Chapter 203

Over the next few days, Ye Xiaotian actually began to concentrate on his studies. Ye Xiaotian had learned a variety of things in the past, and there was no lack of profound knowledge. After all, although the people who had taught him in the Imperial Prison did not have good moral conduct, they were extremely knowledgeable.

To be able to become a capital official, and to be one of the highest officials in the capital, which one of them did not have a background of Jinshi? However, the knowledge that these people had imparted was very fragmented and not necessarily suitable for the Imperial Examinations. Now that he could systematically read the classics of the sages and the examination papers of the past sages, Ye Xiaotian could truly immerse his mind in it, and it was quite enjoyable.

Thus, for more than ten days, Ye Xiaotian continued to concentrate on his studies. During these days, Hua Yunfei secretly went to Sanli Village a few times and found out that Mother Xue, who had been blinded by hatred, had indeed sold the house and taken her daughter to Shuixi. She had actually adopted a stance of cutting off all means of retreat.

Hua Yunfei was somewhat worried, and when he returned, he found an opportunity to tell Ye Xiaotian about this matter. Ye Xiaotian only smiled faintly. Not to mention that he had a clear conscience, even if Mother Xue really did send the complaint to the Disciplinary Bureau, just based on her one-sided statement, there was no evidence to arrest him. Furthermore, he had Li Xun as a strong backer.

In this lawless place, what tricks could a lonely old woman do? Ye Xiaotian could do nothing about her stubbornness, and could only let her do as she pleased.

After a few more days, it was time for the Academy Examinations. Speaking of Xiucai, the later generations could not help but have the image of a poor and shabby Xiucai in their hearts. Just like the county magistrate, because of the opera, the later generations thought of a seventh-ranked official as a sesame seed or a mung bean, and looked down on it, as if it was not worth mentioning.

In reality, a seventh-ranked official was like a parent. Even if one passed the Jinshi and could be directly sent out to be a county magistrate, it would still require an extremely powerful backer to do the work for you. It was the same for Xiucai. It was the lowest grade among the scholarly titles, but it was also extremely great in the local areas, and one had to go through many trials to obtain it.

For a scholar to take the Xiucai examination, he first had to pass the Tong Sheng examination. To pass the Tong Sheng examination, he only had to finish reading the Four Books and Five Classics, and be able to write some shallow eight-legged essays according to Zhu Xi's Notes on the Four Books. Even so, some scholars were still Tong Sheng at the age of Knowing Destiny.

The Tong Sheng Examination was divided into three stages. The first stage was held in the county, and the chief examiner was the county magistrate. There were four to five tests, including eight-legged essay, poems, Confucian classics, and Confucian verses. However, under the supervision of Li Xun, this stage had already been completed by one of the counties under Tongren. In other words, Ye Xiaotian was now a Tong Sheng. Naturally, his birthplace was also in that county.

The Tong Sheng examination was held by the prefectural magistrate, and the magistrate of Tongren was Zhang Duo. This local magistrate nodded his head, and did not even go through the formalities before he smoothly completed the formalities for Ye Xiaotian. Next up was the Academy examination, and only after passing this stage could one be considered a Xiucai.

The Academy examination was usually held by the prefectural magistrate, but the Guizhou region was somewhat special. A few decades ago, Guizhou did not have its own Academy. If Guizhou scholars wanted to take the examination, they would have to go to the nearby Yunnan, Sichuan, and Hunan provinces to take the examination. For the higher level examination, they would have to go to Yingtian's prefecture to take the examination in Jinling.

However, the rules could always be changed. Many scholars from the south were confident that they could pass the examination, and did not want to go to Nanjing before going to Beijing. Instead, they went to Northern Zhili's Shunfu to take the examination. After passing the examination, they would directly take the examination for the Jinshi examination.

Later on, Guizhou also established the Academy of Admiral, but because it was established for a short period of time, many of the rules were not strict, including the Academy examination. The examination was supposed to be held by the prefectural magistrate, but the prefectural magistrate was also in charge of the examination. He did not have the time to travel all the way to Tongren to hold the examination, so he gave the responsibility to the prefectural magistrate, Zhang Duo. This was also the reason why Li Xun was confident that Ye Xiaotian could pass the examination.

