The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 573 - 562 Examination

Chapter 573: Chapter 562 Examination

Zhou Silang listened for a while, then, indicating he didn’t understand, tapped his bowl and said, "Let’s hurry up and eat instead. Even when we know, there’s nothing we can do about it. That’s a matter for the officials."

Manbao then looked at Bai Shanbao.

Bai Shanbao met her gaze and shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth, saying, "Before one becomes an official, one must first pass the entrance examination for the prefectural school."

"Exactly," Manbao said as she placed a piece of meat into his bowl, encouragingly saying, "Eat some more, fill yourself up, then go study."

Bai Erlang looked up from his bowl, "Aren’t we off today?"

Bai Shanbao also stared at Manbao, "If I’m going to study, you need to stay with me, otherwise everyone else is playing and I can’t concentrate."

Manbao indicated that it was no problem at all.

After all, there wasn’t much fun to be had outside anyway.

Bai Erlang, upon hearing this, grudgingly shoved half of the braised pork he found most delicious into his bowl, missing Qili Village and its young friends perhaps?

On holidays, he could go meet them, play in the village, in the river, on the mountain, in the reed marshes...

Unlike now, with only two friends and no fun places outside, with them always studying books.

Zhou Silang, however, was more than satisfied, for what he admired most about his youngest sister was her ability to immerse herself in the books and maintain self-discipline.

He, on the other hand, would get dizzy the moment he saw characters.

Having finished eating, Zhou Silang tidied up the bowls and utensils, then said, "I’m going for a walk. I’ll bring back dinner for you in the evening so that you don’t have to go out and buy it."

He added, "There should be quite a few people conducting roadside sacrifices tonight. You two are young, so don’t go running outside."

Curious, Manbao asked, "Big Brother Zhou, should we also buy some incense, candles, and paper money to make a roadside sacrifice?"

"There are people at home performing the rituals, so who would you be worshiping here?" Zhou Silang waved his hand and said, "Are you saying that for the sake of your pinch of paper money, you’d make our ancestors toil from the village to here? Don’t worry, with family at home, the ancestors’ rites won’t be missed."

Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang, who wanted to join the excitement, also put the thought to rest upon hearing this.

Five days after Tomb-Sweeping Day comes the examination for the prefectoral school.

Mr. Zhuang had long since taken Bai Shanbao with his road map and letters of recommendation, submitting them to obtain the eligibility for the examination.

The educational system of Great Jin was quite lenient; most of the students at the prefectural school came recommended from the county schools below.

Aside from the few exceptionally outstanding county school students, the rest still had to take the entrance exam even with recommendations.

Of course, students not from county schools who wished to study at the prefectural schools could also sit for the exam by self-recommendation, but they would need a reference letter from an official or a person of repute.

Otherwise, they could only continuously seek out school officials for self-recommendations, first take a preliminary exam, and only after securing one of the few available examination spots could they take part in the prefectural school exams.

Therefore, if students of Great Jin lacked in other areas, they had to be proficient in eloquence or poetry; otherwise, they couldn’t even get a spot for the exams.

If they lacked both, they had to pray that their ancestors were powerful enough to give them a good family background, so eventually, even if they were inarticulate and their self-recommended poetry was poor, they could still obtain an examination spot.

Not only the prefectural schools but also the Six Academies of the Imperial Academy followed the same process.

Scholars from various places would be recommended to the Six Academies of the Imperial Academy, and once these students arrived in the capital, depending on the recommendation, some could directly enter, while others still had to take exams.

The Six Academies held yearly exams to weed out those who did not meet standards, and those with excellent character and scholarship could immediately serve as officials or take the imperial exams to become ones.

Of course, students not from the Six Academies could also directly sign up for the imperial examinations, but since the Six Academies represented the nation’s highest educational institution, students educated through them had a higher pass rate.

Thus, the career path set for Bai Shanbao by the Bai Family and Mr. Zhuang was a very standard and popular one: first, enter the prefectural school through the exams, be part of the top students, and obtain a recommendation letter to the Six Academies.

Then go to the capital for the examination, study at one of the Six Academies, and upon completing his studies, sit for the imperial exams.

Mr. Zhuang felt that if Bai Shan could enter the prefectural school before the age of fourteen, it would be sufficient, so he wasn’t very nervous about this examination, nor did he want Bai Shan to feel too much pressure.

Mr. Zhuang had said with a smile, "We are just trying this time. If we don’t succeed this year, we can simply try again next year or the year after."

Bai Shanbao nodded nervously.

Manbao encouraged him, "You can definitely do it!"

Bai Shanbao then casually asked, "What if I don’t get in?"

"Then you can treat us to a delicious meal," she replied.

Bai Shanbao was taken aback and asked, "Shouldn’t you be treating me? I would be so heartbroken."

"What if you don’t put in your best effort because of our treat?" Manbao defended stoutly, "And what if you feel pained by the meal and perform beyond expectations?"

"It’s just a meal, would I really do that?"

Manbao replied, "Who knows. Anyway, if you don’t get in, then it’s pain on top of pain, but if you do, we’ll treat you, adding joy upon joy."

A student who was in line nearby overheard the conversation and couldn’t help but glance at Manbao, then at Bai Shanbao, noting his age of around twelve or thirteen, and felt a little anxious.

Are today’s youngsters so formidable?

Shouldn’t he be going for the county school exams at this age?

While that was the thought, in reality, there were quite a few candidates of Bai Shanbao’s age at the scene, around seventeen or eighteen of them.

The young candidates, though nervous, were also confident, at least holding their heads high.

The older the candidates, the more composed, but also not without their own unease, as they noticed that there seemed to be more participants in this year’s prefectural school exams than in previous years.

Mr. Zhuang also noticed, he sighed, feeling even more that Bai Shan might not have a chance this year.

With more candidates and the same number of spots, the exam difficulty had also increased.

However, Mr. Zhuang kept quiet, simply patting his shoulder and encouragingly saying, "Go on in."

Bai Shanbao received the examination basket from Daji, bowed to Mr. Zhuang, and then turned to join the queue.

Manbao watched him enter the examination hall, then looked around and asked, "Teacher, should we head home, or wait here?"

The examination lasted two days, with the gates opening at dusk, resuming early the next morning to continue lining up and entering the examination hall.

Although the important subjects were finished today, tomorrow would be reserved for poetry on set topics.

After pondering for a moment, Mr. Zhuang said, "I will head home first. You can do as you please. However, Daji must stay here to keep watch, just in case someone calls from inside, so someone will be here to respond."

Daji agreed.

Manbao thought for a while and said, "Then we will stay as well."

Bai Erlang looked around and pointed to a tea house, "There’s a tea house. We can wait there."

The tea house was crowded with people waiting, both upstairs and downstairs fully occupied, so the owners had set up tables and chairs outside. Manbao and the group of four took a table, drinking tea and waiting for the examination hall to open.