Chapter 148: 115.3

The streets of the provincial capital were wide and long, even four carriages could run side by side without crowding at all. On both sides were row upon row of shops and pedestrians jostling each other on the way. It was truly a bustling scene.

Feng Lin looked at the lanterns in the peddler’s hands and said with a hint of envy, "The provincial capital is really lively, much more lively than our county town. Even the prefectural city isn’t so bustling with noise and excitement."

Xiao Liulang let out an ‘en’, which could be regarded as a response.

Feng Lin suddenly said with anticipation, "What do you think the capital is like? If the provincial capital is this bustling already, then the capital should be even more lively, right? Would the streets in the capital be much wider and longer than this? Would there be more carriages in the streets? Would the shops be bigger too?"

"En." Xiao Liulang responded simply again.

Feng Lin said oddly, "What ‘en’? You make it sound like you've been there! Alas, I really want to go to the capital. I always dream of going there. As long as I can go there once, I can die with no regrets!"

Xiao Liulang spoke flatly, "What's so good about the capital? It's just a hotbed of troubles."

Feng Lin sighed and shook his head, "It’s not something you pursue, so you don’t understand!"

The Imperial Academy was the holy land for all scholars. Feng Lin used to have only sixty percent of desire to go to the capital, but now it had risen to a hundred. If he could enter the Imperial Academy once in his life, his ten years of studying hard wouldn’t be in vain.

However, he still had self-awareness. He knew very well that with his qualifications, it was impossible for him to pass the entrance exam. Being recommended by the yamen was out of the question too.

The specialties of the provincial capital were sesame candy and donkey meat.

Feng Lin wasn’t very interested in sweets, but he craved donkey meat a lot. Thus, the two people went to a long-established donkey meat restaurant and ordered two bowls of donkey broth, two donkey meat burgers and a small bowl of braised donkey meat.

As the saying goes, donkey meat was fragrant while horse meat stinks; never eat mule even if you starve to death. As long as the donkey meat was ready, its meaty fragrance would cover the whole street in an instant.

Feng Lin immediately tasted the braised donkey meat and exclaimed, "Whoa, it's really delicious!"

Even Xiao Liulang, who was spoiled by Gu Jiao's craftsmanship, also thought that this donkey meat was not bad.

After finishing the meal, they called the waiter to pay the bill, but they were told that someone had already settled the bill for them.

"Who is it?" Feng Lin asked. Was it Lin Chengye? Can’t be, shouldn’t that boy be back home by now? Did he sneak out so soon? And followed them here? But why would he eat at a different table and just pay the bill secretly?

The waiter answered smilingly, "It's a Lord surnamed Liu."

Xiao Liulang's expression cooled down.

Feng Lin looked at Xiao Liulang and asked, "Do you know him?"

"I don't." Replied Xiao Liulang blandly.

The waiter once again spoke with a smile, "Lord Liu said that he arranged a small feast in the Drunken Cloud Building to entertain Young Gentleman Xiao and your friend. He earnestly requests Young Gentleman Xiao to do him the honor."

"Ah, why didn’t I think of it? It's another gentleman who wants to get to know you." Xiao Liulang’s eight-part essay in the prefectural exam was so excellent that there were many people who wanted to come forward to make friends with him. Feng Lin naturally thought that this Lord Liu was one of them.

"Are you going?" Feng Lin asked.

"No." Xiao Liulang stood up and said, "Let's go back to the inn."

"Oh."

They spent one last night in the inn and went to hire a good carriage the next day. Just when they arrived at the door of the carriage rental shop, they saw a man dressed as a manservant waiting outside with a smile, "Young Gentleman Xiao and Young Gentleman Feng, I presume? My Lord prepared a carriage to send the two gentlemen back to the county town."

"Who is your Lord?" Feng Lin asked.

"My Lord is surnamed Liu." The servant replied.

Feng Lin muttered, "It can't be the one from yesterday, can it?"

Feng Lin glanced at the other party’s carriage. Boy, it's more luxurious than the carriage of the Lin Family! This Lord Liu’s background isn’t small ah!

"No need." Xiao Liulang refused without thinking.

Feng Lin：“…”

FineFine!

He got both the talent and willfulness, alright!

The two people hired the fastest carriage, spent twice as much money as other carriages, and traveled back to the county town without stopping.

Lin Chengye left the Lin residence early in the morning. He intended to give Xiao Liulang and Feng Lin a ride, but he just ended up pouncing on air.

He sighed, wondering if he could see them again in this life.

