Chapter 51: Child Exam

On the evening of the fourth day of the third month, Wu Yaoxing's family next door added a pot to cook, and Xu Qing could smell the fresh fragrance of stewed old hen even through his shop.

Tomorrow was the day Wu Wencai would take the Tongsheng exam. Although his cousin Wu Zhiyuan had taken the Tongsheng exam years ago, he would also go to the prefecture city in a few days to take the exam for "Shengyuan."

The so-called Shengyuan was what commoners often called a Licentiate.

Earning status was a major life event for ordinary people!

Therefore, Wu Yaoxing hadn't skimped on food for several days. His family had fish and meat for almost every meal, and even after breakfast and dinner, he would light a fire for a midnight snack.

The fragrance wafting from next door at every mealtime could tempt a zombie.

It was just that the diet of low-level zombies was limited, mostly liquid food like plasma. Even if there were a few edible fruits, such as laurel fruit, incense candles, persimmons, etc., they couldn't eat too much.

Those were just items rich in certain elements that could supplement specific nutrients for zombies.

Xu Qing guessed that these might have a certain maintenance effect on his zombie fangs, nails, and hair.

For example, after long-term consumption of animal fat and candles made from laurel fruit oil, his newly grown zombie hair was clearly more lush, and the color was smoother and more delicate.

He highly suspected that the oil secreted was actually his own zombie oil.

So every few days, he had to do the work of removing hair, removing oil, grinding fangs, and trimming nails.

"Wandering Corpses of the three categories cannot eat grains or drink sweet springs like normal people. The three transformations of the lying corpse are still alienated categories. Only when reaching the 'Unchanging Bone' can one be free from all taboos..."

Xu Qing lit a candle, his nasal cavity filled with the scent of wax oil and smoke, while he held a "Corpse Talk" book, reading quietly.

As for tomorrow's child exam, he wasn't panicked at all.

The classics he obtained when he transcended the river-drowning scholar contained essays from past dynasties, and he was already familiar with them. Moreover, taking the Tongsheng exam wasn't like taking the Licentiate or Provincial Graduate exam; there weren't many questions that required on-the-spot improvisation.

On the fifth day of the third month, the child exam officially began.

Early in the morning, the two boys from Wu Yaoxing's family were banging on the door of Xu Qing's shop. Xu Qing hadn't returned to the Shuimen Bridge residence last night, so they caught him right there.

Wu Yaoxing carried a food box and, seeing the two boys running to bang on the neighbor's door early in the morning, said unhappily: "Today Wencai is going to take the exam himself, why do you have to bother the neighbor to accompany you?"

Wu Zhiyuan was puzzled: "Brother Xu did the spring exam registration with Wencai the day before yesterday. He must be going to take the exam today. Doesn't Father know about this?"

"There's such a thing?" Wu Yaoxing looked surprised.

Everyone is in the paper-effigy shop business, how come you are going to earn status?

"Not to mention this, Zhiyuan, why are you shouting? Didn't I say that is your Uncle Xu?"

"Father, you really are. Brother Xu is just mature and established his family early. His actual age is not big. Why call him uncle?"

Wu Yaoxing stared: "I address him as a peer, and you call him that too. What does that look like?"

Between the father and son's bickering, one door panel of the mortuary shop was opened, and Xu Qing appeared: "Old Wu, Zhiyuan is not wrong. We are not a big mansion, why be so particular?"

Closing the shop door, Wu Yaoxing saw Xu Qing empty-handed, wearing only a neat long gown, and couldn't help asking: "You are going to the exam like this? No dry food or water?"

Xu Qing looked at the food box in Wu Yaoxing's hand and the book box containing pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, puzzled:

"This is the Tongsheng exam. The exam site is in the big courtyard next to the government office. You finish the exam on the same day and get the papers on the same day. It's not like going to the capital for the exam, why bring so many burdens?"

"Besides, pen, ink, paper, and inkstone are all distributed by the exam hall. We don't need to bring them ourselves. Even if we did, they wouldn't let us bring them into the hall to prevent cheating. It's better to go empty-handed and finish early to go back early."

