For him this gentleman himself felt embarrassed and had no confidence, which was exactly right.
He could not let this gentleman take it back for any revisions. It had to stay in its original state, even if it was a bit poor.
Mr Ming felt speechless. However he was now mentally and physically exhausted and did not even want to speak more. He had no strength to argue and no mood for a battle of egos. He pushed himself up from the armrest, drooped his shoulders, and walked out step by step. In a weak and dejected voice he said, “There is no absolute perfection in writing. If someone insists on finding fault, even the best work will have flaws. Let them do as they please.”
He clearly meant he was too tired to argue any further.
Even now he still suspected that this exam question had been made up by some servant from the Zhong family to test him.
Yu Qing folded the exam paper and tucked it into his clothes, then accompanied Mr Ming out of the study.
Standing under the eaves and looking at the already dim sky, Mr Ming stepped down the stairs one by one and walked slowly outward.
Once out of the courtyard the waiting steward Li immediately came forward to respectfully invite Mr Ming, saying that Squire Zhong wished to host a banquet in his honour.
Mr Ming did not want to say another word. He waved his hand to decline and continued forward with a gloomy expression. No one knew what lonely thoughts occupied his mind.
After personally seeing the guest off, steward Li hurried back to the east courtyard. Seeing Yu Qing eating and drinking heartily, he immediately asked, “What is wrong with Mr Ming? He refused the carriage sent to take him and insisted on walking alone. I was worried something might happen to him so I had the carriage follow behind. Did something happen?”
Yu Qing, who was sitting alone at a table full of dishes, shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing much. The lesson ran too late and he was simply tired.”
Steward Li looked doubtful. “Really?”
Yu Qing changed the subject, pointed at the dishes on the table and sighed, “Uncle Li, these things… alas, actually plain spiritual rice suits me better.”
Steward Li rolled his eyes slightly. “It is not that I am reluctant to let you eat it. I already told you, Master Du specifically instructed that if you are to prepare well for the exam, you cannot have spiritual rice before the metropolitan examination or you will run off to meditate.”
Fine! Yu Qing raised his hand to stop the conversation. He said no more. It was still the same, no different from house arrest.
After finishing the meal and waiting for the servants to clear everything away, the east courtyard returned to peace and quiet.
The lamp in the study was still lit. Yu Qing picked up the several answer sheets Mr Ming had written and examined them one by one. As before he could not tell whether they were good or bad.
Still he felt quite satisfied.
If this exam question was real, the matter of how to answer it had already been solved.
Only by letting this Mr Ming provide the answers could he avoid any worry that the leak of the exam question would be exposed.
Failing nine times already sounded bad enough. Did he still want to earn the reputation of being perfect on the tenth? On top of that, if he reported his student’s misconduct, who would dare hire him in the future?
At that time he would naturally have ways to make Mr Ming weigh the pros and cons.
Of course the premise was that Mr Ming’s answers would fail.
In Yu Qing’s view it was impossible for them to pass. A person who had failed nine times already, if he, Yu Qing, got involved and suddenly passed, then how unlucky would he, Yu Qing, have to be?
Someone who had failed nine examinations, had been depressed for many years, and whose body had been ruined by wine and women, such a person lacking in energy had rushed through several days worth of metropolitan exam questions in one afternoon. He had not even made any revisions to the answers. If he could still pass the list, then there would be no justice in heaven.
If that really happened, he, Yu Qing, would swallow even stinking dog shit and accept it!
The days passed by quickly. In the blink of an eye the metropolitan examination drew near, and the list of court officials in charge of hosting it was also finalised.
Mr Ming abandoned his usual lazy habits, asked for leave from his previous employer, and devoted himself fully to the Zhong residence. He spent all day outlining possible exam topics for Yu Qing, which gave Yu Qing a headache.
Seven days, only seven days. Mr Ming even stayed in the east courtyard of the Zhong residence. He stopped napping lazily in the study and supervised Yu Qing’s studies closely.
Even pretending to be serious was tiring. There was simply too much content to cover in seven days.
Whenever Yu Qing tried to slack off, Mr Ming would grab a stick and whip him.
What a joke? Daring to ambush the sect leader? It almost made Yu Qing want to draw his sword and cut him down.
Later he had to endure it only because he worried that beating the teacher would shock the Zhong family.
The key point was that even if Yu Qing said he knew martial arts it was useless. Revealing it would not scare the old man. Mr Ming still dared to pick up the stick, looking like an old bag of bones ready to battle heaven and earth.
In short those seven days made Yu Qing extremely uncomfortable.
But what had to come would eventually come. When that day truly arrived, Yu Qing, who had thought it would just be a formality, could not help feeling a little nervous.
On the day the metropolitan examination officially began, the carriage and guards of the Zhong family’s master personally escorted him.
Inside the carriage, besides the examinee Yu Qing, were Squire Zhong and Mr Ming who had come to send him off.
Mr Ming talked nonstop along the way, repeatedly giving instructions on what to pay attention to after entering the examination compound.
Squire Zhong listened and nodded repeatedly. No matter what, as someone who had taken the metropolitan examination nine times, his experience alone meant the Zhong family had not wasted their money.
The convoy had not yet reached the examination compound when it was forced to stop on the way. Soldiers blocked the road and did not allow carriages or horses to pass. All escorts had to stop as well. Only examinees with their plaques were permitted to enter.
No one dared to force their way through at this time.
It was understandable. More than ten thousand examinees from all over the Jin Kingdom were gathering in one place, which was already a considerable scale. If escorts and various carriages crowded in together it would easily block the roads and cause chaos.
