After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

"I brought them all."

Ning Nan glanced at his wife, who was turning the exam basket over and over again, shook his stiff neck, and said helplessly:

"You've been getting checked since last night."

Since she cried that morning, his wife seemed to be in a good mood these past few days. She looked up at him and glared at him, saying:

"Are you very attentive? Didn't you put too little salt in the cooking yesterday?"

Master Ning replied matter-of-factly, "Too much salt is bad for you."

Cui Cui's wife snorted, turned her head to check it again, and then picked up the examination basket and put it into the carriage.

She stepped off the carriage using a low stool and reached out to straighten his clothes.

Master Ning glanced at his wife, hesitated for a moment, then stared into her eyes and said softly, "This time, um... it shouldn't be last place."

"It doesn't matter which one from the bottom."

Cui Cui's wife retorted without hesitation, took a steamed bun from the plate Chun Yu was carrying, stuffed it into his mouth, and whispered:

"Here, just eat one, a vegetarian bun, so you don't get diarrhea later."

Master Ning took a bite of a vegetarian bun, nodded, and turned to board the carriage.

After several days of autumn rain, the capital city was shrouded in thick fog, and the Qinhuai River was enveloped in a layer of mist.

The big yellow horse reared up and stepped onto a stone bridge in front of the stone city gate, crossed the Qinhuai River, and entered the territory of Jiangning.

Walking along Phoenix Tail Street, you soon arrive at the examination hall outside the prefectural examination hall.

The prefectural government office of Yingtian Prefecture was located in Jiangning County, and the prefectural and county examinations shared the same examination hall. Two to three hundred people took the county examination in Jiangning County, and thirty-four were ultimately admitted. Ningnan was also among the thirty-fourth candidate.

The number of people admitted from the eight counties of Yingtian Prefecture and the remaining seven counties was roughly the same, totaling about four to five hundred people participating in the prefectural examination. After years of expansion, the examination hall in Jiangning County could easily accommodate a thousand people.

In the open space of the examination hall where hundreds of people were waiting, shoulders were rubbing against each other, and as far as the eye could see, there were heads everywhere.

The room was extremely quiet, with only a few scattered footsteps and breathing sounds.

He carried the exam basket and didn't go looking for Zuo Yong and the others; he just waited quietly.

The main gate of the examination hall was called the Dragon Gate.

Just like the county-level examination, a red table was placed in front of the Dragon Gate. After the first hint of the golden sun appeared on the horizon, the officials behind the red table began to call out the names.

After a while, Ning Nan heard the name "Chu Feixiong" and then saw the crowd surging on the left. The fat man, carrying a test basket, squeezed through and, after verifying his identity, entered the small room for a body search.

Not long after.

His name was called, and as before, Master Ning obediently passed the identity verification and body search, stepped through the dragon gate, and entered the familiar examination hall.

After walking for a while, I stopped.

It was still a narrow and cramped cell, still just two simple movable wooden planks.

He took a silent breath. In this kind of cell, you couldn't even open your arms wide, and the top of the cell was only a fist's distance from your head. It was very oppressive.

They went inside, put down the exam basket, and built a platform out of rough wooden planks.

Then, he laid out the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone one by one and began grinding the ink.

As the fog gradually dissipated, the sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking drifted from afar.

The clerk held up a wooden sign to announce the questions for the first round of the prefectural examination.

"The king must issue an order to rebel immediately."

The questions, written in the official script, were moved back and forth in the examination hall aisle, so that every student could see them clearly.

Ning Nan picked up his pen and wrote down the title.

This question… he frowned… it was a very unusual question involving cutting and pasting.

If it's interpreted literally as "Your Majesty, hurry up and issue the order to rebel," then there's no need to take the test...

This quote comes from the chapter "King Hui of Liang" in the Mencius. The full text is "王速出令，反其抄倪". It means "King Qi, quickly issue an order to return the captured old man and child." "抄倪" means old man and child.

