Chapter 47 (1/2)

It was almost Pei Zi Yun's turn, the scholar in front of hi but an inner coat left on

Under the light, it was obvious he had words written on his body The examiners came to verify the words

The official then ordered, ”Take hi and wailing, to be locked up The official then proceeded to address the rest of the candidates, ”Listen up, those who are yet to enter the examination hall, surrender all written ed with malpractice You will be caned and stripped of your title”

Now that two people have been lanced at each other and sneakily disposed of the notes they were concealing Instantaneously, the floor was filled with crushed balls of paper The officials paid no heed to the papers that were discarded

The examiner checked Pei Zi Yun identity, he was then escorted in by a foot soldier and successfully entered the examination hall The examination was conducted in rows of ss

Pei Zi Yun entered one of the houses that had his assigned nule table, chair and wooden bed There was nothing but a baiven However, the room did have a brazier, flint and coal

The door of every house was guarded by a foot soldier At the extreme end of the row of houses was a latrine, Pei Zi Yun was fortunate that he was a fair distance from it

The exa hen all the candidates would enter, undergo the checks and be assigned to their roo

For the hungry, the foot soldier would give out a pastry and water Once Pei Zi Yun entered, he was hard at work The first step was to clear out the dust and spider webs in his room

Next was to take out the iteht He carefully spread the blanket onto the baht, 'It would have been disastrous if I hadn't brought this blanket in this rainy weather, I would have been freezing if I slept, but if I didn't I would have no energy for the exah Scholar'

Although there was a brazier, flint and coal, they were not a lot of those and thus shouldn't be wasted It should only be utilised when he was hungry, or he would have to eat cold food everyday

But of course he had just entered, so the food that he brought was still warm and could be consu, pastry and meat It was essential he finished the ive him a bad stomach otherwise

He took a nap after he finished his food Then noon came, and the sound of a cannon shot echoed in the horizon The exa handed out

When Pei Zi Yun received the paper, he exaht not be as valuable in the future, but they were considered to be of the highest quality right now He exclaimed, ”To use paper of this quality, the i this examination very seriously”

Once the papers were given out, average paper, ink, and pen were given out as well There were many pens to choose fro out loud the questions on the scripts

Like the previous tiainst the examiner's words

Once he confiran to analyze the questions

The first page contained nothing but the instructions for the examinations

The following pages were filled with seven big questions, out of which five were classical questions The first question was on ”breaking rules” Upon seeing this, Pei Zi Yun heaved a sigh of relief The questions overnance, ”San Dao Ce Lun” on the leniency and harshness of governing provinces

'The first question is on governance, the second on ideological reforlance, the ansould display the ones with governing aptitudes' Pei Zi Yun thought

'All seven questions dethy essays as answers, a exahts, this is both physically and '

'Endurance and health are iement will make the key difference This would elilect to take care of their bodies'

It was drizzling outside, beside the sound of the exa sound of pens

'Elite scholars swarm into this examination like fishes to water' Pei Zi Yun took one look and knew by heart itshis inkstone

When grinding the inkstone, one th so that the ink produced would be thin, the words thus written would be neat The inkstones given for this exa, then using his pen, he began writing on the paper

Even as an elite scholar, oneon paper

The question is based on one of Mencius's pieces, ”Li Lou Shang” It talked about the absolute nature of law Pei Zi Yun understood it straight away as he had received his knowledge from Han Lin school It speaks of how officials played around the law to their own advantages

Pei Zi Yun took the pen and inked it on the inkstone, thought for awhile and begun writing, one sentence after another

”Rules are absolute, but there are rooate around it” was the essence of the question

To elaborate, he wrote, ”Rules should be followed strictly, but there are certain aspects of law and legislation that can be played around to soree”