Yu Qing could only get off the carriage. Du Fei handed him a fully packed back basket, helped him put it on his shoulders, and told him where to meet after the exam so they could pick him up.
Apart from words of encouragement, everyone told him to take care of his health. After all he would be taking the exam for five days and four nights, which meant staying cramped in a small cell in the compound for four or five days.
After Yu Qing bowed to everyone and turned to leave, Mr Ming suddenly hurried over and grabbed his sleeve.
Yu Qing turned back in surprise and asked, “Does Mr have any further instructions?”
Mr Ming’s gaze was intense. His lips moved for a while but he only uttered three words, “Examine well.”
“Yes.” Yu Qing agreed. Only after confirming there were no other instructions did he turn and leave again.
Mr Ming watched Yu Qing pass through the court blockade with his plaque. Even after Yu Qing’s figure disappeared he still stood there motionless for a long time with a complicated expression.
No one knew what he was thinking. He was clearly distracted. Squire Zhong had to call him several times before he came back to his senses.
Squire Zhong invited him onto the carriage and said he wanted to host a banquet.
Mr Ming waved his hand to decline, refused the carriage ride as well, and said he would walk alone. His lonely back receded into the distance.
The examination compound covered a large area. There were nearly twenty thousand cells for examinees alone. More than forty temporary inspection sheds had been set up at the main gate, one for each prefecture.
A group of examinees carrying large bundles searched for the entrances to their respective prefectures. Yu Qing, who was looking around along the way, was among them.
After finding the entrance Yu Qing discovered that the officials from Lie Prefecture who had escorted him to the capital were also there. They were mainly responsible for assisting court officials in verifying the identities of examinees. If they saw unfamiliar faces they would investigate carefully.
All this was simple. The most troublesome part of the entire entry process was the inspection of carried items. The checks were very thorough for fear of smuggling. It took considerable time. After all more than ten thousand people were taking the exam and living in the cells. The invigilators could not watch everyone, so they had to conduct strict inspections upon entry.
After finally getting inside, Yu Qing who kept looking around still did not spot Xu Fei. He did not know whether the other had already entered or had not yet arrived.
He had already sent his fire cricket ahead to Chong’er. It was not that he worried the Zhong family could not take care of it, but the Zhong family was curious why the water in the small pond in the east courtyard had turned black. He had not thought much at the time and lied that he did not know. If the Zhong family took care of it the lie would be exposed immediately.
Of course he was not looking for Xu Fei out of concern for his fire cricket. He wanted to ask about the status of the four thousand taels of silver debt.
Once inside the examination compound it would be troublesome to find Xu Fei again.
Examinees from each prefecture were mixed up. The plaques were assigned by lottery so there was no chance for acquaintances to stay together.
Guards were everywhere and wandering was not allowed. Yu Qing could only give up for now. He obediently followed the markings on his plaque to find his assigned area and then his own cell, a small single room with a slightly musty smell and very narrow.
Back at the Zhong residence, Squire Zhong returned home after the lunch hour had passed.
Yet the family was still waiting for him to eat together. As soon as he returned, Wen Jianhui immediately came forward and asked, “Why did you come back so late?”
Squire Zhong shook his head. “Today I truly saw it. There were too many people sending examinees in the area around the examination compound. The return journey was so blocked that travelling by carriage was actually slower than walking.”
Wen Jianhui asked, “Did you successfully send the person to the examination hall?”
Zhong Ruochen and Wen Ruowei nearby both pricked up their ears with concern.
Squire Zhong only nodded and gave a hum.
Later the servants brought up the reheated dishes. The family of four sat around the table and ate slowly.
Halfway through the meal Wen Jianhui suddenly put down her chopsticks with a sigh, looking preoccupied and unable to eat. “He placed one hundred and six in the provincial examination. With around forty prefectures that puts him after roughly four thousandth place. I have inquired and the metropolitan examination usually only takes the top two or three hundred. Who knows when someone in four thousandth place will make the list.”
She said this both for her husband to hear and for her daughter who was of marriageable age. Some matters were useless for her to say. If her daughter refused to marry no matter what, she believed her husband would seriously consider it.
At the end of the day she looked down on an “A Shihuang” whose family background was useless and who could not even pass the imperial examinations.
A juren might still mean something in the prefectures, but in the capital it meant nothing. Just look at the scene of ten thousand people gathering for the exam in the capital. The Zhong family usually associated with the rich and noble. They knew countless high officials of the fifth rank and above. What was a juren worth?
It was not that the Zhong family could not afford to support “A Shihuang”, but she also cared about face. Finding such an unimpressive son in law would leave her with nowhere to put her face when socialising with those noble ladies. If those petty women who already had some grudges found out, who knew how they would mock her.
She could not think about this. The more she thought the harder it was to accept.
Squire Zhong looked grave. To be honest he did not hold high hopes for Yu Qing this time either. It was basically a wasted effort, just a try with the mentality of testing his luck.
Zhong Ruochen, holding her rice bowl, lowered her head. She picked up rice grains one by one like counting them and slowly put them into her mouth. She also found it hard to swallow.
In recent days her mother had often whispered in her ear about how useless her fiance was.
She did not understand why they suddenly told her she had a fiance and then kept belittling him. Which side was she supposed to take?
Wen Ruowei blinked her bright eyes. Seeing her sister’s expression she immediately laughed mischievously, “Not necessarily. There are examples of people who did poorly in the provincial exam but shone brilliantly in the metropolitan one. Mother, if your future son in law comes back as the top scholar, you would envy others to death.”
Wen Jianhui was amused into a chuckle by her words, but then realised it was just a dream. Her face sank again and she snorted, “That is impossible even in dreams, unless the sun rises from the west.”