If the question setter doesn't write the whole sentence or breaks it haphazardly, the meaning will be far off.

Following his first thought, Ning Nan wrote down, "A true king is benevolent; he returns to his country, young and old, and the world submits."

Smelling the ink, I stared at the problem statement for a moment, then crossed out "天下服也哉" and changed it to "天下刀兵休矣".

Then, he stared at it for a moment, his mind shifting between imagining Mr. Lizhou's tone of voice scolding him and Mr. Gongsun's tone of voice scolding him, adjusting the approach back and forth.

About half an hour later, he wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and confirmed the final solution...

weigh every word.

We strive to make every word count, even if it's worth a thousand pieces of gold.

After the fiery clouds appeared on the horizon, he had been in this cramped cell for a full three hours.

"call……"

Ning Nan wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.

The final draft had been copied and was left to air dry. He then lowered his head and began to gently blow on the ink to dry it.

Until the sun sets behind the mountains.

After the first session of the prefectural examination ended, the junior officials began to anonymize and collect the examination papers.

Uncle Ping's carriage stopped under a poplar tree outside the examination hall.

Master Ning, carrying the examination basket, walked slowly toward the carriage with a somewhat pale face. Uncle Ping jogged over, took the basket from him, and shouted, "Wishing you, Master, a resounding success and the best of luck in the imperial examination!"

Ning Nan smiled; this old man had remembered it well this time.

The prefectural examination was divided into two sessions.

The following afternoon.

After finishing another exam, Master Ning returned home by carriage.

To his surprise.

Cui Cui's wife returned from her official duties early today and prepared a large table of dishes for him.

Ning Nan glanced at his wife sitting at the table, who had just washed her face and had a few strands of hair still clinging to her forehead. A warmth filled his heart, and he smiled.

"What if I don't even get last place this time and fail the exam?"

With water droplets still clinging to her fair face, Cui Cui glanced at him and said, "Just because I failed the exam doesn't mean I won't cook for you anymore?"

Master Ning's expression froze for a moment, then he silently breathed a sigh of relief.

She stood up, took his hand, and sat down beside him. She placed the rice that Chunyu had served in front of him, then picked up her own bowl, took a piece of preserved fish, and said calmly:

"Have a meal."

……

……

The results of the prefectural examination will be announced on the sixth day of the tenth month.

Ning Nan didn't leave the house all day.

I'll stay home and study diligently.

I picked up "Collection of Examination Records of Qinglongmen", glanced at it a few times, but then put it down again, feeling agitated.

He picked up "The Provincial Examination of the Eleventh Year of Longchang" again, flipped through a few pages, but felt an urge to tear the book up again, always feeling that others wrote it much better than him.

No wonder you came in last place... Master Ning smiled dejectedly, feeling a bit self-deprecating. He felt that his female disciple's comment that Master Gongsun praised him for "having the demeanor of a great Confucian scholar" was just a way of comforting him.

In the afternoon, after drinking several cups of tea brewed by Chunyu and Qiumu, he finally calmed down, listened to the birds chirping outside, and began writing an essay based on the questions for the academy exam that Grandpa Gongsun had predicted. After tearing up several sheets of paper, he finally managed to write an essay that he was barely satisfied with... However... he sighed silently, feeling that it was still not good enough, and he would be scolded by the old man again tomorrow.

Footsteps echoed across the veranda as someone hurried toward the study.

Ning Nan felt a sudden tightness in his back, his brush hovering over the Xuan paper, and he only managed to write half of a character.

"You've won! Sir! You've won!..."

The old steward shouted in his hoarse voice, his footsteps and shouts echoing across the veranda.

A soft exhalation echoed in the study.

The pen tip, which had been hovering over the paper, fell back onto the paper and continued writing the words that had just been left unfinished.

"I know," he said lazily to the sweaty old steward who barged into the study.