The Academy examination was divided into two parts, the first part was the main examination, and the second part was the secondary examination.

Early in the morning, when the sky was just beginning to brighten, Ye Xiaotian carried the examination basket and rushed to the examination hall. Hua Yunfei and Mao Wenzhi accompanied him, and even Yaoyao woke up early. Fuwa and Big Guy naturally followed along. This lineup was very eye-catching.

As for Mister Winter, he often fiddled with all kinds of bottles and jars in his room until midnight. He was used to sleeping late and waking up late, so Ye Xiaotian did not wake him up.

Although Ye Xiaotian had never taken an examination before, he knew a little about the grand occasion of the examination. But when he arrived at the entrance of the examination hall, he saw the two sides of the formation of yamen bailiffs majestically. There were many people, but there were only a few examinees. There were many parents and elders who sent the examinees, and among them, there was no lack of white-haired men who hobbled with crutches. They were really eager to see Sun Chenglong.

When he entered the examination hall, he removed his hair bun and took off his shoes for a search. Ye Xiaotian was shocked to discover that the examinees were not the youths, but the elderly. There were also two middle-aged men, and the hobbling old man with crutches was also an examinee.

Ye Xiaotian didn't smuggle anything, and he didn't need to do so, because he already knew the exam questions. Even the eight-legged essay was written by Instructor Li, who helped him memorize it by heart. Probably only Wei Haogu in the crosstalk, who was mistaken by the examiners as a relative of Jiuqiansui and rose three grades in a row, could compare to this.

The layout of the examination hall had already been rearranged according to the rules of the examination hall, but the exam numbers were sparse and there were not many people. It seemed that Tongren Province's culture and education were really weak.

Ye Xiaotian received his exam number and entered the number room. As he raised his hands to grind the ink, he suddenly felt emotional. "I, Ye Xiaotian, was originally a prison guard, but I never thought that one day, not only would I become the Venerable of Nine Caves and Eighty-One Stockades, but I would also be able to walk into the examination hall and answer the questions. My ancestors' graves must be smoking …"

After a while, a low-ranking official walked around the examination hall with the examination title board, and read out the questions loudly. It was exactly the same as the questions that Instructor Li had secretly told Ye Xiaotian.

After all, Ye Xiaotian was a beginner when it came to writing eight-legged essays. He had already understood the rules of breaking the question, accepting the question, beginning the lecture, beginning the essay, beginning the essay, ending the essay, and binding the essay. However, it was still a little difficult for him to write a good essay.

But now that he had already memorized the essay, he only needed to write it out from memory, and this was much easier. Therefore, Ye Xiaotian put all of his energy into writing. His handwriting was actually quite beautiful. When he finished the paper, not a single word was written correctly. There wasn't even a speck of ink on the paper.

After Ye Xiaotian finished the paper, he looked left and right, and saw that all the old men were engrossed in answering the questions. He thought to himself, "If I hand in the paper now, it will be too conspicuous. I might as well sit for a while longer."

Ye Xiaotian endured for another two hours before he picked up the paper and handed it in. The main examiner was supposed to be the prefectural magistrate Zhang Duo, but Zhang Duo wouldn't come here to suffer. He had already given full authority to Instructor Li. Instructor Li had woken up very early, and was somewhat sleepy. At this moment, he was sitting on the chair and dozing off.

The low-ranking official came forward to take Ye Xiaotian's paper and began to write his name on it. Instructor Li heard the noise and woke up. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Ye Xiaotian. He waved his hand and said, "You're here!"

Ye Xiaotian quickly rushed over to his side. Instructor Li grumbled in a low voice, "What took you so long? Did you not memorize it?"

Ye Xiaotian also lowered his voice and said, "Student naturally memorized it like a melon. But seeing that the other students have not handed in their papers, student thought it would be better not to be too conspicuous."

