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

More than fifty people were admitted to the provincial examination in Yingtian Prefecture this time. He ranked in the lower middle, probably in the thirties.

Having experienced being last in the rankings once, Mr. Ning was extremely satisfied with this result, and he couldn't help but have a smile on his face during dinner.

The servants were also extremely happy, and they ran around with brisk steps to serve the master rice.

When he took the county exam, the Gongsun and Bogong families intended to congratulate him, thinking that with his abilities, he would surely be among the top ten. However, they never expected that he would come in last place.

After learning the results of the prefectural examination, he ordered Steward Wang to send someone to the Gongsun family and the Bogong family to inform them that there was no need for a meal, but that if they passed the provincial and ministerial examinations, a banquet would be held to entertain them.

After the meal, two maids brought him a golden basin, wrung out a hot towel, and helped him wash up. He then sat in the study chair, reading a book while humming a little tune, waiting for his wife, Cui Cui, to come home.

When it was 9 PM, as usual, after Cui Cui's wife returned home, he told her about the results of the prefectural examination. However, Cui Cui's wife was not very interested. She just nodded and smiled and said "good".

Seeing her listless appearance, Master Ning thought for a moment, put down the book in his hand, took her hand, and chatted and laughed as they went back to their room to sleep.

"I'll sleep in a little longer today," he said to his wife with a smile.

The pale moonlight shone on Cui Cui's fair face as she smiled and said, "Okay."

They were talking a good game, but neither of them slept much.

The east was just beginning to lighten.

Cui Cui's wife got up. Ning Nan was also awake, but he wondered if his wife would stay in bed too if he stayed in bed. Seeing that his wife didn't stay in bed, he could only squint his eyes, shake his head, and get up.

"You go to sleep." Her voice was soft and helpless as she dressed, pressing his forehead as she tried to push him back onto the pillow.

"She's gone to study..." Master Ning smiled, grabbed her finger and shook it, "The provincial examination is coming soon."

With each of them saying something, they completely forgot about what they had said the night before about wanting to "sleep a little longer."

The examination venue for the Yingtian Prefecture Examination was the Jiangnan Examination Hall.

The provincial examination was conducted together across the entire Southern Zhili region. The examination hall had already announced last month that the provincial examination in Yingtian Prefecture would be held on October 15th.

The provincial examination was conducted in batches over a total of five days, and the people from Yingtian Prefecture naturally belonged to the first batch.

The sky was clear and the air was crisp that day.

Inside the most central study of the Gongsun Mansion, a brush holder sits on a sandalwood desk, with eight wolf-hair brushes hanging from it, ranging in size from small to large.

With an air of superiority, Old Master Gongsun squinted and slapped a stack of Xuan paper onto the desk, causing the eight wolf-hair brushes to tremble.

The old man frowned and said, "Why do you say these articles of yours are poorly written?"

Ning Nan stood outside the desk, his expression complex for a moment, then, after a brief pause, said in a slightly bitter tone:

"I don't know, it's just a feeling... I couldn't really see it before, but I've noticed it more and more these past few days. Not to mention the top-scoring papers, even the papers of some provincial-level candidates, I feel that I can't compare to them. I can't think of a better solution than them. When I put pen to paper, I feel like I have nothing to write..."

Gongsun Yuliu, wearing a square headscarf, stared at him intently for a long while, then shook her head. Suddenly, she narrowed her eyes and said, "Bai Xuan, you actually..." The old man's voice sounded like a long sigh, "...hate the imperial examinations, don't you?"

The old man's words were soft, yet they struck his heart like a thunderclap.

Ning Nan couldn't help but raise his head, his expression momentarily stunned.

Gongsun Yuliu leaned back, her sharp eyes glancing at the standing boy, and smiled slightly:

"You are quick-witted, knowledgeable, and learn things very fast. Sometimes you are like a nimble monkey, and sometimes you are like... Ah, don't be angry... like a tiger cub hiding its ferocity and pretending to be kind... I... um... sometimes when I talk to you about some things, I feel that some of the things Bai Xuan says are very thought-provoking."

