Chapter 40
County Examination
On a day like this, washing one’s hands by the river was barely tolerable—but falling into the water was truly unbearable.
Gu Qiao shivered violently in the cold wind. With wide, watery eyes, she stretched her small hands out in front of him. Water dripped steadily from the ends of her sleeves, yet his document was not wet in the slightest.
The words “I’m not going to take the exam” lingered on Xiao Yulang’s lips, but in the end, he couldn’t say them and instead said,
“It’s an exam you’ll fail anyway… why go out of your way to suffer?”
Gu Qiao replied confidently,
“You haven’t even taken the exam yet—how do you know whether you’ll pass or fail? Even if you fail this time, there’s the next time, right? And if you fail again, there’s the time after that. One day, you’ll pass for sure!”
“Failing exams over and over means never advancing in life.”
“So what if you don’t pass? There are countless paths in life, and studying is one of the easiest. If you don’t like studying, you can do something else.”
Gu Qiao looked at him cautiously.
“Husband… do you dislike studying?”
Seeing her doe-like eyes, Xiao Yulang found himself unable to speak. If he said he disliked it, it felt as though she would be hurt.
He let out a sigh and accepted the document.
“Are you stupid?”
His voice was very low and quiet.
Gu Qiao tilted her head.
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
Xiao Yulang turned his back to her and undid his buttons. After taking off his outer robe, he turned back and draped it over her.
“Let’s go home.”
After falling into the water, Gu Qiao fell ill once. Even on the day Xiao Yulang took the county examination, she still had a fever lingering in her body. Nevertheless, she got up early, braced her dizzy head, and prepared his breakfast and the snacks he would take into the examination hall.
The county examination consisted of five sessions, one per day. Since the candidates had to test all day, eating and relieving themselves were all done inside.
The first session was the main exam (正场), which everyone had to take. Only by passing it could one proceed to the second exam, the retest (复试). In this manner, one had to pass all five sessions to earn the qualification to sit for the prefectural exam (府试) the following month.
After passing the prefectural exam came the academy exam (院试). Only by passing that could one become a xiucai of the State of Su.
Of course, even xiucai had ranks.
Those with the best results were called linsheng (廪生) and received monthly grain stipends from the government. Next were zengsheng (增生), who did not receive stipends, and finally fusheng (附生).
Gu Dasun was precisely such a substantial linsheng and had long been the pride of the Gu family.
Gu Qiao felt that it would be fine even if her husband didn’t become a linsheng like Gu Dasun—even becoming a fusheng would be acceptable!
Her expectations weren’t high. Passing was fine, and not passing was fine too. She could support him anyway; it didn’t matter whether he took the civil service examinations or not.
Sitting in the cart, Gu Qiao’s small body trembled in the cold wind. She wiped her runny nose and spoke in a nasal voice,
“It’s just taking an exam—don’t be nervous. I asked around, and there are five sessions in total. Even if you mess up the first one, there are still four more, so it’s fine. I’ll come with you every day… achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”
She sneezed three times in a row as soon as she finished speaking, stars almost dancing before her eyes.
Xiao Yulang looked at her carefully but said nothing.
After entering the examination hall, the proctors distributed the exam papers to each candidate.
The reason Xiao Yulang was sitting here was because someone had nearly lost their life over his examination document.
That, however, didn’t mean he intended to take the exam seriously.
He planned to submit a blank paper.
“Achoo!”
Just then, the sound of a candidate sneezing came from the neighboring cubicle.
In Xiao Yulang’s mind, the image of someone sneezing in the cart replayed itself.
Her small face was flushed from high fever, her eyes dull. Even as her tiny body swayed unsteadily, she stubbornly refused to go back.
Thinking of someone dragging a frail, sick body to wait for him in a cart all day long made Xiao Yulang grow restless. He picked up his brush.
Xiao Yulang only took the first exam and did not sit for the others.
The news soon reached Gu Dasun as well.
Generally, there were only two possible outcomes when someone took just one session of the county exam. The first was doing exceptionally well and becoming the case leader (anshou, 案首), thus earning direct qualification to sit for the prefectural exam. The second was doing so poorly that one lost the qualification to take the remaining four sessions.
The first situation was extremely rare. No matter how well one did in the first exam, there was no guarantee of maintaining first place through the remaining four. This was even more impossible for a candidate like Xiao Yulang, whose grades weren’t outstanding even in Class B. No matter how capable he was, he could not possibly take first place.
“So Yulang took the county exam?”
At dinner, Elder Gu asked about Xiao Yulang.
Previously, when Young Master Su Jin’s incident occurred, they hadn’t gone so far as to think Gu Qiao had deliberately orchestrated it—but they did believe that anyone entangled with Gu Qiao was unlucky.
Since Xiao Yulang had married her, it was only natural that he, too, would be unlucky.
At the mention of Xiao Yulang’s name, both the mother-in-law and daughters-in-law felt stifled in their chests. But since the elder had asked, they didn’t dare speak and only ate in silence.
“Yes, I heard he only took one exam.”
When Gu Dasun replied, Gu Zhanghai found it strange.
“Why only one? Didn’t you take all five back then?”
Gu Dasun thought for a moment before saying,
“Perhaps he failed it badly. He must not have passed the first exam, so he lost the qualification to participate in the rest.”
Gu Zhanghai said,
“Then do they refund the examination fee?”
“They don’t.”
Gu Zhanghai picked up a bite of pickled vegetables.
