Chapter 167: 114 Rural Examination (Two Updates Combined)_4

The old blacksmith was startled: “Ah? Then she is…”

The shop assistant, unaware of Gu Jiao’s medical skills, replied: “She is a friend of our boss.”

The old blacksmith asked: “Could you kindly tell me where she lives, so I can thank her in person?”

The shop assistant responded: “Miss Gu has mentioned that if it was successful, the fee for the farming tools would be waived.”

Old blacksmith: “But…”

There were no more buts, the assistant left with several carts full of farming tools.

The old blacksmith stared blankly at the departing carriage, unable to regain his senses for a long time.

Gu Jia left the vacant land on the hillside untouched for the time being. She hired nearby villagers to cultivate a large medicinal field on the mountain, and dug a fish pond and a canal. Water was brought into the pond from the waterfall below.

Gu Yan’s shadow guards had become laborers, assigned to dig canals and plant crops everyday. After a month, the two had transformed from fair-skinned to bona fide dark-skinned due to laboring under the sun.

Autumn came in a blink of an eye.

This year’s summer was not exceptionally hot. However, the returning autumn heat made people sweat profusely.

Xiao Liulang and his party had been in Provincial City for some time. Under the arrangements of the Lin Family, they had settled down in the closest and most luxurious inn to the Imperial College.

Zhou, the steward, had invited Xiao Liulang to their residence a few times, but was respectfully declined each time.

Lin Chengye had a tough time dealing with Xiao Liulang over the past few months. He had been chubby when he first went to Qingquan Town, and lost significant weight after returning to Provincial City.

When Xiao Liulang tutored him, every session felt illuminating to Lin Chengye who couldn’t fathom the depth of Xiao Liulang’s knowledge. It seemed greater than all the scholars in his family combined.

However, whenever Xiao Liulang presented an exam question for him, he always fell short.

Having experienced county, prefecture, and college examinations, general test questions were not challenging for him. But Xiao Liulang’s questions didn’t seem like test questions but rather sharp knives!

Expectedly, the Four Books and Five Classics used for the examination also have a certain scope, with some chapters being more important to memorize than others.

Xiao Liulang seemed indifferent to this. The test questions he handed out often included a majority of topics beyond the main chapters.

Lin Chengye, feeling overwhelmed, had lost weight due to Xiao Liulang’s exacting examination style.

When Lin Chengye complained to Fen Lin, Fen Lin reassured him: “You misunderstood him. It’s not that he deliberately avoids important chapters, he simply doesn’t know which chapters are essential.”

Because he had never highlighted any chapters, he had mastered the texts from beginning to end, word for word, able to recite flawlessly even in reverse!

Despite being tormented by Xiao Liulang’s regimen, after returning to Provincial City, Lin Chengye didn’t choose to go back to his family home. Instead, he stayed in the inn with Xiao Liulang and Fen Lin.

The provincial examination was completed in three stages, each lasting three days.

The first stage started on the eighth day of the eighth lunar month, which was tomorrow. Everyone residing in the inn was there for the examination, contributing to the overall tense atmosphere.

Xiao Liulang was probably the only one who seemed unperturbed.

Fen Lin was initially also somewhat anxious, but he had so much to do that he barely had time to feel nervous.

“Little Linzi, come and help!” Fen Lin called Lin Chengye into the inn’s small kitchen.

This kitchen was rented at a high price by the Lin family who had even arranged a dedicated chef for it.

The provincial examination did not cater to the examinees’ dietary needs and although the chef offered to cook for them, Fen Lin declined.

Before leaving, Gu Jiao handed him a list, documenting some precautions and related recipes.

The recipes were detailed and took into account the weather. If the weather was cool, the first recipe should be used; if it was hot, the second recipe was to be utilized.

“Cookies, dried meat, oranges, pickled vegetables…”

Fen Lin and Lin Chengye slaved away in the kitchen all afternoon, finally getting all the necessary preparations done. The meat, dried in-house, smelled so good that it tempted all the test-takers staying at the inn.

The pickled vegetables had already been prepared a few days ago, and were now perfectly marinated. Fen Lin packed three small jars of them.

The cookies needed to be freshly made the day the exam started. Fen Lin told the chef to make sure the cookies were completely dry and without any moisture.

There were two chief examiners for each provincial exam, both appointed by the court.

They and the local invigilators would enter the Imperial College on the sixth day of the lunar month, hold an admission banquet, and be sequestered by the invigilators.

These examiners, also called paper reviewers, stayed until the end of the provincial examination, and only left after they had marked all the examination papers.

The whole process could last up to half a month, and during this period, they were not allowed any contact with the outside world, including the external invigilators.