The Prime Minister’s Darling-Chapter 382 - : 197 Real Versus Fake Missy (two updates combined into one) _4

Chapter 382: 197 Real Versus Fake Missy (two updates combined into one) _4

Continuing like this would be no different from giving up the examination.

Du Ruohan clenched his teeth, took two pills for the common cold, and swallowed them with water!

The examinations were going well for Fen Lin and Lin Chengye, not because they were exceptionally skilled, but because it was their first spring examination. They were young and already had undergone the imperial examination, so even if they failed, they wouldn’t lose face.

Of course, Xiao Liulang still hoped they would pass, especially Lin Chengye, after all, Xiao Liulang had previously promised him a half refund if the tutoring was ineffective.

That was more than two thousand taels of silver!

At sunset, the exam time signals rang out. All candidates stopped writing, waiting for the invigilators to come and seal the exam papers up.

...

Their paper would first be sent to the Qinghui Hall, where six officials of the Hanlin Academy would make a copy of the papers in red ink, which was called “red paper”. The “red papers” would also be sealed, before being sent to the Neizheng Hall.

This was to prevent any marker from recognizing a candidate’s handwriting, and then showing any favouritism.

The candidates left the examination room on the tenth day and returned on the eleventh day.

The second examination was in the “eight-legged” essay format.

The topic came from the “Analects of Confucius” – “The gentleman acts in harmony but does not compare; Guan Zhong’s measure is small.” Yet another pair of phrases that served no relevance to each other.

Worth mentioning is that the phrase “The gentleman acts in harmony but does not compare” has appeared in a palace examination eleven years ago, meaning this is not a new question.

Many excellent “eight-legged” essays had come out of that year. It would be extremely difficult for the candidates to impress the examiners again based on the previous works. They have to express a new understanding of this phrase, but also take the next sentence into account.

The atmosphere in the exam room was obviously much more serious compared to the first examination.

The whole Imperial College was silent, except for the whistling wind and the sound of brushes furiously scribbling on paper.

Not long after, someone fell ill.

He was a candidate in his fifties. He passed the exam to become a scholar in his thirties and succeeded in the imperial examination at forty. This was his sixth attempt at the spring examination. If he didn’t pass this time, he would be sixty by the next examination.

The pressure on him can be imagined.

But the heavens did not favour him because of his pressure. His health was already failing, and his examination room was one of the ones at the edge, attacked directly by the cold wind. He was already feeling unwell during the first exam, but he had persisted through it.

By the second exam, he couldn’t bear it anymore, he didn’t finish writing and fell down.

If it was only a cold it would have been fine, but unfortunately, he had a stroke.

He had to be carried out by the palace guards.

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His attempt at this spring examination was ruined again.

This was the time he was the most prepared, and it was also when he performed the best. If everything had gone according to plan, he would have passed, but unfortunately, something unexpected happened.

The older candidate’s fall added a lot more psychological pressure to the others, the examination room became even quieter.

Meanwhile, as the candidates were busy answering questions, the six officials from the Hanlin Academy in the Qinghui Hall finished copying all the papers from the first examination.

The candidates’ answers were sealed and placed in a special cabinet, which would only be retrieved when the grading for all three exams was over, so they could be archived with the red papers.

The first batch of red papers were sent to the Neizheng Hall under escort by the palace guards. All six officials heaved a sigh of relief.

Seeing that there was no one else in the Qinghui Hall, one of them whispered, “I think I have copied Prince An’s exam paper.”

Not only were all the answers correct, but the handwriting was also quite stylish. After seeing so many spring examination papers, that paper undoubtedly had the best penmanship, almost on par with the works of renowned calligraphers.

Surprisingly, as soon as he finished speaking, an official across from him spoke, “I think Prince An’s paper should be with me.”

He also copied a perfect paper, the kind that was absolutely impeccable. Apart from Prince An, no one else in the whole of Zhan Country could achieve this.

The papers were sealed and they could not see whose they were. When they were copying, they only marked a serial number on the original and the red paper. After copying, the two papers would be placed side by side and a seal would be stamped on the joint.

If the serial number was wrong, they could find it by the seal.

The copywriting officials were all very meticulous, so far there had been no mistakes with the papers.

The two of them began whispering, arguing at each other, neither could convince the other.

The candidates knew nothing about the officials’ argument. The exam was about to end, and they were writing as fast as they could.

Prince An was done with his exam paper very early on.

His eyes would lose sight at night, so he would try to finish his papers as early as possible during the day.

The bell rang, signalling the end of the second exam.

Officials came to seal the papers, and several candidates were sobbing loudly. Apparently, the smooth sailing of the first examination led them to underestimate the difficulty of the second one.

However, the real nightmare was the third examination.