Instructor Li sighed and said, "Child, you're a little too careful. Those people have already been taking exams for more than half their lives, but they're just so-so. How can they make any progress? Our Tongren Province's scholars have no successors. Otherwise, why do you think this official would look for you? When I pick you, this official will bring you to see the prefectural magistrate. You should go back and make some preparations. "

Visiting the prefectural magistrate was because this Prefectural Magistrate Zhang had put in a lot of effort. As for Prefectural Magistrate Zhang's whimsical idea of letting Ye Xiaotian continue to work hard and go to Shuixi's Guiyang Prefecture to participate in the Imperial Examinations, Instructor Li didn't say anything because he thought Prefectural Magistrate Zhang was joking.

When Ye Xiaotian heard this, he naturally understood what 'make some preparations' meant. Ye Xiaotian understood tacitly and said, "Teacher, don't worry. I will definitely make the prefectural magistrate satisfied. As for teacher, after the results are out, I will personally pay a visit to the prefectural magistrate. "

Instructor Li stroked his beard and smiled as he nodded, "You're a promising student. Go, go."

"Yes! I will take my leave. "

At this time, Ye Xiaotian couldn't say too much, so he bowed deeply to Instructor Li and a low-ranking official led him out of the examination hall.

Outside the examination hall, Mao Wenzhi, Hua Yunfei, and Yaoyao had been waiting for him. Fuwa, charmingly naive, was squatting under a towering ancient tree, dozing off. As soon as they saw Ye Xiaotian come out, Mao Wenzhi, Hua Yunfei, and Yaoyao immediately swarmed over. Mao Wenzhi nervously asked, "Big brother, how was the examination? Were the questions difficult? "

Ye Xiaotian unhappily rolled his eyes at him. Mao Wenzhi had already taken the poison and was completely loyal to him, so Ye Xiaotian didn't hide anything from him. Mao Wenzhi knew about the examination questions in advance, yet he still asked such a question. Am I so stupid that I can't be trained?

Mao Wenzhi saw that he didn't answer and just unhappily rolled his eyes at him. He couldn't help but be overjoyed and said, "Ah! Big brother's expression is so disdainful, so you must have performed extremely well. "

Ye Xiaotian couldn't help but laugh and shake his head, saying, "You, you suddenly remind me of a brother I met in Gourd County. If you meet him, you will definitely get along well with him, because you two are a pair of clowns."

At this time, a black shadow descended from the sky, but landed without a sound. It steadily stopped in front of Ye Xiaotian and bared its teeth at him. It was the giant ape that was playing alone in the tree. When it saw Ye Xiaotian coming out, it jumped down from the tree.

Yaoyao held onto Ye Xiaotian's hand and happily said, "Big brother, Uncle Mao said that if big brother passes the Elementary Scholar examination, then you will be a person of status, and in the future you will be a high ranking official, is that right?"

Ye Xiaotian thought to himself, "If I want to be an official, I have to at least be a High Scholar. Elementary Scholar seems to be a bit lacking." But seeing Yaoyao's happy expression, Ye Xiaotian couldn't bear to disappoint her, so he vaguely replied, "Mmm, that's right! However, it's only the qualification to be an official. Whether or not I want to be an official, it still depends on whether big brother likes it or not. "

"Mmm!"

Yaoyao nodded her head vigorously and beamed with joy, saying, "Of course, big brother is so capable, if you become a small official like the Horse Protector, everyone will laugh at you. Big brother either doesn't become an official, or becomes an official like the Great Sage Equalling Heaven. "

Yaoyao was really happy, not only because Ye Xiaotian passed the Elementary Scholar examination, but also because a piece of her heart was gone. Her big brother's luck was so good that he was about to pass the Elementary Scholar examination and become the Great Sage Equalling Heaven. This meant that he was not a jinx at all.

Ye Xiaotian laughed heartily and reached out to hug Yaoyao, saying, "That's right, our Yaoyao is right. If you don't give me a high ranking official position, then I won't do it. Let's create havoc in the heavens. Haha, let's go, let's celebrate in advance and go to a restaurant! "