CHAPTER 70: CHAPTER 65: THE EXAM PAPER

"Risheng! Congratulations, congratulations!"

"Ah, congratulations to you, too."

"Risheng, you’ve really made a name for yourself this time. Did any rich families knock on your door last night to propose marriage?"

"No, no..."

"Risheng, do you still have any of the Four Treasures of the Study to spare? Give us a few to bring back some scholarly aura."

"Ah, this..."

In the early morning at Huai De Square, Li Ang managed a strained smile as he dealt with his fellow townspeople and classmates.

The news of the preliminary examination results at the Academic Palace quickly spread throughout Chang’an. An unknown female student from Youzhou and a small-time Doctor from Yizhou had outperformed the son of the Prime Minister—who ranked top in thirteen subjects—securing first and second places in the preliminaries.

Such news was almost too odd. So much so that early in the morning, outside the hostel at Huai De Square, a crowd of idle townspeople gathered to see what was going on.

Nobody doubted the authenticity of the results announced by the Academic Palace, but they were all curious about Li Ang.

Having dealt with his fellow townspeople and classmates, Li Ang watched their backs as they headed to feasts in Pingkang Square, shaking his head with a wry smile.

As it is said, joy in some homes, sorrow in others; only 5,000 passed the preliminary examination at the Academic Palace, leaving others to be eliminated.

However, the examination process at the Academic Palace was fair and the papers were marked justly. Those who didn’t make the list had only missed by a slight margin or simply had bad luck.

Among the students from Yizhou, Zhai Yiming ranked 1,117th, Song Shaoyuan 909th, Ji Linglang 331st, and another five were eliminated. Since they had another chance next year, they were not too despondent.

"Who could have thought I’d come back as the second top scorer," Li Ang murmured as he closed the door. "I thought being in the top hundred was already good..."

Chai Cuiqiao curiously asked, "Master, what is a ’second top scorer’?"

"It means the second-rank in the examination."

Li Ang remembered that Yu Country didn’t have a concept of ’second top scorer’; they only recognized the ’top scorer,’ or called it ’first place,’ the ’leading position.’

As for ’third place,’ it wasn’t simply the third-ranked. It was a term for newly advanced Advanced Scholars who, following tradition, went to celebrate in the Apricot Garden. There, young and handsome scholars rode horses and picked famous flowers, hence being called ’flower explorers.’

"But it’s kind of strange," Li Ang pondered aloud. "My Scriptures and Strategies are both Lower Class A and Class A respectively, Poetry is Class B, and Horse Riding and Shooting is Upper Class A. Logically, I shouldn’t rank above Pei Jing, who got Class A in all thirteen subjects. Could it be my scores in Mathematics, Herbal Medicine, and Painting were remarkably high?"

***

"Good! Very good!"

Inside a private room in a tavern at Chongye Square, Chao Wenyuan, a short and chubby Doctor of Mathematics from the Academic Palace, joyfully examined a test paper over and over, unable to help chuckling as he clapped his hands.

A few disciples nearby curiously asked, "Teacher, is this paper really that exceptional?"

"More than just good."

Chao Wenyuan shook his head and spread the densely written paper on the table. "Look, for every question, this student has almost shown off, using more than one method to solve the problems.

"There is geometric deduction from the ’Jigu Suanjing,’

"also the Tianzhu numeral algorithm from the ’Brahmin Algorithm’ in the ’Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi,’

"and this..."

He pointed his finger at a corner of the test paper, where there were horizontal and vertical lines drawn in different boxes, and asked the students with a smile, "Do you see what this is?"

The disciples leaned in and immediately recognized the lines on the test paper as counting rods—a common method of counting since the Spring and Autumn Period.

And these counting rods represented...

"Heavenly Element Skill?!" the disciples exclaimed in surprise.

"That’s right," Chao Wenyuan sighed deeply and said. "At the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of Yu Chu, there was an Assistant Historian named Wang Xiaotong. He deeply studied the ’Nine Chapters of Mathematics’ and ’Conjugation Technique,’ and authored the ’Jigu Suanjing.’ In it, he used language, Pythagorean diagrams, and derivations to calculate complex problems.

"The Academic Palace further developed this method. They treated the required unknowns as Heavenly Element numbers, a process known as ’establishing one Heavenly Element.’ They would list two equal Heavenly Element expressions, subtract one from the other to derive a single Heavenly Element expression. Finally, they used the Multiplicative Opening Method to find the positive root and solve for the unknown Heavenly Element number.

"The process is clear and systematic, faster than the Pythagorean graphical derivation method."

"The Academic Palace had previously published papers on the Heavenly Element Skill. It’s indeed impressive that the candidate could learn it by himself," a student frowned and said. "But the Multiplicative Opening Method was only briefly mentioned in the paper without detailed discussion—Teacher, you plan to combine the Multiplicative Opening Method and the Quadruple Method, and when ready, publish them together in a volume. How did he learn it?"

"Spot the subtle and infer the general. If there aren’t useful mathematical tools or methods available, then create one yourself."

Chao Wenyuan declared solemnly, "That is what a genius does!

"The entire Mathematics examination paper, only He Fanshuang and Li Ang, two candidates in the whole examination hall, managed to solve everything.

"He Fanshuang could score full marks because she had the capability to do so.

"And Li Ang scored full marks because that was the only score possible.

"If not for that, I wouldn’t have vehemently argued before the Mountain Master to place his ranking at the forefront."

Hearing the teacher heap such high praise on the student named Li Ang, the disciples present showed slight signs of dissatisfaction.

Seeing this, Chao Wenyuan sighed deeply and said, "The development history of Mathematics is intermittent.

"In ancient times, the continuation and development of Mathematics relied mainly on private teachings within a few families, with mathematical knowledge constantly being lost and forgotten, only to be reinvented decades or hundreds of years later by later generations. The overall level of Mathematics has fluctuated, risen, and fallen several times.

"Only when the Academic Palace started valuing Mathematics, viewing it as a crucial tool for practical applications, did public attitudes gradually change. Because of Mathematics, we can predict the trajectories of the sun, moon, and stars; estimate the materials needed for building bridges and towers; calculate the heights of distant mountains and the flow of rivers; and even aid in Cultivation—rather than merely ’feeling’ it based on personal experience.

"Even if this student named Li Ang does not manage to enroll in the Academic Palace, I will consult with the Mountain Master to take him as my disciple..."

As he spoke, Chao Wenyuan suddenly paused, squinting his eyes and muttering, "However, Sun Pu, who teaches Herbal Medicine in the palace, and Du Qinyin, who teaches Painting, both gave him Upper Class A grades. Although we are colleagues, if they try to compete with me for this disciple, then don’t blame me for turning my back on them..."

The disciples in the room looked at each other.

Besides teaching the prescribed courses, the Doctors of the Academic Palace also selected some disciples they found agreeable to research certain topics. Professors chose disciples, and disciples chose professors.

However...

Chao Wenyuan’s Cultivation, it seemed, was only at the Cloud Patrol Middle Realm. Meanwhile, Du Qinyin, a female cultivator who had been his classmate of the same age at the Academic Palace, had broken through to the High-level Cloud Patrol Realm several years earlier.

If it really came to a fight, Chao Wenyuan might just be hung up and hammered by her... just like when they were younger.

The present disciples visualized this scenario, quickly shut their mouths, and watched as Chao Wenyuan sat in his chair, jubilantly flipping through Li Ang’s exam paper. "Just, why is there a crossed-out ’solution’ under the first question?"