"but……"

The old man's tone suddenly became complicated.

"The imperial examination system, however, constantly imposed constraints on people... You had to sit and study, try to understand the emperor's intentions, and speak on behalf of the sages... You had to find someone to vouch for you, and if you cheated, five people would be implicated... There was also the body search... A body search was a humiliation, the cramped cell was another humiliation, and the examination papers were an even greater humiliation... Whether your essay was good or not... it wasn't up to you to decide, it was up to the county magistrate, the prefect, the education commissioner... it was up to them... Life and death were in their hands, which was of course extremely unpleasant..."

"Sun Wukong already lived a very uncomfortable life with only one golden headband on his head. The imperial examination path is filled with so many golden headbands pressing down on him. To become a Buddha... ha, that is to become an official... which is no different from going through eighty-one tribulations..." The old man said, then looked up and sighed.

Ning Nan looked at the white-bearded old man sitting calmly with some surprise. What the old man said was actually very taboo. He was confiding in him. After a moment, he had mixed feelings and silently lowered his eyes, which was considered as tacit agreement.

Gongsun Yuliu stroked his white beard and frowned, saying, "The county exam, the prefectural exam, and soon the provincial exam... With your ambition, having been at the bottom for over a month, you must be harboring a lot of resentment."

Ning Nan pursed his lips and said self-deprecatingly, "I'm not as skilled as others, so there's nothing to complain about."

If you fail the exam, it's actually a clean break. But since you've been accepted anyway, there's nothing to complain about.

If someone fails the exam and then goes to demand justice with their essay, no one can say anything against them. But since they didn't fail, why go and ask? There's no absolute first place in literature, and if others try to find fault, it's always the person who loses face. That's not just about having inferior writing skills, but also inferior ambition. They'd rather die than go.

Gongsun Yuliu, however, didn't take his insincere words to heart. Instead, she tapped her finger on the sandalwood desk and smiled:

"You have quite the temperament, you little monkey."

Faced with these words, which were neither praise nor criticism, Ning Nan sighed helplessly, unsure how to respond.

After a while, the old man in a white robe picked up several articles from the table and began to speak seriously, his tone becoming more solemn:

"The higher you look up to it, the deeper you delve; the more you explore it, the more profound it becomes. Bai Xuan, the reason you feel your writing is poor..."

The old headmaster of Bailu Academy stroked a strand of his white beard and sighed.

"One reason is that you are unconsciously having second thoughts, thinking that if you don't write well, you won't have to participate in the academy exam anymore and will be graded as A, B, C, or D."

"Secondly," the old headmaster said, a satisfied smile returning to his face, glancing at him, "it shows that your understanding of the scriptures... is not far off from theirs, you can almost reach their level..."

"Um?"

Ning Nan raised his head and paused for a moment, stunned.

……

"...The closer you are to the mountain, the higher it seems. Before, you disliked the imperial examinations and didn't study the Four Books and Five Classics much, so your understanding of their meaning was naturally shallow. Being too far from the mountain, you naturally didn't see its height, couldn't discern the quality of those top-scoring papers, and even thought you were not much different from them... These past few months, you've diligently studied without any slackening, and your understanding of the classics is now incomparable to what it was before... Now you can see how high the mountain is; that means you're very close to it..."

The elegant and dignified Elder Gongsun spoke to him gently and kindly, and even rated his few articles, which he felt were inadequate, as first-class.

Inside the narrow and cramped examination cells of the Jiangnan Examination Hall.

Having been caught in a light autumn rain that morning, Master Ning, who was waiting for the examiners to give their questions, felt grateful. As he ground his ink, he looked around at the examination room, which was slightly larger than the county examination room, and slowly let out a long breath...

The examination lasted from the morning of October 15th until the afternoon of that day.

The sky was a cold, bluish-green.

The Jiangnan region is shrouded in mist and rain.

After Ning Nan finished the provincial examination, he carried his examination basket out of the Jiangnan Examination Hall and ran towards the location of the Ning family's carriage in the light rain. His black shoes stomped on the ground, making a crisp sound and splashing water droplets.