Chapter 313: Chapter 127: Prefectural Examination (4)
At the dinner table, the group avoided discussing the exam itself, instead sharing amusing stories from the examination hall.
De’an said the candidate in the cell next to him must have been one of those pampered scholars, completely useless at practical matters. He couldn’t even start a fire. In his frustration, he threw his fire starter right into the water bucket and ended up spending the next few days in complete darkness.
But when the temperature dropped significantly during the last two days, the candidate couldn’t handle it. In the latter half of the exam, he came down with a terrible case of diarrhea...
At that, the others quickly cut him off, forbidding De’an from saying another word.
Huang Chen said that a candidate to his right was a sleepwalker. He was asleep one night when he was jolted awake by a constable’s angry shout, "Who’s wandering around?"
He shot up in bed, terrified, only to see the candidate acting as if nothing was wrong, stretching his legs out and trying to climb the wall in front of him. It scared the daylights out of him.
"And then what?"
"The candidate was led away. Who knows if he was really sleepwalking or just faking it. The examination hall has strict rules: candidates aren’t allowed to leave their cells for any reason other than to relieve themselves. He broke the rules..."
"Stop, stop!"
For mentioning "relieving themselves," Huang Chen was also silenced.
Next was Wang Jun, who said the candidate next to him must have come from an extremely poor family.
The only dry rations he’d brought was half a sack of sweet potatoes. Steamed, roasted, or boiled into a congee, sweet potatoes taste pretty good. But you can’t eat them for every single meal! Eating too many sweet potatoes makes you... pass a lot of gas!
Just as Wang Jun was about to say those last two words, De’an stomped his foot. "You shut up, too!" He then picked up a piece of pig’s ear and stuffed it right into Wang Jun’s mouth.
When it was Chu Xun’s turn, he thought about the candidate next to him. ’He didn’t grind his teeth or pass gas, but he was clearly no better. All night long, he was hugging something and cooing "kissy kissy" one moment and "my lord’s precious little darling" the next. It was so nauseating I nearly threw up last night’s dinner.’
Chu Xun opened his mouth, but in the end, simply said, "I’d better not say anything, either."
When it was Ding Shutian’s turn, he recalled the candidate next to him who had vomited violently after eating too much greasy food. ’Just thinking about that sour, rancid smell...’ He covered his mouth, feeling his own stomach churn.
"It’s too painful to recount. I won’t say anything, either."
All eyes turned to Zhao Jing.
Zhao Jing considered his options. ’Should I talk about the candidate to my left, or the one to my right?’ The story about the top candidate from Guyuan County was frankly too disgusting for mealtime. After a moment’s deliberation, he decided to sell out the poor fellow from Taoli County instead.
"Allow me to recite a poem for you all: ’Outside the walls, the crickets call, / Within the cell, the snores resound. / Before the path to power is trod, / One enters first the city of the damned.’"
After a brief silence, the private room erupted in roaring laughter.
...
After the meal, the group went their separate ways.
Once back at their own lodgings, they tossed off their clothes, kicked off their shoes, and fell into a deep, dead-to-the-world sleep.
De’an was woken by a full bladder. As he got up to relieve himself, he noticed the flicker of candlelight from the room next door.
He threw on a robe and, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, headed to Zhao Jing’s room.
He didn’t bother knocking, simply pushing the door open and walking right in.
"What are you doing? Why aren’t you asleep yet..." De’an trailed off, speechless, as he saw that Zhao Jing’s hair was damp and his face was still dewy with moisture.
’We’re all dead tired. None of us bothered to wash up, so what makes you so special?’
He then noticed Zhao Jing sitting by the candlelight, a brush in hand, writing something with focused strokes.
De’an rubbed his eyes and saw a copy of the Four Books lying next to Zhao Jing’s hand. He quickly clasped his hands in a deferential gesture and backed away. "My apologies, my apologies. Didn’t mean to disturb you."
’If you have to work as hard as Jing to become the top scholar,’ he thought, ’then I’d rather not have the title.’
After De’an left, Zhao Jing moved the book aside, revealing the paper beneath it.
It was clearly a half-written letter. It began simply: "Dearest A’jie..."
Though only half a page long, the letter was filled with words of tender affection and profound longing. Merely reading it was enough to make one blush.
It wasn’t hard to imagine the deep blush that would grace A’jie’s cheeks as she read his words.
By the same token, however, if the letter were to fall into the wrong hands, it would be a catastrophe for both of their reputations.
Zhao Jing finished the letter, but he had no intention of mailing it. Instead, he would wait until he returned to Qingshui County and deliver it to A’jie in person.
’To see the look on her face as she reads it with my own eyes...’ he thought. ’What greater joy could there be in life?’
「The next morning」
After rising, the friends took a stroll through the streets, had a late breakfast, and stopped by a teahouse for a pot of tea. After listening to gossip for the time it took an incense stick to burn, they set off on their journey home.
They were all confident they would pass the prefectural examination.
But the prefectural examination wasn’t the final hurdle. To earn the title of Scholar, they still had to face the upcoming academy examination with all their might.