Hearing this, Wu Yaoxing turned to look at Wu Zhiyuan, who had exam experience, and hesitated: "Is that so?"

Wu Zhiyuan nodded helplessly.

However, in the end, Wu Yaoxing still delivered the food box to them at the exam hall.

This was the "pity of parents in the world." Parents always worry that their children going on a long journey won't have enough money or clothes, even if they are just going to a small exam a few streets away, they always want to prepare more.

In contrast, Xu Qing was just like an ordinary passerby, walking leisurely with his hands behind his back, not looking nervous at all!

Arriving at the exam courtyard cleared next to the government office, looking at it, the candidates and their accompanying family members were almost all carrying big and small bags, so much so that Wu Yaoxing couldn't help but waver: "Brother Xu, you aren't bringing anything into the exam hall, I'm afraid that won't work! Fortunately, I brought plenty of things. If it really doesn't work, I'll share a portion with you."

Hearing this, Xu Qing took an extra look at the other party. This neighbor was actually quite loyal.

Fortunately, the exam hall system hadn't changed. As soon as those candidates who brought their own pen, ink, paper, and inkstone entered the hall, their miscellaneous items were all collected by the clerks.

Besides these, there were exam inspectors specializing in cheating who searched the candidates.

Several candidates who brought cheat sheets or even hid books in their underpants were caught on the spot.

Fortunately, it was just a small child exam. Even if cheating was discovered, the most it would do was cancel the qualification to take the exam. If it were a formal imperial exam, according to Great Yong law, they would be beaten with a hundred staves, and in serious cases, they might be exiled or even beheaded and have their family property confiscated!

When Xu Qing entered the exam hall, he met many acquaintances, all of whom were government office runners from the government office, arranged on the periphery to maintain order.

When the leader, Zhao Zhonghe, saw Xu Qing, his face was incredibly colorful. He was extremely puzzled: how could he run into this kid everywhere!

Running into him at the government office was one thing, and it wasn't strange to meet him at a place like Shuohuang Pavilion, but damn it, how could he be in the exam hall too!

Could it be that he was tired of the dead-person business and planned to earn status to become an official?

How could he guess that Xu Qing taking status was really just to do dead-person business better.

With Licentiate status, not only could he not kneel before officials, but he could also be exempt from taxes and corvée labor. Even if he presided over funerals in the future, the families would have more face.

The deceased, when seeing the relatives coming to mourn, could also be glorious on the road to the Yellow Springs.

The neighbors would also speak well of it, saying: "Who died? His son is so filial, the funeral master he hired is a Licentiate!"

After all, in this day and age, Licentiate were rare.

The child exam was divided into two sessions, three papers each. The content of the exam, besides reciting essays and classics, was deducing arithmetic and answering questions related to morality and etiquette.

Xu Qing quickly finished the first session and handed in the paper. Naturally, the examiner distributed the second session's paper to him.

"This child exam is really not difficult. However, the Licentiate exam paper is probably not so simple."

After all, when Xu Qing went to the government office to register two days ago, he saw an old Tongsheng over fifty still retaking the exam!

According to others, that old Tongsheng took the exam every year and was now sixty-nine years old. Even his own grandson was married and had children.

He went to register the other day, and it was his son and grandson who sent him.

From this, it could be seen that the difficulty of earning Shengyuan status was definitely not lower than the civil service exam.

After answering all the questions, Xu Qing handed in the paper early.

The examiner received the paper and signaled that he could leave the exam hall.

The hour was still early, and the posting of the results would not happen until at least after the afternoon's Wei period. With nothing to do, Xu Qing took a detour into the adjacent government office.

Two days ago, the Crown Prince encountered an assassination by Heavenly Heart Sect evil people at Shuohuang Pavilion. The Crown Prince was not hurt, but the Heavenly Heart Sect's branch section chief in Linhe died on the spot.

Now, the corpses of the Heavenly Heart Sect section chief and those dead sect members were lying in the government morgue!

Xu Qing felt that he had finally finished the child exam, so he had to find a few corpses to properly reward himself.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 52 =====