Chapter 87: 85 Going Home (Third Watch of the Night)
Upon learning that one of his guests was the top scorer in the Government Office Examination, the Innkeeper immediately refunded Xiao Liulang’s group their room fees and provided them with the most expensive food and drinks. If the inn didn’t have a certain dish or drink, he would send a waiter out to buy it.
Despite having already passed the examination to become a scholar, Fen Lin’s performance was not so outstanding, hence he had not received this kind of treatment before.
But this time, following Xiao Liulang, he was treated magnificently.
Worth mentioning is that Xiao Liulang did so well in the examination that his essays were circulated on the same day the results were announced. However, Xiao Liulang turned away the many people who came wanting to become acquainted with him.
The Imperial examination system had undergone a major adjustment compared to the previous dynasty. While the previous dynasty held the College Examination two to three months after the Government Office Examination, the current dynasty’s College Examination took place the day after the scores of the Government Office Examination were announced.
During these ten days waiting for the results, most candidates were extremely nervous. Once they learned they had passed, they hardly had time to breathe before the next round of examination started.
This undoubtedly increased the pressure on candidates.
The College Examination was divided into two sections, testing on essay writing and scripture copying.
The difficulty of the scripture copying was comparable to the Government Office Examination, and the essay writing was still set by the Prefecture Governor.
Xiao Liulang had already come top in two examinations, and if he also came top in the College Examination, he would achieve the Little Sanyuan.
Pingcheng hadn’t seen a Little Sanyuan in almost ten years. All the officials in the government office had high hopes for Xiao Liulang. However, to everyone’s surprise, Xiao Liulang turned in a blank paper for the scripture copying in the College Examination.
The scope of the College Examination’s scripture copying was not vastly different from that of the Government Office Examination. It still required candidates to be proficient in three classics. Nevertheless, it was more challenging in terms of question quantity and type. But a blank paper was unexpected.
Of course, unexpected things could happen in every round of examination—Once, a student accidentally smeared filth on his answer sheet, leading to the disqualification of his entire exam.
That happened during the Provincial Examination, which was held every three years. Thus, three years of a candidate’s hard work was wasted.
But turning in a blank paper was really unusual.
Especially when the blank paper was from Xiao Liulang, who left the Prefecture Governor a deep impression in the Government Office Examination.
If the Prefecture Governor remembered correctly, there were twelve evaluators and eleven of them gave a top grade to Xiao Liulang’s essay.
The only one who didn’t give a top grade was the Prefecture Governor himself.
He gave Xiao Liulang the second highest grade.
However, if anyone knew that the lowest grade the Prefecture Governor gave to others was the fourth, then they could see how extraordinary Xiao Liulang’s achievement was.
With eleven top grades, even if Xiao Liulang performed poorly in his scripture exam, he would still be in the top ten. However, Xiao Liulang was the third last.
This really surprised the Prefecture Governor.
He called in Xiao Liulang’s paper, only to find it blank.
The Prefecture Governor ordered someone to bring out Xiao Liulang’s scripture paper from the Government Office Examination as well.
If Xiao Liulang had done unsatisfactorily in the scripture part of the Government Office Examination, then the case may end here. However, Xiao Liulang’s scripture paper from the Government Office Examination scored the highest possible grade in every section.
Meaning, he didn’t make a single mistake.
“And he only took half of the exam time!” said the invigilator who delivered the scripts.
This invigilator happened to be the one who sat directly opposite Xiao Liulang during the Government Office Examination.
The examination papers were anonymous, so after being handed in, it was impossible to tell which paper belonged to whom. But after Xiao Liulang became the top scorer in the Government Office Examination, his essay was widely circulated. The invigilator secretly visited the inn to get a look at this top scorer, wondering what he looked like and how he managed to write such an outstanding piece. He realized that this top scorer was the candidate who finished both the scripture and the essay sections in only half the time.
The Prefecture Governor had high standards.
Getting everything right wasn’t a big deal in his eyes. Nonetheless, finishing the exam in half the time was truly impressive.
Of all the people he had met, only the deceased young lord of Zhaodu had performed better than this candidate.
The Prefecture Governor immediately sent someone to the inn to ask Xiao Liulang about the situation.
“I didn’t turn in a blank paper,” Xiao Liulang said.
If what Xiao Liulang said was true, then someone must have tampered with his paper, which would be a serious matter.
The management of Imperial examination papers was extremely strict. When each candidate handed in their paper, two invigilators would jointly collect it and put a seal on the anonymized paper to prove they had taken it away.
If a problem occurred with the paper, the two invigilators were to blame.
It’s noteworthy that all invigilators were paired by drawing lots after entering the examination site. Like the candidates, they couldn’t contact the outside world until the end of the examination.
It was relatively easy to bribe one invigilator, but very difficult to bribe both. Because nobody could guarantee that the two bribed individuals would definitely be paired together, or that they would be assigned to the exam site where Xiao Liulang was.