Despite being just a young boy, Bai Shanbao had seen and thought about the issue, yet he truly hadn’t come up with a solution. Hence, in the end, even though he listed the methods Yang Heshu used to settle the refugees and presented his own suggestions for different scenarios, he couldn’t help but pose a question in return.
Since the conditions in each county vary, can the resettlement of refugees really be standardized?
If it cannot be standardized, then how are the assessment criteria determined?
If local officials neglect their duties and allow the refugee problem to overflow, how should they be punished?
After hearing his answer, Mr. Zhuang: ...
Manbao, however, applauded enthusiastically, feeling that Bai Shanbao’s response and questions were exceptionally good, "I wonder if the teachers at the county school could answer these."
"Whether the teachers at the county school can answer, I do not know," Mr. Zhuang chuckled, "I only know that with your last question laid out there, no one will silently have the answers for me anymore. Now go wash up, eat, and then sleep. Tomorrow, you can enter the examination with a lighter heart. As for the poetry, if you have done similar ones before, you can use them; if not, you can just write something casual on the spot."
He felt there was no need to fret about passing or failing anymore.
Who sets the exam for the students, only to end up being examined themselves in return?
If it were him, he might contemplate whether to keep such a student or not, but given the temperaments of the current officials in charge of the county school, it’s likely that the student would be eliminated in the first round.
Mr. Zhuang’s thoughts were accurate; the officials reviewed the papers overnight, mainly because the number of candidates for this year’s county school examination had hit a record high and it had even attracted attention from some important figures.
For example, the always aloof Prince of Yizhou, the dispassionately behaved Envoy Zhang, and even the notable personage who had suddenly arrived.
Although that dignitary had already left, the officials dared not relax, feeling that it was a rare honor for their school to catch the attention of such a person, and of course, they wanted to perform impeccably.
So, even without being asked, they abandoned their previous lax ways and stayed up all night to review the papers by lamplight.
Mr. Lan was among them.
He and a few colleagues first screened the papers, for instance, setting aside those with obvious stains or incomplete answers, while the rest were distributed in groups to several officials for review.
Bai Shanbao’s paper stood out among the bunch, falling at least in the upper tier.
Thus, it was among the first batch to be presented to the officials.
The officials worked in pairs to cross-mark the scores, and Bai Shanbao’s initial scores were rated as upper tier. However, the real challenge lay in the last two essay questions, which were crucial in distinguishing the candidates.
Just from the "livelihood of the people" question alone, the majority of the candidates were eliminated, either because they left it blank, simply explained the term without really answering, or missed the crux of the question altogether.
And when it came to the very last question, many more candidates were culled.
Those with vague discussions, random scribbles, and even some who used their answer sheets as flattery, praising the Prince of Yizhou and officials under his jurisdiction for their proper resettlement of the refugees after the previous flood...
Even though the officials disliked those candidates with overly fierce expressions, they certainly didn’t appreciate such sycophants either, and thus the first to be eliminated were these.
Their school didn’t intend to produce sycophantic officials; if the answers had been sarcastically written, they might have even considered letting such candidates participate in the next round of screening.
Bai Shanbao was fortunate to make it to the next phase, but he was dismissed in the final round of filtering.
It was the moment for final selections, and after several officials looked over the papers again, they finally tossed Bai Shanbao’s among the pile, commenting, "The initial answers were fair, but for the last question, are we examining him, or is he proposing questions to us? It doesn’t pass."
Mr. Lan glanced at the name on the paper and was startled—it was unexpected that Bai Shanbao would make it to the final round before being eliminated.
He couldn’t resist picking up the paper for another look and noticed that the answers to the previous questions were quite comprehensive, barely ranking as upper tier. The "livelihood of the people" question was indeed answered well, and even the first half of the final question was decent.
After a pause, he handed the paper back to the officials, saying, "My lords, perhaps you should consider his place of origin and age."
One official took the paper, asking, "What about his place of origin and age...?"
Glancing over it, the official paused for a moment.
A few officials stepped forward to look, "From Guanneidao? Oh, born in the first year of the Great Zhen era... The first year of Great Zhen!"
The officials’ eyes widened as they turned to Lan Cheng, pondering, "Is it possible there’s a mistake? Not born in the first year of Great Zhen, but rather in the first year of Great De?"
Lan Cheng: "... This is the information from his admission card; it must be correct."
After a moment of silence, the officials reviewed his answers again, "He’s only twelve years old? Seems to have a touch of genius."
"What do you mean ’a touch’? He clearly is a genius, isn’t he? Are we to accept this paper or not?"
Lan Cheng stepped back, not participating further in their discussion, for he had already done what he could.
The officials hesitated briefly, then one said, "If this final question were answered by a candidate older than a youth about to reach adulthood, I would certainly reject it. But for a twelve-year-old boy to write such suggestions and pose such questions, though somewhat inappropriate, it might be worth giving him an opportunity."
On hearing this, the rest of the officials nodded in agreement, yes, indeed, especially since his hometown was in Guanneidao, though they were unsure why he had come to seek education in their Jiannan region.
If they could attract talent from Guanneidao, they would be delighted.
What if they lost him here, only for Guanneidao to elevate him later? Wouldn’t that be terribly unjust?
In the end, the officials decided to advance Bai Shanbao’s paper, adding, "The prefectural governor, perhaps even Lord Zhang and the Prince, might want to review it again, so it’s better to let it through for now. If the notables don’t favor it, we can dismiss it then."
"Right, did he also pass the examination in poetry? Retrieve his poetry paper and have a look. If there’s a spark of genius in the poetry, it may compensate for the shortcomings of this paper."
After all, the candidate’s origin and age alone could not serve as valid reasons, but poetry could.
With this in mind, they hurriedly searched for the poetry papers they had collected earlier that day.
And Bai Shanbao, having finally completed the exam and stepped out of the examination hall, couldn’t resist shoving his exam basket into Daji’s arms and joyously embraced Bai Erlang and Manbao.
The three friends grabbed each other’s arms and jumped around, and then Bai Shanbao generously waved and declared, "Off we go, I’m treating you all to something tasty!"
At this moment, he was unconcerned with winning or losing; he just wanted to laugh heartily in the face of the sky three hundred times, indulge in three hundred days’ worth of delicacies, and then sleep for three hundred days.
But that was just wishful thinking, three hundred days and such, there was no point in dwelling on it.
Mr. Zhuang watched their fun with a smile and gestured, "No need for you to treat; I shall invite you all."