CHAPTER 175: CHAPTER 9: TEST POEM

When everyone arrived, they brought good news. Sun Xian was in the twenty-first place, Ye Zhiqiu in the eighth, He Shunian was forty-eighth, and Gu Wanhua was quite fortunate, as he managed to take the last spot. Everyone marveled at his luck, even he found it incredible, as he thought he wouldn’t pass this time.

No matter what, everyone passed. Mr. Gu was especially pleased, never expecting Xiao Bao to be so promising, consistently achieving first place in exams, something he didn’t dare to imagine. He always believed Xiao Bao was intelligent and not bad at studying, yet he didn’t expect Xiao Bao could reach this level. Before coming, he thought if it couldn’t be achieved, they would come to gain experience. But judging by this, it was very likely to become a scholar; the Gu Family was truly going to change its fortune.

Moreover, Hua also passed, though the outcome of the following exams was yet unknown, it was still a reason for happiness.

After returning to the inn and having dinner, Mr. Gu went back to the room, seeing Gu Chengyu still smiling joyfully.

Meanwhile, Gu Chengyi and the others had already left in the morning.

"Xiao Bao! Father always knew you had a smart mind, never thought you’d return with a first place!"

"Father! This is merely a minor exam, getting first place isn’t that remarkable. There are plenty of exams in the future! We must not become complacent now, lest others talk about our arrogance. Besides, the second son didn’t pass, and people might say you don’t care about him!" Gu Chengyu noticed Mr. Gu’s abundant smile today and spoke to advise him.

Today everyone passed, everyone was happy, and surely no one would mind, but with the grandson failing the exam while the son passed, and the grandfather being so cheerful, it was enough to fuel gossip.

When talking about the second son, Mr. Gu came to his senses. He sighed gently; the second son was, unfortunately, unlucky. Initially, their Mr. Niu didn’t support him taking the exam, yet the second son insisted on participating, angering Mr. Niu to not wanting to manage him further. Later, he advised him to read carefully for three more years, to have better chances next time. However, Gu Wanjiang was determined to go.

Mr. Niu had a stubborn temper, feeling somewhat displeased, but ultimately couldn’t let go, wishing to have an acquaintance vouch for Gu Wanjiang. However, during this time, the Gu Family had already invited Mr. Wen to vouch for Gu Wanjiang, something Mr. Gu had checked at the private school. He merely wanted to inquire about the second son’s chances of passing and got the answer that he wouldn’t.

Mr. Niu said that although entering the exam one more time amounted to nothing, young people are impulsive, love comparison, and are overly self-assured, which is a major flaw. Even if one passes as an advanced scholar and becomes an official, how can one navigate officialdom?

Mr. Gu took out his pipe and lit it; the second son was led astray by the third son. He knew his own children, the third son had a somewhat narrow mind, yet everyone has their own thoughts, and previously he saw no major concern.

But in the last couple of years, the third son has become more obsessive, besides solely prioritizing Xiao Bao, increasingly found him disagreeable. Since mutual annoyance persisted, it might be better to separate the family early on; money would not be short for them, he was getting old and couldn’t manage them for many days.

After Ye Zhiqiu finished washing in the compartment and came out, Gu Chengyu entered. Looking at the bathtub, Gu Chengyu flashed into the space, took a bath in there, came out again and lit another candle with Ye Zhiqiu, and started reading.

Gu Chengyu led his seat number into his examination booth, being quite lucky to never have been assigned to a stinky booth.

Putting down the examination basket and spreading out the pen and ink, he quietly waited for the exam paper to be distributed. This fourth round, called the consecutive coverage, tested previously examined policy questions, the pasted scripture, and added the poetic essay.

Gu Chengyu gazed at the sky above, noticing it had already brightened, yet it didn’t look like a clear day. He glanced at the umbrella beside the examination basket. Due to the short eaves of the booth, if it rained for real, it was sure not to fend off invading rainwater, thus he needed to work quickly.

When the test papers were distributed, Gu Chengyu first copied the pasted scripture and policy questions onto a draft paper as these were his strengths, then proceeded to fill in the answers and moved on to the poetic essay.

The poetic essay’s format consisted of five-character six rhymes in twelve lines, totaling sixty characters.

The poem title was "Pishi Watching Autumn Moon" with the word "Pishi" annotated beside it, necessitating the citation of a classic followed by composing a poem. The examination model of the Dayan Dynasty was already approaching the Four Books-style system; although the poetic essay was not as stringent as the Eight-Part Essay requirements from the Ming and Qing periods in previous lives, it was its precursor.

Seeing the word "Pishi," Gu Chengyu first recalled the "He Shi" Chapter from "Han Feizi," which contained a sentence "Pearl shrinks when thrown again, Pishi mourns after the third offer," this could indeed be used as a reference.

Only now did Gu Chengyu find this poem to be the hardest part of this imperial exam, though the poetic essay didn’t contribute much to the total score. As long as the key characters were closely followed, historical references cited, and the format required was adhered to, even if the poem wasn’t extraordinary, it could still be accepted—just couldn’t achieve a high ranking!

Gu Chengyu closed his eyes, pondered, then wrote his thoughts down on draft paper, revising twice afterward till he felt it was complete.

This poetic essay took considerable effort, upon putting the pen down he realized his stomach was already growling. Up to this point, all questions had been answered, only copying onto the paper was needed.

Gu Chengyu carefully rolled up the draft and test paper, placed them in the examination basket, and took out the steamed bun bought earlier this morning, along with some soy sauced donkey meat. His father tucked it in before he entered the examination room. The meat slices were cut thinly; upon opening the paper wrapping the donkey meat, the air was filled with the fragrance of the soy meat.

Donkey meat has the effect of replenishing blood and vital energy, nourishing the kidney and liver, calming wind and soothing the spirit. This should have been available when his father went before dawn, as he never saw them at any other time.

Gu Chengyu delightfully enjoyed eating the steamed bun with donkey meat, yet it was hard on the student across him. He was originally eating a steamed bun too, but when he looked up, he saw the young examinee opposite enjoying cooked meat, the enticing aroma already drifting to him, making him salivate.

Looking again at the students on both sides, they seemed to feel hungry as well, promptly picking up food from their examination baskets to eat.

By then it was already the end of noon, County Magistrate Lu had finished his lunch and prepared for a round of inspection below. But upon coming down he found most students just starting to eat lunch, especially that young boy munching most deliciously. Hey? It’s Miao’s soy sauced donkey meat? No wonder it smelled so good.

Gu Chengyu didn’t bother with other examinees’ thoughts, once he was satiated and quenched his thirst, he began writing the test paper.

He rubbed his belly, feeling he might have eaten too much; next time he should only eat to seventy percent fullness. Perhaps during this growth phase, he found himself eating more, particularly liking meat.

Drinking some water, steadying his mind, Gu Chengyu concentrated entirely on the test paper, writing somewhat quickly due to the poor-looking weather, fearing rain could wet the test paper, and it would leave no place to cry.

County Magistrate Lu strolled to Gu Chengyu’s location, saw he was already writing the test paper, casually glanced at his draft, noticing the poetic essay was completed. The weather was somewhat gloomy, so County Magistrate Lu couldn’t discern what was written in the poem and would only know after grading the papers.