“Tsk, wasn’t it two taels of silver? Even throwing it into a latrine would at least make a splash.”
Elder Gu frowned and looked at his eldest son. Gu Zhanghai immediately shut his mouth in fright.
Except for Gu Dasun, everyone else lost their appetite at the mention of latrines.
This examination had been personally applied for by the Headmaster, who had written down Xiao Yulang’s name himself. He had abandoned a perfectly good linsheng like Gu Dasun and instead placed his hopes on rotten wood like Xiao Yulang.
…In the end, he must have been disappointed.
A sense of vengeful satisfaction arose in Gu Dasun’s heart.
Ten days later, the county exam results were announced.
Gu Dasun had been waiting, ready to mock Xiao Yulang, when suddenly he was struck dumb by news like a bolt from the blue!
On the academy’s red congratulatory notice (喜报), several bold characters were written:
County Exam Case Leader — Xiao Yulang!
In truth, the list of successful candidates wouldn’t normally be released so quickly. However, the Headmaster had rushed to the county yamen to personally inquire about the results and, without waiting for the official list, had posted the congratulatory notice first.
He hung it in the most conspicuous spot, where everyone passing by the academy could see it.
Standing beneath the notice, the Headmaster smiled like a fool.
Those who knew would understand that his student had taken first place in the county exam, but to someone unaware, it would have looked as though his own son had succeeded.
He specifically summoned Xiao Yulang to the Central Hall.
“…I knew my efforts wouldn’t be in vain.”
Sure enough, he was moved by my sincerity!
Xiao Yulang looked at him expressionlessly.
“I just didn’t want to take that many exams.”
The Headmaster said slowly,
“Oh? Then you could’ve just submitted a blank paper!”
Submitting a blank paper would also have eliminated the need to take further exams.
Admit it already, Xiao Yulang—you didn’t want to disappoint this Headmaster!
Finding it tiresome to deal with him, Xiao Yulang turned and left.
The good news had not yet reached the village, so Gu Qiao knew nothing about it. After resting at home for several days, her cold completely recovered, and she packed her things to go to the temple.
“The last batch of dim sum was quite good. Bring back more.”
Before she left, Grandma stopped her at the door.
It took Gu Qiao a moment to remember what Grandma was referring to—it was the dim sum a lady had given her.
“That wasn’t the temple’s dim sum; it was given by a devotee. I’m not sure if I’ll even meet her again this time.”
She said so aloud, but privately thought that since she had run into her both times she went before, the chances were actually quite high.
Gu Qiao packed some freshly harvested mountain produce into her basket, planning to exchange it for dim sum if she met her again.
However, she didn’t encounter the lady even after climbing the mountain. Instead, she ran into several unusually clever-looking young novice monks.
After finishing their chores, the novices were all peeking their heads out from behind doors. It was unclear whom they were waiting for.
When Gu Qiao reached the mountaintop carrying her small basket, their eyes immediately widened.
“She’s here! She’s here!”
She was walking over with the basket.
She’s here! She’s here!
She even came with flowers on her face!
“Quick, hide!”
The novices hurriedly retreated. But one pressed down on another, preventing the child on top from getting away, and in the end, the one at the bottom couldn’t retreat either.
The group collapsed together, rolling on the ground like winter gourds.
Gu Qiao saw the novices suddenly tumble out in front of her.
“……”
Huh?
A large-scale staged injury scam?
“Jingfan! Jingxin! Jingxian! Where have you all run off to now?”
Having fallen flat on their backs in front of a pretty female patron, did they have any dignity left? And on top of that, their wicked senior brother had called out their names!
The novice monks scrambled up and ran away.
Gu Qiao suddenly spoke,
“What were you doing just now?”
Two of the novices said,
“We didn’t see you, Patron!”
“That’s right—we didn’t see anything!”
All three novices nodded vigorously.
Gu Qiao raised an eyebrow.
“Then why were you looking at me?”
All three shouted in unison,
“Because you’re pretty!”
“……”
The novices pointed at the mark on Gu Qiao’s face.
“The mark on your face is pretty!”
It was funny to say, but the village children all treated her as ugly—either bullying her or avoiding her whenever they saw her. Yet these novice monks, who had never been down the mountain, were utterly fascinated by her mark.
Finding them too adorable, Gu Qiao took out several pieces of malt candy and handed them out.
“We can’t accept a patron’s belongings,” the novices refused in unison.
After thinking for a moment, Gu Qiao said,
“Don’t monks all go out to beg for alms? You can just come beg from me. Then these candies will be yours.”
The novices pondered this carefully. Finding her words reasonable, they immediately went back to fetch small bowls and begged alms from Gu Qiao, who then distributed the candies to them.
Holding their bowls, the novices sat on the steps and began eating with gusto.
Counting their heads, Gu Qiao asked,
“Huh? Weren’t there four of you before? Why are there only three now?”
One of the novices said,
“Are you talking about Jingkong? He’s gone down the mountain!”
So the little one who had fallen was named Jingkong.
From the novice’s explanation, Gu Qiao learned what had happened. The fallen little monk had been adopted by a kind-hearted wealthy family. The couple had been married for nearly ten years without children and intended to raise him as their own son.
“He must have been very sad when he left here, right?”
Gu Qiao asked.
The three novices shook their heads in unison.
The most mischievous-looking one said,
“Sad? Not at all. He was always wanting to go down the mountain.”
Gu Qiao asked, puzzled,
“Why?”
“He said that if he went down the mountain, he could eat meat!”
“……”
What kind of monk is that?