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At the end of the provincial exam, the inner examiners began to read the exam papers.

There were a total of twelve inner examiners divided in groups of four. One examination paper was jointly marked by four inner examiners. If the inner examiners couldn’t agree on what score to give, the involved exam paper would be presented to the chief examiner and deputy examiner, who would then mark the paper again.

The first exam about classics and five-character eight-line poems was graded based on the accuracy rate and handwriting. In previous years, either the accuracy rate was high but the handwriting wasn’t good enough, or the handwriting was excellent but the accuracy rate was not as good as that of another examinee.

But there was something special about the situation this year. Some examinees actually handed in a perfectly answered exam paper!

One exam paper did not just have perfect answers, the handwriting also made people ashamed of being inferior.

This examinee deserved to be the first in the first exam.

"This year's Book of Filial Piety has stumped many examinees." One inner examiner said with a smile, "Apart from that one just now, I never saw a second one who had written The Book of Filial Piety correctly, eh? Wait a moment."

As soon as his voice fell, he found another excellent exam paper. Although it wasn’t to the point that every article didn’t have a single error in the characters, it was much better than the previous ones, especially the article of The Book of Filial Piety, which was written perfectly!

The inner examiner opposite him spoke, "What a coincidence, there is also one here who has written The Book of Filial Piety article correctly."

The two people smiled at one another.

This year's examinees were... such a pleasant surprise.

However, when they started going through the exam papers for the second exam, the atmosphere became tense.

The vassals had always been a mortal malady to the imperial court. They were either overlords who once illegally occupied a land of the kingdom and were then recruited by the imperial court and given the title of vassals; or an imperial relative bestowed with a fiefdom.

The former had military power, while the latter had bloodline. Indeed a proper cause of worry.

How could one tolerate others encroaching on one's preserve? It was just that the imperial court didn’t have enough strength to get rid of these vassals at present, so the majority of officials of the imperial court from top to bottom didn’t advocate cutting off the vassals.

Marquis Xuanping had always been at odds with Grand Preceptor Zhuang, but the opinions of the two people were surprisingly consistent on the issue of cutting off the vassals.

No one knew that this exam question was actually given by the Emperor himself.

The Emperor simply wanted to listen to the voices of the people below and see what kind of foresight and mind the Zhao scholars under his rule had. As a result, a lot of them were just rainbow farts[1]!

However, among this pile of rainbow farts, there was a brilliant article. Although it did not advocate cutting off the vassals, he didn’t cater to the trend of the imperial court either. Instead, based on the actual merits and drawbacks given the current political situation of the State of Zhao, this article analyzed the possible consequences of the vassals’ abolition in a short term, as well as how to obtain win-win results for both sides through economy, farming and sericulture under the pacification policy.

This article astounded all the inner examiners.

Not surprisingly, everyone thought it should take the first place in the second exam!

Soon, however, an examiner found another article that advocated cutting off the vassals, and the wording was simply sharp, making the complexions of the inner examiners turn white.

This guy might as well go directly to the imperial audience hall to scold the Emperor and civil and military officials, ah!

However, the words might be fierce-sounding, but people couldn’t find any errors in his arguments either.

Originally, when they read the previous article, they felt that the win-win cooperation between the two sides might be a new possible way out. But after reading this article that advocated cutting off the vassals, they instantly felt that that idea was simply asking a tiger for its skin[2]!

If the vassals were not cut off, the State of Zhao would be finished!

"Holy mother..." The deputy examiner pinched the cold sweat on his forehead. Somehow, he suddenly felt that the State of Zhao was indeed in danger!

But was the State of Zhao really in danger right now?

Of course not.

Only, a few decades later might be a different story. This examinee managed to fit in all the crises to come a few decades later in a relatively short essay, which made everyone feel the consequences and fears brought by not cutting off the vassals.

The skill of this child could be seen clearly!

According to literary accomplishment and writing ability, this examinee won without doubt. The question was, did they dare to give the first place to this "alarmist" and his arguably rebellious article?

In case this was presented in front of the Emperor and the Emperor was enraged by it, who could stand the wrath of the Emperor?

The Emperor just wanted to see the accomplishments of the examinees; he didn't really want anyone to scold him.

The inner examiners hesitated.

"Let's put this aside for the time being." One of the examiners suggested.

The result for the second exam had been left aside for a long time, so much so that they had already finished grading all the eight-part essays from the third exam, but they were still undecided who to give the first place between the two articles in the second exam.

1. ↑ — Over-the-top praises 2. ↑ — An impossibility; a futile attempt

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