhai Luan said dejectedly, “Of the first twenty papers I graded, six had those four words on them.”

"So many?" Zhan Ruoshui exclaimed in surprise. "I thought I was the only one who was so unlucky."

"You're the luckiest, aren't you?" everyone said in unison.

"I thought something was wrong. Didn't we agree that we wouldn't attract attention, and that each person would only have three or four copies at most?" Zhai Luan then spread his hands and said, "How come they're all with me? So I quickly flipped through the papers at the back, and guess what?"

"What's wrong?" Zhan Ruoshui asked.

"A full fifty-five!" Zhai Luan clapped his hands heavily, looking like he'd seen a ghost. "There were fifty slots in total, and I beat them all up by myself!"

"You've only scratched the surface! I have sixty copies!" The fellow examiner for the Poetry section said speechlessly, "So these candidates are like melon seeds from Baicaoju—they all have 'kernels' (meaning they're all human)!"

“Mine is about forty or fifty portions,” Dong Qi said.

“I’m about the same,” another classmate said.

"So the four of you together only have a little over two hundred?" Zhan Ruoshui exclaimed in surprise. "So, out of the four thousand two hundred papers, there must be at least five hundred questions?"

"More or less." Everyone nodded. "It definitely can't be missing."

"Where did all these joints come from!" Zhan Ruoshui felt a chill run down her spine.

"They oversold!" Zhai Luan said knowingly. "What kind of integrity do those traitors have? They'll definitely sell if you sell, and sell as many as they can, afraid of selling less than others!"

"How can we possibly take care of all this?" Zhan Ruoshui finally understood what they were worried about.

“Who says otherwise?” Zhai Luan said with a bitter expression, “I only have twenty-five recommendation slots in total. Even with the backups, it’s not enough for all those crucial exam papers!”

"How can we allow bribery for everyone? Are we not going to recommend any normal papers?" Dong Qi said, his heart pounding. "The papers that are selected will be made public. Those candidates aren't blind; they'll definitely be able to spot the tricks! Oh, so those four characters are all the ones that are selected! We'll beat the petition drum to pieces!"

"Indeed." Everyone nodded, their voices filled with worry. "If that happens, we'll be utterly ruined..."

“Then I’d rather go to Qiongzhou and keep Zhu Yushan company,” Dong Qi said in a muffled voice. As the second-place scholar in the imperial examination, he had no desire to get involved in a cheating scandal.

"How about we take only a few? Just a token amount, we can't possibly take all of them anyway," one of the classmates said. "They can't force us to do something we can't do, can they?"

“Then it would be better to completely ignore the word ‘connections’ and select officials fairly, and just take as many as you can.” Dong Qi said, “That way we can have a clear conscience, and even if some of those selected have connections, we can still explain it away.”

"Great idea!" everyone exclaimed. "Let's do it!"

"But have you all considered this?" Zhan Ruoshui gently reminded him, "There are so many people pulling strings in this examination. Even if we can select candidates fairly, I'm afraid the examiners from the other nine departments will still recommend more papers than they are allowed, and then the scandal might be exposed."

“That’s right! Once the case comes to light, the court will definitely review all the exam papers. As long as the selected papers contain any key words, no matter how many, they will be tainted!” Zhai Luan understood immediately and said in a deep voice, “Then you will definitely have no way to defend yourself.”

"Indeed," Dong Qi nodded. "Who would believe you that it was just a coincidence that I was admitted?"

"What do the three of you mean?" the two classmates asked expectantly.

“There are no secrets in the world, let alone such a large-scale liaison operation!” Zhan Ruoshui said in a deep voice, “I suspect there will be a lot of trouble afterward! Even if no one dares to offend the eunuch faction for the time being, the public outcry will drown us.”

As he spoke, he stared intently at his four classmates and said, enunciating each word clearly, "So what I mean is—any work containing key phrases, regardless of its quality, will not be accepted!"

"Hiss..." The other students gasped in shock. "Then they can just wait to be dealt with by the eunuch faction!"

"Let's just deal with it!" Zhai Luan had already come to terms with it, waving his hand and saying, "Originally, we agreed that if they made anything confidential, we would each take care of two or three people. It wouldn't be a big deal, and we would just get through this."

He said in a deep voice, "But they've made such a mess of things themselves, it would be too stupid for us not to protect ourselves!"

“That’s right, they made a stupid mistake first. If they blame us later, we’ll have something to say!” Dong Qi also came to terms with it. “If they’re really unreasonable and insist on dealing with us, let them deal with us. It’s better than being infamous for eternity!”

"Okay, it's settled then!" Zhan Ruoshui and the other three nodded emphatically.

P.S. I've revised the next chapter several times, so it will be a little later.

(End of this chapter)